Welcome back to In The Pitt, PantherLair.com’s new weekly discourse featuring a roundup of everything that’s happened in the past week, with insight and inside information thrown in for good measure.
July 18, 2008
Top of The Pitt
With a lull in football recruiting over the past two weeks, leave it to Jamie Dixon and the basketball Panthers to bring some excitement into the lives of Pitt fans, as Dixon and the hoops program scored big this week with No. 9 power forward in the class. As a junior at NCA last season, he averaged 20 points and 11 rebounds per game.
To say Taylor’s commitment is huge is almost an understatement. Rivals.com basketball recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer said this about Taylor on the day he committed:
“He's having a really good summer. The things that really stand out with him are that he runs the court extremely well, he's got a very good nose for the ball as a rebounder, and he does a nice job finishing in traffic. And then at the LeBron camp he showed some shooting range, so he's got a diverse skill set when he's facing the basket.
"He gives you everything you want inside, and he's got the potential to expand his game to the perimeter. By the end of his college career he can be a major threat.
"He's a really god fit for Pitt. He's more than willing to defend and rebound and do the 'tough guy' stuff that symbolizes the Pitt program. And obviously it's great for Pitt to have added a five-star talent like him."
The key for Pitt in recruiting Taylor was oft-stated: Dixon and associate head coach Tom Herrion were on him longer than anyone else, and loyalty was one of the biggest factors, and while he had stated a desire to hold off on committing, it seems that he eventually decided to reward Pitt’s loyalty with a verbal pledge.
If you turn back the dial on Taylor for some history, you’ll see that his first mention on Rivals came during the May 2007 Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions. Taylor’s team from NCA won the 17-Under Select Championship, and the Villanova site had this to say about his performance:
“Taylor played some terrific basketball throughout the Bob Gibbons TOC. He is beginning to appear unanimously in the rankings of the Top 50 players in the nation in his class. He is athletic, skilled, and has a good understanding of the game.
Taylor loves to anticipate the offensive rebound and follow missed shots with dunks. He showed the ability to make quick, accurate outlet passes when fast-break opportunities were available. He had his shooting hand/thumb wrapped for his first two games on Saturday and it seemed to have a negative impact on his shooting. He normally has range on his jumper out to at least 15 feet. Taylor had six follow-up tip-ins and dunks on Saturday to match six lay-ups (some of them filling the lane in transition). His other FG was an impressive post move that he completed with a right hand hook shot in the middle of the lane. Taylor is communicative on both ends of the floor ? calling out screens on defense and unselfishly pointing out mismatches to his guards on offense. He willingly sets high ball screens, generally gets good rebounding position and can often be seen jumping out to use his considerable length to challenge enemy three-ball shooters. Taylor also runs the floor well. Expect his recruitment to pick up considerably in the coming months.”
Rivals.com basketball analyst Justin Young also saw Taylor at the Bob Gibbons TOC, and he had this to say:
“The light is starting to come on for the four-star 2009 prospect. The 6-foot-8 forward was intriguing in the spring evaluation period, and his confidence continues to grow. While his numbers weren't eye-popping (13.5 points per game), Taylor's play was noteworthy.
He has come a long way since the second half of the high school season. Taylor is now a high-major prospect. He's a beast on the boards (going for double digits more times than not) and quick with the pass up the floor for transition baskets.
Defensively, he still has work to do. With better body conditioning, he should improve his footwork and explosion. Overall, Taylor has a good understanding of his position. Odds are, the Big East and ACC will make him a priority prospect this July.”
Later in the summer of 2007, Taylor played in the Super Showcase AAU Tournament in Orlando, an event that featured Kevin Jones. Still, Taylor was a notable performer that day, wrote Rivals basketball analyst Brian Snow:
“Dante Taylor showed off his talent in the second half against the Pittsburgh Storm. Taylor, who finished with 22 points, could not be stopped on the glass and was simply unguardable for the Storm. He is not yet the most skilled big guy on the circuit, but with his length, athleticism, and potential there is no doubt Taylor is a high-major kid.”
By the time 2008 rolled around, Taylor compared Taylor to J.J. Hickson, the power forward who was drafted No. 19 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in this year’s NBA draft after spending just one year at N.C. State.
Then came the Boo Williams AAU tournament. Taylor played with Team Melo in the event and Young said the following:
“Team Melo was paced by Dante Taylor, who looks as good as any power forward in the nation.”
Jerry Meyer followed that with this report from Day Two of the Boo Williams:
“Dante Taylor has an impressive physique, runs the floor well and is potent around the basket, but there is still work to be done with his perimeter game. There is no denying he has a very high ceiling if he can make strides with his jumper and ability to attack the basket with the dribble.”
Young once again invoked the J.J. Hickson comparison when reporting from the 2008 Bob Gibbons TOC:
”Playing much like former McDonald's All-American and looking like him physically, Dante Taylor out of D.C. area team National Christian is doing his best J.J. Hickson impression. Taylor has put up big numbers in the Triangle and he's doing it with a physical brand of basketball inside. Ironically, Hickson has been on hand this weekend. The N.C. State forward has been preparing for the NBA Draft lately.”
The Villanova site also reported from the Gibbons TOC:
“In Friday night action at the Bob Gibbons TOC on the campus of NC State University, Dante Taylor posted superb numbers in a losing cause. The 6'8", Class of 2009 power forward exploded for 29 points, 16 rebounds, 4 blocked shots and an assist. His National Christian Academy squad didn't get enough production out of the backcourt to win but Taylor's play in the paint was impressive. He shot 12-17 from the floor and 5-8 from the free-throw line. Taylor is a strong finisher around the cup, an active, vocal defender and has a developing arsenal of low post moves. Taylor runs the floor well and displayed the ability to quickly turn rebounds into transition scoring opportunities. He does this both with quick outlet passes and with the ability to put the ball on the deck fairly well for a big man.”
As a culmination of Taylor’s improvement over the year since he burst onto the scene in the 2007 AAU circuit, Rivals150 came out at the beginning of July.
Next on tap for Taylor was the LeBron James Skills Academy, where he worked out with the likes of Jerry Meyer wrote:
“Taylor stepped up his game in a match up against Cousins. He got a couple buckets out running Cousins down the floor and was terrific rebounding the basketball. Taylor hit some midrange shots, scored with his back to the basket and was the beneficiary of a number of dump off passes from teammate John Wall.”
The next day, Meyer wrote:
“The five-star big man had another big game against Cousins, scoring close to 30 points while also rebounding at a high level. Certainly Taylor was the beneficiary of the dazzling passing of John Wall, but Taylor also manufactured points with some nifty interior moves while also knocking down a three-pointer.”
Never mind the fact that Taylor was playing with the No. 1 point guard in the country; he was regularly beating the No. 1 center in the country, and that kind of showing earned him a spot in the Academy’s top 2009 performers (along with the likes of Cousins and Wall):
“If Taylor established one thing, it is that he knows how to score on Cousins - who was on the receiving end of two offensive outbursts by Taylor. Also establishing himself as a solid five-star prospect, Taylor was a force around the basket as a scorer and rebounder. Very fast up and down the court, Taylor also exhibited expanded range with his jumper.”
And that brings us up to Taylor’s commitment. Taylor is easily the biggest recruit of the Jamie Dixon Era at Pitt, and this begs the eternal question:
Can Taylor be the player who puts Pitt over the top and helps the Panthers get past the Sweet Sixteen and into the Final Four?
There’s no way of knowing until he gets on campus next summer. And I can bet that seating will be even more scarce at the Greentree summer league once Taylor arrives.
Speaking of the summer league
The Pittsburgh Pro Am summer hoops league wrapped up its regular season on Wednesday, and you can find a schedule for the playoffs in Tony’s latest game report. The dominant team of the league has been the UPMC Cancer Institute squad which has, at various times, featured Pitt players Nasir Robinson, Gary McGhee, Jermaine Dixon, and Gilbert Brown, although not all of them have played all of the games. UPMC finished the seven-game season 6-1, and after a bye in the first round of the playoffs they will face the winner of FWG vs. PGT. Both FWG and PGT have 3-4 records despite fielding six Pitt players between them. The playoffs are next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
Quote of the week
Tying the Taylor news and the summer league together was this gem posted on the Basketball Board by thesingingriver. It was posted after Monday night’s games in Greentree:
”Of the many congratulations Jamie received was the comment:
"I heard you picked up a nice commitment tonight Jamie, a lot of the big guys were after him."
Jamie's response? Simple.
"We are one of the big guys."
Obviously Dixon can’t discuss recruits publicly, but that answer is way better than any scouting report he could have come up with.
Speaking of the big guys
Dixon was on ESPN Radio this week and he bemoaned the fact that Pitt is struggling to find a non-conference opponent for a December tilt at Madison Square Garden. Post-Gazette writer and part-time radio host Paul Zeise opined on the air that, given Pitt’s record at the Garden, it’s not surprising that most high-major teams would probably shy away from the matchup.
Since then, I’ve heard that Memphis and Alabama had each agreed to play Pitt at MSG, but both pulled out for reasons unknown. Maybe everyone saw what happened to Duke last year.
And more hoops
In less than a month we’ll have wall-to-wall football coverage, so we thought this week’s In the Pitt should go a little heavy on the hoops. Of course, when a big-time national prospect commits, that makes it easy to focus on the basketball side.
Still, with Taylor on board for the class of 2009, spots are filling up quick. Taylor joined four-star guard Darnell Dodson, who is at junior college in Florida. We figure they’ll go after one more, and the top group they’ll be shooting for looks to consist of these three guys:
Dominic Cheek (No. 11 overall; No. 4 shooting guard)
Thomas Robinson (No. 82 overall; No. 23 power forward)
Durand Scott (No. 51 overall; No. 12 shooting guard)
If they can get one of them, Pitt could have one of the best classes in the country and probably the best class Dixon has ever assembled. If Pitt doesn’t land one of those three, they’ll be looking at players like Will Coleman, who is at Miami Dade Community College with Dodson.
Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see if Taylor can help with Pitt’s recruitment of his NCA teammate, 2010 shooting guard prospect Will Barton. Barton is already a five-star prospect and ranked No. 24 overall and No. 6 among shooting guards.
A quick aside
Before we jump into football recruiting stuff, I do need to talk once again about upgrading to an annual subscription. Please bear with me.
The way I see it, nobody is cancelling their subscription now, not with football training camp coming up and the knock-out coverage we’ve got planned. There’s no better source for training camp coverage, so if you plan on staying on PantherLair.com for training camp and the season and LOI day and spring camp and the NCAA tournament and the summer prospect camps and the football recruiting push at the end of June…well, we’ve just come full circle. That’s a whole year of Pitt coverage on PantherLair.com that you’re not going to want to miss. So why pay more money on a month-to-month subscription when you can save cash and get a year of Sports Illustrated?
Here’s the gist: the annual is cheaper than what you’d pay if you bought 12 months, so if you upgrade, you save money and you get a year of SI, which is a $19.95 value. It’s like we’re giving away money.
Here’s the link to upgrade: UPGRADE HERE
That is all. Thanks for listening.
And now the football recruiting
It’s safe to say that football recruiting didn’t have the kind of excitement over the past week that we saw on the basketball side, but there’s still stuff to talk about.
Earlier this week we had articles on Weston (FL) Cypress Bay teammates would like to take an official visit to Pitt. Both players are linebackers, both have offers from Pitt, and like a lot of Florida prospects, they’ll probably both take their time on making a decision.
Meanwhile, Mike Farrell interviewed Montvale (NJ) St. Joseph’s running back/safety is down to Pitt and Syracuse. He’ll visit Pitt later this month (July 30th), and although he says the Panthers and the Orange are “about the same right now,” we’re hearing that he could very well pick Pitt on or shortly after his visit.
If that happens, Adams could be right in the middle of a mini-rush on Pitt commitments. Bronx (NY) offensive guard Fernando Diaz (aka The Bronx OG) visited Pitt on Thursday, and all indications point to him being committed by the end of the weekend (if not the end of Friday). Then you have Reistertown (MD) safety Carl Fleming, who is planning to visit Pitt on July 26th; that visit should also lead to a commitment.
Plus, Mike Farrell Brock DeCicco has scheduled an unofficial visit to Iowa on August 1st and a likely unofficial to Wisconsin the next day; after that, DeCicco plans to make a decision. We’re still pretty positive that it’s Pitt all the way.
So, Pitt could conceivably have four more commitments by the start of training camp (or shortly thereafter). That would give them nine total verbals, which is actually three more than they had pre-September last year. In fact, Pitt wouldn’t get to nine commitments in the class of 2008 until Greg Cross committed on December 9th (not counting the decommitments like Nic DiLillo, Chris Hayden-Martin, and Zach Stoudt).
Some other possible visitors
We’ve talked before about Jeff Hafley and New Jersey recruiting. It sounds like Hafley’s going to try to make a big push just before training camp starts and get a few of his Garden Stater’s in for some visits, too.
At the top of the list is Jersey City (NJ) St. Peter’s Prep offensive guard Khalil Wilkes. Wilkes visited Stanford last weekend and he is going to Wake Forest this weekend. His other two favorites are Pitt and Rutgers; he’s been to Rutgers plenty of times, and he’s looking to visit Pitt later this month or early in August.
Wilkes has said before that he wants to decide early, and I think Pitt has as good a shot as any of those other three.
The other bonus of getting a visit from Wilkes is that he would probably bring along St. Peter’s teammate Nyshier Oliver. Oliver is committed to Tennessee and hasn’t made any overt noise about looking around, but a visit is a visit.
We also think Pitt will try to get DT Isaac Holmes in for visits before training camp starts. I think the Hoboken teammates are leaning pretty heavily to Maryland, but Hafley has done a good job of keeping Pitt in the race.
Offers
This final note was spurred by the words of esteemed poster brettery. Perhaps it would be more specific to say the word of esteemed poster brettery. In response to a post about Kevin Adams narrowing his choices to Pitt and Syracuse and the likelihood of Adams picking Pitt, brettery responded with the simple exclamation of “Ugh!” which I took to mean a show of displeasure in the Panthers leading for another player with few, if any, impressive offers.
While I appreciate brettery’s brevity (sounds like a good band name; opening for the Clarks tonight, it’s Brettery’s Brevity!), I have to take at least some umbrage with the notion. I hate to be a blind faith Kool Aid drinker, but I really think this coaching staff has earned at least some trust from Pitt fans when it comes to player evaluation. I won’t go through the past three classes and try to figure out how many hits and misses they’ve had because, really, it’s too early to judge that kind of retrospective (after all, even that 2006 class is only entering its third season; some of those guys are only redshirt sophomores), but I do think they’ve done well enough to merit some trust.
Would it be nice if Pitt was beating Ohio State and Notre Dame and USC for recruits? Absolutely. I wish for that to happen, not necessarily from a fan’s perspective, but from the perspective that it’s much more fun to write about a kid picking Pitt over those other “big-time” programs. I remember having an AIM conversation with the guy at the Ohio State site a few days before Corey Brown’s press conference, and he guaranteed that Brown was picking Ohio State; I want to be the Rivals reporter who guarantees that the school he covers is getting the four or five-star prospect (really, it’s a pride thing; call me vain if you want).
But the fact is, beating “big-time” schools is really just cosmetic; in the end, it doesn’t matter as much as a number of other factors. For most (all) of us, the best we can hope to do in judging a recruiting class is try to watch the highlights online or maybe see a kid in person; beyond that, our powers of evaluation (I’m talking about guys like you and me here) are pretty limited. But the coaching staff has watched more film, seen them in person more, and done more evaluation. Sometimes the best indication of how good a player might be is whether or not he has an offer.
Now, I can see how that would tie into the question of offers; if a player is really all that, wouldn’t he have those “big-time” offers, too? I suppose there’s some merit in that. But the fact of the matter is, in guys like Adams and Fleming and Diaz and Devin Street and Dion Lewis and Juantez Hollins and Cory King, the Pitt coaches saw what they were looking for.
Is it more exciting to get four and five-star players? Of course it is (just look at Pitt basketball), and I think Wannstedt will get a few of those before the Letters of Intent are signed. But for now, we just have to get by on the assumption that this staff is finding talented players they want. That’s the best we’ve got right now.
And by the way, on Adams, I’ve heard at least one college scout say it’s really surprising that he doesn’t have more offers.
Thanks for joining this week’s edition of In The Pitt. Since this feature is still in its early stages, it’s safe to assume that the project will be in flux for a few weeks as we strive to find the best format. Feel free to e-mail chrispeak1@comcast.net with any suggestions, feedback, or other input.
This post was edited on 7/18 9:47 AM by Chris Peak
July 18, 2008
Top of The Pitt
With a lull in football recruiting over the past two weeks, leave it to Jamie Dixon and the basketball Panthers to bring some excitement into the lives of Pitt fans, as Dixon and the hoops program scored big this week with No. 9 power forward in the class. As a junior at NCA last season, he averaged 20 points and 11 rebounds per game.
To say Taylor’s commitment is huge is almost an understatement. Rivals.com basketball recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer said this about Taylor on the day he committed:
“He's having a really good summer. The things that really stand out with him are that he runs the court extremely well, he's got a very good nose for the ball as a rebounder, and he does a nice job finishing in traffic. And then at the LeBron camp he showed some shooting range, so he's got a diverse skill set when he's facing the basket.
"He gives you everything you want inside, and he's got the potential to expand his game to the perimeter. By the end of his college career he can be a major threat.
"He's a really god fit for Pitt. He's more than willing to defend and rebound and do the 'tough guy' stuff that symbolizes the Pitt program. And obviously it's great for Pitt to have added a five-star talent like him."
The key for Pitt in recruiting Taylor was oft-stated: Dixon and associate head coach Tom Herrion were on him longer than anyone else, and loyalty was one of the biggest factors, and while he had stated a desire to hold off on committing, it seems that he eventually decided to reward Pitt’s loyalty with a verbal pledge.
If you turn back the dial on Taylor for some history, you’ll see that his first mention on Rivals came during the May 2007 Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions. Taylor’s team from NCA won the 17-Under Select Championship, and the Villanova site had this to say about his performance:
“Taylor played some terrific basketball throughout the Bob Gibbons TOC. He is beginning to appear unanimously in the rankings of the Top 50 players in the nation in his class. He is athletic, skilled, and has a good understanding of the game.
Taylor loves to anticipate the offensive rebound and follow missed shots with dunks. He showed the ability to make quick, accurate outlet passes when fast-break opportunities were available. He had his shooting hand/thumb wrapped for his first two games on Saturday and it seemed to have a negative impact on his shooting. He normally has range on his jumper out to at least 15 feet. Taylor had six follow-up tip-ins and dunks on Saturday to match six lay-ups (some of them filling the lane in transition). His other FG was an impressive post move that he completed with a right hand hook shot in the middle of the lane. Taylor is communicative on both ends of the floor ? calling out screens on defense and unselfishly pointing out mismatches to his guards on offense. He willingly sets high ball screens, generally gets good rebounding position and can often be seen jumping out to use his considerable length to challenge enemy three-ball shooters. Taylor also runs the floor well. Expect his recruitment to pick up considerably in the coming months.”
Rivals.com basketball analyst Justin Young also saw Taylor at the Bob Gibbons TOC, and he had this to say:
“The light is starting to come on for the four-star 2009 prospect. The 6-foot-8 forward was intriguing in the spring evaluation period, and his confidence continues to grow. While his numbers weren't eye-popping (13.5 points per game), Taylor's play was noteworthy.
He has come a long way since the second half of the high school season. Taylor is now a high-major prospect. He's a beast on the boards (going for double digits more times than not) and quick with the pass up the floor for transition baskets.
Defensively, he still has work to do. With better body conditioning, he should improve his footwork and explosion. Overall, Taylor has a good understanding of his position. Odds are, the Big East and ACC will make him a priority prospect this July.”
Later in the summer of 2007, Taylor played in the Super Showcase AAU Tournament in Orlando, an event that featured Kevin Jones. Still, Taylor was a notable performer that day, wrote Rivals basketball analyst Brian Snow:
“Dante Taylor showed off his talent in the second half against the Pittsburgh Storm. Taylor, who finished with 22 points, could not be stopped on the glass and was simply unguardable for the Storm. He is not yet the most skilled big guy on the circuit, but with his length, athleticism, and potential there is no doubt Taylor is a high-major kid.”
By the time 2008 rolled around, Taylor compared Taylor to J.J. Hickson, the power forward who was drafted No. 19 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in this year’s NBA draft after spending just one year at N.C. State.
Then came the Boo Williams AAU tournament. Taylor played with Team Melo in the event and Young said the following:
“Team Melo was paced by Dante Taylor, who looks as good as any power forward in the nation.”
Jerry Meyer followed that with this report from Day Two of the Boo Williams:
“Dante Taylor has an impressive physique, runs the floor well and is potent around the basket, but there is still work to be done with his perimeter game. There is no denying he has a very high ceiling if he can make strides with his jumper and ability to attack the basket with the dribble.”
Young once again invoked the J.J. Hickson comparison when reporting from the 2008 Bob Gibbons TOC:
”Playing much like former McDonald's All-American and looking like him physically, Dante Taylor out of D.C. area team National Christian is doing his best J.J. Hickson impression. Taylor has put up big numbers in the Triangle and he's doing it with a physical brand of basketball inside. Ironically, Hickson has been on hand this weekend. The N.C. State forward has been preparing for the NBA Draft lately.”
The Villanova site also reported from the Gibbons TOC:
“In Friday night action at the Bob Gibbons TOC on the campus of NC State University, Dante Taylor posted superb numbers in a losing cause. The 6'8", Class of 2009 power forward exploded for 29 points, 16 rebounds, 4 blocked shots and an assist. His National Christian Academy squad didn't get enough production out of the backcourt to win but Taylor's play in the paint was impressive. He shot 12-17 from the floor and 5-8 from the free-throw line. Taylor is a strong finisher around the cup, an active, vocal defender and has a developing arsenal of low post moves. Taylor runs the floor well and displayed the ability to quickly turn rebounds into transition scoring opportunities. He does this both with quick outlet passes and with the ability to put the ball on the deck fairly well for a big man.”
As a culmination of Taylor’s improvement over the year since he burst onto the scene in the 2007 AAU circuit, Rivals150 came out at the beginning of July.
Next on tap for Taylor was the LeBron James Skills Academy, where he worked out with the likes of Jerry Meyer wrote:
“Taylor stepped up his game in a match up against Cousins. He got a couple buckets out running Cousins down the floor and was terrific rebounding the basketball. Taylor hit some midrange shots, scored with his back to the basket and was the beneficiary of a number of dump off passes from teammate John Wall.”
The next day, Meyer wrote:
“The five-star big man had another big game against Cousins, scoring close to 30 points while also rebounding at a high level. Certainly Taylor was the beneficiary of the dazzling passing of John Wall, but Taylor also manufactured points with some nifty interior moves while also knocking down a three-pointer.”
Never mind the fact that Taylor was playing with the No. 1 point guard in the country; he was regularly beating the No. 1 center in the country, and that kind of showing earned him a spot in the Academy’s top 2009 performers (along with the likes of Cousins and Wall):
“If Taylor established one thing, it is that he knows how to score on Cousins - who was on the receiving end of two offensive outbursts by Taylor. Also establishing himself as a solid five-star prospect, Taylor was a force around the basket as a scorer and rebounder. Very fast up and down the court, Taylor also exhibited expanded range with his jumper.”
And that brings us up to Taylor’s commitment. Taylor is easily the biggest recruit of the Jamie Dixon Era at Pitt, and this begs the eternal question:
Can Taylor be the player who puts Pitt over the top and helps the Panthers get past the Sweet Sixteen and into the Final Four?
There’s no way of knowing until he gets on campus next summer. And I can bet that seating will be even more scarce at the Greentree summer league once Taylor arrives.
Speaking of the summer league
The Pittsburgh Pro Am summer hoops league wrapped up its regular season on Wednesday, and you can find a schedule for the playoffs in Tony’s latest game report. The dominant team of the league has been the UPMC Cancer Institute squad which has, at various times, featured Pitt players Nasir Robinson, Gary McGhee, Jermaine Dixon, and Gilbert Brown, although not all of them have played all of the games. UPMC finished the seven-game season 6-1, and after a bye in the first round of the playoffs they will face the winner of FWG vs. PGT. Both FWG and PGT have 3-4 records despite fielding six Pitt players between them. The playoffs are next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
Quote of the week
Tying the Taylor news and the summer league together was this gem posted on the Basketball Board by thesingingriver. It was posted after Monday night’s games in Greentree:
”Of the many congratulations Jamie received was the comment:
"I heard you picked up a nice commitment tonight Jamie, a lot of the big guys were after him."
Jamie's response? Simple.
"We are one of the big guys."
Obviously Dixon can’t discuss recruits publicly, but that answer is way better than any scouting report he could have come up with.
Speaking of the big guys
Dixon was on ESPN Radio this week and he bemoaned the fact that Pitt is struggling to find a non-conference opponent for a December tilt at Madison Square Garden. Post-Gazette writer and part-time radio host Paul Zeise opined on the air that, given Pitt’s record at the Garden, it’s not surprising that most high-major teams would probably shy away from the matchup.
Since then, I’ve heard that Memphis and Alabama had each agreed to play Pitt at MSG, but both pulled out for reasons unknown. Maybe everyone saw what happened to Duke last year.
And more hoops
In less than a month we’ll have wall-to-wall football coverage, so we thought this week’s In the Pitt should go a little heavy on the hoops. Of course, when a big-time national prospect commits, that makes it easy to focus on the basketball side.
Still, with Taylor on board for the class of 2009, spots are filling up quick. Taylor joined four-star guard Darnell Dodson, who is at junior college in Florida. We figure they’ll go after one more, and the top group they’ll be shooting for looks to consist of these three guys:
Dominic Cheek (No. 11 overall; No. 4 shooting guard)
Thomas Robinson (No. 82 overall; No. 23 power forward)
Durand Scott (No. 51 overall; No. 12 shooting guard)
If they can get one of them, Pitt could have one of the best classes in the country and probably the best class Dixon has ever assembled. If Pitt doesn’t land one of those three, they’ll be looking at players like Will Coleman, who is at Miami Dade Community College with Dodson.
Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see if Taylor can help with Pitt’s recruitment of his NCA teammate, 2010 shooting guard prospect Will Barton. Barton is already a five-star prospect and ranked No. 24 overall and No. 6 among shooting guards.
A quick aside
Before we jump into football recruiting stuff, I do need to talk once again about upgrading to an annual subscription. Please bear with me.
The way I see it, nobody is cancelling their subscription now, not with football training camp coming up and the knock-out coverage we’ve got planned. There’s no better source for training camp coverage, so if you plan on staying on PantherLair.com for training camp and the season and LOI day and spring camp and the NCAA tournament and the summer prospect camps and the football recruiting push at the end of June…well, we’ve just come full circle. That’s a whole year of Pitt coverage on PantherLair.com that you’re not going to want to miss. So why pay more money on a month-to-month subscription when you can save cash and get a year of Sports Illustrated?
Here’s the gist: the annual is cheaper than what you’d pay if you bought 12 months, so if you upgrade, you save money and you get a year of SI, which is a $19.95 value. It’s like we’re giving away money.
Here’s the link to upgrade: UPGRADE HERE
That is all. Thanks for listening.
And now the football recruiting
It’s safe to say that football recruiting didn’t have the kind of excitement over the past week that we saw on the basketball side, but there’s still stuff to talk about.
Earlier this week we had articles on Weston (FL) Cypress Bay teammates would like to take an official visit to Pitt. Both players are linebackers, both have offers from Pitt, and like a lot of Florida prospects, they’ll probably both take their time on making a decision.
Meanwhile, Mike Farrell interviewed Montvale (NJ) St. Joseph’s running back/safety is down to Pitt and Syracuse. He’ll visit Pitt later this month (July 30th), and although he says the Panthers and the Orange are “about the same right now,” we’re hearing that he could very well pick Pitt on or shortly after his visit.
If that happens, Adams could be right in the middle of a mini-rush on Pitt commitments. Bronx (NY) offensive guard Fernando Diaz (aka The Bronx OG) visited Pitt on Thursday, and all indications point to him being committed by the end of the weekend (if not the end of Friday). Then you have Reistertown (MD) safety Carl Fleming, who is planning to visit Pitt on July 26th; that visit should also lead to a commitment.
Plus, Mike Farrell Brock DeCicco has scheduled an unofficial visit to Iowa on August 1st and a likely unofficial to Wisconsin the next day; after that, DeCicco plans to make a decision. We’re still pretty positive that it’s Pitt all the way.
So, Pitt could conceivably have four more commitments by the start of training camp (or shortly thereafter). That would give them nine total verbals, which is actually three more than they had pre-September last year. In fact, Pitt wouldn’t get to nine commitments in the class of 2008 until Greg Cross committed on December 9th (not counting the decommitments like Nic DiLillo, Chris Hayden-Martin, and Zach Stoudt).
Some other possible visitors
We’ve talked before about Jeff Hafley and New Jersey recruiting. It sounds like Hafley’s going to try to make a big push just before training camp starts and get a few of his Garden Stater’s in for some visits, too.
At the top of the list is Jersey City (NJ) St. Peter’s Prep offensive guard Khalil Wilkes. Wilkes visited Stanford last weekend and he is going to Wake Forest this weekend. His other two favorites are Pitt and Rutgers; he’s been to Rutgers plenty of times, and he’s looking to visit Pitt later this month or early in August.
Wilkes has said before that he wants to decide early, and I think Pitt has as good a shot as any of those other three.
The other bonus of getting a visit from Wilkes is that he would probably bring along St. Peter’s teammate Nyshier Oliver. Oliver is committed to Tennessee and hasn’t made any overt noise about looking around, but a visit is a visit.
We also think Pitt will try to get DT Isaac Holmes in for visits before training camp starts. I think the Hoboken teammates are leaning pretty heavily to Maryland, but Hafley has done a good job of keeping Pitt in the race.
Offers
This final note was spurred by the words of esteemed poster brettery. Perhaps it would be more specific to say the word of esteemed poster brettery. In response to a post about Kevin Adams narrowing his choices to Pitt and Syracuse and the likelihood of Adams picking Pitt, brettery responded with the simple exclamation of “Ugh!” which I took to mean a show of displeasure in the Panthers leading for another player with few, if any, impressive offers.
While I appreciate brettery’s brevity (sounds like a good band name; opening for the Clarks tonight, it’s Brettery’s Brevity!), I have to take at least some umbrage with the notion. I hate to be a blind faith Kool Aid drinker, but I really think this coaching staff has earned at least some trust from Pitt fans when it comes to player evaluation. I won’t go through the past three classes and try to figure out how many hits and misses they’ve had because, really, it’s too early to judge that kind of retrospective (after all, even that 2006 class is only entering its third season; some of those guys are only redshirt sophomores), but I do think they’ve done well enough to merit some trust.
Would it be nice if Pitt was beating Ohio State and Notre Dame and USC for recruits? Absolutely. I wish for that to happen, not necessarily from a fan’s perspective, but from the perspective that it’s much more fun to write about a kid picking Pitt over those other “big-time” programs. I remember having an AIM conversation with the guy at the Ohio State site a few days before Corey Brown’s press conference, and he guaranteed that Brown was picking Ohio State; I want to be the Rivals reporter who guarantees that the school he covers is getting the four or five-star prospect (really, it’s a pride thing; call me vain if you want).
But the fact is, beating “big-time” schools is really just cosmetic; in the end, it doesn’t matter as much as a number of other factors. For most (all) of us, the best we can hope to do in judging a recruiting class is try to watch the highlights online or maybe see a kid in person; beyond that, our powers of evaluation (I’m talking about guys like you and me here) are pretty limited. But the coaching staff has watched more film, seen them in person more, and done more evaluation. Sometimes the best indication of how good a player might be is whether or not he has an offer.
Now, I can see how that would tie into the question of offers; if a player is really all that, wouldn’t he have those “big-time” offers, too? I suppose there’s some merit in that. But the fact of the matter is, in guys like Adams and Fleming and Diaz and Devin Street and Dion Lewis and Juantez Hollins and Cory King, the Pitt coaches saw what they were looking for.
Is it more exciting to get four and five-star players? Of course it is (just look at Pitt basketball), and I think Wannstedt will get a few of those before the Letters of Intent are signed. But for now, we just have to get by on the assumption that this staff is finding talented players they want. That’s the best we’ve got right now.
And by the way, on Adams, I’ve heard at least one college scout say it’s really surprising that he doesn’t have more offers.
Thanks for joining this week’s edition of In The Pitt. Since this feature is still in its early stages, it’s safe to assume that the project will be in flux for a few weeks as we strive to find the best format. Feel free to e-mail chrispeak1@comcast.net with any suggestions, feedback, or other input.
This post was edited on 7/18 9:47 AM by Chris Peak
