Vader: RJ Davis and Earl Timberlake express major interest in Pitt, both Visiting
- Thread starter Vader_Storm
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Not really the point. The point, as I said then, and I will say now, is that getting to the tournament 2 of 3 years is not bad result -- one which should still be appreciated now. Doesn't really matter who the coach was.
Agreed. To use a business life cycle analogy, when Capel took over, Pitt wasn’t a re-build, a re-do, or even a turn-around situation. It was pretty much a total start-up operation. Since then we’ve seen a successful launch and some promising early stage results. My guess is this years team might surprise a lot of people, if for no other reason than the fact that when X or Trey break down a defense, they might actually have a couple bigs who can catch a dish-off and lay it in.
Sure there's sour grapes, particularly in Vader's comments about him now, but Morton isn't a PG at this level.
I’ll trust John Beilein, Matt Painter and Chris Holtmann’s evaluations over some internet poster
Let’s also not forget, the people who are tearing him down because his ranking went down are the same ones who are praising Coulibaly and making excuses for his rankings going down.
I really don’t care what people’s motives are for tearing down the best Wpial recruit in a long time, but at least be consistent
Kennedy Catholic isn’t in the WPIAL.
That said, Puff’s offer sheet and ranking is significantly stronger than Morton’s - and that’s coming from someone who would have loved to have all three of those guys at Pitt.
I never tore him down, just never saw him as a PG at this level. Even before he picked Purdue.
Just because a coach recruits someone as a PG, it doesn't mean that's where they really think he'll play.
It wasn’t before his commitment and Puff’s solid AAU season though. Is he even a Wpial recruit anymore? Arizona isn’t in the Wpial lol. I kid I kid.
I honestly can’t stand Puff’s game. If you look at the stat sheets from all his AAU games, it will be like 6-19 17 points. 7-18 17 points. Then one where it’ll be 8-11 19 points. I think he takes way too many bad shots and his ranking is pretty much a result from Cam having a solid 24 year old senior season as a 3rd option.
I’d still like him at Pitt but I’m not as high on him as I would like to be. He’s not very efficient and I don’t think he can do anything else. If we ended with Hugley Gordon a solid PG and another high upside big that would be the best class we’ve had imo.
Why not just wish Morton , a local kid , good luck in his college career . Time will tell how good he'll be .
ps ...I'm sure there was a spot for him at Pitt if he wanted it .
ps2...JD was the best coach in the modern era of Pitt bb . He underperformed in the post season , but he gave Pitt bb fans more great yrs than any other coach . He ran out of juice here and its not like that never happens anywhere else .
ps ...I'm sure there was a spot for him at Pitt if he wanted it .
ps2...JD was the best coach in the modern era of Pitt bb . He underperformed in the post season , but he gave Pitt bb fans more great yrs than any other coach . He ran out of juice here and its not like that never happens anywhere else .
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I don’t see anyone rooting against him
This is a lot of noise for no reason.
I’ll root for the kids in the Pitt jerseys.
Other team players I don’t care about-
Regardless of where they are from
I won't step into the mud here but I'm looking forward to the upcoming season. We got returning players who I assume are improved, and I think this class might surprise above the general board sentiment. I'll be rooting from day 1 (which is now) until the season ends. HTP!
I also took exception about the comment about the Stallings and Dixon "debacle" over the past 5 years, but assumed most of that "debacle" was on Stallings. And of the part that was what the OP thought was Dixon's, I don't know where that came from. I'd gladly take winning seasons and post-season tournaments now, which is what we had with Dixon, even in his worst years here. Which in hindsight, were pretty good.
But to each their own. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It doesn't change the facts.
That's good advice for all. There are certainly some internet posters you should never pay attention to.
That’s fair. I guess I see Morton and Johnson as being pretty similar players right now, but Johnson’s a lot longer and has played better over the past few months, while Morton has really struggled shooting the ball. I haven’t watched either in person, but they seem like they’re both shooting wings at the college level. Morton’s game is probably a little more well-rounded at this point, but I think Johnson’s length gives him more upside - which is why he’s the one getting the UNC and Arizona offers.
Either way, I don’t think either are coming to Pitt. I completely agree that a class of Hugley, Gordon, one of the point guards (Davis would obviously be at the top of the list, but Posh, Curbelo or any one of the recent offers would be great too), and another big like Taylor (Omoruyi seems like a pipe dream) would be a better class than any we’ve had since the glory days and would put us very much in a position to compete in the ACC.
Unfortunately I feel that the 2 recent offers to PG’s are because we don’t feel good about our chances with Davis, posh or Curbelo
Definitely a fair concern. I think everyone was thinking Seton Hall for Posh, but them taking another PG might open things up there. Haven’t heard much about Curbelo, but it seems like he’s built a strong relationship with Illinois and Antigua. Davis is definitely the guy where we have our chips in for, especially with the O’Toole connection. I think we definitely have a shot, especially if UNC lands a guy like Caleb Love, but the battle absolutely continues to get steeper and the August visit coming out of the dead period will be a massive one.
I do really like what I’ve seen from the two recent offers; they both seem like the kind of plus athletes at the point guard spot that we’ve seen so far with Xavier. They just aren’t RJ Davis - but then again, the RJ Davis of today isn’t the same RJ Davis we offered six months ago in terms of his recruitment.
Good seeing SHU take a PG commit, hoping other schools, a la UNC, Marquette, etc. get PG verbals. Still holding out hope for RJ. Hopefully Posh visits here too.
I don't think his comments were off base.
Dixon started the down turn of Pitt basketball. In the last 5 years of Dixon- they missed the NCAAs twice and only won 1 game plus his recruiting was pretty terrible.
Stallings took a less than ideal situation and killed what good that was left.
Pitt needed to hire a Capel once they moved Dixon on.
Man, you sure live in denial of reality in all ways. You have no idea of what happened when Dixon was pushed out or what was happening behind the scenes. I'd give anything to get back to the last 3 years of Dixon's tenure as coach here (it wasn't the last 5 years, as you stated). If we can get to 17 wins under Capel in the next 2 years, it will be a major accomplishment, and that still could mean no post season of any kind. Capel hasn't even gotten firm footing yet, and so far he's done OK. But he has a long way to go to get to the level that Dixon was at in his final 3 years.
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His last five years consisted of -
CBI, NCAA 1st Round, NCAA 2nd Round, NIT 1st Round and NCAA 1st Round. Poor recruiting. Not to mention the dwindling attendance at the Pete.
I liked Jamie but no one should have had much faith that he was going to be able turn the momentum back to the positive. By his own public comments, he had no interest in coaching in the ACC and the results showed.
All that said- only an idiot would move him on for a coach like Stallings. At the time, I wrote the AD and canceled my season tickets (which were 3 rows behind the Zoo) that I had since the Pete opened.
I really don't understand why we can't just let Jamie go. It is kind of like that crazy relationship that you just can't leave alone.
He was arguably the best coach in Pitt history. Whatever you want to attribute to his last 5 years and relative lack of success -- poor recruiting, couldn't coach in the ACC, bad luck with big men transferring. He was a great guy while he was here, gave us many years of great basketball and finally left like he seemed to want to do every other year and almost did again this year from his "Dream Job" at his Alma Mater. Jamie helped me get back into college hoops and become a Pitt basketball fan - my first game I watched DeJuan Blair rip apart Depaul and immediately went home and signed up for season tickets.
We have a great young new coach, built for the ACC. Let's let Jamie enjoy TCU and let's enjoy this rebirth of our program.
He was arguably the best coach in Pitt history. Whatever you want to attribute to his last 5 years and relative lack of success -- poor recruiting, couldn't coach in the ACC, bad luck with big men transferring. He was a great guy while he was here, gave us many years of great basketball and finally left like he seemed to want to do every other year and almost did again this year from his "Dream Job" at his Alma Mater. Jamie helped me get back into college hoops and become a Pitt basketball fan - my first game I watched DeJuan Blair rip apart Depaul and immediately went home and signed up for season tickets.
We have a great young new coach, built for the ACC. Let's let Jamie enjoy TCU and let's enjoy this rebirth of our program.
Dixon was a bum....and drove Pitt into the ground...those are the facts. He created the glide path into the Stallings freefall.
Well he certainly didn't do well after we left the BE. The downfall started in those years for sure but don't blame him for Stallings. The whole affair was an abortion from the start.
Not blaming him for Stallings, WBR, but what I believe true is that Stallings didn't inherit a very good roster which was a reflection in the severe drop off in in Dixon's recruiting, and the two veterans Stallings did inherit with talent had real attitude problems.
Ok...
Which of those two former Head Basketball Coaches at Pitt has a son who pitched a scoreless inning for the Pittsburgh Pirates?
Amazing to me that on one board I almost always agree with HTP1985 and disagree with joey. But on this board, I’m with JoeyDavid. I feel dirty.
How could anyone say that Pitt wasn’t recruiting Morton that hard. Capel doesn’t attend WPIAL games because he’s bored. He was at plenty of Morton’s games where he was the only kid on the floor who would play at any college level, let alone D1/P5/ACC.
It's a slow process for some but evolution shouldn't make you feel dirty.
I do the same thing with Jeffburgh. I read all his sports posts when I see them and cringe at most of his Locker Room stuff. Kinda the same with Joey too. People just don't always share the same assumptions and basic principles. Doesn't mean they aren't intelligent and can't be civil to one another. And smack talk can be fun too.
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