Rough day yesterday. Bad news with Crisshawn Clark being announced out for the entire season.
The Pitt sophomore will miss the 2016-17 season with a torn MCL and torn meniscus in his left knee, the same knee in which he suffered an injury that forced him to miss all of last season at the junior college level. First-year Panthers coach Kevin Stallings said Tuesday it’s not known yet whether Clark also suffered a complete tear of his ACL.
“I’m really, really devastated for him because he had worked so hard to get back,” Stallings said. “Any time you see something like that happen, you hate it.”
The injury occurred Monday at Pitt’s practice on a non-contact play. He will undergo surgery at a yet-to-be-determined date to repair ligament and meniscus damage.
In the immediate aftermath of the setback, there’s no set timetable for Clark’s return and any larger impact the injury has on his future his uncertain.
“We’ll see what this means for him going forward,” Stallings said. “It certainly ends his season. What impact it has on his future, we’ll figure that out in due time. I’m disappointed for the team, but really disappointed for Crisshawn.”
The JUCO transfer was expected to be in the rotation at guard. He had a very good outside shot and would have fit well in Coach Stallings offense.
The injury, because it was on the same knee as before and so recently after the last time, means his entire athletic future is in doubt. That has to be a horrible feeling.
The backcourt now has less depth and assuredly means that Justice Kithcart, Damon Wilson and Jonathan Milligan will see the floor in the planned 9-man rotation behind Jamel Artis, Chris Jones and Cam Johnson.
Pitt will start the season this Friday against Eastern Michigan. Pitt hasn’t lost a home opener since 1996.
The last Pitt coach to lose a home opener was Ralph Willard, whose squad was thrashed, 69-50, by Illinois State in 1996.
The Illinois State coach back then was Stallings.
“I guess I would hate to be the cause of the last two home opener losses,” he said. “I didn’t mind being the first one, but I’d hate to be this one.”
Asked what he remembered most about the game, Stallings replied, “I was surprised we were winning by so much.”
Quite the summation of the Ralph Willard era.
Willard’s teams had four losing records in five seasons. This happened to be the one winning season. Pitt finished 18-15 and took second place in the NIT.
Pitt had to travel to Illinois State the next season. The Panthers, en route to an 11-16 record, got walloped again 87-65.
The Redbirds were a combined 49-12 in those two seasons, helping propel Stallings to the Vanderbilt job in 1999.
Going to call it a hunch that beating Pitt two years in a row back then didn’t really do too much one way or another with Stallings rep, though. It’s not quite as dismissive as beating Boston College or Wake Forest the past few years, but its close.
I’ve noticed that one “expert’s” tweet can quickly take on a life of its own. Seems this is especially true of the pumping from people like Dokish, Evans, and Hammett. So to put some statistical context around “had a very good outside shot”, Clark shot 47% from 2 point range, 36% from 3 and 60% from the line in JUCO.
Not having great luck with transfers lately.
Dixon recruited this kid, and he had a habit in the last several years, in his desperation, to recruit kids with injury problems BEFORE they even got to Pitt.
I can think of 3 immediately;
Joe (Wheels) Uchebo
Roosevelt (SupersizeMe) Nix
And This Clark kid.
Oh well, we don’t know if this kid was actually going to be an impact player anyway. Sort of like looking the Zeise kid in football. Not like losing an established impact player.
Hopefully he won’t have similar results to those Willard year teams.
Willard was very successful at Western Kentucky before coming to Pitt. And was successful after leaving Pitt at Holy Cross. So it make you wonder about Pitt.
He is justifiably more upset than you.
I swear I would hate to get out of bed each day in search of the dark lining to the silver cloud.
But you did it. Pitt last lost its home opener to a team coached by Stallings. So instead of giving him credit, it is an opening to tear open the Willard scar tissue and then sprinkle it with some infectious disease in the form of demeaning what Stallings did right.
Why bother? Has the shipment of Hemlock not arrived?
If they pull any pre-game stunts they will have 1 less interested person.
Would that be the new San Francisco Treat ?
When the defense throws a press on this team, who is capable of breaking it. I don’t see any of the starters having the ball handling skills required. I think that will end the Artis point guard experiment.
I’m intrigued by a lineup that has so much length … no one smaller than 6’6″ but have no idea what to expect, especially with that schedule.
And to get stuck buying out Stallings contract when he was most likely going to get canned was incredulous.
But this seems to be the way the business is done when you’re in the fraternity.
This also caused me to question how the new Chancellor bought into the whole mess. And then in turn question this whole supposed ‘commitment’ to making the Front Porch look good.
Words mean very little to me anymore, actions that in turn produce results, the rest is nothing more than rhetoric.
And agree that it is more likely Pitt goes route of BC rather than get back to the top of ACC.
A couple schollies are still open and getting s decent big man would complete the class
Unless I am doing something wrong.
link to pittsburghpanthers.com
Hopefully it will work out similar to Mike Cook, without the injury part. I know Cook wasn’t a JUCO, but it was similar in that he transferred in and only had 2 years to play at Pitt.
Last word he was in the NBA-D league I believe.
Is Stallings a better fit? Who knows. Can Stallings recruit better? Not so far.
Pitt has a tough schedule this year but I do think we will win at least 16-18 games. Probably an NIT bid but, depending on who we upset along the way, and any tournament victories, we may get a NCAA high seed selection. Again, will depend on who we upset!
