From the desk of Jim Snyder
Lot’s of Big East basketball on TV this year
The new contract in basketball with ESPN/ABC does not start until the 2007-2008 season but that does not mean you will have to wait to see Big East basketball. It looks like 128 conference games will be televised this year. Big East teams will play at least 81 games on national television (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or CBS). That far more than the minimum required in the new deal. Pitt has 15 of the national games. You can also bet Pitt will also play a pile of games on the regional schedule once it comes out (as long as Fox Sports Pittsburgh agrees to carry them).
Basketball recruits visiting
Juniors Chris Braswell (6’8”) from DeMatha High School and Roscoe Davis (6’ 9”) from Frederick Douglas High School in Maryland are scheduled to make unofficial visits to Pitt this weekend. Both are juniors. These are unofficial visits.
Five-star point guard Antony Crater is also scheduled to make an unofficial visit to Pitt this week. He is from Flint, Michigan. He will be in Pittsburgh for the Michigan State game. Crater is in the process of visiting a number of schools.
There had been a report that junior swingman Sean Mosley out of Baltimore might visit but I talked to his father this week and there is no visit planned. He has been talking to Pitt but I did not get the impression it ever got so far as discussing
visits.
An assist from David Cox?
Pitt announced yesterday that the women’s basketball program received a verbal commitment from Tasneisha Harrison (6’ 0”) from St John’s College High School in Washington, DC. Pitt’s director of basketball operations David Cox was the assistant principal at this high school last year.
Pitt is also recruiting Rivals TOP 250 Tony Tucker as a defensive end on the football side of the athletic program.
We have video of highlights
We have enjoyed video highlights of the Virginia and Cincinnati game the past two weeks. The Pantherlair is scheduled to have video highlights from the Michigan State game, perhaps as early as Sunday or Monday. Let’s hope The Panthers bury the Spartans so we will want to watch them over and over again.
The Daily Line
As a reminder Rivals.com has been having trouble taking a feed from the “Ticker Service” on the Daily Line that appears on the football schedule on the Home Page. It has been wrong since the beginning of the season. However, if you drill down you will get the full blown version of the Daily Line which is updated every 2 minutes. The correct data is there you will just have to work a little harder to get it until they get the problem corrected.
Message boards
We are getting closer to the old message boards being blown up. I believe it will happen sometime later today. My guess is all of the old posts will probably disappear. We will be starting over again. Keep in mind you will be able to view the new message boards by thread or topic as has been true with the old version. Both versions have merits. It sometimes just gets down to personal tastes. Bear with us through this transition. I expect it to get ugly late today.
Pick’em
Get your Pick’em selections in. Even if you have gotten off to a bad start Rivals.com is giving prizes away each week. In some ways each week is like a separate contest.
The two-deep chart
Each week the Pantherlair publishes the two-deep chart as released to the media by Pitt. It gives you a guide as to which players will probably play. Right now on the offense line Joe Thomas would be the first backup to both guard positions. John Bachman would have backup both tackle positions on the offensive line until his injury this week. Jason Pinkston has been moved to the OL but he is not ready. Joe Thomas maybe the first options at guard and tackle.
Tailgate TV
Don’t forget to take pictures this weekend of your tailgating activities. There is a Quick Link on the Home Page to post them on Tailgate TV.
Elite 11 reunion
I hope you caught our article titled “Elite 11 Reunion”. There are a lot of quarterbacks listed in this article. Some have gone on to be stars while others have not. Check it out if you missed it yesterday. An interesting article.
The Class of 2007
Pitt had the top-ranked recruiting class in the Big East in 2006. Ten members of that class have played so far including eight true freshmen. Junior college transfer Jeff Otah has started at left tackle and Lowell Robinson has contributed on special teams.
True freshmen that have played so far include. T.J. Porter, Jovani Chapel, Kevin Collier, Aaron Berry, Elijah Fields, Joe Thomas, Nate Byham and John Malecki.
Dorin Dickerson has been slowed by a couple of injuries this summer and a position switch. It would not surprise me if he joined this list in the next few games. It looks like McKenzie Mathews will be given playing time this week.
Football recruiting
A week or so ago an article came across the Ticker indicating that Georgia was still involved with a number of very good recruits and was starting to run low on scholarships. It was becoming apparent that they could not take them all. It appears Mo Williams got caught in this numbers game. He was scheduled to visit Georgia this fall but they pulled their offer. At the end of the day we always thought he would end up at one of the three local schools (Pitt, Penn State or West Virginia). This latest development brings you one step closer. Mo visited Pitt to watch them practice at fall camp which I would view as a very good sign. Mo Williams is scheduled to visit Pitt for their game with The Citadel (as is Nordonia’s
Jordan Mabin).
Some weekend visitors
Part of the fall out of moving the Michigan State game up to Noon is that is does not give Pitt time to get out-of-state players in for a visit. Defensive tackle Uriah Grant and offensive guard Joel McCleod from Everglades High School were scheduled to make official visits this weekend but can not get here in time so they have been moved back until November when Pitt plays West Virginia. I called Uriah Grant this week. He had his nose completely out of joint thinking Pitt was giving him the stiff arm. He told me flat out he would not come to Pittsburgh. Our “birdies” say folks have talked to him and have hopefully smoothed the situation over.
The good news is that moving the game until Noon means NTOP does not have to park in Oakland and be bused to Heinz Field but the bad news is Pitt lost an opportunity to recruit a few out-of-state players this weekend.
Some unofficial visitors expected include Myles Caragein, [/B]Chris Jacobson[/B], and Brandon Lindsey from the Class of 2007. [/B]Shayne Hale[/B], [/B]Cameron Sadler[/B], Averin Collier and Leon Green from the Class of 2008. Many other players from Western Pa have been invited. This is only a partial list of those invited to attend. Many will be high school juniors.
We spoke to kicker Brandon Walker this week. Pitt is still in the hunt for the talented kicker. He will be taking an unofficial visit to Louisville this week to watch them play Miami. He said Pitt is still trying to get him in for another visit within the next couple of weeks.
Hopefully you saw Jeremy Crabtree’s article yesterday on Tommie Duhart. He will make his official visit when Pitt plays Toledo later this month. Actually this is his second official visit. He visited in January of 2005 and then failed to qualify. Duhart has grown and is now 6’ 4” 285.
A big weekend for the Big East
The Big East Conference has a very big weekend in front of them. They need to win their fair share of games this weekend starting with the West Virginia-Maryland game tonight.
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 9/14 10:00 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
This post was edited on 9/14 8:39 PM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
Lot’s of Big East basketball on TV this year
The new contract in basketball with ESPN/ABC does not start until the 2007-2008 season but that does not mean you will have to wait to see Big East basketball. It looks like 128 conference games will be televised this year. Big East teams will play at least 81 games on national television (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or CBS). That far more than the minimum required in the new deal. Pitt has 15 of the national games. You can also bet Pitt will also play a pile of games on the regional schedule once it comes out (as long as Fox Sports Pittsburgh agrees to carry them).
Basketball recruits visiting
Juniors Chris Braswell (6’8”) from DeMatha High School and Roscoe Davis (6’ 9”) from Frederick Douglas High School in Maryland are scheduled to make unofficial visits to Pitt this weekend. Both are juniors. These are unofficial visits.
Five-star point guard Antony Crater is also scheduled to make an unofficial visit to Pitt this week. He is from Flint, Michigan. He will be in Pittsburgh for the Michigan State game. Crater is in the process of visiting a number of schools.
There had been a report that junior swingman Sean Mosley out of Baltimore might visit but I talked to his father this week and there is no visit planned. He has been talking to Pitt but I did not get the impression it ever got so far as discussing
visits.
An assist from David Cox?
Pitt announced yesterday that the women’s basketball program received a verbal commitment from Tasneisha Harrison (6’ 0”) from St John’s College High School in Washington, DC. Pitt’s director of basketball operations David Cox was the assistant principal at this high school last year.
Pitt is also recruiting Rivals TOP 250 Tony Tucker as a defensive end on the football side of the athletic program.
We have video of highlights
We have enjoyed video highlights of the Virginia and Cincinnati game the past two weeks. The Pantherlair is scheduled to have video highlights from the Michigan State game, perhaps as early as Sunday or Monday. Let’s hope The Panthers bury the Spartans so we will want to watch them over and over again.
The Daily Line
As a reminder Rivals.com has been having trouble taking a feed from the “Ticker Service” on the Daily Line that appears on the football schedule on the Home Page. It has been wrong since the beginning of the season. However, if you drill down you will get the full blown version of the Daily Line which is updated every 2 minutes. The correct data is there you will just have to work a little harder to get it until they get the problem corrected.
Message boards
We are getting closer to the old message boards being blown up. I believe it will happen sometime later today. My guess is all of the old posts will probably disappear. We will be starting over again. Keep in mind you will be able to view the new message boards by thread or topic as has been true with the old version. Both versions have merits. It sometimes just gets down to personal tastes. Bear with us through this transition. I expect it to get ugly late today.
Pick’em
Get your Pick’em selections in. Even if you have gotten off to a bad start Rivals.com is giving prizes away each week. In some ways each week is like a separate contest.
The two-deep chart
Each week the Pantherlair publishes the two-deep chart as released to the media by Pitt. It gives you a guide as to which players will probably play. Right now on the offense line Joe Thomas would be the first backup to both guard positions. John Bachman would have backup both tackle positions on the offensive line until his injury this week. Jason Pinkston has been moved to the OL but he is not ready. Joe Thomas maybe the first options at guard and tackle.
Tailgate TV
Don’t forget to take pictures this weekend of your tailgating activities. There is a Quick Link on the Home Page to post them on Tailgate TV.
Elite 11 reunion
I hope you caught our article titled “Elite 11 Reunion”. There are a lot of quarterbacks listed in this article. Some have gone on to be stars while others have not. Check it out if you missed it yesterday. An interesting article.
The Class of 2007
Pitt had the top-ranked recruiting class in the Big East in 2006. Ten members of that class have played so far including eight true freshmen. Junior college transfer Jeff Otah has started at left tackle and Lowell Robinson has contributed on special teams.
True freshmen that have played so far include. T.J. Porter, Jovani Chapel, Kevin Collier, Aaron Berry, Elijah Fields, Joe Thomas, Nate Byham and John Malecki.
Dorin Dickerson has been slowed by a couple of injuries this summer and a position switch. It would not surprise me if he joined this list in the next few games. It looks like McKenzie Mathews will be given playing time this week.
Football recruiting
A week or so ago an article came across the Ticker indicating that Georgia was still involved with a number of very good recruits and was starting to run low on scholarships. It was becoming apparent that they could not take them all. It appears Mo Williams got caught in this numbers game. He was scheduled to visit Georgia this fall but they pulled their offer. At the end of the day we always thought he would end up at one of the three local schools (Pitt, Penn State or West Virginia). This latest development brings you one step closer. Mo visited Pitt to watch them practice at fall camp which I would view as a very good sign. Mo Williams is scheduled to visit Pitt for their game with The Citadel (as is Nordonia’s
Jordan Mabin).
Some weekend visitors
Part of the fall out of moving the Michigan State game up to Noon is that is does not give Pitt time to get out-of-state players in for a visit. Defensive tackle Uriah Grant and offensive guard Joel McCleod from Everglades High School were scheduled to make official visits this weekend but can not get here in time so they have been moved back until November when Pitt plays West Virginia. I called Uriah Grant this week. He had his nose completely out of joint thinking Pitt was giving him the stiff arm. He told me flat out he would not come to Pittsburgh. Our “birdies” say folks have talked to him and have hopefully smoothed the situation over.
The good news is that moving the game until Noon means NTOP does not have to park in Oakland and be bused to Heinz Field but the bad news is Pitt lost an opportunity to recruit a few out-of-state players this weekend.
Some unofficial visitors expected include Myles Caragein, [/B]Chris Jacobson[/B], and Brandon Lindsey from the Class of 2007. [/B]Shayne Hale[/B], [/B]Cameron Sadler[/B], Averin Collier and Leon Green from the Class of 2008. Many other players from Western Pa have been invited. This is only a partial list of those invited to attend. Many will be high school juniors.
We spoke to kicker Brandon Walker this week. Pitt is still in the hunt for the talented kicker. He will be taking an unofficial visit to Louisville this week to watch them play Miami. He said Pitt is still trying to get him in for another visit within the next couple of weeks.
Hopefully you saw Jeremy Crabtree’s article yesterday on Tommie Duhart. He will make his official visit when Pitt plays Toledo later this month. Actually this is his second official visit. He visited in January of 2005 and then failed to qualify. Duhart has grown and is now 6’ 4” 285.
A big weekend for the Big East
The Big East Conference has a very big weekend in front of them. They need to win their fair share of games this weekend starting with the West Virginia-Maryland game tonight.
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 9/14 10:00 AM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
This post was edited on 9/14 8:39 PM by Jim Pantherlairif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
