While I keep getting down over how the football recruiting has collapsed, there is a basketball game tonight against St. John’s. Not that the local beat reporters seem to be paying a lot of attention. One beat report leads with the subject of whether Pitt could be #1 in the polls this season. Given what has happened to #1 teams, I’m not sure that would be a good thing. The other is a focus/puff piece on assistant coach Barry Rohrssen

The New York Post noticed there was a game, though. They think the Red Storm will take a physical beating.

The Red Storm (5-13 overall, 0-7 in the Big East) doesn’t figure to be more physical than tonight’s opponent, Pittsburgh. The Panthers (20-1, 6-1) haven’t missed handing out a beating despite losing Howland to the Bruins and having point guard Brandin Knight complete his eligibility.

In a story I didn’t know, the Post is also playing up Krauser out to remind St. John’s that they screwed up on not recruiting him.

Doc Nicelli, who runs the Broncos, convinced Pittsburgh assistant Barry Rohrssen to give Krauser a chance. Rohrssen had to sell Krauser to Howland. St. John’s, the school that Krauser said he wanted to attend, didn’t show interest.

“This game is very personal for me,” Krauser said. “They basically overlooked me.”

Couple that with the national attention Krauser received in the last week, and there is the potential for some very selfish play by Krauser. That can be the kind of opening that could lead to the big upset. Will be interesting to see if Krauser can stay in control, and if coach Dixon has to/will do anything to reign in Krauser.

St. John’s University’s main focus, though, seems to say “screw this year.” They are more concerned with finding a new coach for next year once they figure out what they want.

So far, so bad:

Today is the first day high school seniors can sign a letter of intent with a college, and North Hills running back Andrew Johnson will sign with the University of Miami.

At least that’s what Johnson told school officials yesterday at North Hills. He also came to the school to pick up a letter of intent from Miami that he has to sign.

This really hurts considering the lack of any strong candidates to run the ball for Pitt.

Penn Hills quarterback Anthony Morelli also committed to Pitt in the summer, but will announce today between Penn State and Pitt. Penn Hills coach Neil Gordon met with Morelli yesterday and said Morelli insisted he still hadn’t decided on a school.

Morelli and Johnson are two in a handful of recruits Pitt might lose. Darrell Strong, a tight end-quarterback at Plantation, Fla., committed to Pitt, but will instead sign with Auburn. Pitt wanted Strong as a tight end, but Strong (6 feet 5, 248 pounds) decided he wanted to play quarterback and Auburn was willing to let him play quarterback. Strong played quarterback at Plantation and also visited Mississippi State.

Johnny Peyton, a talented receiver from Dade City, Fla., won’t announce his decision until this morning, and Pitt and South Florida are the finalists. Peyton also had made a verbal commitment to Pitt.

“West Virginia still might have a slight chance, but I really think it’s Pitt or South Florida,” said Dale Caparaso, Peyton’s coach at Pasco High School. “Both have some negatives and some positives. The negative about Pittsburgh is it’s farther away and mom doesn’t get the chance to see him play as much. The negative thing about South Florida is it doesn’t have as big a name as Pittsburgh and hasn’t sent players to the NFL.”

Pitt also will have to wait until today to find out if it will get star linebacker James Bryant of Reading. Bryant will announce his decision at a 4:30 news conference. Pitt and Miami are the finalists.

USF isn’t even in the Big East yet, and we’re already struggling to keep recruits from going there.

According to the Tribune-Review, it’s a done deal for Morelli to Penn State.

Morelli, who chose the Panthers in August, told Pitt coaches last month that he would listen to overtures from other schools after his father criticized their silence over his omission from the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.

Penn State was the only school Morelli visited. The Nittany Lions pulled out all the stops, as coach Joe Paterno personally handled much of the recruitment.

Morelli’s best friend, Penn Hills receiver-kicker Joe Prokopik, said Tuesday that he has accepted an invitation to go to Penn State as a preferred walk-on.

Pitt had extended the same offer to Prokopik, who converted 4 of 5 field-goal attempts, including a long of 46 yards, and 31 of 33 extra points this past season.

Barring Walt pulling a rabbit out of his ass hat with some JUCOs or a blue chipper that Pitt was a longshot to get, this recruiting class will be seen as a major disappointment. Another mark against the disappointing Pitt season that was.

Some are (probably accurately) already predicting a very defensive Walt Harris later today to discuss the recruiting class.

When Pitt coach Walt Harris steps to the microphone for an afternoon press conference today, he could be in the defensive mode. If two big ones got away, two home-grown big ones, it will be hard to put on a brave face.

Morelli and Johnson aren’t Dan Marino and Tony Dorsett — not yet, anyway — but they are a couple of players with high national profiles Harris thought he’d bagged with early commitments.

As it turns out, the bag had a hole. The question becomes, what or who made the hole?

Harris, who has become increasingly sensitive to criticism of his program from area sources, might blame the media.

“All the negative stuff doesn’t help us recruit, especially in our area,” he’d said in mid-December. “It doesn’t help us have a better football team. We’re a lot less respected in our community than elsewhere.”

The fractured state of the Big East Conference has to be a burden, too, to recruiting efforts.

Pitt’s relatively disappointing season, and the bowl loss, probably don’t help.

A staff that has lost its offensive coordinator, running backs coach and strength coach is perhaps another negative.

Harris better be donning thick skin because the questions are not going to be easily deflected or simply turned and blamed on negativity from the media and/or fans.

You may want to gaze longingly at these rankings for awhile. Given that Pitt is likely to lose its best two recruits to Miami (damn) and Penn State (@#%*@#!) on National Signing Day tomorrow, this is probably the last time that you’ll see our 2004 recruiting class ranked anywhere near the top 25.

First off, here’s the Official College Sports Network ranking (top 25 only) by ESPN’s Bill Hodge. Pitt is barely hanging on here at #25. Losing Morelli and Johnson will certainly knock us right out of this one.

No. 1 Southern California (Top JCs)
No. 2 LSU
No. 3 Michigan
No. 4 Florida State
No. 5 Ohio State
No. 6 Oklahoma
No. 7 Georgia
No. 8 Miami-Florida
No. 9 Texas
No. 10 Tennessee
No. 11 Texas A&M
No. 12 Alabama
No. 13 Florida
No. 14 Oregon
No. 15 Maryland
No. 16 Penn State
No. 17 Michigan State
No. 18 Washington
No. 19 Kansas State (Top JCs)
No. 20 Arkansas
No. 21 California
No. 22 Missouri
No. 23 Texas Tech (Top JCs)
No. 24 UCLA (Top JCs)
No. 25 Arizona State
Tie No. 25 Nebraska
Tie No. 25 Oregon State
Tie No. 25 PITTSBURGH
Tie No. 25 Purdue
Tie No. 25 Washington State

Next we have TheInsiders.com’s ranking (once again, top 25 only). Pitt has never been ranked in this one all year long.

1 LSU
2 USC
3 Michigan
4 Florida State
5 Georgia
6 Oklahoma
7 Miami
8 Ohio State
9 Texas
10 Tennessee
11 Florida
12 Penn State
13 Maryland
14 Texas A&M
15 UCLA
16 Washington
17 Notre Dame
18 Oregon
19 North Carolina
20 Arizona State
21 Washington State
22 Alabama
23 Texas Tech
24 Michigan State
25 NC State

Finally, we have Rivals.com’s ranking. Unlike the other two rankings discussed here, Rivals ranks college football classes all the way up to #124. This is important because unlike the other two rankings, Rivals has already taken Morelli and Johnson off of Pitt’s list of commitments. This dropped us all the way down to #44 on their list.

1 Southern Cal
2 LSU
3 Florida State
4 Michigan
5 Ohio State*
6 Oklahoma
7 Georgia
8 Miami-FL
9 Texas
10 Tennessee
11 Oregon
12 Texas A&M
13 Alabama
14 Maryland
15 Florida
16 Penn State
17 Michigan State
18 Washington
19 Kansas State
20 Arkansas
21 California
22 Texas Tech
23 Nebraska
24 Oregon State
25 Missouri

41 Virginia Tech
44 PITTSBURGH
49 West Virginia

*(Incidentally, the main talk about Ohio State’s recruiting class on Sports Radio 1460 (WBNS) Columbus centers around how well the Buckeyes have done in Pennsylvania after years of absolute futility. Tressel now has four Pennsylvanian recruits (3 of them 4-stars), including Woodland Hills’s Devon Lyons.)

Sports talk radio in Central Pennsylvania is, of course, ecstatic over the potential defection of Anthony Morelli to Penn State. At least one Nittany Lion fan that I overheard while driving around Altoona this week declared that with Morelli’s change of heart, Penn State has once again reasserted itself over Western Pennsylvania and that Pitt will soon be but a basketball school. Whatever. However, I can’t deny that it hurts us.

Anthony Morelli may or may not be overrated, as John from Fox Chapel so strongly suggested earlier this week. Likewise, Johnson may or may not be overrated. However, Chas is right about perception being reality in the strange world of college football. If Pitt loses its two most touted recruits (each right out of its own backyard), and moreover loses one of them to Penn freakin’ State, our name recognition as well as our reputation as the up-and-coming football program in Pennsylvania will take a hit. Perceived recruiting success is important to building a program, even if it isn’t quite as important as success on the field (not that Pitt has had enough of that lately). And as a member of a conference that almost certainly will lose its BCS bowl berth as well as most of its credibility in a year, Pitt football is desperate for any sign of success right now.

Next year’s recruits will remember what happened this year and wonder why Morelli and Johnson suddenly changed their commitments. Wouldn’t you?

That’s why I’m sad to see Morelli go, even if he may not be the best intellectual fit for Walt Harris’s complex offense (by far, the strongest part of John’s argument).

Hail to Skipping Work on Snow Days (We’re getting at least a foot in the Southern Alleghenies).

That would be the basketball team.

Pitt is now #4 in both polls. The team got the week off from any games before they play tomorrow at home against a bad St. John’s team that can’t keep the top talent in their own playgrounds.

Actually the concern for Pitt with St. John’s will be who they hire as their next head coach. St. John’s president seems very determined to make a splash. Big names aren’t a concern, but St. John’s should be looking for a major up and comer with strong NYC Ties Bobby Gonzales at Manhattan is an obvious top candidate, but there are whispers that they may go after Pitt assistant and top recruiter (especially in the NY area) Barry Rohrssen. Eventually Rohrssen will leave Pitt, but it would be in Pitt’s best interest to keep him for at least 2 more years with Dixon.

Pitt can’t take St. John’s lightly, even if they are winless in the Big East. They just beat UCLA, which, even though UCLA isn’t great is still a decent team. There is also the worry of looking ahead.

Saturday, Pitt will have to travel to South Bend. A place where they haven’t won a whole lot of games. Notre Dame always seems to give Pitt problems, and you can bet they will look to knock off #4 in the country. Given how they played against Pitt last month, they have every reason to believe they can.

The Trib-Review expects Pitt to lose both Morelli and Johnson from their recruiting class.

Both Johnson and Morelli appear ready to renege on their pledges to Pitt. Johnson is expected to sign with Miami and Morelli with Penn State on Wednesday, the first day seniors can sign binding national letters of intent. Verbal commitments are non-binding.
…
“There’s no news, other than he’s made his decision,” Morelli’s father, Greg, said Monday night. “He’s going to announce on Wednesday (at 9 a.m. at Penn Hills). He’s happy. He’s done thinking about it.”

Johnson, a 5-foot-11, 205-pounder ranked as one of the nation’s top 10 running backs, returned Sunday from official visits to Miami and Florida. Sources said Johnson told the Hurricanes he was coming.

His decision, however, could depend on that of Reading All-American linebacker James Bryant, whose finalists are Pitt and Miami. Bryant’s brother, Sam, is a redshirt freshman safety at Pitt.

Nothing seems to be coming from Miami, other than beating Ohio St. for an OL from Strongsville, OH. Not that everything is perfect for them in recruiting:

Case in point: Aaron Jones and Kenny Ingram, Orlando-Edgewater High School standouts ranked among the top players in the state, announced on live TV last week that they would attend Florida State.

Ingram, a receiver, really stuck it to the Hurricanes. Choosing between UM and FSU hats, Ingram donned the Hurricanes cap as if to signify his commitment. He then looked into the camera, chuckled and tossed the hat aside, replacing it with the Seminoles cap.

Before the end of January, Johnson appeared to still favor Pitt over Florida, so it will probably be Pitt or Miami for him.

At this point I feel resigned to losing Morelli. I am just hoping that Johnson decides on Pitt.

Last week there was lots of love for Krauser. It continues in the New York Times.

“My favorite player in the world, right here,” said Krauser, the point guard of the seventh-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers. “I love Isiah Thomas because he’s such a competitive person. He steps on a court, he wants to win. If he’s in a business suit, he wants to win. I want to meet him and get his autograph.”

Krauser, who has a few things in common with Thomas, the Knicks’ president of basketball operations, may have that opportunity in March at the Big East tournament in Madison Square Garden. Krauser’s Panthers will stop at the Garden to defend their conference tournament championship on the way to the N.C.A.A. tournament.

It will be interesting to see how he plays after a week of pub in Sports Illustrated and the Times.

It’s all needless speculation as signing day is getting closer. No one knows where in Pennsylvania Morelli is going.

JoePa: Is PSU gonna steel Morelli or what??

Tom Lemming: With five QBs already committed, Penn State is not completely sold on any of them. A couple could play DB and could be switched if Morelli ends up at Penn State. It still looks 50/50 between the Panthers and Nittany Lions.

And Morelli seems worried about starting behind Palko and Getsy? He’s getting a lot more of the soap opera attention, when Pitt’s real concern should be Andrew Johnson, given the need at running back. He hasn’t said much other than to eliminate Ohio St. from his list. It will be Pitt, Miami or Florida.

Our recruiting arguments are now repeated in Smizik’s column.

There’s simply no fool-proof method of evaluating high school talent, regardless of how many “gurus” are out there claiming to do just that. For every touted sensation who lives up to his billing, like Larry Fitzgerald, there are several others who disappear. Likewise, there are virtually unknown and passed-over talents, like Antonio Bryant, who become outstanding players.

There’s no figuring the day, not by anyone, which usually means it’s not the grandest and most significant day in college football, but the most overrated.

But not this year, not in Pittsburgh.

For the University of Pittsburgh and for coach Walt Harris there never has been a more meaningful letter of intent day.

These are trying times for Pitt. Not only did their season fail to live up to expectations, but the departures from the Big East Conference of Miami and Virginia Tech have left that league with a considerably lower status. Recruits suddenly see Pitt as less attractive. Facilities are important, and Pitt has facilities, but the ability to compete for the national championship, to play in front of packed stadiums and to appear regularly in meaningful games on television are just as or more important.

This sounds familiar.

Consequently, and not surprisingly, recruiting has become more difficult. Most notably, the two prime recruits from Western Pennsylvania, quarterback Anthony Morelli of Penn Hills and running back Andrew Johnson of North Hills, have visited other schools after earlier verbally committing to Pitt. Additionally, three recruits from Florida, wide receiver Johnny Peyton, tight end-quarterback Darrell Strong and defensive back Alphonso Smith, also are said to be looking elsewhere after committing to Pitt.

Morelli and Johnson are the keys. If they sign with Pitt, the recruiting season is a success and the perception remains that Pitt controls its own back yard and that big-time players will still enroll there.

Very familiar.

No real chance to post anything today and not expected later. Looks like the theme of the weekend in Pittsburgh papers is “is this team even better than last year?”

The Trib fired first with an article yesterday. Quotes from ‘Cuse’s Jim Boeheim and UConn’s Jim Calhoun sprinkled liberally. The PG offers its article today with mostly the same quotes.

A strangely sober and logical Ron Cook writes that this kind of talk is premature and silly (of course it is, but it’s the slow time in the sports calendar).

With all due respect to the Pitt basketball team, what has it really done so far?

With all due respect to the boss, isn’t it premature to be assigning stories comparing this Pitt team to last year’s?

What’s the rush?

I have to agree. Damn.

Other notes Pitt got a big football recruit from Florida to help the O-line. Try 6′ 10″ and 314 pounds.

There is also a good article profiling 3 highly prized basketball recruits coming to Pitt next year.

Went to update the template, and apparently I messed some things up. It should be working now.