Vader: Capel steps up Spring Recruiting with Momentum

[Vader_Storm]

Part 1

Olivier Robinson Nkamhoua

ORN has been going up against a number of 4 and 5 star players in the winter and spring season and more than held his own. A major sleeper candidate since recovering from a bad leg injury which limited his exposure, he is originally from Finland so many don’t know about him. His stock started taking off after a strong performance against 5 star Nfaly Dante and Sunrise in January along with what he did against Kofi Cockburn and Oak Hill. The three leaders appear to be Pitt, Illinois and Tennessee but it may come down to Pitt and Tennessee. He may visit Minnesota. His recruiting is pretty tight lipped.

ORN has good size, great athletic ability, and can pass. He is a long 6’9 W / PF / C who can make some 3s, hit pullups, and score in transition. ORN was originally a point guard before his huge growth spurt and is one of the most intriguing recruits in the entire class. He is very underrated and proved it again at the prestigious Acits where he was the rebound leader in the entire tournament over a bevy of 4 and 5 star players including Hunter Dickinson. If he had more exposure his stock would have really taken off but he still racked up high D-1 offers in short time from Tennessee, Maryland, Arkansas, Illinois, etc..

These are the types of players that always emerge late and come out of the woodwork and fall under the radar when injury prevents exposure. Its why point guard RJ Davis is severely underrated for missing most of last summer with injury for example. Davis had a 10-1 assist to turnover ratio as Stepinac’s point guard (Yes you read that correctly on Davis and he’s also a lethal shooter). And why Levance Fields missing 2 cycles of AAU time gave Pitt a huge leg up recruiting him.






Cam Thomas

The top scorer for Oak Hill over 5 Star Cole Anthony and its not really all that close. Averaging 27 points per game and lethal from 3 point range, Thomas is emerging as arguably the best scorer in the country if he isn’t there yet and is easily a 5 star guard. His top schools are rounding into form and Pitt will make the final list. Capel has been recruiting him very hard. Thomas is expected to visit Pitt in the future. He is most likely staying in the ACC which is the conference he wants to play in because he views it as the best league. Uconn is recruiting him hard and Bruce Pearl and Dana Altman and Oregon are also coming on strong along with Miami. Odds are good currently that he is ACC bound.






Earl Timberlake and Hunter Dickinson

Another player I have been talking about for months. Timberlake has been to Pitt. Pitt coaches have been visiting him, and expect him to be back at Pitt again. I mentioned a long time ago Timberlake wants to major in sports medicine and get early playing time with the chance to start. It is 2 of the biggest factors in his recruiting process and I stressed this months ago. Timberlake is a bulldog on the floor that plays suffocating defense. He is the exact type of player Capel wants: defines toughness, is athletic, is versatile, and is a good passer. He needs to really work on 3 point shooting, but is very strong in other parts of his game. Pitt is also strongly recruiting his backcourt teammate Will Jeffress, a 5 star player in 2021. Pitt has been watching all these players in the spring.

Dickinson visited Providence recently who also is one of Timberlake’s top schools. Dickinson was also down at Kentucky a few months back. Purdue is in strong position here and Kansas is looking at him with Duke monitoring. Dickinson has been decent but inconsistent at the EYBL after a 26-point performance but is proving he is one of the top rebounders in the country. He also was the prestigious ACITS Tournament MVP after strong scoring and rebounding performances. His long list of schools recruiting him continues to grow as he is a rock in the middle and elite on defense already.






John Hugley IV

It’s a good sign that Hugley has visited Pitt 3 times already and understands the glaring need Pitt has for big men. As I mentioned months ago, Hugley has a strong relationship with the Pitt coaching staff as does his coach and handler who visited Pitt with him. But as I mentioned as well, getting him is not going to be easy with a high number of other schools coming in hard including Tom Izzo and Michigan State, Louisville, and Ohio State. Pitt really wants him and we will remain on the very short list.

Hugley has visited Louisville and Kansas unofficially. Tom Izzo just watched him again at the EYBL along with Jeff Capel. Pitt and Ohio State are the 2 early leaders. Pitt is recruiting him probably harder than any other school. Expect Michigan State to turn it on with him. And as I said a long time ago, his ranking was far underrated. He’s made a big splash in the spring circuit already and has been rebounding very well. Capel will continue to recruit him extremely hard.






Demarr Langford

Fairly same list of schools with Uconn, West Virginia, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and Pitt as last September except the Aggies are on the list because of Buzz and Virginia is new. He has visited Uconn and West Virginia. Great defensive player, raw offensive player. Virginia has been watching him closely along with Chris Beard and Texas Tech. Those 2 teams know defense, obviously, and want him for that very reason. Virginia is new on the radar. Langford is a Top 100 recruit right now but he is probably a bit overrated because he isn’t the best shooter or scorer. His club at Putnam with 4 Top National top 150 players was beaten in the Prep School National Final 4 by Karim Coulibaly and Scotland Red. He is a another 2019 reclass candidate.







RJ Davis

One of the most underrated players in the entire country and I said that back in January in my winter writeup. He has been on a tear at the EYBL and his stock is going to skyrocket with interest. Capel and the assistants have spent a great deal of time watching him and recently visited him along with his 5 star teammate AJ Griffin. With O’toole being from his alma mater school, Pitt is a major player and that is a very good thing. He also will be Mick Cronin’s and UCLA’s top target.

Davis led the powerhouse CHSAA league in scoring at 26 points per game and continues to have a ridiculous assist to turnover ratio in the CHSAA and the EYBL. He should easily make the National Top 50-100 in the new rankings as everyone except Capel and Mick Cronin were late to the party in his early recruitment. ESPN recently again already admitted he was grossly underrated.

He is easily better than his backcourt teammate Ethan Morton right now who is set to visit Indiana next month. The secret is out now as coaches are flocking to see Davis. With Xavier Johnson to test the NBA waters likely next year, Davis could be the potential frontrunner to try to replace him. Davis is also shooting 66% from 3 and 89% from the free throw line and has been nothing short of lights out scoring and dishing assists. If Davis was a few inches taller than 5’11 which is the only thing holding him back, his stock would explode. Its already taking off and Pitt is in very strong position here.


Morton has really struggled shooting in opening EYBL play playing alongside Davis. Ethan is clearly more of a point forward type as opposed to a point guard, he doesn’t have the speed or needed athletic ability. I like him as a player, but I think Ethan is a bit overrated right now nationally. Even still, Pitt remains a player to get him and having him play with stud point guard RJ Davis only helps Pitt if they play together in college. I would expect Morton to try and elevate his game in the coming sessions. AJ Hoggard gave Morton a ton of problems in their only EYBL loss. Hoggard is also very underrated and physical. He is a player I would hope Capel reaches out to soon before his stock skyrockets which it is going to do. Uconn is all over Hoggard.

 

[Vader_Storm]

Part 2

Cliff Omoruyi


One of the best defensive players in the class and a Top 50 National talent, there is no secret why Kentucky and Uconn have offered. As his offensive game expands, more majors may step in. However, the timetable could be a longer one or shorter one. Cliff is 2 classes away from being eligible in 2019 reclassification and is considering reclassification. Capel has been recruiting him hard and is pushing for it, but Kentucky is Kentucky. The question here is, how much early playing time is important to him. Uconn is also a major player. Family ties to western PA could help Pitt. Pitt is also monitoring his teammate Posh Alexander who just returned from a badly broken arm.







DJ Gordon


He has been hovering around Pitt for some time and with his current EYBL performance, more majors are going to be coming in. Gordon is shooting a blistering 85% from the field and 75% from 3 in the early EYBL rounds. He is now in multiple Top National 150’s and his stock and ranking are going to go up quickly. If he continues to showcase good shooting ability which has been holding him back, many more schools are going to get involved fast. Jeff Capel and staff have spent quite a bit of time recruiting him and Pitt is easily one of the early leaders.







Marcus Bagley



The brother of Marvin Bagley who had a great relationship with Jeff Capel, Marcus is already considered a Top 50 National Player. With Pitt being mentioned in his top 4, he is said to be making a visit soon and could be an earlier verbal to a school. Bagley is a 6’7 200lb wing with ridiculous athletic ability. Arizona State is the main school to beat out since his grandfather was a former player and ASU alum and with ties to Phoenix. Jeff Capel has a very strong relationship with the Bagley family which is why Pitt is very high under consideration. Ultimately, he could easily choose Pitt over Arizona State with Capel’s relationship with the family and with his older brother.







Donovan Johnson



The brother of Cam Johnson, he is already making his mark in the spring circuit and his stock is also quickly rising. With Roy Williams and North Carolina watching him and another 26 point performance, ESPN already announced he will easily be in their Top 100 in the next set of rankings. He’s shooting a strong 44% from 3 point range at the Gauntlet. He has a lot of Big Ten Interest. Arizona, Xavier, and TCU are also involved.







Andre Curbelo


Already had his ranking rise quickly as a I mentioned back in January that it would. Now a borderline Top 50 player Nationally, Capel continues to monitor his game and recruit him hard. He’s been one of the best playmakers at Adidas this spring. Uconn, Louisville, West Virginia, Villanova, and many others are looking at him and offers are flooding in. Capel likes him because of his playmaking ability and speed in the transition game.






Henry Coleman



I really like this kid a lot and said it last year he was way underrated when other services barely had him in the National Top 150. Now with interest coming in from everyone including Duke, its going to be very tough to get him. Virginia is probably the school to beat with Duke if they offer with Buzz Williams now leaving Virginia Tech. Per Coleman, Pitt is still recruiting him very hard. He recently said Pitt along with NC State, Virginia, and Ohio State have made him a big priority and have talked to him the most. We are trailing here, but his family and Coleman both like Jeff Capel quite a lot. Capel’s Next step is to get him to visit Pitt a 2nd time.






CJ Wilcher


A player that is growing on me quickly because he is making his case as one of the top shooters in the country. He’s been deadly shooting this spring and Capel and staff recently visited him in NJ. He isn’t the most athletic player but neither was Ashton Gibbs. Only difference is Wilcher is pushing a large 6’5. With a lot of interest from the North East including 6 new offers in the last week, if he continues to keep going for 30+ points and 5 threes a game like he’s been doing the past week being the team Rio leader, expect many more to get involved. He was one of the biggest risers in the last rankings and that may take place again. For Capel to go out and see him with multiple assistants, we clearly like him a lot and are making him a high priority.






These are only some players Pitt is recruiting but these are impact players Pitt is recruiting and players high on the radar. I did not talk about JC players or transfers. I also want ORN over Sy clearly. Not many 6’9+ players are doing between the leg dunks with ease like ORN and he has big upside.



Pitt will probably take 5 players in 2020 and will have a very strong class in 2020. We are in very strong position with the players I am talking about and a lot of them are players I mentioned months ago going back to last year. Pitt landed 3 commits from players I directly talked about for the 2019 class far in advance before they committed. I would expect commits in 2020 from at least a few of the players I am talking about. The 2020 class has far more high end talent than the 2019 class.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

That says we could absolutely get zero of those players. So how is that momentum?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Part 2

Cliff Omoruyi


One of the best defensive players in the class and a Top 50 National talent, there is no secret why Kentucky and Uconn have offered. As his offensive game expands, more majors may step in. However, the timetable could be a longer one or shorter one. Cliff is 2 classes away from being eligible in 2019 reclassification and is considering reclassification. Capel has been recruiting him hard and is pushing for it, but Kentucky is Kentucky. The question here is, how much early playing time is important to him. Uconn is also a major player. Family ties to western PA could help Pitt. Pitt is also monitoring his teammate Posh Alexander who just returned from a badly broken arm.







DJ Gordon


He has been hovering around Pitt for some time and with his current EYBL performance, more majors are going to be coming in. Gordon is shooting a blistering 85% from the field and 75% from 3 in the early EYBL rounds. He is now in multiple Top National 150’s and his stock and ranking are going to go up quickly. If he continues to showcase good shooting ability which has been holding him back, many more schools are going to get involved fast. Jeff Capel and staff have spent quite a bit of time recruiting him and Pitt is easily one of the early leaders.







Marcus Bagley



The brother of Marvin Bagley who had a great relationship with Jeff Capel, Marcus is already considered a Top 50 National Player. With Pitt being mentioned in his top 4, he is said to be making a visit soon and could be an earlier verbal to a school. Bagley is a 6’7 200lb wing with ridiculous athletic ability. Arizona State is the main school to beat out since his grandfather was a former player and ASU alum and with ties to Phoenix. Jeff Capel has a very strong relationship with the Bagley family which is why Pitt is very high under consideration. Ultimately, he could easily choose Pitt over Arizona State with Capel’s relationship with the family and with his older brother.







Donovan Johnson



The brother of Cam Johnson, he is already making his mark in the spring circuit and his stock is also quickly rising. With Roy Williams and North Carolina watching him and another 26 point performance, ESPN already announced he will easily be in their Top 100 in the next set of rankings. He’s shooting a strong 44% from 3 point range at the Gauntlet. He has a lot of Big Ten Interest. Arizona, Xavier, and TCU are also involved.







Andre Curbelo


Already had his ranking rise quickly as a I mentioned back in January that it would. Now a borderline Top 50 player Nationally, Capel continues to monitor his game and recruit him hard. He’s been one of the best playmakers at Adidas this spring. Uconn, Louisville, West Virginia, Villanova, and many others are looking at him and offers are flooding in. Capel likes him because of his playmaking ability and speed in the transition game.






Henry Coleman



I really like this kid a lot and said it last year he was way underrated when other services barely had him in the National Top 150. Now with interest coming in from everyone including Duke, its going to be very tough to get him. Virginia is probably the school to beat with Duke if they offer with Buzz Williams now leaving Virginia Tech. Per Coleman, Pitt is still recruiting him very hard. He recently said Pitt along with NC State, Virginia, and Ohio State have made him a big priority and have talked to him the most. We are trailing here, but his family and Coleman both like Jeff Capel quite a lot. Capel’s Next step is to get him to visit Pitt a 2nd time.






CJ Wilcher


A player that is growing on me quickly because he is making his case as one of the top shooters in the country. He’s been deadly shooting this spring and Capel and staff recently visited him in NJ. He isn’t the most athletic player but neither was Ashton Gibbs. Only difference is Wilcher is pushing a large 6’5. With a lot of interest from the North East including 6 new offers in the last week, if he continues to keep going for 30+ points and 5 threes a game like he’s been doing the past week being the team Rio leader, expect many more to get involved. He was one of the biggest risers in the last rankings and that may take place again. For Capel to go out and see him with multiple assistants, we clearly like him a lot and are making him a high priority.






These are only some players Pitt is recruiting but these are impact players Pitt is recruiting and players high on the radar. I did not talk about JC players or transfers. I also want ORN over Sy clearly. Not many 6’9+ players are doing between the leg dunks with ease like ORN and he has big upside.



Pitt will probably take 5 players in 2020 and will have a very strong class in 2020. We are in very strong position with the players I am talking about and a lot of them are players I mentioned months ago going back to last year. Pitt landed 3 commits from players I directly talked about for the 2019 class far in advance before they committed. I would expect commits in 2020 from at least a few of the players I am talking about. The 2020 class has far more high end talent than the 2019 class.

Same story as 2019. Recruiting a ton of Top 100 talent hard and will make a lot of final lists. Can we get any? In one sense, you would think the weakish 2019 class would help us sell playing time.

And BTW, why the eff is a 5 star big from Maryland visiting Providence? I mean, come on now, recruiting is just all over the place nowadays. A 5 star big visiting a middling Big East program whose games aren't really on TV (does FS1 count?)

 

[Delpanther]

I guess momentum is in the eye of the beholder.....thru my set of glasses it looks like wheel spinning....somewhat unproductively.

 

[King Of All Message Boards]

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Same story as 2019. Recruiting a ton of Top 100 talent hard and will make a lot of final lists. Can we get any? In one sense, you would think the weakish 2019 class would help us sell playing time.

And BTW, why the eff is a 5 star big from Maryland visiting Providence? I mean, come on now, recruiting is just all over the place nowadays. A 5 star big visiting a middling Big East program whose games aren't really on TV (does FS1 count?)

He is a foreign student from Finland. Why would you expect any local/regional affinity from him?

 

[PHPanther]

I’m not sure why people love to bag on this guy.. over the last 18 plus years of following this site I have come to know there is not one person that can predict what or why kids choose the schools they do.. I for one appreciate the information he provided.. that very well may have been the most comprehensive list of players and their performances that I have read on this site by anyone. I don’t care if any of his predictions come to fruition nor do I care for the litany of people that do not contribute anything but are so quick to shoot their mouths off bashing someone that is at minimum making us aware of players Pitt is recruiting.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

I’m not sure why people love to bag on this guy.. over the last 18 plus years of following this site I have come to know there is not one person that can predict what or why kids choose the schools they do.. I for one appreciate the information he provided.. that very well may have been the most comprehensive list of players and their performances that I have read on this site by anyone. I don’t care if any of his predictions come to fruition nor do I care for the litany of people that do not contribute anything but are so quick to shoot their mouths off bashing someone that is at minimum making us aware of players Pitt is recruiting.

People just love to hate .....very puzzling. I also enjoy his synopsis .

 

[Vader_Storm]

Momentum is the force or speed of movement. You see, with Kevin Stallings there was no momentum. It was like driving a car with 4 flat tires and a broken steering wheel running on fumes with no gas or oil. There was no traction. There was nothing.

Pitt's 2018 class is the definition of momentum. I already mentioned Pitt has the best returning freshmen class in the ACC by stats or accolades with X, Trey, and Toney and that the class overall was significantly underrated Nationally. That's a huge boost of momentum. All 3 players from the 2018 class are returning and all 3 are better than any other 3 freshmen players returning in the entire ACC conference. Xavier Johnson has moved up to 39th on ESPN's 2020 NBA draft big board. Those are facts. Its not debatable.

The 2019 recruiting class is one of the worst Nationally in quite a long time with overall high-end talent to replace departed ACC players from other ACC teams in maybe 30 years. There is minimal to zero difference between a Top 50 player and Top 200 player in 2019. See what Dante Taylor and the 2009 class looked like where most of the 2009 recruiting class was really average in college and the unranked players outperformed the ranked players. Duke and Kentucky are still heavily pushing for 2020 kids to reclassify even with all their 5 star 2019 players. The NBA mock draft for 2020 is one of the worst Ive ever seen. 2019 is a heavy development class overall Nationally.

College basketball talent will be way down next year. I wouldn’t be surprised if one or multiple midmajors make the final 4 next season as 8 seeds or worse. A lot will depend on the 10+ 2020 Top 100 players still debating reclassification into 2019 right now. The 2020 NBA mock draft board is that weak.

That's also momentum. Because college basketball and the ACC lost a ton of talent from transfer, graduation, the NBA, etc.. and have limited replacements from an abnormally weak 2019 class. Virginia Tech has 4 players right now for their entire team next year. They picked up a Wofford flip they beat Texas State for. Virginia Tech could combine teams with Clemson right now and they would have 12 total players. Both teams lost everybody. And both teams have scraps left. That's the tip of the iceberg for the nosedive most of the acc is about to take next year. That's what happens when you lose 6+ players in 1 year and don't have recruits to fill in.



I don’t use All Star games to base opinions, as All Star games are the worst way to evaluate players, it is nothing more than a glorified dunk contest scrimmage as opposed to any type of real game. I use concrete stats against highly ranked players at tournaments, AAU, Prep, or high school. Our class is significantly better than what some think in 2019 in comparison to other 2019 classes. I like the 2019 class as a growth class for development which is what most of the Top 25 ranked 2019 classes will turn out be. I also use stats from AAU and high school / prep to support it.


Justin Champagnie is currently 17 years old and some people already have his entire Pitt career mapped out from a meaningless All Star game. If you want to watch Justin Champagnie, head over to youtube and type in slam dunk to the beach Bishop Loughlin tournament. You can watch him against real players headed to D1 in a real tournament with actual basketball structure and the full complete games are there to watch. BL was a Nationally Ranked Top 25 high school team almost the entire year.

The fact people are taking words from a meaningless All Star game as gospel is insanity. Dante Taylor won the skills competition at the Mcdonalds All American game. He was a bust. Greg Paulus was supposed to be the second coming of John Stockton after his Mcdonalds game. Also a big bust. Those are just examples of All Star game non-sense.


Champagnie plays nothing like Malik Ellison in any part of the game of basketball. Malik Ellison was a walking disaster this year. Ellison had a ORT offensive rating 7 points lower than every other player on the entire Pitt roster except Peace Ilegomah with the 2nd highest turnover rate on the entire team at a putrid 24% as a role player. He was worse this year than most of the players from the Stallings 0-18 disaster, shot 18% from 3 point range and 53% from the free throw line. Shaq would crush him in a game of horse.


Justin Champagnie shot 64% from the floor in AAU with new heights. He’s an undersized power forward and has played in the frontcourt his entire career. Ellison is a 2 guard that got moved to forward who literally failed in every single aspect of the game of basketball this year. Besides Stallings calling him the best practice player ever and people buying and believing it, he was horrible this year. How anyone managed to write the words Champagnie and Ellison in the same sentence in any way is beyond words. They play nothing alike and these crazy comparisons are coming from a meaningless All Star Game.

Pitt only won 4 acc games last year. That's a fact. Pitt is going to win over 5 acc games next year. I already looked at the returning rosters of the other teams and know what they lost. Its ok to be a non-believer in Capel or the recruits or the program. Its also ok to see the 2018 momentum Capel established with the 2018 class and admit the class was darn good. Results from the 2019 class will come in time, sink or swim.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

He is a foreign student from Finland. Why would you expect any local/regional affinity from him?

I was talking about Hunter Dickinson.

 

[wbrpanther]

That says we could absolutely get zero of those players. So how is that momentum?

Typical lair. First response totally negative. my god, get a grip.

 

[wbrpanther]

Momentum is the force or speed of movement. You see, with Kevin Stallings there was no momentum. It was like driving a car with 4 flat tires and a broken steering wheel running on fumes with no gas or oil. There was no traction. There was nothing.

Pitt's 2018 class is the definition of momentum. I already mentioned Pitt has the best returning freshmen class in the ACC by stats or accolades with X, Trey, and Toney and that the class overall was significantly underrated Nationally. That's a huge boost of momentum. All 3 players from the 2018 class are returning and all 3 are better than any other 3 freshmen players returning in the entire ACC conference. Xavier Johnson has moved up to 39th on ESPN's 2020 NBA draft big board. Those are facts. Its not debatable.

The 2019 recruiting class is one of the worst Nationally in quite a long time with overall high-end talent to replace departed ACC players from other ACC teams in maybe 30 years. There is minimal to zero difference between a Top 50 player and Top 200 player in 2019. See what Dante Taylor and the 2009 class looked like where most of the 2009 recruiting class was really average in college and the unranked players outperformed the ranked players. Duke and Kentucky are still heavily pushing for 2020 kids to reclassify even with all their 5 star 2019 players. The NBA mock draft for 2020 is one of the worst Ive ever seen. 2019 is a heavy development class overall Nationally.

College basketball talent will be way down next year. I wouldn’t be surprised if one or multiple midmajors make the final 4 next season as 8 seeds or worse. A lot will depend on the 10+ 2020 Top 100 players still debating reclassification into 2019 right now. The 2020 NBA mock draft board is that weak.

That's also momentum. Because college basketball and the ACC lost a ton of talent from transfer, graduation, the NBA, etc.. and have limited replacements from an abnormally weak 2019 class. Virginia Tech has 4 players right now for their entire team next year. They picked up a Wofford flip they beat Texas State for. Virginia Tech could combine teams with Clemson right now and they would have 12 total players. Both teams lost everybody. And both teams have scraps left. That's the tip of the iceberg for the nosedive most of the acc is about to take next year. That's what happens when you lose 6+ players in 1 year and don't have recruits to fill in.



I don’t use All Star games to base opinions, as All Star games are the worst way to evaluate players, it is nothing more than a glorified dunk contest scrimmage as opposed to any type of real game. I use concrete stats against highly ranked players at tournaments, AAU, Prep, or high school. Our class is significantly better than what some think in 2019 in comparison to other 2019 classes. I like the 2019 class as a growth class for development which is what most of the Top 25 ranked 2019 classes will turn out be. I also use stats from AAU and high school / prep to support it.


Justin Champagnie is currently 17 years old and some people already have his entire Pitt career mapped out from a meaningless All Star game. If you want to watch Justin Champagnie, head over to youtube and type in slam dunk to the beach Bishop Loughlin tournament. You can watch him against real players headed to D1 in a real tournament with actual basketball structure and the full complete games are there to watch. BL was a Nationally Ranked Top 25 high school team almost the entire year.

The fact people are taking words from a meaningless All Star game as gospel is insanity. Dante Taylor won the skills competition at the Mcdonalds All American game. He was a bust. Greg Paulus was supposed to be the second coming of John Stockton after his Mcdonalds game. Also a big bust. Those are just examples of All Star game non-sense.


Champagnie plays nothing like Malik Ellison in any part of the game of basketball. Malik Ellison was a walking disaster this year. Ellison had a ORT offensive rating 7 points lower than every other player on the entire Pitt roster except Peace Ilegomah with the 2nd highest turnover rate on the entire team at a putrid 24% as a role player. He was worse this year than most of the players from the Stallings 0-18 disaster, shot 18% from 3 point range and 53% from the free throw line. Shaq would crush him in a game of horse.


Justin Champagnie shot 64% from the floor in AAU with new heights. He’s an undersized power forward and has played in the frontcourt his entire career. Ellison is a 2 guard that got moved to forward who literally failed in every single aspect of the game of basketball this year. Besides Stallings calling him the best practice player ever and people buying and believing it, he was horrible this year. How anyone managed to write the words Champagnie and Ellison in the same sentence in any way is beyond words. They play nothing alike and these crazy comparisons are coming from a meaningless All Star Game.

Pitt only won 4 acc games last year. That's a fact. Pitt is going to win over 5 acc games next year. I already looked at the returning rosters of the other teams and know what they lost. Its ok to be a non-believer in Capel or the recruits or the program. Its also ok to see the 2018 momentum Capel established with the 2018 class and admit the class was darn good. Results from the 2019 class will come in time, sink or swim.

Please don't let the malcontents get you down. I and many others appreciate your posts. Keep up the good work.

 

[gary2]

Pitt will take 5 players in 2020? How? That would mean giving out no further scholarships this season. That would mean punting on next season. Maybe you think Ndir is returning. Maybe you think George is graduating next season.

With questions about Kene's health, we need one probably two bigs.

Maybe we are in with three grad transfers I don't know about.

I hope punting on next season is not the plan.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

I was talking about Hunter Dickinson.

Well, okay. However, DeMatha HS kids have gone to all kinds of different schools over the years including, in now ancient days--Adrian Dantley to Notre Dame.

 

[Delpanther]

Momentum is the force or speed of movement. You see, with Kevin Stallings there was no momentum. It was like driving a car with 4 flat tires and a broken steering wheel running on fumes with no gas or oil. There was no traction. There was nothing.

Pitt's 2018 class is the definition of momentum. I already mentioned Pitt has the best returning freshmen class in the ACC by stats or accolades with X, Trey, and Toney and that the class overall was significantly underrated Nationally. That's a huge boost of momentum. All 3 players from the 2018 class are returning and all 3 are better than any other 3 freshmen players returning in the entire ACC conference. Xavier Johnson has moved up to 39th on ESPN's 2020 NBA draft big board. Those are facts. Its not debatable.

The 2019 recruiting class is one of the worst Nationally in quite a long time with overall high-end talent to replace departed ACC players from other ACC teams in maybe 30 years. There is minimal to zero difference between a Top 50 player and Top 200 player in 2019. See what Dante Taylor and the 2009 class looked like where most of the 2009 recruiting class was really average in college and the unranked players outperformed the ranked players. Duke and Kentucky are still heavily pushing for 2020 kids to reclassify even with all their 5 star 2019 players. The NBA mock draft for 2020 is one of the worst Ive ever seen. 2019 is a heavy development class overall Nationally.

College basketball talent will be way down next year. I wouldn’t be surprised if one or multiple midmajors make the final 4 next season as 8 seeds or worse. A lot will depend on the 10+ 2020 Top 100 players still debating reclassification into 2019 right now. The 2020 NBA mock draft board is that weak.

That's also momentum. Because college basketball and the ACC lost a ton of talent from transfer, graduation, the NBA, etc.. and have limited replacements from an abnormally weak 2019 class. Virginia Tech has 4 players right now for their entire team next year. They picked up a Wofford flip they beat Texas State for. Virginia Tech could combine teams with Clemson right now and they would have 12 total players. Both teams lost everybody. And both teams have scraps left. That's the tip of the iceberg for the nosedive most of the acc is about to take next year. That's what happens when you lose 6+ players in 1 year and don't have recruits to fill in.



I don’t use All Star games to base opinions, as All Star games are the worst way to evaluate players, it is nothing more than a glorified dunk contest scrimmage as opposed to any type of real game. I use concrete stats against highly ranked players at tournaments, AAU, Prep, or high school. Our class is significantly better than what some think in 2019 in comparison to other 2019 classes. I like the 2019 class as a growth class for development which is what most of the Top 25 ranked 2019 classes will turn out be. I also use stats from AAU and high school / prep to support it.


Justin Champagnie is currently 17 years old and some people already have his entire Pitt career mapped out from a meaningless All Star game. If you want to watch Justin Champagnie, head over to youtube and type in slam dunk to the beach Bishop Loughlin tournament. You can watch him against real players headed to D1 in a real tournament with actual basketball structure and the full complete games are there to watch. BL was a Nationally Ranked Top 25 high school team almost the entire year.

The fact people are taking words from a meaningless All Star game as gospel is insanity. Dante Taylor won the skills competition at the Mcdonalds All American game. He was a bust. Greg Paulus was supposed to be the second coming of John Stockton after his Mcdonalds game. Also a big bust. Those are just examples of All Star game non-sense.


Champagnie plays nothing like Malik Ellison in any part of the game of basketball. Malik Ellison was a walking disaster this year. Ellison had a ORT offensive rating 7 points lower than every other player on the entire Pitt roster except Peace Ilegomah with the 2nd highest turnover rate on the entire team at a putrid 24% as a role player. He was worse this year than most of the players from the Stallings 0-18 disaster, shot 18% from 3 point range and 53% from the free throw line. Shaq would crush him in a game of horse.


Justin Champagnie shot 64% from the floor in AAU with new heights. He’s an undersized power forward and has played in the frontcourt his entire career. Ellison is a 2 guard that got moved to forward who literally failed in every single aspect of the game of basketball this year. Besides Stallings calling him the best practice player ever and people buying and believing it, he was horrible this year. How anyone managed to write the words Champagnie and Ellison in the same sentence in any way is beyond words. They play nothing alike and these crazy comparisons are coming from a meaningless All Star Game.

Pitt only won 4 acc games last year. That's a fact. Pitt is going to win over 5 acc games next year. I already looked at the returning rosters of the other teams and know what they lost. Its ok to be a non-believer in Capel or the recruits or the program. Its also ok to see the 2018 momentum Capel established with the 2018 class and admit the class was darn good. Results from the 2019 class will come in time, sink or swim.

To me momentum would mean taking a step forward and improving on last year’s recruiting results and plugging the gaping holes on this roster. The players added this year are decent. Based on everything I read they strike me, however, as players not quite up to the level of X and McGowens. Add to this that Pitt still has a huge hole at C, the need for a backup pg and a pure knockdown shooter at the 2 . Accordingly, I see more wheel spinning than momentum. Could this change ? Sure. What I do know is that with every additional year of cellar dweller results in the acc recruiting will get tougher and the outside world will be associating these results with Capel and not his predecessors.

Accordingly, I think it’s very very important to be recruiting the level of players meeting Pitt’s needs that are going to translate into wins the next couple of years and not 3-4 years from now. BB rebuilds under the right coach shouldn’t take 4-5 years. I’m not saying Capel isn’t the right coach but if he is, we will see REAL momentum as I have defined it above.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Pitt will take 5 players in 2020? How? That would mean giving out no further scholarships this season. That would mean punting on next season. Maybe you think Ndir is returning. Maybe you think George is graduating next season.

With questions about Kene's health, we need one probably two bigs.

Maybe we are in with three grad transfers I don't know about.

I hope punting on next season is not the plan.

Pitt will take 5 players in 2020? How? That would mean giving out no further scholarships this season. That would mean punting on next season.

As things stand now there will be 9 players on ship for next season with Chukwuka being the only senior in that group. That means for 2020 there are currently 5 ships available (4 currently open plus Chukwuka's when he graduates). Adding up to 4 grad transfers would be possible and have zero effect on having 5 ships available for the class of 2020.

Adding freshmen or JUCOs on the other hand would reduce the 5 ships available on a 1 for 1 basis. I expect between 2 and 4 players will be added before September; but, no more than 2 of them will be Freshmen of JUCOs.

Assuming that is the case, there will be a minimum of 3 ships available for 2020 with a maximum of 5 if only grad transfers are added. This assumes that George doesn't graduate and leave leave a year early and that no one else transfers out. The numbers always work out.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Pitt will take 5 players in 2020? How? That would mean giving out no further scholarships this season. That would mean punting on next season. Maybe you think Ndir is returning. Maybe you think George is graduating next season.

With questions about Kene's health, we need one probably two bigs.

Maybe we are in with three grad transfers I don't know about.

I hope punting on next season is not the plan.

Kene's surgery was said to have been minor and not expected to adversely affect his play.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

To me momentum would mean taking a step forward and improving on last year’s recruiting results and plugging the gaping holes on this roster. The players added this year are decent. Based on everything I read they strike me, however, as players not quite up to the level of X and McGowens. Add to this that Pitt still has a huge hole at C, the need for a backup pg and a pure knockdown shooter at the 2 . Accordingly, I see more wheel spinning than momentum. Could this change ? Sure. What I do know is that with every additional year of cellar dweller results in the acc recruiting will get tougher and the outside world will be associating these results with Capel and not his predecessors.

Accordingly, I think it’s very very important to be recruiting the level of players meeting Pitt’s needs that are going to translate into wins the next couple of years and not 3-4 years from now. BB rebuilds under the right coach shouldn’t take 4-5 years. I’m not saying Capel isn’t the right coach but if he is, we will see REAL momentum as I have defined it above.

What mystical Coach was coming in here and turning the worst roster in D1 into an instant competitor in the ACC without multiple bag men?
People need to get their heads out of the clouds this is multi year rebuild .

 

[Nish67]

Vader, count me as one of those that truly appreciate your posts. You put a lot of time and work into your summaries. Would be great to land 2-4 names from your list.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

Dante Taylor won the skills competition at the Mcdonalds All American game. He was a bust

Actually...he was a very efficient role player, with a career PER of 20, 58% from the field, 2nd "all time" in Big East offensive rebounding percentage since it was tracked (2010 to present.)

This team would do well to have a Dante Taylor and hopefully we have one on the way.

 

[Delpanther]

What mystical Coach was coming in here and turning the worst roster in D1 into an instant competitor in the ACC without multiple bag men?
People need to get their heads out of the clouds this is multi year rebuild .

Stop it with the mystical BS... LSU was crap for years, Buffalo was crap for years, VT was crap for years, ..... it doesn’t take a good coach 5 years to put a winning BB team on the floor.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

Stop it with the mystical BS... LSU was crap for years, Buffalo was crap for years, VT was crap for years, ..... it doesn’t take a good coach 5 years to put a winning BB team on the floor.

L$U come on , VT went out and got themselves a successful HC who had recruiting contacts already established . What successful HC would’ve taken the Pit job ? Where was the money coming from if they found someone willing to take the job ?
Sure if Pitt wants to reestablish the Golden Panthers then there’s no reason Pitt can’t buy themselves some W’s .
Live in reality ..this is Pitt .

 

[rockypanther]

Vadar,
Based on just what you currently have said and know how would you put the players you listed in groups. I am not setting him up, just kind of interesting to know what Vadar speculates our odds are right now.

Very Good Chance to Land:

As Good as any other team to Land:

Not Likely to Land:

 

[Delpanther]

L$U come on , VT went out and got themselves a successful HC who had recruiting contacts already established . What successful HC would’ve taken the Pit job ? Where was the money coming from if they found someone willing to take the job ?
Sure if Pitt wants to reestablish the Golden Panthers then there’s no reason Pitt can’t buy themselves some W’s .
Live in reality ..this is Pitt .

Is Capel up to the job or not? I think he is and if he is, it won’t take 5 years. If Pitt’s winning 5-6 acc games 2 seasons from now, Pitt’s in deep trouble.

 

[JS School]

Just curious (some of you may already know, I'd have to research it) -
What was the average ranking of last year's freshmen compared to this year's freshmen?

I think X turned out to be much better than his ranking indicated. It's unfair to compare the incoming class to last year's class until we actually see them play. All you can really do is compare rankings if you are going to measure them against each other at this time.

 

[DiehardPanther]

How do we end up with 4 or 5 ‘ships in 2020?
- Player Transfers
- Someone leaves early for the pros
- Seniors Graduate (Kene, Possibly Others We Add Late)
- Maybe an unused ‘Ship from this year

 

[PittMan 72]

How do we end up with 4 or 5 ‘ships in 2020?
- Player Transfers
- Someone leaves early for the pros
- Seniors Graduate (Kene, Possibly Others We Add Late)
- Maybe an unused ‘Ship from this year

Yep. It is becoming more and more unpredictable how many available scholarships a program may have from year-to-year.

 

[H2P 2003]

I guess momentum is in the eye of the beholder.....thru my set of glasses it looks like wheel spinning....somewhat unproductively.

Not a shock at all that gary2 liked the negative post!

 

[Delpanther]

Not a shock at all that gary2 liked the negative post!

Nothing negative about that post.... just wasn’t pie in the sky fiction. Is that your idea of reality?

 

[gary2]

How do we end up with 4 or 5 ‘ships in 2020?
- Player Transfers
- Someone leaves early for the pros
- Seniors Graduate (Kene, Possibly Others We Add Late)
- Maybe an unused ‘Ship from this year

It's "possible" that we could have 13 scholarships next season.

The question is how we end up with five and still have a decent team.

Unless they are mostly grad transfers (and we are not publically associated with many) or we do more massive run offs, I don't see how that can happen.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

The question is how we end up with five and still have a decent team.

Unless they are mostly grad transfers (and we are not publicly associated with many) or we do more massive run offs, I don't see how that can happen.

It seems highly unlikely to me that Capel will go into next season with only 9 scholarship players and 2-3 walk-on guards. Worst case, IMHO, is he will add at least a couple of grad transfers late (there are a huge number on the market--something like 700?) if he doesn't land either ORN or Sy. Although we fans mostly believe he will not land either, neither have publicly announced a final decision as of yet.

My guess he is waiting on ORN and Sy and also to learn if Demarr Langford will reclassify and commit before he actively goes after some grad transfers to complete the roster for 2019-2020.

Perhaps we will have more clarity on what's going to happen by around the time the current spring LOI period ends May 15?

 

[joeydavid]

Was this year's roster better than the previous year's? Yes

Will next year's roster be better than this year's roster? Yes

I'm not sure why this us confusing to some.

I guess momentum is in the eye of the beholder.....thru my set of glasses it looks like wheel spinning....somewhat unproductively.

 

[DT_PITT]

That says we could absolutely get zero of those players. So how is that momentum?

 

[gary2]

Are you hearing anything new and positive about recruiting? Not asking for premium board information.

Thanx

 

[DT_PITT]

Are you hearing anything new and positive about recruiting? Not asking for premium board information.

Thanx

Nothing specific or beyond what's been mentioned on the pay board, or twitter, etc.

 

[Fsgolfdr]

Is Capel up to the job or not? I think he is and if he is, it won’t take 5 years. If Pitt’s winning 5-6 acc games 2 seasons from now, Pitt’s in deep trouble.

When Pitt has his seniors and juniors playing is a fair test .

 

[gary2]

Nothing specific or beyond what's been mentioned on the pay board, or twitter, etc.

Thanks for the reply

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

L$U come on , VT went out and got themselves a successful HC who had recruiting contacts already established . What successful HC would’ve taken the Pit job ? Where was the money coming from if they found someone willing to take the job ?
Sure if Pitt wants to reestablish the Golden Panthers then there’s no reason Pitt can’t buy themselves some W’s .
Live in reality ..this is Pitt .

JEFF CAPEL!!!

What the hell are you talking about. Do you think Buzzy was a bigger name, with more established contacts than Jeff Capel? My god this is a stupid post. I am sorry. I am sorry to call you out, but the degree of people making excuses is over the top. Like "Li'l Jeffy Capel'' this is first go 'round recruiting at this level, so he needs to establish himself.

Stop it. Stop this now.

 

[Vader_Storm]

To me momentum would mean taking a step forward and improving on last year’s recruiting results and plugging the gaping holes on this roster. The players added this year are decent. Based on everything I read they strike me, however, as players not quite up to the level of X and McGowens. Add to this that Pitt still has a huge hole at C, the need for a backup pg and a pure knockdown shooter at the 2 . Accordingly, I see more wheel spinning than momentum. Could this change ? Sure. What I do know is that with every additional year of cellar dweller results in the acc recruiting will get tougher and the outside world will be associating these results with Capel and not his predecessors.

Accordingly, I think it’s very very important to be recruiting the level of players meeting Pitt’s needs that are going to translate into wins the next couple of years and not 3-4 years from now. BB rebuilds under the right coach shouldn’t take 4-5 years. I’m not saying Capel isn’t the right coach but if he is, we will see REAL momentum as I have defined it above.

How do you improve on recruiting results when Pitt already has the best returning ACC freshmen class and the 2019 class Nationally isn't strong? You cant.


No, these new players are not as good as X and Trey. X is the 2nd highest returning scorer in the entire ACC next year. Mcgowens is going to be a Top 15-20 highest returning scorer in the entire ACC next year.


A realistic expectation is 3 years for a fair rebuild time frame. The 2018 Stallings team was the worst D1 P6 basketball team in probably 20 years. Not only did the team finish winless in the ACC, it was blown out in most of the games. The entire Stallings roster is getting turned over. There is a reason Ellison and Davis are gone. They were barely going to play next year.


There are a lot of predictions on how bad Pitt “will be” next year. So Ill leave you with this.


Virginia Tech next year


Losses


Buzz-Coach


Walker-NBA

Blackshear- NBA / Transfer

Robinson- Graduated

Hill-Graduated

Outlaw-Graduated

Clarke-Transfer

Nolley-Transfer

Bede-Transfer

Miller- Another possible decommit, the last one standing from Buzz


This team is going to be so woefully bad it makes Stallings 2018 team look good right now on paper. They have nothing left. Virginia Tech cant even field a team right now, they don’t have enough players to have a starting 5. They have less than 10 points per game in production returning. Anyone can talk about Pitt’s shortcomings next season, sure. Virginia Tech cant even field a team currently right now.


Clemson


Reed-Graduated

Thomas-Graduated

Mitchell-Graduated

Skara-Graduated

White-Graduated

William-Transfer


Clemson has a returning 16 points per game. Clemson and Virginia Tech have lost 15 players already. If anyone thinks Pitt is in trouble next year, I would strongly suggest looking at a few other ACC rosters. The bottom of the ACC is going to be dreadful next season and that is putting it kindly. The bottom of the ACC next year will be arguably worse than the Pac-12.


When you factor in the other bottom teams are losing their best players to the NBA like Bowman from BC and Hoard from WF, things get a little more pretty for Pitt. Pitt was 1 second away from beating Wake Forest on the road last year for 5 ACC wins this past year. And Hoard put up 19 points and 17 rebounds against Pitt at home. All 4 of these teams are going to be worse. That doesn’t even take into consideration Florida State lost 6 of its top 8 scorers, Miami is losing 4 of its top 7 scorers, Notre Dame was worse than Pitt this year, etc.. Ultimately, momentum is defined by winning and losing.


As I said, Pitt will easily win 5 ACC games next season. The poor attrition of what just took place in the ACC makes Pitt far better alone. Pitt is going to be playing every teams backup bench players next season because most of the ACC teams lost at minimum 3+ starters and a lot of teams are losing 4, 5, 6+ players. The 2019 class cannot fill the gaps for these teams’ monumental losses. Louisville is a borderline Top 5 team next year and they have 1 possible NBA player with Enoch if Nwora stays in the draft. If that doesn’t tell you and spell out how much worse the field is going to be next year then there isn’t much more to say.