Frustrating as the season is going, there is always the hope of the future. Pitt is still recruiting for the 2014 class, despite appearing to be filled. It may be that they don’t know if Detrick Mostella will get his grades in order. It may be that they think someone might leave. But, Pitt is still pursuing Kobie Eubanks with a vengeance.
Eubanks is a high 3- to 4-star guard and teammate of 2015 commit Damon Wilson. He’s going to be waiting to the end of the last recruiting cycle to make his decision, but based on his visit choices Pitt is in the final mix.
The 6-foot-5 Eubanks will trip to Wichita State (March 1), Pittsburgh (March 3), Missouri (March 5), Baylor (TBA) and Minnesota (TBA).
Last Sunday, Eubanks told SNY.tv Pitt was working the hardest. His teammate, Damon Wilson, is committed there already for 2014.
“Kobie Eubanks is as good of 3-point shooter,” longtime New York recruiting expert Tom Konchalski said. “He has a picture-perfect stroke and shooting remains basketball’s EZ Pass. He can really shoot the ball.”
It’s still a tough group to beat. Frank Haith at Mizzou may be a “meh” coach, but he has been a tremendous recruiter. Same with Scott Drew at Baylor. Minnesota now has Richard Pitino running things, and he does seem to have his dad’s gift in recruiting.
I’d like to think that anyone who can shoot a three with any consistency has moved up in priority this season.
The primary target remains power forward Cheick Diallo — one of the top-10 players nationally — and another teammate of Wilson and Eubanks.
Pitt is also aiming high for 2015 and guards with the pursuit of Isiah Briscoe continuing.
Here’s a nice article on 2016 commit, Maverick Rowan.
Rowan comes by his basketball skills honestly. His dad, Ron, was an all-state player at Beaver Falls in the early 1980s then matriculated first to Notre Dame then to St. John’s, where he enjoyed an excellent career in the Big East.
Although Rowan was blessed with natural athletic ability, the player he has become today and hopes to turn into in the future was credited to one attribute — practicing.
“Practicing means everything,” Rowan said. “If you don’t practice, then you won’t be any good. That’s why I practice as much as I can. Coach always tells us that we need to take anywhere between 500 to 1,000 shots a day.”
I said it when he made the verbal, and I think it bears repeating. I’m not angsting over whether he is going to still be at Pitt in 2016. Not because of the Terrelle Pryor past example. It’s simply because he is a 16-year old teenager. Interests. Emotions. Everything changes. I can’t honestly believe a kid should be expected to be locked in to his future school more than 2-years in advance.
I hope he does become a Panther. Everything about the kids seems really positive and that he would be a great player and student at Pitt.
Then BC presses and Pitt leaves JR to bring the ball up with no Pitt player on his side of the half court line. He is double teamed and turns the ball over.
BC misses a 3 and presses Pitt. Again everyone runs away from JR and he turns the ball over with an over and back.
Nuke makes a great drive for a layup
Stupid stupid panic basketball with no idea or plan. BC is horrible. Only reason Pitt won. Ugly pathetic effort by Pitt!
Pitt did what they were supposed to. Should have won by more. Talk about being sloppy at times. Some of you say Dixon micromanages players too much but I do think he didnt do it enough. Artis makes some really dumb plays and I would have benched him tonight. Robinson better hope that Newkirk never learns how to shoot FT or he will end up losing a ton of minutes to him.
Positive side Lamar looked more aggressive without his hand wrapped and Zanna played great.
Not many blathering tonight, Chas didn’t even show.
Has Elvis left the building?
what a joke. A non-call against UNC and then a flop that is called in UNC’s favor … followed by a make-up call finally against NC. UNC finally wins in OT. Paige had 35 points or something like that …. 30 in 2nd half.
Pitt may not win another game … Sat may be their best chance
Meanwhile, in other news, UNC got a gift no-call at the end and beat NC State on the road in OT by 1. State is now 2 games behind us. Clemson lost on the road to WF yesterday so they are a full game behind us.
I decided not to watch the game. Is it worth watching the replay ?
I saw in the play by play we were up by 15 points in the 1rst half. 30-15 with 4:33 left in 1rst half. So I guess I should watch it to that point and then turn it off.
After averaging 8.3 ppg the last 7 games, Zanna had a big effort, 21 points & 6 rebounds.
So I guess we can say, he is over his sprained ankle. Although he had 16 & 14 in the 2nd Cuse game, 2 weeks ago tonite.
At least we got the W and didn’t get embarrassed by the 2nd worst team in the ACC. Could use a few more cupcakes to get some confidence back.
H2P !
I’m proud to say it.. I’m a Jamie Dixon fan!
28 minutes, 8 point on 3 of 12 FG (of which 10 were 3′) needless to say never got to the FT line and 2 rebounds.
Same ole JJ, jacking up 3’s, never driving to the hoop. Kid didn’t learn anything under JD, just took his 3 point jackup show somewhere else.
10.9 3.0 0.9
Not much different than what he did here in 18 mpg
Considering the opponent, the only thing I really took from the game is the team has not quit on Dixon. I didn’t really think that was the case, but have to admit I was wondering if Dixon may have lost this team.
Next game will tell a lot more. Not a real good Notre Dame team, but they seem to have our number.
Hoping this team can still make a late push, not holding out a lot of hope.
Hail to Pitt!
Not good news, this 2 star kid plays the same position as the bluechipper we’re trying to land.
Cheick Diallo:
Star Rating 5? 5? 5? 5?
Overall Rank 8 0 6 0 8 ?2 9 ?1
Position PF C PF PF
Position Rank 3 0 4 0 3 ?1 3
One wouldn’t think you would offer a 2 star at the same position in the same recruiting year class if you had any hope that 5 Star was coming.
Oy Vey !
Per a source, 2014 Our Savior New American SG Kobe Eubanks will officially visit Missouri on March 5th. Pitt is considered the favorite.
The Ying and the Yang !
Pitt had much better footwork, I would use that to change pace v ND. I’d run on them at every opportunity. If we get sucked into Brey ball we don’t have the shooters. Need to avoid slog fest. Need 15-20 points from Lamar and 10-15 points in transition baskets. Facing double whammy from the refs: home calls & welcome to the ACC calls.
Newkirk, Jones, Artis & Randall need to score esp in transition.
The scoring Maverick
Lincoln Park has made it to the Class A championship game and sophomore guard Maverick Rowan could end up with one of the best scoring tournaments in WPIAL history.
Rowan, who already has verbally committed to Pitt, has scored 25, 37 and 35 points in three playoff games for a total of 97. Another game in the 30s will put him among the top playoff scorers of all time.
Only nine players in WPIAL history have scored more than 120 points in a tournament. The all-time leader is Penn Hills’ Drew Schifino, who scored 147 in four games in 2000. Next is Chartiers Valley’s T.J. McConnell, who scored 144 in 2010.
It should be noted that sitting the pine and not seeing any action for the Thunder is Hasheem Thabeet.
With the number of Freshman who will go high in this draft it wasn’t worth the risk.
Unless something crazy happens…Pitt looks pretty much lock into the #5 seed for ACC…which means possible Duke or NC if Pitt can win first game.
– the only reason BC was in the game was because Pitt handled the ball terribly – both mentally and physically.
– the color commentator kept talking about BC’s ability to hit 3s, how they hit 9 against Syracuse, and at one point he mentioned how BC’s 3-point ATTEMPTS were well below their season average. I think Pitt gave them easy driving lanes to take away the 3 – until the very end of the game. If so, that’s nice game planning.
Free throws were again cluth – until the end. Mike Young needs some confidence – he’s missing too many easy shots.
Thabeet was the 2nd overall pick that year that Blair didn’t go to the 2nd round.
Blair has been obviously the much better NBA player, should have been a 1rst rounder, when you look at over 50% of the first round that year, isn’t even in the league or busts like Thabeet.
Pitt will beat the Domer’s and finish with a win at home against the Wolfpack.
If Jamie looks scared, his team plays scared. If Jamie looks relaxed, his team plays relaxed. Just my opinion.
Hail to Pitt!
They really screwed Sam Young. So Sam being a smart Pitt man, went off to Australia and signed a nice contract and is 2nd in their NBA league in scoring. Only 2/10ths of a point from being the league leader. 21.7 ppg Good for you mate !
Emel, I always thought JJ just need playing time. But clearly he just was a potential guy. I don’t know about Sam Young though. When he was younger he was such a baby at times. I also remember him having some of the worst effort and attitude in games. Pitt is still the favorite for Diallo according to 24/7 sports. Pardon apparently has been rising. He’s actually a 3 star right now on Scout.
But anyways, the Pardon offer might be the opposite EMel, if Pitt is confident in getting Diallo then no other elite PF will commit. However, Pitt will need a second PF in the class because Diallo could easily be a one and done so definitely need another PF with upside as insurance, which is what Pardon appears to be. Think about it Pardon seems to be an outlier to Pitt’s other offers for 2015 and 2016 as most are elite guys the last I looked.
I remember watching Drew Schifino in high school. That kid could score from anywhere. Too bad he had to give up playing time to Beilen’s son who was much worse than him.
I like it, but JR is one of his favs, and thinks it might lead to DeMatha Catholic becoming a pipeline.
.
Had BeJay Anna came, maybe, but he didn’t.
Pitt played better when Lamar was basically playing PG earlier in the ACC sched
ule
Yea you might be right, about the Pardon offer, I thought of that AFTER I posted. lol
Another theory of mine, is Patterson had this kind of play in him before this year, but if you remember he played super tentative last year for fear of being yanked off the court and replaced with Moore.
This year there is nobody to take him off the court with, so he’s playing a lot looser, it’s just a real shame he screwed up his thumb, which if anyone has played, never really heals until you stop playing for a while. And that is all playing, practice, etc.
Can’t believe Hampton plays in Quad A, they were like a B school (AA) when I played. We use to play against most of their team which included Brian Shanahan at North Park courts all the time. NA kids too.
H2P
I think just James Robinson.
How many would even want to come to pitt ? With the blue bloods and traditional powerhouses ?
I loved levance fields; true gut player, but not the best shooter, undersized a bit. Still I think he has been one of the better guards pitt has had in the last 10 years. (BK as well) Fields is the reason Pitt got past Xavier. (or it would have been a sweet 16 exit again)
But that can all change.. IF dixon holds on to some of these new guys… 4-5 stars. Heron is now a 5star on espn. So lets see what happens.
Damon Wilson and Rowan should all be interesting. At least rowan is known as a shooter.
Not to say that will solve the problem… but upgrading the talent at the guard is something we haven’t seen at pitt in sometime.
Yeah, I grabbed them from the clothes hamper yesterday. They worked this time. But, they clearly had no magic in them against Florida State.
H2P
1. The excellent, fun-to-watch Panthers from earlier in the season are still MIA, visibly devoid of their Durandergy.
2. No good excuse, unfortunately, for JR not taking a shot the entire game, shows he is completely out of sync right now for whatever reason. Pitt’s ceiling is guaranteed to be very low unless this changes. Guaranteed.
3. Really lackadaisical/sloppy turnovers by Cam & Lamar on multiple occasions.
4. Artis has an offensive game desperately needed on this team, he just needs to come around on D. Disagree with a comment above, if anything, I’d play him more and allow him to learn on the court, especially given what he brings to the table.
5. Mike Young still doesn’t know how to use his body under the basket. I am not sure what the answer is, but I think he would do well to be a workout fiend over the summer, and start playing angry.
6. Still painful to watch JR & Cam play both guard spots at the same time, since neither penetrate (and Cam certainly shouldn’t try) OR are 3 pt threats. How hard do you think that is to guard? Again, 2 guards in at the same time, neither of which penetrate or are threats from 3.
7. And Finally, there was one play late in the game when Newirk did that blow-by for the layup- wow! A sight for sore eyes!
They almost didn’t work last night, you better wash those bad boys before they completely REVOLT against you and more importantly US !!!
Must have been Paul Rhoad’s son holding that.
Cam penetrates and the ball gets swatted just as fast back out again.
JR has learned after several swats to put the breaks on and either reverse course or heave it back outside.
Don’t know how many shots we’ve had blocked this year, but I knew it was bad when Albany was blocking outr shots. 🙂
University implies there’s some sort of learning going on there.
But all the outher offers are big time players it seams.
I dont want us to drop back to the kind of offers we have given in the past.
all the 4 star and 5 star that we have offers out to do we want to drop back to 2 star or lower 3 star offers like we had in the past.
H2P
Always a consideration ! lol
That game last night dropped our RPI another 4 spots to #45. Soon we’ll be OFF the first page.
We were just in the mid 50’s a week or two ago.
Worse than these heavyweights: Drake, Florida Gulf Coast, Utah Valley (yes Valley), Northern Colorado, Bryant (yea that place that offered Trey a scholie), North Texas, Southern U, Wofford, High Point, Montana (to wax some Dental Floss), Stoney (End)Brook, and last but not least…Nebraska-Omaha. To name a few.
This Pitt stuff is entertainment. Hope your job situation is not threatend by the idiots in DC.
Last night I watchd JR most of the evening and he looks like he is favoring his right leg. In his missed FT, he did not bend his knees at all.
Things not on Dixon catagory….every time a team presses Pitt, we act suprised as hell. You learn from rec ball on that late in a game with your opponent trailing and after a made baske, a full court press is probably coming. Yet….there was Pitt with 2 minutes to go, inbounding the ball to JR and all 4 players running up the court without even a glance back at JR who was gettin triple teamed. TO BC! OK…so now it is the same scenerio a minute later and same situation….ball inbounded to JR and the entire team runs upcourt without even a glance back at JR. This resuled in a desperate JR pass up court and we were called for over and back. This is just stupid non thinking non aware basketball!! Not on Dixon unless they have become such puppets that they have given up on thinking on their own.
Was this par for the last 10 minutes of the game?
Now, I do hope and THINK Pitt will find a way into the NCAAs.
BUT, if they don’t… Man, you and the other members of the “Jamie Can Do No Wrong” Gang better get those wagons ready.
A loss there could force us to almost have to win 2-3 games in the ACC tourney.
As a loss at ND would probably knock our RPI down to the 60’s range.
LOL
I thought are program was past that stage?
Don’t tell me he’ll fit the system. The system needs adjusted.
We need players and athletes. We need horses!!
It’s the same as football. It’s actually quite simple……..
You need to have better players, to have better teams.
I also know, that the star system is many a times a hit and miss, and can be a crapshoot.
However, it is a guide.
Like I’ve said in football, I will do the same in basketball.
Give me five, 4 or 5 star recruits, and I’ll kick your team of 2 and 3 star recruits ass, up and down the sidewalk daily.
Talk about a “clang”.
