A trip that I’d rather not discuss right now. Yeesh. It’s drizzling and gray.
Apparently the unofficial media poll was released last night and Pitt was picked to finish 4th — behind Syracuse, UConn and Louisville. The big stunner DePaul was not picked for 16th. That honor went to Providence. No irony there. Nope. Nothing to see with that.
And just to also note that 6 of the top 8 teams happen to be football playing teams. Go figure.
Ashton Gibbs was picked as the preseason player of the year.
Just a quick note before I meet the other Big East folk and the marketing guy who will be in charge of us.
Not sure how much posting or time for posting I will actually have. Twitter may be the best bet today. If you are on Twitter and don’t follow me, then why the hell not? Otherwise, just click the twitter logo in the sidebar and you can follow the tweets today without an account.
Also stated was Ville, Cincy, and WV in the last 6 years have 3 BCS wins over #3 Oak., #8 Geo., and #15 Wake. The 4 teams that left or are leaving have no BCS apperances in the last 3 years.
Top payoffs 09-10 are #1 Kan. 12,048,630, #2 Tex. 12,048,857, #9 Neb. 9,334,548, #10 A&M 9,265,582, and Colo. 8,325,680.
No wonder the Providence Mafia wants 12 teams as they may end up with 9-10 teams.
Latest I heard (uncomfirmed) that the guy who owned the farm, let the animals loose then killed himself — total a-hole.
Maybe Rev George in Columbus saw a lion or llama on his way to church this morning
i wanted to clarify my “crashing in a new car” comment. locals are assuming that graham is going to crash and burn. mr. wannstedt already proved that he was going to crash and burn at every opportunity to win the conference. even if graham does the same, at least it will not be with the exact same process that mr. wannstedt employed.
furthermore, graham may succeed. it was clear that mr. wannstedt was not going to do any better. the proof was the fact that he could not win the conference 3 consecutive years while leading at the end of october. did we really need more proof?
UConn & Syracuse ted for 1st, Lville 3rd and Pitt 4th .. WVU 7th. Gibbs pre-season Player of the year
Pre-season polls must be taken with a grain of salt .. but worthy discussion I suppose
However, I think differently than most others … while I would certainly enjoy a BCS berth, I am satisfied with being in the running for the title each and every year. This is the same for BB by the way.
I would rather be competitive every year than win the BE one year and then be a middle-of-the-pack team like Lville has been since they won title or maybe Cicny will be since they last won, and what looks like UConn is going to be in the next few years.
I know my expectations are lower in FB than most on this site … but I cannot foresee Pitt ever coming close to the heights that the FB program reached in late 70s / early 80s, even though ACC membership should help with recruiting.
BTW, Tampa T, latest is that there still is a grizzly bear and large mountain lion unaccounted for
Some think he somehow leans to Penn State.
I have always been one to believe, he just tells it like it is, and if he criticizes your program, people get mad at him.
Some that don’t take their blue and gold glasses off may hate him.
Just as some with their blue and white glasses on would hate him this morning.
Absolutely crushing Penn St, the program, the 6-1 record being a “paper” 6-1. Also brought up that Penn State is 1-13 against top 5 teams since 1995.
Nitters, don’t even respond, not baiting you, I wish Pitt was 6-1 right now, please note that.
My comments are only about Cook. Too tired to fight about Pitt/Penn St. today.
I enjoy Cook, he is blunt, and I feel tells it like it is.
Have never noticed a Penn St. bias. Certainly not this morning!!!
IMHO
The subject is hoops, sorry, forgot.
Sorry Chas, thought I was on a football post from you the other day.
Who is it? Woodall from the point? Epps from the point? Lamar from the 2/3? JJ from the 3?
Many have picked Dante’s “jump” at the critical junior year juncture as the biggest key.
Would love to hear Blather nation’s thoughts on that one?
We NEED JJ Moore to provide offensively. Maybe I’m hoping/wishing, but I see potential as a” Wannamaker” playmaker for the offense, with more explosiveness. Could be a real difference maker, but that’s a lot of hoping based on past performance.
1. Woodall
2. Gibbs
3. Patterson
4. Robinson
5. Taylor
That starting 5 is good enough to beat anyone on any night. The key to the team becoming elitie is going to be how all the young guys like Wright, Birch and the Johnsons play. Tons of upside this year.
A stiry in the TRib the other day indicated that Dante is practicing in the low post .. which might provide a presence we haven’t seen their since Gray. It will be nice to see an inside -out offense.
My money, at this point, is on Woodall. I think his shot really started to get better towards the end of the year, and with his transition game, he could likely be the offensive spark or clutch shot guy to compliment Ashton.
Still a little skeptical that a Cam Wright or JJ can consistently make outside shots or have a leash to work out the kinks live.
I would put Lamar as the next choice behind Woodall.
Not giving him or any media a pass, I do not know anyone in the media, Ron Cook is not my Uncle. But probably easily done when blathering about sports all day every day.
No biggie, good day to you Sir Nitter. I probably like Cook, because I can’t stand that blathering Vinnie cohort he has.
It just is really annoying. I get the ascerbic tone and polarizing rhetoric from an old curmudgen…sells papers, increases web hits, got it. I can take that…but every time a Fitz or Blair or Shady type comes on the scene, he rushes out the door.
Criticizes Pitt, PSU, and WVU at times, hmmmmmmmmm.
The college teams all have fans, so he could generate some in-fighting with them, whereas, everyone is pretty much on the Steelers and Pens side.
Could be……oh well, still like him better than Vinnie.
Actually, on 93.7, if anyone ever gets a chance to listen, I kind of like Josh Miller. Yes, the former punter. Very laid back, dry sense of humor, and never really yells at anyone. Trys to look at both sides.
I think he’s developing into a pretty decent talk show host.
Cook just comes across as grumpy to me. It beats Vinnie, who just seems like a buffoon.
wbb – I agree that it will be nice to have a post man who can (hopefully) take and make a pass in the post. If Taylor really can step out an hit a 10 foot baseline jumper, that will also be a welcome change, as that shot can open up a lot of lanes.
I like Pitt as preseason No. 4. We will surprise the experts this year, as we have in the past when they have underrated us.
About the wild animals in Zanesville.
The Gov’t seems to have more regulations on people and things like their ability to traverse airports without being groped and/or irradiated then they do on some guy being able to keep Wolves, Lions, Bears and other animals that are dangerous to human kind.
Something is fundamentally wrong with that.
Stay safe bro.
Wannamaker, Brown & McGhee were all pretty good defensive players as well, that is another big question mark, as Taylor was just awful playing defense last year. So much so he was a liability on the floor. Hopefully that had more to do with his knee problems, let’s hope.
Also those 3 were our best 3 rebounders as well, who exactly is going to replace them. That’s going to be very interesting! (Nas will be one)
Who is our next offensive weapon beyond Gibbs? In particular, from the wing?
I have NOT yet seen anyone make shotsonsistently from the outside or drive for easy buckets/FTs from anyone on this year’s team; except Woodall or maybe Lamar. Zanna showed a jump shot down low, but I’m mainly concerned from the outside.
If Ashton is on and scoring…I like our chances against anyone in America.
#4 in the preseason conference rankings is a good spot. Gives the guys something to shoot for as underdogs, since winning the conference is always Jamie’s focus. If you do well in the Big East, the national acclaim and tourney seeding takes care of itself.
wbb, Just watched a press conference on the Zanesville wild animal escape. They had to put down 48 animals and caught 6. Still missing are a gray wolf and a monkey that might have herpes B. Sounds like they were forced to kill some fine animals. Jack Hanna seemed really pissed about it. He tried to save as many as possible. You’re right, that guy was a a-hole who left his poor wife to face this mess.
Now so do I for wasting 25 sec on this post…
Never even seen Mayor Bloomberg on here before.
Occaisionally on here, regular posters may make a joke or two. We even make Godfather references on here!!!
Usually dies out on its own (had allredy died out until you brought it up again 3 hours later).
For any current or former police officer out there, have always had your back, thought it was pretty clear by mentioning the park, that I was making fun of the protesters.
Drop it, and it’ll go away. I felt I “had” to post to apologize to any police panther friends.
Funny John, 6 of your 7 top teams play football, maybe a little more lending of your ear to these schools, and you wouldn’t be in this mess.
Also, haven’t seen it mentioned on here much, has anyone asked the commish about the BE raiding Conference USA a few years back. I know he wasn’t commish then, but it was the BE.
That was ok??? Why, just because you called and told them a week before, so it’s ok??? LOL!!!
The B10, PAC 10, SEC and BE raids were all well publicized with the inentions of each made known prior to the actual raid.
than the ball will start to roll.
Then suddenly Nebraska!
Doesn’t seem like Texas A&M announcing it would look elsewhere, has helped the Big 12 in any way shape or form.
PAC12 not repudiating, and letting dangle the UT,TT,OK,OSU thing for a year or so, and it pops up every so often and causes chaos.
Frankly, and correct me if I’m wrong, too tired and ready to leave work to look it up, didn’t Pitt, Syracuse and most of the other football schools tell the BE back in January or sometime, that, (paraphrasing) “you better do something for the football conference, or we’ll be looking out for our best interests!”
Is that what he’s really mad about, he didn’t get told before hand??? Actually, sounds like he did get told, chose not to believe it would happen, or if it would happen, he’d hear about it from someone, or there would be news on tv or the internet about it.
Some would call it getting blind-sided, others would say, you had plenty of time, and people did what they had to do.
Did he want them to come to him and say “look, we really mean it this time, we’re not kidding, you better do something or we’re gonna go, we’re serious this time, we’re really gonna go” LOL
Sounds like he’s mad because he didn’t get the respect of a phone call first. Well, maybe he and the BE should have shown a little more respect for the football programs over the years.
Not arguing with you wbb, just banter.
Actually, the monkey may be hepatitis B. The sheriff said herpes but the news reporter said hepatitis. Either way, keep clear of that monkey, Rev. George.
Dude, thanks for making me snarf my coffee! 🙂
“My problem is not them leaving,” he said. “My problem is you did it in 48 hours. Don’t run away with a girl after one date when you’ve been dating someone else for three or four years. You’ve been dating this woman for 30 years, show a little respect.” link to zagsblog.com
Not a great choice of analogies Rick considering not too long ago you were busted for this: link to usatoday.com
My problem is with him making nasty comments towards Syracuse and Pitt. No need for that.
The faux acting “appalled and shocked”, when the whole world new this was coming.
Knew that it was going to be Pitt and Syracuse, no, could have been WVU and UCONN, could have been all four, or one, but to act shocked, and get nasty about it. Boo!!!!!!!!!!!!
No offense to the Rev. either. He’s just the closest person to all the action who frequents this blog as far as I know. Like wbb said, he may have run across a wild animal on the way to church. Either that or an OSU player headed to the tattoo parlor.
Ya Rick, how bout some of that respect for your wife!!!!!!!
The audacity and hypocrisy of some of these people, and they can’t let it go.
Rick, wasn’t only 48 hours, been coming a long time.
Or, someone could clear this up for me. I thought they went to press about it, and Marinatto and his group found out about it on TV, like they didn’t get a phone call.
Is it true they did tell them in advance, 48 hrs, but, still in advance.
I must have missed some of the articles, I thought their ire’ was because they weren’t told before it went to press.
And I thought that was silly.
Rick, if it would have been Louisville and Syracuse, it would have been ok.
Without windbagging, a few media people have opened up the idea, if the Big East falls apart, Notre Dame would try the ACC, for the same Big East deal.
Probably some ND homers, who know they need a good place for all their other olympic sports etc. etc.
Well, before it is even news, ACC Commish, John Swofford shut the door of any talk of that today, the ACC is everyone in equally conference, that’s whats worked for us, and that’s the way it will stay!!!
I like the new commish allready.
Notre Dame in football with UCONN, sure, same Big East deal, go pound salt!!!
Nice to be in a big four with stability!!!
What’s to be gained by going so big, other than a cushion for when schools inevitably depart? Marinatto’s talking out of both sides of his ass (granted, it’s an ass worthty of the task) — make a huge conference so you don’t get jilted when members leave for better ones, but promote ‘stability’ with a bigger exit fee. Which is it? Notice how the ACC basically shut the door on ND minus football? That’s how grown ups run things.
Not knocking Ashton: what he’s done with what he’s got is amazing.
But isn’t the preseason POY for the best b-ball conference in the land supposed to be a future NBA stud?
Just seems strange that the BE preseason POY is a hard-working, over-achieving sharpshooter who may average 16-17 pts a game, doesn’t play much defense and can’t get his own shot.
Once again — not a knock on Gibbs. He’s getting the most from his ability and I’m certainly glad he’s playing for Dixon.
I just don’t know whether to be happy for Gibbs or surprised that a league that’s supposed to be this good doesn’t have any other more qualified candidates.
I’m fine with Gibbs and won’t knock him for what he brings. Try to imagine Pitt in conference play this year without him in the backcourt.
It’s certainly hard to deny that any other player is more important to his team’s success than Gibbs is to Pitt’s at this point. He’s probably the difference between Pitt being #4 preseason and somewhere in the middle of the pack had he decided to leave early.
Hopefully, we also have this year’s Most Improved Player and/or Rookie of the Year so the load doesn’t entirely fall on Gibbs’ shooting arm.
Adrian Branch says he has them at #6 ahead of Duke in his poll, FWIW. He says they’re a complete team and that Jamie always gets it done. Also says he thinks they’ll be stronger down low than last year.
Dino Gaudio agreed they could easily be Top 10 even though they’re only one spot out.
Will be interesting to see what other ESPN talking heads have to say.
But putting them in the Top 10 is a bit crazy, I think. Unproven PG, unproven swingmen in Patterson and Moore.
This should be a team that gets better and better all through the year, but the upside is all up front. Expecting Woodall and Patterson/Moore to be key contributors on a Top 10 team is a tall order.
Lots of question marks in key spots. I think 2009 is either a blessing or curse for Jamie. They all saw what he was able to do with a less talented team, so he’s getting props for that in these early rankings.
Problem is that if some of the guys you mention don’t deliver, the team could then get labeled as a disappointment later on.
Let’s hope they step up like other guys have in the past.
What makes me nervous is that sounds a lot like the football team, so maybe I’m being more cautious than usual. Jamie always seems to figure it out though.
Last year’s Pitt team was GOOD, not great, defensively. Wanamaker, McGhee and Brown were by far the three best defenders. They are gone and it is hard to see where their replacements will be as good.
The projected starting lineup (Woodall, Gibbs, Patterson, Robinson and Taylor) is short and not particularly quick. Of those guys, who is going to guard the other team’s top scorer? Without Brown and Wanamaker it is going to be harder to hide Gibbs’ defensive short comings. Taylor was bad defensively last year. Healthy knees, a stronger body and year of experience will help, but how much? Patterson is just not fast enough to gaurd elite big east athletes the way Brad and Gil did.
The bench has some potential, but there are still concerns. Birch and Gilbert have a ton of potential. They could be the two best tall athletes to play inside at Pitt since Charles Smith. But they are BEANPOLES and could get pushed around this year. Zanna has the lenght and atheletic ability, but the coaches seem to question his toughness. Moore has all the physical tools, but none of the mental ones. Wright is tall, fast and strong. He has the potential to be a really good defender. He has to step up. Johnson and Johnson are good athletes, but both are likely redshirt candidates.
So for Pitt to be a top 10 team in March, they need to be really good on defense. That means a bunch of the non-starters are going to need to step up and earn starting spots. And if that happens, Jamie will have to be willing let some of the older guys take a lesser role.
