From the desk of Jim Snyder
Looking for a Christmas gift
We’ve had a few people ask recently about purchasing a subscription to the Pantherlair for their father or one of their other relatives as a Christmas gift. The cost is $9.95 per month. You can purchase as many months as you want or give them an annual subscription for $99.95. There should be a price range for all your needs. Help us build the Panther Nation by giving a subscription to the Pantherlair for Christmas. Call 1-866-2Rivals (1-866-274-8257) during regular business hours.
New feature being added
We now have an interactive basketball roster in place with pictures of all the basketball players. Unfortunately the feed is not working properly yet for the freshmen stats. Go to Aaron Gray and you will get the concept of how this will be working going forward. If you want to see stats for the freshmen just click on stats under the basketball section on the left hand side if this page. These stat come from a third party provider so getting one computer to talk to another is not always easy. The stats are updated after every game. A few bugs are still being ironed out.
In case you missed our post earlier this week Rivals.com has entered into a two-year agreement to provide content to AOL. It is not an exclusive agreement so I would not be surprised to see another agreement done with another internet type company.
Here is a navigational hint. You can view the message boards two ways. We have the default setting so you can look at a thread so you can see who is posting. You can also look at the message boards by topic. Just click on the blue box on the left hand side of each message board. This is often a helpful tool on busy days where there are a lot of posts.
A little hoops talk
Prior to the season we said we thought this basketball team would be better than many of the national publications were predicting. We thought this team was capable of putting Pitt back into the NCAA tournament for the 5th year in a row. So far we haven’t seen anything to change our minds. However, we should have a better feel for this team after they play Penn State, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
The best move made so far by Coach Jamie Dixon is moving Carl Krauser to the No. 2 guard position. To move a fifth-year player to a new position takes a little selling. Carl is now free to do what the shooting guard is supposed to do and that is score. Aaron Gray continues to improve. Gray hauled down 17 rebounds against Duquesne. I do not care who you are playing that is a lot of rebounds. I have a colleague who thinks Aaron Gray may play professionally some day. I agree. He may not be a star in the NBA but I think he will make a very good living if he just keeps working hard. Big men often progress at a slower rate.
Forward Tyler Smith from Hargrave Military Academy had 22 points and 12 rebounds in a game this past week. One of our “birdies” reports that Tyler Smith’s AAU coach was at the “Pete” earlier this week when the Panthers destroyed Auburn. This could come down to Pitt, Memphis or maybe Arkansas.
Speaking of Auburn. The Tigers started four freshmen against Pitt. I don’t care how good your freshmen are, you run the risk of being embarrassed whenever you step up and play a good team with a few veterans and you are starting four freshmen. It really demonstrates why it might be best to bring Pitt’s freshmen along slowly.
Jamie Dixon is playing a 10-man rotation right now. It would not surprise me if he continues this wide rotation until someone beats Pitt. It is really a balancing act trying to play veterans and younger players. Pitt has three talented freshmen. You would like to see them get several minutes per game if possible. These three four-star recruits are the future of the Pitt basketball program.
Jamie Dixon mentioned after the Duquesne game that seniors Carl Krauser, Levon Kendall, John DeGroat, Charles Small and Marcus Bowman are all on track to graduate. In addition just prior to the Duquesne game Pitt AD praised Jamie Dixon for his recruiting and “for doing it the right way”.
The BCS standings
West Virginia finished 11th in the final BCS standings. Last year the Big East got credit for Louisville finishing 7th in the BCS standings. This keeps the Big East Conference safely with the parameters of the BCS math formulas going forward. Last year’s Fiesta Bowl sold out when Utah brought a huge crowd. This year Georgia will guarantee a sellout of the Sugar Bowl, which is being played in Atlanta. It does not matter if you use the BCS formula or attendance no one really has valid argument against the Big East being in the BCS. This will not stop radio talk show hosts and some of the lazy reporters from complaining but the realty is none of the other conference commissioners can look Mike Tranghese in the face and complain. The fact that Congress has their nose it this matter does not hurt the Big East either.
Pitt, Louisville, South Florida and UConn will get better in football. West Virginia has everyone back so they aren’t going to fall of the map. The Big East Conference will get better going forward. Pitt is having a big recruiting year and South Florida is also making some noise on the recruiting front.
Some football recruiting –Where does Pitt go from here?
Certainly the big news of the week was Dave Wannstedt and Paul Dunn landing offensive tackle Jeff Otah. Sometimes breaking these stories is simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Once we broke this story we got a call from a “birdie” on the Southside asking where we heard about this. We told him we heard it from a Rivals reporter but had confirmed it with Coach Burner at Valley Forge. Otah had committed to Coach Wannstedt and Coach Dunn when they were at Valley Forge and the word had not filtered back to the Southside. Our “birdie” was anxious to tell the rest of the coaching staff.
Now that Pitt has Jeff Otah I would continue to recruit Andy Miller of Trinity. Otah maybe a good short-term solution up front while Miller could be a long-term solution. I think the Pitt staff will continue to pursue him.
The second pick up the week was defensive tackle Jared Martin from Western High School in Davie, Florida. Dave Wannstedt and Charlie Partridge visited last night as we have been reporting earlier this week. We did not speak to Martin last night at his request. He asked us to call back later today (Friday) and we respected his wishes. A couple of our contacts have indicated he has committed to Pitt.
Pitt now has verbal commitments from four potential defensive linemen. Jared Martin, Jason Pinkston, Scott Corson and John Malecki will probably all be started out on defensive but we expect one or two to eventually be moved to shore up the offensive side of the ball. Scott Corson and/or Jason Pinkston might be candidates for offense if they do not get out to a quick start in fall camp.
Pitt has 21 players committed. A working number has been 22 prospects but we think if Wannstedt continues to land prospects Pitt could take 25 before it is all said and done. We hear rumors that Rob Agnone will probably transfer. We think there will be a few others. Pitt will be very reluctant to pull a scholarship from one of the current players so you will just have to be patient and let the thing play itself out. For the most part players that want to stay will be allowed to stay.
Pitt has commitments from quarterbacks Dexter Davidson and Kevin Smith. They continue to pursue Thaddeus Lewis. Some on our message boards have characterized him as a dual-purpose athlete but Lewis thinks of himself as a pass first quarterback. He has been at Archie Manning’s quarterback camp the past 3-4 years to prepare himself. Some might think taking three quarterbacks is a bit excessive but Tyler Palko will be a senior next year. Many folks look for Pitt to be somewhat improved next year and to be rolling in 2007. You cannot do that without a quarterback at the controls. The staff appears to want to give themselves several options to find someone to trigger their offense. If Pitt goes 5-7 in 2007 impatient Pitt fans and alums will not be happy. They will not want to hear about yet another rebuilding year.
At defensive end Pitt continues to pursue McKenzie Mathews, Geno Atkins, Audie Augustine and Blake Smith[/B]. This weekend Blake Smith from Eleanor Roosevelt HS in Maryland will visit in hopes of getting an offer from Pitt. Augustine and Atkins are scheduled to visit in January.
On the offensive line Joe Thomas from Lakewood St Thomas visited Ohio State last weekend. He told one reporter that he is committed to Pitt but our “birdies” say the Pitt coaching staff will worry about this one right up until Letter on Intent day. Ohio State and Michigan are still recruiting him hard. They are pointing out the “Big House” and the “Shoe” both pack in more fans than they do at Pitt. There is also some negative recruiting Pitt will have to ward off. We will interview Joe after his scheduled visit to Pitt this weekend but regardless of what he tells us the Pitt coaching staff will worry the most about Joe Thomas until they see a signed Letter of Intent in February.
Andy Miller (6’ 6” 250) is scheduled to visit Pitt next week. He will be visiting West Virginia and Ohio State the next few days. We would love to see the Panthers land Andy Miller. If they fail they might still turn to Oliver’s Kevin Macon (6’ 7” 315). In case you missed it this week Pitt tried to get Neshaminy offensive tackle Chris Daino to visit without an offer. He was scheduled to come in this weekend but committed to Delaware. He visited the Blue Hens last weekend and cancelled his visit to Pitt.
There are a few prospects we will group as athletes. These are players that could play more than one position. They could end up on either side of the ball. Pitt continues to pursue Duquesne’s Elijah Fields, Pahokee’s Tamarcus Porter, McDevitt’s Aaron Berry and Lucas Caparelli out of Virginia. Fields is a question mark academically but worth a gamble. If Pitt strikes out with this group Perry’s wide receiver Aundre Wright is also still under consideration. He also is working to get himself academically in better shape.
Quite frankly we think a few of the players that Pitt has been recruiting have been under-valued by Rivals.com. On the other hand there are probably a few prospects that have been over-valued. In the end it might all balance itself out. We would like to give Rivals a chance to tweak a few of their rankings over the next 60 days. Once we get to Letter of Intent Day we will give your our thoughts on how they should have been ranked if we were doing it in a vacuum.
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.
Looking for a Christmas gift
We’ve had a few people ask recently about purchasing a subscription to the Pantherlair for their father or one of their other relatives as a Christmas gift. The cost is $9.95 per month. You can purchase as many months as you want or give them an annual subscription for $99.95. There should be a price range for all your needs. Help us build the Panther Nation by giving a subscription to the Pantherlair for Christmas. Call 1-866-2Rivals (1-866-274-8257) during regular business hours.
New feature being added
We now have an interactive basketball roster in place with pictures of all the basketball players. Unfortunately the feed is not working properly yet for the freshmen stats. Go to Aaron Gray and you will get the concept of how this will be working going forward. If you want to see stats for the freshmen just click on stats under the basketball section on the left hand side if this page. These stat come from a third party provider so getting one computer to talk to another is not always easy. The stats are updated after every game. A few bugs are still being ironed out.
In case you missed our post earlier this week Rivals.com has entered into a two-year agreement to provide content to AOL. It is not an exclusive agreement so I would not be surprised to see another agreement done with another internet type company.
Here is a navigational hint. You can view the message boards two ways. We have the default setting so you can look at a thread so you can see who is posting. You can also look at the message boards by topic. Just click on the blue box on the left hand side of each message board. This is often a helpful tool on busy days where there are a lot of posts.
A little hoops talk
Prior to the season we said we thought this basketball team would be better than many of the national publications were predicting. We thought this team was capable of putting Pitt back into the NCAA tournament for the 5th year in a row. So far we haven’t seen anything to change our minds. However, we should have a better feel for this team after they play Penn State, South Carolina and Wisconsin.
The best move made so far by Coach Jamie Dixon is moving Carl Krauser to the No. 2 guard position. To move a fifth-year player to a new position takes a little selling. Carl is now free to do what the shooting guard is supposed to do and that is score. Aaron Gray continues to improve. Gray hauled down 17 rebounds against Duquesne. I do not care who you are playing that is a lot of rebounds. I have a colleague who thinks Aaron Gray may play professionally some day. I agree. He may not be a star in the NBA but I think he will make a very good living if he just keeps working hard. Big men often progress at a slower rate.
Forward Tyler Smith from Hargrave Military Academy had 22 points and 12 rebounds in a game this past week. One of our “birdies” reports that Tyler Smith’s AAU coach was at the “Pete” earlier this week when the Panthers destroyed Auburn. This could come down to Pitt, Memphis or maybe Arkansas.
Speaking of Auburn. The Tigers started four freshmen against Pitt. I don’t care how good your freshmen are, you run the risk of being embarrassed whenever you step up and play a good team with a few veterans and you are starting four freshmen. It really demonstrates why it might be best to bring Pitt’s freshmen along slowly.
Jamie Dixon is playing a 10-man rotation right now. It would not surprise me if he continues this wide rotation until someone beats Pitt. It is really a balancing act trying to play veterans and younger players. Pitt has three talented freshmen. You would like to see them get several minutes per game if possible. These three four-star recruits are the future of the Pitt basketball program.
Jamie Dixon mentioned after the Duquesne game that seniors Carl Krauser, Levon Kendall, John DeGroat, Charles Small and Marcus Bowman are all on track to graduate. In addition just prior to the Duquesne game Pitt AD praised Jamie Dixon for his recruiting and “for doing it the right way”.
The BCS standings
West Virginia finished 11th in the final BCS standings. Last year the Big East got credit for Louisville finishing 7th in the BCS standings. This keeps the Big East Conference safely with the parameters of the BCS math formulas going forward. Last year’s Fiesta Bowl sold out when Utah brought a huge crowd. This year Georgia will guarantee a sellout of the Sugar Bowl, which is being played in Atlanta. It does not matter if you use the BCS formula or attendance no one really has valid argument against the Big East being in the BCS. This will not stop radio talk show hosts and some of the lazy reporters from complaining but the realty is none of the other conference commissioners can look Mike Tranghese in the face and complain. The fact that Congress has their nose it this matter does not hurt the Big East either.
Pitt, Louisville, South Florida and UConn will get better in football. West Virginia has everyone back so they aren’t going to fall of the map. The Big East Conference will get better going forward. Pitt is having a big recruiting year and South Florida is also making some noise on the recruiting front.
Some football recruiting –Where does Pitt go from here?
Certainly the big news of the week was Dave Wannstedt and Paul Dunn landing offensive tackle Jeff Otah. Sometimes breaking these stories is simply a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Once we broke this story we got a call from a “birdie” on the Southside asking where we heard about this. We told him we heard it from a Rivals reporter but had confirmed it with Coach Burner at Valley Forge. Otah had committed to Coach Wannstedt and Coach Dunn when they were at Valley Forge and the word had not filtered back to the Southside. Our “birdie” was anxious to tell the rest of the coaching staff.
Now that Pitt has Jeff Otah I would continue to recruit Andy Miller of Trinity. Otah maybe a good short-term solution up front while Miller could be a long-term solution. I think the Pitt staff will continue to pursue him.
The second pick up the week was defensive tackle Jared Martin from Western High School in Davie, Florida. Dave Wannstedt and Charlie Partridge visited last night as we have been reporting earlier this week. We did not speak to Martin last night at his request. He asked us to call back later today (Friday) and we respected his wishes. A couple of our contacts have indicated he has committed to Pitt.
Pitt now has verbal commitments from four potential defensive linemen. Jared Martin, Jason Pinkston, Scott Corson and John Malecki will probably all be started out on defensive but we expect one or two to eventually be moved to shore up the offensive side of the ball. Scott Corson and/or Jason Pinkston might be candidates for offense if they do not get out to a quick start in fall camp.
Pitt has 21 players committed. A working number has been 22 prospects but we think if Wannstedt continues to land prospects Pitt could take 25 before it is all said and done. We hear rumors that Rob Agnone will probably transfer. We think there will be a few others. Pitt will be very reluctant to pull a scholarship from one of the current players so you will just have to be patient and let the thing play itself out. For the most part players that want to stay will be allowed to stay.
Pitt has commitments from quarterbacks Dexter Davidson and Kevin Smith. They continue to pursue Thaddeus Lewis. Some on our message boards have characterized him as a dual-purpose athlete but Lewis thinks of himself as a pass first quarterback. He has been at Archie Manning’s quarterback camp the past 3-4 years to prepare himself. Some might think taking three quarterbacks is a bit excessive but Tyler Palko will be a senior next year. Many folks look for Pitt to be somewhat improved next year and to be rolling in 2007. You cannot do that without a quarterback at the controls. The staff appears to want to give themselves several options to find someone to trigger their offense. If Pitt goes 5-7 in 2007 impatient Pitt fans and alums will not be happy. They will not want to hear about yet another rebuilding year.
At defensive end Pitt continues to pursue McKenzie Mathews, Geno Atkins, Audie Augustine and Blake Smith[/B]. This weekend Blake Smith from Eleanor Roosevelt HS in Maryland will visit in hopes of getting an offer from Pitt. Augustine and Atkins are scheduled to visit in January.
On the offensive line Joe Thomas from Lakewood St Thomas visited Ohio State last weekend. He told one reporter that he is committed to Pitt but our “birdies” say the Pitt coaching staff will worry about this one right up until Letter on Intent day. Ohio State and Michigan are still recruiting him hard. They are pointing out the “Big House” and the “Shoe” both pack in more fans than they do at Pitt. There is also some negative recruiting Pitt will have to ward off. We will interview Joe after his scheduled visit to Pitt this weekend but regardless of what he tells us the Pitt coaching staff will worry the most about Joe Thomas until they see a signed Letter of Intent in February.
Andy Miller (6’ 6” 250) is scheduled to visit Pitt next week. He will be visiting West Virginia and Ohio State the next few days. We would love to see the Panthers land Andy Miller. If they fail they might still turn to Oliver’s Kevin Macon (6’ 7” 315). In case you missed it this week Pitt tried to get Neshaminy offensive tackle Chris Daino to visit without an offer. He was scheduled to come in this weekend but committed to Delaware. He visited the Blue Hens last weekend and cancelled his visit to Pitt.
There are a few prospects we will group as athletes. These are players that could play more than one position. They could end up on either side of the ball. Pitt continues to pursue Duquesne’s Elijah Fields, Pahokee’s Tamarcus Porter, McDevitt’s Aaron Berry and Lucas Caparelli out of Virginia. Fields is a question mark academically but worth a gamble. If Pitt strikes out with this group Perry’s wide receiver Aundre Wright is also still under consideration. He also is working to get himself academically in better shape.
Quite frankly we think a few of the players that Pitt has been recruiting have been under-valued by Rivals.com. On the other hand there are probably a few prospects that have been over-valued. In the end it might all balance itself out. We would like to give Rivals a chance to tweak a few of their rankings over the next 60 days. Once we get to Letter of Intent Day we will give your our thoughts on how they should have been ranked if we were doing it in a vacuum.
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.
