Khadim Sy, a four-star forward from Daytona State College in Florida, chose Ole Miss over Pitt on Monday night, ending his recruitment and marking yet another close loss for Pitt head coach Jeff Capel in his continuing search for a big man,
Sy, rated as the No. 3 junior college player in the 2019 class by 247 Sports, is a former Virginia Tech player that has two seasons of eligibility left after working his way back to the Division I level.
He picked the Rebels over Pitt and East Carolina, leaving Pitt with just one incoming big man in the 2019 class, and most of the highly talented targets scooped up.
At this point, it seems most likely that any further additions will come via graduate transfers. Pitt does not currently have an offer out to an uncommitted 2019 high school prospect.
The Panthers have signed letters of intent from two players: wing Justin Champagnie and guard Gerald Drumgoole. Two more — junior college guard Ryan Murphy and freshman forward Karim Coulibaly — have given Pitt verbal commitments.
The National Letter of Intent signing period closes on May 15, but teams can continue to add players up until the start of classes.
This is very frustrating! Looks like we will never reach the heights we would like in both basketball & football!
Losing big men to top 10 programs are one thing. Losing out to Illinois and Ole Miss sure is making us fans question this “ace recruiter” reputation that was annointed upon Capel.
Maybe its a case of “insert name” and anyone else would have had the same success as Capel as Duke’s lead recruiter because it’s Duke and Coach K.
He’s not a top tactician like Izzo or Beilein so he better recruit and so far, it’s been a letdown.
The defenders of HCJC better not defend now or you’ll lose credibility.
me and you could recruit at duke
Pitt really hasn’t been able to recruit the very top players since Calipari and Greenburg were the recruiters, 30+ years ago And when they left, Evans couldn’t. Howland and Dixon, did it with magic, and The Pete being new. Last few years of Dixon he couldn’t recruit big men and had to resort to low tier graduate transfers from low tier conferences ala Maia from Brown and the other stiff from Richmond. And of course Stallings was an utter joke, but still was able to sign Terrel Brown, who some say is as good as Sy. I think just able… Read more »
Stallings brought in bodies, if Brown and Chukwuka were not 6’10 the would be gone with the rest of the bums Stallings brought in, although Davis and the shooting guard that came in with that class would have helped. Pitt somewhat at a disadvantage because our campus does not look like Penn St. or Ohio St. with lush greenery or a huge campus. Pitt is city college and some parents and recruits do not feel safe or comfortable in an environment like Oakland. We have great Academics just not the traditional campus. Oh yeah; Terrel is a stiff. He and… Read more »
Well let’s look at what both of these guys did their Freshman seasons in the ACC.
Brown 4.4 ppg 3.4 rpg 1.5 bpg
Sy 4.0 ppg 2.7 rpg 0.6 bpg
So who would you say had the better stats ?
No comparison eh ?
Pitt sports are completely irrelevant. As a long time fan it is frustrating
Wow, the man has only had 1 full year to recruit and you guys are throwing him under the bus. Dixon and Stallings couldn’t even get these kids on campus let alone garner interest, It takes time to build relationships with players and coaches. Capel is on the right track just be a little patient they will come.
This really shouldn’t have been a surprise. The kid has 2 years left and doesn’t want to spend one of them trying to get back to being respectable and the next maybe being a good team. Ole Miss is a good team right now. Playing time is only so important and Ole Miss has that now too. So really this shouldn’t have been a big shock. As good a recruiter as Capel is you can’t recruit until you get on court results. If he does that this year. You will see next years recruiting go way up!
I agree we need to give Capel time to grow these relationships, but let’s not get carried away and say Ole Miss is good. They will be above average in a bad conference and will struggle to make the tournament next year.
You might want to re-think that. The SEC was a pretty good conference this year and from my vantage point seems like a lot of good players and coaches are trending to the SEC. Auburn, Kentucky, Florida, LSU, Ole Miss and Tenn, could habe competed to win any conference in the country this year. And yes, right now Ole Miss is better than Pitt.
I re-thought it but came up with the same conclusion. UK was the best SEC team according to KenPom and they were 8th. Tennessee may have been the best team on the court but was 10th. Florida was good but not great (26th in KenPom) and in no world would have competed for a power conference championship. As for Ole Miss, they were 50th in KenPom. They would not compete for the AAC title let alone the ACC. Were they better than Pitt last year? Sure. Should Kermit the Frog be out-recruiting us? Hell no.
They have a heck of an easier road to the tournament than Pitt does.
As long as the loophole exists where a “friend” can receive payment from school, booster, etc., we are at a major disadvantage. Kid who went to Georgetown wanted to come to Pitt, handler said Georgetown. Think the handler wasn’t in it for something? Same with football. PS gutted the NCAA when they literally bankrupt the organization in the JoePa case. The answer is not to stoop to the gutter.
That loophole has been closed for a while. Doesn’t mean it’s still not happening, but it’s not within the rules.
“Pitt does not currently have an offer out to an uncommitted 2019 high school prospect.”
Wrong. Have an offer out to 6’10” John Ojiako.
He’s a 2020.
I thought I saw he reclassified to 2019 last week.
I have been thinking a lot about this one. Maybe this episode is a strong indicator that PITT is playing it strait – even when others may not be. If so that is a good thing. I can’t find any rationale reason why Sy chose Ole Miss over PITT. In my experience – when things don’t make “cents” maybe there are dollars involved. Hopefully that isn’t the case but the SEC has a reputation. Regardless, my faith in this coaching staff remains unshaken – and possibly even stronger now. I am 100% certain that a solution will present itself and… Read more »