Cat Basket

Cat Basket Podcast Number 12

2008-07-22T22:16:00.000-04:00

Football heavy episode with the launching point of discussion being the national opinion of the Panthers from two respected magazines. Discussion of the new offensive line recruit and what is going on with the offensive line recruiting. We are back on track with the football. This is what the show will eventually sound like during the season and times of activity with the program.

Cat Basket Podcast Number 12

Cat Basket Podcast Number 11

2008-07-14T23:31:00.003-04:00

We're back and have very little Pitt Football news to cover. This podcast is going to be the bridge to next week's analysis of the national print media's pre-season assessment of the team. If you like our stories download this episode if not wait until next week for more football.

Cat Basket Podcast Number 11

Cat Basket Podcast Number 10

2008-07-06T15:35:00.001-04:00

Heavy focus on the offensive side of the ball and on the relative job security of Wanny.

The Cat Basket Podcast Number 10

Cat Basket Podcast Number 9

2008-06-25T20:02:00.001-04:00

Very much a potpourri of Pitt football this week a couple of topics discussed.

Cat Basket Podcast Number 9

Some late night thoughts.

2008-06-24T00:19:00.002-04:00

Well as you've heard by now Corey Brown committed to OSU. That hurts Pitt as Brown is the latest in a string of Western PA guys to leave the area and the 2nd from Gateway HS to go to OSU. There have been some rumblings that Gateway HS Coach Terry Smith is "bitter" at Pitt for not offering him the WR coach position when it opened. There are also some people who are mad at Pitt for the Brossard hiring since now we have lost two top players from Gateway and because Brossard failed to land a visit from a top Maryland WR recruit.

Losing a potential receiver like Brown really hurts because not only is he local and had Cam Saddler pushing him to Pitt, this hurts because of some recent rumors. It is highly speculated that Moe Williams may never see the field for Pitt again. I'm not sure if he isn't going to summer school or simply refuses to go to summer school, but the thought is that his grades will be the reason why he will not be at Pitt next semester. I'm sure the staff is trying to keep this as quiet as possible as Williams may end up like Shane Brooks. It isn't unreasonable to expect to lose a player due to academics, but losing two (especially players who could have contributed) really can hurt a program. Despite losing those two, Pitt is fortunate enough that we are very deep and talented at fullback and receiver. This move would also allow potential Pitt gray-shirt Andrew Taglianetti to earn a scholarship for this fall which permits him to join the team right away.

The latest podcast has been recorded and I promise it will be up soon. I have to get the file to Jason to set up on the internet, so expect it sometime Wednesday at the latest.

Let me pick your brain

2008-06-15T20:56:00.002-04:00

Hello there Cat Basket faithful! On tuesday 6/17, SGB President Link and I will be meeting with the Athletics department again to put the plans in motion on how to improve our gameday atmosphere. We believe we have some great ideas and hopefully with the help of the video man of the athletics dept himself Paul Barto, we can start to change things for the better.

We have worked on things for: Pregame, player specific stuff, some in game action (like telling the crowd to be quiet when we are on offense), some defensive stuff, and as well as getting some other traditions built.

Unfortunately for some of you I don't believe we will be discussing Pitt Script or an on campus stadium. As always though, if you have any ideas, complaints, suggestions, or anything else that you would like taken directly to the higher ups of the athletics department, you can shoot me an email (dpj731@gmail.com) or post a comment.

Sandcastle Update

2008-06-13T11:33:00.002-04:00

Ok, so you're probably saying "What the hell does Sandcastle have to do with Pitt football"? Well the answer is, nothing really. On Wednesday Jones and I along with some others went to beat the heat by enjoying a nice day at Sandcastle. While we passed on the 4 dollar beers and instead enjoyed slides, lazy river, and pool we did see something very interesting. We entered the park around noon and stayed until six. Around 4:30 we saw something very interesting to Pitt football fans. As we were walking to the Blue Tubaluba, I saw a guy and go, wow he kinda looks like Shane Murray. Needless to say, it was in fact Shane Murray. Walking behind Shane was Nate Nix and Dan Loheyde. So as Jason and I grabbed our tandem tube and were climbing up the steps, two dark haired guys come running up next to us in the other aisle. Now these guys weren't just running up the steps with little effort, these guys were showing the hustle that you would expect an athlete to have. I looked over and saw Dom DiCicco leading the way. Behind him and running just as hard without any problems was our star tight end Nate Byham. So without any medical reports or anything else to go on other than watching him run up the steps, I can say that Nate's leg looks to be 100%.

To go along with that good news, you Rivals fans should be pleased to see that Pitt commit Cory King earned himself 3 stars.

I predict that Brock DiCicco will be the next recruit to pledge his services to Pitt.

We won't be doing a podcast this week since Jason and I will be away from Pittsburgh and back at our respective homes in Belle Vernon and Butler for fathers day.

The Cat Basket Podcast Number 8

2008-06-08T20:58:00.002-04:00

Back and super hot! We bring you some discussion on the first recruit of the season and the academic problems that have come up. Also a little bit of movie talk. The Cat Basket Podcast more fun than Sandcastle?

The Cat Basket Podcast Number 8

Where to turn?

2008-06-04T23:14:00.004-04:00

I will be completely honest here. When I first hear of CatBasket friend E.J. Borghetti announcing that Mo Williams had some academic issues, I did not think it was serious enough to have him miss an entire season. Usually when you hear of some academic issues, a couple of summer courses can fix that problem right away. The NCAA rules state that a player must complete 12 credits per year (6 a semester) and meet specific GPA's (1.8 for freshmen I believe). For those of you who never attended Pitt, the University requires a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or else you will be placed on academic probation. Jason Jones and I usually joke that if Pitt really wants you, they will find a way to make you eligible. Unfortunately this will not be the case for Mo Williams. I'm sure you are all tired of reading about rules and regulations, so here are some of my OPINIONS of how this will impact the team.

Firstly, we are lucky to be deep at WR. Kinder, Turner, Porter, McGee, Wright and Jonathan Baldwin are all capable players. I was really hoping that Kinder/Williams would be the starting wr's as I feel that Turner lacks concentration and isn't the most motivated of receivers. Despite my feelings on that, Turner has shown that when the effort is there, he can be an effective player. I believe that Oderick is the type of player that needs some type of inspiration to get the full potential from him. His freshman year he had to earn his playing time and he did well. Last year after the Kinder injury, I believe that he felt his job was safe and he did not try as hard as he did before. I am also aware that being the #1 receiver on the team meant he had to face the opponents #1 cornerback, but when you have responsibility like he had last year, you need to show up.

Since Williams is now in this situation I think this will also teach him a valuable lesson that just because you have earned a scholarship does not mean that you are untouchable. I think it would be easy for a college freshman to get wrapped up in the hype of the college sports experience and let it go to his or her head that academics are second. After a good freshman year, Pitt women's player Jania Sims missed time due to academic issues. Hopefully he can continue taking courses this summer and use the fall and spring to boost the GPA. I also hope that Wanny uses this to motivate the players and let them know that performance on and off the field counts. As much as we love our football team, Pitt is an outstanding academic institution. Just having a degree from here is more valuable than 95% of all other colleges.

Having this redshirt year will also help Mo improve. It will give him an extra year to develop, an extra year in the system, and an extra year to improve his rapport with the quarterbacks of the future Pat Bostick and Tino Sunseri. I don't think anyone expect Mo to be a guy who left early, and now he can use his last 3 years to earn a spot next to Jonathan Baldwin and hopefully make up the most dangerous WR duo in the Big East.

Jonathan Baldwin. The biggest outcome of this whole debacle may just be that Jonathan Baldwin can raise himself up from what I felt would have been a redshirt season into a significant contributor. Lets face it folks, Wanny does not play freshmen unless he HAS to. Bostick, Joe Thomas, and Shady all saw their playing time because of issues at their respective positions. I do not believe for one second that despite his amazing talent, that Baldwin would have ever gotten above 5th on the overall WR depth chart. With Kinder's post-injury ability unknown, Turner's struggles last season, and not knowing McGee and Wright's true ability, Jonathan Baldwin could force himself into the game based upon his amazing potential alone.

This is a big loss for Pitt, don't look at it any other way. Before you get too down about it though just remember that while it does hurt that we are losing him, Pitt is doing the right thing. We're not going to make exceptions, we're not bending the rules, we have and will continue to run a respectable program and one that we should all feel proud to be associated with.

Mo, I can't wait to see you on the field in 2009, but take this year and get everything set straight.

Podcast #7

2008-05-25T23:18:00.006-04:00

Our first ever guest episode with a focus on the inner workings of the Pitt Ticket Office. If you like stories you will love this episode.

The Cat Basket Podcast #7

Podcast #6

2008-05-19T01:44:00.003-04:00

This week's episode focuses on some gameday atmosphere stuff, the laughable Big East expansion rumors, and the recruiting trail. Also with some brilliant media criticism of ESPN, Inspector Gadget, Matthew Broderick, and Terminator 2. Bringing it strong in episode 6.

The Cat Basket Podcast Number 6

P.S.: Just a heads up the first two episodes are going to come down from the feeds at some point during the week. They will still be available from the original posts but not from the feeds or Podomatic. Thanks again for listening.

Cat Basket Podcast Number 5

2008-05-11T14:20:00.001-04:00

Gameday atmosphere talk...

The Cat Basket Podcast Number 5

Heinz Field Gameday Atmosphere

2008-05-05T15:19:00.003-04:00

One thing we've grown accustomed to at Pitt games is a lack of atmosphere. We all get it, the tailgating situation sucks, the fans can be apathetic most of the time, and overall there seems to be just a general lack of interest. Now this isn't a problem just for the football team, when the Zoo isn't making noise, the entire arena seems dead. Luckily it is easy for 1200 students to make noise in a 12,000 seat arena. In football we have to deal with a student section that is not always filled, an open ended stadium, and a team that has struggled in the past. All of those factors mean that the noise level isn't the same. Before you think I'm just ranting about the fans keep reading.

I was at a meeting with Steve Pederson and Dave Wannstedt where they challenged myself as well as other student leaders to improve the gameday atmosphere. While others were arguing that free t-shirts and hotdogs were the only way to get people to come, I argued that making the in game experience better was the real key for improving attendance (other than winning of course). Some people on SGB and other organizations felt I was crazy. Luckily Dr. Kathy Humphrey, Chris Ferris, and some other fellow student leaders agreed.

During the conclusion of the meeting, I along with our SGB president and Program Council Lecture Director was placed in charge of trying to figure out ways to make the in game experience better. One thing we all agreed upon was that there doesn't seem to be anything engaging the fans to make them feel more included in the game. Sure we want to have a beach ball in the student section and to incorporate other ideas to make the entire stadium seem like one cohesive unit. However, we felt that there was one big thing that Pitt hasn't used to our advantage yet. We have that massive jumbotron that usually is one big advertisement the entire game. Have you ever notice how excited people get when the Heinz ketchup flows??? That is why we decided that one of the most effective ways to improve the atmosphere is to use the jumbotron to get the crowd involved. Have you ever been to a Pens game and seen how they use a small outdated jumbotron to get the crowd fired up? Well, why can't we use our state of the art equipment to get our fans fired up?

During my last week of vacation before the summer semester starts, I am working to create video's and such to get the crowd involved. Things like showing a blue alarm going off with an airhorn signaling Code Blue (yes I know it is the code for death but just roll with it) for when the crowd needs to get pumped up on a big play. Also bring back the Panther growling on big third downs to let the team know we need noise (remember when we did that during the WaHa years?). Little things like player highlight packages such as when a player gets the ball, so a little highlight of him after the play (Heinz Field becoming overcast a.k.a. Shady, or Mo "Money in the Bank" Williams"). Also since we don't have the worlds most educated fans, we can use the jumbotron to get the fans to shut up when we are on offense.

There are endless possibilities here, and I hope that we can use this to our advantage. That is why I am encouraging all Cat Basket readers to email, post, or discuss any ideas that you might have to improve our in game atmosphere to: 1. help our team and 2. improve the atmosphere so that people will come to the game even when the team isn't performing as well as we would like.

So please, if you have any ideas let us know. I understand if you don't want to post since our fan base loves to turn on each other, but if you do, don't be afraid to email us: TheCatbasket@gmail.com or dpj731@gmail.com.

Hopefully we can use this to help make the gameday experience better and to keep Heinz Field packed.

Podcast #4

2008-05-02T13:42:00.000-04:00

All NFL Draft all the time.......

Cat Basket Podcast Number 4

Podcast #3

2008-04-26T15:53:00.003-04:00

We are back and 100% clean. Main focus is on the Spring Game with a little bit of gameday atmosphere talk thrown in.

Cat Basket Podcast Number 3

Your 4/22 Update!

2008-04-22T15:24:00.003-04:00

Hey Everyone,

While I'm sure you're dying to hear our thoughts/analysis on the spring game, we're going to hold it off until sometime this weekend. We figured that everyone (just like us) was getting a little tired of the plethora of coverage out there. So instead of striking while the iron is hot, we will wait till this weekend. Instead I bring to you this: I will be continuing the "Legends of the Athletics Department" this week after I finish finals, I will be updating my annual mock draft contest so if you're interested in partaking send me an email, today is earth day and election day, but tomorrow is Jason's birthday so make sure you save a tree, cast a vote, and tell Jonesy over there Happy 23rd!

That is all for now.

Podcast #2

2008-04-14T13:22:00.002-04:00

Well it took about a week or two longer than we expected but we are now on the normal recording schedule. This week's podcast focuses on Spring Ball, we got a chance to go to the scrimmage this past Saturday. The episode is chocked full of insider information that we give you for free.

Everybody thanks for listening and subscribing we are getting some positive feedback from just the first episode. Please subscribe on Podmatic with the link on the left-hand side of the page or from the ITunes store. There will be many more of these to come so keep checking back here for updates.

The Cat Basket Podcast Number 2

Quick Spring Update

2008-03-29T23:20:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone, I thought I'd just pass along some news here before I head out to Charlotte tomorrow.

The John Bachman experiment at center is not going well. Originally he was on the first team and was having difficulty snapping to Billy Stull. Just as the Cat Basket predicted, Robb Houser was bumped up to the first team and there were far fewer problems.

One of the players doing well in the few days we have been practicing is Aundre Wright. He is absolutely killing people with his speed and making a big impact on the field. While he is going to be held back by the depth we have at Wr, he is really proving that he deserves a shot to see the field. I still believe Kinder/Turner will be the starting 1,2 but with Porter, Wright, and Baldwin all waiting right behind them, any flaws in their game must be quickly addressed or they could be out of a starting spot very quickly. Hopefully we will play the best players and don't let the player's year in school impact how much they play.

Pat Bostick is doing his best to make me lose my bet with Brian Ising. He is in very good shape, he has improved his footwork, he has added distance to his long bomb, and has been more impressive than expected in camp. He has worked on correcting his throwing motion, so as of right now you will see a modified version of how he passed last year. He hasn't lost the hitch completely, but it isn't as significant as it was last season.

Lastly, I spoke with one of the coaches who is ready to call Elijah Fields the best player on the team. Thats right, even better than McKillop, better than Shady, better than Romeus. The belief is that with Elijah's super-human ability we can use him (get ready to smile yinzers) as a Troy Polamalu type. He is a superb blitzer for a defensive back, he has great closing speed, and he has arguably the best hands of anyone in our secondary. He is the type of player that will really impact how teams prepare for us. This is the first time I can remember that we have had a superstar on the DLine (Romeus), Linebacker (McKillop), and Secondary (Fields).

It might only be due to the Pitt basketball season ending, but I'm getting very excited for the football season.

We should have our recording equipment by next week, so when I return from Charlotte, look for the regular podcast updates.

Lastly, I want to give mention to our Pitt Women's basketball team. They will tip off here in about 30 minutes. Agnus has done a great job in her short time here. Stevie P, when you get into the office on monday and read this I have 2 jobs for you to do. 1st, give Jamie Dixon a long extension with a super huge buy out. Secondly, do the same thing with Agnus.

~ DPJ ~

The Spring game and Pryor

2008-03-19T13:35:00.002-04:00

Pitt has announced that the annual spring game will be held on April 19th at 6 p.m. I always enjoy going to the spring game mostly to see how the new starters will perform. If you remember at all from last year, the buzz was on Elijah Fields. Even during the start of camp Elijah was still practicing with the team and was arguably the best player on the field. This year, I'll be going again to see Elijah.....again, as well as the other players battling it out for starting positions. I think two things to keep an eye on are the incoming Juco players, Cross and Houser. Both have the opportunity to play a major role this season and this will be our first shot to see them on the field.

After weeks of waiting, and with no surprise ending, Terrelle Pryor announced he will be going to OSU. If Pitt couldn't have him, I was hoping that it was OSU that ended up with him. While he has had problems recently, he is a tremendous talent and I would hate to see a player like him go to UPS or Michigan. Now DickRod lost his star quarterback and wasn't able to land the gem to replace him. UPS and UM also have to deal with playing against him which will bring a smile to my face. I really doubt that he ever had an interest in PSU, and was probably just taking the visits there to please his father as well as the boosters who gave him certain things such as free dinners. I would have hated to see him go to UPS, but after watching JayPa ruin Morelli, I think it would have been possible for JayPa to ruin Pryor as well.

All in all, DickRod and UPS have to deal with this now for at least 3 years, so enjoy.

Podcast Link

2008-03-11T15:52:00.002-04:00

Everybody please take a look at the links on the left-hand side of the page. We put a link up to the podcast's blog where you can download and stream the episodes. The podcast is submitted to ITunes once we get the approval and its on the site we will put a link for you to subscribe. The direct download from here will still be available as well. Thanks for listening and all the kind words last week and expect the new episode to get uploaded sometime soon.

Update 3/16-We are up in the Itunes store now. Look for the start of regular recording to come in the next week, all the equipment is arriving and we will be definitely doing something before the end of the week. Enjoy the day after one of the biggest nights in school history!

Pryor and Stevie P

2008-03-10T02:05:00.003-04:00

Hello All!

I hope you have enjoyed the first Cat Basket podcast. We will be recording another one shortly and hopefully getting uploaded to several other sites.

For those of you who were able to catch the Pitt/Depaul basketball game yesterday, I'm sure you saw Stevie P sitting with Jason Jones and I. I had given Steve a Zoo shirt earlier and the season and he had promised to spend a game with the Zoo. Much to our surprise, our buddy in the athletics department, Chris Ferris, told us we would be having a special guest in the Zoo. It was fun being able to be with Steve for the game. We talked about all sorts of issues. He was clearly talking about football the most. He said that season ticket sales were ahead of where he expected them to be. He also is very excited about the new pre-game festivities that will be occurring on Robinson St. before the games. I guess that means the end of the awful Panther Zone at PNC Park. I think letting athletics run this event and making sure that the Pitt Program Council stays out of it will be the best way for the event to succeed. Sorry Tom Miserableaca, Stevie P is running the show and he won't deal with your garbage ideas.

The other big part of the game was that Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch was a guest of Dr. Jimmy Barber. Usually the only Steeler that he brings is Jeff Reed, but while ol' Skippy is out of town, Charlie was kind enough to come to the game. Many people came over to talk to Charlie (including everyone sitting in the front row courtside seats $$$). Two of the people who met him immediately was Coach Wannstedt and Chris Lasala. Do you think that might have been planned????

Anyways, stay tuned for our next podcast. We're in the process of getting interviews lined up (players, coaches, and friends of the program), but the next one should be focusing on the defensive side of the ball as well as other random topics that will be introduced by Jason Jones.

~ The One and Only ~

The Podcast

2008-03-05T01:40:00.004-05:00

Here it is the First Ever Cat Basket Podcast. Give us some time and we will be able to figure out how to get everything setup smoother for the downloading of the podcast. For now enjoy Number 1.

Cat Basket Podcast #1

A Little Taste

2008-02-18T00:34:00.003-05:00

Well here is an extremely brief teaser of what is to come later this week. Dave and I recorded a podcast last week as a dry run for what we hope to be a new weekly thing here. This is only the intro and we are going to have our first one up later in the week. Stay tuned to the blog and look for the podcast to come sometime around Thursday.

Partridge Makes 2 of 2

2008-02-07T22:12:00.000-05:00

After Dunn was let go, I wrote that there would be one more coming. I didn't get any information about Aubrey Hill, but I was told that Partridge would be fired after LOI day (to save recruits) and also so that he would have time to find a job and didn't have to be fired.

Luckily for him, Dave Wannstedt is a nice enough guy and instead of looking for a job without having one, he was able to get a job at Wisconsin and doesn't have to add "fired from Pitt" to his resume. Instead, he can write "left for Wisconsin". If you ask me, that sounds like a good deal to me.

Both parties involved can separate on good terms. But, better for us, we can improve upon one of our greatest weaknesses. Last year, Linebacker, Offensive Line, and Special teams were all huge weaknesses for us. This season we have 3 new or different coaches to help fix those areas.

Jones and I did something special today for the website (not dinocat tattoos) and we hope to share it with you as soon as possible.

LOI Day Special or as I Like to Call it Jones Needs a Life

2008-02-06T08:51:00.000-05:00

Basically I'm going to try and grab as much info as I can from all the various sources and pool it here so that you The Cat Basket reader can have a semblance of a day.

8:53 A.M: Well this isn't going exactly to be as fun as I imagined but as of now we 10 LOI's signed, sealed and delivered:
Chris Burns, Shayne Hale, Cam Saddler, Ronald Hobby, Jarred Holley, Antwaun Reed, Mike Shanahan, Tino Sunseri, Ryan Turnley, and Justin Virbitsky.

9:10 A.M: In case you haven't heard no decision from Pryor today because he is too big for signing day perhaps and who doesn't love keeping the world in suspense. In other news, Deion Walker a Penn State recruit jumped from the JoePa train and is now going to Notre Dame instead and Josh Jenkins is going to WVU.

Manny Williams is now a Panther.

9:29 AM: No movement at all the big LOI's that are still on the board right now are Jonathan Baldwin and Lucas Nix. This isn't a big deal at all because since guys this level usually take a while to get in their commitment.

9:50 AM: Nothing is happening we have hit the lull in the day already it seems. Mike Golic Jr. the three star recruit who got to play in the Army All American game is going to commit live on the Mike and Mike Radio Show. L-E-G-A-C-Y thats the way they spell national recruiting hype.

9:56 AM: Robert Sands has committed to WVU. We were in the picture with him. Not too much of a loss.

10:17 AM: Kevin Harper the 3 star kicker just committed. He has a huge leg and I can't wait to see what he can do on kickoffs.

10:47 AM: No movement on anymore of the LOI's. We haven't recieved Jonathan Baldwin, Lucas Nix, Mike Cruz, Joe Trebitz, and Andrew Taglianetti. I'm taking a guess but I don't think we get Baldwin or Nix until around noon but I'm just speculating.

11:06 AM: Jonathan Baldwin is in. To me he is the jewel of the recruiting class and I think he will be able to make an impact from day 1 here. Already has the size and speed of a first round pick in the NFL. Lucas Nix is in as well and if Baldwin is the catch of the class Nix is only a step behind him. He has more talent than any lineman we have had come to Pitt in a long time.

11:11 AM: Mike Cruz and Andrew Taglianetti have committed and we are left at one Joe Trebitz.

11:30 AM: No commitment yet from Trebitz but I'm going to leave the blog be for the moment. This recruiting class is pretty staggering looking overall and I can't believe the work that Coach Wannstedt and his staff have done in Western PA. We have got the results off the field in a big way now its coming time for the results to come where it matters on the field.

Thanks everybody for reading.