A month ago, the national question regarding Pitt, was were they a fraud? Two weeks ago, it was why aren’t their 3 stars producing? A week ago, it was, can Pitt handle Syracuse? Now, Pitt is confident again, and the questions have stopped for the moment.

The team credits the meeting following the loss to St. John’s and the renewed focus on getting the ball inside more. Not settling for outside shots.

In a story bound to raise more than a few eyebrows, Krauser credits his turnaround to going back to basics. Letting Krauser be Krauser.

“I was trying something different for the coaches,” Krauser said Monday, after he torched Providence for 19 points and nine assists in an 86-66 victory. “I was trying to move the ball a little more, but, you know, my game is basically instinctive. That’s the way I play. That’s the way everything works well.”

Does that mean Krauser was trying too hard to be the classic, pass-first point guard instead of just playing his game, and that playing his game can mean assuming a scorer’s mentality?

“Exactly,” said Krauser, who is averaging 17.3 points, 8.7 assists and 4.6 rebounds during Pitt’s three-game winning streak. “That’s exactly what it was. Sometimes, you can’t change what’s working. You know, when you step out of character to try something else, it’s always going to be a little awkward. You have to come back to yourself, to the way you play. That’s the way you got here.

“I just came back to that.”

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon flashed a quizzical look when told of Krauser’s remarks about feeling too robotic last month.

The story is reported straight forward, you keep waiting for the conttradiction or something. It’s not there. Still, the piece points out that Krauser, while never a classic point guard, puts up some similar numbers to Chris Thomas of Notre Dame and Gerry McNamara at Syracuse. There is also the state of his defensive play. Playing tough defense out on the perimeter helped get his offense going.

“Oh, man,” Krauser said. “It set a big fire to the wood.”

There’s a reason Krauser is considered one of the best interviews in the Big East.

Everyone,

Pardon me for breaking form, but the following needs to be written down as well as said.

As of today, it’s been 10 years since my father passed away. He was only 52 when he died and I was only 24. Not a day goes by where I don’t think about him or where I don’t regret his passing so soon. Still, I’m grateful that I had the chance to get to know him as a person and not just as “dad.” Any virtues that I possess are due in no small part to him. Any vices that I possess are in spite of him.

Dad, know this: You are missed, you are loved, and I look forward to the day when we are able to see one another again.

Thanks everyone,
Shawn

Here’s how the 2005 Big East teams rank in recruiting this year.

Scout.com —————- Rivals.com
33. WVU —————– 31. WVU
42. Pitt ——————- 41. Pitt
43. Louisville ————- 45. Louisville
49. Syracuse ————– 50. USF
54. USF ——————- 58. Syracuse
59. UConn —————- 68. Rutgers
67. Rutgers ————— 78. UConn
69. Cinci —————— 93. Cinci

58. BC ——————– 49. BC

It is troubling to see that no Big East team could crack the top-25 team, this first full year without Miami in the conference. Just something to take into account with the expectations on Coach Wannstedt. Also kind of interesting to see that BC isn’t getting much of a bounce for that move to the ACC.

No, this is not a top-20 class. It wasn’t expected to be. No, Pitt isn’t having its recruiting class discussed in the national media (though, given the context in which it was discussed last year, that could be considered a good thing). No, Pitt didn’t win the recruiting wars in Pennsylvania, or just Western Pennsylvania — they forgot to show up for several key battles. Despite that, this recruiting class seemed to leave people feeling pretty good.

Average is the word used mostly to describe this class. But it could have been worse. Former coach Walt Harris had an OK start with this class, but it seemed to pick up a little more steam with Wannstedt.

“I think he made some strides late in the recruiting process,” said Jeremy Crabtree, national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. “Obviously, he was recruiting against the calendar. He was behind the eight ball as far as time. But I think you have to be impressed with what he did lately.”

Allen Wallace, publisher of Super Prep and national recruiting editor of Scout.com also said Pitt’s class is ranked around 40th.

“I think they cleaned up some excellent athletes lately. Pitt’s class is behind Penn State’s, but I don’t know if it’s all that far behind,” Wallace said. “I would say Pitt is probably second in the Big East behind West Virginia.”

The article says two of Pitt’s recruits — Marlon Terry of Akron, Ohio and Shawn Simmons from New Jersey are still committed to Pitt, but haven’t signed a letter of intent at this time. There are no requirements for high schoolers to sign today, but it has become such an event that most do. Actually, you never have to sign the letter of intent to take a scholarship and come play at a school. The schools and coaches like it because it gives control back to them. I am kind of surprised Terry didn’t sign, since he was dressed to the nines yesterday for signing day.

At Buchtel, Carlos Parish and Marlon Terry were dressed as if they were ready for an NFL Draft party.

Parish, a defensive lineman for the Griffins who will play at the Cincinnati next season, was sporting an ivory-colored double-breasted suit with tan alligator shoes, while Terry, a 6-1, 275-pound defensive end who will play at Pittsburgh next year, sported a black silk suit with purple alligator shoes.

“I couldn’t sleep at all last night,” Parish said. “It was like going to school on the first day. I couldn’t wait to put on my new clothes.”

Said Terry: “This was an important day so I just wanted to look good.”

They were two of six Griffins players who sealed their college choices by signing Wednesday.

Maybe he mailed his?

It wasn’t just in Western Pennsylvania that Wannstedt left his mark. He left a good impression in Florida in a short time.

Scout.com analyst Scott Kennedy’s ranking of the five new coaches who did the best jobs on the recruiting trail: 1. Urban Meyer, Florida; 2. Charlie Weis, Notre Dame; 3. Steve Spurrier, South Carolina; 4. Dave Wannstedt, Pitt; 5. Ed Orgeron, Ole Miss.

The fact that nothing went wrong, and that recruiting ended on an upswing was enough to leave most (including me) feeling pretty good. The incoming class will be given a chance to win jobs, where needed or they excel, but…

Pitt returns nine starters on offense and seven on defense from last year’s Fiesta Bowl team. A couple of the newcomers could make an immediate impact, notably Bokor and Collins (who could improve a running game that managed just 2.6 yards per carry). A good portion of the class likely will redshirt, though Wannstedt made it clear that every position is open.

The Panthers are looking to beef up their lines and solidify a running game that hasn’t produced a 1,000-yard rusher since 2000. That’s why Wannstedt brought in five offensive linemen, five running backs and four defensive linemen.

My feeling is that most of the O-line is an open competition (or should be). The D-line definitely has holes.

The excitement Wannstedt has created in the area is noticeable even from outside. Hits on this site have picked up, as have e-mails. People are curious and are dreaming of big things. Optimism and Pitt. What a scary mix.

Wannstedt has done this. He keeps saying and doing the right things. Things that keep generating the positive energy. He’s already talking about the next class.

Better still, Wannstedt and his coaches were comfortable enough and confident enough with the whole process to get a head start on 2006 while catching up in 2005.

“We’ve already offered scholarships to juniors,” Wannstedt said. “We ran out of seats at the basketball game, the Syracuse game, last weekend. We’ll have another junior day at the end of the month when we play the University of Connecticut here.

“There were half-dozen or so, I talked to a kid today and offered him a scholarship, a junior today, on the phone.”

No juniors have committed yet, but “I wouldn’t expect them to right now,” Wannstedt said. “They just need to know we’re going to be aggressive with you, we want you, we really think you can help our program.”

Kevin Gorman identifies the juniors expected to be pursued in the WPIAL.

During the press conference yesterday, Wannstedt denied that he had to mend and soothe hurt feelings of high school coaches in the area post-Walt Harris. There is some logic to it, or why would he have kept Bob Junko on staff to work Western Pennsylvania.

As for the recruiting coordinator position that Coach Wannstedt needs to fill. It looks like the favorite is Duquesne University head football coach Greg Gattuso.

According to several sources close to the situation, Gattuso has interviewed for the job and is near the top of the list, but several other candidates are expected to be interviewed in the next few days.
…
In order to make room for the new recruiting coordinator, Wannstedt had to release tight ends coach Bill Bleil, one of two assistants from former coach Walt Harris’ staff whose status had been in limbo.
…

Gattuso has built Duquesne into one of the most successful Division I-AA mid-major programs. He has posted a 97-32 record while leading the Dukes to eight of the past 10 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference titles, five bowl appearances and the 2003 mid-major Division I-AA national championship.

He has been named the MAAC coach of the year seven times and the national mid-major I-AA coach of the year twice. Duquesne finished 7-3 (4-0 in the MAAC) last season and won its sixth consecutive conference championship while extending its conference winning streak to 33 games.

Gattuso played at Penn State and was a member of the 1982 national championship team. He was the Post-Gazette Class AA player of the year in 1979 after a stellar senior season at Seton-LaSalle High.

Gattuso’s name has been tossed around a couple times after Wannstedt was hired by sportswriters who speculated that he would fit well on the new staff. They may have been correct.

An article from the UMass student paper on Dante Milligan transferring there. Apparently the writer and the editors do not know the correct spelling of Pittsburgh.

The worst of the Big East beat the worst of the ACC. Providence ended up crushing Virginia. Even before this, you had VT and Miami performing respectably in the ACC. In the 4 years that both teams played BE basketball they never won more than a combined 14 games. They have already won 9 in the ACC. This has led one writer at the NC State student paper to conclude that the BE is the better overall conference. No word yet, as to whether he has had to go into hiding.

As the 2004 college basketball season approached, experts hailed the ACC as the best conference in the nation, but the reality is that the Big East has taken over the title.

The ACC has a core of three teams (Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill and Wake Forest) better than any three teams in any other conference, but overall, the conference lacks the depth to be called the best.

If the season ended today, it’s likely that the Big East would have seven teams in the tournament compared to the ACC’s five. Add four more to the total counting the teams coming into the Big East next year.

The ACC made the mistake of annexing the two weakest teams in the conference, which subsequently made things worse off for themselves, though it did improve the football side of the conference.

Miami and Virginia Tech were expected to be at the bottom of the ACC, but have surprised (and embarrassed) many and shown that all the years playing Syracuse, UConn and Pitt have paid off, and are now ahead of six of the ACC’s traditional teams.

His recommendation:

Undoubtedly, there will be arguments about this to come, but the only way to decide it for good is for the ACC to stop picking on the Big 10 every year and take on someone as good as they are, and start the annual ACC-Big East Challenge.

I’m game, though, I would be more in favor of an East-West series. A Big East-Pac 10 Challenge. The lowest 6 teams from the BE would not play obviously.

Why BC will not go undefeated and may not get far in the NCAA Tournament. I’m quite torn about BC. I really like their team, and their coach has been nothing but class. I even picked them as my dark horse team to win the Big East. Hate the school and the way they are bolting the Big East. This team has drawn some comparisons to the Pitt team of the previous few years. They play a stifling, physical defense and a game that gets the ball inside. Since I watched that sort of team for the previous few years, I feel like I can make some comments.

There is no way a team can go undefeated, let alone advance far in the tournament shooting only 30% from the 3-point line. Now I know they are not dependent on 3-point shooting, but they still take about 10 shots a game (61-202). Their best 3-point shooter is at 35.4%.

Sooner or later they will face a team that can match-up inside, or will completely collapse inside forcing them to take perimeter shots. Or their inside guys will just have a bad game.

They average 75 points a game, but the last two, they have scored only 64 and 62. Remember how Pitt just couldn’t seem to score by the end of the year? Everyone was saying they were a defense only team? Pitt averaged over 67 points/game last year. By the end of the season, though, they were tired and worn.

They are a very good team, and they have the schedule advantage of not having to play the best of the Big East more than once, but they still have games against ND, Villanova, Syracuse and Pitt left. Yes, all but the ND game is in Chestnut Hill, but I figure they have 2 losses coming.

But before I do, I want to note a story from the AP sportswriter in Pittsburgh, Alan Robinson about Coach Wannstedt’s re-emphasis on recruiting Western Pennsylvania. The article came out yesterday, and was picked up by papers down in Florida, Georgia, Indiana and California along with a bunch of papers throughout Pennsylvania. It was a positive piece and sends out something of an announcement to other coaches that Pitt be fighting them for the Western Pennsylvania kids.

Today, there is essentially a follow-up piece.

A year after Pitt lost two prime Pittsburgh-area recruits on letter-of-intent signing day, Wannstedt firmed up the Panthers’ recruiting base by signing 11 western Pennsylvania players Wednesday _ or nearly half of his initial 24-man class.

“I think we’re going to be very happy with these guys in a few years,” Wannstedt said.

Many recruits were lined up before former coach Walt Harris left for Stanford following Pitt’s 35-7 loss to Utah in the Fiesta Bowl. But Wannstedt landed commitments from a half-dozen western Pennsylvania players during his barely five weeks on the job, including quarterback Bill Stull of Seton-La Salle High.
…
“Dave didn’t have a lot of time, but he was able to go back to Florida and get some players and he made sure he got that quarterback from western Pennsylvania,” said recruiting analyst Bobby Burton of Rivals.com. “He got some things accomplished in a short period of time.”
…
Pitt did not recruit any of Rivals.com’s Top 100 players and its class is ranked only 38th by that service, 42nd by scout.com and 44th by recruiting analyst Max Emfinger. But Burton thinks Pitt will upgrade its future classes with Wannstedt, whose uptempo personality and sideline enthusiasm are regarded as recruiting plusses.
…
“Walt Harris was never known for being a great recruiter, and I think Dave Wannstedt will be better than him,” Burton said. “To be successful at Pitt you’ve got to emphasize western Pennsylvania recruiting, and he’ll do that.”

It’s already popping up throughout Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

At the Pitt website, they have a collection of comments from Coach Wannstedt regarding the recruiting class.

On the ability of freshmen to come in and start:
“I think these days, the way the game has changed with players leaving before their time is up, I think you have to play the best players that you can possibly play and give yourself a chance to win. I don’t think that’s any different then what I have done in the NFL the past couple years. I can relate it back to when I played. We had a lot of freshmen that helped us win.”

On re-establishing Pitt’s relationships with local high schools:
“There has been a lot of talk about that, but I didn’t find that was the case whatsoever. In fact, I think the coaches who have recruited locally — Curtis Bray, Bob Junko and the others — I think they have done a great job of keeping those relationships. I think the biggest thing is where are we really going to spend our time. What relationship are we going to cultivate? We have had a couple decisions here within the past few weeks. Anytime it is close between a player in our own backyard and our own state that is the way we are going to go.”

On the freshmen class having an impact:
“I think they will. I think it will be determined by where we are at as a football team. I know that LaRod Stephens is faster than anyone we have. I think that this guy has a chance to come in here and be a running back and make some great plays. Does he have the ability to help us? Yes, he does without a doubt. A couple of the defensive linemen have a chance. We could have a young offensive lineman work his way into the starting lineup. It would not surprise me at all.”

On Conredge Collins:
“He had some offers from major schools, like Ohio State and Miami. He wanted a chance (to play running back), and a lot of teams where talking to him about starting at linebacker. Everyone in the country thought he could come in and start as a freshmen at fullback. I told him that we would give him a chance at tailback, because that position is wide open right now. Obviously if we can’t put this guy at tailback, he has to have the ability and flexibly at other spots.”
…
On having a recruiting coordinator:
“I will start tomorrow. I have some guys lined up and I hope to have someone in place by the first of next week. It will be someone that I am very comfortable with and that I can relate to. He has to be a good recruiter and a good football coach who understands the University of Pittsburgh and this area. It will be an addition to the current staff.”

On the new facilities:
“They did a fabulous job putting it together, not just because it’s new either. What is new isn’t always best. The weight room, the training room and the practice fields are great. The indoor field is second to none. The relationship we have with the Steelers is something we need to take advantage of.”

On recruiting the neighboring state of Ohio:
“We will continue to recruit the Akron area. The one area we’ll recruit next year is the Cincinnati area. We picked up Cincinnati on our schedule and we will play Louisville. I had a coach tell me that there were over 30 Division I players taken from that area last year. It makes a lot of sense to me. It is an area where we will get a lot of exposure when we go and play Cincinnati or Louisville. That is an area you will hear more from next year.”

You have to figure most of the offensive line will be open competition, as will running back and the third and fourth wide receivers. The defensive line has some openings. Hopefully the freshmen WRs and RBs will be considered for returning punts and kicks.

Pitt Athletic Department released the official list of the 2005 Pitt football recruiting class, along with little bios on each of the recruits.

Okay, looks like everyone has signed their LOI. No late defections. Nothing official until Pitt actually puts out the commitment list.

Not sure how much more shuffling there will be on the rankings list, but Pitt’s class came in at #42 in one place and #38 in another at this point. Good or bad — depending on how you view things — that means Pitt had the second best recruiting class in the Big East (and that includes the former C-USA programs), behind WVU.

I can’t complain about that considering the difficulties the previous staff faced in recruiting and considering how well Coach Wannstedt jumped into things.

Don’t suppose anyone is going to the Panther Club Letter of Intent event this evening? If so, drop a line and perhaps a report on what it was like.

It’s under way. First item, Cedric McGee has signed a LOI with Pitt. You can check the commit lists here and here. Conredge Collins a top-ranked fullback and a recruit grabbed by Wannstedt has signed his LOI to play at Pitt — there were late rumors that he was changing his mind again.

Well, it’s here. The day the servers for recruiting sites brace for the crush. Signing day for college football. College football’s version of the NFL Draft and Free Agency period, all condensed into one day.

Unlike last year, there does not appear to be much in the way of big surprises or disappointments for Pitt’s recruiting class. The only real question at this point is about Cedric McGee, a WR prospect from Plantation, Florida. Otherwise, things seem relatively calm.

I had asked before about how Pitt suddenly had so many scholarships to offer, well it seems for at least one recruit, he will be “grayshirted.”

After accepting more commitments than he has scholarships available, new Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt offered [Kevin] Hughes the option to enroll in January 2006. When Wannstedt explained the virtues of such a move — it ultimately allows an extra semester of eligibility — Hughes became more receptive.

“Obviously, any kid wants to go in and get a chance to show what you’ve got,” Hughes said. “It’s only going to help me get that much bigger, stronger and faster. And I’ll get situated with school.
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Grayshirting, in fact, has become one of the hottest trends in college football recruiting. By delaying enrollment as a full-time student — which requires a minimum of 12 credits — by a semester, a prospect can participate in spring drills and still have five years to complete four seasons.

It still means there will be one less scholarship to offer in 2006, though.

Another story looks at two Pitt recruits who had academic issues, but are now qualified after a year.

National signing day a year ago was the day when the dream of Pitt recruits Craig Bokor and Rashad Jennings — to play Division I football — became a reality.

The dream for both players was shattered, however, when they were declared academically ineligible at the start of training camp. A year later, it is signing day again, and this time the two are sure they’ve got it right.

That’s because rather than quit in August, both dug in and accepted responsibility for their classroom failures. As a result, they are more mature and better students, and that eventually should translate into them becoming better football players.
…
In Jennings and Bokor, the Panthers are getting two of their most talented players from last year’s class. Bokor is a rare combination of size (a svelte 295) and athleticism (he is quick and was an excellent basketball player in high school). Jennings, whose older brothers Bryan and Butch made it to the NFL, is a big bruising tailback.

Although Bokor and Jennings were recruited by Walt Harris, they are excited about playing for new coach Dave Wannstedt. Both stuck with Pitt despite the coaching change even though they had other attractive offers — Bokor from Michigan and Penn State; Jennings from Virginia Tech and North Carolina.

Hopefully, this will not be too strange a day.

At the end of December, Pitt and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit over the cost overruns and work done for the Petersen Event Center. The architectural firm, filed its answer and counter claim.

Apostolou Associates/Rosser International says Pitt and the state Department of General Services rejected its suggestions to trim costs and instead added features that pushed up the cost.

General Services “wanted the costs of the project to be reduced without eliminating items from the design,” a goal, the firm says, that was “unattainable.”

The architects claim they were directed to do extra design work without compensation and to speed up their work.

Apostolou/Rosser made the allegations in response to a lawsuit that Pitt and General Services filed in December in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. The architects claim that Pitt filed its lawsuit “as a means of redirecting criticism on this project” that was raised by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a series of stories published in April.

This lawsuit will be going on for a while.

There is no question Chris Taft is probably the most talented and biggest potential star on the Pitt team. It’s also no question that Taft has come no where near tapping his potential. He has been visibly unmotivated in games this season. His numbers are only slight improvements from last year, and far from where even he intended. The big game against Providence was nice to see, but it remains to be seen whether he keeps it going or just falls back to his old habits.

Right now, Taft is saying all the right things.

“I just told myself that the way I had been playing the last couple of games before this game was not really me,” Taft said after scoring a career-high 25 points and getting a season-high 15 rebounds in Pitt’s 86-66 whipping Monday of Providence. “I need to play with a lot more energy and help my teammates out and play more aggressive.”
…
“Truthfully, I just didn’t like the way I had been playing. And I know the coaches didn’t like the way I had been playing,” said Taft, who is 6 feet 10 and 260 pounds. “I just told myself that I can’t play like that. I can’t afford to play bad because we have to keep winning games.”

Maybe Dixon was passing on what he was hearing from NBA personnel. ESPN college basketball analyst Len Elmore said recently that some of those same NBA scouts who spoke so highly Taft before the season had become more wary of his work ethic in games and practices.
…
If Taft is finally coming into his own, that’s great news for the Panthers. They have built themselves back into a Big East contender largely without Taft’s best. If he can play like he did against Providence on a consistent basis, the Panthers could become a national title contender.

The pressure is on, and Taft knows it. And while he isn’t promising the same dazzling numbers, he is promising the same effort that led those eye-popping statistics against the Friars.

“I just felt like I wasn’t playing real good basketball,” Taft said. “I felt like I could have double-doubles day in and day out. But enough talk. I just have to go out and do it. Whatever happens, happens. But I know one thing, I’m going to go out there and play with a lot of energy.”

If Taft is playing with desire and well, Pitt is a potential Final Four team. If he is playing soft, Pitt is just another Tournament team that will get no farther than the Sweet 16. We’ll see how Taft plays in February.

The nice thing, is he doesn’t have to do it alone. None of the starters do. Pitt has a bench, and Coach Dixon has been using it. The results have been positive. It has given the team more energy, wins and seems to have restored focus to the team.

Pitt has some press releases. They have announced the home and away games in the Big East, but not the actual dates.

BIG EAST HOME GAMES: Cincinnati, Connecticut, South Florida and Syracuse

BIG EAST ROAD GAMES: Louisville, Rutgers and West Virginia

Not a bad home schedule for a new coach to have before the home crowd. Cinci and UConn are both going to be rebuilding. USF will be a little better than last year. Syracuse has its own new coach, and the talent was dropping. Youngstown State is I-AA. Notre Dame should be the toughest of the home games — and they too have a new head coach.

The road schedule seems more brutal: Nebraska, Louisville and WVU.

The Big East, finally got around to announcing its Big East All-Academic Team. Pitt placed 7 on the squad.

Justin Acierno, Pittsburgh Senior FB
Justin Belarski, Pittsburgh Senior C
Brian Bennett, Pittsburgh Junior LB
Vince Crochunis, Pittsburgh Senior DL
Doug Roseberry, Pittsburgh Senior LB
Dan Stephens, Pittsburgh Senior DL
Dale Williams, Pittsburgh Senior OL

Additionally, Vince Crochunis was named the Big East Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Congratulations to all of them.

Late last week, I mentioned that there was no need, and it was unnecessary piling on Harris to build up Wannstedt regarding recruiting. Some didn’t get the memo.

Dave Wannstedt will call a news conference tomorrow on national letter-of-intent day to brag about his first recruiting class at Pitt.

That beats the alternative.

It beats telling the truth.

“The previous head coach did a pretty rotten job recruiting. We got such a late start as a staff that we didn’t really have time to clean up the mess. Please, don’t judge us on this class. Give us a chance and see what we do next year and the year after and the year after that …”

The guess here is Wannstedt and his coaches will do just fine.

What a lame strawman claim. No one is judging Wannstedt by this recruiting class. For the most part, it wasn’t his class.

I’m not going to defend Harris’ recruiting tactics, and the numerous mistakes made. I will point out that Harris was recruiting with an arm tied behind his back considering his contract situation and his lame-duck status during the season. Not to mention the weakened Big East getting bashed on ESPN every Saturday. As it stood, Harris had put a decent recruiting class together. Wannstedt and his crew have already been more than respectable in what they have done since coming in.

There is nothing wrong with keeping defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads. If you listen to him for five minutes, you’ll want to play for Pitt. “He’s not just very intelligent. He has a lot of passion and a lot of enthusiasm,” Wannstedt said. “There’s no question he’s going to be a head coach after we have some success.”

If you’re concerned about Rhoads’ inconsistent Pitt defenses — great one season, horrible the next — don’t be. He’ll be a lot smarter once he has better players. Aren’t all coaches? And it’s not as if Rhoads will have total say over the defense as he did under Harris. Wannstedt’s background is in defense and he’ll have a big say in the game plans, unlike Harris, who was too busy with his quarterbacks to even notice he had a defense.

Um, if Rhoads had full say over the defense, then didn’t he also have a lot of say over who Pitt recruited for the defense? I think we all know by this time that Paul Rhoads has a better relationship with most of the media and Pitt’s administration than Harris did.

Just an overall weak column intended to suck up to the entire Pitt coaching staff.

I guess it wouldn’t bother me, considering the source, except that I recall a column absolving Harris of a lot of the recruiting disasters of last year. Oh, just click to it and read it yourself, it did not age well.

One of the kids signing a letter of intent to come to Pitt will be Bill Stull. Stull decided to come to Pitt, after previously giving a verbal to Kentucky. Kentucky head coach, Rich Brooks — who also had been an NFL head coach, is in the last year (or second last year) of his contract. Guess what is happening to their recruiting class?

The University of Kentucky football coaching staff will most likely spend the final 24 hours leading up to national signing day on pins and needles after seeing one of its top recruits opt out of his commitment and several others express serious interest in other schools.

Pittsburgh Seton LaSalle quarterback Bill Stull, who committed to UK in December, will instead sign with the University of Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

UK’s other high-profile quarterback commitment, Kentucky Mr. Football Curtis Pulley, said last night that he’ll announce his choice at a news conference at Hopkinsville High School on Wednesday. Pulley was UK’s third verbal commitment last fall, but U of L entered the race shortly thereafter and made up ground quickly.

Well, there is always Ashley Judd for Kentucky.

As far as scheduling goes, it looks like Pitt is not the only school putting I-AA teams on the schedule.

More mid-major coaches and athletic directors should follow UTEP coach Mike Price’s stance on scheduling. Price recently dumped his 2005 season-opening game at Oregon even though it called for a $450,000 payday. Publicly, the UTEP administration says it wanted another home game next season. The reality: Why should UTEP play at Oregon if the Ducks won’t play a game at El Paso? If more mid-major teams back out of one-game road contracts, it will force BCS teams to schedule more games against Division I-AA opponents — not a good selling point to prospective season ticket holders. Oregon replaced UTEP with I-AA Montana.

The advantage for Pitt, is that it could create more opportunities to do 1 for 1 games with other BCS schools if the number of willing I-A patsies drop.

Not sure how interested or how closely anyone is following the trial in Memphis over the SEC bidding for a high school recruit, or Slick Rick Neuheisel’s lawsuit. It’s given college football writers something else to yak about rather than just recruiting. I mean when a University of Miami football coach is complaining about “street agents,” it’s getting wierd. The better read is this highly cynical story with unnamed anecdotes, and a Rick Neuheisel recruiting work-around.

Actually meant to get to this yesterday, but time didn’t permit.

Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News has a couple mentions of Pitt. First, regarding, not getting stressed about the RPI with half the conference schedule left, among other things

Pittsburgh is No. 67. Wait, no, that was before the Panthers beat Syracuse. Now they are No. 46. They gradually are erasing the stain of their weak nonleague schedule. They are 2-0 against RPI top 30 teams and play four more. That will bring up their average.

The Pac-10 is No. 2 among conferences. That’s nice, but against the other five BCS conferences, the Pac-10 is 10-12. Though ranked behind the Pac-10, the Big East was 16-10 in such games, and the Big 12 was 18-14.

For Pitt, though, they have to win those games. The margin of error is smaller. Still it’s a valid point, even if I am one of the guiltiest of harping on the non-con.

In another segment, he comments about Chris Taft.

Pittsburgh C Chris Taft gets along too well with backup Aaron Gray for the Panthers to use the threat of playing Gray more as a means of motivating Taft. But they can hope Gray’s effort in running the court, diving for loose balls, setting screens and fighting through fatigue serves as an example of how Taft should be playing. A gifted big man with NBA potential, Taft did not work hard enough to improve during the offseason and has been disappointing as a sophomore. Although he is an excellent passer, Taft has only 12 assists in 17 games. However, after Pitt essentially had to take him out to defeat UConn, Taft delivered one of his steadiest, most consistent efforts in the comeback victory against Syracuse. . . .

Um, uh, I have to disagree. He was not in the game for half of the second half, when Pitt took the lead on Syracuse. Len Elmore was also on Taft during the game (about 10 minutes into the 1st half of the notes is where I mention it) for his effort and looking for shots.

Finally, from Pat Forde at ESPN.com regarding the Big East at this point:

Better Than Advertised: Boston College, ya think? Not even the omniscient Minutes could foresee the Eagles rolling along at 18-0.

Worse Than Advertised: The senior seasons of Ryan Gomes and Chris Thomas. Notre Dame is just 4-3 in league play with a 62 RPI, and Thomas is shooting a career-low 35 percent from the field. Friars forward Gomes once again has lovely numbers (19.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game) but that hasn’t deterred an 0-6 league start. Providence has lost all six of those games by single digits, but four have been at home.

Player of the Year (so far): The league with the best collection of big men in America has been raided by a slender sophomore wing forward, Boston College’s Jared Dudley (7). It might sound ludicrous to tout him over Syracuse’s Hakim Warrick, teammate Craig Smith, Gomes, Pittsburgh’s Chevy Troutman and UConn’s Josh Boone, but check the kid’s numbers in league games — 20.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.9 steals, 51 percent shooting from the field and 79 percent shooting from the line. He’s more versatile than Warrick and better across the board than Smith or Gomes.

Coach of the Year (so far): The Minutes will go out on a limb and plug BC’s Al Skinner (8), who brings a refreshingly calm presence to the sidelines. (Honorable mention to John Thompson III for making Georgetown relevant again.)

Freshman of the Year (so far): Rudy Gay came in with the biggest name, but Georgetown’s Jeff Green (9) has shown the most game. The 6-foot-8 Green is all over the stat sheet, ranking among the league leaders in scoring (13.9), rebounds (6.9), assists (3.8) and field-goal percentage (47.7).

Best Game To Come: Syracuse at Boston College, Feb. 19. With no return game to the ‘Cuse, a whole lot could be on the line in Conte Forum.
…
COACH WHO EARNED HIS COURTESY CAR THIS WEEK:

Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon (26), who orchestrated the Panthers’ second consecutive 17-point comeback against a high-level Big East opponent. First it was a rally in Storrs to shock Connecticut, then it was a comeback at home to beat No. 4 Syracuse. Now if he can just get his guys to answer the opening bell.

Pitt answered the opening bell last night. Saturday is the next bell down in Morgantown.