Pitt Point Guards of the Past

[Chescat]

I don't get crazy over the loss of a recruit (RJ). Why? Because there's others out there.
RJ certainly was our highest rated pg recruit. OK...so we move on.
I gotta believe Levance was not the highest rated recruit out there, yet he had a
great career here.
X?...Same thing with him, a 3 star who did so much better than most would
have EVER expected in only one year.
Johnson?....Unfairly criticized on here IMO. Again not the best pg option out there,
yet he had a very productive career here.
Woodall, Krauser, Brandon Knight.....all were not considered elite recruits coming
out of h.s. Yet they had very productive careers here. Let's face it, Brandon Knight
was incredibly valuable here in many different ways. Who woulda thunk it when
he came out of h.s.?
My point?....Pretty obvious, Capel will get another pg who will undoubtedly do very
well here at Pitt. Just look at our history.

 

[Pitt1992]

Xavier was committed to Nebraska and didn't take visits or do summits once committed so hes in a different category, but i do agree im not worried, what i am worried about is if trey mcgowens has a monster year with Xavier and he leaves for the draft, one of our biggest weakness last year was the backup pg spot, if they both leave after this year we are in trouble unless they go the grad route

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Xavier was committed to Nebraska and didn't take visits or do summits once committed so hes in a different category, but i do agree im not worried, what i am worried about is if trey mcgowens has a monster year with Xavier and he leaves for the draft, one of our biggest weakness last year was the backup pg spot, if they both leave after this year we are in trouble unless they go the grad route

I would be happy as heck if McGowens had a monster year and left. That would mean we made the NCAA Tournament.

Keep in mind that McGowens was brought in as a PG and could run the point next year also. There is also the possibility that Johnson comes back.

 

[efkemanas]

Lavance Fields = 88th nationally and a 4 Star
Travon Woodall = NR and a 3 Star
Ashton Gibbs = NR and a 3 Star
Knight and Krauser cannot find ranks

I wold say that Fields and Knight were the 2 best of the group by a mile and I would be shocked in todays world if Knight wasn't top 100 or 150. Capel needs 1-2 elite PGs to make his offense run. Xavier Johnson was way under rated, but that happens at times when you shut down your recruiting earlier like he did withe Nebraska.

I think it is way more likely that Xavier Johnson plays a 3rd season at Pitt then Trey McGowens starting at PG in 20-21 season. Capel will get a good graduate transfer PG or a reclass (Whitt) to be his starter if Xavier Johnson leaves. Capel will not throw anyone in at PG. He has stated may times that his offense is a PG and 4 other players. The Pitt offense will not function properly without a true PG and Capel will not enter 20-21 without keeping Xavier Johnson or getting that graduate transfer PG or a reclass (Whitt).

 

[pittchagg]

If Xavier leaves, we'll just have Earl Timberlake run the point. He's doing that in high school this year.

 

[DT_PITT]

Lavance Fields = 88th nationally and a 4 Star
Travon Woodall = NR and a 3 Star
Ashton Gibbs = NR and a 3 Star
Knight and Krauser cannot find ranks

I wold say that Fields and Knight were the 2 best of the group by a mile and I would be shocked in todays world if Knight wasn't top 100 or 150. Capel needs 1-2 elite PGs to make his offense run. Xavier Johnson was way under rated, but that happens at times when you shut down your recruiting earlier like he did withe Nebraska.

I think it is way more likely that Xavier Johnson plays a 3rd season at Pitt then Trey McGowens starting at PG in 20-21 season. Capel will get a good graduate transfer PG or a reclass (Whitt) to be his starter if Xavier Johnson leaves. Capel will not throw anyone in at PG. He has stated may times that his offense is a PG and 4 other players. The Pitt offense will not function properly without a true PG and Capel will not enter 20-21 without keeping Xavier Johnson or getting that graduate transfer PG or a reclass (Whitt).

Knight was ranked around #150-#175.

Krauser was ranked around #75 or so.

 

[DT_PITT]

I don't get crazy over the loss of a recruit (RJ). Why? Because there's others out there.
RJ certainly was our highest rated pg recruit. OK...so we move on.
I gotta believe Levance was not the highest rated recruit out there, yet he had a
great career here.
X?...Same thing with him, a 3 star who did so much better than most would
have EVER expected in only one year.
Johnson?....Unfairly criticized on here IMO. Again not the best pg option out there,
yet he had a very productive career here.
Woodall, Krauser, Brandon Knight.....all were not considered elite recruits coming
out of h.s. Yet they had very productive careers here. Let's face it, Brandon Knight
was incredibly valuable here in many different ways. Who woulda thunk it when
he came out of h.s.?
My point?....Pretty obvious, Capel will get another pg who will undoubtedly do very
well here at Pitt. Just look at our history.

Was discussing the situation with an “in-the-know” kind of person on Saturday.

He really knows recruiting and high school basketball very, very well.

He explained not to get too concerned about Davis His words: “it’s a heck of a lot easier yo find 6-1 guys than 6-10 guys.”

Along those lines, he’s sure we are really going to like Hugley as a player AND a person.

 

[Chescat]

He explained not to get too concerned about Davis His words: “it’s a heck of a lot easier yo find 6-1 guys than 6-10 guys.”

Amen to that...that's why I mentioned h.s. non elite guards such as Woodall,
Krauser, and Knight. Same with X (whether he closed his recruiting down
early or not, he wasn't considered elite). He comes to Pitt, and his performance
looked pretty damn elite to me.
IMO Capel will land a decent pg, we'll go on, and continue to improve. The
recruits will get better as the program gets better and wins more games. His
last recruiting class improved from his first, and from what we're seeing with
the current class, more improvement is evident.

 

[DiehardPanther]

Knight was ranked around #150-#175.

Krauser was ranked around #75 or so.

Which ranking service had Krauser rated 75 or so? He chose Pitt over Hofstra.

 

[DT_PITT]

Which ranking service had Krauser rated 75 or so? He chose Pitt over Hofstra.

Qualifying issues held back his recruiting. But he was most certainly something like a top #75 recruit. I recall he was #79 by one service. In the 80's by another. Definitely a top 100 player.

And if you recall, as a partial qualifier, he had to wait a year to play. But he played in the Blue-Gold scrimmage in the year he had to sit and I recall posting that I was bummed that Krauser looked better than any other Panther in that game.

 

[DiehardPanther]

Qualifying issues held back his recruiting. But he was most certainly something like a top #75 recruit. I recall he was #72 by one service. In the 80's by another. Definitely a top 100 player.

And if you recall, as a partial qualifier, he had to wait a year to play. But he played in the Blue-Gold scrimmage in the year he had to sit and I recall posting that I was bummed that Krauser looked better than any other Panther in that game.

I used to get Street and Smith’s, the Big East annual preview, and followed other recruiting briefs. I never saw him rated in the 75 range, so I’d be curious to know the exact magazine/source. I still have some old BE annual preview magazines and recruiting briefs. I’m not trying to bust your balls. Just curious.

 

[DT_PITT]

Which ranking service had Krauser rated 75 or so? He chose Pitt over Hofstra.

Here it is ... found it on RSCI Hoops ...

Consensus #98
Carl Krauser -- on the lists where he was ranked, he was #68, #90 #79 and #66 -- not on a couple other lists.

Interestingly, consensus #99 was Emeka Okafor.

https://sites.google.com/site/rscihoops/home/2001-final

 

[DT_PITT]

I used to get Street and Smith’s, the Big East annual preview, and followed other recruiting briefs. I never saw him rated in the 75 range, so I’d be curious to know the exact magazine/source. I still have some old BE annual preview magazines and recruiting briefs. I’m not trying to bust your balls. Just curious.

See my other post.

 

[DiehardPanther]

Here it is ... found it on RSCI Hoops ...

Consensus #98
Carl Krauser -- on the lists where he was ranked, he was #68, #90 #79 and #66 -- not on a couple other lists.

Interestingly, consensus #99 was Emeka Okafor.

https://sites.google.com/site/rscihoops/home/2001-final

Thanks DT.

 

[Jeffburgh]

X was clearly a plus athlete and super competitive, but rated where he was because of how god awful his outside shot looked. We just got lucky on that otherwise he would have been locked up by a high end program.

Not getting RJ after so much time and energy, and being SO close hurts, no way around it, and HCJC was confident enough to prioritize him and let up on other options.

He plays his cards fairly close to the vest, gotta believe he'll reset and make his move. Both Whitt and Miles look pdg, not sure they will be real targets or attainable this late in this cycle, but highlight there might be other good options.

Agree that HCJC is going to want a GOOD PG. He might muddle through a season w Trey to boost his NBA resume if he has to, but hard to see that being the plan if he can do anything about it.

 

[Chescat]

He'll get another pg this year. As good as Davis?...probably not. How about
a 3 star who turns out like X?.... unlikely, but we have no clue, it could happen.
Anyway, my guess is he'll get a decent one. He can also add a transfer pg
in case X leaves.
Personally, what I would like to see is X remaining at Pitt for another year.
I expect us to improve the win loss record this year. That is VERY
important because it moves us closer to signing the elite recruits that
Capel is trying to get. Those recruits want to be sure we're a winning
program. They like Capel. They're waiting for Pitt to win IMO.
Even though Hugley is a BIG and not a pg, it shows that Capel can sign
an elite...or if not an elite, a very, very good recruit. Recruits like Hugley
are far fewer than pg's of that level.
Improve that win/loss record and that elite pg might be only a
year away.
As another poster stated, "Brick by brick." As I see it, Capel is getting
us there.

 

[rockypanther]

Qualifying issues held back his recruiting. But he was most certainly something like a top #75 recruit. I recall he was #79 by one service. In the 80's by another. Definitely a top 100 player.

And if you recall, as a partial qualifier, he had to wait a year to play. But he played in the Blue-Gold scrimmage in the year he had to sit and I recall posting that I was bummed that Krauser looked better than any other Panther in that game.

What was Carl’s boxing record?

 

[rockypanther]

X was clearly a plus athlete and super competitive, but rated where he was because of how god awful his outside shot looked. We just got lucky on that otherwise he would have been locked up by a high end program.

Not getting RJ after so much time and energy, and being SO close hurts, no way around it, and HCJC was confident enough to prioritize him and let up on other options.

He plays his cards fairly close to the vest, gotta believe he'll reset and make his move. Both Whitt and Miles look pdg, not sure they will be real targets or attainable this late in this cycle, but highlight there might be other good options.

Agree that HCJC is going to want a GOOD PG. He might muddle through a season w Trey to boost his NBA resume if he has to, but hard to see that being the plan if he can do anything about it.

All depends on your offense. For example, you don’t need a X as bad if you use Horns or 5 out. But no matter what you use in college basketball you must always have at least 3 players on the floor who can shoot 3pters and at least competent offensive rebounding.