From the desk of Jim Snyder
Ranking posts - give them a few stars
Rivals.com gives you the ability to view the message boards by thread or by topic. You simply go to User Options and make your selection. Hit save and you are in business.
For those of you that use the Topic View you have an opportunity to rate the posts. If you see a post that deserves a few stars please rank it. The system is supposed to calculate an average of all those that ranked the posts. You might help others see information they might otherwise miss. Thanks!
Bracket Battle
It looks like about 424 of you signed up for the Pantherlair’s Bracket Battle game. Thanks to those of you who took the time to sign up. Maybe you will get hot with your selections.
Only a small fraction of those eligible registered. As an example there were over 1,500 posters on the Pantherlair the night the invitations were announced. We have over 8,000 registered to post. We did finish ahead of the West Virginia and Penn State sites although neither had a team in the Big Dance.
To all of those who did take the time from your busy schedules we hope all your picks come up winners.
Rivals Day
Rivals.com will hold a classroom session on the recruiting process at the University of Akron on March 25th. Anyone interesting in attending should send an e-mail to recruiting@rivals.com.
Nike combines
The folks at Student Sports will hold Nike combines on the following dates. There will be testing at these combines in the 40-yard dash ect. Anyone interested in attending should pre-register with Student Sports. See our post at the top of this page for details.
March 25th at Oberlin College
April 15th at Capital College in Columbus, Ohio
Spring practice starts tomorrow
Dave Wannstedt takes the Panther football team through spring drills starting tomorrow at 10:00 am. The Pantherlair will be there and will keep you up to date.
There are a couple of storylines to follow. The freshmen that were redshirted last year spent last fall on the scout team. This is their chance to show just where they stand in the development process. Will the Class of 2006 live up to expectations?
On offense everyone will be watching the quarterback position. Will Bill Stull or Kevan Smith grab control of the position? On defense we will be watching to see if Paul Rhoads find a few linebackers willing to fly to the ball?
Pitt has a fair number of players returning at other positions. The Panthers success next fall may hinge on finding a quarterback and a few linebackers. It looks like Scott McKillop, Nate Nix andSteve Dell have an early edge at linebacker. Dorin Dickerson will be given a look at outside linebacker. I sure hope they find a home for Dickerson. I almost hate to think what happens if this does not workout.
We have reported in earlier War Rooms that Brian Angelichio has been recruiting players on the eastern part of the state. This week they finally made an official announcement that he has been promoted to a fulltime assistant coach.
This tends to be a slow few weeks in recruiting. We are in a Quiet Period to allow teams to go through spring practice. Once that is done Pitt coaches will pack their bags and hit the road. They will try to stop at as many high schools as possible within Pitt’s recruiting area.
Colleges will invite recruits to watch them practice and many will take the opportunity. Pitt will practice Saturday and Sunday this weekend. After this weekend most practices will be held Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The spring game will be held Saturday April 14th. Pitt will practice every Saturday hoping recruits will stop by to watch them. They will hold a Blue Chip Day on Saturday March 31st.
Pitt advances in the NCAA tournament
Pitt took care of business last night beating Wright State 79-58. They played well except for a brief period in the first half when Pitt rested their big men and got away from looking inside. The Wright State coach was so worried about Aaron Gray he double teamed the big man. In fact on occasion he triple and quadrupled teamed Gray. It left things wide open for the other Pitt players. If Gray plays this well every night Pitt can make a run in this tournament.
Virginia Commonwealth pulled the upset last night by using a late spurt to nip Duke 79-77. VCU loves to trap the ball and that has given Pitt trouble on a few occasions this year. How the Pitt guards handle the pressure may decide the game. VCU has no height. If Pitt can control the pace and look down inside to Gray, Kendall, Young and Biggs they should be fine.
VCU was very impressive but they beat a Duke team that lost four in a row at the end of the season. Duke is not a very athletic team. They made a habit of losing close games and finished their season 22-11.
Senior guard Antonio Graves deserves another atta boy for his work on defense last night. He held their heralded guard, DeSaun Wood, to 10 points. He was 3 of 11 from the floor. He did get a late 3-pointer after the game was decided and Graves was on the bench along with the other seniors. Way to go Antonio.
There is a lot going on this weekend in Pitt athletics. The football team will hold practice drills at the UPMC complex on Saturday and Sunday. The men’s basketball team plays VCU on Saturday in Buffalo.
In addition the Pitt’s women’s program host the NCAA tournament at the Pete on Sunday. Notre Dame, North Carolina and California play Sunday afternoon. Tennessee plays Drake and Pitt plays James Madison Sunday night.
Today promises to be another busy day on the Pantherlair.
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.
Ranking posts - give them a few stars
Rivals.com gives you the ability to view the message boards by thread or by topic. You simply go to User Options and make your selection. Hit save and you are in business.
For those of you that use the Topic View you have an opportunity to rate the posts. If you see a post that deserves a few stars please rank it. The system is supposed to calculate an average of all those that ranked the posts. You might help others see information they might otherwise miss. Thanks!
Bracket Battle
It looks like about 424 of you signed up for the Pantherlair’s Bracket Battle game. Thanks to those of you who took the time to sign up. Maybe you will get hot with your selections.
Only a small fraction of those eligible registered. As an example there were over 1,500 posters on the Pantherlair the night the invitations were announced. We have over 8,000 registered to post. We did finish ahead of the West Virginia and Penn State sites although neither had a team in the Big Dance.
To all of those who did take the time from your busy schedules we hope all your picks come up winners.
Rivals Day
Rivals.com will hold a classroom session on the recruiting process at the University of Akron on March 25th. Anyone interesting in attending should send an e-mail to recruiting@rivals.com.
Nike combines
The folks at Student Sports will hold Nike combines on the following dates. There will be testing at these combines in the 40-yard dash ect. Anyone interested in attending should pre-register with Student Sports. See our post at the top of this page for details.
March 25th at Oberlin College
April 15th at Capital College in Columbus, Ohio
Spring practice starts tomorrow
Dave Wannstedt takes the Panther football team through spring drills starting tomorrow at 10:00 am. The Pantherlair will be there and will keep you up to date.
There are a couple of storylines to follow. The freshmen that were redshirted last year spent last fall on the scout team. This is their chance to show just where they stand in the development process. Will the Class of 2006 live up to expectations?
On offense everyone will be watching the quarterback position. Will Bill Stull or Kevan Smith grab control of the position? On defense we will be watching to see if Paul Rhoads find a few linebackers willing to fly to the ball?
Pitt has a fair number of players returning at other positions. The Panthers success next fall may hinge on finding a quarterback and a few linebackers. It looks like Scott McKillop, Nate Nix andSteve Dell have an early edge at linebacker. Dorin Dickerson will be given a look at outside linebacker. I sure hope they find a home for Dickerson. I almost hate to think what happens if this does not workout.
We have reported in earlier War Rooms that Brian Angelichio has been recruiting players on the eastern part of the state. This week they finally made an official announcement that he has been promoted to a fulltime assistant coach.
This tends to be a slow few weeks in recruiting. We are in a Quiet Period to allow teams to go through spring practice. Once that is done Pitt coaches will pack their bags and hit the road. They will try to stop at as many high schools as possible within Pitt’s recruiting area.
Colleges will invite recruits to watch them practice and many will take the opportunity. Pitt will practice Saturday and Sunday this weekend. After this weekend most practices will be held Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The spring game will be held Saturday April 14th. Pitt will practice every Saturday hoping recruits will stop by to watch them. They will hold a Blue Chip Day on Saturday March 31st.
Pitt advances in the NCAA tournament
Pitt took care of business last night beating Wright State 79-58. They played well except for a brief period in the first half when Pitt rested their big men and got away from looking inside. The Wright State coach was so worried about Aaron Gray he double teamed the big man. In fact on occasion he triple and quadrupled teamed Gray. It left things wide open for the other Pitt players. If Gray plays this well every night Pitt can make a run in this tournament.
Virginia Commonwealth pulled the upset last night by using a late spurt to nip Duke 79-77. VCU loves to trap the ball and that has given Pitt trouble on a few occasions this year. How the Pitt guards handle the pressure may decide the game. VCU has no height. If Pitt can control the pace and look down inside to Gray, Kendall, Young and Biggs they should be fine.
VCU was very impressive but they beat a Duke team that lost four in a row at the end of the season. Duke is not a very athletic team. They made a habit of losing close games and finished their season 22-11.
Senior guard Antonio Graves deserves another atta boy for his work on defense last night. He held their heralded guard, DeSaun Wood, to 10 points. He was 3 of 11 from the floor. He did get a late 3-pointer after the game was decided and Graves was on the bench along with the other seniors. Way to go Antonio.
There is a lot going on this weekend in Pitt athletics. The football team will hold practice drills at the UPMC complex on Saturday and Sunday. The men’s basketball team plays VCU on Saturday in Buffalo.
In addition the Pitt’s women’s program host the NCAA tournament at the Pete on Sunday. Notre Dame, North Carolina and California play Sunday afternoon. Tennessee plays Drake and Pitt plays James Madison Sunday night.
Today promises to be another busy day on the Pantherlair.
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.
