As I noted earlier, you can see the Gray interview in raw form. Here are the stories based on the interview. The AP Pittsburgh sportswriter Alan Robinson focused on Gray looking to what can be done next year.

“I can be part of something special,” Gray said Monday, a day after pulling his name out of consideration for the NBA draft.
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With Gray back, Pitt will return eight of the top 10 players from a team that went 25-8, played in the Big East championship game and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

“We’re going to be a great team,” Gray said. “And to come back and be a big fish in a small pond for another year, it seemed like a great opportunity.”

Coach Dixon of course gave him support with either way he would go.

“He supported me in whichever decision I made,” said Gray, a former star at Emmaus High. “He made it very clear that we could have something special and he wanted me back, but he said,’Hey, if this is the right time for you to go to the NBA, it can only help our program.

“When he’s going out recruiting, he can say, ‘Here’s a guy who came in not so highly recruited and look what we did for him, he’s in the NBA.’ “

That’s the way you sell it.

Another angle was the mental toll of trying to decide to come back to Pitt or go to the NBA.

Beneath the smiles Monday were two bleary-eyed guys who worked tirelessly in unison over the past few months to arrive at a decision that sent Pitt basketball fans jumping through the roof.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon and his star center, Aaron Gray, will reunite next season following Gray’s decision Sunday to withdraw from the NBA draft and remain at Pitt for his senior year.

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“I’d be playing ball with the guys in the back gym. It was a haven,” Gray said. “We’d be having fun and I’d say, ‘Wow, this could be something special.’

“They were constantly asking me, ‘Hey, why do you want to do that? Why do you want to go to the NBA?’ When I wasn’t playing basketball, I was thinking about my decision.”

That was a big part of it. Coming back to his team. Playing with his teammates one more year.

Gray turned down what likely would have been a million-dollar contract to return to Pitt and be the focal point of a team that will be the favorite to win the Big East Conference and compete for a national championship. Gray said he spoke with all his teammates in the past few weeks and said their words played a big role in his decision-making process.

“I called every single one of them and sat down with them,” Gray said. “I told them if I passed up this opportunity to come back [to] be with you guys, I have to make sure you guys are committed to the things I want to achieve here. Every one of them looked me in the eye and told me we have a common goal. I wholeheartedly believed them. That was one of the biggest factors, actually, that made me come back here.”

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Gray feels strongly that he has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with Pitt next season. The Panthers have made five consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, but the 2006-07 Panthers could be something special. In addition to Gray, Pitt has seven other key players returning from a team that was 25-8 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament last season.

The expectations could be as high as they were in 2002, when the Panthers returned five starters and opened the season No. 5 in the Associated Press poll. That team was 28-5 and lost to Marquette in the Sweet 16.

One preseason poll has the Panthers ranked fourth. Andy Katz of ESPN.com has Pitt ranked No. 4 behind Florida, Kansas and North Carolina in his preseason poll that came out yesterday.

“We have a lot of returnees,” Dixon said. “But we have a lot of guys who will have to give us more than they have in the past. It’s June. We still have a lot of work to do. Give me a break until November, all right?”

If Coach Dixon wants a little break about expectations, then he better hope the football team shoots out of the gate strong. Otherwise, you can bet the basketball team will be seeing a lot of attention.

Gray also got feedback about what he has to do to improve from NBA scouts and GMs. One of biggest issues is the issue of conditioning. Gray had a body fat measurement of 15.0%. That was the highest amongst all of the potential 1st round draftees. Patrick O’Bryant came in at 10%. Even Paul Miller was 13.8%. If fact of all the players at Orlando who were measured, the only players to have a higher body fat were: Rashad Anderson (17.3%, due in part to illness), Terence Dials (15.8%), Marco Killingsworth (19%), and Yemi Nicholson (17.2%).