CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- From Sean Miller to Brandin Knight to Carl Krauser to Levance Fields to Tray Woodall to Ashton Gibbs, the Pitt basketball program had benefited from a decade and change of superlative play at point guard. They weren't equals, and they weren't identical, but all had a powerful impact.

I know what you're thinking and, no, I'm not here to bury James Robinson.

If anything, it's far too commonplace among the fan base, and it's far too convenient when a team is sinking as these Panthers are, losing a third consecutive game Sunday, 85-64, to No. 9 North Carolina at the Dean Smith Center. It's a team game, and the team lost this one.

"I guess I keep this simple and short," Jamie Dixon offered as soon as he sat for his postgame presser. "We obviously got outplayed in pretty much every facet."



Yep. It wasn't one guy. Certainly not the one who tied for the team lead with 15 points, as Robinson did with Michael Young.

At the same time, Robinson's role in the broader picture, the most down period of the Dixon era with one NCAA Tournament victory to show for his three-plus seasons in command of the team's offense, shouldn't and can't be overlooked. And to be candid, that's the prism through which I've watched "pretty much every facet" of Pitt's winter to date.

An honest look at this game shows that, during North Carolina's defining 17-4 run to open the game, Robinson clanged a jumper off the rim, went air-ball with an even closer try, turned the ball over, then left another jumper short. And even that doesn't do the inefficiency justice. Poor shot selection, the kind a quality point guard can mitigate, was rampant.

An honest look at this season shows that the 17-7 Panthers are -- get this -- 17-0 when scoring 70-plus points, a reasonable amount to expect with Young and Jamel Artis up front, Sheldon Jeter in support and decent depth. But in these past three losses, all to ranked teams, they scored 50 and 63 against Virginia and Miami, respectively, and now 64. In the two previous games against ranked teams, they scored 59 each against Purdue and Louisville.

And yeah, that's 0-5 against ranked teams. Almost entirely because of the offense.

Roy Williams looked and sounded like every other ACC coach who's faced Pitt of late in that he said, "We were worried about Young and Artis and what they could do inside," and he backed that sentiment by collapsing low and leaving Robinson wide open all afternoon. Opponents aren't even trying to disguise it anymore.

An honest look at this program shows that the Panthers could be a whole lot better in 2016-17, with Young and Artis as seniors and, yes, with a new point guard after Robinson becomes the lone graduation loss of note.

All of that might sound mean. Or unfair. It isn't intended to be either. From the moment Robinson took the floor as a freshman, it was impossible to not fall in love with his flash, his confidence. Especially in the footsteps of Gibbs, who was more of a pure shooter than a point guard, it was refreshing to see. And with his four-star rating coming out of DeMatha Catholic in Maryland, the future seemed so bright.

It never materialized. Robinson has shown good quickness, never great. He's been a good defender, never great. He's been a decent distributor, nowhere near great. And his shooting, almost unimaginably given that it was his signature skill in high school, actually appeared to regress with each passing year. He's averaging 9.6 points per game, which isn't awful, but it's come on 29.1 percent shooting from the field. In this game, he needed a season-high 19 shots to make his six field goals.

Digging deeper into some advanced metrics, according to ValueAddBasketball.com, the Panthers score 4.67 more points over 100 possessions with Robinson on the floor than they do without. If that sounds pedestrian, that's because it is. He ranks 142nd among all Division I guards in that critical category. The leader in the category -- and this won't surprise Pitt fans -- is N.C. State's Cat Barber with 12.15 points added when he's on the floor:

DK_2-15-2016

Barber makes a difference. Robinson doesn't.

If anything, his greatest asset, and one that basketball coaches will value above all with a point guard, is that he protects the ball. But it's painfully clear, especially now, that Dixon valued it to a fault.

Except, maybe, to the coach himself, judging by his answer to my question about the impact of a point guard on the offense:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mePFZIeMY28

Not that Dixon needed to say anything at all.

For one, he's got precious little to gain by publicly criticizing the player who's holding the ball half the game.

For another, he's got no immediate Plan B. Although he's been using freshman Damon Wilson more and more to spell Robinson, including a 12-point, seven-rebound showing last week in Miami, he's a work in progress. On this day, he went 0 for 6 from the field, 0 for 3 beyond the arc, and twice fell to the floor when trying to drive.

Dixon has nowhere to turn. It's Robinson or bust.

And that, at least from this perspective, is where the discussion should focus on Dixon.

Sure, people fuss about his past few years as a whole, and that's absolutely just. Dixon was a huge part of the reason the bar has been set so high in Oakland, and he's a huge part of the reason it's now being lowered. But it seems that the ripping happens for the wrong reason.

It's not that he can't recruit. Young and Artis are top-of-the-ACC talents. Lamar Patterson and Talib Zanna were at the same level before them. His classes haven't been great, but they weren't great even when Pitt collectively was great. He found his type of player and, generally, got the most out of them. The recruiting charge is too vague for my taste.

As I see it, it's more specific: He hasn't recruited a top-level point guard since Fields.

That's inexplicable for a program that once was built on the position.

That's indefensible for a program that watched Robinson stagnate, not just to stick by Robinson but to not even add meaningful depth. It's almost as if Dixon made up his mind four years ago that Robinson would be his guy, the one anointed to extend the lineage of Pitt point guards, and no amount of evidence to the contrary was going to change his mind.

I like Robinson. A lot. He's passionate about what he does. No one on the roster works harder. No one is more accountable.

Listen to him after this loss, one in which a few of his teammates shamefully tanked the final five minutes while the Tar Heels whooped it up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E67PBoKZJc8

He took it hard. He cares. And it's to his credit that he's made the most of a college career that added a 1,000th point to his ledger on this day.

But Dixon needs to do a whole lot better, and here's hoping he sees that.

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