The recruiting clearly veered off course the past few years - there were players like Haughton (sp?) and Newkirk that were hardly even D1 players. Even Wilson, who's a 4 star recruit, looks like he doesn't belong. The recruiting class for this year seems to more closely resembles the type of recruiting classes that were successful in the past with more physical and perhaps slightly under-recruited players - the question: is it too little, too late?
The one concern I have - has recruiting become such a dirty business that it's nearly impossible for less established programs to compete without getting their hands muddy? The implications are not good.
One of the benefits of recruiting the Brad Wannamaker's, Travon Woodall and Nasir Robinson and Gary McGhee's of the world is not having to get in the mud with other programs because other programs didn't covet them as much as Pitt did. That was JD's niche in a sense. While they weren't borderline D1 players, the upper crust of Division 1 were not pursuing them.
I recall Pitt beating out Richmond for Ramon. Nova recruited over Benjamin who de-committed from them and came to Pitt. Nova didn't even recruit Wannamaker and Brad made them pay a few times because of it. Pitt seemed to get the best of the rest after Cuse,G-Town,UConn and Nova passed on players. We even lost a few to Rutgers and Seton Hall. Particularly players who preferred not having to be constrained offensively.
It took a special player to come to Pitt. JD has gotten away from that. I recall Woodall, Zanna and Wannamaker acknowledging many players were not a fit for Pitt's program. Sometimes you have to get away from yourself to realize that's where you needed to stay in the first place.
Antionio Graves, Aaron Gray, Keith Benjamin, John DeGroat, Ronald Ramon, Lamar Patterson, Talib, Gibbs, Nasir Robinson, Woodall were the 3 star recruits that teamed with Young, Wannamaker, Blair, Fields and Biggs to form the epitome of Dixon's chemistry driven teams. The 4 stars recruited by JD were not recruited strongly by Uconn, 'Cuse, NC, etc.
They were grittier and less refined than the "come out the box ready" types that the other top teams recruited. It's been a number of years since the opposing teams coach referred to Pitt as tougher and more physical. I fully recognize the rule changes on physicality, but a few teams are still playing stifling defense without fouling, so it can still be done. JD has to reclaim what got him to this point and find at least one ace recruiter.
Happens all the time. Company's acquire other companies from other industries and realize they're out of their league, or a green-mailer will come along and bring them to their knees demanding fat be removed from the company's revenues. JD tried and it didn't/isn't working. He's still a good coach. He's realizing he's veered off course and he's trying to get the team back on course even though he's in the wrong hemisphere.
