Google didn't help me here. Is there some site, obscure or otherwise, where someone archived recruiting rankings from, say, pre 1998/pre-Internet recruiting site days? Like even PDFs of old Street and Smith guides?
Historic team recruiting rankings?
- Thread starter MarshallGoldberg
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Not really answering your question, but:
That 1995 class was nuts. Mark Blount & Vonteego Cummings were both around top-25/30. Andre Howard & Mike Gill were around top-75. Isaac Hawkins was top-100 but came in the next year (can't remember why). Kellii Taylor was top-40 in 1994 but was a freshman with Vonteego & those guys in 1995-96.
Here's one listing of top-100 recruits in 1995 (LINK), so we can take a guess which schools might have gotten a higher ranked class than Pitt that year. Kentucky had 3/7/92/100, Michigan had 4/11/16, UNC had 8/17, and GT had 2/47/64. I'm guessing Pitt ranked around 4th or 5th nationally that year, almost certainly behind UK, Michigan, and UNC.
That 1995 class was nuts. Mark Blount & Vonteego Cummings were both around top-25/30. Andre Howard & Mike Gill were around top-75. Isaac Hawkins was top-100 but came in the next year (can't remember why). Kellii Taylor was top-40 in 1994 but was a freshman with Vonteego & those guys in 1995-96.
Here's one listing of top-100 recruits in 1995 (LINK), so we can take a guess which schools might have gotten a higher ranked class than Pitt that year. Kentucky had 3/7/92/100, Michigan had 4/11/16, UNC had 8/17, and GT had 2/47/64. I'm guessing Pitt ranked around 4th or 5th nationally that year, almost certainly behind UK, Michigan, and UNC.
It was Top 5. I was so pumped.
Did the Golden Panthers pay those guys? How did we get a borderline McD AA from Thomson, Georgia to come to a bad program which played in a glorified HS gym?
It should have come together for those guys in 1996-97, but Varga and Jordan were out early in the year then Blount got bit on the wrist in practice by Howard and missed time in January I believe. That was a 23-win team if relatively healthy.
I think Pitt lost its opener to Kevin Stallings and Illinois State. Started 0-3 and lost at Army and blanking on the third.
I think Pitt lost its opener to Kevin Stallings and Illinois State. Started 0-3 and lost at Army and blanking on the third.
North Carolina pummeled us in Chapel Hill.
Followed that up with a win over UConn and then losses to Seton Hall and VCU, so a 1-5 start overall.
I don't know if guys in that amazing class of 1995 were paid as recruits, but there might have been some cash in their lockers after games. Yeah, "might" have been.
Willard is very close friends with Rick Pitino whose "pay to play" scandal at Louisville ended his 16-year employment there, and Willard was the associate head coach & director of operations at L'ville for a few years during Pitino's time, so .... who knows.
Tom Crean and Sean Miller were assistants under Willard, and so was Troy Weaver. Bobby Jones was the connection to Georgia. That should provide some clues.
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I wonder if it's our top ranked class ever? Or were our fab five incoming for 87-88 higher?
Issac Hawkins would have been Prop 48 so he went to Prep School instead. Therefore he's considered to be with the 1996 class.
Kelli Taylor would have been Prop 48 too in the 1994 class, but he went to MCI Academy and later joined the 1995 class.
When players go to prep school they need to be "re-recruited."
For what it's worth, Andre Howard was ranked #57 by one source, but really no one else. He was more like a top 150 recruit then.
Kelli Taylor wasn't quite ranked top 40. He was #92 by one source in 1994. After his Prep School year, he was ranked #58 by one source, but wasn't ranked in other (because not everyone ranked prep school guys).
I'm wondering whose rankings these are? I've never see Matthews or Shorter this high. I always recall seeing Martin inside the top 40. He was 3rd team Parade All American, which places him between 20-30.
I do think I remember though this was considered the top class in the nation. People also may not put two and two together. Who was an assistant coach at this time?
Those were from the site that PittSqueak linked. Possibly just one guy's opinions, just that go back that many years.
Random side note: Jason Matthews shows up in the Lakers dynasty book by Jeff Pearlman. Mike Dunleavy was then the coach and was an early adopter of the perimeter game. He had Matthews trying out for a roster position after the draft and beat him on a three point shooting contest while wearing his wing tips. Anyway, very talented player with some skills for the pros, probably just not quite tall enough for the NBA, especially as a non-1.
Thanks -- that's Clark Francis' data. I used to subscribe to his website in the mid-90's, but never saw his his 87 list. His lists always seemed to be the most different than others. I can't say I liked his site very much.
I remember Dukie Dick Vitale raving about this class and saying it was better then the rest of the Big East combined.
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