ADVERTISEMENT

Our PWO are now better than our previous scholie recruits

President Stache

Heisman Candidate
Dec 4, 2010
7,890
6,255
113
You have to think Aiken Jr gets a full ride soon.

But... just wow... how times have changed at Pitt in a short time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Teh Teh
You have to think Aiken Jr gets a full ride soon.

But... just wow... how times have changed at Pitt in a short time.

I wouldn't go that far. Kham Davis had 0 D1 offers but sure looked like he had the potential to be a major D1 bench player eventually. And say what you want about Chukwuka but he is a legitimate NEC-level reserve. We don't know that Aiken is that yet. He might be.
 
As a preferred walk-on this is a no brainer add.

I have never seen him play one second of basketball so I won't pretend to know whether or not he is any good.

But there is really no risk. If he develops into a good player you add to him at some point to scholarship. If he doesn't develop into a good player then he stays a walk on.
 
I wonder if he could be getting other forms of scholarship money from Pitt & could stay a b-ball walkon in the future?
 
If he was getting an academic scholarship of some sort Jeff Capel would have needed to pretend like he was unaware of him coming to Pitt until after he was enrolled.

Not sure how it applies to University employee's children or if that's the case here.

I wonder if he could be getting other forms of scholarship money from Pitt & could stay a b-ball walkon in the future?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ronnyp91
If he was getting an academic scholarship of some sort Jeff Capel would have needed to pretend like he was unaware of him coming to Pitt until after he was enrolled.

Not sure how it applies to University employee's children or if that's the case here.
It all depends on whether or not he was "Recruited". If recruited then no matter if there is Tuition benefit it would count toward total scholarships. Most cases they are able to keep them off that Recruit list. Since it is a head count sport the recruited employee kids count against the total scholarships. It save $$$ but not a scholarship. Which is why they don't actually recruit and offer these kids.
 
Ralph Willard’s son never counted towards the max # . Does CA the dad work for Pitt or the tv/radio network ?
 
The rules have changed.
That rule has been around for quite some time going back to at least the late 80s. So Willard's son would not have not counted.

Employee Dependent Tuition Benefits (parent must be employed for five years) count against the Individuals total aid they can receive but do not count against team limits. As long as they are not a recruited athlete they are not counted.
 
Last edited:
You have to think Aiken Jr gets a full ride soon.

But... just wow... how times have changed at Pitt in a short time.

Well, obviously (I hope) this is mostly tongue-in-cheek. If he is totally healthy, and over the injury, then he is a steal. If not, then, PWO is about right. At any rate, sure is good to see a legacy come here.
 
By the way, just saw he is a 3 star, so yeah, you could say he was right up there with the average Stalling recruit
 
What difference does it make?
Being injured and not playing most of his senior season most likely affected his rankings . Plus there’s no downside to his coming to Pitt , hopefully he’ll develop into a useful player and earn a scholarship down the road .
 
Last edited:
Being injured and not playing most of his senior season most likely affected his rankings .


No, not playing most of his senior season is a fantasy that some people are building up in the hope that they can make him out to be better than what he is. In fact he DID play most of their games this season. He's walking on at Pitt not because he had some devastating injury that completely wiped out his senior season so everyone lost interest in him, he's walking on at Pitt because he wasn't any better a player as a senior (or a junior, if you prefer) than he was as a freshman. Most players make big improvements over that time. He didn't.

And I never said there was any downside to him coming to Pitt. For a walk on he actually IS highly ranked at 349. The key part of that phrase being "for a walkon". Is it possible that he comes in and gets a lot of playing time and plays well for us? Sure it is. It's certainly happened before. But people who are expecting that, who are trying to make Aiken into something that he is not, are likely in for rude awakening. And then they'll be pissed off at the kid for not living up to a standard that they set that was completely unrealistic in the first place, as if that was his fault.
 
No, not playing most of his senior season is a fantasy that some people are building up in the hope that they can make him out to be better than what he is. In fact he DID play most of their games this season. He's walking on at Pitt not because he had some devastating injury that completely wiped out his senior season so everyone lost interest in him, he's walking on at Pitt because he wasn't any better a player as a senior (or a junior, if you prefer) than he was as a freshman. Most players make big improvements over that time. He didn't.

And I never said there was any downside to him coming to Pitt. For a walk on he actually IS highly ranked at 349. The key part of that phrase being "for a walkon". Is it possible that he comes in and gets a lot of playing time and plays well for us? Sure it is. It's certainly happened before. But people who are expecting that, who are trying to make Aiken into something that he is not, are likely in for rude awakening. And then they'll be pissed off at the kid for not living up to a standard that they set that was completely unrealistic in the first place, as if that was his fault.
There is no downside so why would anyone be “ pissed off “ he’s not taking up a scholarship . Let’s hope for the best .
 
There is no downside so why would anyone be “ pissed off “ he’s not taking up a scholarship . Let’s hope for the best .


If he turns out to be a standard issue walkon you don't think that the people who have already posted these last couple of days wondering if he will be on scholarship later this year or next year will be disappointed?

It's as if you've never posted here before.
 
If he turns out to be a standard issue walkon you don't think that the people who have already posted these last couple of days wondering if he will be on scholarship later this year or next year will be disappointed?

It's as if you've never posted here before.
Why would anyone be upset if a walk on doesn’t become a valuable player . Now if he went to another school as a walk on say like WVU or PSU and became an asset then I could understand people being upset if Pitt was interested .
There’s plenty of irrational posters with unrealistic expectations of the lair , but there’s also plenty of reasonable posters and I doubt that very few of the former have high expectations from a walk on.
 
Not really. I hope we are recruiting much, much better players to be on scholarship.
That’s why he wasn’t offered a scholarship in the first place , but what if he’s a total surprise . I’m rooting for the kid .
 
Best walk ons ever.
1. Scottie Pippen, Central Arkansas
2. Jeff Hornacek, Iowa State
3. Andre Drummond, UConn
4. Adam Emmenecker, Drake
5. Jim Boeheim, Syracuse


6. Cameron Mills, Kentucky
7. C.J. Lee, Michigan
8. Clayton Hanson, Wisconsin

9. Jarrod Polson, Kentucky
10. J.D Simpson, Duke

"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
GO PITT & CSU Rams!


 
  • Like
Reactions: Teh Teh
Wasn’t Andre Drummond one of the biggest recruits in the country coming out of high school?
 
Wasn’t Andre Drummond one of the biggest recruits in the country coming out of high school?
Yes. He was a consensus top 2 player and then went to prep and then UConn and #9 in the draft. Not even remotely close to being a walk on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sherepower
Not likely that a walk on can redshirt his first year then get offered a scholarship.

There are people who have posted that they expect him to be on scholarship by next season. And you don't think that's unreasonably high expectations for a walk on?
 
Best walk ons ever.
1. Scottie Pippen, Central Arkansas
2. Jeff Hornacek, Iowa State
3. Andre Drummond, UConn
4. Adam Emmenecker, Drake
5. Jim Boeheim, Syracuse

6. Cameron Mills, Kentucky
7. C.J. Lee, Michigan
8. Clayton Hanson, Wisconsin
9. Jarrod Polson, Kentucky
10. J.D Simpson, Duke

"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
GO PITT & CSU Rams!

Well, somebody already outed Drummond as not a walk-on, but I'd think any legitimate list should include Pitt's Willie Kelly (key contributor on that Billy Knight team).
 
Well, somebody already outed Drummond as not a walk-on, but I'd think any legitimate list should include Pitt's Willie Kelly (key contributor on that Billy Knight team).
I have no clue where Buffet got that list, but at least some of the inclusions are laughable. Mills averaged less than 5ppg basically doing nothing, but shooting 3s. Polson averaged less than 2ppg! Adam Emmenecker played at Drake and only averaged 3.5ppg for his career and really only played a significant role his SR year.

These are 3 of the top 10 walkons of ALL TIME?!?!
 
I have no clue where Buffet got that list, but at least some of the inclusions are laughable. Mills averaged less than 5ppg basically doing nothing, but shooting 3s. Polson averaged less than 2ppg! Adam Emmenecker played at Drake and only averaged 3.5ppg for his career and really only played a significant role his SR year.

These are 3 of the top 10 walkons of ALL TIME?!?!

Did a little digging on this. Pippen was a walk on because he entered college at 6’1 and then grew 7 inches.

Jeff Hornacek was also a walk on. So was Boeheim, but how many scholarships were there in 1962?
 
Lots of guys went without basketball scholarships..

Paul Arizin, Villanova (Named as one of the 50 greatest players of all-time)
John Starks, Oklahoma State
Doug McDermott, Creighton(one year w/o a scholarship)
Jarvis Varnando, Miss State (one year w/o a scholarship)
Luke Maye, UNC (originally not offered a scholarship, but was later granted one)
Marquis Estill, Kentucky (one year w/o a scholarship)
Kyle Kuric, Louisville (one year w/o a scholarship)
Chris Smith, Louisville (one year w/o a scholarship)
Ben Wallace (played football at Auburn and later walked on at a Community College for basketball)
Christian Moody, Kansas
Alex Barlow, Butler

Football Players:
Tony Gonzalez, California
Jimmy Graham, Miami
Julius Peppers, UNC
Charlie Ward, Florida State

I'm sure I'm missing quite a few...
 
Football Players:
Tony Gonzalez, California
Jimmy Graham, Miami
Julius Peppers, UNC
Charlie Ward, Florida State

I'm sure I'm missing quite a few...

Haason Reddick walked on at Temple and ended up a first-rounder in last year's NFL draft.
 
Did a little digging on this. Pippen was a walk on because he entered college at 6’1 and then grew 7 inches.

Central Arkansas also was a Division II program when he played there. (The attention he got them was largely responsible for them moving up after he graduated.)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ronnyp91
Haason Reddick walked on at Temple and ended up a first-rounder in last year's NFL draft.

Sorry, I actually meant college basketball players who were more or less walk-ons because they had football scholarships... Reddick is a good example for football, though. It seems to be much more commonplace for Football walk-ons to excel. JJ Watt (Wisconsin), Jordy Nelson (Kansas State), Terry Glenn (Ohio State), Antonio Brown (Central Michigan), Santana Moss (Miami), Ziggy Ansah (BYU), and Colt Brennan (Hawaii) are a few examples of ridiculously talented players that began their careers as walk-on.
 
Sorry, I actually meant college basketball players who were more or less walk-ons because they had football scholarships...

I see your explanation, but I think you mean that DIDN'T have football scholarships. Another would be Antonio Gates.
 
Not likely that a walk on can redshirt his first year then get offered a scholarship.

On the other hand, the vast majority of walk-ons are not rated (i.e., zero stars). Aiken may be way down the list of 3-stars--but he is still rated a 3-star.

I have never seen Aiken, Jr play; but, if he plays well enough in practice (not entirely out of the question for a 3-star) he could certainly be on ship for 2019-20.

Better practice competition can improve a players game if the potential is there. Aiken will get that competition in the coming season's practices with N'Dir added to McGowens and Johnson among the players competing at PG. It remains to be seen if he has a higher ceiling than we believe at this time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Teh Teh
On the other hand, the vast majority of walk-ons are not rated (i.e., zero stars). Aiken may be way down the list of 3-stars--but he is still rated a 3-star.

I have never seen Aiken, Jr play; but, if he plays well enough in practice (not entirely out of the question for a 3-star) he could certainly be on ship for 2019-20.

Better practice competition can improve a players game if the potential is there. Aiken will get that competition in the coming season's practices with N'Dir added to McGowens and Johnson among the players competing at PG. It remains to be seen if he has a higher ceiling than we believe at this time.

Great point. Getting a 3 star walk on is nearly unheard of.
 
ADVERTISEMENT