Just nothing. Nothing from Arizona. Nothing from Pittsburgh. All there is, is speculation.

Right now, if you are judging based on rumors, conjecture and closest to reality. You have to start thinking that Jamie Dixon is heading for Tempe. Not that there aren’t reasons.

What I’m thinking is if you compare reports from the Pittsburgh papers of this morning. The P-G was more optimisitc seeming and said there would likely be a statement of some sort. The Trib. made no such claim but did say that Dixon was leaning towards going to ASU. Right now, the Trib has a slight edge in credibility in that the P-G’s rumor didn’t happen.

Doesn’t mean he will go to ASU. It just means there was no statement or press conference.

So is everyone getting frustrated with refreshing this site, checking the Pitt site, the Sun Devils, trawling the message boards for some, any verifiable shred of information?

It sure reads like it.

Now take a deep breath. Hold it. Release.

Okay, now think about this. It may be a no-brainer to us that Dixon should stay at Pitt. It may be maddening to us that he is even considering leaving and making all of us have to wait.

This is, however, a momentous decision for Jamie Dixon and his family. I wouldn’t want to rush the decision.

The fact is, he isn’t exactly harming the program by taking his time.

He isn’t leaving in the middle of recruiting or at an absolute vital stage. Pitt already has 2 of 3 available scholarship spots locked in because of early signing. The program is in excellent condition.

We also don’t know everything that has been happening with the negotiations. There are the leaks giving the rough info, but that doesn’t necessarily tell us everything to compare the two deals.

Remember when it came time to fill the job 3 years ago, and Prosser was agonizing over staying at Wake or coming to Pitt? At the 11th hour they finally offered the job to Dixon. Just about when he had given up hope of being hired. He had been ready to get on a plane to head for LA to join Howland after being forced to twist in the wind for a while.

I remember the criticism that Pitt took for that botched search job.

That’s a painful contrast to Pittsburgh, which spent most of the season in the top 10 and all of it in denial. Administrators expected the team’s deep roster, its beautiful new home court and a boatload of cash to disguise the absence of a productive talent base and enduring tradition.

Chancellor Mark Nordenberg failed to recognize the need to hire a full-time athletic director — be it interim A.D. Mark Boehm or someone else — when it became obvious during the winter that coach Ben Howland could leave for UCLA.

Without someone empowered to determine the athletic department’s course, there was no one to conduct a proper search. No one had the juice to guide Nordenberg through the vitriolic gossip that follows Memphis’ John Calipari and help determine if he would advance Pitt’s future. The Panthers overreached for Skip Prosser, counting on the allure of his hometown to convince him to accept a backward move. He wound up, instead, with a lucrative extension at Wake Forest.
Two weeks after Howland left, there was no indication that able and accessible candidates such as Xavier’s Thad Matta, Manhattan’s Bobby Gonzalez, former Bulls coach Tim Floyd and Creighton’s Dana Altman had been considered. Incoming recruits such as Brooklyn’s 6-10 Chris Taft grew anxious as the search persisted.

Speed in these situations is not as important as accuracy — making the right hire — but Dayton accomplished both by being realistic about its station and fully prepared.

We’ve been hearing all winter how Arizona State would take a run at Dixon.

Despite that, and the fact that this Pitt team overachieved this season, there wasn’t much sign from the Pitt athletic department that they would be proactive in extending Dixon and keeping him from even entertaining offers.

Additional consideration that you may or not want to take seriously. What Dixon saw happen with Walt Harris. He saw a coach that did a fine job rebuilding the program then get shown the door when the program didn’t continue advancing fast enough. Not only that, but once Harris was booted the talk was all about how they needed a “Pitt” guy. A guy with Pittsburgh connections.

Dixon knows Sean Miller is out there getting experience and was a Pitt guy. What would happen in a few years if Pitt basketball isn’t considered to be winning enough? Why shouldn’t he consider cashing in big, now. Is it better to leave a little soon or too late?

I just think this is not as easy a decision as we think it should be.

Cinci has a new basketball coach. The corpse was barely cold following the NIT loss to South Carolina when Mick Cronin, formerly the head guy at Murray State, was named new coach.

Andy Kennedy, though, landed right on his feet as he was almost as quickly named the new head coach at Ole Miss.

And of course, the same day that Bob Huggins appeared back in Kansas State. By the way, read this Jim Litke article and assume that K-State is putting some good lawyers with experience with the NCAA on retainer.

Maybe it was just an unfortunate coincidence.

First, there was the story of O.J. Mayo, a junior at Cincinnati North College Hill High School and two-time Ohio Mr. Basketball. Mayo sat out the state high school semifinals Thursday night – on orders from his principal, who wouldn’t disclose the reason – and has no idea yet whether he’ll play in the championship game Saturday.

But Mayo has known for awhile now where he and teammate Bill Walker, another very talented junior, wanted to go to college: Whichever school Huggins wound up at.

“At the same time,” Mayo said recently, “we have to see where he ends up, what the school’s fan base is like, see what the fans think about him and make sure everything is great.”

Everything is not great, though, with the program Huggins left behind. Hours before its NIT quarterfinal loss to South Carolina on Thursday night, the University of Cincinnati suspended two starters, leading scorer James White and 3-point specialist Jihad Muhammad, for violating undisclosed NCAA eligibility rules.

Just a coincidence, I’m sure.

Here is what is actually known. Pitt and Arizona State have made offers to Jamie Dixon. Arizona State AD Lisa Love has actually managed to meet with Dixon somewhere on Thursday.

Dixon, who worked as an assistant at Northern Arizona University, was not on the Pitt campus Thursday.

Neither assistants on his coaching staff nor Pitt’s sports information department knew where he was.

ASU Athletic Director Lisa Love also was not on the Tempe campus Thursday. ASU’s sports information department did not know of her whereabouts.

The ASU contract offer is believed to be for 5 years.

Sometime today it is expected that Dixon will release a statement on the whole situation. And here’s where we just don’t know.

One paper is reporting that Dixon is leaning towards leaving for ASU.

Pitt basketball coach Jamie Dixon, faced with a chance to move closer to his West Coast roots, was weighing an offer Thursday from Arizona State to become its next head coach, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The source said Dixon had not yet made a decision, but was leaning toward accepting the Pac-10 school’s offer. He would replace Rob Evans, who was fired March 10.
…
Earlier in the week, it was believed that Dixon had decided to remain at Pitt, where he has four years remaining on a deal reportedly worth close to $600,000 annually. But Arizona State increased its offer — a supposed five-year deal — over the past two days to “close to $900,000” annually, the source said.

Pitt’s new offer to retain Dixon is believed to be roughly $800,000 annually. It is unclear what buyout provisions are included in Dixon’s contract at Pitt.

If I’m reading that right, Pitt’s offer upped the salary, but not the years. That would mean more money and more years. Couple that with the reports yesterday that there are also some very achievable bonuses for Dixon in the ASU offer. Bonuses that put it right up to around $1 million/year.

The other paper is less clear, but seems to be indicating that Dixon is closer to staying at Pitt.

A source within the university said last night that Dixon is expected to release a statement, possibly today, about his situation at Pitt. Arizona State and Missouri have sought permission from Pitt to speak with Dixon about the coaching openings at their schools.

Pitt extended Dixon a new contract offer Monday, and Dixon has gone about his business of recruiting players for Pitt the past few days.
…
The source refuted a report in yesterday’s Arizona Republic stating that Pitt had a deadline by the end of this week to receive an answer from Dixon.

The source said legal complexities could be holding up the announcement of a contract extension. Dixon is making around $600,000 annually on his current contract that has four years remaining.

Right now it is a battle of anonymous sources. The only thing that does seem obvious is that Missouri isn’t really in the picture — in fact a St. Louis paper thinks he’s staying.

No interviews have taken place and probably won’t until the weekend. Possible candidate Jamie Dixon, from Pittsburgh, is expected to release a statement today regarding his future. It is believed he will remain with Pittsburgh.

And, by the way, the Mizzou fan base is getting really agitated about the whole pace of the hiring process. Their AD, Mike Alden, better hire a guy who wins or he’s out of a job.

Just to keep things clouded, if Dixon were to leave Pitt, there are other teams’ coaching issues that could affect Pitt’s process. Specifically the lame-duck status of Louis Orr at Seton Hall.

Orr, who led the Pirates to the NCAA tournament this season for the second time in his five years, will likely decide from three scenarios: 1, accept a buyout from his original contract, which has two years left at $499,000 per year; 2, accept a provisional extension – most likely for one year – in which he will agree to making changes on his staff; 3, accept a non-conditional extension which would allow him to maintain the status quo.

The third option seems remote. Seton Hall – which has two scholarships available and no one signed – wants a proven metropolitan-area recruiter on the bench, be it an assistant or head coach. The recruiting dilemma became magnified this week, when the Pirates officially lost out on Robeson High point guard Malcolm Grant. With speculation rising about Orr’s future, Grant, who plans on attending Villanova, backed out of a verbal commitment to The Hall.

Quinlan, through the school’s sports information director Jeff Andriesse, had no comment regarding Orr. Calls to Dennis Coleman, Orr’s agent, were not returned. Coleman, who is believed to be exploring other avenues for Orr, is expected in Minnesota this weekend for the NCAA tournament’s Minneapolis Regional.

Should Orr leave, Quinlan is believed to have a short list of replacements, all with significant ties to the area: Pitt associate coach and Brooklyn native Barry Rohrssen, Florida Atlantic coach and Long Island native Matt Doherty, Manhattan College’s Bobby Gonzalez, and Hofstra’s Tom Pecora.

Rohrssen obviously would be considered for the Pitt job, but Gonzalez and Pecora have both been names floated about becoming the next Pitt coach.

Speculation abounds.