Sos Don’t forget Jerome Lane as a premier rebounder

Sorry missed it

Charles Smith was the smoothest player and probably the most talented Pitt player I ever saw but many others were way more exciting to watch play including his teammates Gore and Lane.

Melvin Bennett was worth the price of admission and he could flop better than any Dukie that ever played the game.

The toughest players were Clancy,Blair, and Krauser. Anybody that doesn’t think Krauser belongs had to miss the time he popped the Villanova guards eye out of his head in the Garden. Blair tossed Thabeets but Clancy was like having King Kong in the middle if the game was on the line.

Shorter was very special, and Jaron Browndeserves mention in the conversation. Lane was only bested in rebounding by Clancy. I never saw a better rebounder than Clancy on any team at any level. Well maybe Chamberlain but Clancy was a pure beast and if he wanted the ball people new to get out of the way. He got tossed out of the NBA developmental league for almost killing a guy who tried to take him on.

I remember Vaughn like it was yesterday but it is like I never heard of George Allen. This sucks.
Comment by spiritofsection22 01.20.15 @ 2:18 pm

Hey SOS, I’m with you on George Allen AND I was at Pitt for those years and didn’t miss many if any games at the Fieldhouse.

Vaughn, Culbertson, David and earlier Clancy are who come to mind for me. George Allen only coached the Redskins in my fogged, ageing mind!?!?!?!?!

Actually I remember Carlton Neverson well and Curtis Aiken…. any others only when I look over the old rosters. link to sports-reference.com

Now see, you both would have had George Allen’s memory etched in your brains, say if George had gone to DeMatha NS.

See it does matter where one goes to school. ha

I think the eastern media didn’t like the fact that Mister NYC in HS basketball in NY went to Pitt.

So therefore he got the ‘short shrift’ from the BigEast announcers.

Next year has no relief. Big man recruit Rozelle Nix 6’11” 345 lbs. Pull up a tap of Rozelle if you want to see what is coming in next year. Another BIG man to sit at the end of the bench.
Also a 6’$’ PG 4 stars but only averages about 8 pts. a game.

Jason Matthews was a pretty good shot too, especially from the FT line. He was recruited by Calipari.

Sean Miller was almost automatic from the FT line.

And though he couldn’t create his own shot, if he was open he was pretty good from 3.

2014-15 scoring leaders

Damon Wilson Our Savior New American 47 15 59 16.5 ppg

Cheick Diallo Our Savior New American 52 0 17 15.1 ppg

Davon Dillard Our Savior New American 56 21 27 16.8 ppg

That’s 47 fg’s, 15 3’s and 59 FT’s.

Kid appears to be able to penetrate and either score or get fouled.

Let’s hope they will be Our(Pitt’s) Savior.

In all Pitt basketball Billy Knight was by far the best player, scoring 33 against National Champions UCLA in their area.
Knight did not have an All-American playing with him or anything like the team Smith had, Smith was a great player. Knight’s team had one 6’8″ player who was marginal so for 80% of the game at 6’6″ Knight was the tallest Pitt player on the floor.
If the 3 point shot was in play he would of been impossible to stop then he was. He could make his own shot from anywhere on the floor and was a master at taking it to the rim.
He lead the team in rebounds and scoring. He was an amazing player to watch; selfless but dominant when the game was on the line. With him Pitt won 21 straight victories half of them with him playing with a bad right shoulder taped.
The best I ever saw.

Hay Emel, didn’t Shawn Miller miss a free throw before Barry Goheen sank that 3pt dagger?

Jason Matthews hit two free throws to put Pitt up by four. Goheen hit a three. Pitt inbounds to Chalres Smith, he gets fouled by Will Perdue ( who fouls out) and smith makes both free throws. Pitt up by three.

With four seconds left, Pitt let Goheen get the in bound pass, dibble up the court completely uncontested. No one picked him up until he got to the three point line. We all know the rest.

Pitt still should have taken care of business in OT, especially with Perdue on the bench.

People point to the Villanova Elite 8 loss as Pitt’s best hope lost but as much as I loved that group I think the overtime loss with Smith, Gore , Lane, Matthews and Miller had a better chance to win it all.
Villanova did sink 20 out of 21 foul shots as I recall. That team sure had heart. Levance and Dujuan were very unique and special talents and Sam Young had the best jump fake I ever saw.

SOS22,

I am more optimistic about next year than you. Dixon will find an Ontario Lett somewhere. Maybe his name is Rozelle Nix. Pitt will be in the top 20 every week.

And in 2 years, if Young doesn’t leave early for the NBA, we will be a #1 or #2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Next year should be better. They will be more experienced. They should be better from three (The Johnson’s). While it is hard to be optimistic about the center situation, it is hard to imagine that things could be worse.

But better would probably still only be 5th in the ACC.

Rozelle Nix isn’t having a better year this year at Pensacola State College than last, which is disappointing considering that he lost a lot of weight and was supposedly starting to play above the basket according to Ontario Lett, an assistant coach at Pensacola.

You can see his current statistics at the following website:

link to stats.njcaa.org

I must have pulled up last year’s statistics. According to John Harris in today’s Tribune-Review, Nix is doing much better this year. Harris writes:

“He averages 11 points and 9.1 rebounds, while shooting 56.3 percent from the field and 65.7 percent from the foul line.

“Moreover, Nix averages 32 minutes. A year ago, Nix — who once weighed almost 400 pounds — was in the process of losing nearly 100 pounds and couldn’t play more than a couple of minutes at a time.

“He’s been playing more because he has stamina with him losing weight,” said Lett, who works with Nix to help develop his low-post game.

“Nix’s rebounding prowess has been impressive. In a game against Chipola (Fla.) College — an opponent featuring 7-0, 220-pound Clemson commit Legend Robertin — Nix was held to six points but grabbed 13 rebounds in 29 minutes. Nix added 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting and 16 rebounds in a season-high 35 minutes against Northwest Florida State College.

link to triblive.com

Howard

Great piece on Nwankwo by Collier in today’s Post-Gazette:

link to post-gazette.com