Bearcat Retrospective: Dion Dixon

2010-11 was a curious season for Dion Dixon. He was supposed to have a much larger role this year. After all Deonta Vaughn and Lance Stephenson were both gone and with them two new wing spots were up for grabs. Early in the year Dixon was much more offensively inclined. He was aggressive taking it to the tin, he made plays for himself or others, or at the very least he got himself to the line. He was the offensive catylist attacking from the wing. Last UC really only had two go to methods to attack defenses. They would run it through Yancy on the interior and let him work for a shot or pass out of the inevitable double team. The second option was to use the dribble hand off motion to allow a wing, be it Dixon, Rashad Bishop or Sean Kilpatrick. Early in the year Dion Dixon was the guy making the plays from that look.

But as Sean Kilpatrick emerged he became the featured act in that set and Dion Dixon had to adjust to a new role. For a while Dixon kind of floated around offensively. He wasn't the attacking force he was early in the season where he absolutely dominated Dayton (20 points, 3 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals) and Xavier (16 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists). He was settling into a new role, but it didn't appear anyone had any concrete idea what that role was.

One of the bigger issues for the team last year was that Cashmere Wright had no back up. Like none whatsoever. The difference between Cash being on the floor and off was huge. Cash had far and away the largest +/- on the Bearcats roster. The first guy to really get a shot at that spot was Larry Davis. But Larry isn't a PG, not in a true sense. That experiment failed. Then they gave Dixon a shot.

The results weren't stellar. There was still a big drop off, but it was manageable whenever Cash needed a blow. Dixon could go in and run the show for five minutes and keep things ticking over for then. Going into the season I expected Dixon to be a pure gunner. The dominate wing player, at least offensively.

It didn't quite work out that way. Dixon became the little dutch boy with his finger in the dam. He was an all purpose player who did a little bit of everything. He rebounded, he defended, he played some points and he had some games where he was an offensive force. All in all I think that this was Dion Dixon's best season as a Bearcat. What do you think. Drop your comments down below.