Bryce Golden - Butler commit

[urmite]

Speaking of, just popped over to the Pitt board to see what was up. There is a thread over there where one of their posters is suggesting Pitt hire Mooney. Was that thread started by one of you FMM guys....

Did anybody go over there and tell them he could improve their win total by 8-11 games?

He seems very adept at winning 16-19 games out of 32 (despite this year's anomaly).
The good news is he can often do that with a very bad team , the bad news is he can often do that with a very good team.

But if you are trying to rebuild from scratch maybe he IS your guy?

 

[Octapod]

But if you are trying to rebuild from scratch maybe he IS your guy?

That is a true statement. He has already banked a lot of coin. He could bank a lot more. No place to go but up. I don't think the fanbase would be happy with the hire though, to put it mildly.

 

[MrTbone]

I think He is waiting to see who the new coach is. He and the rest of the recruits were going there despite the season Pitt had until the coaching change. If the new coach is to their liking, they will probably still be Pitt Panthers.

Well, they aren’t allowed to casually decommit just because they didn’t like how the team was doing.

You may end up being right but so much of recruitment is built on relationships with not just the coach but the players and that’s blown up right now.

 

[spider23]

I haven't looked lately, but it seems I had read that the Pitt power that be were having a meeting to re-focus the coaching search. The insinuation I was getting from the articles was that the program was such a train wreck that they are trying to step back and figure out what the heck is going on. Would be more worried about Top 25 type programs than Pitt.

 

[gospidersgo]

It was mentioned before somewhere in here, but I do think it's at least a little encouraging for our chances that his name isn't popping up daily in connection with a bunch of other schools.

 

[SFspidur]

 

[SFspidur]

 

[keefusb]

I guess Capel has done his penance under Coach K for long enough. Pitt clearly OK with forgiving his transgressions while at Oklahoma.

 

[fan2011]

I guess Capel has done his penance under Coach K for long enough. Pitt clearly OK with forgiving his transgressions while at Oklahoma.

I think at this point Pitt was just getting desperate. They got turned down by Schmidt...

 

[spiderman]

Capel may or may not end up a good hire, but he was like choice "E" for Pitt.
Is it that hard to keep a coaching search quiet these days? Not sure how all these offer leaks get out. Not a good look.

 

[SpiderK]

Hope Bryce doesn’t fall for the name without doing his due diligence on Capel.

 

[keefusb]

Landing Blake Griffin is the best thing Capel ever did. Who knows what unnatural/illegal acts he committed to make that happen.

 

[Octapod]

His older brother was on the team. That could be a good sign.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Griffin

 

[WCUR11]

So what you're saying is that it's a good sign for us and not them?

 

[Octapod]

It depends on what the players think of Capel. I would guess not good for UR.

 

[spiderman]

guys who's phones were ringing after getting their releases might be halfway out the door already, no matter who they hired. players not attracting exciting interest will likely return. I think a young guy like Bryce might want to wait and see what the others do.

 

[Eight Legger]

I'd be curious how many of those one-time commits Capel even really tries hard to bring back, honestly. Pitt was 0-18 in league play. If I were Capel, I'd want as fresh a start as I could get.

 

[spiderman]

I'd be curious how many of those one-time commits Capel even really tries hard to bring back, honestly. Pitt was 0-18 in league play. If I were Capel, I'd want as fresh a start as I could get.

yeah, but you need to field a roster for next year. not sure what you're finding now if you have 8 spots to fill. if you want new guys, recruit over these guys next year.

 

[gospidersgo]

One thing to keep in mind, these guys weren't even born until 2000 or later. To us this is a big name (not necessarily a big talent) hire. But I'm not sure a 17 year old will be particularly impressed other than the fact that he left Duke to take the job.

 

[8legs]

Bryce committed to Kevin Stallings who didn’t win a conference game. Why wouldn’t he commit to Jeff Capel who was in charge of recruiting at Duke where he had the #1 recruiting class 4 of the past 5 years? Who knows what a teenager is thinking but the situation at Pitt has improved, certainly Pitt thinks so. Hope I am greatly surprised by his decision to attend UR!

 

[fan2011]

Bryce committed to Kevin Stallings who didn’t win a conference game. Why wouldn’t he commit to Jeff Capel who was in charge of recruiting at Duke where he had the #1 recruiting class 4 of the past 5 years? Who knows what a teenager is thinking but the situation at Pitt has improved, certainly Pitt thinks so. Hope I am greatly surprised by his decision to attend UR!

He committed to a school that didn't win many games the previous year once already, maybe he will do it again. Our chances are due to the family connection, with his brother already here and having one of the best individual seasons a freshmen could hope for, and his mom wanting Bryce to go here as well.

 

[Cbay56]

Bryce Golden and Bryce Schneider are now following each other on twitter.

 

[spiderman]

he doesn't have a relationship with Capel like he did with Stallings and Mooney. he might hit it off with Capel and buy in, but who knows.

 

[8legs]

I understand fan, but not sure any of this has changed since he committed. I hope his mom wears the pants!

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

Bryce Golden and Bryce Schneider are now following each other on twitter.

Bryce Harper is a free agent after this season. Just sayin'.

 

[UR80sfan]

Pittsburgh was terrible last year and next year they are going to prove things always can be worse. That is not going to be a fun place to play basketball for a number of years.

 

[spiderman]

Bryce followed some of our guys recently, but surprised he wasn't already. I assumed he knew them all pretty well from the recruiting period.

 

[plydogg]

Bryce Harper is a free agent after this season. Just sayin'.

I remember hearing that 2018 is the Year of the Bryce

 

[Eight Legger]

Maybe Bryce hates winning!

 

[Eight Legger]

yeah, but you need to field a roster for next year. not sure what you're finding now if you have 8 spots to fill. if you want new guys, recruit over these guys next year.

Right, I didn't mean he would skip out on all of them, but I suspect he'll be content to land 2 or 3 of them back, sign a couple grad transfers, make a couple late signs (which he can do on name recognition alone, I suspect) and hit the ground running. His spring signees won't look anything like the ones we get.

 

[spiderman]

per twitter ...
Pitt freshman SF Shamiel Stevenson (6'6" - 230) has elected to remain with the program.

 

[spiderman]

Wilson Frame too. leading scorer. 6'5" junior.

 

[Eight Legger]

per twitter ...
Pitt freshman SF Shamiel Stevenson (6'6" - 230) has elected to remain with the program.

Shameil, Shamyle...

 

[SpiderK]

I am sure Capel has been on the phone with the players all day.

The easy thing for Bruce to do is to just recommit and stay. Let’s hope he changed his mind and wants to be a Spider with Grant. I am sure we will know soon.

 

[97spiderfan]

Highly unlikely that Bryce opts out of Pitt now. He was the most lukewarm of all of the decommits. Capel is not the greatest coach in the world but he is a players coach and a good recruiter.

On the bright side, this will save Mooney the embarrassment of having his lunch money stolen by some BCS program again.

 

[fatherspider]

Shameil, Shamyle...

Not sure I would put much stock in these guys recommitting as it relates to Bryce. They have been to the school for at least a year and have developed a life there, with friends, girls, etc. That makes leaving harder. Bryce has none of those connections so him going somewhere else is easier. With that said, I still think he recommits. There was something he liked about the place that made him commit on the first place.

 

[gospidersgo]

Highly unlikely that Bryce opts out of Pitt now. He was the most lukewarm of all of the decommits.

Not saying you're wrong, but how do you know this? Were the decommits ranked by lukewarmness? Something in the wording on Twitter that makes you think this?

 

[fan2011]

Not sure I would put much stock in these guys recommitting as it relates to Bryce. They have been to the school for at least a year and have developed a life there, with friends, girls, etc. That makes leaving harder. Bryce has none of those connections so him going somewhere else is easier. With that said, I still think he recommits. There was something he liked about the place that made him commit on the first place.

They would also would have to sit out a year if they transfer, which is a deterrent. The de-committed freshmen won't have to do that.

 

[Eight Legger]

Not saying you're wrong, but how do you know this? Were the decommits ranked by lukewarmness? Something in the wording on Twitter that makes you think this?

I think he was the last commit to request a release, plus he was tweeting Hail to Pitt like 4 days before he asked for it.

 

[Octapod]

One of the guests on Burton's show said that Pitt had already used 18 of their 21 allotted official visits this year.