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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. 14 Nasir Robinson |
Position: Forward Games Played: 133 Year(s) under Dixon: 2008-2012 MPG: 21.9 PPG: 7.2 RPG: 4.7 APG: 1.4
Cardiac Hill Rankings Aron Minkoff: 15 Jim Hammett: 19 Anson Whaley: 11 Average Ranking:15 Robinson was an undersized forward, but certainly played his heart out and became a team leader by the time his career was finished. He was a physical player that could be relied on to do the dirty work.
He was a four-year player, a solid contributor for three of those seasons, and averaged just over ten points per game in his final two. His 55% FG shooting from the field in those last two years also were good enough for the top ten in the Big East each year.
Robinson was never an elite talent, but was more than a role player. He started for a bulk of the games in his career and was a steady presence in the paint. |
| No. 13 Travon Woodall |
Position: Guard Games Played: 139 Year(s) under Dixon: 2008-2013 MPG: 23.9 PPG: 8 RPG: 2.4 APG: 4.2
Cardiac Hill Rankings Aron Minkoff: 13 Jim Hammett: 16 Anson Whaley: 14 Average Ranking: 14.33 Woodall was a four-year player under Dixon and became a team leader over his final couple of seasons. He had the ability to fire from any range with some consistency and his shooting improved from the time he was an underclassman making fewer than 40% of his shots to his senior year when he was up to 46%. That helped him in averaging nearly 12 points per game over his final two seasons. Defensively, he also averaged more than a steal per game in his last two years. Woodall never achieved superstar status, but was a steady force as the team transitioned the point guard spot to James Robinson. And with a four-year career, fits well in our Top 15. |
| No. 12 Talib Zanna |
Position: Forward/Center Games Played: 135 Year(s) under Dixon: 2009-2014 MPG: 21.7 PPG: 8.3 RPG: 6 APG: 0.4
Cardiac Hill Rankings Aron Minkoff: 12 Jim Hammett: 13 Anson Whaley: 10 Average Ranking: 11.7 After redshirting his first year, Zanna began contributing immediately, playing nearly 12 minutes a game and getting into 27 contests. His minutes steadily increased, as did his production, culminating in his senior year when he averaged 13 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. It wasn't until the late-season surge that he provided the Panthers in his senior season that really jumped him up this list. Zanna was a steady presence in the paint and really became a presence on the boards, leading the ACC in offensive rebounding in his final year with 115. His 300 total rebounds that season ranked second behind only Jabari Parker.
Zanna has had some early opportunities in NBA Summer Leagues since leaving Pitt and really developed over his final two seasons to become a team leader. |