This is just too good not to post.
Those dementedly brilliant Taiwanese animations of news events now includes the Arkansas-Bobby Petrino scandal and firing.
Enjoy.
April 11, 2012
Savon Goodman has a week to make a decision about Pitt. I’d put it at about 55-45 that he picks Pitt over the others based on what tidbits I’ve noted. The issue of eligibility is completely unknown to me — so don’t rule out prep school and Pitt taking a run at him in 2013. Goodman and his family are not saying much, and he has been out of the news as most of the late recruiting news is all about speculating on where Nerlens Noel and Shabazz Muhammad choose to be one-and-dones.
Meanwhile, it may be that Coach Dixon is more determined than we realized to add a power forward to this class. Last week or so Sheldon Jeter, the senior forward from Beaver Falls, made some tweets indicating that Pitt was trying to contact him again. He dismissed Pitt as being too late. It wasn’t a big deal. Yeah, he’s “local” but he’s a mid-range prospect with some upside. And I don’t begrudge him being tired of Pitt apparently playing coy with him: showing some interest then backing off. If we, as fans, get tired of high-level recruits playing games; how do you think mid-level recruits feel about major programs appearing to do the same.
6-5 Sheldon Jeter of Beaver Falls, PA could have a decision by early next week his father said Tuesday. Jeter will visit either Vanderbilt or Pittsburgh this weekend his father said. And on Sunday, he will have an in home visit with Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan. Jeter met last Thursday with USC coach Frank Martin while Pitt’s Jamie Dixon was in last Saturday.
So there’s that.
April 10, 2012
I guess on the bright side, it isn’t like last year when FraudGraham had practices almost entirely closed, and there was little to go on with the spring practices. It’s also better than Louisville where Charlie Strong has closed most of the practices. Or even Syracuse where Doug Marrone has kept all the practices closed — resulting in simply having to make up stuff.
Still with practices having more time between them up until the final practice — the Blue & Gold Game — not to mention giving the kids the Easter weekend off; there just hasn’t been a lot of news.
There should be some tomorrow. Today is Practice 13 — only 2 left.
In the mean time, there are a few stories to review.
April 9, 2012
I don’t know if Jamie Dixon ever forgave Keno Davis for the upset at Providence when the team was #1 in 2009. Dixon seems to have made it a mission to make Davis’ life miserable since. In 2010, Pitt beat Providence’s road upset shot with a half-court 3-pointer at the buzzer by Ashton Gibbs. In 2011, Providence gave Pitt its best shot yet again, but lost. 2012 saw Davis forced to call the 4 straight Pitt games in the CBI — downright cruel.
Then Davis lands the Central Michigan job, and the best player transfers to Pitt. Sure, everyone knew Zeigler was going to transfer, but to go to Pitt? That’s like an extra knife twist into Keno Davis’ gut.
Here’s a radio interview with Coach Dixon from last week — don’t buy the title use of “redemption.” Dixon refused to call the CBI that. It’s not particularly in depth. He talks positively about what the team got through. He talks about needing to play defense, stay healthy and cut down on turnovers for next year. He does admit to being disappointed in the season.
An interesting move by TCU to get Trent Johnson from LSU. Johnson had built a solid resume/reputation going from Nevada to Stanford and having success. He’s had mixed results at LSU at best. It was initially believed Johnson would make roughly what he made at LSU, though, his salary pool for assistants would be smaller.
Then…
The reports came out that Johnson was going to be earning close to $2 million. What? That seemed crazy. Turned out that the $2 million number was bogus. More likely that the number was the total package for Johnson with incentives and his pool for assistants.
The move as whole has brought shrugs from both sides. It is also interesting in that Q&A between TCU and LSU about Trent Johnson that the LSU side views it as a Penn State-Ed DeChellis-Navy situation. Where the coach sees what could be happening after next year (and only one year left on the contract) and goes for another job before being fired. That actually seems more like what Jim Christian did at TCU. He saw the situation at TCU — in terms of the team, talent, time left on his contract, and step-up in conference difficulty — and made a move downward to the MAC.
Good Friday, Passover, Easter, the Masters. It is one active holiday weekend. Thank you everyone who made a pledge or paypal donation over the weekend. Eleven PayPal hits and six check pledges was better than I expected for this kind of weekend. Some of the checks arrived over the weekend, so thanks again.
Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. The Pennsylvania and Ohio Turnpikes were wonderfully empty yesterday. We went and retrieved our daughter from the grandparents, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen both highways that empty — of cars, trucks and cops. If the roads were like that during football season, I believe the 140 mile trip from my house to Heinz Field could be done in under 2 hours.
This should be the final day of asking for help. One more good day and posts asking for money disappear for 2 more years.
April 8, 2012
I don’t know what this does for the recruitment of Savon Goodman. Whether it helps land Goodman because of the talent coming and on the roster along with the potential for big minutes early — if not starting at power forward — or if it means Pitt backs off on Goodman because it would mean either pulling the offer to Chris Jones or forcing another player off the team.
Frankly the issue is not comfortable either way. It bothered me when Pitt had to encourage Jaylen Bond to review his options after Khem Birch reclassified last year. It is one of the most unseemly thing about College basketball. Treating kids recruited and promised to be treated as family abruptly as commodities.
Some of it is simply the one-sidedness of it. Kids are locked into the program. They can have restrictions placed on them if they want to leave, along with sitting a year; while the scholarships are one-year deals with school options only. A coach can abruptly shift from “family” to “it’s nothing personal, just business” based on the performance. And yes, I know everyone does it, it’s necessary, and all of that. It doesn’t mean that it is right or okay.
But shifting back to Trey Zeigler coming to Pitt.
April 7, 2012
Well Pitt has its first transfer of note since Mike Cook left East Carolina. One Trey Zeigler let the world know.
Big get for the shooting guard spot. That position just got a lot bigger and better.
April 6, 2012
Things starting to accumulate. Oh, how I’ll wish for such a problem by mid-May.
Um, wow. Love to know the story behind this photo.
Let’s see, Savon Goodman still hasn’t made a decision but if you are a glass half-full person, you will like this from HoopScoop:
When I told our Philadelphia/Eastern Pennsylvania/South Jersey Editor Allen Rubin that I was going to put a gun to his head and he had to be right, he finally put it on the line and predicted that 6’6 Savon Goodman from Philadelphia (Constitution) PA will pick the University of Pittsburgh over schools like Missouri, St. John’s, UCLA, Kentucky, Connecticut, Kansas, and Temple.
For what it is worth. Oh, and Savon Goodman was named to USA Basketball’s U17 team.
Things proceeding apace for Pitt and Cuse heading to the ACC in 2013. Everyone is attending meetings.
Pitt and Syracuse representatives won’t be at the Big East meetings, but they will be at the ACC meetings in May. The respective coaches will be at the ACC meetings, too.
When will the two schools join the ACC? “Hopefully, we’ll get everything worked out here soon,” Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson said. “Their league is reconfigured and ready to move, and when you get to that point where everybody is on the next page, everybody should move on.”
Pederson wouldn’t commit to the fall of 2013, but that seems to be the goal. The ACC is ready to receive Pitt and Syracuse, and the Big East is ready to move on with its new members.
No sense at being at the Big East meetings. Pitt and Cuse don’t get votes on the league, and they would probably have to have left the room when it came to topics such as media rights and strategic plans. No votes in the ACC yet, but at least they will know what’s coming.
You know, most of the time in a coach search there is a contingent of loud and delusional fans that overrate their school’s position/status/potential. They can envision a certain A-list coach coming to their program because of something. Usually it is ties to the school or location that convince them it could happen (Buzz Williams-SMU delusions). They set insane expectations for the hire, are shocked by the outcome — and then blame the athletic director/program for being idiotic and/or too cheap.
In the case of TCU and Jamie Dixon, this is almost entirely a media creation. The first article was earlier in the week, then came the ESPNDallas homer piece insisting that TCU has to hire Jamie Dixon.
Before you roll your eyes and claim that TCU has no shot, know this: He’s at the top of their wish list. And I wonder if the timing isn’t right for him to leapfrog to Fort Worth.
There are some obstacles, obviously. He had a disappointing year in Pittsburgh (team didn’t make NCAA or NIT, but won the CBI title), but has a contract worth, according to reports, between $1.6 and $2 million through 2018. TCU was paying Christian around $600,000. That’s an awfully large gap.
But athletic director Chris Del Conte (with help from football coach Gary Patterson and others at TCU) helped get the financial backing for renovations to Amon G. Carter Stadium. Football, as it should, took priority. Now, the athletic department should focus on increasing resources for the basketball program. That has to start with renovations to Daniel-Meyer Coliseum and Del Conte has said that’s a major priority.
…
That coach should be Dixon. But why would he do it? Because he was a star at TCU as a player and seems to have at least kept track of things in Horned Frog land since he left.
And sure there are TCU fans that can put this scenario together, but honestly this piece is almost like it peeled off of a message board.
Yesterday was a great rebound. Not sure if it was guilt or the hope that this will end soon. I kid, I kid. We all know it’s the hope that the daily pledge drive posts will end soon. There were 13 paypal donations and 11 check pledges over the last 24 hours.
Sorry for the quiet most of yesterday. I had to take a quick drive to Donegal, PA yesterday. We were meeting my mom to do a prisoner drop my daughter off so she could spend part of her spring break with her grandparents — the BP/McDonald’s off the turnpike is just lovely this time of year. Donegal happens to be halfway between us and them. Then with a rejiggered schedule I had to work in the evening.
Hopefully this will be another strong day and this can be finished by Monday for another two years. You can donate two ways. If you want to send a check, e-mail me at PittBlather-at-gmail-dot-com and I will respond with my address. The other way is to simply click the PayPal button on the right (and yes, that e-mail that comes up is correct).
April 5, 2012
I think everyone knew Isiah Epps was going to transfer barely a few weeks into the season. Heck, I think there were some who thought he might go after his redshirt season. Well, now the official statement has been made.
Dixon issued a statement and said Epps is transferring for family reasons.
“We have been in constant communication with Isaiah regarding his family’s well-being,” Dixon said. “We believe that it is best for Isaiah to be close to home and we will assist him in finding the best possible situation to reach his goals — both academically and athletically.”
Epps could not be reached.
Unfortunately Epps struggled with both academic and athletic issues even before getting to Pitt.
When Epps committed he was supposed to be a really good get for Pitt. A 4-star, top-50 point guard. Extremely confident — making an ill-fated boast that he would be a one-and-done player — that people were very high on.
Not unexpectedly, yesterday saw the pledges slow a bit. There were eleven PayPal contributions, but only two pledges for checks.
The drop-off wasn’t steep, but noticeable. It’s why there is a post each day to beg. To remind those that haven’t donated that I’m still asking for help.
You can contribute by check or PayPal. Either click the PayPal button on the right link column (yes, the Hotmail e-mail account listed is correct). For sending a check, just send an e-mail to PittBlather-at-gmail-dot-com indicating that is what you would like to do and I’ll send you my home address.
If the number of pledges can stay in the double figures through Friday, I will be able to end the annoying blegging posts after Monday (the weekend will be bleg free, regardless).
April 4, 2012
As the past couple days posts on basketball recruiting have shown, Pitt and Coach Dixon are being very active in trying to add at least one more player to the recruiting class, if not two. It makes sense. Pitt needs frontcourt help and the backcourt needs ball handlers immediately.
The frontcourt need is looming. Even assuming Talib Zanna becomes the answer at power forward for next year (he’ll be a redshirt junior), there is really no one behind him.
That is why Savon Goodman is being pursued hard by Pitt whether for this year or next. His talent is obvious, but the need is great. It is why Pitt had been looking at JUCO power forwards. Unfortunately, Orlando Sanchez appears to have eliminated Pitt from his list — favoring options where it is almost certain he could start right away.
In the backcourt the key is, are the players good ball-handlers (and of course defense)? One of the big problems for Pitt was turnovers. Blame Woodall, a bit, but when you look at the guards and wings on this squad, there’s a reason Woodall had the ball in his hands for so much of the time. Who else in the backcourt made you feel comfortable with the ball in his hands? Especially against teams that would exert defensive pressure. Johnson? Wright? No. The “best” options after Woodall were Patterson and Gibbs.
Well, after a post noting the lack of progress in the offense there was life spotted outside of Isaac Bennett. Not everyone will be happy since the signs of life did not include Mark Myers make a sudden and abrupt leap in his skills understanding of the offense. The noted improvements seen were from Tino Sunseri, Trey Anderson, the receivers and the O-line.
Trey Anderson’s improvements were a surprise, and probably the most shocking to most. The third-string, short-for-a-QB, “spread” QB who was brought in at the last minute by FraudGraham last year. Instead, Anderson — coming off a shoulder injury at the end of last year — made the move to the second-team in practice. Knocking Myers back a spot. Coach Paul Chryst, though, wants to make it clear that it isn’t because Myers is doing badly.
Coach Paul Chryst wants to see more of backup quarterback Trey Anderson, who received nearly every snap with the second-team offense Tuesday. Previously, Mark Myers was working with the No. 1 backups.
“He has done enough where you can balance the reps off to give him a chance to see things a little bit more and find out a little bit more who he is,” Chryst said.
Coaches said there is no depth chart, and Chryst added that the change was not a punitive measure aimed at Myers.
“We have to make sure we can look at everyone,” Chryst said.
“It’s not an in-the-doghouse kind of thing. At the same time, Trey did a couple things to merit some more reps, and those reps have to come from someone and they came from Mark today.”
Naturally, no one would consider it that way. Not Pitt fans. Not a chance. No way. No how.
