SB Nation Pittsburgh: All Posts by Anson Whaley

Will work for rival: Finding a rivalry for Pitt in the ACC

2013-05-22T18:00:07Z

I've got to say, I've been so preoccupied with Pitt's move to the ACC, potential games against Penn State, and talk about getting the Backyard Brawl going (or not), that I've not given much thought to the idea of a conference rival for the Panthers.

ESPN looked at it recently and offered some options including Virginia Tech, Boston College, Miami, or Georgia Tech. I don't get the Yellow Jackets - at all. Miami and BC could be options, but Virginia Tech is the obvious one simply because Pitt has given them so much trouble over the years.

Frankly, I'm not sure how Syracuse isn't given much more consideration (and to be honest, they weren't even mentioned as a possibility, which is odd). ESPN looked at rivals for Pitt and Syracuse, but in reality, Syracuse could be a good one for Pitt. The Panthers have dominated them in recent years, but there's not only the Big East history, but the schools are also a bit closer than some other opponents.

I don't know - the whole Pitt-Syracuse thing never really took off in football since Pitt has always had West Virginia (and previously, Penn State). But with those games gone for the near future, that could change a little. The problem is that rivalries aren't built overnight and Pitt will resume a series with Penn State in a few years. But if we're talking in-conference rivals, the Orange could a possibility.

And also, looking ahead, Louisville could turn into a nice rivalry for the Panthers as well. Especially because the Cardinals are an upcoming program.

Virginia Tech's probably my pick for now, but Pitt and Syracuse/Louisville could have some interesting games as well.

Pitt will participate in 2013 Legends Classic

2013-05-22T12:00:09Z

Pitt's basketball non-conference schedule for the upcoming season got a bit of a boost when it was announced the Panthers will play in the Legends Classic. It's actually been known for a while that Pitt would play in the event, but the opponents were announced on Tuesday. Joining Pitt will be Stanford, Texas Tech, and Houston. Depending on the outcomes, Pitt will play two of the teams.

The games will be played at the Barclays on November 26 and 27. As part of the event, Pitt will also play two 'regional' games at home between November 17-21.

Let's be honest, here - this isn't likely to boost the Panthers' RPI a ton. But there is a bit of quality here and that could help Pitt out a bit. Texas Tech was awful last year, but Joe Lunardi has Stanford as an NCAA Tournament team in his latest Bracketology rankings and Houston won 19 games. If the Panthers draw those latter two teams, that won't be bad.

This may not seem like a great event, but keep in mind that it's also difficult to get into marquee tournaments year after year. Pitt was in the NIT Season Tipoff event last season and will be in the Maui Invitational next year.

Joe Jordano named Big East Coach of the Year; Several players named to All Big East teams

2013-05-22T00:26:08Z

Pitt's baseball team had the best year in school history in terms of regular-season wins in 2013. On Tuesday, many of its members were rewarded with Big East honors.

Most notably, head coach Joe Jordano was named Big East Coach of the Year. Jordano certainly deserved the award leading Pitt to a school-record 40 wins despite the Panthers not being given much respect in the preseason Big East polls.

Several players were named to All Big East teams, too. Pitcher Ethan Mildren, catcher Elvin Soto, and outfielder Casey Roche were all named to the first team. Five players made the second team including pitchers Matt Wotherspoon and Rhys Aldenhoven, designated hitter Boo Vazquez, and outfielders Steven Shelinsky and Stephen Vranka.

None were really big surprises and all deserved to be on the teams in some form. You could make an argument for Shelinsky to have made the first team since he led the conference in home runs and hit over .300, but other than that, hard to complain too much.

Payback's a %*&#: Sheldon Jeter reportedly blocked from transferring to Pitt?

2013-05-21T23:13:10Z

A short while back, we all had the Rushel Shell transfer to digest. Shell, if you'll recall, had had just about enough of Pitt and wanted out. The Panthers, given the history between the two, as expected, promptly blocked the running back from heading to join Todd Graham at Arizona State.

Was it fair? That's debatable. But as I said at the time, one thing that's not up for debate was Pitt's right to do so. They played within the rules and forced Shell to either pay his own way for a year at Arizona State or to go elsewhere. Shell ended up at UCLA and that was the end of it.

Enter Sheldon Jeter.

Jeter, as I wrote about recently, is transferring from Vanderbilt's basketball program, stating he wants to be closer to home. He's from western Pennsylvania and Pitt, as you would expect, was a natural fit. But word broke from the Post-Gazette's Ray Fittipaldo today that Jeter is being blocked from transferring to Pitt. Coach Kevin Stallings is the one playing the heel role here. He, for the record, had no comment earlier today.

The move appears to be a curious one and Anchor of Gold says that other transfers from Vandy have gone through without a hitch.

As you can imagine, eyes will be on Pitt fans to see how they react. A great many were fine with Shell being blocked from Arizona State, but what's the deal here?

Look, my stance remains unchanged. I said at the time that it may not be fair to Shell to not allow him to go to Arizona State, but that Pitt was within their right to block him from leaving for whatever reason. That of course holds true for Vanderbilt in the case of Jeter. Pitt fans may not be happy with it, but it is what it is and they're not breaking any rules.

That said, the two situations are entirely different.

For one, Pitt and Vanderbilt don't have any known feud - certainly not one that was so strained due to such a recent incident like the Todd Graham fiasco. As I've been over countless times, I firmly believe that 95% of other schools would have acted in exactly the same manner if they were in Pitt's shoes. So please, stop with the hypocrisy of lambasting Pitt if you're an outsider.

There could have been tampering (face it, we may never know if Pitt talked to Jeter before he officially left), but there hasn't been the evidence that existed with the Shell transfer with an Arizona State player welcoming him to the team on Twitter before he even requested his release. But if tampering did exist (and let's face it - the Jeter transfer was being rumored everywhere under the sun for weeks now), it'd be a lot easier to understand the decision to block him.

Like I said, Vanderbilt has the right to block Jeter if they wish. Maybe they feel as if he tampered. Maybe it was a messy divorce and they don't want to give him the pleasure of going to his top choice. Who really knows - whatever it is, though, they're playing by the rules. And if Jeter really wants to come to Pitt, he can always appeal to Vanderbilt (which Matt Steinbrink of Rivals tweeted he will do) or pay his own way at Pitt for his first year.

But one thing is certain - it's not the same as the Rushel Shell transfer.

Updated ESPN Bracketology Rankings? Why not.

2013-05-21T18:00:06Z

Granted, as we're about to head into June, the last thing on your mind is likely Bracketology. But ESPN guru Joe Lunardi released an updated version of his Bracketology rankings last week and Pitt is on the move.

The Panthers are now up to a No. 6 seed in his latest bracket. That's two seeds higher than they were last month when Lunardi seeded them at No. 8.

When it comes to Pitt making the NCAAs, it's something I'm still taking a wait and see approach on. The Panthers have some talent, but there are still too many unknowns at this point. We still have to not only see if they land any of the transfers they're pursuing and if any will get waivers to play immediately.

About the only thing we can say right now is that writing Jamie Dixon off would be foolish. He's done more with less plenty of times and there's no way that I'm declaring Pitt out of the tournament for next season.

Chavas Rawlins transferring from West Virginia - is Pitt a potential destination?

2013-05-21T12:00:09Z

Well, that didn't take long.

Credit to Chas over at Pitt Blather for pointing this out, but after only a few months, West Virginia quarterback Chavas Rawlins is apparently headed for a transfer. As SB Nation's West Virginia blog, The Smoking Musket, points out, Rawlins was one of the Mountaineers' first recruits for 2013.

The move is a significant one. Rawlins was a solid three-star dual quarterback in the class of 2013 according to Rivals before he went to West Virginia, and the No. 20 such quarterback in the nation. He was heavily pursued by a gaggle of schools including Pitt, Nebraska, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, and others before deciding on the Mountaineers.

The main reason for the move appears to be that his primary recruiter and quarterbacks coach Jake Spavital left the program for Texas A&M. There's also the fact that West Virginia added a Florida State quarterback transfer, Clint Trickett, but the fact remains that Spavital leaving seems to be the driving force behind this:

He's yet to make up his mind, according to reports, but given that he's from the area and previously considered Pitt, it wouldn't be a surprise if they were in the mix. And, heck, this tweet indicates that the Panthers could be the destination:

So there's that.

The one issue could be if Rawlins insists on playing quarterback. Pitt already has Chad Voytik, is pursuing Keller Chryst, and (for now, anyway) still has Tra'Von Chapman. The Panthers could be pretty loaded there if Chryst decides to pick Pitt. He said last fall that he liked playing defense, but it's believed he wants to be a quarterback.

Stay tuned.

Pitt loses out on Big East baseball title after being swept by Louisville

2013-05-20T14:00:04Z

Pitt's baseball team had high hopes heading into this past weekend. Holding a one-game lead in the Big East conference, the Panthers controlled their own destiny with three games remaining in the season against Louisville - widely considered the better team.

The Cardinals proved that with a sweep against Pitt, winning all three games.

Pitt showed their ability and had some bright spots in keeping a couple of games close. They lost the first game 5-2, but had plenty of opportunities, stranding 16 runners. The second game, a 12-4 loss, wasn't close, but Pitt again had opportunities on Sunday to win. Down 7-4, they had the bases loaded in the ninth inning but couldn't push any runners across.

For maybe the first time all season, the Panthers' starting pitching failed to deliver. The ace of the staff, Ethan Mildren, was roughed up for five runs in seven innings in the opener. Matt Wotherspoon was far worse in the second game, giving up ten earned in only 4 2/3 innings in the second game. And on Saturday in the finale, Rhys Aldenhoven lost his first game of the year with four earned runs in five innings.

The bottom line is that the Cardinals pretty much showed they're significantly better than Pitt. That's not to say they'd be unbeatable in another series, but it's hard to argue that they're not the better team at this point.

It's also not a time to bury the starters. Those three guys have been flat out dominant all season and while they struggled this weekend Louisville is a top ten team. The Panthers weren't completely dominated, but they were soundly defeated. As a result, Pitt will take on St. John's as the third seed in the Big East Tournament on Wednesday.

So what's it mean for Pitt's NCAA Tournament hopes? The sweep doesn't help, obviously, and with a loss against Kent State last week, that's four straight games Pitt has lost. That game against Kent State really was a missed opportunity for another quality win. And if any stock is placed on how a team finishes, an early exit in the Big East Tournament could make things very interesting for the team's NCAA Tourney hopes.

All the Links: Weekly Pitt link dump

2013-05-20T12:00:04Z

Didn't have time to dig up a video this week, but here's your weekly collection of Pitt-related links that we didn't cover last week:

Football coach Paul Chryst is holding players to high standards so far

Defensive lineman Aaron Donald was named to the watch list for the Lott IMPACT Award for work on and off the field

Pitt athletes went back to Haiti for another special trip

EDSBS pictures Paul Chryst with Dana Holgorsen hair (h/t to Pitt Blather)

ACCFootballRx looks at Pitt playing Penn State and West Virginia in football

Former Pitt player Doug Whaley was named the Buffalo Bills' GM

The Trib had a feature on baseball coach Joe Jordano

The softball team had a disappointing year

Not much came from the ACC league meetings last week

Here are some notes from ESPN on the ACC meetings

More talk about the ACC Conference basketball tournament possibly being played at Madison Square Garden