It’s not the same, I know.
Tyrone Haughton signed his letter of intent today, to become a member of the Pitt’s 2014 recruiting class. Haughton is a 6-9 C-F who came from the JUCO ranks.
Originally he was a 3-4 star recruit who signed to play with South Carolina. After Darrin Horn was fired and Frank Martin came in, things changed. Martin had a verbal from another big man at K-State. The player switched to South Carolina. Suddenly, the scholarship numbers weren’t right and it seems that South Carolina suddenly had a problem with Haughton’s grades.
Oh, but SC and Martin didn’t want Haughton to completely go away. Just go to prep school for a year and see how things look next year. Haughton said no thanks and went to junior college. Isn’t recruiting just a lovely thing?
Here’s some of his old scouting report from ESPN.com (Insider subs):
We should all be so fortunate to be this athletic and own the kind of wingspan he does. Haughton throws down what he can in the lane and with his length, extension is easy. Runs the floor and rejects shots. Best attribute is his ability to strong for rebounds and get high on the glass in traffic. Definitely a prospect with long term possibilities.
His biggest issues come on the offensive end, but raw potential is apparent. Tennessee, Memphis and Wichita State also pursued him this past year.
The other news is still unofficial, but Barry Rohrssen is going to Kentucky as an assistant. Again, this was a no-brainer for him.
Chris Dokish has an interesting breakdown on recruiting gets from Dixon and the other assistants in the past 10 plus years. Looking it over the first thing I think is, how is Bill Barton still on the bench? Best guess is that Dixon really doesn’t want to change more than one assistant in a year if he can avoid it. If so, that would bode well for Barton surviving another year. But he better get moving soon. Letting go of Pat Sandle last year should have put him on notice that he has to do something on the recruiting trail.
Again, there are plenty of good assistants available that could do a great job of recruiting. Not simply Tom Herrion. David Cox was at Pitt for a brief spell before going to Georgetown and then Rutgers. He has strong ties in the DC area and is considered an excellent recruiter. Rasheen Davis is another name of note that has been mentioned.
As a side note, Orlando Antigua added his brother, Oliver, as an assistant at USF and made Jerry McCullough Director of Basketball Operations. Quite the Pitt flavor to that staff. I guess two more reasons to pay attention to USF.
Colorado’s head coach still isn’t ready to watch tape of the the game against Pitt.
A look at coaching salaries in the ACC. If you want about Dixon’s contract in terms of money or length, it looks rather reasonable based on production and accomplishments.
Z didn’t dunk that much and I don’t recall him missing that many dunks or getting blocked that much. I do remember wishing he would have just dunked some of the missed lay ups though.
Zanna would lead in how many times he hit the floor.
Zanna 0.586 0.498 0.571 0.563
Taylor 0.561 0.577 0.616 0.584
McGhee 0.567 0.623 0.517 0.522
Blair 0.593 0.537
Gray 0.565 0.526 0.576
Troutman 0.566 0.643 0.718
Lett 0.608
The headings slid to the right but you get the picture. Troutman slid to the right.
Anyway, comparison of shooting percentage. Not sure how to interpret, but interesting.
Junior and Senior years most relevant.
Probably not statistically significant but fun.
I think we should create a new statistic and record Missed layups-put backs-dunks. I suggest we call such efforts lumps.
Using the new definition I would have to say that Zanna, Mcghee and Grey were the best lump layers in recent Pitt history.
The number of missed bunnies this season was incredible, as we used this term more frequently this year than ever before. We used it so much we had to explain to a few what it meant ! haha
Most of the reason was because, for most of the season we were not strong with the ball underneath. While Z was great late in the season, he struggled a lot during the season with finishing , yet still shot 58% from the field, with all the great passes he received for cripples.
His only way of playing in the NBA is to be able to also play on the perimeter and I do think he has the talent to play out there. He was just not able to show that talent this past season in JD’s system.
Young & Artis were also weak with the ball underneath and also missed their share of bunnies.
We really haven’t had that strong with ball type of players at the 4 & 5 since 2009. And we even had a super strong player at the 3 back then.
Herrion is supposed to be a good coach with big men, I really hope they bring him back. McGhee made huge strides when Herrion was here with limited talent.
Troutman was a master of using his body and strength (I thought even more than Blair) of not getting his shot blocked and finishing.
I expect both Young and Artis will get some weight training and be stronger … and Young will (hopefully) not be playing with a broken back.
Further, Newkirk will be in his 2nd year and a healthy DJ will provide more scoring support .. and I haven’t even mentioned Jeter yet.
I expect next year’s team will be much less depended on just a couple of players, but instead we will see much more balance.
We have had our fare share of big time lump layers at Pitt. I noticed the Florida St. 7′ kids showed potential in that area as well.
Coach Alphabets is also sort of learning on the job with this manner of building a team. Witness Duke’s first (second) round loss playing basically at home in Raleigh, to a middling Mercer team. Who was promptly blown out in the next round by 11 seed Tennesshee (Mr. Toup Dentures). And in 2012 Duke lost to Lehigh again in the 1rst round at Greensboro.
He has three inches on Lett, making him the equivalent of a 7 footer, but as Tallahassee Panther pointed out, Lett had great hands and was a great passer. I very much doubt that Haughton shares those characteristics.
I actually think that Young is going to be our starting center next year. He’s the only possible center who has good hands. In my opinion, the starting lineup next year will be:
1. Robinson
2. Newkirk
3. Wright
4. Jeter
5. Young
Howard, I can see Haughton starting at the 5 and Young staying at the 4. Remember, Haughton apparently passes the JD test — he can rebound and he can defend
Can he shoot free throws?
I does not appear that he can.
FT% in the 20s
A lot of people are dismissing Uchebo because of his knee. I saw him come down strong with a couple of rebounds last year. From what you’ve seen, assuming his knee heels, how would you rate him?
Howard
Young ,Haughton, and Randall seem to be the guys most likely get minutes at the 5 next year. I think Joseph Uchebo will transfer or be given some other kind of aid in continuing his education. I sure wish him the best.
