Just me thinking out loud, so I am sure I will leave an item or two out. I know there is a lot of concern and even some anger at the current state of affairs. I will try to address that.
First of all, before I go through the issues - Xavier Johnson, Trey McGowens, and Gerald Drumgoole are really good players. Xavier and Trey are at another level, but I really like Gerald. I put him ahead of Toney, who is also a nice prospect. That is four talented players in two consecutive classes, coming out of basketball hell. Now part of the problem is how the three 2018 kids ended up here, but we can discuss that. It remains relevant.
The list of issues is long. They go back years. This slide started well before Stallings. The recruiting and issues started under Dixon somewhere in the 2012ish range. Since then, it was basically the perfect storm. Some bad luck, a shift in philosophy, conference change, etc. Then came Kevin Stallings. The program was at a critical care point, and then the Stallings hire pulled the plug. In this sport, momentum can come and go before a big time coach can even see it. Once the momentum has been lost at a non-blue blood, it's gone. The blue bloods can recover much quicker. The good news for a program like Pitt is, it can also come back. Just takes a little longer and the margin for error is smaller.
Lack of NBA talent, the last 3-4 years, coaching changes, apparel change, and more have all played a part. Capel had to pull off a couple of miracles in order to win three conference games this season. That is where things were at.
To look at this staff, they really lucked out last year. Of course they deserve some credit for it, but Xavier Johnson falling out of the sky was a big break. He was all but headed to UConn but they were out of scholarships. Pitt took advantage. They also took advantage of two re-classifications. To a school like Pitt, those are unlikely. It all came together and ended up being a nice class. It is very difficult to build a program with re-classes and decommitments/transfers. 2019 is more of a true reveal, so it is a bit scary. Of course they have not had the time to develop the relationships in that class, but I don't buy that as an excuse. Coaches change jobs now more than ever, and the length of the relationships don't matter as much any more. The other scary part, is that usually new coaches have their best classes as soon as they get to a new location. They get a reset, there is excitement, etc. Last year was so abbreviated that I really consider 2019 the first year.
Jeff Capel knew that Pitt would be more difficult to recruit to than Duke. Not sure why people ever mention that. Also, not everyone is cheating, or the reason they lose a recruit is because the other program paid. That doesn't fly. Now, did Capel underestimate the difference between Duke and Pitt? It's possible but I don't know the answer to that. Maybe he did, if you look at the assistant coaching hires.
I think the main issue right now is that it is not a particularly impressive staff. Sure, three former head coaches. But they are three former head coaches that were available. Also, due to different reasons, they all came from a place where they did not have any direct links to bring a player with them. Those are the easy ones. Capel was out of basketball and doesn't have much experience on the trail. Milan Brown came from a different level and did not have any ties. O'Toole is also coming from across the country and has a wild resume. Did Jeff focus on the head coaching angle and film/season prep too much? At the expense of recruiting. I believe so, but that is just my opinion. All of the pressure is on Jeff to recruit here. To this point, he is not getting many balls placed on the tee. You are also talking about a coach that may have been the best assistant recruiter in the country the last 4-5 years in Jeff Capel. Recruiting and selling just doesn't go away. So what gives? Pitt is not that tough of a spot to recruit to, despite the listed issues above. That is the difficult question. Even if his staff lacks recruiting power and he is at a lesser school, you would think that he would still produce better results this offseason just handling everything himself. Something is a bit off right now. I don't think the answer to this question is a simple one.
To make things even more puzzling, you are talking about two guards that are rising sophomores that are at least on the NBA radar but could be forced to stay 3-4 years. With available playing time in front of you in the ACC to play with them. It has still been beyond a challenge. That should be enough to sell.
Now, a lot of these "misses" are not bad. They never had a shot at Oscar. Same with Morton. These are the type of recruiting losses that really hurt, but were pretty much unavoidable. There are some others that hurt that are their fault. Losing a Christian Brown, Seborn, Gantt, Robinson-Nkhamhoua are the ones that hurt to me. A lot of these misses hurt perception-wise, but are not actual misses at the end of the day. When you consider the talent.
The other problem with 2019 is that they wasted a lot of time. Even though it wasn't much, ten minutes was too much to spend on Cole Anthony. They flew O'Toole over to Ireland for the Igheborn kid. They spent too much time out of their wheelhouse in this cycle. That needs to change until the actual product improves.
All hope is not lost. As always in recruiting, it is who you end up with rather than who you miss on. The starting backcourt in the Western Conference Finals is comprised of four of the best guards in the world - from Lehigh, Davidson, Washington State, and Weber State. Sometimes you catch a break. You have to evaluate the prospect, and not the ranking and starts. It can be because of scouting and evaluation, or just simply luck sometimes. You can swing and miss at a position several times, and end up with a better player. Just how it goes.
The good news is, they have 4-5 good players in the program right now. Even though people are frustrated, it is still positive and there is belief. He will get there. Jeff just needs to adapt and get comfortable with the program. The focus has to be centralized. Go after who you want early and be aggressive, while being reasonable. It is okay not to be mentioned with the top 10 guys. That is years away. You have to prove a product on the floor first here. He will figure it out.
First of all, before I go through the issues - Xavier Johnson, Trey McGowens, and Gerald Drumgoole are really good players. Xavier and Trey are at another level, but I really like Gerald. I put him ahead of Toney, who is also a nice prospect. That is four talented players in two consecutive classes, coming out of basketball hell. Now part of the problem is how the three 2018 kids ended up here, but we can discuss that. It remains relevant.
The list of issues is long. They go back years. This slide started well before Stallings. The recruiting and issues started under Dixon somewhere in the 2012ish range. Since then, it was basically the perfect storm. Some bad luck, a shift in philosophy, conference change, etc. Then came Kevin Stallings. The program was at a critical care point, and then the Stallings hire pulled the plug. In this sport, momentum can come and go before a big time coach can even see it. Once the momentum has been lost at a non-blue blood, it's gone. The blue bloods can recover much quicker. The good news for a program like Pitt is, it can also come back. Just takes a little longer and the margin for error is smaller.
Lack of NBA talent, the last 3-4 years, coaching changes, apparel change, and more have all played a part. Capel had to pull off a couple of miracles in order to win three conference games this season. That is where things were at.
To look at this staff, they really lucked out last year. Of course they deserve some credit for it, but Xavier Johnson falling out of the sky was a big break. He was all but headed to UConn but they were out of scholarships. Pitt took advantage. They also took advantage of two re-classifications. To a school like Pitt, those are unlikely. It all came together and ended up being a nice class. It is very difficult to build a program with re-classes and decommitments/transfers. 2019 is more of a true reveal, so it is a bit scary. Of course they have not had the time to develop the relationships in that class, but I don't buy that as an excuse. Coaches change jobs now more than ever, and the length of the relationships don't matter as much any more. The other scary part, is that usually new coaches have their best classes as soon as they get to a new location. They get a reset, there is excitement, etc. Last year was so abbreviated that I really consider 2019 the first year.
Jeff Capel knew that Pitt would be more difficult to recruit to than Duke. Not sure why people ever mention that. Also, not everyone is cheating, or the reason they lose a recruit is because the other program paid. That doesn't fly. Now, did Capel underestimate the difference between Duke and Pitt? It's possible but I don't know the answer to that. Maybe he did, if you look at the assistant coaching hires.
I think the main issue right now is that it is not a particularly impressive staff. Sure, three former head coaches. But they are three former head coaches that were available. Also, due to different reasons, they all came from a place where they did not have any direct links to bring a player with them. Those are the easy ones. Capel was out of basketball and doesn't have much experience on the trail. Milan Brown came from a different level and did not have any ties. O'Toole is also coming from across the country and has a wild resume. Did Jeff focus on the head coaching angle and film/season prep too much? At the expense of recruiting. I believe so, but that is just my opinion. All of the pressure is on Jeff to recruit here. To this point, he is not getting many balls placed on the tee. You are also talking about a coach that may have been the best assistant recruiter in the country the last 4-5 years in Jeff Capel. Recruiting and selling just doesn't go away. So what gives? Pitt is not that tough of a spot to recruit to, despite the listed issues above. That is the difficult question. Even if his staff lacks recruiting power and he is at a lesser school, you would think that he would still produce better results this offseason just handling everything himself. Something is a bit off right now. I don't think the answer to this question is a simple one.
To make things even more puzzling, you are talking about two guards that are rising sophomores that are at least on the NBA radar but could be forced to stay 3-4 years. With available playing time in front of you in the ACC to play with them. It has still been beyond a challenge. That should be enough to sell.
Now, a lot of these "misses" are not bad. They never had a shot at Oscar. Same with Morton. These are the type of recruiting losses that really hurt, but were pretty much unavoidable. There are some others that hurt that are their fault. Losing a Christian Brown, Seborn, Gantt, Robinson-Nkhamhoua are the ones that hurt to me. A lot of these misses hurt perception-wise, but are not actual misses at the end of the day. When you consider the talent.
The other problem with 2019 is that they wasted a lot of time. Even though it wasn't much, ten minutes was too much to spend on Cole Anthony. They flew O'Toole over to Ireland for the Igheborn kid. They spent too much time out of their wheelhouse in this cycle. That needs to change until the actual product improves.
All hope is not lost. As always in recruiting, it is who you end up with rather than who you miss on. The starting backcourt in the Western Conference Finals is comprised of four of the best guards in the world - from Lehigh, Davidson, Washington State, and Weber State. Sometimes you catch a break. You have to evaluate the prospect, and not the ranking and starts. It can be because of scouting and evaluation, or just simply luck sometimes. You can swing and miss at a position several times, and end up with a better player. Just how it goes.
The good news is, they have 4-5 good players in the program right now. Even though people are frustrated, it is still positive and there is belief. He will get there. Jeff just needs to adapt and get comfortable with the program. The focus has to be centralized. Go after who you want early and be aggressive, while being reasonable. It is okay not to be mentioned with the top 10 guys. That is years away. You have to prove a product on the floor first here. He will figure it out.
