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November 16, 2007

Two of Three ’08 B-ball Class Signed

Filed under: Basketball,Recruiting — Chas @ 12:48 am

The early signing period is underway. Nasir Robinson and Travon Woodall have both signed their letter of intents. Ashton Gibbs is expected to sign his very soon.

Both Robinson and Woodall are tough, defensive minded players.




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BTW, regarding last nights game, Gilbert Brown looks like he can be a real special player. He has the size and quickness of an NBA Player, but we have seen that with John Degroat. The difference with this kid is he is tenacious on defense and has a swagger that cannot be taught. I think hitting those two big threes against SLU will be the catalyst for a tremendous season. This kid might be Pitt’s best chance to get a player taken in the NBA Lottery. If he starts using his quickness, jumping ability and agility to get to the rim, then he is going to be a monster. Very impressive physically.

Comment by Omar 11.16.07 @ 9:46 am

“He has the size and quickness of an NBA Player, but we have seen that with John Degroat.”

John DeGroat does not have the quickness of an NBA player. I don’t know who you were watching. Pitt has had zero to very few players that I would call “quick”.

Comment by Chris 11.16.07 @ 10:38 am

Color me not that impressed with this recruiting class.

Comment by Jeff 11.16.07 @ 10:52 am

John Degroat had the body of an NBA player. He had a quick first step, however he just couldn’t put it together. The post was not meant to say that Degroat was NBA caliber or even Big East Caliber, simply he had nice physique for basketball. I was attempting to articulate that Brown has the body and the basketball skill to play at high level in college and, hopefully, in the NBA.

Why so confrontational Chris? Damn.

Comment by Omar 11.16.07 @ 10:55 am

Additionally, Julius Page may not have been quick on the offensive end, but you don’t play defense the way he did without being quick. You just can’t lock down the type of players he did without quickness.

Comment by Omar 11.16.07 @ 10:58 am

How many of these kids have you seen play Jeff?

Comment by Omar 11.16.07 @ 10:58 am

Sorry, this is a touchy subject for me. I hate watching Ronald Ramon and Levance Fields as our guards. I doubt many people who post on here would have trouble guarding Ramon. He is extra slow.
I was going to add JP as one of the few Pitt players that have been quick. I feel this is what has held us to the sweet 16. Pitt has never really had quickness in their guards.

Comment by Chris 11.16.07 @ 11:12 am

I agree, Ramon is very, very slow. Fields on the other hand has really improved his quickness this season. He is moving much better defensively and has been able to take it to the basket. He needs to drive to the hoop more often instead of settling for that step back jumper.

Playing both Fields and Ramon together is not a great strategy. They are both below average in terms of height and Ramon is an average, at best, defender against athletic guards. I would prefer if Ramon came off the bench and either Benjamin or Wannamaker started with Fields. Unfortunately I don’t think we are going to see a change. At least Ramon can shoot.

Comment by Omar 11.16.07 @ 11:22 am

Any updates on Dwight Miller? I guess he’s our man now that Jones is committed to WVU?

Comment by Ian 11.16.07 @ 12:00 pm

Wake me up for swimming/diving season..

Comment by ChrisA 11.16.07 @ 12:14 pm

None, Omar. I’m just going by what I read in the paper and on blogs like this, so take my opinion for what it’s worth.

Comment by Jeff 11.16.07 @ 12:22 pm

Pitt took Travon Woodall over Daryl “Truck” Bryant who subsequently committed to WVU. Apparently Pitt had there pick with these two as they both wanted to play at Pitt and chose Woodall because he has more upside.

Nasir Robinson was a top-50 player not too long ago. He has great size, is a strong rebounder and plays very tough defense. Many smart basketball people say he is an excellent player. Pitt targeted him very early and got the committment.

Gibbs I know nothing about, other than he is a great shooter. The staff probably recruited him because Ramon is graduating.

This would have been a top-15 class if Vargas committed. Even without him it is a strong group of players.

Comment by Omar 11.16.07 @ 1:09 pm

From what I have heard/read Gibbs is a taller (by about 2 inches) version of Ronald Ramon.

Comment by pitt1972 11.16.07 @ 1:34 pm

Why not start Gilbert at the 2?

Comment by Chris 11.16.07 @ 2:14 pm

1 = Levance
2 = Gilbert
3 = Cook
4 = Young
5 = Blair
6 = Oakland Zoo

Comment by Chris 11.16.07 @ 2:15 pm

Taking the two guards, Dixon believes they will complement Fields and Wanamaker next season. Woodall comes from a huge program out of Jersey and building a pipeline out of there is another reason. Dixon is no scrub and he is using his brain.

As for Robinson, he will be the man taking over for Cook. If Young stays for his senior season the 3-4-5 spots look like this:
Robinson
Young
Blair
…enough said.

This is a good recruiting class, not a fancy one on paper but very underrated. The fact that we have some PA kids signing can’t hurt. All it takes is one sick Philly guard to sign and Pennsylvania belongs to Pittsburgh. Very well played by Dixon, just give the man some more time.

Comment by Panthoor 11.16.07 @ 2:30 pm

Yeah, maybe.

I guess I’m just still disappointed we didn’t get Vargas.

Comment by Jeff 11.16.07 @ 2:39 pm

Gilbert Brown will be taking over for Cook next year. He might end up playing more this year if he keeps up his intensity on defense and uses his athletic ability to drive. Already he is a better three-point shooter than Cook. I love Cook and Brown at the three. That position is set. They both complement each other very well. Cook is craftier, knows how to get fouled and is a strong rebounder offensively (getting better on the defensive boards). Brown has the silky smooth jump-shot, eye catching vertical and length. Both players will be tough to handle for the opposition. I see at least 18-20 points a game out of the small forward position.

Comment by Omar 11.16.07 @ 3:41 pm

Can’t argue with the fact that I like Cook at the three but I don’t want to get in the habit of starting guards at the SF position(though half the team is playing out of position). Brown has the size to play the SF position but I rather have him fight with Wanamaker at the 2. Robinson might not be as athletic as Gilbert Brown but he would be a Jaron Brown type of player that we all I’m sure miss. I guess it doesn’t really matter since we could have up to 4 guards out on the court at one time.

BTW I haven’t seen this I’m guessing walk on freshman, Frye, but how does he look out there?. He seems to be making the most out of his very limited minutes. Does anyone think this guy can compete for more minutes?

Comment by Panthoor 11.16.07 @ 5:22 pm

what happened with roscoe davis? i thought for sure dokish awhile ago had him coming to pitt?
another example of dixon’s inability to close on a player?

Comment by kurt nestel 11.16.07 @ 5:23 pm

Pitt stopped recruiting him because of academic issues. They targeted Vargas instead. There is still speculation that Davis will not qualify.

Comment by Omar 11.16.07 @ 7:32 pm

The starting 5 next year (jesus, isn’t it a bit early to be thinking about this):

Fields
Wanamaker
Brown
Young
Blair

Comment by In My Seat 90 Minutes Before Kickoff 11.16.07 @ 9:16 pm

From what I’ve heard, Woodall is lightning quick. It would be nice to have someone who can control the tempo just by himself and shut the other team’s point guard down.

Comment by ryan 11.17.07 @ 12:29 am

As to Frye, he reminds me of a smoother Yuri Demetris. It shows how much the program has improved over the years.

Comment by fred 11.17.07 @ 12:41 am

thanks Omar, for the update on Roscoe Davis, but academic issues certainly didn’t have us holding back on dodson, I also think Blair’s academic issues were in doubt for a while. plus if there was ever a year to redshirt a guy at the 3-4-5 position, this is it.

Comment by Kurt 11.17.07 @ 11:04 am

His issues are worse than both of the gentleman you mentioned.

Comment by Omar 11.17.07 @ 11:16 am

anyone know a good site to listen to the game? Preferably one that doesn’t play music at the same time, and works?

Comment by Jon C 11.17.07 @ 11:57 am

Nope.

C McKillop is injured, Romeus gets the start and most of the plays…

Comment by Stuart 11.17.07 @ 11:59 am

 
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