Non-conference schedule announced
- Thread starter JD1976
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If he didn't then you'd be complaining about the talent during the season . You could be the only one who didn't recognize that Pitts roster that was left after graduation couldn't compete in the Patriot League .
If he were a good recruiter wouldn't he have gotten good players for this season? The future was wide open, as Tom Petty sang. It should never have been easier. Literally the entire team was getting replenished. Pick a position, a new guy could step right into it. Yet he still hasn't been able to complete a roster.
Rest assured i don't blame only him. Perhaps i blame him the least. Recruiting takes a village. HC is the most visible, yet perhaps the least involved. Hustling, sleazy, greasy assistants do the dirty work, boosters fund the bag money and perks, administration rubber stamps when needed but otherwise stays the hell out of the way.
Stallings in particular needs all of that to succeed, since he lacks talent and charisma and reputable name. He had some of it at Vanderbilt (an SEC school, remember). So had a bit of success getting guys he normally shouldn't. Stallings is here now doing about all he's capable ... haphazardly giving out offers ... But the rest of the Pitt recruiting village has its doors locked shut and windows boarded up. As always.
What a competitive team to me means is , a middle of the pack conference team with anywhere between 7-10 W's ( conference ) and a chance to earn an occasional NCAA berth . If your waiting for Pitt to challenge UNC and Duke and Louisville etc your watching the wrong program . I've said this before , Pitt didn't hire KS to win conference and national championships there isn't enough administrative support for that level of success .
I'll complain about losing .
Replacing patriot league players with patriot league players isn't progress ...
And certainly not talent enough to compensate for his poor coaching
We'll see how the players are when the games begin.
Wish the stinking summer league was up this year.
Tons of new players I want to see at Pitt and RMU.
IMO, the reason Stallings has Pitt where it is is because--
1. He alienated nearly all of last year's team with his demeanor--especially by publicly placing blame on the players for every loss. This ultimately had to be, but perhaps not the only one, a major reason Cam Johnson ultimately transferred to UNC (i.e., the combo of Stallings blame game and the unnecessary total destruction of the remaining roster left him little choice with his NBA dreams).
2. Stallings appears to have no patience for developing younger players with potential. Had he been coaching back then he probably would have run off Talib Zanna after Talib's frosh year. He ost a well regarded guard recruit when he ran off the kids HS teammate (Manigault)--no doubt because the two had a conversation about Stallings.
We should not be where we are. The total roster destruction and rebuild with parts that aren't any (or much) better wasn't the way to go. A better coaching hire would have only partly revamped the roster and brought in some new help to fill glaring gaps and not alienated the players. IMO, Stallings has sadly, as the old proverb says--"thrown out the baby with the bath water."
1. He alienated nearly all of last year's team with his demeanor--especially by publicly placing blame on the players for every loss. This ultimately had to be, but perhaps not the only one, a major reason Cam Johnson ultimately transferred to UNC (i.e., the combo of Stallings blame game and the unnecessary total destruction of the remaining roster left him little choice with his NBA dreams).
2. Stallings appears to have no patience for developing younger players with potential. Had he been coaching back then he probably would have run off Talib Zanna after Talib's frosh year. He ost a well regarded guard recruit when he ran off the kids HS teammate (Manigault)--no doubt because the two had a conversation about Stallings.
We should not be where we are. The total roster destruction and rebuild with parts that aren't any (or much) better wasn't the way to go. A better coaching hire would have only partly revamped the roster and brought in some new help to fill glaring gaps and not alienated the players. IMO, Stallings has sadly, as the old proverb says--"thrown out the baby with the bath water."
If Pitt DOESN'T pursue greatness, why bother? We had #1 seeds twice in the last 8 years.....why NOT make that the goal?? (If you get enough of those, you'll have a shot at the brass ring. Blair over Hansborough in 2009??)
Do you think Narduzzi only wants 8-9 wins/year? If so, fire him.
It's so weird for people to talk about how Pitt is now destined for mediocrity after the annual meltdowns whenever Dixon would lose early in March.
1. Cam would have left the program no matter who was the head coach, including Dixon. After reviewing his options and interested schools; he moved on to much greener pastures rather than attempt to carry a team who was facing another losing season. A no brainer. Had nothing to do with Stallings.
2. Nothing but biased conjecture.
3. The Dixon leftovers were not good. I saw enough last year to say with confidence their developmental ceiling was not high. There is evidence to support that opinion where there is none to support the opposite. I have no doubt had Stallings kept the roster intact the team would stink. And no doubt you and a few others would be bitching that Stallings was doing a poor job of developing them.
At least the current group is like a box of chocolates.
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I'd personally love to see Pitt fighting for national championships I just don't think it's important enough for those that matter that it's a realistic goal . To win and play with the big boys on a consistent basis you need to have the cash and willing to spend it ......doesn't sound like Pitt to me .
Ps ..every coaches goal should be to win every game just much more likely at Alabama
Nothing definitive, just applying common sense. He is obviously looking to enter the NBA and has eligibility to showcase his talent. And he won't here getting buried with the losses and no apparent post season play. If Pitt were a final four caliber team this year, do you honestly think he would have moved on? I don't.
I do not think #1 is necessarily true. In fact, from my understanding, maybe not true at all.
Please note that I did not claim that Cam would have definitely stayed. I just indicated I believed Stallings coaching "persona" and his "atomic bombing" of the roster (a lesser degree of destruction would have been more appropriate, IMO), was likely a factor. Had a coach not hated by the players who took a less drastic approach to fixing Pitt's ills been in charge, I believe we would have had decent hope for post-season play this year and, as a result, Cam might have not felt so compelled to transfer for NBA exposure.
This is, of course, just my opinion but I am sticking with it. IMHO, Stallings is a "loose cannon" who will never get us where I think we can and should be regularly (upper 1/2 to 1/3 of ACC).
This is, of course, just my opinion but I am sticking with it. IMHO, Stallings is a "loose cannon" who will never get us where I think we can and should be regularly (upper 1/2 to 1/3 of ACC).
Do we really know how all the players feel /felt about him ?
Chris Jones is on his coaching staff isn't he ?
None of these guys were recruited by KS so neither he nor the players choose this arrangement .
Did he have a reputation at Vanderbilt as a coach who had issues with his players ?
The roster moves other than Cam were about PT .
Most guys not getting PT aren't going to like to play for any coach .
Why did Cam choose UNC over his old coach who without taking a chance on him Cam would've ended up playing at Rice ?
Cam staying or going is irrelevant with current roster . Would they be better sure , but not enough to make any significant difference .
Definitely, definitely, definitely not true. Might it have happened? Possibly. Would the team have been better coached last season and be returning a better team this year, if Dixon was still around? I don't think there is a single person who would say no to that. If those things happen, does Cam leave for sure? I definitely don't think it is a sure thing. Especially considering he had TCU on his list of options and Dixon gave him his shot.
What kind of coach do we have? What facts and results can you point to, to support your opinion?
Everyone has elaborated and disagrees with your suggestion it was a "no-brainer" "Cam would have left, no matter who the coach was" last year and this year. Everyone.
Once again how do you know that he didn't try to add a player and was just unsuccessful . I'm not defending him , but everyone seems to know things that weren't made public .
When you are a coordinated and physically strong 6-11 and can rebound and block shots that says wow to the NBA. Shorter guys are a bigger risk to NBA scouts. Your analogy is weak.
He kept all the recruits Jamie had in the class and left a spot open. He had months and months to fill the extra spot, create more spots, or decide those 2016 recruits weren't the right fit and replace them.
So, the options are: he didn't recruit anyone to even fill 1 spot, let alone make his own/different choices for the spots that were filled by Dixon OR he was such a terrible recruiter, he couldn't fill even 1 empty slot (not to mention the recruits he decided, within months, were incapable of contributing or developing) for a team that had clear holes.
Nothing needs to be "public" (these things are pretty much "public" anyways because websites like this follow both the coaching staff involvement and the recruits) to understand whether the staff is recruiting or not recruiting. And, if they are recruiting, they will get someone. Look our 2017 class. It is full of questionable recruits who had few other options, so we weren't being overly selective either early or late.
A bigger risk, perhaps, but there are NBA scouts at literally every single Pitt game, even the ones against Podunk State. No matter how bad Pitt is next season, if there is someone on the team with NBA talent rest assured that NBA teams will know all about him.
They'll still be there. It's their job. If we are completely awful and no one is showing any inkling that they might be an NBA talent will as many scouts show up? Of course not. Will individual scouts be there as often? Again, of course not. But there are scouts that monitor pretty much all of every big schools' games. Because it's their job. A regional scout that has western PA as their area (or part of it) are still going to show up. Their job doesn't change based on how good we are (or in this case, aren't).
I agree he's absolutely the worst coach in all of college bb . How did he ever last this long ? I'd bet that Kithcart ,Manguilt , Wilson ,Clark and Nix will play in the NBA . Maybe he should've got the next recruit that JD could've signed so he could've added another worthless recruit . I'm not a fan of his , but he has a few yrs to show what he can do here . Last yr showed that he wasn't the right coach for JDs players and guess what JD wasn't such a good coach with those players either and w/o JRob I don't think last season turns out much better with JD at the helm .
Talent is talent 6'11'' 6' 8" or 6'2" If your an NBA player you could play at Duquesne or Robert Morris or France or Brazil etc and they'll find you . There's nothing except his stroke that's NBA with Cam IMO . We shall see .
I agree that Dixon would not have fared much better without that PG. I do think he would have gotten maybe 2-3 more gritty wins out of them and possibly an NIT bid at 18-15 or 19-14.
You do know that Pittsburghers likely will be booing Stallings by mid season if there are only 6-7 OOC wins and he is 0-3 or so in ACC games.
It will be extremely embarrassing if the TV commentators start mentioning booing. Many (most?) Pittsburghers have little if any patience with losing teams. You maybe one of the few with patience enough to continue to believe Stallings deserves more time at that point (assuming it has gotten that bad in terms of Ws and Ls).
IMO Stallings is on a far shorter leash with most fans than with the athletic department and that will motivate the AD to shorten his stay if persistent booing should ensue.
I think Dixon also would have added a decent PG transfer who could have played right away. I think that would have probably ended up getting us as many as 4 or 5 more wins when you combine it with Dixon being a much, much better coach and not alienating the entire roster.
He still hasn't filled in the spots he cleared AND he chose to keep all that dead weight and add absolutely NO ONE last year. That didn't and doesn't make you concerned?
I can't tell you why he didn't fill the last spot. Yes, it's on him that he kept the 3 incoming recruits. Last year was his first year and there were 4 upperclassmen. It wasn't the year to get rid of players.
Once he saw firsthand what he had left, there was no other option. They lost absolutely nothing outside of Cam. And yes, part of that is on him for signing Dixon's recruits.
I find your speculation of Dixon signing a "decent" PG transfer (after March) who was going to add 5 wins dubious considering he couldn't recruit a "decent" PG his last 4 classes.
Once he saw firsthand what he had left, there was no other option. They lost absolutely nothing outside of Cam. And yes, part of that is on him for signing Dixon's recruits.
I find your speculation of Dixon signing a "decent" PG transfer (after March) who was going to add 5 wins dubious considering he couldn't recruit a "decent" PG his last 4 classes.
It won't be the booing, it will be the lack of revenue from an empty Pete for multiple years that will shorten his stay.
