:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46829160/usa-today-8424163.0.jpg)
Today, we continue to rank the careers of all of the 67 basketball players ever to suit up for Jamie Dixon. As a reminder, here's the drill. Editor Anson Whaley, contributor Jim Hammett, and myself ranked each player and our composite results are displayed.
Before we get started, we employed a few main rules here:
1. Only the Pitt portion of a player's career counted - Khem Birch played less than a season with Pitt. While he was a productive college player elsewhere, the fact that he spent so little time with the Panthers showed in our rankings.
2. Only the time a player spent under Dixon counted - A player like Julius Page, for example, would rank higher, but he spent only his senior year under Dixon.
3. Best career, not best player - This isn't about determining the best player under Dixon. It's more about who had the best career at Pitt under Dixon. Steven Adams may be a better basketball player than several of the guys on the list but he only played at Pitt for a year and has certainly developed more in the NBA since then.
As we go through this list, we want to hear from you about players slotted too high, too low, or even the ones you think we got right. I've organized the rankings and would love to hear from you on Twitter as well @AronMinkoff.
| No. 17 Jamel Artis |
Position: Forward Games Played: 70 Year(s) under Dixon: 2013-2015 MPG: 23.4 PPG: 9.1 RPG: 4.4 APG: 1.4
Cardiac Hill Rankings Aron Minkoff: 19 Jim Hammett: 18 Anson Whaley: 15 Average Ranking: 17.3 Artis emerged as a primary scorer in his sophomore year with the team, forming quite the two-headed monster alongside fellow sophomore Michael Young. Artis has impressive three-point range for someone of his size, and stature. He is going to be counted upon to log major minutes in his final two years with the program and really posses a rare skillset for his size. His late-season surge pushed him up a few pegs on this list and he will almost certainly leapfrog some of the players ahead of him on this list as his career continues to unfold. |
| No. 16 Mike Cook |
Position: Guard/Forward Games Played: 48 Year(s) under Dixon: 2006-2008 MPG: 25.3 PPG: 10.5 RPG: 3.2 APG: 2.6
Cardiac Hill Rankings Aron Minkoff: 18 Jim Hammett: 15 Anson Whaley: 18 Average Ranking: 17 Cook transferred to Pitt for his final two years of eligibility from East Carolina University. He had a nice career with the Panthers and was a fairly regular contributor on the offensive end for the Panthers. He came into his senior season with the Panthers as a 1,000- point scorer (counting his two years at ECU).
However, that would all come to a halt as he suffered a gruesome knee injury, tearing his ACL in a December contest against Duke in 2008 at Madison Square Garden. He would not be granted an additional year due to medical hardship and left many fans wondering what if, as they have for so many of these guys. Having Cook back on that 2009 team would have been a tremendous boost for the team. |
| No. 15 Michael Young |
Position: Forward/Center Games Played: 70 Year(s) under Dixon: 2013-2015 MPG: 26.5 PPG: 9.6 RPG: 5.7 APG: 1.1
Cardiac Hill Ranking Aron Minkoff: 17 Jim Hammett: 17 Anson Whaley: 16 Average Ranking: 16.7 Like current teammate Jamel Artis, Young has a chance to continue his climb up this list. It is tough to not be excited about his future with the program. He has started every game since he was a freshman for the Panthers and certainly could blossom into one of the more athletic big men in the country. Young, who is not a natural center, played that position admirably this past season. He is projected to move back to playing primarily at power forward and can really help the Panthers stretch the floor and has a decent range of shots in his arsenal.
Last year, he was often the Panthers number one scoring option and if you look at the makeup of the current roster, he could be the one with the most NBA potential. |