From the desk of Jim Snyder
Just how good are these guys?
The Pitt basketball team is now 7-0. There are not many teams left in the country that are still unbeaten and can make that this claim. There are approximately 333 Division 1 teams and only about 17 or 18 teams are still undefeated. When they publish the basketball schedule prior to the start of the season you sometimes figure that Pitt will be tested a little more than when these teams actually show up. Auburn is now 4-2 but was very young and simply no match for the Panthers. Penn State is now 4-3. They were very competitive in their other two losses but not against Pitt.
We may have top wait until they play at South Carolina (6-2) and when they host Wisconsin (9-1) to find out how good they really are? They are good. It is just a matter of degree. We like how they were able to turn it up a notch against Auburn and Penn State. Good teams do that when they think they might be challenged. I have had an opportunity to watch both South Carolina and Wisconsin this past week. They both will test Pitt but if the Panthers have a decent shooting night I think they have a good shot at beating both of them.
The move of Carl Krauser to the No. 2 guard continues to look like a great coaching decision. So far sophomore Ronald Ramon and Levance Fields look like they can handle the point. They are both young and figure to get better as the year goes on and they gain some game experience directing the offense. We also continue to like the play of center Aaron Gray.
Just how far the Panthers go this year probably hinges on the play of the forwards. Sam Young continues to show flashes of his athleticism. If he continues to work on his defense and ball handling skills he still may become a significant player before the season is over. John DeGroat has looked better recently.
Connecticut, Villanova and Louisville are ranked No. 2, 3 and 4 in the country. Unfortunately Pitt does not play Nova and has the other two on the road. This limits Pitt’s chances of knocking off a topped ranked team. I am not so sure Pitt couldn’t beat Louisville if the game were played at the Pete.
The Big East picked up quality wins this past week when Cincinnati won at Vanderbilt (5-1), Notre Dame won at Alabama and DePaul won at Wake Forest (7-2). Seven teams from the Big East should make the NCAA tournament (and maybe eight). Pitt, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Notre Dame, DePaul and Marquette will probably battle it out for the remaining available slots. How Pitt plays against these teams will be crucial to their NCAA tournament hopes. Right now Cincinnati has the highest RPI ranking of this group and Pitt has them at home.
Football recruiting
We caused a flap this week on the message boards. It may be a lesson learned. You should think before you post (and that certainly includes me). Let me assure you that no one at the Pantherlair would intentionally do anything to intentionally harm the Pitt athletic programs. That simply is not our mission. We attempt to be accurate but we bend over backwards to be fair. Many of the ratings are done prior to a player’s senior year. This is unfortunate but it is fact. Many schools like Pitt are forced to offer scholarships after a prospect’s junior year and in some cases sophomore year. It is absolutely crazy but that is the system that has evolved. We were simply passing on information on many players regarding their senior years. Certainly few would dispute that John Malecki, Dorin Dickerson, Elijah Fields and Joe Thomas all had great senior years. Not only did their teams have very good years but they also were dominant players on their team. They had great senior years. There were other players like Woodland Hills Darrin Walls that did not. Walls played injured all year. He played in every single game for a team that reached the WPIAL AAAA finals but simply was a not a big factor this year. He was on a very good team but did not have a good senior year. Let’s wait until they stop adjusting rankings. There are approximately 2,700 players that will sign Division 1 Letters of Intent. It is a big job. No one will get them all right. I will give you my thoughts after Letter of Intent Day.
It is not often we step out of our way to praise a fellow reporter from another source but Paul Zeise of the Post-Gazette has done a great job at reporting this year. He has gained the confidence of some important folks and is usually fair in his reporting. He has been helpful to the Pantherlair this year. He is usually worth the time when reporting on college football. You should hope the PG keeps him on the Pitt beat. He did a very good job this year.
Dave Wannstedt has been out visiting many prospects this past week. For the most part he is still recruiting hard players that have already committed but he was also in Syracuse taking another shot at defensive end McKenzie Mathews. We will be entering a Dead Period after this weekend to enable teams to practice for bowls. It is our understanding that the coach will try to get to Florida for a week of rest and relaxation. We hope you read the article on John Malecki. We loved his story of watching the state playoff game with Dave Wannstedt and Curtis Bray during his in home visit. This one is not hard to conjure up in one’s mind.
There are a couple of things we like a lot about this recruiting class. Dorin Dickerson, Aaron Smith, Kevin Collier and Nate Byham all have the potential to be difference makers on offense. We sure hope long term someone can get them the ball (maybe Bill Stull?).
We also like the linemen (as a group) that have been recruited so far. Joe Thomas, Jason Pinkston, John Malecki, Scott Corson, Jared Martin, Jeff Otah and Eric Rodemoyer appear to be the best group Pitt has brought in for some time. It all starts up front. You need several good linemen not just one and that looks like what they have recruited.
Pitt is still trying to add another offensive lineman. Trinity’s [/B]Andy Miller will visit in early January. Pitt is also looking at Kevin Macon from Oliver and perhaps Jake Miller who is a soft commit to Illinois. Andy Miller is the first choice.
I am not sure if anyone tracks this but Pitt has three players that have given a verbal commitment and then made official visit elsewhere. Not sure if any program has had more. Part of it is the fact that Pitt had so many early verbals but part of it was the disappointing season. Kevin Collier visited Syracuse but is still committed to Pitt. Joe Thomas visited Ohio State. We think he will also be a Panther but could still be tested again by Ohio State and/or Michigan in January. Ricky Gary is touring the Big Ten. First he went to Minnesota and now Ohio State. Ricky is a bit of a “flake” so he is a little harder to predict although I still think he is coming to Pitt. Last year Pitt had a player commit from Pahokee and he ended up at Wake Forest so that makes this one a little spooky. I guess the good news is that several of the players that Pitt identified early in the process ended up being coveted by other BCS schools and that has to be a positive.
There have been rumors that defensive McKenzie Mathews may be leaning to the Big Ten. Coach Wannstedt visited him this week so Pitt has not given up. The staff also has defensive end prospects Gene Atkins and Audie Augustine lined up for visits in January. Pitt had Blake Smith in for a visit but it looks like he will wait until Pitt finds out where it stands with Mathews, Atkins and Augustine.
In a group we will call “athletes” (wr & db’s) Elijah Field and Tamarucus Porter are still viable candidates. We also hear that Perry’s Aundre Wright maybe visiting in January.
Quarterback Thaddeus Lewis will be visiting TCU this weekend. He has four visits lined up. I would be surprised if he visited Duke but we will see. If somehow he falls in love on one of his visits we think Pitt will stay with the two quarterbacks that have already verballed although Perry’s Desmond Brentley is a possibility.
Pitt appears to be on their way to the best recruiting class in two decades. It certainly is the best in the Big East. We have talked to a number of reporters that cover other Big East teams and they cannot get over the class that Pitt seems to have in hand.
The Rivals Recruiting Yearbook has a number of interesting charts. Over the past few years Pennsylvania ranks No. 7 in producing NFL players. California, Florida and Texas are in a league of their own. In the next tier down are Georgia, Ohio, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania (in that order).
In the period from 2002-2005 62% of the Pitt recruits came from out of state. That is too high. Penn State recruited 64% of their players from out of state during the same period. Perhaps this suggests that Pennsylvania went through a slump over the last few years in producing. I believe this year class is much better than some of those recent classes.
If Pitt is to be successful long term they should follow the pattern of Virginia Tech. Their program was built on Virginia players. The Hokies program was built with only 32% of their players coming from out of state. Not sure what the magic number is but Pitt must do better in state and then supplement it with players from Florida, Northeast Ohio and upstate New York. Dave Wannstedt appears determined to do just that. We keep hearing he wants to hit eastern PA a little harder next year.
The War Room is targeted towards our premium customers. We ask that all information reported in the War Room MUST stay right here! That’s the way this deal works. When this information is repeated outside of the Between Fifth and Forbes forum it only cheapens the price of yours and every other die-hard who have purchased premium services. The War Room is one of our more popular features...thank you all for keeping the information on this board.
Just how good are these guys?
The Pitt basketball team is now 7-0. There are not many teams left in the country that are still unbeaten and can make that this claim. There are approximately 333 Division 1 teams and only about 17 or 18 teams are still undefeated. When they publish the basketball schedule prior to the start of the season you sometimes figure that Pitt will be tested a little more than when these teams actually show up. Auburn is now 4-2 but was very young and simply no match for the Panthers. Penn State is now 4-3. They were very competitive in their other two losses but not against Pitt.
We may have top wait until they play at South Carolina (6-2) and when they host Wisconsin (9-1) to find out how good they really are? They are good. It is just a matter of degree. We like how they were able to turn it up a notch against Auburn and Penn State. Good teams do that when they think they might be challenged. I have had an opportunity to watch both South Carolina and Wisconsin this past week. They both will test Pitt but if the Panthers have a decent shooting night I think they have a good shot at beating both of them.
The move of Carl Krauser to the No. 2 guard continues to look like a great coaching decision. So far sophomore Ronald Ramon and Levance Fields look like they can handle the point. They are both young and figure to get better as the year goes on and they gain some game experience directing the offense. We also continue to like the play of center Aaron Gray.
Just how far the Panthers go this year probably hinges on the play of the forwards. Sam Young continues to show flashes of his athleticism. If he continues to work on his defense and ball handling skills he still may become a significant player before the season is over. John DeGroat has looked better recently.
Connecticut, Villanova and Louisville are ranked No. 2, 3 and 4 in the country. Unfortunately Pitt does not play Nova and has the other two on the road. This limits Pitt’s chances of knocking off a topped ranked team. I am not so sure Pitt couldn’t beat Louisville if the game were played at the Pete.
The Big East picked up quality wins this past week when Cincinnati won at Vanderbilt (5-1), Notre Dame won at Alabama and DePaul won at Wake Forest (7-2). Seven teams from the Big East should make the NCAA tournament (and maybe eight). Pitt, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Georgetown, Notre Dame, DePaul and Marquette will probably battle it out for the remaining available slots. How Pitt plays against these teams will be crucial to their NCAA tournament hopes. Right now Cincinnati has the highest RPI ranking of this group and Pitt has them at home.
Football recruiting
We caused a flap this week on the message boards. It may be a lesson learned. You should think before you post (and that certainly includes me). Let me assure you that no one at the Pantherlair would intentionally do anything to intentionally harm the Pitt athletic programs. That simply is not our mission. We attempt to be accurate but we bend over backwards to be fair. Many of the ratings are done prior to a player’s senior year. This is unfortunate but it is fact. Many schools like Pitt are forced to offer scholarships after a prospect’s junior year and in some cases sophomore year. It is absolutely crazy but that is the system that has evolved. We were simply passing on information on many players regarding their senior years. Certainly few would dispute that John Malecki, Dorin Dickerson, Elijah Fields and Joe Thomas all had great senior years. Not only did their teams have very good years but they also were dominant players on their team. They had great senior years. There were other players like Woodland Hills Darrin Walls that did not. Walls played injured all year. He played in every single game for a team that reached the WPIAL AAAA finals but simply was a not a big factor this year. He was on a very good team but did not have a good senior year. Let’s wait until they stop adjusting rankings. There are approximately 2,700 players that will sign Division 1 Letters of Intent. It is a big job. No one will get them all right. I will give you my thoughts after Letter of Intent Day.
It is not often we step out of our way to praise a fellow reporter from another source but Paul Zeise of the Post-Gazette has done a great job at reporting this year. He has gained the confidence of some important folks and is usually fair in his reporting. He has been helpful to the Pantherlair this year. He is usually worth the time when reporting on college football. You should hope the PG keeps him on the Pitt beat. He did a very good job this year.
Dave Wannstedt has been out visiting many prospects this past week. For the most part he is still recruiting hard players that have already committed but he was also in Syracuse taking another shot at defensive end McKenzie Mathews. We will be entering a Dead Period after this weekend to enable teams to practice for bowls. It is our understanding that the coach will try to get to Florida for a week of rest and relaxation. We hope you read the article on John Malecki. We loved his story of watching the state playoff game with Dave Wannstedt and Curtis Bray during his in home visit. This one is not hard to conjure up in one’s mind.
There are a couple of things we like a lot about this recruiting class. Dorin Dickerson, Aaron Smith, Kevin Collier and Nate Byham all have the potential to be difference makers on offense. We sure hope long term someone can get them the ball (maybe Bill Stull?).
We also like the linemen (as a group) that have been recruited so far. Joe Thomas, Jason Pinkston, John Malecki, Scott Corson, Jared Martin, Jeff Otah and Eric Rodemoyer appear to be the best group Pitt has brought in for some time. It all starts up front. You need several good linemen not just one and that looks like what they have recruited.
Pitt is still trying to add another offensive lineman. Trinity’s [/B]Andy Miller will visit in early January. Pitt is also looking at Kevin Macon from Oliver and perhaps Jake Miller who is a soft commit to Illinois. Andy Miller is the first choice.
I am not sure if anyone tracks this but Pitt has three players that have given a verbal commitment and then made official visit elsewhere. Not sure if any program has had more. Part of it is the fact that Pitt had so many early verbals but part of it was the disappointing season. Kevin Collier visited Syracuse but is still committed to Pitt. Joe Thomas visited Ohio State. We think he will also be a Panther but could still be tested again by Ohio State and/or Michigan in January. Ricky Gary is touring the Big Ten. First he went to Minnesota and now Ohio State. Ricky is a bit of a “flake” so he is a little harder to predict although I still think he is coming to Pitt. Last year Pitt had a player commit from Pahokee and he ended up at Wake Forest so that makes this one a little spooky. I guess the good news is that several of the players that Pitt identified early in the process ended up being coveted by other BCS schools and that has to be a positive.
There have been rumors that defensive McKenzie Mathews may be leaning to the Big Ten. Coach Wannstedt visited him this week so Pitt has not given up. The staff also has defensive end prospects Gene Atkins and Audie Augustine lined up for visits in January. Pitt had Blake Smith in for a visit but it looks like he will wait until Pitt finds out where it stands with Mathews, Atkins and Augustine.
In a group we will call “athletes” (wr & db’s) Elijah Field and Tamarucus Porter are still viable candidates. We also hear that Perry’s Aundre Wright maybe visiting in January.
Quarterback Thaddeus Lewis will be visiting TCU this weekend. He has four visits lined up. I would be surprised if he visited Duke but we will see. If somehow he falls in love on one of his visits we think Pitt will stay with the two quarterbacks that have already verballed although Perry’s Desmond Brentley is a possibility.
Pitt appears to be on their way to the best recruiting class in two decades. It certainly is the best in the Big East. We have talked to a number of reporters that cover other Big East teams and they cannot get over the class that Pitt seems to have in hand.
The Rivals Recruiting Yearbook has a number of interesting charts. Over the past few years Pennsylvania ranks No. 7 in producing NFL players. California, Florida and Texas are in a league of their own. In the next tier down are Georgia, Ohio, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania (in that order).
In the period from 2002-2005 62% of the Pitt recruits came from out of state. That is too high. Penn State recruited 64% of their players from out of state during the same period. Perhaps this suggests that Pennsylvania went through a slump over the last few years in producing. I believe this year class is much better than some of those recent classes.
If Pitt is to be successful long term they should follow the pattern of Virginia Tech. Their program was built on Virginia players. The Hokies program was built with only 32% of their players coming from out of state. Not sure what the magic number is but Pitt must do better in state and then supplement it with players from Florida, Northeast Ohio and upstate New York. Dave Wannstedt appears determined to do just that. We keep hearing he wants to hit eastern PA a little harder next year.
The War Room is targeted towards our premium customers. We ask that all information reported in the War Room MUST stay right here! That’s the way this deal works. When this information is repeated outside of the Between Fifth and Forbes forum it only cheapens the price of yours and every other die-hard who have purchased premium services. The War Room is one of our more popular features...thank you all for keeping the information on this board.
