Pretty sure most of this board predicted something like 1-17 in conference.
We'll win our Slippery Rock games no matter who the coach is.
8 Pitt players transferring
- Thread starter Sean Miller Fan
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Pretty sure most of this board predicted something like 1-17 in conference.
We'll win our Slippery Rock games no matter who the coach is.
They were going to lose some guys if Stallings stayed, they’re going to lose some with him (deservedly) getting canned as well. That’s what happens when you go 0-18 in conference and have no realistic hopes for the future.
If they hire a good coach he will almost certainly be able to talk anyone he wants to keep into staying. Even if that happens, multiple players will be gone. There’s a lot of dead weight on this team and any new coach is going to dump those guys ASAP.
Start it. I would love to see you put together a thread that shows, "The vast majority of the people on this board insisted that players would transfer if Stallings STAYED!"
The only real discussion on here about player transfers has been who would stay as the roster turned over, if Stallings could actually recruit some decent players. The roster has 3 players who are absolutely terrible and have no business on a P6 roster.
This has nothing to do with not having a contrarian view. You are not a Pitt fan and you have claimed Stallings is as good as Pitt can do. He is a loser. He has decimated the program. You support him because you said you coached one of the walk ons in HS. Congratulations. I don't care at all. I care about Pitt. I wish ill will on Scott Barnes, Kevin Stallings, Dan Cage, and anyone else trying to hurt Pitt. I HATE what Kevin Stallings and Scott Barnes did to this program. I hope bad things happen to them in return. I don't care what you think of me in return.
A conspiracy? Dan Cage's wife wrote a "letter to the editor", complaining about Pitt and Pitt fans after a run in which her husband helped destroy our program and was given an opportunity way above his head, of a blog site, which had been catering to Stallings/Cage propaganda. There is no doubt they do not have allegiance to Pitt. I mean, if you actually believe Cage's wife wrote and submitted that "letter" without him knowing, I've got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.
Exactly. These guys like Hurley and others are alpha-male, ultra-confident guys unlike the worry warts who've appeared in this thread. Plus, $3m a year with very little expectations for 3 or 4 years is a pretty good quality of life. Relax everyone.
Oh dear 8 marginal players want to transfer from an 0-19 team. What will Pitt do?
That's why we need a big name outlaw, to avoid going 0-30 next year.
Seriously, you need a NAME coach now, that will make these guys excited to change their minds about leaving and return.
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I think 40 games is a wild stretch, but our roster situation certainly could deter certain types of coaches. If a coach is more of a traditional recruiter, as Stallings was (bring in freshmen, develop over four years), Pitt's going to be a difficult situation no matter how many of these guys return. Even if we hired a coach, a la Musselman, who tends to work the JUCO or grad-transfer circuit, it's going to be extremely difficult. There's just not much available to recruit at this point.
We already have two scholarships available (Millie and Boykins). Let's say 5 of the 10 players leave (three of the eight who've requested releases, plus Samson and Peace). That means there would be seven scholarships available, an extraordinary number to fill (Stallings and Crean have both spoken about how difficult it is, as both have had to do it). Throw in the fact that a new coach would need to try to do this starting in April, and the likelihood of getting better players than the ones we already have are slim to none.
I looked at the national recruiting rankings yesterday, and there are only four uncommitted 5-star players in the coming year's class and seven uncommitted 4-stars. Pitt already has a 4-star commit in Bryce Golden, who just requested his release this AM. And Luther was considered a part of this recruiting class, as the staff planned to keep him on scholarship rather than bringing in a new player. Thus, Pitt's new coach will need to land at least one of the remaining eleven 4- or 5-star players just to replace Golden. And, if you assume Luther was the equivalent of a 4-star recruit and really leaves (to me, he's the equivalent of a 5-star, in that he's guaranteed to have immediate double-double impact), the new coach has to land 20% of the remaining 4- and 5-star recruits just to ensure that the new recruiting class is on par with the class Stallings had. Anyone really think that's happening? Anyone think a grad transfer, who has a one-year shot at playing at a P5 school is going to sign up to come here, where .500 is a pipe dream? So, for all the complaining about Stallings' recruiting class, the next class now promises to be worse, unless a Hurley comes in and brings his RI recruits with him.
On the JUCO front, there are about 15 uncommitted players in the top 30, one of which, Kingsby, was a part of our class. And for those complaining Stallings should have recruited a better PG from the JUCO ranks, there was exactly ONE point guard ranked in the top 25 among JUCOs for the coming class. There are two combo guards in the top 26, a kid ranked as the #15 overall JUCO and Kingsby. That's it.
So please, tell me where we're going to get recruits that will do better either than what we have or better than what we had coming in. How will that happen? If Lyke doesn't hit an absolute home run with this hire, those saying it couldn't get worse are in for a rude awakening.
P.S. For the 2018 HS recruiting class, there are zero 5-star uncommitted point guards and only three uncommitted 4-star point guards.
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#1 Most places have Golden as a 3 star, not a 4. He looks to be rated about the 200th best player in the country, a sad state of affairs if he’s your best recruit at this level.
#2 If Stallings actually thought he could bring in all freshmen and develop them over 4 years while they took their lumps he’s a bigger idiot than I thought. He was coming into an established program that was used to going to the tournament almost every year. There was not a chance in hell Pitt was going to be patient and let him stink the joint out while he developed freshmen.
I agree that it's going to be difficult. Do we really want to hire a coach who has the philosophy of "I'm with you through thick and thicker"? Of course not.
But I guarantee you that if you said to Hurley right now, hey, you are going to get the Pitt job tomorrow, how long do you think it will take for you to win a conference game, that there is no way, absolutely no way at all, that he would say that he wouldn't be able to win a conference game until 2021. If you asked a guy like Musselman or Oats the same question there is no way that they are answering 2021. Every one of those guys, and everyone that we ought to be considering to hire, would tell you that they would expect to win conference games, plural, not singular, next year. Literally, every one. Every one of those guys is coming in thinking that they are going to keep most if not all of the guys who are here that they want. Every one of those guys is coming in thinking that they are going to recruit guys who can win at this level. Every one of them.
Now it may turn out that they would be wrong. It's certainly possible (although not particularly probable) that things do, indeed, get worse, at least in the short term. But that's not the way those guys think. Guys like that think that they are stepping into any situation and they are going to be able to make it better. Nobody that we might realistic hire is coming here thinking that we are going to lose our next 40 conference games in a row.
Just a hunch but Im willing to bet that after all is said and done Pitt keeps most if not all of the players the new coach wants and the sky is falling posters will look foolish............
I am a Pitt fan. I am not a LIFELONG Pitt fan. I went to more games at the empty Pete this season than the vast majority of folks opining on this board, and I watched every single game I didn't attend. All 33 games. Every. Single. One.
I do not, and have not, coached one of Pitt's walk-ons. That's a lie. I've told you that before, and you continue to repeat it. Disagree with me, but DO NOT LIE ABOUT ME. A former player of mine is attending Pitt as a run-of-the-mill student and a former 4-star player of mine was recruited by Pitt/Stallings and committed to a Big 10 school instead.
I also never, ever, ever said Stallings was the best Pitt could do. That's absurd. I've never written it here, and never thought it. That's ludicrous. Hurley would be infinitely better. Crean and Matta would have been upgrades as well.
I had one simple point of view, and I think this situation is bearing it out: Pitt should have given Stallings a third year. It would have stabilized the program and prevented this from happening. I knew enough about the mindset of the players in the program to know that if Stallings were fired, things would get ugly. It is easy to transfer after your freshmen year in D1. You get to sit out a year and develop and you get four years at your new school and get to build 4-year relationships with your teammates and enjoy the process together. My position was that if Pitt had given Stallings another year, next year would have been better, as the retention of Luther and addition of Ellison and Kingsby would have improved the situation considerably. I thought an overall record in the .500 range was doable, and we would have been able to see more clearly which freshmen (then sophomores) would be worth retaining. Who really improved in the offseason? Who didn't? Did Brown really get stronger and make strides? What about Stevenson? Did he commit to losing weight to take advantage of his athleticism? Did he improve the speed of his release on his very accurate, but slow, 3-point shot? Did Carr improve his quickness and handle? Is he a short shooting guard, or can he really be an ACC point guard? Can Parker Stewart be more than a dead-eye 3-point shooter? ... Then, if Lyke didn't like the program's trajectory, she could fire Stallings, we wouldn't be coming off an 0-fer season, and the quality players worth keeping wouldn't have been so incentivized to leave. The program would have looked more attractive to an incoming coach, and he would know more specifically which holes on the roster needed filling.
That's not carrying water for the coaching staff, it's merely disagreeing with your point of view. But you yell at people on this board who disagree with you and keep score about others' fandom. Because I'm not a lifelong fan, apparently I shouldn't be a fan at all. Duly noted.
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This is the most sensible and correct position on the whole issue.
Well, that and that Cage is an immature ass who didn't deserve his assistant spot.
When Luther went down, I thought there was a good possibility Pitt would go winless in the ACC.
My bad. I hit "post reply" before I got done checking the numbers. Was thinking we had four spots, losing Millie, Boykins, Luther, and Zach Smith (thought he was still on scholarship). My mistake on the math, but it doesn't change my point.
Great post. The worst was over. Now, we get to prolong rock bottom and lay in it for a while.
So what you're saying is they should keep their mouths shut? It took all of 3 seconds for people to start ripping these kids apart. I wouldn't be willing to bet on it, but you're right they could stay. Maybe people should just wait and see what happens.
He has over 20 years on his resume. He isn't half as bad as people on here make him out to be.
And no matter who the new coach is, I would hope he recruits over anyone he persuades to stay. The guys we have that may stay just aren't that good.
If these guys end up at really bad programs it will also shed some light on Stallings recruiting ability.
So, you have even less of a connection than you made it out to be? You were the assistant coach of a kid who is just a student at Pitt? And that gives you particular insight to the workings and recruiting of a P6 program and a big cheering interest in Pitt? You have openly admitted you cheered against Pitt and relished their NCAAT losses. That changed because you coached a player who goes to the school, but doesn't play? And your new allegiance is to Pitt, not Stallings, who you defend at every turn because "you know what it is like"? All this despite saying you would disappear when Stallings was fired and definitely be gone in 2 years when your player graduated. Glad to have you the next 2 years.
You absolutely have denigrated the Pitt job and even started a thread questioning why any coach would want the Pitt job and another saying it would be crazy to fire Stallings because of the FBI probes, which have produced exactly 0 openings thus far. Your posts have been pro-Stallings and anti-Pitt and why coaches wouldn't be interested in Pitt.
Ignore the terrible roster management, ignore the bad recruiting, and ignore the terrible, embarrassing results. Stallings was great. Cage was great. We were lucky to have them so interested in making Pitt great. We are lucky to have the student you coached and you as fans for the next two years!
You're lying about me again. There's a lot of folks on this board who I've enjoyed chatting and even debating with. You? You're just consistently a contrarian ass. I'm done. You're officially ignored. Disagree with me all you want, but don't lie about me.
Pitt lost that established program moniker a few years ago. Pitt is a mediocre program with weak tradition compared to the rest of the ACC.
Not a math whiz either, so I put it into my calculator. Apparently half of zero is "ERROR".
Stallings was on the verge of getting fired at Vanderbilt. He failed miserably at Pitt. Get over it.
Stallings has one NCAA tournament game win in the last 12 years. He used to be a decent coach. He's washed up. Some guys age well, some do not.
I am not lying. You made it out like you knw about the team because you coached a player who came to Pitt and that is why you are a fan of Pitt now and said when he leaves you would to. Now you finally say he is just a student at Pitt. You don't have some rare insight because you are/were an Ohio HS coach.
Enjoy the ignore.
That’s a good point about Stallings, how coaches perform in the tournament is important.
For all the love he gets Ed Cooley has been a coach for 12 years and is now 1-5 in the tournament.
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