I mentioned the ESPN The Magazine article on Chris Taft last week. It is now on the ESPN site, but only for subscribers. Here’s some excerpts.

The next night against Memphis, he backs up his worldview – for a while, anyway. In the game’s first four minutes, he outjumps two Tigers for a putback, draws a foul as he faces up along the baseline and takes a pass as he streaks down the lane for a layup. He finishes the half with nine points, yapping the whole way, to lead Pitt to a double-digit lead.

But then, with the game in hand early in the second half, he suddenly shuts up and shuts down. After Tigers forward Joey Dorsey drives past Taft on consecutive possessions, Panthers coach Jamie Dixon pulls his big man. Dixon sends him back in a few minutes later, and Taft drops a couple of buckets, but soon his disinterested D has him back on the bench. Pitt still wins big and Taft finishes with his first double-double of the year (13 and 10), but he’s the first to admit it wasn’t exactly a star turn. “I know, I know, I stopped talking,” he says. “But we were up 20. Get them fools outta here.”

Trouble is, that game is an all-too-familiar snapshot of Taft’s career. When he’s feeling it, and letting everyone know he’s feeling it, he can roll over anyone. But when he gets bored, he gets beat. It’s why, as tightly as he controls every other aspect of his life, he knows better than to censor his words.

His mouth will lead the way. Who knows if his game will follow?
…

Still, none of that explains why Taft often slips into neutral. In one of the team’s few tight games this season, a nine-point victory over Richmond in late December, Taft held back a Spiders rally with two monster blocks on consecutive stands. In between those plays, though, Taft backed down his man in the low post, but instead of breaking off one of those new moves for a game-busting bucket, he dished to freshman guard Ronald Ramon. Pitt failed to score. “We’ve tried to make it clear to him that he can’t take plays off,” says Dixon. “We need him and his intensity from start to finish.”

What’s so frustrating is Taft is always dropping tantalizing clues in practice of what could be. Like when he jumps for a layup, then resurfaces on the other side of the hoop to put back his miss before the rest of the team has left the ground. Or when he rides his 35-inch vert to throw down a tomahawk, looking down at his giggling teammates from above the rim as he finishes. “He’ll sometimes leave us wondering two things,” says assistant Pat Sandle. “How he did it, and why doesn’t he do it for a whole game? No one’s really seen what he can do.”

It’s that mix that will still make him a high draft pick, but with lots of risk.

Pitt’s game notes are out (PDF). There are the usual storylines for Pitt going to NYC — all the Pitt players from the 5 boroughs.

The other storyline, you won’t find any official mention of, is the stripper incident last year between several former St. John’s players in Pittsburgh. There is the odd parallel that Yuri Demetris gets arrested and suspended just before Pitt plays St. John’s this year. Or maybe that’s just me.

In the spirit of speaking positively about St. John’s, their dance team placed 3rd in national competition.

Seriously, though, St. John’s will give Pitt a battle. They may have lost their last two games to WVU and ND, but it was by a total of 5 points. Pitt has to adjust its starting rotation and how it uses its bench. Since Coach Dixon hasn’t tinkered nearly as much as one might expect with a team that has struggled at points, it might be more of a challenge then expected.

They appear to require an internet subscription to listen to their game, but you can track the game live here. Otherwise the game is on Fox Sports Pittsburgh or via ESPN Full Court.

Moving awkwardly from the sordid details as to why Demetris was suspended to what this means to the team. My first thought was that Freshman Guard Ronald Ramon would move in to start for Demetris. The other possibility is that Pitt goes back to just starting 2 guards, and Senior Forward Mark McCarroll starts. McCarroll who seemed to be losing minutes and confidence all season had a bit of a breakthrough against Seton Hall. It seems, Pitt was already looking to try that option.

I just never understood this sort of craziness.

Pitt basketball player Yuri Demetris was arrested early yesterday morning after an altercation at a woman’s apartment in Oakland.

Demetris was arraigned and charged with two counts of burglary and one count of simple assault. He will have his preliminary hearing at 1 p.m. Thursday at Pittsburgh Municipal Court.

Demetris, a senior guard who has started all 14 games for the nationally ranked Panthers (12-2), was suspended indefinitely from the team.

Demetris twice entered the apartment of Rebecca Emmers, 21, without her permission. Emmers described Demetris as an ex-boyfriend, according to a University of Pittsburgh police report.

Demetris forced his way through Emmers’ bedroom window at midnight. The alleged victim heard noises in the bedroom and found Demetris there, at which time she told him to “get out.”

Demetris, a 23-year-old graduate of Shaler Area High School, became argumentative with her. She said she would call police if he didn’t leave, at which time he pushed her and left the apartment. He returned at 1:45 a.m., entering again through the bedroom window. He was physically and verbally abusive toward her and struck her in the chin with a closed fist and left the scene again.

According to the police report, the victim had redness on her chin. She did not have to go to the hospital and declined a protection-from-abuse order. She was asked if she wanted to prosecute Demetris three times and responded “yes.” Campus police arrested Demetris at the Bouquet Gardens apartment building on Oakland Avenue.

Coach Dixon has Demetris suspended indefinitely from the team, and I’m not sure how he can let him rejoin the team after this. I do agree with Dixon in trying to get him support and help needed. Clearly he needs it. Still, this program had some major problem players at the end of the Willard era, and I don’t think anyone in the Pitt basketball program wants to even come near that kind of controversy again.

I mean, jeez… What do you say? What can you think? He’s a senior. He’s 23, not some young kid with a dodgy past that the school ignored. To this point, there were no stories out there about Demetris having these kind of issues. But he broke into an ex-girlfriend’s apartment. That alone just crosses too far over to the disturbed and scary zone.