In something of a surprise, Pitt got a verbal from Ashton Gibbs out of Seton Hall Prep in NJ. The significance of the school is that it was also Brandin Knight’s high school.
“I’ve known Brandin since I was a little kid,” Gibbs said. “We’re connected through Seton Hall Prep and him being in Pittsburgh was a factor. Brandin did very well there and I want to follow in his footsteps.”
Gibbs, who took an unofficial visit to Pitt last fall, chose the Panthers over Seton Hall, Virginia and Virginia Tech. He was first recruited by former Pitt assistant Mike Rice, then by new assistant Tom Herrion once Rice accepted the head coaching position at Robert Morris.
Gibbs, who says his strong suits are his shooting ability and ballhandling, will sign his national letter of intent in the November signing period. He joins two other recruits in the 2008 recruiting class — point guard Travon Woodall and small forward Nasir Robinson.
Gibbs is a good guard. Both Scout.com and Rivals.com put him as a 3-star recruit. He makes the Rivals.com 150 at #145. Seton Hall, Virginia, VT and BC were schools that had offered. Seton Hall fans seem especially bothered by not getting Gibbs. There were other schools that were interested, but hadn’t offered like G-town, Maryland and Iowa.
Part of the issue was a perceived lack of progress in his junior year. He went into the season as one of the top NJ players, was selected for the Eddie Griffin Challenge and NY/NJ Hoops master Dick Weiss even noted him as a player to watch. Pitt seems to see enough to like about him and may see him as something of a steal.
The big underlying story, is that Pitt does not have any more scholarships available. And there is the ongoing recruit/pursuit of Eloy Vargas one of the top power forwards that Pitt was supposed to be the favorite to get. It’s unclear whether Pitt has given up on him (unlikely) or if there is something else. So to see Pitt fill that scholarship now and with a player who is not comparably ranked by recruiters causes something of a head-scratcher and probably some annoyance.
I’m going out on a limb here, to say that a transfer is coming. For all intents and purposes, Pitt has a super-sized freshman class with Gilbert Brown and Austin Wallace having been redshirted. That means 7 freshmen players competing for time. Sure a couple of this year’s true freshmen will be redshirted, but there is going to be some competition and playing time issues. Especially at the forward spots.
