From the desk of Jim Snyder
Panthers basketball team wins 20th
Pitt has four regular season games left plus the two tournaments. Two of the last four are on the road plus Seton Hall can be tough on the road as a NC State found out a few weeks ago. The Panthers have now won 20 or more games five years in a row.
Jamie Dixon is slowly putting himself into a position for a raise and a contract extension. The fun part of this basketball team is that they figure to be better next year if Aaron Gray stays at Pitt. It really tells you how far Aaron has come when a few Pitt alums start worrying about him jumping to the NBA. I do not think that will happen but I guess you never really know for sure.
Next year West Virginia will suffer heavy losses to graduation as will Villanova. Gerry McNamara has been at Syracuse for what seems like 6 or 7 years so he will be gone too.
UConn figures to lose a few players to the NBA although Jim Calhoun usually just reloads. Pitt figures to be preseason pick to be at or near the top of this sixteen-team league next year. In many ways Jamie Dixon’s market value figures to grow as time goes on. Pitt has a heck of a shot at winning 20 or more games again next year to make it six in a row. (I would love to be his agent). Sporting News has an article this week on Jamie Dixon in which they speculate Pitt will (should) try to extend his contract in the near future.
Keith Benjamin missed a lot of playing time over the past two years due to injuries. He appears to be slowly getting into a rhythm. He still needs to improve his ball handling and he also picks up a few too many fouls. However, Benjamin has had a couple of big games off the bench in his last two outings. If this is really a sign of things to come Pitt could go very deep into both tournaments. Most teams try to shut down Aaron Gray, Carl Krauser and their point guard Ronald Ramon. If Benjamin emerges as another scoring option the Panther will be very tough to beat going forward.
Last night Marquette beat Georgetown in Milwaukee to improve to 17-8 overall and 7-5 in the Big East. One more win should put Marquette in the NCAA tournament. Pitt needs a win Saturday night to keep their hopes alive for a first round bye in the Big East tournament. It will not be easy they will have a huge crowd waiting for Pitt on Saturday night.
Satellite Radio
You have probably heard that XM-Radio now has a deal with the Big East. The folks at Pitt tell us this has no effect on Pitt’s deal with Sirius Satellite Radio. Not sure how this will work but I suspect you will hear some Pitt games on both satellite radio services. The good news is that Pitt and the Big East Conference are gaining more exposure. The Big East took a big financial haircut from ESPN when Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech left. They are slowly putting themselves into a position to get at least some of this money back the next time around.
We are very sticky
Last week we indicate that Rivals is very conscious of trying to make your experience a good one as you travel around the network. They recently released more data this week to publishers which indicates in the month of January Rivals.com was by far the No. 1 sports destination on the internet in time spent on the site and it was not close. The data was obtained by Nielsen. Rivals.com was followed by WWE, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN.com and Sportsline.com. I am not sure what a wrestling site is doing on this list but I have a feeling they are selling something beyond wrestling.
Spring practice
In case you missed it last week spring practice is tentatively scheduled to start March 19th. We are within 30 days of some real football news. The Pantherlair will be a practice keeping you up to date until you can watch the 2006 Panthers at the Spring Game on April 15th. I am assuming they will try to hold it at Heinz Field.
Big East indoor track meet at Akron
The Big East Conference will hold their indoor track championships at the University of Akron. They tell us they picked it because of the location and because Akron has a brand new facility. The Big East has played their baseball tournament at minor league parks in New Jersey so there is some history of simply trying to get a good facility at a convenient location.
Basketball recruiting
We had a couple of articles cross the “Ticker” this week on forward Tyler Smith. Both articles quoted his coach as saying Pitt is one of four schools left on his list. It would be a huge coup if Pitt can land this four-star prospect. If they fail I would expect them to use the last scholarship for 2006 on someone with some height. Aaron Gray (7’ 0”), Levon Kendall (6’ 9”) and Doyle Hudson (6’ 8”) will all be seniors next fall. At this late date it would have to be a prospect that they thought had developed in his senior year.
Football recruiting
Pitt will hold a Junior Day next weekend when the basketball team hosts Providence. Most colleges are holding Junior Days this time of year. The recruit must pay his own way so most come within driving distance. We have featured several players this week that plan to attend Pitt’s Junior Day.
Coach Bob Junko’s heart surgery figures to slow him for a while. We are in a “Quiet Period” right now so it is not much of a concern tight now. The coaches can not recruit off campus during a “Quiet” Period”. The Pitt coaches will hit the recruiting trail in mid-April when we enter into an “Evaluation Period”. I suspect they will have to split up many of the Western PA high Schools until Bob is ready to resume his duties.
Last year the hiring of Coach Wannstedt created a “buzz” at Pitt. The Panthers were coming off an appearance in the Fiesta Bowl and were a preseason Top 25 pick. This year they are coming off a 5-6 season. I suspect we may get a few early commits but in general the recruiting season may unfold at a little slower pace than last year. Pitt plays Virginia and Michigan State early so you can expect this staff to try and get a number of commits well before we enter into the 2006 season to hedge against the possibility of a slow start.
This week we featured Chris Dragger and Dom DeCicco from Thomas-Jefferson. Pitt would certainly get a fair hearing from any player out of Coach Bill Cherpak’s program. Pitt is recruiting these two but has not offered. Pitt took four defensive ends and four wide receivers in the Class of 2006. There are also stocked at tight end. We will just have to wait to see if Pitt offers these two. Recruiting is often about filling needs. You have to like Pitt’s chance if they do finally offer.
There are currently 15 or 16 prospects in the 2007 database that have offers from Pitt. Just “toggle” to 2007 in the football database and you can check them out for yourself. We have an article today on a linebacker from New Jersey by the named of Will Thompson. To tell you the truth he does not know much about Pitt at the present time. We are so early in the process virtually all out-of- state recruits are in the same position. Pitt cannot contact the players directly until the middle of April. What has probably happened is Pitt received tape and they loved the tape. They have probably talked to his high school coach but the player has probably never met anyone from Pitt. In short Pitt has not yet had a chance to recruit him beyond sending him a scholarship offer. Obviously they would not have sent the offer unless that thought he could play and play at a very high level.
Pitt has offered quarterback Peter Lalich out of Virginia. He is a pre-evaluation period Rivals Top 100 choice. Lalich has made statements to reporters that he hopes to make a decision by the end of May. To make statements like that this early means that he probably has an offer from his favorite or expects to get one soon. He is probably leaning to Virginia. Chris Peak will have an article on him today.
Hopefully you caught our article on Craig “Ironhead” Heyward’s son Cameron Heyward. He was a delight to interview. Very articulate. I think if I were the Pitt staff I would look long and hard at Cameron. He did not have a big junior year but guys this size do not grow on trees. We certainly will keep an eye on him this year.
Just lie down on our couch please
Early this year center Aaron Gray did a series of articles for the Pantherlair titled “Postscripts with Aaron Gray.” Aaron is on his way to a very big year. ESPN announcer Dick Vitale has called Aaron the most improved college player in the country. Gray is currently leading the Big East in rebounding and was flat out dominant in the second half of the Providence game.
Today Chris Peak has the fourth in a series of articles he calls, “Off the bench with Keith Benjamin” In the past two games Keith Benjamin has give signs he also might be ready to break out. Against Cincinnati he scored 16 points by hitting 5 of 7 shots. Benjamin followed it up with 15 points against Providence by hitting 6 of 8 shots. Keith has made 11 of 15 shots in his last two games. If he has a couple of more games like this we are going to send Jamie Dixon and his staff an invoice for work done. Just send Chris Peak a player in need of a confidence boost and he is on his way.
Editor’s note: Of course it is always possible it has something to do with the hard work these two have put in practice.
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.
Panthers basketball team wins 20th
Pitt has four regular season games left plus the two tournaments. Two of the last four are on the road plus Seton Hall can be tough on the road as a NC State found out a few weeks ago. The Panthers have now won 20 or more games five years in a row.
Jamie Dixon is slowly putting himself into a position for a raise and a contract extension. The fun part of this basketball team is that they figure to be better next year if Aaron Gray stays at Pitt. It really tells you how far Aaron has come when a few Pitt alums start worrying about him jumping to the NBA. I do not think that will happen but I guess you never really know for sure.
Next year West Virginia will suffer heavy losses to graduation as will Villanova. Gerry McNamara has been at Syracuse for what seems like 6 or 7 years so he will be gone too.
UConn figures to lose a few players to the NBA although Jim Calhoun usually just reloads. Pitt figures to be preseason pick to be at or near the top of this sixteen-team league next year. In many ways Jamie Dixon’s market value figures to grow as time goes on. Pitt has a heck of a shot at winning 20 or more games again next year to make it six in a row. (I would love to be his agent). Sporting News has an article this week on Jamie Dixon in which they speculate Pitt will (should) try to extend his contract in the near future.
Keith Benjamin missed a lot of playing time over the past two years due to injuries. He appears to be slowly getting into a rhythm. He still needs to improve his ball handling and he also picks up a few too many fouls. However, Benjamin has had a couple of big games off the bench in his last two outings. If this is really a sign of things to come Pitt could go very deep into both tournaments. Most teams try to shut down Aaron Gray, Carl Krauser and their point guard Ronald Ramon. If Benjamin emerges as another scoring option the Panther will be very tough to beat going forward.
Last night Marquette beat Georgetown in Milwaukee to improve to 17-8 overall and 7-5 in the Big East. One more win should put Marquette in the NCAA tournament. Pitt needs a win Saturday night to keep their hopes alive for a first round bye in the Big East tournament. It will not be easy they will have a huge crowd waiting for Pitt on Saturday night.
Satellite Radio
You have probably heard that XM-Radio now has a deal with the Big East. The folks at Pitt tell us this has no effect on Pitt’s deal with Sirius Satellite Radio. Not sure how this will work but I suspect you will hear some Pitt games on both satellite radio services. The good news is that Pitt and the Big East Conference are gaining more exposure. The Big East took a big financial haircut from ESPN when Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech left. They are slowly putting themselves into a position to get at least some of this money back the next time around.
We are very sticky
Last week we indicate that Rivals is very conscious of trying to make your experience a good one as you travel around the network. They recently released more data this week to publishers which indicates in the month of January Rivals.com was by far the No. 1 sports destination on the internet in time spent on the site and it was not close. The data was obtained by Nielsen. Rivals.com was followed by WWE, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN.com and Sportsline.com. I am not sure what a wrestling site is doing on this list but I have a feeling they are selling something beyond wrestling.
Spring practice
In case you missed it last week spring practice is tentatively scheduled to start March 19th. We are within 30 days of some real football news. The Pantherlair will be a practice keeping you up to date until you can watch the 2006 Panthers at the Spring Game on April 15th. I am assuming they will try to hold it at Heinz Field.
Big East indoor track meet at Akron
The Big East Conference will hold their indoor track championships at the University of Akron. They tell us they picked it because of the location and because Akron has a brand new facility. The Big East has played their baseball tournament at minor league parks in New Jersey so there is some history of simply trying to get a good facility at a convenient location.
Basketball recruiting
We had a couple of articles cross the “Ticker” this week on forward Tyler Smith. Both articles quoted his coach as saying Pitt is one of four schools left on his list. It would be a huge coup if Pitt can land this four-star prospect. If they fail I would expect them to use the last scholarship for 2006 on someone with some height. Aaron Gray (7’ 0”), Levon Kendall (6’ 9”) and Doyle Hudson (6’ 8”) will all be seniors next fall. At this late date it would have to be a prospect that they thought had developed in his senior year.
Football recruiting
Pitt will hold a Junior Day next weekend when the basketball team hosts Providence. Most colleges are holding Junior Days this time of year. The recruit must pay his own way so most come within driving distance. We have featured several players this week that plan to attend Pitt’s Junior Day.
Coach Bob Junko’s heart surgery figures to slow him for a while. We are in a “Quiet Period” right now so it is not much of a concern tight now. The coaches can not recruit off campus during a “Quiet” Period”. The Pitt coaches will hit the recruiting trail in mid-April when we enter into an “Evaluation Period”. I suspect they will have to split up many of the Western PA high Schools until Bob is ready to resume his duties.
Last year the hiring of Coach Wannstedt created a “buzz” at Pitt. The Panthers were coming off an appearance in the Fiesta Bowl and were a preseason Top 25 pick. This year they are coming off a 5-6 season. I suspect we may get a few early commits but in general the recruiting season may unfold at a little slower pace than last year. Pitt plays Virginia and Michigan State early so you can expect this staff to try and get a number of commits well before we enter into the 2006 season to hedge against the possibility of a slow start.
This week we featured Chris Dragger and Dom DeCicco from Thomas-Jefferson. Pitt would certainly get a fair hearing from any player out of Coach Bill Cherpak’s program. Pitt is recruiting these two but has not offered. Pitt took four defensive ends and four wide receivers in the Class of 2006. There are also stocked at tight end. We will just have to wait to see if Pitt offers these two. Recruiting is often about filling needs. You have to like Pitt’s chance if they do finally offer.
There are currently 15 or 16 prospects in the 2007 database that have offers from Pitt. Just “toggle” to 2007 in the football database and you can check them out for yourself. We have an article today on a linebacker from New Jersey by the named of Will Thompson. To tell you the truth he does not know much about Pitt at the present time. We are so early in the process virtually all out-of- state recruits are in the same position. Pitt cannot contact the players directly until the middle of April. What has probably happened is Pitt received tape and they loved the tape. They have probably talked to his high school coach but the player has probably never met anyone from Pitt. In short Pitt has not yet had a chance to recruit him beyond sending him a scholarship offer. Obviously they would not have sent the offer unless that thought he could play and play at a very high level.
Pitt has offered quarterback Peter Lalich out of Virginia. He is a pre-evaluation period Rivals Top 100 choice. Lalich has made statements to reporters that he hopes to make a decision by the end of May. To make statements like that this early means that he probably has an offer from his favorite or expects to get one soon. He is probably leaning to Virginia. Chris Peak will have an article on him today.
Hopefully you caught our article on Craig “Ironhead” Heyward’s son Cameron Heyward. He was a delight to interview. Very articulate. I think if I were the Pitt staff I would look long and hard at Cameron. He did not have a big junior year but guys this size do not grow on trees. We certainly will keep an eye on him this year.
Just lie down on our couch please
Early this year center Aaron Gray did a series of articles for the Pantherlair titled “Postscripts with Aaron Gray.” Aaron is on his way to a very big year. ESPN announcer Dick Vitale has called Aaron the most improved college player in the country. Gray is currently leading the Big East in rebounding and was flat out dominant in the second half of the Providence game.
Today Chris Peak has the fourth in a series of articles he calls, “Off the bench with Keith Benjamin” In the past two games Keith Benjamin has give signs he also might be ready to break out. Against Cincinnati he scored 16 points by hitting 5 of 7 shots. Benjamin followed it up with 15 points against Providence by hitting 6 of 8 shots. Keith has made 11 of 15 shots in his last two games. If he has a couple of more games like this we are going to send Jamie Dixon and his staff an invoice for work done. Just send Chris Peak a player in need of a confidence boost and he is on his way.
Editor’s note: Of course it is always possible it has something to do with the hard work these two have put in practice.
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.
