Pitt has it’s latest press release trumpeting its place in one of the college football preview magazines.

Reflective of Pitt football’s elevated national reputation, the Panthers are well represented in Lindy’s 2005 college football annual, which recently hit area newsstands.

Junior receiver Greg Lee (Tampa, Fla./Chamberlain) was named a Lindy’s All-American (second team) and the nation’s No. 4 wideout overall. Junior quarterback Tyler Palko (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny) was named Big East Offensive Player of the Year, while junior linebacker H.B. Blades (Plantation, Fla./Plantation) was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Blades was named the nation’s No. 5 outside linebacker, while Palko was listed as the country’s No. 9 quarterback. Other Panthers who received top 10 national positional rankings included senior Bernard “Josh” Lay (No. 9 cornerback) and junior Adam Graessle (No. 10 punter).

As a team, Pitt was ranked 19th nationally and second in the Big East.

By some luck, I had been in a bookstore late last week and saw some of the preview magazines. Unfortunately, in Ohio, it’s almost all Big 11 preview stuff, so I didn’t know how they ranked the players in the Big East.

The Pitt preview was in there since they were in the top-25. In the section on wide receivers, the feature story was on Greg Lee. He’s going to have a lot of attention this year. It’s worth noting that the Lee story and Pitt’s preview were both written by Paul Zeise the Post-Gazette’s Pitt football beat writer.

Lindy’s has also begun to follow Athlon’s lead in providing a cheesecake section. Several pages devoted to those who do their best to raise our, um, spirit during the game. Lindy’s, though, is lousy about putting anything online.

Unlike Athlon. Athlon’s ranked Pitt #23, and released some tidbits earlier. Again, stuck looking only at the Big 11 Regional issue (I’m guessing the national issue will make it out here in July or August). The issue also had a “Players Forum” of Q&A. One of the players was Tyler Palko.

The issue predicted Pitt for a minimum of 8 wins. They expect 1 loss (Louisville) and 2 games that are toss-ups (ND and Nebraska).

The final preview (again a damn Big 11 regional) was from The Sporting News. They place Pitt at #29. The only things worth noting were under the topics of “Clutch Players” they ranked Palko #1 for “Best QB in a 2 minute Drill” and Lee #1 under “Best deep threat.”

I’ll try to have some thoughts on the CollegeFootballNews.com preview (hat tip Kohberger) later.

It doesn’t matter how deep the draft is in point guards, if Krauser thinks he will be drafted in the second round, he’s going to stay in the draft.

I don’t think it’s that he wants out of Pitt, so much as he wants in the NBA.

Some think if Krauser comes back, he could possibly break into the bottom of the 1st round and get the guaranteed money (no guaranteed contract in the 2nd round).

“At this point, I think a guy like Krauser should use this camp as a learning tool for himself and find out what he needs to improve on in his game in order to become a first-rounder next year,” said Chris Ekstand, who is a consultant to the NBA and specializes in scouting and the draft.

“Even with a big week, he probably won’t be a first-rounder, which means there is no reason for him not to return to school. This camp will give him a real good idea of what he needs to work on and if he maximizes his experience and uses it to improve, he certainly could become a first-rounder next year.”
…
Ekstrand, who said [WVU’s Kevin] Pittsnogle, like Krauser, probably would benefit from going back to school to work on his game, pointed to Orlando Magic guard Jameer Nelson as an example of a player who used the camp as a learning experience and then made improvements in his game his senior year to become a first-round pick.

“That happens a lot, so, hopefully, Krauser, who in talking to general managers and scouts around the league the sentiment is that he is clearly a second-round pick, will follow a similar path,” Ekstrand said.

Krauser’s athleticism, defense, intensity and toughness will be his ticket into the NBA, Ekstrand said, but his biggest liability is his consistency shooting the midrange jumpers.

He’s not there to gauge his draft stock, so much as to try and impress a team to take a chance on them. That is clear to most (Insider subs.).

Carl Krauser, 6-2, Jr., Pittsburgh: Krauser was working out with John Lucas in May. He’s 24 and would be a fifth-year senior if he went back to Pitt. Krauser wants to stay in the draft — and to do that he’s going to have to be a standout in Chicago. He has the ability to dominate the position at this camp. If he does, he has a real shot to be a second-round pick. That could be enough for him to stay in the draft.

The Chicago camp hasn’t released an official list of invites, but ESPN.com got a copy of it (Insider Subs.). It confirmed that Chevon Troutman was not invited. That decision to skip the Portsmouth Invitational for Seniors last month is now looking completely moronic. Another undersized power forward, Jason Maxiell of Cinci, dominated at Portsmouth and the lesser competition and got the Chicago invite.

The Downtown Pittsburgh YMCA Scholar-Athlete Banquet this past weekend apparently had a good turnout. In attendance included 3 Division I head basketball coaches : Pitt’s Jamie Dixon, Skip Prosser of Wake Forest and Sean Miller of Xavier.

Thankfully Coach Dixon wasn’t the speaker:

Pitt basketball coach Jamie Dixon spoke at a recent banquet honoring high school athletes.

Spies say he threatened former Penguins coach Rick Kehoe’s record for dullness, which was thought to be unbreakable.

Instead, the Downtown Y got Peter King of Sports Illustrated who sent a nice shout-out regarding PNC Park.