From the desk of Jim Snyder
Hoops talk
It was nice to see the Pitt basketball team bounce back with a win 96-75 over Lafayette on Wednesday night. It was great to see senior Keith Benjamin and junior Tyrell Biggs have big games. Pitt played well offensively all night. Lafayette was unconscious knocking down 17 three-pointers (often from NBA range). It was odd seeing Pitt scoring 96 points without running a lot.
Pitt moved up to No. 6 in the RPI rankings after the win over Lafayette and then was bumped up to No. 5 when Dayton held off Akron in double overtime. The Panthers have finished the non-conference portion of their schedule. When it comes selection time for the NCAA tourney the fact that they were ranked No. 5 in the RPI at this point should be a big selling point.
The trick now is to scratch out as many conference wins as possible and then hope you get Levance Fields back by the end of February. Pitt is now 12-1 on the year. If they go 9-9 (or better) in conference play and get win in the Big East Tournament that should get them a NCAA bid.
We will know a lot more about the Panthers after the Villanova (10-2) game on Sunday. The Wildcats fell behind early last night and never could catch DePaul. They lost 84-76 in a game played in Chicago. Pitt will play Nova out on their campus on the Main Line. Lafayette could shoot the ball but as a team was not that athletic. As a result Pitt rolled up 96 points. Most Big East teams are far more athletic than Lafayette.
One thing is for sure. The Panthers must avoid injuries they rest of the way. They are so thin that even a cold or flu could be a big problem this winter.
Pitt’s problems started this season with Darnell Dodson not making it past the NCAA Clearinghouse. The way this was handled suggests the staff thought he had a good chance of making it. He might have been a big help right now. This Pitt basketball program went though this sort of thing when Ralph Willard was the coach. I suspect Jamie Dixon is in a little better position to stem the bleeding that Ralph was.
It was distressing to read that Jeff Long and Coach Dixon had a strained relationship. You always got the impression that Jeff Long spent more time managing the people above him than the people that actually worked for him. Before the year is over Athletic Director Steve Pederson should get Coach Dixon a new contract.
About a week ago Pitt received a verbal commitment from Lamar Patterson from Lancaster McCaskey. He made an unofficial visit to Pitt for the Oklahoma State game and almost committed at that time but the Pitt coaches slowed him do a little until all parties were sure. Coach Dixon went to look at him again and he committed shortly thereafter. At the time at that time a “birdie” indicated that the primary Pitt targets for the Class of 2009 were as follows:
1) Lamar Patterson 6’ 5” SG/SF - Lancaster McCaskey (3 stars) (Pitt commit)
2) Zeke Marshall 6’ 11” 215-Center-McKeesport (unrated)
3) Dante Taylor 6’ 7” 220-Power forward-National Christian Academy in MD. (4 stars)
4) Andrew Fitzgerald 6’ 8”-Power forward- Towson Catholic (unrated)
5) Durand Scott 6’ 3” 180- Shooting guard-Rice HS NY- -(4 stars)
6) Maurice Creek 6’ 4” 180-Shooting guard-Oxon Hill MD. (4 stars)
The Pitt staff is always evaluating and recruiting many players so their efforts are not limited to this group but our sources say these are at the top of the list right now. Pitt could have four to give in 2009. Darnell Dodson could also figure into the mix.
Bowl thoughts
The Big East is 2-2 in bowl play. Rutgers still must play Ball State on Saturday. The Scarlet Knights will be favored to make it 3-2. This will not win the Big East a lot of praise but will help it from being pounded by the national media.
It will take at least a decade for the conference to restore its luster. One of the issues they must deal with is to upgrade the bowl lineup. The Gator Bowl insisted on goofy deal with the Sun Bowl and found themselves with a sea of empty seats this season. The announced crowd was much larger than the one actually in attendance. Texas Tech brought very few fans to the Gator Bowl.
I would love to see the Big East grab the SEC slot in Outback Bowl in Tampa. This would give you a Big East vs. Big Ten matchup. The SEC could take the slot in the Gator Bowl. One of the many problems the Big East has is the ACC does not want to play the Big East in every bowl game. They already play each other in the Meinke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte. The Big East needs to find a Big Ten and a SEC matchup.
I am getting a little tired of the media telling me for four hours every game how wonderful Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops is. He is a good coach who hired great assistants when he first arrived at Oklahoma. The Sooners have as much talent as anyone on college and still managed to lose to West Virginia, Texas Tech and Colorado. The highlight of the Fiesta Bowl came in the fourth quarter when Pat Haden said he was in love with Bob Stoops. Perhaps he was not watching the Sooners run up 13 penalties. To be honest there were a half dozen holding calls the referees missed or the score would have been much worse than 48-28. Haden could not resist putting Oklahoma in his preseason top five.
Recruiting roundup
We have been in a Dead Period to allow teams to play in bowls. That period is now over so things should start moving forward again.
This coming weekend there will be three all-star games. Most of the attention will be on the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio. This game will air on Saturday at 1:00 pm EST. It will be carried by the NBC network. Pitt commits Jonathan Baldwin and Lucas Nix will play in this game as will Shayne Hale and Josh Jenkins. Tony Greco took off for San Antonio yesterday so hopefully he will be filling a few reports for us.
Gateway’s Shayne Hale is expected to publically announce he will attend Pitt during this telecast.
Jonathan Baldwin (6’ 6” 230), Lucas Nix (6’ 6” 300) and Shayne Hale have all passed the “eyeball test” in San Antonio. Baldwin plays tight end at Aliquippa and that is how he is listed in the Rivals.com database. He has shown the folks in San Antonio he is capable of playing wide receiver despite being hampered by a hamstring injury. Lucas Nix struggled a bit on the one-on-one passing drills early in the week but Thomas Jefferson was primarily a running team this year. His pass blocking skills will improve. Mike Adams looked the best in these drills but Dublin Coffman threw the ball a lot. Zack Stoudt threw the ball 362 times this year for the Shamrocks so he had plenty of practice during the season.
We have reported recently that Pitt continues to recruit Central Catholic’s Andrew Taglianettibut have not yet invited him in for a visit. He is scheduled to visit Louisville next weekend.
We have also reported that Central’s Dan Vaughan is scheduled to visit next weekend. He is at least five members of his family that have attended Pitt. Love to see Vaughan grab one of the few remaining scholarships.
Offensive lineman Josh Jenkins decommitted from West Virginia and has scheduled a visit to Pitt the weekend of January 18th. Mike Farrell reported he could commit to Ohio State before we get there. Let’s hope he is still on the board and makes the visit to Pitt.
We hope to get you a report on Easton’s Jarred Holley this weekend. He will be playing in the Offense-Defense all-star game in Miami. He is a primary target. Should Pitt land Hale and Holley it would put Pitt at 16 commitments. We also think one scholarship will go to a tight end. Justin Virbitsky is a blocking tight end. Dan Vaughan could be used initially as a pass catching tight end. That might be a way to get you to the two Pitt initially hoped to recruit.
Zack Stoudt committed to Pitt. Pitt then accepted commitments from quarterbacks Greg Cross and [db]Tino Sunseri[/db]. Up until that point Sunseri had been a Louisville commit so the Cardinals have gone after Stoudt. He is scheduled to visit both Pitt and Louisville. We will follow up with both Stoudt and Sunseri.
Pitt will host a large group of recruits next weekend when the Pitt basketball team plays Seton Hall at the Pete. We will be scrubbing the Official Visit List over the next week but they should have a dozen players in. Continuing to recruit those that have already committed is a big part of the process. You must keep poachers from coveting those that have already have committed to you.
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.
Hoops talk
It was nice to see the Pitt basketball team bounce back with a win 96-75 over Lafayette on Wednesday night. It was great to see senior Keith Benjamin and junior Tyrell Biggs have big games. Pitt played well offensively all night. Lafayette was unconscious knocking down 17 three-pointers (often from NBA range). It was odd seeing Pitt scoring 96 points without running a lot.
Pitt moved up to No. 6 in the RPI rankings after the win over Lafayette and then was bumped up to No. 5 when Dayton held off Akron in double overtime. The Panthers have finished the non-conference portion of their schedule. When it comes selection time for the NCAA tourney the fact that they were ranked No. 5 in the RPI at this point should be a big selling point.
The trick now is to scratch out as many conference wins as possible and then hope you get Levance Fields back by the end of February. Pitt is now 12-1 on the year. If they go 9-9 (or better) in conference play and get win in the Big East Tournament that should get them a NCAA bid.
We will know a lot more about the Panthers after the Villanova (10-2) game on Sunday. The Wildcats fell behind early last night and never could catch DePaul. They lost 84-76 in a game played in Chicago. Pitt will play Nova out on their campus on the Main Line. Lafayette could shoot the ball but as a team was not that athletic. As a result Pitt rolled up 96 points. Most Big East teams are far more athletic than Lafayette.
One thing is for sure. The Panthers must avoid injuries they rest of the way. They are so thin that even a cold or flu could be a big problem this winter.
Pitt’s problems started this season with Darnell Dodson not making it past the NCAA Clearinghouse. The way this was handled suggests the staff thought he had a good chance of making it. He might have been a big help right now. This Pitt basketball program went though this sort of thing when Ralph Willard was the coach. I suspect Jamie Dixon is in a little better position to stem the bleeding that Ralph was.
It was distressing to read that Jeff Long and Coach Dixon had a strained relationship. You always got the impression that Jeff Long spent more time managing the people above him than the people that actually worked for him. Before the year is over Athletic Director Steve Pederson should get Coach Dixon a new contract.
About a week ago Pitt received a verbal commitment from Lamar Patterson from Lancaster McCaskey. He made an unofficial visit to Pitt for the Oklahoma State game and almost committed at that time but the Pitt coaches slowed him do a little until all parties were sure. Coach Dixon went to look at him again and he committed shortly thereafter. At the time at that time a “birdie” indicated that the primary Pitt targets for the Class of 2009 were as follows:
1) Lamar Patterson 6’ 5” SG/SF - Lancaster McCaskey (3 stars) (Pitt commit)
2) Zeke Marshall 6’ 11” 215-Center-McKeesport (unrated)
3) Dante Taylor 6’ 7” 220-Power forward-National Christian Academy in MD. (4 stars)
4) Andrew Fitzgerald 6’ 8”-Power forward- Towson Catholic (unrated)
5) Durand Scott 6’ 3” 180- Shooting guard-Rice HS NY- -(4 stars)
6) Maurice Creek 6’ 4” 180-Shooting guard-Oxon Hill MD. (4 stars)
The Pitt staff is always evaluating and recruiting many players so their efforts are not limited to this group but our sources say these are at the top of the list right now. Pitt could have four to give in 2009. Darnell Dodson could also figure into the mix.
Bowl thoughts
The Big East is 2-2 in bowl play. Rutgers still must play Ball State on Saturday. The Scarlet Knights will be favored to make it 3-2. This will not win the Big East a lot of praise but will help it from being pounded by the national media.
It will take at least a decade for the conference to restore its luster. One of the issues they must deal with is to upgrade the bowl lineup. The Gator Bowl insisted on goofy deal with the Sun Bowl and found themselves with a sea of empty seats this season. The announced crowd was much larger than the one actually in attendance. Texas Tech brought very few fans to the Gator Bowl.
I would love to see the Big East grab the SEC slot in Outback Bowl in Tampa. This would give you a Big East vs. Big Ten matchup. The SEC could take the slot in the Gator Bowl. One of the many problems the Big East has is the ACC does not want to play the Big East in every bowl game. They already play each other in the Meinke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte. The Big East needs to find a Big Ten and a SEC matchup.
I am getting a little tired of the media telling me for four hours every game how wonderful Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops is. He is a good coach who hired great assistants when he first arrived at Oklahoma. The Sooners have as much talent as anyone on college and still managed to lose to West Virginia, Texas Tech and Colorado. The highlight of the Fiesta Bowl came in the fourth quarter when Pat Haden said he was in love with Bob Stoops. Perhaps he was not watching the Sooners run up 13 penalties. To be honest there were a half dozen holding calls the referees missed or the score would have been much worse than 48-28. Haden could not resist putting Oklahoma in his preseason top five.
Recruiting roundup
We have been in a Dead Period to allow teams to play in bowls. That period is now over so things should start moving forward again.
This coming weekend there will be three all-star games. Most of the attention will be on the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio. This game will air on Saturday at 1:00 pm EST. It will be carried by the NBC network. Pitt commits Jonathan Baldwin and Lucas Nix will play in this game as will Shayne Hale and Josh Jenkins. Tony Greco took off for San Antonio yesterday so hopefully he will be filling a few reports for us.
Gateway’s Shayne Hale is expected to publically announce he will attend Pitt during this telecast.
Jonathan Baldwin (6’ 6” 230), Lucas Nix (6’ 6” 300) and Shayne Hale have all passed the “eyeball test” in San Antonio. Baldwin plays tight end at Aliquippa and that is how he is listed in the Rivals.com database. He has shown the folks in San Antonio he is capable of playing wide receiver despite being hampered by a hamstring injury. Lucas Nix struggled a bit on the one-on-one passing drills early in the week but Thomas Jefferson was primarily a running team this year. His pass blocking skills will improve. Mike Adams looked the best in these drills but Dublin Coffman threw the ball a lot. Zack Stoudt threw the ball 362 times this year for the Shamrocks so he had plenty of practice during the season.
We have reported recently that Pitt continues to recruit Central Catholic’s Andrew Taglianettibut have not yet invited him in for a visit. He is scheduled to visit Louisville next weekend.
We have also reported that Central’s Dan Vaughan is scheduled to visit next weekend. He is at least five members of his family that have attended Pitt. Love to see Vaughan grab one of the few remaining scholarships.
Offensive lineman Josh Jenkins decommitted from West Virginia and has scheduled a visit to Pitt the weekend of January 18th. Mike Farrell reported he could commit to Ohio State before we get there. Let’s hope he is still on the board and makes the visit to Pitt.
We hope to get you a report on Easton’s Jarred Holley this weekend. He will be playing in the Offense-Defense all-star game in Miami. He is a primary target. Should Pitt land Hale and Holley it would put Pitt at 16 commitments. We also think one scholarship will go to a tight end. Justin Virbitsky is a blocking tight end. Dan Vaughan could be used initially as a pass catching tight end. That might be a way to get you to the two Pitt initially hoped to recruit.
Zack Stoudt committed to Pitt. Pitt then accepted commitments from quarterbacks Greg Cross and [db]Tino Sunseri[/db]. Up until that point Sunseri had been a Louisville commit so the Cardinals have gone after Stoudt. He is scheduled to visit both Pitt and Louisville. We will follow up with both Stoudt and Sunseri.
Pitt will host a large group of recruits next weekend when the Pitt basketball team plays Seton Hall at the Pete. We will be scrubbing the Official Visit List over the next week but they should have a dozen players in. Continuing to recruit those that have already committed is a big part of the process. You must keep poachers from coveting those that have already have committed to you.
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.
