New Commit
- Thread starter TheSpecialSauce
- Start date
He is not a transfer.
I am happy to have him, but As I said in another thread, freshman like Blake’s, Santos and Johnson (I think) are not likely to be immediate contributors.
We need starters and players to play heavy minutes.
These guys may surprise, but chances are good they don’t.
That said, I am not going to turn my nose up at a 6-7 shooter, especially with 6 to 8 scholarships to fill.
Last edited:
Pitt i
Pitt isn’t going to transform their roster into a contender with transfers . They need young guys with upside with a few transfers sprinkled in .
Great news! I have not seen any of his tape. However, he has a very impressive offer sheet for a three-star prospect. Perhaps we got a “diamond in the rough” since apparently his recruitment cooled off after an ACL surgery?
Glad to get the 2021 class kicked off!
Glad to get the 2021 class kicked off!
I'll put his tape on here. There's like 10 long clips by the same people who did Femi's tape.
He's basically not a great athlete but looks like a real real good shooter and I'm guessing his defense will be tons of work.
"NATE SANTOS" https://www.thehoophustle.com/natesantos
Scroll down to where it says highlights and there's tons of them.
You are correct, we still need bigs that can step in and play. That being said, we have plenty of room for a long shooter to develop.
Looks to me like a better built Cam Johnson out of high school. (Not saying he’s an NBA player!)
Well, you actually kinda have to do that now. Every year, 25% of your team is going to transfer. Pitt is going to have key guys leave after the 2022 season. That's just the way college basketball is now.
Until Pitt has a team capable of making the tournament no high end transfer is going to pick the Panthers . Need to have most of the pieces in place and Pitts not there .
And once we are there, we SHOULD have less kids transferring out and less of a need for high end transfers. Its kind of a chicken/egg scenario. Winning sets everything in motion and things become more self-sufficient afterwards. But getting to that point is a very heavy lift. Which makes what Howland was able to build here in a few short years all the more impressive.
Agreed on all of this and Howland started with some talent already on the roster. I think a lot of people forget, not only did Capel not have a Roster, the previous staff had used up all of our official visits and left Capel and Co. short on OV's as well which made this rebuild even more difficult.
I am by no means saying this job was an easy one to take over especially since Pitt is probably the 10-12th best job in the ACC, but at what point does a season no HS senior knows about from a coach that no HS senior knows who it is stop being an excuse for what’s going on now? How is going 9-29 in conference and earning a lucrative contract extension with absolutely no one beating down your door to hire you not a dream scenario for a coach?
Do you guys believe Joe Dooley is blaming losing Nate Santos to Pitt on Jeff Lebo to ECU’s boosters?
I think it is on Capel now and he needs to win. Once we start to win I think we start rolling, just addressing the first class again and how it was put together and why I feel he should have 5-6 years to fix Pitt before his seat starts getting warm.
Well put. Also nice work as well giving Howland appropriate credit for building the program into what it culminated in under Dixon. Howland was the best pure basketball coach Pitt has had in my lifetime. One of the smartest coach hiring moves Pitt ever made was to hire Howland’s #1 assistant and keep continuity, versus hitting reset by hiring an outside coach when the rebuild was already complete and a strong program already in place.
I’d take Ben back at Pitt in a hot second, regardless of age etc. He’s 10 times the coach the current guy is.
Only nut jobs want him to be fired before he gets a 5th year
We sure do. Regardless of recruiting ranking or sub-D1 athleticism if this guy can shoot the bottom out of it from the wing he’s more than welcome. We need about 5 more guys who can shoot lights out to go with an athletic big and maybe we can get somewhere.
It's funny that the @gary2 of world has his panties all bunched up over a roster that's not set when there's a good chance that next season can be his most talented roster.
I think the backcourt is already his best.
Champagnie and Reid would make the front court his best.
For reference, pure offensive creators in the country last year according to advanced stats has XJ as the 8th best creator of offense... LAST SEASON. His “worst” at Pitt. He also led the ACC in assists. Our guard situation is NOT better with an unproven sophomore, a 1 trick pony and a guy who couldn’t get off the bench prior to XJ leaving.
If he goes 3-17 and his 2022 class sucks, why give him a 5th?
I think obviously we wanted XJ to find his way and become the leader we needed him to be. He has an explosive skill set.
It's a big question mark.
And it could've been coaches or his dad or ego or whatever but it imploded and it sucks.
But i personally see Femi as a long term upgrade and have been bullish on him from the beginning especially if he gets his horrid foul shooting together.
The point guard brings intangible intelligence and leadership to the team and that's for whatever reason we couldnt quite get from X and I definitely think we'll see with Femi plus a high end defensive talent.
It's all speculation and we obviously need players around him.
They need a full team and I've never felt like we've got there yet.
Because the job will be viewed like Penn State basketball. It will be a place where coaches go to die. If Pitt forces out their most successful coach in history because he ONLY made 11/13 NCAA’s, then forces out a coach after 2 years, then forces out a coach after 4 years after just rewarding him with a contract extension Brandin will be the ONLY coach interested in taking it and we will have to pay him about a million to do it and cut the assistant salary pool in about half.
You totally ignore my point on how we got to NOW:
Capel had talent. He could not control, mold or maintain it.
Why do you believe he would control, mold and maintain a new batch of talent, “assuming” he secures one?
Last edited:
I don’t disagree and maybe some of the discontent of the Johnson’s is exactly that as well. No big to play with. No knock down shooters. Just guys exactly like X with flaws that don’t make him show off his skills. He is currently the #1 playmaker in the portal (hence Baylor’s very real interest in him) and will flourish if he goes there. I don’t see how it ends any different with Femi unless recruiting picks up and quickly.
Yeah obviously that is important.
I kind of hope X does well.
He was passionate and i think a team where he literally will be laughed at for having an ego is where he'd benefit most from.
If he doesn't show improvement next year, what's the point?
The game is changing. Coaches who can turnover a roster in short order and make the pieces fit and mold them into a team one a yearly basis are the ones that are going to have the most success. We should know without a doubt this time next year if he is up to that or not. He's proven throughout his career development and team chemistry aren't his strong suits. That won't miraculously change in year 5.
You tell me to wait and see what the new roster will look like.
When it comes to Justin and Reid,I am giving you the same advice. Wait until you are sure they will be on the roster, before proclaiming how good the front court will be.
Right NOW, the front court is Collier and Max. Any predictions on the performance of that?
Penn State is a great job actually. The pay sucks, but on the other hand you don’t even need to make the tourney and you get 8-9 years of rope.
You have a weird admiration of dictatorships?
Again by your own logic, 2/3rds of the college coaches can't control, mold and maintain a new batch of talent. Is that on those 200 other coaches a well?
