Even though Derrick Randall didn’t contribute an overwhelming amount during the conference portion of the season, I did expect that Randall would be a nice cog for 2014-15. If, for no other reason, the lack of experienced depth in the frontcourt. Especially as far as true centers go. The Rutgers transfer had noticeably slimmed down and gotten into very good shape by the end of the year.
That was before he got arrested.
Derrick Randall, one of the former Rutgers basketball players suing the school and former coach Mike Rice, was arrested and charged after a motor vehicle stop early Tuesday morning at Rutgers with driving while intoxicated, use of a controlled dangerous substance and possession of a controlled dangerous substance, Rutgers University Police said.
According to university police, the incident happened at 2:45 a.m. on Avenue E on the Livingston campus — not far from the Louis Brown Athletic Center. Randall recently completed his junior season at the University of Pittsburgh, where he transferred following Rice’s firing after videos surfaced showing the coach mistreating players.
Randall didn’t waste any time after the semester at Pitt ended to go home and visit some old haunts. That didn’t work out so well. There is no information on what the “controlled dangerous substance” was. I assume marijuana, but then I always assume marijuana.
Randall has, of course, been immediately and indefinitely suspended from the Pitt basketball team.
“The incident involving Derrick Randall this morning is not only surprising but incredibly disappointing,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said in a statement released by the university. “Although I believe it was out of character for Derrick, he has been indefinitely suspended.”
As Pitt News writer, Dan Sostek, noted this is standard boilerplate language when a player gets in trouble. Really, there isn’t much that Coach Dixon can say beyond that when the initial news breaks. And an indefinite suspension is the standard response when still figuring out what to do.
That leads to the question of whether Coach Dixon uses this as a reason to jettison Randall. Pitt is already one over its scholarship limit, but is actively pursuing other players — such as USC graduate transfer Byron Wesley (who visits on May 16).
The speculation has been on Joseph Uchebo being declared medically unable to play; and/or Shaquille Doorson not getting academic eligibility. Those scenarios may still play out that way. Randall, however, may have added himself to the chopping block.
This is exactly the sort of incident that coaches have often taken advantage of to clear a scholarship. They get to give the appearance of caring about the integrity of the team and school, while opening up a scholarship.
As I believe he knows, as I know, we need an infusion of immediate new talented blood into this roster.
Scout has him as a 3 star
Rokas Gustys
Status Undecided
Year 2014 (HS SR)
Position Power Forward
Height 6-9
Weight 245
Hometown Kaunas, Lithuania
High School Oak Hill Academy
Who’s filling the opening created by the loss of Rohrssen to Kentucky?
Have I missed something… or are we back to having Jamie ATTEMPTING to go the course without a SEASONED ASSISTANT capable of filling Rohrssen’s shoes both as an ACE RECRUITER and Coach?
Are we back to Square One… AGAIN?
Found stuff says he committed to N. Carolina.
Then stuff where he picked up offers from Pitt and UCONN the past couple days???
I think we can survive a few weeks without adding an asst., unless that asst. has some stud player he can bring with him !
yea I see that. Strange. He apparently signed a LOI with the Holes. Maybe he decommitted.
Why else would Pitt & Uconn offer ?
There’s one in the 2014 class the Holes signed. He’s from Houston.
And there’s one in the 2016 class. He’s from Toronto, Canada.
Jamie is not willing to stand pat. Must be something going on.
Justin Jackson
Status Undecided
Year 2016 (HS SO)
Position Small Forward
Height 6-8
Weight 215
Hometown Toronto, Canada
High School Findlay College Preparatory School
AAU Team Yaaace
Profiles
Metric Composite Scout Rivals ESPN
Profile Profile Scout Rivals ESPN
Star Rating 5? 5? 5? 5?
Overall Rank 6 0 6 ?1 6 0 7 ?19
Position SF PF SF SF
Position Rank 4 0 3 0 2 ?6 4 ?4
C’mon, fess up!
This would be a nice immediate help pickup.
Kid averaged almost 18ppg (about the same as Lamar) and 6.4 rpg. And is 6’5″, the same as Lamar.
Shot 47% FG.
We definitely need some scoring help imo.
Not sure how long of a window it is but presumably it is bigger priority right now than interviewing potential Slice replacemnets.
1. after years of complaining that they wouldn’t play us, it would seem hypocritcal
2. They would be all over us for ‘backing down’ and being afraid to play them
3. we would displaying the same ‘holier than thou’ attitude that we had admonished them for all of these years
2)They have been hiding from us for 15 years, and it didn’t seem to bother them 3)This is the real point, they have sunk to such a pathetic level to field a winning football team that we are clearly better than that. Playing them says it’s OK. Not playing says it isn’t OK with us.
There is going to be a lot of money and recruiting prowess on the line. Bragging rights will hang in the balance. It all seems very inviting, but let’s not forget what lengths the Peds are willing to go to preserving football prowess. I’m not sure it becomes us to be part of it. Sending a message sounds like a can’t lose proposition to me. I think Emel’s idea has great merit. The media would go crazy and we would get a lot of respect for taking a stand against the dark side of the sport.
Well, he may have done nothing wrong according to the law, but not necessarily according to NCAA, which he reportedly already acknowledged was aganst the rules. Further, if it comes that he actually arranged this, and it ended in rape … this cannot be good for him. Finally, allegedly there are many phone calls and emails that have been expunged, raising suspicion even higher.
He is supposed to have a presser today where I’m sure he will admit to the contact but claim he did nothing wrong with PSU backing.
I’m for keeping Creepy Valley on the schedule.
Who you going to replace them with, Edinboro?
Enough with the sanctimonious BS.
Besides think of the fun the students will have coming up with X-rated cheers.
The Franklin DA has to cover his hind parts now, and the University will too, because it is in the best interest of the Football program and the institution..
Don’t think we are immune to that sort of behavior, it is what big business does and Universities and Football programs are big business.
I won’t start it, but if I hear any verbal shots from any PSU’ers, I will be ready like Gilbert Gottfried firing off jokes.
Could you imagine getting about 10,000 Jerry Sandusky masks. Pass them out to Pitt fans, and the Heinz Lot’s would be like a zombie zone, with thousands of Jerry Sandusky’s loitering around!!!
Get four fans to dress up like the 4 PSU fans, the guys in football uniforms and helmets. Except, no helmets, 4 masks.
I know, I know, I’m evil. Dark side of me on a late Thursday afternoon.
We went to war with Germany and a guy named Hitler. He did a few bad things. We are now proud to drive around in their cars. Surely we can get beyond the PSU scandal.
Hopefully the Sandusky Scandal is one of a kind, it was truly the worst. But it has little to do with the kids strapping on helmuts or going to class at Happy Valley, and it has even less to do with whether we play them or not.
I was talking about, Vandy and FSU cover-ups in relation to big business.
By the way, how do you know what heinous acts have been covered-up by our University. The Catholic Church covered for hundreds if not thousands of Jerry Sandusky’s over a lot longer period of time. Maybe we ought to not play Notre Dame in an act of solidarity with all those kids.
Would that make us sanctimonious?
I agree that what happened at PSU was beyond awful, and inexcusable for the primary players involved.
Pitt walking away from the game won’t change a thing.
Last time I checked, Notre Dame was run by Catholic priests and the Vatican does get a cut of the proceeds.
I get your hatred of PSU, but ND not dropping us from their schedule has little to do with the ethical argument.
I think it best if we just agree to disagree on whether playing PSU is the right thing for Pitt.
In fact we played in 10 bowl games in those 13 years. Played in a BCS Bowl game (Fiesta-2004) before Ped State played in a BCS bowl game(2005).
Funny as soon as we did, they did the following year.
Now had we NOT gotten into the ACC, future Ped State games would be important. But having gotten into the ACC and in light of the recent criminality in Creepy Valley, from top to bottom, I would prefer Pitt’s good name NOT to be associated with theirs.
I hear a lot of stuff on here, about how people love the way PC is doing things the ‘right way’. That were recruiting kids with more than just playing ability and PC is trying to build a new culture at Pitt.
Playing Ped State, flies in the face of all these qualities that a large segment on here say they admire. And whole heartedly support.
In the whole grand scheme of things, 2 sellouts at Heinz Field is not going to change anything, we’ ve had sellouts at Heinz before, plenty of them.
But standing up and saying ‘NO’, we don’t want to vindicate Ped State’s hideous actions by playing them, could change things in the whole grand scheme of things.
Overt greed is killing college football, let’s not become a Florida State or a Ped State and lose sight of what a University is supposed to be all about. Helping kids, not raping them.
Unless the Big 10 kicked Ped State out of the conference, those schools HAVE to play Ped State.
We all know the Big 10 is the most overtly greedy conference of them all. For there was NO reason whatsoever for them to expand their conference to include Rutgers and Maryland. Except overt greed.
The B1G have already tarnished their reputation. We don’t have to tarnish ours.
The B1G schools HAVE to play Ped State.
PITT does not !
Veritas et Virtus !
And yes, we all want our fb program to excel, and it very well may, but there are more important things. How about Pitt’s announcement this week about successful regrowth of muscle, allowing people to regain normal function? I may not be smart enough to figure that one out, but I was pretty happy about (proud of?) the guys who did.
This brings me full circle to the subject at hand which is Derrick Randall. My first reaction was that Pitt should say so long , but after further consideration I have had a change of heart. JD should evaluate Randall’s character and make a judgement as to the likelihood of him learning from this mistake. Kids screw up, but 1 bad mistake without any real victims shouldn’t invoke the death penalty if the young man is repentant. A second chance might be in order, with the understanding that he is now batting with 2 strikes. He needs to understand that his behavior says something about all of us too.
The cases are analogous, both involved pedophilia, both were covered-up. Regarding ND, I stretched the situation to make a point that you seem to support. When do you hold an institution responsible for the acts of an individual(s)?
Spirit and Emel want to hold PSU responsible for the acts of Sandusky, Curley, Spanier and Paterno.
Why isn’t your statement regarding the church applicable to PSU “don’t be so naive as to let a few scums reflect on the majority good”
The decision to canonize the Pope was questioned in editorials today since he ignored the scandal.
Obviously decision makers disagreed and felt the body of his work justified the honor.
Some feel the same about Paterno. While I am not one of them, I understand why people like Franco feel that way. They loved the guy, and the institution and can’t believe he would do anything wrong. The same way some feel about the church.
Certainly not something I am proud of. Today things are much different,with education and increased penalties a DUI is a very serious matter. Especially when you add drugs and a 19 year old. I am not sure, but in the best circumstances he would be made to sit out a year.
I believe he will be used as an example to others that there are consequences to this type of behavior. But who knows, unfortunately there is a
double standard and if he were a superstar, well…
My guess is Winston will maybe sit out a game or two of football, although he has been suspended from baseball. Funny though, shoplifting is just a citation in FL, wow!
Regarding your point at large with regard to Penn St., I for one do not necessarily disagree. The majority of psu folks would not involve themselves in the sinful actions of the few. Then again, in hindsight, based on their most recent hire, I do wonder how much their priorities have changed, if at all.
1618, I don’t want to debate the Church scandal with you. I just used it to make a point analogous to the PSU scandal. They both covered-up heinous acts to protect the institution. Just trying to make the point that we should never throw the baby out with the bath water.
I think we all agree on many points, I would just rather beat PSU on the football field rather than in the court of public opinion.
If enough athletes said behave yourself like a civilized human being or we aren’t going to play with you. Athletes would quit being thugs.
The leadership on this isn’t going to come from the NCAA. It isn’t going to come from politicians or the media. If we want athletic programs that reflect character and add to the human condition then as fans we have to speak out against what stinks and quit embracing a lack of integrity. Sport can be a reflection of the most beautiful areas of human wonder, but it can also feature our crudest perversions. Penn State football at times has done both. If they have to do both I’d rather not play them.
If anything, it was the conservative lack of empathy for the underprivileged that caused a large revenue machine to cover-up acts that would affect the bottom line
I don’t really believe all what I said above …. I’m just piting out that there are at least 2 sides to every issue
Example The clippers owner is universally berated for his bigoted behavior. (good move)
Where is the outrage at the NAACP for being about to give him another lifetime achievment award despite the fact that he has demonstrated a lifetime of questionable racist behavior. (why not)
One of the worlds biggest racists.
LMAO. The height of hypocrisy.
I’m kidding!
