masthead.jpg

switchconcepts.com, U3dpdGNo-a25, DIRECT rubiconproject.com, 14766, RESELLER pubmatic.com, 30666, RESELLER, 5d62403b186f2ace appnexus.com, 1117, RESELLER thetradedesk.com, switchconcepts, RESELLER taboola.com, switchconceptopenrtb, RESELLER bidswitch.com, switchconcepts, RESELLER contextweb.com, 560031, RESELLER amazon-adsystem.com, 3160, RESELLER crimtan.com, switch, RESELLER quantcast.com, switchconcepts , RESELLER rhythmone.com, 1934627955, RESELLER ssphwy.com, switchconcepts, RESELLER emxdgt.com, 59, RESELLER appnexus.com, 1356, RESELLER sovrn.com, 96786, RESELLER, fafdf38b16bf6b2b indexexchange.com, 180008, RESELLER nativeads.com, 52853, RESELLER theagency.com, 1058, RESELLER google.com, pub-3515913239267445, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0
August 31, 2006

What A Mess

Filed under: Basketball,General Stupidity,Media,Recruiting — Keith W. @ 9:24 am

Pitt recruit (?) Herb Pope has transferred to Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, FL. – again

No wait, he hasn’t.

I have no idea.

You may remember last spring when all the Herb-Pope-J.O.-Straight-Drunky-Bear-Huggins stuff started popping up in newspapers, trustworthy blogs and not-so-trustworthy blogs.

Well, here we go — again.

Former Aliquippa High School star forward HERB POPE is now enrolled at Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, FL. The powerful prep school welcomed Pope with open arms, though they may be the only place to do so for awhile.

End of story right? Not so fast.

While the author of the story, Chris Dokish, is a friend of Pitt Blather and seems to have an in with Straight that newspaper writers don’t, there seems to be some holes in the report.

He gives us the news of Pope leaving, but never gives us a source or a quote. He moves onto other things, such as Pope being a royal prick; i.e. never making up his mind and starting fights in tournaments.

All the rumors began with a harmless quote in a Kentucky newspaper story that ran on Sunday. On Tuesday Jim Equels Jr. of the Beaver County Times didn’t see it as that harmless.

According to a story in Sunday’s Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, Pope has transferred to Arlington Country Day, a prep school in Jacksonville, Fla. The source of the information is Country Day coach Rex Morgan.

Morgan was discussing one of his players, A.J. Stewart, a potential Kentucky recruit, with Herald-Leader writer Jerry Tipton. Included in the story was the following:

Morgan’s team also has another, more highly regarded prospect in forward Herb Pope. Louisville, Pittsburgh, UConn and Kansas State are on his list.

Pope’s potential caused Morgan to make a telling slip of the tongue. “No question he has the tools to be on the next level,” the coach said before adding with a chuckle, “I mean the next next level.”

Pope was unable to be reached for comment Monday, nor was Morgan.

That’s it? How on earth does that imply Pope has transferred? All the coach is saying is that Pope has the ability to play in the NBA, which he does – the NBA tends to ignore personality.

Yesterday the BC Times ran a story with the following headline “Pope is officially out of Aliquippa.”

It appears likely that Herb Pope, one of the top basketball prospects in the nation, has left Aliquippa for Arlington Country Day, a prep school in Florida.

Pope, a 6-foot-9 forward, was not in school on Tuesday, the first day of classes at Aliquippa. Quips’ coach Marvin Emerson said it is his understanding that Pope would not be attending for his senior year.

“Supposedly, he’s gone,” Emerson said.

That’s a rather wishy-washy story to run after such a definitive headline.

Today we have another wrench thrown into the mix in the form of an Aunt.

On Wednesday, a woman called The Times, saying she was the biological aunt of Pope.

According to the woman, the basketball standout “will be in Aliquippa.”

“I have custody of him,” said the woman, who identified herself as Amy Smith. “He will be in Aliquippa. He is at a tournament in New York now. That’s all you need to know.”

Asked whether Pope was enrolled at Aliquippa, the caller said, “That’s all you need to know.”

Perhaps the angry aunt should have been a source in the earlier stories.

Of course, this whole mess has the larger more credible newspapers jumping on the bandwagon.

Classes started at Aliquippa yesterday, and Pope did not attend. Aliquippa basketball coach Marvin Emerson said he was told by one of Pope’s close friends that Pope is attending Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, Fla.

My conclusion: No one has a clue. Regardless, I don’t want Pope at Pitt and I doubt Pitt does either. I’ll trust Dokish for now and assume Pope is gone. Stright probably knows more than he is letting on and may have told Dokish some of it off the record.

That’s just my speculation — everyone else is going it, why can’t I?





From reading Dokish for years now, I get the feeling that he always knows more than he tells us which is what good writers do. To get the real info, they have to get things off the record. If he says Pope is in Florida than I believe he got it off of Stright since that’s who he was interviewing. But if you read Dokish’s article he says that Pope has went to the Florida school for a few days before and has come back. That’s why Stright said he isn’t telling anybody that he is gone for good because he always changes his mind. His aunt is probably trying to get him back and I don’t think anybody would be surprised if he did come back. He has already been to five schools in four years.

Comment by Mark 08.31.06 @ 9:56 am

Since when is Keith an untrustworthy blogger?

Comment by Matt 08.31.06 @ 3:53 pm

Hey Thanks Matt,

Did you notice that I wrote the post? (the author is up top by the title)

Comment by Keith W. 08.31.06 @ 5:47 pm

[…] on paper but will be one of those colossal disappointments because there is no real team. TrackBack URI |   ∅comments […]


[…] I knew the reporting of the Pope-goes-to-Florida mess seemed fishy. He will be playing for Aliquippa in the winter after all – or at least that is what is being reported, for now. Pope supposedly had transferred to Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville, Fla. Pope’s friends had said he was at Country Day, and the school’s coach, Rex Morgan, told a Kentucky newspaper that Pope would be on the team this season. Country Day officials never confirmed Pope’s enrollment, claiming privacy rules. […]


[…] He has had a horrible past year from the standpoint of perceptions. He got tossed out of an AAU Tournament game. He nearly transferred — again. He finally signed with New Mexico State to the relief of many. Then there was his behavior after Aliquippa blew the lead in the final 3:50 of the Class AA PIAA championship game. […]


Powered by WordPress © PittBlather.com

Site Meter