From the desk of Jim Snyder
Some hoops talk
The Pitt basketball team is currently in fifth place in the Big East Conference with a record of 7-4. They are one game behind Louisville, Connecticut and Notre Dame in the loss column for second place. The top four finishers will earn a bye in the Big East tournament next month in Madison Square Garden.
The Panthers have three very tough games directly in front of them with road trips to Marquette and Notre Dame before returning home to face Louisville. Each of those games will present a severe challenge but opportunity is also knocking if they find a way to win a couple of those games.
Point guard Levance Fields is expected to play some tonight against Marquette (17-6). It will be interesting to see how many minutes Coach Dixon gives him as he plays his way back into shape. Marquette is a tough matchup for most teams with their three junior guards in Dominic James, Wesley Mathews and Jerel McNeil. Marquette has beaten Pitt the past two years in games played in Milwaukee although both were very close contests.
Pitt is a four-point underdog tonight against Marquette.
Notre Dame (18-5) presents a challenge inside with Luke Harangody who is averaging 20.8 points per game and 10.4 rebounds per game. Notre Dame has been very tough at home where they have won 34 games in a row. I believe it is the longest active win streak in the country.
It looks like six teams from the Big East are headed to the NCAA Tournament barring a late season collapse.
1) Georgetown (20-3) RPI-7
2) Louisville (19-6) RPI-17
3) Connecticut (19-5) RPI-9
4) Notre Dame (18-5) RPI 26
5) Pitt (19-5) RPI -16
6) Marquette (17-6) RPI -19
You can feel fairly confident about getting into the Big Dance if you have a RPI ranking of 30 or better. West Virginia still has some work to do. The Mountaineers are 17-7 overall after beating Rutgers last night but are listed at No. 42 in the RPI rankings. They have a favorable schedule the rest of the way and could pick up another half dozen wins.
The Panthers have gone 8-4 since Levance Fields was injured with three of those losses coming on the road. The last dozen games were played without a single starter from last year’s team. Probably the only disappointing game during that stretch was the Rutgers game where the Panthers simply collapsed in the last 10 minutes after leading by seven at the half.
At yesterday’s Big East teleconference Coach Jamie Dixon was asked by a reporter from the Milwaukee Journal if he expected the success that freshman DeJuan Blair has enjoyed this season. Coach Dixon said. “Yes we really had high hopes for him. He wasn’t ranked that high. There really haven’t been a lot of guys out of Western Pennsylvania or Pittsburgh in the last ten years. He is the only guy we have recruited out of a four hour radius. We thought he was better than the rankings and those other things. We have seen him play a lot. We have known him since sixth grade. We really did have high expectations for him. He needed to get better in some things and to get in better shape. We knew he had the talent. Once he got here we found out what a great kid he is and how coachable he is and how eager he is to learn. Those were probably the things we had to learn the most about him and we were fortunate enough to see.”
Some are critical of Coach Dixon’s recruiting efforts but it is never easy when you always have to recruit in someone else’s backyard.
Update on Rivals.com
As you may be aware Yahoo! has rejected Microsoft’s initial bid of $44.6 billion dollars. It remains to be seen if Microsoft ups their offer. My guess is they will buy who knows. It was a substantial offer so the Yahoo! board will be under pressure to do something.
Yahoo! and ESPN continue to battle it out for the No. 1 sports destination on the internet with ESPN barely edging Yahoo! in January. Rivals.com standing on its own easily outpaced its nearest competitor and finished January ahead of both mlb.com and nba.com despite the fact that the NBA is in season.
In the days leading up to national Letter of Intent Day traffic was up 40% on the Rivals network over the same period last year and it was done without any delays in service.
Football recruiting recap
In many ways the recruiting season for the Class of 2009 began with the U.S. Army combine in San Antonio in early January. Data and photos from this event will eventually be placed in the Rivals.com’s database.
A Nike combine was held last weekend at the Miami Dolphins Miami training facility and another will be held in Orlando next weekend at the Wide World of Disney complex in Orlando.
A Nike combine will be held at the UPMC Complex on the Southside on Sunday March 3rd. If you know a junior that is a Division 1 prospect they should register for this event. We have a link today to Student Sports on our Home Page if you know someone who should register.
In addition nearly 300 athletes attended the National High School Combine at the Cleveland Browns practice facility in Berea, Ohio this week. All of these events help us build the database with information for the Class of 2009.
Here is a list of juniors who reportedly have offers from Pitt so far. It is possible that a couple of these are verbal offers. It is not unusual for coaching staffs to say we have an offer for you if you come visit us at this time of year.
Quarterbacks
Tom Savage (6’ 3” 231) Philadelphia Cardinal O’Hara
Emmanuel Yeager (6’ 1’ 176) Ballou High School in Washington D.C.
Wide Receivers
Corey Brown (6’ 0” 179) Gateway
Je’Ron Stokes (6’ 1” 178) Philadelphia Northeast
Todd Thomas (6’ 4” 195) Beaver Falls
Tight Ends
Brock DeCicco (6’ 4” 208) Thomas Jefferson
Offensive linemen
Eric Shrive (6’ 7” 285) West Scranton
Cory King (6” 5” 320) Lakeview
Defensive linemen
Tyrone Ezell (6’ 5” 255) Steel Valley
Jack Lippert (6’ 4” 255) Central Dauphin
Raynard Randolph (6’ 3” 295) Gwynn Park, MD (6’ 3” 295)
Sean Stanley (6’ 2” 250) Gaithersburg, MD
John Simon (6’ 3” 265) Cardinal Mooney (committed to Ohio State)
Linebackers
Dorian Bell (6’ 1’ 205) Gateway
Dan Mason (5’ 11” 211) Penn Hills
Glenn Carson (6’ 3” 220) Manahawkin, NJ
Defensive back
Darrell Givens (6’ 1” 178) Lackey, Md.
Athlete
Jordan Hall (5’ 9” 180) Jeannette
We are currently in a Quiet Period which means college coaches cannot recruit off campus. The way around this is to hold junior days so you can talk to them face to face while they are on your campus. Pitt will hold a Junior Day on Sunday February 24th when the Pitt basketball team hosts Louisville. We have interviewed a number of players this week that have indicated they plan to attend. In addition to those that have offers Neshaminy’s tight end Paul Carrezola indicated he would attend Pitt’s junior Day as did Johnstown’s Dave Istanich.
The Pitt coaching staff has done a good job keeping many of the local players at home the past few years. I n case you missed it Coach Greg Gattuso was named Big East Recruiter of the Year for his efforts in this area by Rivals.com.
There are several good players in Western Pa. for the Class of 2009 so Coach Gattuso has plenty to keep him busy although Coach Wannstedt has indicated some of the strength of this class in state may be in the center and eastern part of the state this time around.
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.
Some hoops talk
The Pitt basketball team is currently in fifth place in the Big East Conference with a record of 7-4. They are one game behind Louisville, Connecticut and Notre Dame in the loss column for second place. The top four finishers will earn a bye in the Big East tournament next month in Madison Square Garden.
The Panthers have three very tough games directly in front of them with road trips to Marquette and Notre Dame before returning home to face Louisville. Each of those games will present a severe challenge but opportunity is also knocking if they find a way to win a couple of those games.
Point guard Levance Fields is expected to play some tonight against Marquette (17-6). It will be interesting to see how many minutes Coach Dixon gives him as he plays his way back into shape. Marquette is a tough matchup for most teams with their three junior guards in Dominic James, Wesley Mathews and Jerel McNeil. Marquette has beaten Pitt the past two years in games played in Milwaukee although both were very close contests.
Pitt is a four-point underdog tonight against Marquette.
Notre Dame (18-5) presents a challenge inside with Luke Harangody who is averaging 20.8 points per game and 10.4 rebounds per game. Notre Dame has been very tough at home where they have won 34 games in a row. I believe it is the longest active win streak in the country.
It looks like six teams from the Big East are headed to the NCAA Tournament barring a late season collapse.
1) Georgetown (20-3) RPI-7
2) Louisville (19-6) RPI-17
3) Connecticut (19-5) RPI-9
4) Notre Dame (18-5) RPI 26
5) Pitt (19-5) RPI -16
6) Marquette (17-6) RPI -19
You can feel fairly confident about getting into the Big Dance if you have a RPI ranking of 30 or better. West Virginia still has some work to do. The Mountaineers are 17-7 overall after beating Rutgers last night but are listed at No. 42 in the RPI rankings. They have a favorable schedule the rest of the way and could pick up another half dozen wins.
The Panthers have gone 8-4 since Levance Fields was injured with three of those losses coming on the road. The last dozen games were played without a single starter from last year’s team. Probably the only disappointing game during that stretch was the Rutgers game where the Panthers simply collapsed in the last 10 minutes after leading by seven at the half.
At yesterday’s Big East teleconference Coach Jamie Dixon was asked by a reporter from the Milwaukee Journal if he expected the success that freshman DeJuan Blair has enjoyed this season. Coach Dixon said. “Yes we really had high hopes for him. He wasn’t ranked that high. There really haven’t been a lot of guys out of Western Pennsylvania or Pittsburgh in the last ten years. He is the only guy we have recruited out of a four hour radius. We thought he was better than the rankings and those other things. We have seen him play a lot. We have known him since sixth grade. We really did have high expectations for him. He needed to get better in some things and to get in better shape. We knew he had the talent. Once he got here we found out what a great kid he is and how coachable he is and how eager he is to learn. Those were probably the things we had to learn the most about him and we were fortunate enough to see.”
Some are critical of Coach Dixon’s recruiting efforts but it is never easy when you always have to recruit in someone else’s backyard.
Update on Rivals.com
As you may be aware Yahoo! has rejected Microsoft’s initial bid of $44.6 billion dollars. It remains to be seen if Microsoft ups their offer. My guess is they will buy who knows. It was a substantial offer so the Yahoo! board will be under pressure to do something.
Yahoo! and ESPN continue to battle it out for the No. 1 sports destination on the internet with ESPN barely edging Yahoo! in January. Rivals.com standing on its own easily outpaced its nearest competitor and finished January ahead of both mlb.com and nba.com despite the fact that the NBA is in season.
In the days leading up to national Letter of Intent Day traffic was up 40% on the Rivals network over the same period last year and it was done without any delays in service.
Football recruiting recap
In many ways the recruiting season for the Class of 2009 began with the U.S. Army combine in San Antonio in early January. Data and photos from this event will eventually be placed in the Rivals.com’s database.
A Nike combine was held last weekend at the Miami Dolphins Miami training facility and another will be held in Orlando next weekend at the Wide World of Disney complex in Orlando.
A Nike combine will be held at the UPMC Complex on the Southside on Sunday March 3rd. If you know a junior that is a Division 1 prospect they should register for this event. We have a link today to Student Sports on our Home Page if you know someone who should register.
In addition nearly 300 athletes attended the National High School Combine at the Cleveland Browns practice facility in Berea, Ohio this week. All of these events help us build the database with information for the Class of 2009.
Here is a list of juniors who reportedly have offers from Pitt so far. It is possible that a couple of these are verbal offers. It is not unusual for coaching staffs to say we have an offer for you if you come visit us at this time of year.
Quarterbacks
Tom Savage (6’ 3” 231) Philadelphia Cardinal O’Hara
Emmanuel Yeager (6’ 1’ 176) Ballou High School in Washington D.C.
Wide Receivers
Corey Brown (6’ 0” 179) Gateway
Je’Ron Stokes (6’ 1” 178) Philadelphia Northeast
Todd Thomas (6’ 4” 195) Beaver Falls
Tight Ends
Brock DeCicco (6’ 4” 208) Thomas Jefferson
Offensive linemen
Eric Shrive (6’ 7” 285) West Scranton
Cory King (6” 5” 320) Lakeview
Defensive linemen
Tyrone Ezell (6’ 5” 255) Steel Valley
Jack Lippert (6’ 4” 255) Central Dauphin
Raynard Randolph (6’ 3” 295) Gwynn Park, MD (6’ 3” 295)
Sean Stanley (6’ 2” 250) Gaithersburg, MD
John Simon (6’ 3” 265) Cardinal Mooney (committed to Ohio State)
Linebackers
Dorian Bell (6’ 1’ 205) Gateway
Dan Mason (5’ 11” 211) Penn Hills
Glenn Carson (6’ 3” 220) Manahawkin, NJ
Defensive back
Darrell Givens (6’ 1” 178) Lackey, Md.
Athlete
Jordan Hall (5’ 9” 180) Jeannette
We are currently in a Quiet Period which means college coaches cannot recruit off campus. The way around this is to hold junior days so you can talk to them face to face while they are on your campus. Pitt will hold a Junior Day on Sunday February 24th when the Pitt basketball team hosts Louisville. We have interviewed a number of players this week that have indicated they plan to attend. In addition to those that have offers Neshaminy’s tight end Paul Carrezola indicated he would attend Pitt’s junior Day as did Johnstown’s Dave Istanich.
The Pitt coaching staff has done a good job keeping many of the local players at home the past few years. I n case you missed it Coach Greg Gattuso was named Big East Recruiter of the Year for his efforts in this area by Rivals.com.
There are several good players in Western Pa. for the Class of 2009 so Coach Gattuso has plenty to keep him busy although Coach Wannstedt has indicated some of the strength of this class in state may be in the center and eastern part of the state this time around.
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.
