A lot of reports have been saying that for a while, that the Pitt commit plays tough gritty defense. That he scraps for balls and will be a perfect fit in the way Pitt plays the game, and the Big East play. What also has become clear is that Pitt found a player who was under the radar a bit and got him before he was fully appreciated by other coaches.
During the City of Palms Tournament in Fort Myers, Florida, the attention was on the top names like Greg Monroe and Samardo Samuels. Robinson still got noticed.
On a night where Pittsburgh basketball fans had plenty to be happy about after a big overtime win over Duke, the Panther faithful would have been elated to see Nasir Robinson in action. The future Pitt player scored 26 points (10-12 FG, 6-8 FT) and grabbed 11 rebounds in an 83-69 win over Scott County (Ky.).
Robinson’s trademark is his grit, motor and tough-as-nails attitude on the floor and it was all present on Thursday night.
Robinson actually helped lead his team into the championship game before falling to Samuels’ St. Benedict team, and was named to the all-tournament team. Robinson is expected to come in to Pitt and back-up Sam Young at power forward next season, but it seems that he has been flashing an ability to be out on the wing at small forward well.
Nasir Robinson 6-foot-6 WF Chester (Pa.) – All-Tourney Performer is one tough customer. He showed range to the arc, but is at his best attacking hoop off the dribble. He led Chester to final in Fort Myers including a 26-point and 11-rebound outburst versus Scott County in the quarters. Look for him to add immediate depth at Pittsburgh next fall.
Versatility like that would be tremendous for Pitt, not to mention help him get into the rotation.
He would look even better now that Cook is down for the year.
As for your list, it looks like Pitt has been kind of lucky on their near misses of top talent, I’m glad that things have turned out as they did. I was never a big fan of Ferguson, and didn’t want Foust here (though I did want Lavender). I recall being upset about Goodridge and Galindo, I thought both would have been very good players at Pitt.
Also, since I was so nice to Bilas last week, allow me to slap him hard here and now:
Jay’s ballot for this week’s Power 16 has Duke 8 and Pitt 11. Mike Cook or no Mike Cook, the other 9 voters understand that Pitt won the game because of Blair, Fields, Young, and Jamie before Cook, who was at best the fifth-most important person in terms of Pitt personnel…I love Mike Cook, but come on Jay.
I was thinking about Jamont Gordon last night, he would look pretty nice playing the 2 spot next to Fields. He was being recruited hard after Taft declared for the draft, I believe.
Tyler Smith was indeed another one they were a close second on, and I thought they were going to get.
Hamady N’diaye would look good getting some minutes at center, he is a defensive presence to be sure.
Like I said above, though, I like this team as its constructed now, and can’t wait to see them at Dayton tomorrow night.
PG – Jason Calliste – 6’2″, Toronto, Canada (98 on Rivals)
SG – Dominick Cheek – 6’5″, Jersey City St. Anthony (12 on Rivals)
SG – Maurice Creek – 6’4″, Oxon Hill, Maryland (63 on Rivals)
SG – Durand Scott – 6’3″, New York Rice HS (64 on Rivals)
SF – Brian Oliver – 6’7″, New Castle, Delaware (75 on Rivals)
SF – Dane Miller – 6’5″, Rochester, NY (77 on Rivals)
PF – Dante Taylor – 6’7″, Ft. Washington, Maryland (48 on Rivals)
C – Greg Echinique – 6’8″, St. Benedict’s New Jersey (45 on Rivals)
I’ve also seen them recruiting Dan Jennings (PF – 6’8″ from Oak Hill), who has been listed as either a junior or senior, so I’m not sure on that. I also suspect they will be in on Zeke Marshall (C – 6’11” from McKeesport).
I wouldn’t mind a 2009 class that includes Calliste, Creek, Jennings, and Marshall.
Perhaps we can pick up Dan Jennings for next year, either way things are looking up for Pitt, and I am excited to see continued growth in this year’s team; particularly Blair, Brown, and Wannamaker.
Evan Daniels reports that 6-foot-8 Brooklyn forward Dan Jennings said Louisville in the mix for his services. He already has offers from Xavier, Arizona, Pittsburgh, St. John’s Nebraska and Seton Hall. Jennings plans to reclassify into the Class of 2009.
link to bigeastbasketball.blogspot.com
Late last week Dan Jennings made a visit to Pittsburgh and Jennings Says Pitt is No. 1 (zagsblog) after his trip. Jennings is a native of Staten Island and played last season at Bishop Loughlin. The 2009 prospect is not transferring to powerful Oak Hill Academy and holds offers from Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Pitt, Xavier, Memphis and South Florida. The 6’9 C played with the NY Gauchos this past AAU season.
I watched him play twice against Schenely last year. He is gritty and active…but has a ways to go to bring his game up to a Big East potential level IMO.
Alex Galindo– Lost out to Kansas in his recruiting. He played one year there, then transferred to Florida International, where he’s putting up 12 ish a game, and scored 13.9 last year. Not exactly the world’s toughest schedule though.
Vernon Goodridge — Lost out to Mississippi State, where last year as a Junior he poured in something like 2.3 per game, while starting for 5 games. He transferred to La Salle in May, and will have one year left.
Trevor Ferguson — He showed up at Pitt, for about ten minutes, as I recall. He also committed and decommitted to Florida, and probably West Virginia, since that just seems like the thing to do. He’s at NC State now, barely sniffing the court in this, his sophomore season. 0.8 ppg. A far cry from 26.8 and 28.0 his junior and senior years of high school.
Drew Lavender — Lost out to Oklahoma. Started 31 games for Kelvin Sampson as a Freshman and 28 as a Sophomore before a mutual decision was reached for Drew to transfer. He’s now at Xavier, where he’s the catalyst for Sean Miller’s Muskies and their tournament aspirations.
Brandon Foust — The other half of the Brookhaven (Columbus, OH) tandem that chose Oklahoma over Pitt that year. Two years at OU (4.1 and 2.8 ppg), he averaged 12 ppg and 5.6 rpg last year and is at 11.0 and 5.1 rpg this year for the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks. He was briefly suspended from the school before being reinstated in time to start this season for an altercation in a dormitory. He also pleaded guilty to felony burglary in Columbus in July 2005.
These are all guys that I recall being “down to Pitt and _______” for their decisions. I’m sure there are more. I think we were fairly close in the Palacios sweepstakes as I recall, and probably several others. This does not really relate to Nasir Robinson at all, other than the fact that the entry on him inspired me to look these other chumps up. Interesting that these guys, who all wavered on their decisions in the closing weeks of recruiting, all transferred.