Panther247 Board

You forget how touch and go it was with Sam Young during his career. A lot of promise as a Sophomore, then a step back and disappointing Junior year, only to have a major breakout Senior year.
There's a lot of raw talent on Jamie's bball team, as well as among PC's early recruiting efforts.

That's the question that I'm trying to figure out.

I look at it this way, if we had an experienced QB and/or experienced RB then I would agree with you 100%. I know the line works as a team, but that team is only as strong as its weakest member. We will have unproven guys on the line blocking for unproven guys in the backfield.

Looking at the bball team, we do have some experience on offense that can pick up the slack at times. Woodall is becoming a very good scorer (I'd love for him to have 3 more inches), Patterson is a good all-around player, Moore can take over a game at times, etc., so we can survive (and I know that isn't the goal) without the shooter, however we would thrive with one.

I should preface all that with the fact that there is no wrong answer to this question, it's just for thought.

And if there is no "right or wrong" answer then what was that^^ looks like the "right" answer to me.

That was my point regarding Sam's junior year .. he was a beast his last two years .. so i hope you aren't addressing me. And he was never D-Wade and his herculean efforts didn't get us to the final four. We've never had a complete stud athlete.

I think we're disagreeing a bit over how to define a go-to guy.

What guys would you put in the same category as D-Wade?

Agree, one player can make a huge difference in hoops. Put Ricky Greer on the 2009 Pitt team with Young / Blair / Fields and Pitt wins the national championship.

Put the 2011 version of Kemba Walker on any number of Pitt teams and they would be playing for championships.

Do you think Sam Young was ever as good as Kemba Walker? I'm talking in terms of consistency late in the year as well .. not just one game here or there.

Sam was dominant at times.

Absolutely, he was. Walker only scored 16 points in the title game against Butler, so it wasn't like he averaged 30+ppg in the tournament. It's also unfair to compare Walker's tourney run to the 2008-9 season. There was so much more talent in 2008-2009 than there was in 2011.

I don't think the fact that Pitt failed to make the Final Four should diminish Sam's role as a go-to-guy. There are far too many other variables at work determining the outcome of a tournament game. Say Nova only shoots 75% of their FTs and Pitt moves on to face UNC. Does that really make Sam any more of a go-to guy?

Shruggs,

I think the LT position in CFB is a tad overrated compared to the pros. The caliber of DE/OLB they face is nowhere near the level they see at the next level more times than not. A really good coordinator will often place his best pass rusher on the weakest OL and it kind of nullifies one side of the OL. You can always help a tackle out in the pass game whether he's on the left or right. But, when you have two weak tackles you're extremely limited.

Pass protection is typically determined by the center who usually has the OL slide left or right based on the front. If they are giving odd or even looks in the front it usually determines which way they will step. If you have an elite DE lined up opposite of a so-so tackle, the center and QB need to identify this at the presnap and make the adjustment. This year wasn't pretty all the time, but it was much better than last year where we had free rushers because of the miscuses from Sunday through Thursday w/ last year's staff. IMO, Fraud set this team up for failure because he seemed to look past strengths and tendencies. Just my opinion though.

yep