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4 star 2 guard Brandon Sampson "looking around" after Lavin canning....

T

thebadby2

Chancellor
Sep 21, 2003
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We weren't involved before he committed to SJU but maybe the fact that the 2 spot is wide open at Pitt could be attractive to him. He's a scorer and a very good deep shooter.

I believe he's an instant starter as I just don't see Durand or Jones as great options at the 2. Both are natural 3s playing out of position, neither Issa ballhandler who's going to beat anyone off the dribble.

Who knows, Mostella wasn't on our radar screen or vice versa when he committed.
 
He'd have to sit a year so Durand would be gone. And while he sits he takes up a ship that we will probably want to use on someone who can play right away.
 
If he can handle and defend, a 2G could start at the 2 and Durand could start at 3.

Jamel can't defend the 3 and neither can Jeter. Both have trouble defending the 4 too.

We don't have a plus defender on the roster, but the bigger problem is we have SO MANY minus defenders. We need a couple more guys who are at least average defenders, not liabilities.

That said, we have no connection to this guy. Eric Davis is unlikely enough but he at least knows Smoke. This guy has no reason to even look at us.
 
Originally posted by wbrpanther:
He'd have to sit a year so Durand would be gone. And while he sits he takes up a ship that we will probably want to use on someone who can play right away.
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He's a class of 2015 kid, he would be able to play right away. That said, I think his final 3 was like SJU, Cal, and UCLA or something like that. He was West Coast most of the way plus St. John's and kind of surprised people by picking St. John's. Could be an uphill battle.
 
With regard to Davis, we haven't sniffed at a single player from The Family since Smoke got here, so I think that's a super long shot as well. The Family is World Wide Wes turf, which is why, I'm told, he keeps a residence a couple of clicks up Woodward Avenue from me in Birmingham, Michigan. Also Davis was very close to playing for Izzo, who offered him when he was a sophomore and attended a ton of his HS games.

No doubt Sampson is a long shot to come here, but at the same time, where the hell did Mostella come from last year? He never had Pitt on his radar at any time right up until he left OkSU.

Regardless of prior relationships, I think JD should reach out to them both and let them know there are plenty of minutes for a true 2 guard at Pitt.

Incidentally, the latest mid-Michigan phenom is Davis' sophomore teammate at Saginaw Arthur Hill and on The Family, scoring forward Brian Bowen. He's getting mention as the top overall soph in the country, and is a consensus top 10. The all-time list of players out of the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City area is impressive to say the absolute least, and Izzo basically built his program with those players.

If Smoke isn't just blowing smoke, we should at least be on this kid's list, even though we'd have zero chance of getting him.
 
Originally posted by thebadby2:
With regard to Davis, we haven't sniffed at a single player from The Family since Smoke got here, so I think that's a super long shot as well.
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Pitt is heavily involved with Cassius Winston from The Family, also Miles Bridges, as long of a shot as that may be. Bridges told SNY.tv in January that Pitt was amongst the six working hardest for him.
 
Smoke has done a very good job in getting Pitt in the door with the kids of The Family and Mac Irvin Fire. He came on board very late to make a difference in the early signing period for '15 as most players were set on their lists and he had been recruiting for UMass.

Smoke was a very good hire...tons of Nike/EYBL relationships and he has relationships with the people you need to have. Still, getting Chicago and Detroit kids out of Michigan and Illinois is not going to be easy for ANY program, let alone Pitt, but the door has been opened. Just seeing the reaction of Detroit area coaches and Davis himself when Smoke was hired showed that. He used his Nike connections to help get into the very strong Team Takeover and get Manigault to commit.
 
Agree completely, B_Man.

Smoke has to prove himself by getting signatures on LOI's but really, at this point, he is doing EXACTLY what Slice did. He's getting Pitt involved with kids through his contacts.

We actually got VERY few of the 4- and 5-star NYC talents Slice courted. He brought in mostly second tier guys, not the big names. Smoke either gets some good guys or he doesn't but it is very early at this point.

If we're still having questions after the '16 or '17 class, then we have a problem.

We could also slip into a "political" discussion in recruiting. Smoke is recruiting Detroit and Chicago. Brandin is recruiting mostly further East. If either recruiter has a 5-star lined up, it's an easy decision. But, if both have a slightly lesser guy for the same slot, which kid do we prioritize?

We've been down that road before, with Eloy Vargas, Kevin Jones and Roscoe Davis with Antigua, Brandin and David Cox. We ended up with none of them and two of the 3 recruiters leaving, too.
 
Not sure where you;re getting your info, but Pitt is not "heavily involved" with Winston. We're not even on his long list. He's basically a MSU lock. Izzo has been involved with him personally for a long time, and was front row at Winston's regional final
game last week despite being in the middle of his NCAA run. When Izzo walked into the gym where the game was played, the crowd of about 8000 gave him a standing O.
 
I don't think we're heavily involved. But, we were for a while. Dixon did visit him and watch him several times last Summer and Fall and his HS coach still tweets Matt whenever Cassius has a big game.

If we had much of a chance, we wouldn't be following the Mac Irvin PG's so closely.
 
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