Remember that terrible Willard recruiting class?

[Sean Miller Fan]

Remember that recruiting class in the late 90s of Michael Shin, Kevin Leslie, Stephen Flores, and John Finneman. Probably the worst Pitt recruiting class of all time. If I remember correctly, Willard went after a lot of big fish and didnt get any and had to scramble late to bring in mid-major/minor D1 players.

This is somewhat similar to Capel this year but the good news is that recruiting has changed significantly. Capel can still land some plug and play grad transfers (Ndir is the best GTR we have gotten in years) and some reclassifying players.

I had hoped for a Top 15ish class and while that isnt going to happen, I am confident that Capel will salvage something from this class.

 

[DT_PITT]

Remember that recruiting class in the late 90s of Michael Shin, Kevin Leslie, Stephen Flores, and John Finneman. Probably the worst Pitt recruiting class of all time. If I remember correctly, Willard went after a lot of big fish and didnt get any and had to scramble late to bring in mid-major/minor D1 players.

This is somewhat similar to Capel this year but the good news is that recruiting has changed significantly. Capel can still land some plug and play grad transfers (Ndir is the best GTR we have gotten in years) and some reclassifying players.

I had hoped for a Top 15ish class and while that isnt going to happen, I am confident that Capel will salvage something from this class.

You don't really remember correctly.

Willard was able to secure two excellent recruits early -- Ricky Greer -- a top 50 player and Atilla Cosby -- a top 100 player. Those two alone make certain this was no where near the worst Pitt recruiting class of all time.

But also originally in the class was Chris Seabrooks -- another top 100 player.

Flores and Finneman were secured not long after. Finneman was actually a solid top 150 type recruit, while Flores was somewhat suspect -- top 300 type. All five were secured fairly early in the process, by the end of 1997 I believe. I believe the issue with Finneman became that he got injured his high school senior year and this set him back.

But the "scrambling" didn't at all take place because Willard missed on top targets -- it was because Andre Howard transferred mid year, and then Mark Blount very unexpectedly left early for the NBA. Willard also had to add players when it became clear that Seabrooks would not be eligible as a freshman (might have been a stress fracture injury situation -- I don't recall clearly.)

We also received a verbal commitment late in the process from a point guard named Rashon Burno. But I think he had eligibility issues and eventually ended up at DePaul I believe.

So that situation was no where near what is going on with us currently.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

You don't really remember correctly.

Willard was able to secure two excellent recruits early -- Ricky Greer -- a top 50 player and Atilla Cosby -- a top 100 player. Those two alone make certain this was no where near the worst Pitt recruiting class of all time.

But also originally in the class with Chris Seabrooks -- another top 100 player.

Flores and Finneman were secured not long after. Finneman was actually a solid top 150 type recruit, while Flores was somewhat suspect -- top 300 type. All five were secured fairly early in the process, by the end of 1997 I believe. I believe the issue with Finneman became that he got injured his high school senior year and this set him back.

But the "scrambling" didn't at all take place because Willard missed on top targets -- it was because Andre Howard transferred mid year, and then Mark Blount very unexpectedly left early for the NBA. Willard also had to add players when it became clear that Seabrooks would not be eligible as a freshman.

We also received a verbal commitment late in the process from a point guard named Rushon Burno. But I think he had eligibility issues and eventually ended up at DePaul I believe.

So that situation was no where near what is going on with us currently.

Leslie and Shin were in the Greer class?

 

[DT_PITT]

Leslie and Shin were in the Greer class?

Yep. Ricky Greer, Atilla Cosy, Kevin Lesile, and Stephen Flores were all freshmen in 97-98.

Shin and Lesile were gone by the end of the year.

Flores stuck around for another year when Seabrooks finally got here.

Finneman actually finally made it here the year after that (for Howland's first year), but by then, I think he has had several knee surgeries, and really couldn't run well at all. He could still shoot it well from deep though.

 

[wbrpanther]

Yep. Ricky Greer, Atilla Cosy, Kevin Lesile, John Finneman and Stephen Flores were all freshmen in 97-98.

Shin and Lesile were gone by the end of the year.

Flores stuck around for another year when Seabrooks finally got here.

Finneman actually finally made it here the year after that (for Howland's first year), but by then, I think he has had several knee surgeries, and really couldn't run well at all. He could still shoot it well from deep though.

Was Flores the kid from South Range High School in Ohio?

 

[Black Panther]

Flores transferred to Youngstown State I believe.

 

[DT_PITT]

Was Flores the kid from South Range High School in Ohio?

My memory was East Liverpool but I am nowhere close to sure on that.

What I do remember is that Upper St. Clair coach Danny Holzer played Flores' high school and he said publically that he questioned whether Flores was good enough to the Big East.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

My memory was East Liverpool but I am nowhere close to sure on that.

What I do remember is that Upper St. Clair coach Danny Holzer played Flores' high school and he said publically that he questioned whether Flores was good enough to the Big East.

Pretty sure he went to Buckeye Local

 

[BFo8]

You don't really remember correctly.

Willard was able to secure two excellent recruits early -- Ricky Greer -- a top 50 player and Atilla Cosby -- a top 100 player. Those two alone make certain this was no where near the worst Pitt recruiting class of all time.

But also originally in the class with Chris Seabrooks -- another top 100 player.

Flores and Finneman were secured not long after. Finneman was actually a solid top 150 type recruit, while Flores was somewhat suspect -- top 300 type. All five were secured fairly early in the process, by the end of 1997 I believe. I believe the issue with Finneman became that he got injured his high school senior year and this set him back.

But the "scrambling" didn't at all take place because Willard missed on top targets -- it was because Andre Howard transferred mid year, and then Mark Blount very unexpectedly left early for the NBA. Willard also had to add players when it became clear that Seabrooks would not be eligible as a freshman (might have been a stress fracture injury situation -- I don't recall clearly.)

We also received a verbal commitment late in the process from a point guard named Rushon Burno. But I think he had eligibility issues and eventually ended up at DePaul I believe.

So that situation was no where near what is going on with us currently.

Vaguely remember Burno having a so so career at DePaul.

See him all the the time now though, he’s been one of Bobby Hurley’s assistants at ASU the last few years.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

Yep. Ricky Greer, Atilla Cosy, Kevin Lesile, and Stephen Flores were all freshmen in 97-98.

Shin and Lesile were gone by the end of the year.

Flores stuck around for another year when Seabrooks finally got here.

Finneman actually finally made it here the year after that (for Howland's first year), but by then, I think he has had several knee surgeries, and really couldn't run well at all. He could still shoot it well from deep though.

I completely don't even remember Finneman.

 

[cease10]

Yep. Ricky Greer, Atilla Cosy, Kevin Lesile, and Stephen Flores were all freshmen in 97-98.

Shin and Lesile were gone by the end of the year.

Flores stuck around for another year when Seabrooks finally got here.

Finneman actually finally made it here the year after that (for Howland's first year), but by then, I think he has had several knee surgeries, and really couldn't run well at all. He could still shoot it well from deep though.

Sounds about right, took me a while to remember Flores but I remember him now.

I can't recall Finneman either.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

DT, I sort of remember Willard being in on some big time players that year and lost out on them and wound up with Shin, Leslie, Finneman, and Flores. As for Finneman, at that time, a coach who played against him was amazed he was a Pitt recruit. Made a comment like he was a D2/NEC player but I cant remember exactly the level he said.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

That was also the era of Pitt basketball I am foggy on. I lived in Greenville, SC then, the internet was just starting to get sites like this one, newspapers were still slow to put their stuff online. Plus, obviously then I was in ACC/SEC country and Pitt was still in the Big East.....so unless you had a top program, it was hard to follow from afar.

 

[DT_PITT]

DT, I sort of remember Willard being in on some big time players that year and lost out on them and wound up with Shin, Leslie, Finneman, and Flores. As for Finneman, at that time, a coach who played against him was amazed he was a Pitt recruit. Made a comment like he was a D2/NEC player but I cant remember exactly the level he said.

As I said before, your memory would be wrong.

Of course there were players that Willard missed out on, as all coaches do. However, the recruitment of the four players you mentioned absolutely was not because of this.

Willard's class that was originally signed that year -- Greer, Seabrooks, Cosby, Finneman and Flores, was pretty well regarded. Finneman was an elite level high school shooter with borderline Div I athleticism. I do not recall any high school coaches saying about Finneman what you are suggesting they did. (On the contrary, as I noted above, I absolutely recall Danny Holzer, the coach at Upper St. Clair (and someone I went to high school with) saying almost exactly what you are suggesting about Stephen Flores. So I presume you have that mixed up as well.)

Scrambling around in the spring was necessitated by a need to fill the roster.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

Willard's recruiting in retrospect -- considering our facilities at the time -- are better than we probably realized at the time. DT's memory on this is impressive.

That said, he was our second coach in a row better suited to coaching players at a Holy Cross or Navy where you don't have to lead mostly black players from mostly lower income backgrounds that they recruited in that time period. Evans even said so about himself.

 

[cease10]

That said, he was our second coach in a row better suited to coaching players at a Holy Cross or Navy where you don't have to lead mostly black players from mostly lower income backgrounds that they recruited in that time period.

I wouldn't say that about Willard due to his previous experience as Pittino's asst.

He may just not have been able to cut it at as a head coach in the top tier conferences.

Missed UCONN upset in 98/99 season...If we hadn't turn the ball over or Khalid El-Amin had missed the game winning shot.....Willard's fortune may have been different. We were ranked and that team went downhill after that game.

 

[balboa10]

Was Flores the kid from South Range High School in Ohio?

My memory was East Liverpool but I am nowhere close to sure on that.

What I do remember is that Upper St. Clair coach Danny Holzer played Flores' high school and he said publically that he questioned whether Flores was good enough to the Big East.

What class was the omo mosses mike Gill etc

 

[DT_PITT]

What class was the omo mosses mike Gill etc

Omo Moses was a different class than Gill.

Moses was in the 1990-91 season class with Tim Glover, Ghandi Jordan and JUCO Antonie Jones. Chris McNeal and Dominic Dumancic joined at Prop 48 players, although they were officially part of the previous year's class.

Mike Gill joined Andre Howard, Vonteego Cummings, Mark Blount and Kelli Taylor as the 1995-1996 class. This season also included Kevin Willard and Gerald Jordan as transfers. Issac Hawkins would also have been part of the class as well, but he would have been Prop 48 so he went to prep school, and joined the following year's class with Jarrett Lockhart. This was the same situation that Kelli Taylor experienced the previous year. He would have been part of Willard's 94-95 class with Chris Bennett-Gant and JUCO Chad Varga. But Kelli had to go to MCI Prep School when he would have been Prop 48.

 

[joeydavid]

Didn't Leslie have injuries as well? Shin looked like a walk on who was mistakenly awarded a scholarship by admissions...

Yep. Ricky Greer, Atilla Cosy, Kevin Lesile, and Stephen Flores were all freshmen in 97-98.

Shin and Lesile were gone by the end of the year.

Flores stuck around for another year when Seabrooks finally got here.

Finneman actually finally made it here the year after that (for Howland's first year), but by then, I think he has had several knee surgeries, and really couldn't run well at all. He could still shoot it well from deep though.

 

[DT_PITT]

Didn't Leslie have injuries as well? Shin looked like a walk on who was mistakenly awarded a scholarship by admissions...

Yes, Lesile had injury issues ... back problems if I recall correctly.