Looks like Andy Katz no longer holds the spot for highest ranking love for Pitt.

3. Pittsburgh: Panthers guard Carl Krauser is gone, but Jamie Dixon will welcome back virtually everyone else — including 7-footer Aaron Gray, who decided to return for his senior year and will be one of the top big men in the country next season. Krauser was tough and his fearless approach will be difficult to replace, but Pittsburgh will return a trio of quality guards — juniors Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin and sophomore Levance Fields. The Panthers will also add East Carolina transfer Mike Cook, a versatile wing who could even see time at the point. Dixon & Co. will have forwards Sam Young and Levon Kendall — who split time at power forward this season — alongside Gray.

Other Big East teams listed are #13 Marquette, #16 UConn, #17 Georgetown, #25 Louisville. Syracuse and Villanova are listed amongst the next 10. Wisconsin, which Pitt will be playing in Madison was ranked #7.

The Altoona paper has an interview with national college basketball color guy Bill Raftery. Even more shocking is that it’s online.

Are you surprised the NBA went to a rule that you cannot draft kids right out of high school, and that these kids have to play at least one year of college basketball?

I would prefer they had gone for two years. A youngster would then have half of his degree accomplished. A kid would have a far better chance, if he fails [in the NBA], to come back and get his degree, and because he has 48 or 55 credits, you are in the hunt now.

What do you think about Pitt’s Aaron Gray pulling himself out of the NBA draft?

From his standpoint, he probably would have been able to play in the NBA, but I think his stock will go up next year. He’s getting better and better, and he’s starting to play with confidence.

“Starting to play with confidence.”?

A story today on Anthony Jackson’s verbal to Pitt following a big showing at the Pitt camp.

Jackson had an impressive showing at Pitt. Not only did he turn in the sub-4.4 40 on two coaches’ stopwatches, but he also had a standing broad jump of 10 feet, 11 inches – or more than 5 yards – in testing.

Pause for a “huh?” Maybe I don’t understand the test or how defined, but wouldn’t “more than 5 yards mean at least 15 feet? 10′ 11” is quite impressive, I would say, but that is more than 3 yards. There’s an error/discrepancy in one of the numbers.

“He’s got great hips,” said Scout.com recruiting analyst Bob Lichtenfels, who watched Jackson perform. “That 4.31 speed almost reminds you of (Steelers cornerback) Ike Taylor. That’s a good comparison. Cover corners are scarce to begin with, especially ones who run a 4.3.”

Pitt was the first school to offer Jackson a scholarship, but he said Bowling Green, Central Florida, Colorado State, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Minnesota and Southern Illinois were showing interest.

Obviously he has great speed and athleticism that he relies upon. He is apparently on the raw side, so he will be something of a project to actually teach.

Last week Dom DeCicco committed to Pitt. Another article about him today.

“Just the coaches and everything down here,” DeCicco said Monday afternoon. “I just felt really at home down here on the visit.”

DeCicco, 6 feet 3, 206 pounds, met with Panthers coach Dave Wannstedt and came away ready to commit immediately. Thomas Jefferson coach Bill Cherpak — who was in Hershey for the Big 33 game last weekend — advised DeCicco via phone to sleep on it for a night.

He reconsidered and thought he might wait longer but made the commitment Friday.

“I just wanted to get it over with now,” said DeCicco, who also had considered Ohio State — his childhood favorite team — West Virginia, Iowa, Arizona State and Georgia Tech.

I think Coach Wannstedt caught a lot of schools off guard last year by being so aggressive early in recruiting and getting commits. A quick glance over the archives from a year ago, shows that Pitt ended the month of June very strong with about 10 verbals. Most of them, though, came in the final week.

But what stands out, is that schools like Penn State, WVU and ND had nothing from Western PA at that point. This year we are hearing and seeing those schools move much more aggressively and sooner in the area. Other schools seem to have adjusted to the situation. I think that is part of the reason Pitt seems to be moving slower in accumulating the number of early verbals.

Pitt got a commit today. Anthony “Buddy” Jackson out of Florida. Can’t say much is known about him, except that he is a CB with tremendous speed, is 6′ 1″ and apparently made quite an impression at the Pitt camp.

Pitt had plenty of potential prospects at camp last weekend.

Perry cornerback Jared Williams’ decision to renege on his commitment to Pitt hasn’t soured the Panthers on City League players. Although they pulled Williams’ scholarship, they offered one to Perry lineman Cameron Holland on Saturday.

Perhaps Pitt is bracing for Seton-La Salle offensive lineman Gino Gradkowski to commit to West Virginia, because the Panthers also offered a scholarship to Upper Perkiomen tackle John Fieger.

Other WPIAL standouts at Pitt’s camp yesterday were Woodland Hills safety Rontez Miles and linebacker Devan Johnson, Penn-Trafford linebacker Paul Stefanik and Aliquippa sophomore receiver Jonathan Baldwin. Another player who opened eyes was Elizabeth Forward’s Devin Goda, a 6-2, 185-pound receiver who was smooth in drills.

Pennridge linebacker Tristan Roberts attended Pitt’s camp and is on the Panthers’ radar for good reason. He is the nephew of former Pitt star Tim Lewis, a former Panthers and Steelers coach who is now defensive coordinator for the New York Giants.

Aliquippa running back-linebacker Brandon Lindsey (6-2, 220) has scholarship offers from Boston College, Connecticut, Ohio State, Pitt, Temple and West Virginia. Among the others showing interest in him are Marshall, Maryland, Miami (Fla.), Miami (Ohio), Michigan and Michigan State. Lindsey is already qualified for freshman eligibility.

Pitt is pursuing a lot more players who are in no rush to decide this season. Or maybe it just seems that way.

Additionally, an Illinois linebacker, Kevin Rouse has Pitt on his list.

“I don’t have a leader right now. Iowa, Northwestern and Wisconsin are all equal right now but I have a real interest in Pittsburgh now as well as North Carolina State.

“I had a long conversation in May with Coach (Dave) Wannstedt from Pittsburgh. He seems like a down-to-earth type guy. Pittsburgh has a good program and Coach Wannstedt told me that I could have a chance to get some early playing time.

“I like North Carolina State because I have family down there but I also like them because of the coaching staff, the tradition and they have an attacking style defense that fits my game.

“Iowa State has a great group of coaches and they are recruiting me hard. Minnesota is probably the school that’s recruiting me the hardest right now.

Scout.com has him listed as the 25th best linebacker and a 4-star recruit. He seems to be waiting for more offers including WVU and BC. He is supposed to visit Pitt in July.

I guess there is still the accounting.

Let’s talk about this $2.3 million.

That’s the final tab that West Virginia, Connecticut, Pitt and Rutgers paid — each — for legal representation in a suit against Miami, Boston College and the Atlantic Coast Conference. It was a largely failed suit, given that the parties were asking for far more than the pittance they received after two years of haggling.

Or did it fail? Well, perhaps that’s a matter of opinion. And it’s one worth delving into given that $2.3 million is no small change.

West Virginia officials revealed last week that their part of the costs for the suit were a staggering $2,299,658.20. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll throw in the other $341.80 and round it up to $2.3 million.

From a purely bottom-line point of view, yes, it was a miserable failure. The four schools settled out of court just over a year ago for a reported $4 million, or $1 million each. That still leaves a deficit of $1.3 million per school.

Well hopefully the other side also had similar costs. The article makes the argument, that it was still worth it based on the other part of the agreement — 9 guaranteed and stipulated games.

What you can’t put a price tag on is the Big East getting nine non-conference BCS games handed to it. Remember, the mantra of this rebuilding football conference is to schedule quality games and start winning some of them. Getting those games was a huge piece of the puzzle.
…
Well, if you look at the $1.3 million simply as a one-time expenditure, no, it wasn’t worth it. And you’ll be hard pressed to find an accountant who can make it look like anything but wasted money, given that the actual payback in the form of revenue from those court-mandated Big East-ACC games won’t show up for years to come.

But while both sides will benefit fairly equally from those games from a financial standpoint, the Big East needed them a lot more than the ACC. The league’s very football future hinges on playing games like that and proving it can win them.

That the ACC was forced to provide them with the forum to do so is, like the credit card commercial, priceless.

In case you forgot the terms and the games: WVU has a home-and-home with FSU, Rutgers gets Virginia, UConn faces UNC and Pitt in addition to the home-and-home with NC St. gets a home game against Miami in 2010.

Over in the Big 11, they have made it official with regards to their new deal with ABC/ESPN and the start-up of their own channel.

The new channel — which will be created in partnership with Fox Cable Networks — is expected to launch in August 2007, Big Ten commissioner James E. Delany said.

“It will be a destination for all things Big Ten,” Delany said.

The league also announced it has reached a new 10-year agreement with ABC and ESPN for coverage of football, men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball.
…
The Big Ten Channel will be available to satellite and cable distributors nationwide and will be available through the Internet, i-Pods, cell phones and other technologies, the league said. DirecTV will offer the channel on its Total Choice package, which currently reaches about 15.4 million households, according to the news release.

“The Big Ten Channel will provide our conference the ability to strengthen both its brand and its long-term destiny as one of the leading academic and athletic conferences in the nation,” Delany said.

The new cable channel will carry not only football and basketball, but also such sports as soccer, tennis, swimming and diving and wrestling — the so-called Olympic sports, the conference said.

The Big Ten channel will carry more than 35 football games, at least 135 basketball games, at least 55 women’s basketball games and 170 contests in such sports as tennis, wrestling, baseball, swimming and diving, and gymnastics.

With the Mountain West’s channel launching soon and now the Big 11 following suit, and lots more exploration of multiple media delivery outlets I am wondering about the Big East. What is the Big East doing with regards to its growth and exploiting of the strong media markets it likes to talk about occupying?

The Big East loves to pat itself on the back for its innovation as being one of the first to recognize the value of ESPN and cable TV exposure. The thing is, in the last 15 years all it has done has been to react.

Whether it’s conference expansion, being raided, oversized expansion, and a crap load of things with regards to media exposure the Big East hasn’t shown any urge or instinct to be proactive in what it is doing. Maybe part of that is the fact that its member schools rarely like proactive things.

It took Pitt until 2004 or so before it finally got around to producing a weekly propaganda sports show to highlight the school athletics. Hell, Lehigh even had one going before Pitt.

It’s a real concern to me that this conference seems to lack any foresight or desire to try and see what is coming. All it seems to do is react and get into a defensive stance.

This next TV deal is supposed to be for a lot of money, and that’s great. But does it consider the distribution of content in other ways? Does it take into account possible broadband video and audio distribution, podcasts and whatever else is next? Or did it all get left in a vague terms that would require a lawsuit later to resolve actual ownership, distribution, fee rights and such?

Does the Big East, the school presidents and ADs even care?

So is this worth noting?

The 6-foot-9, 227-pound Pope, the 2006 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Basketball Player of the Year, counts Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas State, Louisville, Memphis and Oklahoma among his favorites. Pope apparently is in no hurry to decide.

Herb Pope no longer even lists Pitt amongst a 7-deep list. At this point, and at the risk of seeming like sour grapes, I’m not sure is a bad thing. He is an assured 1-and-done player at this point.

I just don’t think with all that has already happened in just a short time with his recruitment, that it would work out for that year. Anything less than the Final Four would make it a lost season. Pope has already created a lot of strong feelings with the Pitt fans. Not much of it positive. Winning may cure everything, but if the team fell short he would be blamed for having his own agenda, plan and interests ahead of the team.

At this point, he is going to have to leave Pittsburgh if he wants unconditional acceptance and support.

Pitt would be better off focusing on other local players worth pursuing and let Pope go his own way.

Who knew (hat tip to Frank)?

The Steelers released first-year linebackers Malcolm Postell, a two-year starter at Pitt, who didn’t play in 2005…

Apparently for part of the year he was with the Berlin Thunder, but it implies he never even got on the field there.

I hope no one was too sorry that I didn’t bother much with the Big 33 game this past week. Yes, there were plenty of incoming Pitt freshmen there from Elijah Fields, Nate Nix, Dorin Dickerson, John Malecki, and plenty of others. But between a lot of things I had to do last week, and just not being overly interested I just didn’t find it worth blogging.

Not that I didn’t read many of the stories. In fact this post-mortem focusing on Tyler Tkach raised the first thing that should get most fans pulse racing just a bit.

His final high school game now behind him, Tkach now has to pack his bags. He has to report to Pitt for summer school and workouts next Sunday.

”Football was always my love,” Tkach said. ”I get to go to Pitt. They are paying for everything. It’s just awesome.”

[Emphasis added.]

That’s right June won’t even be over, but the kids will be working to get ready for practice in August and kickoff on September 2 .

Plus, just about all of the college football previews should be on the magazine racks now.

The BlogPoll Roundtable has returned. Actually I think there have been one or two prior, but I hadn’t gotten around to them. As this one stands I’m a little late but not outside the participatory realm. This one is hosted by Bruce Ciskie (Wisconsin) and you can find links to other blog participants here.

Honestly, I’m going by more instinct and bias at the moment. I’m just not feeling fully versed in the college football situation right now. I think of this as a way of exposing some instinctive biases.

Which preseason college football magazine is your favorite?

I’m probably going with the majority horde here, but Phil Steele’s College Football Preview is the densest, detailed best fix for the college football junky.

I give a second place to Athlon, who distinguishes an otherwise generic and indistinguishable product from the majority with some pleasant work-safe eye-candy throughout the year with their “spirit contest.”

What team is being supremely overrated in the preseason rankings?

Looking at the early pre-season consensus rankings, the easy answer is Notre Dame. And, honestly, you can’t go wrong with that as they are perched at #1.

I’m sure WV will get plenty of votes, but it’s hard to distinguish my natural bias from thoughtful reason. (Which is also the reason I won’t pick ND right now.)

The top 4 overrated teams I see right now are:

Louisville
Florida St.
Southern Cal
Oklahoma

Louisville’s defense wasn’t that good last year and lost their best player to graduation. Brohm is still rehabbing from major knee surgery, and I don’t think their O-line will be as good. They may, unfortunately, be good enough for second in the Big East, but not to be near the preseason top-10.

Florida St. was even worse, but between the fact that its Bobby “daggum” Bowden, a Florida school, and they actually played Penn State tough in the Orange Bowl; FSU is getting way too much respect. Maybe around #20, but to be placed any better is just silly.

Southern Cal will still be good but they have lost so much talent in the last couple years, the rest of the PAC 10 seems to be closing the gap a bit more, all the off-field stuff has to take something of a toll, and I think they are due for a step back. They may still end up a top-10 team, but not top-5.

As for Oklahoma, it is just something about their O-line that seems unsettled to me. Just the sort of thing that can hold them back from being a top team.

Turn the tables. Who is underrated?

Hard to say. It’s just a hunch. Maybe I’ve been subliminally programmed by their god-awful wardrobe selections and variations just within any given season, but my unsubstantiated hunch is that Oregon will be very good this year and end up somewhere near the top-10.

Which conference will be the best in 2006?

I’d give anything to be able to say the Big East. Of course, I just don’t drink that heavily during the week.

It seems to come down to the SEC. More from elimination. The ACC isn’t that good overall, neither is the PAC-10.

The Big 12 South has some very good teams, but then the entire Big 12 North is suspect — to be kind (possibly excepting Nebraska).

In the Big 11 it’s Ohio State, Michigan, Iowa and then 3 question marks in Penn St., Michigan St. and Wisconsin. The rest are either rebuilding or just trying to build period.

That leaves the SEC despite the 3 sure-fire bad teams of Kentucky, Vandy and Miss. St. They have a lot of teams that can arguably be included in the top-25 or fighting to get in.

Which “non-BCS” conference will be the best in 2006?

The Mountain West is not just the easy choice, it is still the right one. Conference USA is getting closer with UCF improving, along with ,UTEP, USM and Memphis still trying. Mountain West, though, is still slightly better at the top with TCU and Utah.

Which non-BCS conference team will have the best season?

It better not be UCF or Pitt is going to have troubles. I think Utah will be a big surprise and have a very good year.

Let’s get your first read on this one…who will win the H*i*m*n? Oh, by the way, players whose last names begin with the letter “Q” are ineligible.

I hate thinking about the Heisman.

Fine. Ginn and Smith will split votes if tOSU does well. I’ll go with Kenny Irons, the running back from Auburn.

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.
…
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.

…

“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.”

…

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%).

I usually don’t like to talk about high school juniors, but I’ll make an exception for a legacy. Former Pitt player and coach, and present D-line coach for the Carolina Panthers, Sal Sunseri is sending his son to Central Catholic.

Tino Sunseri, who will be a junior this fall, is living in Fox Chapel with his uncle and aunt, Gus and Karen Sunseri, who will serve as his legal guardians.

“I was very pleased with the way everything went,” Sal Sunseri said afterward. “Me and my wife (Roxanne) were very excited about the open-mindedness of the committee.”

Tino Sunseri, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound quarterback, started the past two seasons at Weddington, a suburban Charlotte school which plays in North Carolina’s highest classification. Weddington is in the same conference, the Southeastern 4A, as nationally ranked Independence, which has won 92 consecutive games and six consecutive state titles.

Sunseri was considered one of the state’s top 100 sophomores by NCpreps.com and is expected to compete for the starting quarterback job at Central, which won the 2004 WPIAL and PIAA Class AAAA titles and reached the WPIAL semifinals last season. The Vikings will participate in Pitt’s 7-on-7 passing camp Friday.

The WPIAL held a hearing to determine his eligibility. The hearing was closed to reporters at the family’s request.

What the heck. It makes me a little nervous, but I’ll take some pressure for the early love going Pitt’s way.

Here’s video of Aaron Gray talking about his decision to return (Windows Media). It’s 5:48 long. Sounds like he was more hoping to go in the 18-25 range, and definitely couldn’t get the assurances. He also seems very positive about the decision to come back. Cool.

At ESPN.com, Chad Ford is positive on Gray going back to Pitt (Insider Subs).

Aaron Gray, C, Pittsburgh: A good decision. The draft was weak for big men, but Gray wasn’t generating a lot of buzz. Another strong year at Pitt should solidify his position in the first round.

This despite having Gray going at the end of the first round in his previous mock draft. Heck, knowing Portland could draft you had to be a little bit of a scary prospect.

As for how impacts Pitt, Andy Katz also agrees it’s big (Insider Subs).

Pitt: Getting Aaron Gray back was a must for the Panthers to be a Big East contender. Gray finally realized that being the BMOC for his senior season was worth waiting on the NBA. Smart move, since he would have been a likely first-round pick but just another Joe in the NBA for the foreseeable future. Now he has a shot to make a splash. Dixon said Gray’s “a lock for the lottery” in 2007.

Unless Gray has a monster season, his draft range probably won’t be too different. So there is the economic argument of not getting the same money for another year plus with the NBA rookie contracts, he also has to wait for his next contract. The contrary view is that another year to develop in college means he is a shorter project in the pros and that first free agent contract could be far better than he would have earned if he was still a project come that time. Of course it is all speculative and nebulous, but that’s the fun.

So now that the early entries of staying and going are done, how about the pressure for Pitt of another way too early pre-season top-25.

4. Pittsburgh (25-8)

• Aaron Gray returned for his senior season. He’ll be the immovable man in the middle for the Panthers.

• Sam Young might be the least-publicized elite forward in the country. Remember his name. He is a stud.

• The loss of Carl Krauser will hurt, but Ronald Ramon, Antonio Graves, Levance Fields and Keith Benjamin are all savvy enough to be the lead guard.

Pitt as an early consideration for a top-4 team? Not simply top-10. Yeep.

Luke Winn at SI.com also calls Pitt a big winner with Gray’s return.

Mike Gray said his son, Aaron, didn’t make up his mind about the draft until Sunday morning. “We talked about so much over the past two and a half days,” Mike said. “[Aaron] would keep sleeping on [the decision], but we processed all the information and he decided he wanted to go back to Pitt and enjoy his senior year.” The Panthers, no doubt, are rejoicing after hearing their 7-foot junior center’s intentions. By returning, Gray vaulted Pitt into the preseason top 15 — and became the front-runner for Big East Player of the Year following a junior season in which he averaged 13.9 points and 10.5 rebounds. “It’s a completely different team if I don’t come back,” Aaron said at the Pre-Draft Camp. With Gray and solid guards Levance Fields and Ronald Ramon — a backcourt that may get better now that Carl Krauser is gone — Pitt is a very dangerous team.

Interestingly, Winn thinks the Big East as a whole did not come out well with the early entry situation with all the players that left early.

…but what’s left now that they’ve departed? A duel between Pitt and Georgetown for the league title? Not nearly as scintillating as what transpired in Year 1.

The nervous thought for Pitt is that Georgetown has beaten Pitt the last 2 years and will also be very, very good and Hibbert is a 7-footer to match Gray. Katz had Georgetown ranked at #6.

Other teams Pitt will face in those rankings includes Wisconsin at #9, UConn #15, Marquette #20, ‘Nova #23 and Louisville #24.

[Originally posted to NEO Babble. Slightly altered.]

Is there any breed of writer more repressive, reactionary, shortsighted and just generally hating fun than the sportswriter? Whenever something happens their first response is to call for bans, laws and restrictions.

The periodic idiots who run on to a playing field? Ban alcohol sales.

Issues of performance enhancing drugs. Expand drug testing to include blood samples and demand to hold on to blood and urine samples for years to test even later in life, as other testing procedures are developed. Never mind what the implications are for privacy and general labor and employment law issues. It’s all about the “integrity” of the game.

Ben Roethlisberger gets in a serious accident while riding his motorcycle sans helmet. After the boilerplate stuff about how its a relief he’s okay, you get the fuming on the stupidity of a) riding a motorcycle without a helmet and/or b) riding a motorcycle at all.

Fine. I get it. These are top athletes making tons of money based on what their body can do, and they are taking a substantial risk to their career — not to mention the risk to the hopes and dreams of the fans. I don’t even disagree. Drive the frickin’ Hummer tanks so that no harm will come to the athlete if an accident occurs.

But it’s never enough to simply say the players shouldn’t do something. No, the rules are all wrong.

And while we’re at it, how dumb does Pennsylvania look for not making helmets mandatory? I heard a state legislator on the radio this morning say that this accident wouldn’t cause him to change his mind. It’s about human rights, he said. Riders should not be forced to wear a helmet.

I’ve got one for you, Mr. Politician. Let’s repeal seat-belt laws, and gun laws, and minimum drinking ages, and let’s just let America be the Wild, Wild West. Do what you want, when you want.

That’s right. Not making helmets mandatory for motorcycle riders is the first step on a slippery slope to the anarchy of personal choice and destruction.

I don’t ride a motorcycle. I don’t own a motorcycle. The wife wouldn’t let me even if I wanted to. I also don’t care if people want to ride without a helmet. Thin out that old gene pool a little more.

You want to make more people wear a helmet more often? Loosen the law. Specicially state insurance regulation. The states have tight control over vehicle insurance policies. How about allowing insurers more freedom to void insurance policies if in an accident while helmetless? That means no money for medical bills, or to replace the bike. People want to take a risk on losing not only their life, but all their money? Go for it. The insurance companies can even put that in 18 point font on the policy, so it is clearly seen and understood. Financial ruin can be a hell of an incentive. The insurance companies can charge motorcyclists more if they don’t want that limitation.

It’s approach the federal government uses to get states to change laws on speed limits, DUI levels and such. Cutting off key federal money if certain standards aren’t met.

The mini-matchup between 4 Big East teams and 4 SEC teams will happen starting in the 2007-08 season.

The Big East and SEC will put together two doubleheaders each season for three years – with one doubleheader in SEC territory and the other within the Big East’s geographical footprint. Teams will play just one game in the event’s three-year run.

Unlike the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, which uses on-campus arenas, the SEC-Big East event will be played only on neutral courts.

“I don’t want to use the word challenge,” Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said Wednesday. “I’d refer to it as a shootout. Teams are only going to play once, instead of each and every year, and we’re going to use big arenas in neutral sites.”

All games in the event will be on ESPN or ESPN2.

The three-year run will allow each of the SEC’s 12 teams to play one game in the series, while only 12 of the Big East’s 16 teams will participate. However, Tranghese said the event would be extended once the SEC signs a new deal with ESPN.

The SEC’s current agreement runs out after the 2009-10 season.

No word yet on which teams will play. Obviously if ESPN is broadcasting them, they will have more than a little say in which teams meet. I don’t expect Pitt to be included in the first year.

Still the question remains as to why only 4 teams at a time. Why not 12 or even 8? Why has the Big East so fiercely resisted doing a conference challenge?

“I’m opposed to that,” Tranghese said. “I think it’s the job of the individual schools to put together their own schedules. If a Syracuse, for instance, wants to play a Michigan, it should have the ability to schedule a home-and-home series on its own.”

The dates for the SEC/Big East games are Dec. 5-6, 2007; Dec. 10-11, 2008, and Dec. 9-10, 2009.

The sites of the games have yet to be determined. Potential Big East sites are Boston, Chicago, Buffalo and Indianapolis. In the SEC’s region, sites could include Orlando, Atlanta, Nashville and New Orleans.

I have to agree with Big East Basketball Report.

In other words, I think Tranghese is taking the bullet here, the Big East coaches opted out of the original ACC/Big East challenge because of scheduling concerns and with many smaller institutions and non-public schools that are not the large land-grant universities, most Big East schools are very careful in scheduling thier non-conference games to maximize their revenue. Sharing the pot with the league and locking in to a game, with the impending 18-game league schedule, probably is something most schools would resist.

Tranghese has always been much more of a consensus builder and manipulating the situation. He has never been much for forcing schools to comply with an edict unless he is absolutely convinced it is in the best interest of the full league (such as limiting the Big East Tournament to 12 teams).

Have to figure that in the next week or two the Big East will finally announce the conference schedule and most of the TV dates now that Gray is coming back and Pitt will be presumed to be one of the conference favorites.

I’m not saying everyone was expecting the worst with regards to Gray. I’m just saying there seems to be a real surprised tone to the stories reporting that Pitt will have Gray back for his senior year.

Because of Gray’s return, the Panthers will have high expectations entering the 2006-07 season. With three other starters returning, the Panthers likely will be a preseason Top-10 team and the favorite to claim the Big East championship.

Many of the top teams in the Big East had their rosters depleted because of early entrants into the NBA draft. Connecticut lost forward Rudy Gay, point guard Marcus Williams and center Josh Boone and Villanova lost point guard Calvin Lowry.

Gray will be a Big East player of the year candidate after earning most improved player in the Big East last season after averaging 13.9 points and 10.5 rebounds per game in his first season as a starter.

“We’ve had success. He had a chance to finish with the guys he came in with,” Dixon said. “It’s the closest group I’ve ever been around. He enjoys college. If he didn’t play basketball, he would be going to college anyway. That made him unique than some other kids who have put their names in the draft from other programs over the years.”

UConn also lost Denham Brown, Hilton Armstrong and Rashard Anderson to graduation. Randy Foye is also leaving ‘Nova. The entire starting line-up for WVU is almost entirely graduating.

Coach Jamie Dixon, as he tends to do, did not try to take any credit for helping Gray too much — even as the facts showed otherwise.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon likened the past few days to cramming for a final examination. Dixon was working the phones Saturday and yesterday morning trying to get the most up-to-date information concerning Aaron Gray’s NBA draft status.

In the end, Dixon looked fatigued but happy last night after Gray decided to return for his senior season with the Panthers.

“I didn’t give him too much advice, really,” Dixon said last night at the Petersen Events Center. “I gave him feedback. That was my job. I made it very clear to him that we would like him back. He knew where I was coming from.”

And yet he was there the whole time.

“Aaron and I spent a lot of time together during the past two days,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “We stuck to the plan, even though there were some people who were anxious. I anticipated this was going to go down to the wire, and it did.”

As late as yesterday, Dixon was receiving calls from NBA personnel, many of whom indicated Gray would have been a first-round selection when the draft is held June 28 in New York.

But Gray, who became a starter for Pitt just last season and was the lone Big East Conference player to average a double-double (13.9 points per game, 10.5 rebounds), remained loyal to the Panthers. He informed Dixon and his teammates of his decision just before the 5 p.m. deadline for early entry withdrawal.

The big thing seemed to be the lack of an absolute guarantee from some of the teams that seemed most interested in him (and/or perhaps the risk that Portland would take him at #30). The NBA people would have loved to have kept Gray in the draft, just to increase the overall talent pool. A legit argument or scenario could be made for each team picking from Indiana at #17 to the end of the first round (expcept for the Lakers), to take Gray. Yet no one could pull that final trigger to lock on him, thankfully.

The consensus is that Gray and his family were really unsure the entire time whether to stay or go. Now there is a legitimate belief that this squad can go far this season.

“This is something that will energize us as a team. It certainly has me excited,” said Kendall, a senior forward for the Panthers. “Aaron is a good friend of mine, and I’ve talked to him about this from time to time. Every time I did, I got the feeling it was pretty much up in the air. I have to tell you that I really had no idea what he was going to do. I think he was feeling the same way.”
…
“It’s huge that he’s coming back,” Kendall said. “This gives us an even better option to go large or go small. We’ve got a lot of combinations we can go with. Now, we’ve got to take the next step. I think we’re going to be a real dangerous team. We should be pushing for the Final Four.”

Barring injuries, of course (knock on wood).

Gray, apparently, will be speaking directly with the media some time today.

Between the birthday party for my daughter yesterday and doing the family thing for Father’s day today, I was happily away from the computer and not obsessing about the Gray decision. In fact, I just didn’t get online until late this afternoon. Other than some involuntary twitching at times from not typing at a keyboard for such a length, it was a good break.

Gray’s decision to come back is unquestionably a good one for Pitt. It means the team loses only one starter and one other player who was a relatively minor bench player by the end of the season. From a financial and profile perspective it is unquestionably big for Pitt. It means Pitt will be a pre-season favorite to win the Big East Conference, which in the last year of the present BE TV contract means plenty of TV appearances to be expected on ESPN and CBS. It means selling out the home slate shouldn’t be a problem — even if the school pursues a hard patsy non-con schedule.

It also means a more difficult conference schedule with the three home-and-homes likely with WVU (almost a given if there is any seriousness to the idea of rivalries) and then Marquette, Georgetown, Syracuse, UConn and/or Louisville for the other two. It also means a possibility that Pitt could go a second year of the new Big East without facing USF. Other teams expected to be near the bottom Pitt could miss would include Providence, Seton Hall, Notre Dame and Rutgers.

Another season of big expectations for Pitt. Like the football team in recent years, the basketball team has been up and down with respect to expectations and what they do. Hopefully 2006-07 will see something of a correlation to expectations and performance.