Kevin stallings to pitt

[Windy City Cat Fan]

leaving vandy after 17 years

 

[IdahoAlum]

Doesn't strike me as a great fit for Stallings or Pitt, but Kevin, an Old Kahok like me, is going to retire very well off.

 

[Sec_112]

Idaho, why doesn't it seem like a good fit?

There were rumors all over the place last week that Stallings was out at Vandy. I always thought Stallings would be PERFECT for NU. In the fantasy basketball world of 112Land, I would have dumped Collins in a second to get Stallings.

I'm interested to see what Stallings does without Vandy's academics around him.

 

[IdahoAlum]

Idaho, why doesn't it seem like a good fit?

There were rumors all over the place last week that Stallings was out at Vandy. I always thought Stallings would be PERFECT for NU. In the fantasy basketball world of 112Land, I would have dumped Collins in a second to get Stallings.

I'm interested to see what Stallings does without Vandy's academics around him.

Well, he's lived, coached and recruited his entire life in the Midwest and Southeast. Vandy was always good, never great. He's 55 years old, so he's not exactly the next rising star. And he'll be REAL lucky if his record comes close to his predecessor, who was very successful and often overlooked.

I've known Kevin since his high school days (he was one of the most entertaining high school players I've ever watched), and I think he's a good coach. But I don't think he'll give Pitt what Jamie Dixon gave them.

 

[rwhitney014]

Well, he's lived, coached and recruited his entire life in the Midwest and Southeast. Vandy was always good, never great. He's 55 years old, so he's not exactly the next rising star. And he'll be REAL lucky if his record comes close to his predecessor, who was very successful and often overlooked.

I've known Kevin since his high school days (he was one of the most entertaining high school players I've ever watched), and I think he's a good coach. But I don't think he'll give Pitt what Jamie Dixon gave them.

There's also the Sheldon Jeter drama, though everyone's downplaying that now.

 

[Sec_112]

Well, he's lived, coached and recruited his entire life in the Midwest ...

Thanks for the good response. Two questions:

1) At Vandy, didn't Stallings have some of the similar grade restrictions that NU has?
2) Would you really take the "next rising star" over someone as established as Stallings? I'd always take the established guy as long as he's reasonably functional.

I agree Stallings isn't at the height of his game, but I also see Dixon on a similar downslide if we agree Stallings can be graded on a curve at Vandy due to grades.

Pitt could have done a hell of a lot worse. But yes, Pitt did blow it by not keeping Dixon in the first place,

 

[YesterdaysCat]

Thanks for the good response. Two questions:

1) At Vandy, didn't Stallings have some of the similar grade restrictions that NU has?
2) Would you really take the "next rising star" over someone as established as Stallings? I'd always take the established guy as long as he's reasonably functional.

1. People say that he had restrictions at Vandy, but it's anecdotal.

2. I don't think that Stallings is any better than Bill Foster was. I would take the upside of Coach Collins over Stallings any day.

Let's not forget his multiple faux pas moments at Vandy (i.e., the profane, threatening language he directed at a player and the book about Vandy basketball that was not flattering).

 

[docrugby1]

Where did Dixon go ? Fired ? New job ?

 

[Styre]

Where did Dixon go ? Fired ? New job ?

Returned to his alma mater, TCU, as head coach.

 

[Catreporter]

Returned to his alma mater, TCU, as head coach.

Now there is a tough building job. No tradition at all there. Good hire for them.

 

[NJCat]

Now there is a tough building job. No tradition at all there. Good hire for them.

Can't be any tougher than for Collins at NU. At least TCU has success at the national level in Football and Baseball with which to draw money from boosters.

 

[Styre]

Now there is a tough building job. No tradition at all there. Good hire for them.

Among Power 5 schools, TCU has the third-longest tournament drought (last appearance 1998) behind NU (never) and Rutgers (1991).

 

[DaCat]

I've known Kevin since his high school days (he was one of the most entertaining high school players I've ever watched), and I think he's a good coach. But I don't think he'll give Pitt what Jamie Dixon gave them.

When I was in high school, our school New Trier West had good teams. In the 1978 IHSA state tournament we made it downstate to the Elite Eight and ran up against Collinsville led by this kid Kevin Stallings. I was amazed how this 6-5 kid could dribble and pass as a guard. He did it all, behind-the-back dribbles, no-look passes, etc. I think our tallest player was 6-5 and a typical power forward. Stallings was fun to watch, unless you were playing against him. Our team played against future stars like Doc Rivers of Proviso West, Isaiah Thomas of St. Josephs, Terry Cummings of Carver, Jim Stack and Kevin Boyle of St. Laurence... but Stallings was right up there.

 

[IdahoAlum]

That Collinsville team was so fun to watch. Stallings was was so creative, and they had two other D-1 players in John Belobraydic (Arizona) and Steve Ray (Tennessee). Unfortunately they ran into a great defensive team in Lockport who shut them down in the semis.

 

[DaCat]

I looked up that year, there were some good players in the tournament. NTW had no answer for Belobraydic, who put up 32 in that game. Our best player was 6-4 forward Joel May, with my classmate, 6-4 sophomore Tom Franz, also a pretty good player. That Lockport team was outstanding going 33-0, they destroyed Isaiah Thomas' team in the finals.

http://www.ihsa.org/archive/bkb/mm/1978baa3.htm

 

[IdahoAlum]

1978 was a great year for talent in Illinois: I counted at least five future NBA players (Aguirre, Thomas, Mitch Anderson, Craig Hodges and Doc Rivers), and a ton of other D-1 talent: Stallings, Verderber (Kentucky), Parzych (NC State), Boyle (Iowa), Stack (NU), Clemons (Loyola), McCoy (DePaul), Gruubs (DePaul), Belobraydic (Arizona), Ray (Tennessee)....