Savon Goodman continues to play coy about his decision for 2012. He hasn’t ruled out prep school. He hasn’t ruled out playing this year, with his family stating that he is eligible.
He was in Pittsburgh this past weekend for the Under Armour Hoop Group Pittsburgh Jam Fest. But…
This wasn’t the best weekend for Savon Goodman, who struggled offensively in a half-court setting
That was echoed in other reviews of performances.
The 6’6” forward mainly floated around the perimeter and when he did take the ball to the hoop, had trouble finishing — a rarity for him. On the recruiting front, Goodman said he has no particular list at the moment but claimed offers from Pittsburgh and Temple as well as interest from UCLA and St. John’s, adding that Villanova is out of the picture.
The possibility remains that Goodman will take a prep year and join the 2013 class but he is still unsure of when that decision will come.
“I don’t have much control over that right now,” Goodman said, “my family is handling all of that.”
I’ve been feeling a bit pessimistic about the chances of landing Goodman, the longer he has delayed his decision. It just seems that he is waiting for something else. Something he believes will be a better offer.
It doesn’t help that all signs point that direction both in longing and desired style.
He added that he’s looking to play for a team with a “run n’ gun” style that likes to pressure the ball at the next level. It’s no wonder that Goodman said he’s hoping to garner some interest from John Calipari and Kentucky before it’s all said and done.
It’s no secret that Pitt is not a “run n’ gun” team. They aren’t built that way. It isn’t going to happen. And if that is what Goodman wants — as opposed to just wanting to get an offer from Kentucky — then both sides should just forget it now.
Pitt is a half-court team that wants to be very efficient with its possessions. It isn’t that Pitt won’t try to increase the pace when it can, but they won’t do so by sacrificing efficiency.
Last year, given the injuries and struggles, Pitt was one of the slowest teams in Division 1 basketball with only 62.8 possessions/40 minutes. It should improve this year, but I would be surprised if Pitt’s possessions/40 minutes exceeded much more than 64.
Again, I don’t know how much Goodman really wants to be on a fast-tempo team. As explosive as Kentucky could be, they were not a particularly up-tempo team. Only 66.3 possessions/40 minutes — which is 202d nationally. When you consider some of the other teams he likes to mention: St. John’s (139/67.4), UCLA (245/65.2) and Missouri (177/66.6); then he really doesn’t know what he wants — other than an offer from Kentucky.
Temple, his local team, seems to be more of a fit lately. They were 75th last year with 68.9 possessions/40 minutes.
Honestly, I don’t see him coming to Pitt at this point. I just don’t see Pitt squeezing someone off the team this year for him. So, I would say Temple has become the most likely place for him in 2012. If he preps, I think it is because he wants to get (or believes he will get) an offer from Kentucky or some other big, big name school in 2013.
The latter seems to be where Goodman’s interests lie. In the biggest, best offer he can get.
(of course, provided that Dixon isn’t hired at Va Tech)
I’m certainly a lot smarter and experienced than I was 20 years ago, but I was at least involved with making decisions affecting my future.
Doesn’t sound like much of a leader or someone I’d want in my program.
With an attitude like that, even a team in transition like Duquesne will treat him like a leper. Prep school would give him the chance to mature. Go Prep young man.
I hope Jamie pumps this kid up and allows him to work on his incredible talents in the non-confernce schedule. Also if he performs as I hope make certain our senoir guard realizes that this is not his team “this notion has to be stopped anyway; especeically since Pitt’s has never had a guard who was a go to player.”
Where are all Pitt’s “there team player’s playing now and in the future (Krauser, Fields, Gibbs, Woodall).
In fact, the whole new online Post Gazette seems totally disoriented. On the main sports page, they still show stories that are 12 days old … I have found myself spending much less time these days following the PG.
Fields had a great senior year and was one of the best PGs in the country.
Krauser’s senior year had probably the worst talent in Jamie Dixon’s tenure at Pitt. Yuri Demetris started 14 games, Mark McCarrol started 7 games, John Degroat backup point guard was freshman Ronald Ramon and Chris Taft was in the process of checking out. Krauser led the team in minutes, points, steal and assists and was third in rebounding. It is a miracle that the team even made the tournament.
Woodall played hurt all year just to give Pitt a chance to win. And when he was healthy the team actually played well.
THE LAST THING THAT JAMIE NEEDS NOW IS ANOTHER BIRCH!
I wouldnt say any of those guys, except Gibbs, were selfish. I would say they all had an inkling that they were a little better than they actually were. I give Krauser a pass to an extent but while he had the good numbers you mention, he also has the worst shooting percentage of the 7 guys getting meaningful playing time that year and had the highest TOs per game.
Its the same thing with Fields — shot more than almost anyone, had worse FG% than anyone. He was better than Krauser in that he had less TOs.
For both those guys they had great numbers reflecting what they brought to the table, but if you look at the numbers for what he took off the table those are kinda bad too.
I’m a big fan of both those guys and think they were certainly bringing more to the table than they took away, but they took away a little more than they could have. For lack of a better expresison they’re +/- were good but could have been better but for them taking too much ownership of the ball. I mean, how else to you explain high TO numbers and low FG %s but by way of saying they hogged the ball a little more than they should have.
Woodall has a simlar problem. I’d place him about where Krauser is. Woodall has better FG%, worse TOs (but not much worse). Fields had worse FG but wayyy better A:TO ratio. I dunno. Wish I was a better stat guy. But I think DRW has point if slightly exaggerrated.
Woodall has 51 assists and 19 TOs in the first seven games of the season. That’s a A:TO of 2.7.
TWO POINT SEVEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He averaged 14 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 TOs in those games. If you’re is not happy with those numbers, you should stop watching Pitt hoops and become a fan of the Bulls or
the Clippers.
Sure it was against inferior competition, but Krauser and Fields numbers were pumped up by playing against that same inferior competition.
Clearly Woodall was no better than 60% after he got back and got worse through the end of the season. And it showed.
If there’s one thing I know about Tray it’s that James Robinson is going to have to pry the starting PG spot out of his cold dead hands.
I’ll take that any day of the week.
Never heard of it.
For my money, L Fields is who I want to have the ball at the end of the game out of the group mentioned. They all carry strong characteristics, Krauser’s Heart, Gibbs shot, Tray’s quickness, but L.Fields had desire and a will to win. Mentally tough as was Krauser.
My biggest concern for Pitt BBall players is a lack of mental toughness and heart. I can’t remember when I have seen them all not committed to defense first in the Jamie Dixon era. Sometimes that happens with the more elite players except when Coach Calipari is at the helm and requires a strong defensive presence or you sit the bench approach. Pitt doesn’t have the depth for that type of stance to be taken…yet!
If you remember the week Woody won National Player of the week, PITT played real Uptempo that week.
Of course it didn’t hurt that BOTH Woody & Gibbs were on their games that week. But with no inside threat, teams stuck like glue on those two the rest of the season.
The UCLA’ns has seen enough of slow methodical half court. Have we ?
