Pitt Basketball In Need Of Another Staff Member

Pitt men's video coordinator Rasheen Davis is leaving the school to become an assistant at Xavier.  While he was in charge of breaking down video tape for Pitt, he'll have a larger role at Xavier:

Davis said recruiting will be his primary focus at XU. His main bases are in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, although he also has ties in Maryland, Georgia and Florida.

More ties to the area:

Davis was a point guard and later an assistant coach at Division II St. Thomas Aquinas College in New York. He served as an assistant varsity coach at national power Rice High (N.Y.) for two seasons and worked with the New York Gauchos AAU program for three years.

He has a master’s degree in guidance counseling from the College of New Rochelle (N.Y.) and for two years was a guidance counselor at Foreign Language Academy of Global Studies High School in South Bronx.

It looks like he's going to get started almost immediately:

At Xavier, Davis will be a full-time assistant and is expected to be on the road recruiting this month for the second ‘live’ period which covers July 22 – July 31.

While he didn't do any recruiting for Pitt, he'll be another presence they'll likely run into out east.  Pitt fans may remember that video coordinator was the same position that Brandin Knight held shortly after coming back to Pitt, and head coach Jamie Dixon will likely look again at a young individual interested in breaking into coaching to fill this role.  Really not all that big of a deal.

Recruiting Thoughts

A writer from Scouts, Inc. for ESPN.com ranks the Big East basketball classes and Pitt is sixth.

Every now and then when I see these stories, it really gets me to thinking. To be honest, I don't know what amazes me more. Pitt's inability to consistently land higher-rated recruits or their ability to get the most out of the ones they do get.

One argument I'm sick of is the one that says Pitt won't get these types of players until they get to a Final Four. Please. Rutgers landed All-American Mike Rosario didn't they? Through Huggy Bear, Kansas State lured Michael Beasley. Marquette is 2nd on this list and even Providence (yes, THAT Providence) managed to land two ESPNU Top 100 players and ranks ahead of Pitt.

Now it's not as if Pitt has gotten chopped liver. Over the past four years, ESPN has ranked them in the top 25 three times. But they've had no top 15 classes and only one McDonald's All-American in the past ten years.

How much do these rankings mean? In reality, not all that much. DeJuan Blair was ranked somewhere around 50th, but was one of the best players in college basketball as a sophomore. Devin Ebanks of West Virginia was rated below Truck Bryant and Kevin Jones, but is the only one leaving early for the NBA. But for Pitt to not be able to land more top ranked players is kind of a head scratcher to me. Look at the factors:

1. They've put together nearly a solid decade of winning basketball with several Sweet 16 appearances and an Elite 8. Not among the best of the best, but certainly in that next tier. Record-wise, Pitt has been one of the nation's best.

2. Pitt has great facilities and plays in a new building.

3. The Oakland Zoo provides one of the best atmospheres in all of college basketball.

4. Pitt regularly plays on national TV.

5. It's also a very solid academic school.

When I see teams that have not even had a sniff of Pitt's recent success recruiting higher ranked players, I've got to admit I just don't get it. And I'm not so sure the argument of Pitt not allowing star players to 'showcase' themselves applies. To the contrary, I think Pitt would be a school a top recruit could look to and see himself leading an already good team to a championship.

Part of it is due to location - I get that. Great players staying close to home. But what this should really tell you how much of a factor relationships can play into recruiting.

All Pitt can really do is keep plugging away and the more they develop a reputation for sending players the NBA, the better things should get. Pitt has sent four players to the NBA in the past five seasons (DeJuan Blair, Sam Young, Aaron Gray, and Chris Taft) and Brandin Knight had a sniff appearing in one game in 2004-05 with the Rockets. If Gil Brown ever gets this consistency thing down, perhaps he'll get a look and you've got to think Dante Taylor can get there.

Pitt has had a lot of success, which is why their lack of top recruits is all the more puzzling.

Brandin Knight Stays?

Maybe I just missed the boat on this one, but I hadn't heard Brandin Knight was being considered for an opening on Mike Rice's staff at Rutgers.

Thankfully he's staying put.

That would have given me yet another reason to root for Rice. But more importantly, it could have cost Pitt big time. Knight is coming into his own as a recruiter and was instrumental in getting New Jersey PG Isaiah Epps into the fold. Plus, Pitt is still trying to fill the vacancy from Tom Herrion's exit.

Pitt has groomed Knight since his playing days ended and his role should get bigger as time goes on. Glad he's sticking around for now.

Herrion Out

As I first saw reported by Bob Smizik's excellent blog, Pitt top assistant/Associate Head Coach Tom Herrion is reportedly leaving to take the head job at Marshall. It's not a surprise that he was looking to leave as he was a finalist for the Holy Cross job previously, and was linked to the Toledo job just a few weeks ago.

It seemed like it was only a matter of time. Herrion has been Jamie Dixon's main man and was the lead guy on the recruiting of Dante Taylor. According to Rivals, he's credited with the recruiting of Ashton Gibbs, Jermaine Dixon, Dwight Miller, and Lamar Patterson.

Marshall's AD, Mike Hamrick, is familiar with the Herrion family, and I think this is a good hire for them - even if he wasn't necessarily their first choice:

MU officials are holding a press conference at 1 p.m. at Cam Henderson Center. They are steadfastly refusing to confirm Herrion's appointment, but it was reported on the flagship radio station of the Thundering Herd radio network, WRVC in Huntington.

Further, WSAZ television reported that athletic director Mike Hamrick initially offered the job to Appalachian State coach Buzz Peterson, but the sides could not agree on a contract.

Hamrick has a history with Herrion's family, hiring his brother Bill in 1999 while at East Carolina. The older Herrion now coaches at New Hampshire.

Not sure who Dixon will get to replace him. I guess he could promote someone within then hire a lower-level guy. I've always liked the idea of having former head coaches as assistants on your staff. You get opinions of experienced guys who have been responsible for and in the situation of winning and losing games. Too many chefs in the kitchen can be a bad thing, but Dixon had a good find in Herrion.

If Dixon promotes from within, it will be interesting to see who fills the position - Pat Sandle, (who's been in the Howland/Dixon family since the days of Northern Arizona, but isn't really known as a recruiter) or former Pitt star Brandin Knight, (who's less experienced, but credited by Rivals as bringing in PG Isaiah Epps).

Twice As Nice

Pitt held off a fairly late run by #1 ranked UConn to win 70-60 on Senior Day. For the second time this year, Pitt really looked like the better team. Super Sam Young was really the player responsible for this win, scoring 31 - nearly half of Pitt's points.

I was there in person and two things really stood out to me:

1. Big East games are VERY difficult for referees to call. I knew this before, but it really seemed evident today. It seemed like the refs wanted to let them play, but they also had to call some 'touch' fouls - apparently to reign the players in to make sure it didn't get too far out of hand.

2. For some reason, it seemed like the players weren't getting the ball to Blair enough. I'd be curious to know how many touches in the paint he got. Part of it was Thabeet's more aggressive play on defense, but several times, he was just ignored.

The only slight downer was that Tyrell Biggs went scoreless in his final home game. That was only the second time this year where he was held without a point. Kind of a bummer when you realize how far he came during his time at Pitt. He's really turned into a solid player.

In other news, Levance Fields' injury may have been more serious than people knew. You almost start to wonder if that was the reason for his 4-14 shooting.

It was also nice to get a glimpse of the new Brandin Knight banner that was hoisted when his jersey number was retired.

Levance's Legacy

Ron Cook of the Post-Gazette had a solid article about Levance Fields and the PG position as a whole for Pitt basketball over the last few years. He also says something I firmly believe in - Brandin Knight jump-started this latest Pitt basketball era and should have his number retired:

They should hang Brandin Knight's No. 20 jersey in the Petersen Events Center rafters. This Golden Era of Pitt basketball? It started with him. He was the first to buy what new coach Ben Howland was selling. A team-first philosophy. Hard-nosed man-to-man defense. A mental and physical toughness. Knight bought all of it. The rest is ...

Well, you know.

Does he have the numbers that many players who have their jerseys retired do? Probably not. But he was the reason Pitt turned into a national contender virtually overnight. Now that the run has continued for nearly ten years, it's time to recognize him - in my humble opinion.

I think Pitt will really miss him next year. The starting PG will in all likelihood be one of (or a combination of) the following:

- Travon Woodall: Redshirt freshman who got very little experience this year.
- Ashton Gibbs: More of a shooting guard than a point guard - if he assumes the duties, his scoring opportunities will probably take a hit.
- Brad Wanamaker: More comfortable with the ball and the 'veteran' of the three. However, like Gibbs, more of a shooting guard.

Whoever gets the nod for 2009-10 is likely warming the spot for PG of the future, Isiah Epps, who after verbally committing to Pitt, said that he was told he would start as a freshman.

Pitt has been fortunate with great point guards, but the spot will probably take a minor hit next year.

Two More Wins

Pitt won both its games this week, its 4th and 5th wins in a row, against West Virginia and Cincinnati. While Pitt was certainly considered the favorite in both, each game presented its own challenges. The games with WVU are always tough and they hung around for a while, but foul trouble was a huge issue for them as Pitt won 70-59.

Pitt got off to a hot start before Cincinnati got to within five after a fairly sluggish beginning to the half for the Panthers. Eventually, their hot shooting never really stopped and the team tied a school-record shooing 67.4% from the field, winning comfortably 85-69. A late miss on a three-pointer by Brad Wanamaker stopped the team from breaking the record.

Not lost on the local scene was the outstanding play of Levance Fields. Coach Dixon obviously realizes that Fields is playing out of his mind:

"The numbers are mind-boggling," Dixon said. "It was an unbelievable performance. He's doing it game after game down the stretch. I don't know who is playing better than him as a point guard. You can't play any better than his numbers."

Fields has at least 7 assists in his last five games and double-digit assists in three of his past five. His assist to TO ratio over that span? 9.3 / 1. Um, that's pretty good. The play has now made him the NCAA leader in A/T ratio. He may not play in the NBA, but he's one of the best college point guards in a while. Is he better than Brandin Knight? I'm not sure. But Pitt has been fortunate to have so many good point guards over the past few years, including Carl Krauser.