Some hoops talk
The basketball game this week against Cincinnati at the Pete was a must win game but it sure was not easy. Cincinnati started slowly this year in part because one of their guards was injured but they can be a tough out right now. Their guard Dana Vaughn can shoot the lights out from long-range and that opens it up for others. The Bearcats beat West Virginia by 23 in Morgantown in late January.
Pitt is now starting three guards which sets you up for rebounding problems. The Pitt guards have to do a better job of blocking out and chasing down long-rebounds.
What can you say about Sam Young having no rebounds against the Bearcats. It will be hard winning any additional games if that continues to happen. Not only is Pitt starting 3 guards right now but Sam Young has evolved into a small forward before our eyes often shooting (and making) long-range jumpers. His game has often become a perimeter game as well.
Pitt has three regular season games left. They must travel to Syracuse and to West Virginia before hosting DePaul on Senior Night. In addition they will have at least one game in the Big East tournament. Pitt probably needs to win 2 of the next 4 games to insure they are in the NCAA tournament although one could do it.
Pitt still has a RPI ranking of No. 25 which is good enough put them in the Big Dance. The Big East has a good chance of putting seven teams in the NCAA tournament although Pitt and West Virginia might both might still need another win or two. West Virginia has an RPI ranking of No. 36 right now.
After the game Coach Dixon indicated Ronald Ramon and Gilbert Brown have been battling shoulder problems and that Keith Benjamin’s hand is infected. Levance Fields is coming off foot surgery. It is tough to shoot the lights from the outside when your perimeter players are playing through injuries. In our video interview with Coach Dixon after the Cincy game he told you that he has two players with torn labrums.
Pitt has had some back luck the past three years with injuries late in the year. You hope to be at your best in March but injuries have nagged them again late in the year.
We hope you saw our video interview with Cincy coach Mick Cronin after the game. Often college coaches drift into “coach speak” but he gave a pretty straight forward assessment of the game and of the Pitt team.
Pitt (20-8) has now won 20 games or more in all five years that Jamie Dixon has been the head coach and they have done it seven years in a row.
March Madness contest
Rivals.com will hold a Pick’em contest for the NCAA tournament.
Rivals.com will give way $10,000 to the person on the network that finishes in first place. If you get them all right they will give you $ 5 million. It’s free so give it a shot.
In addition the PantherLair will give the first place finisher in our league a six-month free subscription. If you already subscribe we will extend your subscription by six months.
If you feel you need to brush up on other teams around the country visit Rivals.com’s basketball home page over the next week or so.
Please see the link to this contest on the PantherLair’s home page.
Nike Combine at UPMC complex
This Sunday the folks at Student Sports will host a Nike combine at the UPMC complex on the Southside. They have closed preregistration but will take walkups between 11:00-11:30 AM on Sunday if you know someone who would still like to attend.
The PantherLair will be there and will give you reports next week.
Five-Star Academies
On Saturday Rivals.com will also host a Five-Star Academy at the University of Cincinnati and on Sunday at the University of Akron. You can expect reports next week from these events.
Assistants Paul Rhoads and Chris Ball did much of the recruiting in Ohio last year for Pitt. With the change over in staff Pitt could get a bit of a late start in Ohio but some of the players at Cincinnati on Saturday and at Akron on Sunday are likely to show up on the Pitt radar in time.
Jeremy Crabtree has an article up on these events this morning.
Recruiting recap
The Ticker has been busy this week as schools hold junior days around the country. This will continue this weekend when UConn among others host events. Once spring practice starts most schools will host a Blue Chip Day on a weekend to encourage prospects to visit their campus. This will help tide the coaching staffs over until they reach the Evaluation Period in May and are allowed to recruit off campus.
Here is a list of players that claim scholarship offers from Pitt right now:
Quarterback
Tom Savage - Philadelphia Cardinal O’Hara (Top 100- four stars)
Emmanuel Yeager - Ballou HS in Washington, DC
Running backs
Caleb Porzel - Good Counsel HS in MD (committed to Virginia)
Jordan Hall ? Jeannette
Theo Riddick - Somerville, NJ (Top 100 4 stars)
Wide receiver
Corey Brown ? Gateway
Jaleel Clark - Parkland High School
Todd Thomas - Beaver Falls
Je’ Ron Stokes - Philadelphia Northwest (Top 100 4 stars)
Tight end
Brock DeCicco - Thomas Jefferson
Offensive linemen
Eric Shrive - West Scranton (Top 100 4 stars)
Juantez Hollins - Aliquippa
Corey King ? Lakeview
Corey Linsley ? Boardman, OH
Defensive ends
Jack Lippert - Central Dauphin (Top 100 4 stars)
Sean Stanley - Gaithersburg, MD
Defensive tackles
John Simon - Cardinal Mooney (Top 100 4 stars) (committed to Ohio State)
Tyrone Ezell - Steel Valley
Raynard Randolph - Gwynn Park, MD
Defensive backs
Darrell Givens ? Lackey, MD
Terry Patrick ? Aliquippa
E.J. Banks -Montour
Linebackers
A.J. Fenton - Erie McDowell
Dan Mason - Penn Hills
Dorian Bell - Gateway (Top 100 5 stars)
Mike Privott - Norfolk, VA
Quarterback Tom Savage and wide receiver Je’Ron Stokes from Philadelphia both have a ton of offers and so far have shown little interest in Pitt. As a result Pitt has been removed from their favorite list.
Montour’s E. J. Banks has told a number of reporters he had a verbal offer from Pitt so we asked him about it this week and he said he had not seen it in writing. We received reports to the contrary from a number of sources and asked him again last night and he still insisted he has nothing in writing. Despite that we are showing him with an offer. We will let the folks on the Southside sort out the confusion.
When we spoke to him last night Banks said that West Virginia and Tennessee are now also in the process of offering him.
I consider Brock DeCicco from Thomas Jefferson and Juantez Hollins and Terry Patrick from Aliquippa to be Pitt heavy leans. These three could commit any time but all three are from programs with veteran coaches who have been though the recruiting process before. I suspect they will ask them to wait until we are through the Evaluation process in May.
We will have two more articles later today on prospects that attended Pitt’s Junior Day. One is a trio of players from Neshaminy High School and another on a defensive back from Maryland.
Remembering Myron Cope
Many years ago I had the privilege of working with Myron Cope. He was a professional in every sense of the word and a gentleman. He was not motivated by money and loved what he did for a living.
On most business subjects he would simply say, “That will be fine, no problem.” The one occasion where he did put his foot down was over royalty payments for the Terrible Towel copyright.
As most of you have probably read his son had autism and lived at the Allegheny Valley School. Myron assigned the rights to this school and to date they have received over $2.2 million in royalty payments. I am not sure many Pittsburgh fans knew they were helping in a worthwhile cause.
The Pittsburgh area has been blessed with a number of sports characters and a few have had ties to the University of Pittsburgh. Myron Cope, Beano Cook, Mike Ditka and Tiger Paul have all made the Pittsburgh sports landscape a little richer in their own way.
There is no way someone with Myron’s voice should have been a huge success in broadcast but he was. He was simply one interesting and entertaining guy.
He often greeted callers who asked how he was doing being bellowing “Outstanding”. I have stopped a few in their tracks over the years by borrowing his line. Myron used the line to move the conversation along but in fact he was outstanding.
When “birdies” have stopped by the PantherLair over the years we have used his line to explain sources that we felt it best not to quote directly (usually to stay within NCAA guidelines).
Myron was a Pittsburgh original. We will miss him.
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.
This post was edited on 2/29 11:48 AM by Jim Pantherlair
The basketball game this week against Cincinnati at the Pete was a must win game but it sure was not easy. Cincinnati started slowly this year in part because one of their guards was injured but they can be a tough out right now. Their guard Dana Vaughn can shoot the lights out from long-range and that opens it up for others. The Bearcats beat West Virginia by 23 in Morgantown in late January.
Pitt is now starting three guards which sets you up for rebounding problems. The Pitt guards have to do a better job of blocking out and chasing down long-rebounds.
What can you say about Sam Young having no rebounds against the Bearcats. It will be hard winning any additional games if that continues to happen. Not only is Pitt starting 3 guards right now but Sam Young has evolved into a small forward before our eyes often shooting (and making) long-range jumpers. His game has often become a perimeter game as well.
Pitt has three regular season games left. They must travel to Syracuse and to West Virginia before hosting DePaul on Senior Night. In addition they will have at least one game in the Big East tournament. Pitt probably needs to win 2 of the next 4 games to insure they are in the NCAA tournament although one could do it.
Pitt still has a RPI ranking of No. 25 which is good enough put them in the Big Dance. The Big East has a good chance of putting seven teams in the NCAA tournament although Pitt and West Virginia might both might still need another win or two. West Virginia has an RPI ranking of No. 36 right now.
After the game Coach Dixon indicated Ronald Ramon and Gilbert Brown have been battling shoulder problems and that Keith Benjamin’s hand is infected. Levance Fields is coming off foot surgery. It is tough to shoot the lights from the outside when your perimeter players are playing through injuries. In our video interview with Coach Dixon after the Cincy game he told you that he has two players with torn labrums.
Pitt has had some back luck the past three years with injuries late in the year. You hope to be at your best in March but injuries have nagged them again late in the year.
We hope you saw our video interview with Cincy coach Mick Cronin after the game. Often college coaches drift into “coach speak” but he gave a pretty straight forward assessment of the game and of the Pitt team.
Pitt (20-8) has now won 20 games or more in all five years that Jamie Dixon has been the head coach and they have done it seven years in a row.
March Madness contest
Rivals.com will hold a Pick’em contest for the NCAA tournament.
Rivals.com will give way $10,000 to the person on the network that finishes in first place. If you get them all right they will give you $ 5 million. It’s free so give it a shot.
In addition the PantherLair will give the first place finisher in our league a six-month free subscription. If you already subscribe we will extend your subscription by six months.
If you feel you need to brush up on other teams around the country visit Rivals.com’s basketball home page over the next week or so.
Please see the link to this contest on the PantherLair’s home page.
Nike Combine at UPMC complex
This Sunday the folks at Student Sports will host a Nike combine at the UPMC complex on the Southside. They have closed preregistration but will take walkups between 11:00-11:30 AM on Sunday if you know someone who would still like to attend.
The PantherLair will be there and will give you reports next week.
Five-Star Academies
On Saturday Rivals.com will also host a Five-Star Academy at the University of Cincinnati and on Sunday at the University of Akron. You can expect reports next week from these events.
Assistants Paul Rhoads and Chris Ball did much of the recruiting in Ohio last year for Pitt. With the change over in staff Pitt could get a bit of a late start in Ohio but some of the players at Cincinnati on Saturday and at Akron on Sunday are likely to show up on the Pitt radar in time.
Jeremy Crabtree has an article up on these events this morning.
Recruiting recap
The Ticker has been busy this week as schools hold junior days around the country. This will continue this weekend when UConn among others host events. Once spring practice starts most schools will host a Blue Chip Day on a weekend to encourage prospects to visit their campus. This will help tide the coaching staffs over until they reach the Evaluation Period in May and are allowed to recruit off campus.
Here is a list of players that claim scholarship offers from Pitt right now:
Quarterback
Tom Savage - Philadelphia Cardinal O’Hara (Top 100- four stars)
Emmanuel Yeager - Ballou HS in Washington, DC
Running backs
Caleb Porzel - Good Counsel HS in MD (committed to Virginia)
Jordan Hall ? Jeannette
Theo Riddick - Somerville, NJ (Top 100 4 stars)
Wide receiver
Corey Brown ? Gateway
Jaleel Clark - Parkland High School
Todd Thomas - Beaver Falls
Je’ Ron Stokes - Philadelphia Northwest (Top 100 4 stars)
Tight end
Brock DeCicco - Thomas Jefferson
Offensive linemen
Eric Shrive - West Scranton (Top 100 4 stars)
Juantez Hollins - Aliquippa
Corey King ? Lakeview
Corey Linsley ? Boardman, OH
Defensive ends
Jack Lippert - Central Dauphin (Top 100 4 stars)
Sean Stanley - Gaithersburg, MD
Defensive tackles
John Simon - Cardinal Mooney (Top 100 4 stars) (committed to Ohio State)
Tyrone Ezell - Steel Valley
Raynard Randolph - Gwynn Park, MD
Defensive backs
Darrell Givens ? Lackey, MD
Terry Patrick ? Aliquippa
E.J. Banks -Montour
Linebackers
A.J. Fenton - Erie McDowell
Dan Mason - Penn Hills
Dorian Bell - Gateway (Top 100 5 stars)
Mike Privott - Norfolk, VA
Quarterback Tom Savage and wide receiver Je’Ron Stokes from Philadelphia both have a ton of offers and so far have shown little interest in Pitt. As a result Pitt has been removed from their favorite list.
Montour’s E. J. Banks has told a number of reporters he had a verbal offer from Pitt so we asked him about it this week and he said he had not seen it in writing. We received reports to the contrary from a number of sources and asked him again last night and he still insisted he has nothing in writing. Despite that we are showing him with an offer. We will let the folks on the Southside sort out the confusion.
When we spoke to him last night Banks said that West Virginia and Tennessee are now also in the process of offering him.
I consider Brock DeCicco from Thomas Jefferson and Juantez Hollins and Terry Patrick from Aliquippa to be Pitt heavy leans. These three could commit any time but all three are from programs with veteran coaches who have been though the recruiting process before. I suspect they will ask them to wait until we are through the Evaluation process in May.
We will have two more articles later today on prospects that attended Pitt’s Junior Day. One is a trio of players from Neshaminy High School and another on a defensive back from Maryland.
Remembering Myron Cope
Many years ago I had the privilege of working with Myron Cope. He was a professional in every sense of the word and a gentleman. He was not motivated by money and loved what he did for a living.
On most business subjects he would simply say, “That will be fine, no problem.” The one occasion where he did put his foot down was over royalty payments for the Terrible Towel copyright.
As most of you have probably read his son had autism and lived at the Allegheny Valley School. Myron assigned the rights to this school and to date they have received over $2.2 million in royalty payments. I am not sure many Pittsburgh fans knew they were helping in a worthwhile cause.
The Pittsburgh area has been blessed with a number of sports characters and a few have had ties to the University of Pittsburgh. Myron Cope, Beano Cook, Mike Ditka and Tiger Paul have all made the Pittsburgh sports landscape a little richer in their own way.
There is no way someone with Myron’s voice should have been a huge success in broadcast but he was. He was simply one interesting and entertaining guy.
He often greeted callers who asked how he was doing being bellowing “Outstanding”. I have stopped a few in their tracks over the years by borrowing his line. Myron used the line to move the conversation along but in fact he was outstanding.
When “birdies” have stopped by the PantherLair over the years we have used his line to explain sources that we felt it best not to quote directly (usually to stay within NCAA guidelines).
Myron was a Pittsburgh original. We will miss him.
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.
This post was edited on 2/29 11:48 AM by Jim Pantherlair
