INSISTENT ON ASSISTANT NOHO'S DIXON KEY FOR PITT, BUT FOR HOW LONG?

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

PITTSBURGH - When Ben Howland was an assistant coach at UC Santa Barbara in the early 1980s, he kept getting letters from a youth in North Hollywood, asking the Gauchos to recruit him.

Gee, I don't know, Howland had told him. Maybe you ought to look elsewhere, the assistant had suggested.

James Dixon, after starring at Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks, turned into an All-Southwest Conference guard at Texas Christian and was drafted by the Washington Bullets.

A few years later, when Dixon was looking for a college coaching job, Howland didn't make the same mistake twice. He pushed for UCSB coach Jerry Pimm to hire Dixon as a graduate assistant.

Howland and Dixon have been nearly inseparable since.

Howland, after turning around Northern Arizona, has directed the University of Pittsburgh's rise from the dregs of the Big East to a No. 9 ranking and a spot in the second round of the South Regional today against Cal. And Dixon, his top assistant, has been right by his side.

``I've known Jamie since he was 17 and I trust him 100 percent with my life,'' Howland said. ``He's been a huge part of all the success we've had at Northern Arizona and Pitt.''

Dixon left UCSB and Northern Arizona for two stints as an assistant at Hawaii, but he was the first one Howland called in 1999 after he was hired at Pitt.

The Panthers hadn't been to the NCAA Tournament since 1993 and had losing seasons in four of the five seasons before Howland's hiring. Since then, they've gone 13-15, 19-14 and 27-5 this season, the winningest in school history.

Dixon, 36, does most of Pitt's scouting and works with the guards, but where Howland values him most is in evaluating talent.

``Other than Rick Majerus,'' Howland said of the Utah coach who uncovered gems in lightly recruited Keith Van Horn and Andre Miller, ``Jamie's the best I've ever seen.''

Among the players Pitt has landed are Javon Brown, who was floating around at a prep school after originally signing with Kentucky, and redshirt freshman Chevon Troutman, who was Pennsylvania's Mr. Basketball two years ago.

But the brightest jewel they've uncovered is guard Julius Page, an athletic 6-foot-3 sophomore from Buffalo, N.Y., who was under the radar of most Big East and ACC schools.

``The big emphasis was on defense and recruiting better athletes,'' Dixon said. ``When we watched teams, like UConn when they won the national championship (in 1999), they did it with defense and physical play. We had to be a great defensive team to play in the Big East, so we thought getting bigger bodies and better athletes was the best place to start.''

Dixon, who earned All-Academic SWC honors and a master's degree in economics at UCSB, said he never thought much about coaching while growing up (his sister Maggie is an assistant women's coach at DePaul).

His parents, Marge and Jim, who still live in the Valley, figured he'd turn out more like his other sister, Julie, who is an attorney.

Howland, though, figures their days together are nearing the end.

``Everybody wants to hire someone with experience,'' Howland said. ``But he's going to be a head coach soon. He's really a bright guy and very driven. He's going to make some athletic director look pretty smart.''

Perhaps not unlike some head coach.

SOUTH REGIONAL

--Pittsburgh (28-5) vs. Cal (23-8), 11:36 a.m.: The eight-mile drive from Pittburgh's campus to Mellon Arena, where the No. 3-seeded Panthers play No. 6 Cal today, takes only five minutes. But for point guard Brandin Knight and coach Ben Howland, it's been more like three years.

They started at odds, but together have brought a program from relative obscurity onto the national scene. Picked to finish sixth in the Big East's West Division, the Panthers have won a school-record 28 games, finished No. 9 in the AP poll and are hunting their first berth in the Sweet Sixteen. The last time they advanced past the second round was in 1974, before the field was 64.

Cal's two 6-5 swingmen, Joe Shipp (20 points) and Brian Wethers (19 points), had big games in an 82-75 victory Friday over Penn. They'll likely occupy Pitt's two best defenders, 6-3 Julius Page and 6-4 Jaron Brown.

``Their two wings are so physical and so big, both of them look like Mitch Richmond,'' Pitt coach Ben Howland said.

But Brown also must help out against Cal's two 6-11 down-low players, Solomon Hughes and Jamal Simpson, who tower over Pitt's best inside defender, 6-6 junior Ontario Lett. That means 6-10 center Toree Morris, whose playing time has decreased appreciably, might play significant minutes.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 3 boxes

Photo:

(1) North Hollywood's James Dixon has become a hot coaching commodity.

University of Pittsburgh sports information

(2) MARYLAND'S JUAN DIXON

Box:

(1) SOUTH REGIONAL (see text)

(2) TODAY'S GAMES

(3) 2002 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship