OT: D1

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

Re: OT: D1

A few Pitt notes and a fun mock 2020 recruiting class---

-It appears that the Panthers will host the Slippery Rock men for an October 30 scrimmage at the Pete. It will be interesting to see how Micah Till does against the Panthers post players. He may hold his own.

-The refurbished Pitt floor has been completed and it is looking great with a return to real traditional Pitt shades of blue and yellow. Good riddance to the crappy navy blue and gold.


The following can be considered version 1.0 of a mock Pitt recruiting class for 2020 with the inclusion of players that Pitt has a realistic chance of landing and an interest in obtaining. Capel should have at least four scholies to dole out next spring and possibly five rather easily. We'll go the five route.

Combo Guard- R.J. Davis 5-11, 165 Archbishop Stepinac (from White Plains, NY)

SG/SF- Earl Timberlake 6-6, 215 DeMatha Catholic (from Upper Marlboro, MD)

C/PF- John Hugley 6-8, 260 Brush (from Cleveland, Ohio)

PF/SF- Noah Collier 6-7, 200 Westtown High (from Norristown, PA)

SG/SF- D.J. Gordon 6-6, 170 First Love Academy (from Pittsburgh, PA)


Certainly at this time Moon Area's Puff Johnson looms large in the Pitt recruiting puzzle as well. It will be a wait and see situation with him and what his plans are for the next level. Also keep your eye on A.J. Griffin who is R.J. Davis' backcourt mate at Archbishop Stepinac. He is said to be talking to Pitt as well.

One player that I would like to see the Panthers avoid at this time is SF Jalen Bridges out of West Virginia. I don't feel that he would be a good fit for the program.

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[Fightingscot82]

Re: OT: D1

Puff Johnson's cousin (also from Moon) is a freshman on the Edinboro football team.

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

Re: OT: D1

Puff Johnson's cousin (also from Moon) is a freshman on the Edinboro football team.

Tell the cousin that he will have to travel to Arizona if he wants to see Puff. He just transferred to Hillcrest High out there for his senior year. His brother Cameron plays for the Suns now and the Wildcats were high on Puff's wish list.

I always thought the odds of Pitt landing him were not very good. They just got much, much worse. There was good reason why I did not have Pitt landing him in my mock recruiting class.

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[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

PG Posh Alexander commits to St. Johns. Much thought that Pitt is all in on R.J. Davis and that they dropped interest in Alexander.

6-11 C Cliff Omoruyi to make a Pitt visit at the end of the month. It was fun to watch his highlights and see him giving it to people when he blocked their shots. He is said to have Kentucky in hot pursuit of him.

PF Elijah Taylor also said to be on the verge of a Pitt visit.

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[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

Looks like the ship has just sailed on Pitt getting Jalen Bridges as he did not include Pitt on his top five finalist list. Thank Goodness All Mighty! I did not like him as a fit for Pitt. Too different of a personality. Capel seems to go after a different sort of breed than him.

This could really open the door for guys like Noah Collier and D.J. Gordon to commit to Pitt. I'll go out on the ledge and predict that Collier will commit to Pitt sometime shortly this fall. Impressive kid. Go watch one of his interviews. The kid is just super articulate and intelligent beyond his years.

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[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

PG Shakeel Moore 6-1, 185 out of Monroe, NC and Piedmont High has listed Pitt among his final seven schools. Other notables include NC State, Ole Miss, Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas A&M. I have seen him listed as both a three-star recruit and four-star. I watched some video of him. He certainly has game about him. Looked rather short. I doubt he is actually his listed 6-1. I did see one listing for 5-11. That might be more realistic.

The best guess here is that Pitt is all-in big time on R.J. Davis. My thoughts are that Moore will likely pick one of the southern schools he listed. He is due for a Pitt visit at the end of September, same weekend that they are hosting John Hugley.

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[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

A few Pitt tidbits to get caught up on--

-The ACC will release the 2019-2020 conference schedule tomorrow evening (Sept. 12) at 9 PM EST.

-Quite the big gathering of the basketball elite the other night at the open gym event at Stepniac High School (New York). That is where the much sought after combo guard R.J. Davis plays. He recently cut his list of schools down to a final four----Pitt, Marquette, Georgetown, and North Carolina. The entire Pitt staff was on hand for the event as were such luminaries as Coach K and his staff and Hoyas coach Patrick Ewing. Head Coach Jeff Capel and his staff followed up the event with an in-home visit with Davis. Also drawing a lot of interest that evening was Davis' backcourt running mate A.J. Griffin who is already listed as a top 10 prospect for the 2021 class (why Duke was there).

-Everyone at Pitt is exited about the prospect of signing Davis as well as Earl Timberlake----but keep in mind that the Tar heels Roy Williams is also hot on the trail of both of the blue chippers. It might be wise to temper the hopes and expectations here a tad.

-Quality bigs such as Elijah Taylor and Cliff Omoryuyi have been talking to the Panther program and making visits.

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[Fightingscot82]

Was told that there's a non-conference scheduling issue going on - lots of schools struggling to get games. RMU is playing DIII Geneva the night before Thanksgiving.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Was told that there's a non-conference scheduling issue going on - lots of schools struggling to get games. RMU is playing DIII Geneva the night before Thanksgiving.

That's embarrassing. Play IUP or West Liberty. They'd take the game.

As Joe and John Calapari said last year, ... nobody in Pittsburgh will play them.

[Fightingscot82]

That's embarrassing. Play IUP or West Liberty. They'd take the game.

As Joe and John Calapari said last year, ... nobody in Pittsburgh will play them.

Booked too many away games so they probably had a hard time fitting in one more game.

11/7 at Marshall
11/9 at Notre Dame
11/12 Pitt
11/15 vs Howard (at Toledo)
11/16 at Toledo
11/21 at UIC
11/23 at Marquette
11/30 at Cleveland State
12/4 at Youngstown State
12/7 at Florida Gulf Coast
12/17 Central Michigan
12/21 at UNLV

[Golden89]

Was told that there's a non-conference scheduling issue going on - lots of schools struggling to get games. RMU is playing DIII Geneva the night before Thanksgiving.

Might explain why St. Bonaventure is playing Gannon on 12/14.

This problem may get bigger as teams move toward scheduling more conference games.

[Columbuseer]

That's embarrassing. Play IUP or West Liberty. They'd take the game.

As Joe and John Calapari said last year, ... nobody in Pittsburgh will play them.

My guess is that pressure is so great to win for many d1 coaches that a possible loss to iup or wlu in exhibition might put a coach on thin ice with the boosters.

[boatcapt]

My guess is that pressure is so great to win for many d1 coaches that a possible loss to iup or wlu in exhibition might put a coach on thin ice with the boosters.

A quality D1 derives NO benefit from playing a high quality DII in a real game. If they win by 30, everyone says no big deal because they SHOULD have won by 30. If they win but the game is close, they get criticized for "playing down" to their opponent. If they LOSE that get absolutely crucified by the local and national media as well as their alumni donors.

ZERO benefit for playing a good DII over a D3.

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

Word screaming out of the Steel City that Pitt hoops recruit Justin Champagnie could be lost for the season with a knee injury. That would be a big blow to the Panthers. Hopefully this is not the case. Stay tuned...

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[IUPbigINDIANS]

A quality D1 derives NO benefit from playing a high quality DII in a real game. If they win by 30, everyone says no big deal because they SHOULD have won by 30. If they win but the game is close, they get criticized for "playing down" to their opponent. If they LOSE that get absolutely crucified by the local and national media as well as their alumni donors.

ZERO benefit for playing a good DII over a D3.

Robert Morris is a little different -- and far from a 'quality' D1 program. I'd probably call them in most years a decent low mid-major. To be honest, they could play IUP or WL and the game probably wouldn't even get covered by the Pittsburgh media ... probably a small blurb in the next days sports section. Bobby Mo is third fiddle in Pittsburgh behind Pitt and Duquesne -- and Pitt and Duquesne are miles behind the Steelers and Penguins.

But, yes, the unspoken rule is if you're going to play down ... you best know what the outcome is going to be long before the game starts. I'm not saying IUP or WL would beat Robert Morris or St. Francis on a regular basis, but there are certainly years they could.


I remember last year IUP scheduled Westminster - it was the first time IUP played a D3 in forever. Total snooze-fest for the crowd. And, naturally, Westminster came out gangbusters and IUP was asleep -- and it was a game at halftime. Joe then likely exploded at halftime and IUP won by 35 or something. This year they are bringing Bethany (WV) up to the KCAC. I know the IUP ladies will NEVER be invited back to Pitt again after beating the Panthers two years ago.

Basketball also can't pay those huge guarantees like they can pay teams to get slaughtered in football.