Pitt starts the game with Brown and Stevenson
- Thread starter gary2
- Start date
They could start Gallagher and Lyke in those spots because it ain't gonna matter.
I actually liked this lineup a lot. Brown is a no-brainer, really stevenson too now that he's playing somewhat better again. And Stewart obviously is gonna be in there. Davis brings nothing offensively, but who else do you put in? And I actually liked Milligan with Carr coming off the bench. Carr's been way too out of control lately and throwing up bricks, ideally he'd have come off the bench and played significant minutes all season if anyone would've been remotely comfortable with Milligan as the point guard.
I don't think it really matters who starts or who plays per se. We simply do not have good players.
I get that. Realizing that, the 5 guys that are our best players are Brown, Stevenson, Frame, Stewart and Carr.
I would have played them till their legs fell off.(especially in the games we had a chance at)
Brown must not have the conditioning to play long periods. Could be the same with Stevenson.
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Stevenson in foul trouble and Chukwuka was still on the bench almost the entire night. Why did it take until the final game of the regular season to realize even on a winless ACC team that is his role?
I don’t think that’s fair . If you want to say that as freshman with no upperclassman support that these guys aren’t good enough to beat an experienced ACC team now that’s fair .
Allow me to clarify. In two years, I do think our freshman will be improved with experience. But I am also of the opinion that they will still be certainly short of having enough talent to compete for an NCAA tournament berth. In two years, unless we add 3-4 more talented players than the core of Brown-Stevenson-Stewart-Carr-Kingsby-Golden-Ellison-Davis, I'll submit that we are not better than a 6-12 team in the ACC.
That’s better ! They need a couple of outstanding guys added to the mix no doubt .
Carr has been terrible as soon as conference play began. We need him to take a big step forward next season.
Of course not, but a 6 man rotation isn’t feasible either, especially when we’re in foul trouble. There’s no options.
I’m more worried that recruiting is a Pitt problem, as we’ve yet to prove that we can do it in the ACC, even with two different style coaches that have a lot of wins under their belts.
However, i do think the freshman core of regulars is much better than given credit for.
Looking forward to next season already.
In regards to your second sentence, I have become more and more concerned about this very thing. I was honestly looking forward to a noticeable improvement in recruiting by Stallings, and that did not happen. In regards to what Stallings signed for this coming fall, it may be even worse than much of what Dixon did over his last three years. What if it's a problem not rooted in either coach? What if it's a Pitt problem? Truly worrisome for this fan.
I appreciate your support of our freshmen in your third sentence even if I'm sorry to say that I don't necessarily agree with you.
We’re in total agreement with the 2018 class. Really disappointing.
I think there is a good base from the 2017 class and i was okay with him taking some reaches as this year was always going to be a toss-away and I had hoped he’d find a diamond or two from the bunch and if not, they’d be recruited over for 2018, as heartless as that sounds. Unfortunately, the diamonds don’t seem to be there and the over-recruitment with quality didn’t happen either. I’ve lost a bit of faith that Kham has a future as a meaningful contributor. Double-whammy.
Pitt certainly needs to establish a new recruiting identity. Whether it’s back to being smart, tough defensive grinders, a “havocing” press team or transfer-U like Iowa State was under Hoiberg.
I don’t think they can compete against these ACC schools being a traditional team reliant on pure athletes that can shoot enough to outscore the opponents.
I’m fine moving on from Stallings, i just don’t want to see them do it “just to do it”. They need to be committed to the right kind of coach, which will include drowning out the noise from the fans and the echoes of the empty seats, likely for a few more seasons until that coach has “his guys” and his system implemented. I see no way we get an “exciting” coach ala Hurley or Matta and believe the fans are only coming back when the wins come back.
I don’t think Stallings got a fair shake, but it’s too late now. I don’t think it’s fair to call him a bad coach after his two seasons here because he was really in unique situations. No PG last year with a “heartless” team and then no esxperienxe whatsoever this year in one of the deepest conferences ever.
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Sampson, Kene, Peace and Kham should most likely be playing at a mid major level, or lower.
Was hoping Peace would be that diamond, TBH. Brown and Stewart are much better at the end of the year than i expected. Carr, much worse. I’m convinced he’s not a PG.
Have you watched Thompson at all at Butler? I’ve been following his stats and they are not impressive, yet he plays a good amount and Butler is decent. Does he do the little things?
I only ask because it’d make me feel better that at least Stallings can identify a PG, even though he got away...
I guess that it probably is not even going to matter in another week, regardless.
I truly believe we’re going to see how good the ACC is once the NCAAT starts. I still think Pitt wins 3-4 games in any other conference.
Yeah he's gotta play more like the 4 star recruit that he showed flashes of early. Even at the free throw line he was over 90% before dropping into the 80s. His field goal shooting got much worse.
Funny that in recent years we've recruited 3 4-star point guards, you'd think that would be a team strength. Unfortunately it hasn't panned out that way, although Robinson was very solid. Wilson was a monumental bust, Carr has already far surpassed him but hopefully he shows us why he was a 4 star recruit in the first place next year.
Haven’t given up on Carr. Hoping he just hit the freshman wall once the competition ramped up and he pressed into trying to do too much to get out of it. Obviously, there aren’t many players on this team to help carry the offensive burden when other guys are slumping.
In our last 9 ACC games Carr had a 2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. That is pretty good for a freshman playing in the ACC.
It seemed like everyone else, he felt the pressure of our offensive black holes. He probably shot more than he should and took some bad shots. He did put himself in position to make a good many easy shots. Carr just seemed a little too hurried to finish them (short jumpers and layups)
I think Frame improved in our last 9 games. His 3 point shooting improved and he reduced his turnovers.
I think both Brown and Stevenson showed signs in these last nine games that they have considerable potential. Stevenson needs to work to reduce turnovers. Brown needs to get stronger and work harder.
Stewart averaged double figure points, 4.5 rebounds and didn't turn the ball over. He does need to work harder to get open. I think he will further develop his game.
These 5 could not get it done by themselves. They weren't ready to carry the load in this league. They needed help and there wasn't any. Hopefully, next year, they will be more ready and will have help.
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Good points. I agree with most all of them. Carr looked really good at times for sure. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that even our great PGs struggled heavily at times their first year or two and that was with darn good surrounding casts, plus an elder point typically mentoring and handing down the reigns.
I'm hoping that's all it was, I still have high hopes for him. It could've been he was fatigued from playing so many minutes or it even could've been just freshmen jitters... he looked comfortable in the non-conference then all of a sudden bam, you're starting as a freshmen with really no veterans around you in maybe the best conference in America.
I have no problem with Kham and Peace being on the team . They need to improve , but there’s potential in both and even on the best teams in the country there’s guys who never see the court who are on scholarships . Neither one took anyone’s scholarship who’d have been a level above these guys so what’s the harm in seeing if they develop ?
Stallings needed bodies and he did the best he could and I’ve been saying for awhile that I’m concerned this is a Pitt issue . I guess we’ll find out real soon
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Totally agree with this and this is BY FAR my biggest concern with Stallings and why I think a change needs made. I really don't care about going 0-18 this season. I knew before the season it would be brutal.
But I don't see the talent coming in to change it that much for the better. Yes the players you mentioned are going to get better but I would agree with you that I think unless some big time talent is added, we are looking at a 6-12 type nucleus.
In conference play, Shamiel Stevenson made 50 field goals but committed 46 turnovers.
I appreciate his game. I appreciate there aren't a lot of slashers and guys that are willing to take the ball to the hoop. He is willing to take the ball to the hoop, and for that I am glad. But if a guy is just as likely to turn the ball over as he is to make a score a basket.....that isn't good enough. I don't think he is an ACC player, and I don't think he ever will be.
I appreciate his game. I appreciate there aren't a lot of slashers and guys that are willing to take the ball to the hoop. He is willing to take the ball to the hoop, and for that I am glad. But if a guy is just as likely to turn the ball over as he is to make a score a basket.....that isn't good enough. I don't think he is an ACC player, and I don't think he ever will be.
Your both assuming that Pitt has higher aspirations than that ! I feel Pitts administration would be satisfied with a middle of the pack ACC team with good students athletes and a coach who plays by the rules . They didn’t hire KS to win the ACC , there was nothing in his resume to suggest anything but being mediocre .
The next hire will tell everyone where Pitts intentions lie .
IMO, Lower, MUCH lower. Duquesne would in my mind be mid major. The names you mentioned wouldn't start on this year's Duquesne squad, and definitely wouldn't be in the mix of next year's recruits. Maybe one or two would be at the end of their bench, 12th or 13th scholarship, but I'm not even sure of that.
He gets the ball entirely too far away from the basket. One or two dribbles max for him. Any more and the opposition is like a school of piranha on fresh meat.
6-12 is not middle of the ACC.
And frankly, if that is the Administrations goal, I am out. I have enough on my plate to try and fit in a program like that.
I think the KS hire should’ve sent you signals the next hire will tell you all you need to make your decision .
Eh.. I don't think the Stallings hire tells us that at all.
In my opinion, all the Kevin Stallings hire told me was that Pitt was taken to the woodshed by that dick Barnes who screwed Pitt to get his buddy hired as a favor knowing he was on his way out. All this angst towards Stallings should be directed at Barnes. He was the worst AD in Pitt history by miles and he was here for only a short period of time. He flat out sucks.
Pitt paid Dixon top 10 salary for many years. They built a new arena not too many years ago. I am not saying they are all in cause they clearly are not but I don't think they are content being a bottom dwellar in the ACC either.
There was nothing to suggest that hiring a coach with a long history of mediocrity would elevate Pitts program .
Not a bottom dweller , but not a contender ..middle would be fine for them . What we want is irrelevant .
I think there's something to the "Pitt problem" theory. The recruiting tanked and tanked hard after the move to the ACC. No question Dixon was able to get better players into the program earlier in his tenure as HC. Not great, elite players and shooters/scorers, but real P5 players who had some talent, basketball IQ and toughness and could compete in any league. His recruiting after joining the ACC was nothing short of abysmal. As for Stallings, he recruited far better players to Vandy than he has been able to recruit to Pitt.
I still believe Pitt is a fish out of water in this league, just as BC and Syracuse are. ND isn't a natural fit either but ND is a national brand and its identity isn't as tied to geography as BC, SU and Pitt. I know that's heavily disputed by some and it's really a matter of opinion, but that's how I've viewed it from Day 1.
What if it's a Pitt problem?
What could the reasons be for that? How does one go about correcting it?
Dixon made his bones by out recruiting Georgetown, the Hall, Providence, St. Johns, and other mid to lower tier big east schools for recruits. Look at a guy like gill brown-his offers (according to rivals) were us, Maryland, UVA, and West Virginia. Not bad offers, not eye popping offers. But he turned into a 4 year contributor for the program. Pitt didn't have any inherent advantage over any of those programs, but they did have a coach that spotted guys he liked then got them to buy into the program.
