A shooting guard from Alabama, playing in Indiana who originally committed to Oklahoma State? I’m not going to complain. Especially when he is a solid 4-star recruit with major hops and loves attacking the basket. This is when it works out to have those open scholarships even in July.
Detrick Mostella is by every recruiting service ranking, a 4-star talent. Rivals.com puts him as the 14th best shooting guard and 53 overall best player in 2013. 247 says 13th and 45. Scout.com is a bit lower at 21st and 84th. ESPN.com said 20th and outside of their top-100. So, yeah, a talent.
He’s also now a late addition to the Pitt 2013 recruiting class.
Mostella signed with Oklahoma State back in November. He recently asked out of his commitment, and Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford let him. The reasons are not known why, but it might have to do with playing time issues in a suddenly crowded backcourt for the Cowboys.
Marcus Smart, Markel Brown and Phil Forte are all back next year. Smart would have been a top-5 pick if he had turned pro (and is presently with James Robinson in Prague with the USA U19 squad). Brown is the starting shooting guard for OK St. and played over 34 minutes per game last year. Forte played 25 mpg and averaged 10 points per game. Minutes would be limited in that backcourt and it does seem that early playing time was important to Mostella.
“They told me they needed a shooting guard, and that made my decision right there,” Mostella said. “They have everything but a shooting guard (in this recruiting class). I know I can come in right away and help them.”
I’m sure Durand Johnson is thrilled to read that. A guard-with length that wants to shoot from outside all of the time and a slightly undersized guard that always wants to attack. Should be quite the battle for minutes.
Mostella, a native of Decatur, Ala., averaged almost 18 points this past season at LaPorte (Ind.) La Lumiere School. Although Mostella is known for his 3-point range, his coach called him “explosive.” Mostella won a dunk contest by dunking over two 7-footers and a 6-8 forward.
“He’s a combo guard who’s a really good scorer,” La Lumiere coach Alan Huss said. “He’s a shooter, but he really leaps.”
Yeah, it’s his leaping and attacking that seem to be his stronger suits (Insider subs).
Detrick is easily one of the quickest guards in the south. He’s got elite speed dribbling the ball. Very confident player whose primary objective is to drive it down your throat. Always in attack mode. He’s undersized but athletic enought to get to the rim. No fear in him whatsoever. When he gets to the top of the key or in the lane he also has the game to look for teammates.
If NCAA officials really do follow the rule changes and emphasis on enforcement as mentioned before, Mostella can take real advantage of that. Pitt was one of his final visits, which helped make the best impression.
Despite offers from Georgetown, Miami (Fla.), Providence and Texas A&M, Mostella said he would choose between Oklahoma State and Pitt. He was pursued by Dixon and assistants Barry Rohrssen and Brandin Knight, who took him to the Green Tree Sportsplex on Monday night during an official visit to see fellow incoming recruits in guard Josh Newkirk and forwards Jamel Artis and Mike Young in the Green Tree Pro-Am Summer League. Pitt’s Class of 2013 also includes two transfers, junior college center Joseph Uchebo and forward/center Derrick Randall of Rutgers.
“As soon as I got there, I felt like I was part of the family,” Mostella said. “They treated me well, took me around campus, and I felt like I could make that place my home.”
Unlike Josh Newkirk and Jamel Artis, it seems geography or conference location are not the most important issues for Mostella.
This is a very big incoming class now. Four freshman, one transfer with immediate elegibility and a JUCO. Not to mention one more scholarship available and some rumors of that one being filled.
Unsurprisingly, with this many new faces the complexion of the team has suddenly shifted radically. There’s a lot more speed in the backcourt with Mostella and Newkirk. Outside of Zanna, the frontcourt is not particularly tree-like, but has become very stout.
The chemistry on this team will be very interesting to watch. There are definitely going to be some growing pains.
I believe he is from Alabama and went to a prep school in Indiana for a year. Conflicting info.
Dixon has a lot of work cut out for him in figuring out the starting lineup and rotation.
I’d like to see him put Patterson as 6th man.
PG Robinson/Newkirk
SG Mostella/Wright
SF Johnson/Patterson
PF Young/Patterson
C Zanna
1. Those who hated the 10 man rotation might want to get used to the idea.
2. I am starting to think, who will tranfer mid-year for not getting enough minutes? We have the potential here that our froshes are much more talented than our upperclassmen…but you know Dixon loves playing the upperclassmen….
Of course, it is likely that one, two, or hopefully not more than 3 of the newbies will not pan out…in which case the 10 man rotation will be 8 (or whatever) and the mid-year transfer will be someone we won’t lose sleep over for leaving.
One thing is certain: it is going to be a REALLY interesting year of Pitt football and basketball!
How far Pitt goes in my opinion is Youngs ability to be a force on the board and Ohcehno (sp) ability to play 20 minutes and simply glog up the inside.
Zanna if we remember was weakerer than Taylor both offensively and defensively at center before Adams came.
Adams made the right choice Pitt does not do much in coaching up inside players or are they part of the offense even if they are a lottery draft choice.
However if he came back as the best defensive center in college as a freshman a better backcourt and a more physical sidekick (Young) inside a final four would have been possible.
That may have been the last real opportunity for Pitt to make it that far. It is unlikely Pitt well ever recruit a player that changed the nature of the game as Adams did playing only part time.
Uchebo is unknown as to “if” he can play this year and if so, they would probably take it easy on him.
Don’t go big in ACC, you will get killed as they will run the doors off and the bigs can’t keep up. Young is NOT a 3 and Uchebo is unknown how much he can play at this point.
Really like how this team is shaping up. If Uchebo is healthy enough to give some minutes, this could be a fun team to watch.
Is this the Pitt Blather??
Some things just ain’t right!
The real story here is that Rohrssen’s return looks to already be making an impact that will pay dividends going forward.
I believe you have to modify the depth chart (at a minimum) as follows:
C Zanna/Randall (expect both to also see time at PF)
This is contingent on Uchebo not being able to contribute
glad to have him.
check this out they have at this time just 3 bowl tie in for 2014 19
the military bowl it pays 1 million and is the largest pay out of there bowls .
the bbva and the beef bowl.
they might start there own bowl and things could change.
but right now just thoes 3 and espn took away
there blog talk abought disrespect for a conference.
Excited about the new recruit. Hoping he and Newkirk turn out to be the first athletic guards Dixon has had in a long, long time. God, I hope he doesn’t put the reins on these kids.
… seems like the PC approach is working just fine!
And that is a huge part of their games. Plus both like to play uptempo, pushing the ball upcourt.
Maybe I will get my wish this year !
Perhaps having Slice around (an older guy JD respects) will give JD that extra voice that might lead to a more uptempo Pitt offense.
As for Zanna, he did have that one huge game (double/double) towards the end of the season when Adams didn’t play. Was that against Cincy or DePaul ? Also his play always went down in conf. play. Maybe playing in a new conf., it will appear to him to ALL be NON-Conf. games.
We know what both their (Z & W) limitations are and the non-con games need to be used to give the younger guys a chance to gel. They most likely will lose a few games, but that’s ok. As the non-con schedule this year is the most challenging it has been for a few years!
It’s almost like they didn’t want to have to say PITT has 2 Top 100 recruits in this class.
(Young #57 Espn & Mostella #77 Espn previously)
I think a lot of these rankings/ratings are somewhat based on politics. The kids ranking gets increased if he’s signed by a Duke, Kansas, UNC, etc., one of the blessed schools. And it goes down if he chooses one of the unwashed schools, ie Pitt !
If he is healthy, he is certainly capable of being at least as productive as Adams was last year, in the neighborhood of 6 pts, 7 rbs, and 2 blocks in 20-25 mins a game. Most importantly, Uchebo would give Pitt a defensive presence in the middle, which would allow them to extend their perimeter defense.
Let’s be realistic…..Jamie is not going to completely change his basketball philosophy to fit this group of players or even to adjust to the differences in play in the ACC. He believes his “system” wins. The best we can hope for is that he will allow/encourage this team with a little more speed to attack more in transition. Fast breaks start with defense, either a forced turnover or bad shot and rebound.
Zanna could have a big year, but not if he has to play 30 mins a game out of position at center. He is not much of a defensive center. Without a back up, he’ll have to be even more careful not to pick up fouls which will make him even less effective. Ideally, Zanna could split his 30 mins between the four and the five. Young looks to the real deal, but I can’t imagine he’s ready to play much more than 15-20 productive mins at the four.
With a legimate center, this team could be competitive in the ACC this season, without one it could get really ugly.
The only way to be competitive and beat the Dukes and UNCs enough to challenge their ACC supremacy is to force them into playing a style outside of their comfort zone by forcing a pace that frustrates what they want to do thus minimizing the talent and athleticism advantage they will always possess.
IMO, having better quicker guards will allow Dixon to better defend against other teams quick guards and will also allow more fast break buckets off of turnovers. It will also allow more dribble drive penetration on offense leading mostly to easy buckets by open Bigs whose defenders have left them to stop the penetrating guard. What it won’t do under Dixon is lead to a lot of one on one forced plays and pushing the overall game tempo where it results in a low-percentage shot taken early in the shot clock.
Botom line, IMHO, this team will score more offensively than teams of the past few years while still executing good defense and being patient enough in the half court offense to only take high percentage shots.
This result should be more than enjoyable enough to watch for most fans other than RAGO enthusiasts and those who prefer NBA basketball to college ball. It is also the on the court product likely to be able to produce the greatest number of wins for a team with Pitt’s level of talent.
