I’m leaving to visit family for Thanksgiving today, so there’s a good chance of not checking back in until late or tomorrow. Posting will still be happening, but I’m hoping the conversations here are a lot mellower than last year.
Sam Young was named Big East Player of the Week. He’s the first Pitt player to get the nod in over two years.
Seth Davis at SI.com had a bunch of national nuggets/observations in this article.
If you’re a Pitt fan, you’ve got to love this start by junior forward Sam Young (team-leading 19.3 ppg, 9.0 rebounds in the first three games). My buddy Pete Gillen is looking pretty smart right now for picking Pittsburgh as his darkhorse team to make it to San Antonio.
Gillen could arguably be considered biased since his former top assistant — Tom Herrion — is now a Pitt assistant. Just saying.
Dwight Miller, originally was going to wait until the spring to make a decision on where to attend. He changed his mind and signed with Pitt to complete the 4-man signing class.
A native of the Bahamas, Miller has been playing organized basketball for only three years. He played his first two seasons at Westbury Christian in Houston and transferred this fall to St. Pius X, a perennial power in Texas.
Miller, who has worked with former NBA star Hakeem Olajuwon, became a prospect with a strong summer season and got on the radar of some other major programs.
Dixon is not able to speak about recruits until Pitt has received their letters of intent. All four letters should be in Pitt’s possession today, at which time Dixon will discuss his class in depth. Tomorrow marks the end of the week-long fall signing period.
Here’s the obligatory recruiting quote about getting a good find.
The high-upside Miller, who visited Pitt on Nov. 4, picked the Panthers over Rutgers and St. John’s.
“I think that’s a great get,” said Hoopscoop.com editor Clark Francis, who has Miller ranked No. 65 in the Class of 2008.
I’m a little torn on this. Not sure Pitt needs another project, but he did seem the best player available. Of course, banking the scholarship makes little sense this year, since Pitt will have 4 to offer for the 2009 class. So I’ll shut up.
While Pitt has been off for a while and will continue until Friday, of course they have continued practicing hard.
This year Young is the key, hopefully his health will hold out and hopefully he keeps his head into the “team concept”.
UCF, Virginia Commonwealth, Arizona State, Cincinnati, Houston, Tulane, UCF, Kansas State, Kentucky, Marquette, Miami-FL, Nebraska, & Oregon State were recruiting him, in particular 5 BE schools, Kentucky, Oregano state, and K State though well of him.
Also the Dream thinks highly of him. I am sure that if he had been in the US a year or two longer the upper echelon of the major conferences would have knocking on his door.
Who’s to say he won’t grow another inch or 3. Evidently he has the athleticism; he just needs to be taught how to use it. Pitt could have done a lot worse.
We need you to weigh in on this one big guy, we are waiting for your “expert analysis”
“Jamie Dixon has done a good job of taking kids like Dwight, and they continue to develop and turn into future NBA prospects,” Rutherford said.”
Opted for Pitt because of Dixon’s track record! That says alot about JD and the Pitt program. Gray was a project that made it to the NBA via Pitt’s program. Evidently Miller saw it, and we can only hope that he is not the first to notice it.
If the current team exceeds the prognosticators’’ expectations, the visibility/viability of the program will be more appealing to better recruits!
Paterno’s salary is public, court rules
The public has the right to know Joe Paterno’s salary, the state Supreme Court ruled today.
The court, in a 4-2 decision, ruled that the State Employees’ Retirement System must release the salaries of Paterno and other Penn State University officials. This ruling stems from an open-records lawsuit filed by The Patriot-News that originated from a request for this information submitted in 2002 to the pension system.
Penn State didn’t want this information released, saying it was private.
It was not immediately clear when the information would be released.
vote for Shady as Freshman of the Year!!!
I’m shocked. Guess you have to be smarter than a PSU grad to understand that one…
Weeks later, on his way to acting class, he ran into Chuck Bonasorte, a former Pitt player and teammate of Dorsett, across the street from the Cathedral of Learning. Bonasorte was standing next to the canvas and pipe kiosk where he sells Pitt T-shirts and sweatshirts. On the front of one of his T-shirts is printed this message: “Shady for Heisman.’’
“What’s up, brother?’’ asked Bonasorte, shaking McCoy’s hand. “I was going to put up a sign after the Louisville game that said, ‘We Love You, Shady.’ ’’
McCoy smiled. Bonasorte told him a story:
McCoy’s fumble reminded him of a game in 1974. Pitt trailed Notre Dame by a touchdown. Bonasorte had blocked a punt that gave Pitt the ball near Notre Dame’s goal line. As time was running out, Dorsett ran toward the end zone for a tying touchdown. But around the 1-yard line, Dorsett fumbled. Notre Dame recovered and eventually won, 14-10.
“That adversity makes you better,†Bonasorte said. “Let it go.’’
McCoy left for class, already familiar with that lesson.
“Things will happen,’’ he said. “It’s how you bounce back.’’
The rest of the story is interesting as well.
MSU lost an exhibition game to nobodystate, Marquette struggle with Chaminade…those are two teams that are very erratic and will lose several games due to that fact this year. Of course i’m sure we’ll be Marquette when they’re on, like we did last year…
OSU doesn’t look good at all…
Illinois had one good year..the rest have been smoke and mirrors…a product of a (usually) weak league and soft schedule…
