Pitt BB Hire

[DragonsDoExist]

Dejan's column title today was "Stallings outshines his boss" so how was he overwhelmed? He also used the word "impressive".

Yes he backed off his tweets from yesterday and shifted all the blame to Barnes.

[dougkeklak]

I'm a big fan of DK's work, subscribe to his blog, etc, etc. but I just think he was way off base here. He did apologize to Barnes for coming at him so hard at the presser, mainly the "come clean" verbiage. I don't know if he saw the negative, public outcry and just decided to run with it as torchbearer or what. Even on his morning videos, it was like he was so dang offended that a search committee was used. So what? Why is this a sticking point for anyone? I honestly have to say, to see people wanting to run this coach out of town before he's even coached a game, maybe I'm just playing contrarian but I want him to succeed even more and will be rooting that much more for him. I watched the entire press conference today, so awkward.

[Crimson's Ghost]

I just have a hard time believing a brand new athletic director would risk his own job to help a buddy out. That whole narrative was shaky.

[Crimson's Ghost]

For the first time in probably 20+ years, Penn State's future on the hardwood looks brighter than Pitt's.

I would stick the word "potentially" or possibly before the word brighter. I mean would anyone be shocked if Pitt had a better record than Penn State the next 5-10 years?

[abpk2903]

Nah, I'm gonna stick with what I've said. I really don't know how you could argue that Pitt's basketball future looks brighter than Penn State's right now.

[Crimson's Ghost]

Well, mainly because Penn State is in the bottom 5 programs among the Power 5 conferences. They might turn things around, but I'm just saying most of the world wouldn't be floored if Pitt remained to be better than Penn State. I know I wouldn't.

[DragonsDoExist]

Yes potential is the keyword. U never know what ur actually going to get from freshman until they get on the floor. Kentucky can get the top class every year but they all don't end up being Tyler Ullis. For example big Skal didn't come close to providing on court what they hoped coming in. There are reasons to be optimistic but I wouldn't put them in the same league as Pitt just yet.

[El-Moldo]

You go to a new doctor you haven't see before. He takes your blood pressure, says it seems high, and immediately puts you on a blood pressure pill. Really? Shouldn't he check things out for awhile before jumping to conclusions? I wouldn't judge the decline of Pitt basketball right away, based on the last few days. And I certainly wouldn't get on the PSU bandwagon yet, until they PROVE themselves.

[abpk2903]

Penn State has had 2 straight classes near or at the top of their conference. There will need to be a lot of busts and very few booms for them not to perform better than Pitt over the next 5 years.

Let's not act like Pitt has been some Duke, Kentucky, or Kansas over the past 5 years. When's the last time they made a sweet 16 or even a tournament game? They are a mid to bottom half ACC team that just lost their coach to TCU. They brought in a coach that was clinging to a job in the SEC but now we should expect them to improve in the ACC?

Penn State doesn't have to climb Mount Everest to catch Pitt.

[El-Moldo]

Of last years PSU conference wins, 4 of their victims had losing records. So they beat 3 conference teams with winning records. Next year, they have NO seniors on their team (unless they get a senior transfer). They lost Brandon Taylor and 3 of their top bench players (Jack, Dickerson, Foster). Of course if they keep scheduling home games with Radford, it will make their job easier. OOPS, sorry. They lost to Radford this year. Sorry. Anyhow, how far is Mount Everest for PSU? Present Sagarin rankings have PSU ranked at 121. Pitt is 37th. Pitt loses ONE senior from this years team, who wasn't the star of their team, and returns 6 of their top 7 scorers. Unless there is a Chinese fire-drill with Pitt's roster, they should be fine next year. So good luck to the Nits. Hopefully they will have their second winning season under Chambers.