As the past couple days posts on basketball recruiting have shown, Pitt and Coach Dixon are being very active in trying to add at least one more player to the recruiting class, if not two. It makes sense. Pitt needs frontcourt help and the backcourt needs ball handlers immediately.

The frontcourt need is looming. Even assuming Talib Zanna becomes the answer at power forward for next year (he’ll be a redshirt junior), there is really no one behind him.

That is why Savon Goodman is being pursued hard by Pitt whether for this year or next. His talent is obvious, but the need is great. It is why Pitt had been looking at JUCO power forwards. Unfortunately, Orlando Sanchez appears to have eliminated Pitt from his list — favoring options where it is almost certain he could start right away.

In the backcourt the key is, are the players good ball-handlers (and of course defense)? One of the big problems for Pitt was turnovers. Blame Woodall, a bit, but when you look at the guards and wings on this squad,  there’s a reason Woodall had the ball in his hands for so much of the time. Who else in the backcourt made you feel comfortable with the ball in his hands?  Especially against teams that would exert defensive pressure. Johnson? Wright? No. The “best” options after Woodall were Patterson and Gibbs.

(more…)

Well, after a post noting the lack of progress in the offense there was life spotted outside of Isaac Bennett. Not everyone will be happy since the signs of life did not include Mark Myers make a sudden and abrupt leap in his skills understanding of the offense. The noted improvements seen were from Tino Sunseri, Trey Anderson, the receivers and the O-line.

Trey Anderson’s improvements were a surprise, and probably the most shocking to most. The third-string, short-for-a-QB, “spread” QB who was brought in at the last minute by FraudGraham last year. Instead, Anderson — coming off a shoulder injury at the end of last year — made the move to the second-team in practice. Knocking Myers back a spot. Coach Paul Chryst, though, wants to make it clear that it isn’t because Myers is doing badly.

Coach Paul Chryst wants to see more of backup quarterback Trey Anderson, who received nearly every snap with the second-team offense Tuesday. Previously, Mark Myers was working with the No. 1 backups.

“He has done enough where you can balance the reps off to give him a chance to see things a little bit more and find out a little bit more who he is,” Chryst said.

Coaches said there is no depth chart, and Chryst added that the change was not a punitive measure aimed at Myers.

“We have to make sure we can look at everyone,” Chryst said.

“It’s not an in-the-doghouse kind of thing. At the same time, Trey did a couple things to merit some more reps, and those reps have to come from someone and they came from Mark today.”

Naturally, no one would consider it that way. Not Pitt fans. Not a chance. No way. No how.

(more…)

Another steady day of contributions and pledges. Eight PayPal contributions and nine check pledges. That puts the two-day total at 20 PayPal donations and 15 check pledges. Consistency like this is encouraging that the pledge drive can end in under two weeks.

You can help by donating one of two ways. One is to shoot me an e-mail at PittBlather-at-gmail-dot-com and I can give you my mailing address. I’m not going to post it on the site, because that is just plain stupid. The other is clicking PayPal on the right sidebar. Yes, the e-mail address listed on the account when you click is correct — my PayPal account predates PittBlather.

On a nuts-and-bolts issue. I will need to hire someone to help with some of the upgrades and improvements to the site. I know some people, but keeping it in the Pitt family, so to speak, would be good. So if you or someone you know has experience with website design, computer graphics and/or wordpress send me an e-mail to discuss it.