OT: D1

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Pitt lands 5 star guard Jalen Hood-Schifino

In theory, yes.

However he's a sophomore. Between now and when he can sign the dotted line ... Lord knows what will get offered to him. Hopefully he holds to his verbal.

He's from here originally so that helps.



BTW ... Pitt looked God awful today.

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

That's it! Also hometown of PSAC commish Steve Murray.

Goodness, if I had a dime for every time my father dragged me off for fishing trips over the years up to northern counties such as Cameron, Elk, Warren, McKean, and Potter I may have a pile of cash on hand.

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[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

In theory, yes.

However he's a sophomore. Between now and when he can sign the dotted line ... Lord knows what will get offered to him. Hopefully he holds to his verbal.

He's from here originally so that helps.



BTW ... Pitt looked God awful today.

Yeah, just wait until all the blue bloods like Duke, UNC, and Kentucky come calling. But as you say----being from Pittsburgh does help the cause. It would be nice if he would reclassify to 2021 but his mother has apparently already ruled that out. But if X and Trey stick around for four years and then have the five star guard come in then that is not a bad deal either. I think that if Jeff Capel sticks around for the long haul then Pitt is going to really land some great players in time. We can see it beginning to happen already. It just takes time to build a great program.

Regarding today's game---yeah, I have to agree that it is getting beyond frustrating to constantly being in a fight with these supposedly lesser schools. Pitt just could not shake them and did not help their cause very much with some very poor rebounding efforts in the first half. Capel was so mad during his halftime exit interview that he looked to be actually quivering. I bet those guys caught holy hell in the locker room.

Well, it is all ACC play from here out. Thankfully the conference looks to be markedly down this year from what it normally is. Hopefully that translates to some decent wins this year.

It was great to see Gerald Drumgoole return to the court today and get some minutes. Also, nice to see Karim Coulibaly getting himself worked more and more into the rotation. He gives some great efforts out there. The other frosh, Slam Penny, led Pitt with 21 points today.

Looks like Wake Forest is up on Saturday at noon. Time to run down the ramp and hit the beach with the bullets coming fast and furious. Conference play is here!

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[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

Pitt lands 5 star guard Jalen Hood-Schifino

I was certainly aware of the name. Just watched some video of him and wow---he good! Apparently he is Pitt's only third five-star recruit. I wonder who the other two would be? These guys don't come around too often unless you are one of the true elite programs. 2022 is a long ways off---we'll see how it goes.

Edit/add----Lordy---this kid is ranked in the top 10 for the recruiting class of 2022! He would be a get!
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[IUPbigINDIANS]

The Georgetown cast-offs found their new homes. Akinjo is headed to the desert to play for Sean Miller. LeBlanc is off to LSU.

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

The Georgetown cast-offs found their new homes. Akinjo is headed to the desert to play for Sean Miller. LeBlanc is off to LSU.

The Hoyas must not miss them too much thus far as they are 10-3.

Some really big potential recruiting news being bandied about in Oakland the past day or so. It seems that there is talk of standout small forward William Jeffress (6-6, 195) of McDowell in Erie possibly reclassifying to the class of 2020 and word is that Pitt is very high on his wish list. This would be a major event if Jeff Capel can secure his services. I've seen him ranked as much as a five star and top 25 player in the class of 2021. Stay tuned...

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[IUPalum]

Those rumors are very true and been swirling for a few months about Jeffress.

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

Those rumors are very true and been swirling for a few months about Jeffress.

Have you seen him play? Honestly yesterday seemed to be about the first day that the Pitt horde heard about it all en masse or least with any real fire beneath the smoke. It would be one heck of a thing to land a player of his caliber.

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[IUPalum]

I've seen him play live numerous times. I'm very close to the situation. The smoke is a lot of smoke. He's a very good player but a lot of flaws in his game. Right now when he has played against top talent he doesn't dominate the way a 4 star player should. Is there a high ceiling, yes. Right now I'd place him in a high end D2 spot or low end D1 spot. I have a hard time seeing him play against the 5 stars of Duke, UNC, etc. Just my opinion...

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

I've seen him play live numerous times. I'm very close to the situation. The smoke is a lot of smoke. He's a very good player but a lot of flaws in his game. Right now when he has played against top talent he doesn't dominate the way a 4 star player should. Is there a high ceiling, yes. Right now I'd place him in a high end D2 spot or low end D1 spot. I have a hard time seeing him play against the 5 stars of Duke, UNC, etc. Just my opinion...

Interesting. Well, he certainly has a very high recruiting rating for the class of 2021. I've seen him anywhere from ranked a five star and a top 25 player down to a four star and a top 40 player nationally. Those are pretty darn elite ratings. I watched a video of him last evening but I don't think I saw enough to offer any kind of opinion.

Pitt already has a pretty good three in Justin Champagnie. But I guess you can never have enough blue chippers. Capel likes a deep rotation to draw from.

Keep us posted on the situation if you hear anything.

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[IUPbigINDIANS]

Tough one to swallow in Oakland today.

[IUPalum]

Sinking ship!

[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

Tough one to swallow in Oakland today.

It was a very disappointing loss to say the least. Wake Forest was considered to be one of the basement dwellers in ACC hoops this season and Pitt takes a home loss to them. But in all honestly (and pretty much what I figured coming into today's contest) the Demon Deacons were not all that bad of a team. Parity has come full bloom to a large portion of the ACC sans a few of the blue bloods who we assume will be good this year (stay tuned for that I guess).

There is never any free lunch in the ACC and it is rare to be able to count on the easy victory. Just take a look at what transpired today in conference play with some perceived lesser teams taking down teams that were expected to be in the top half of the ACC. Wake took down Pitt. Clemson defeated NC State. Georgia Tech beat North Carolina on their home court. It is nuts!

In regards to the game today---I think a lot of the Pitt faithful were really disappointed in Xavier and Trey. Selfishness and stupidity seem to be the words of consensus among the blue and gold. They really need to play much better than what they showed today, particularly when the game is on the line. The absence of Au'Diese Toney was huge for Pitt. But that can't be used as a primary excuse as Wake was without two bench players in Wright and Wynn who were serving suspension. Maybe the only thing that Pitt fans can hang their hat on is the fact that they need not worry about Xavier leaving early after the season for the NBA. The only way that he will be attending an NBA game next season is to travel to an NBA city and purchase a ticket. End of discussion on that matter.

Next up for Pitt is a reeling North Carolina team who got badly embarrassed today on their home floor. Injuries have taken their star frosh guard Cole Anthony and another good player whose name slips my grasp at the moment. I believe that Pitt will stand a chance to earn that ever so rare conference road win on Wednesday evening but they will be running into a wounded and angry Tar Heels team. If the Panthers can do that then today's debacle will quickly be forgotten. Tip is at 7 PM.

But to me the bottom line for today is that Pitt had ample opportunities to win this game near the end and failed to grasp them!

In regards to the recruitment of William Jeffress----today some crystal ballers predicted him towards Pitt. Stay tuned for that.

Also worth noting is congrats to Penn State today for taking down Iowa. But why pray tell was the game played at the University of Pennsylvania? I did not follow that.

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[IUP CRIMSON HAWKS]

I see that North Carolina is a five point favorite over Pitt tomorrow night. The Tar Heels will no doubt be up for the game as they were utterly embarrassed on Saturday by Georgia Tech in a game that saw them miss their first 15 FG attempts. In fact, they did not score their first FG in the contest until there were less than seven minutes left in the first half. Look for them to play with a renewed purpose.

One interesting stat is that Pitt is actually 2-2 against top 50 teams (with losses coming to Louisville and WVU). Maybe the better competition will stoke their inner fires. Or so we hope. No word yet on the injured Au'Diese Toney (elbow). Pitt badly needs him to return to the lineup as soon as is possible.

It seems that at last report that William Jeffress is in no immediate hurry to decide if he will reclassify into the 2020 recruiting class. Schools such as Pitt, Memphis and Baylor seem to be on the top of his list at present. Pitt also needs to focus on a point guard for their 2020 class. Noah Farakhan of IMG Academy recruiting news has rather oddly been dark and void of any real predictions of where the standout may land. Let's also not forget that Big Cliff Omoryuri is still out there without a commit though that seems to be how he has it planned until the spring. Odds on favorites here is that both Farakhan and Big Cliff are waiting for just the right offer from a blue blood school. Remember last spring how the elite schools were swooping down for lesser recruits to fill their recruiting classes.

Edit/add---apparently Noah Farrakhan is no longer at IMG Academy but rather has transferred to the Patrick School in his native New Jersey for his senior year.

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[Fightingscot82]

Capel gets a 2-year extension.