If you are curious to know where the Pitt coaching staff will be heading for most of the next month. Here’s a rough itinerary.

Nike All-America Camp. July 6-9, Indianapolis

Adidas Superstar Camp. July 6-9, Suwanee, Ga.

ABCD Camp. July 6-10, Teaneck, N.J.

Nike Peach Jam. July 12-15, North Augusta, S.C.

Adidas Super 64. July 22-26, Las Vegas

Main Event Las Vegas. July 22-26, Las Vegas

Reebok Big Time. July 22-26, Las Vegas

AAU National Championship. July 27-31, Orlando

Mike DeCourcy also thinks DeJuan Blair has something to prove at the camps.

3. DeJuan Blair, 6-7, PF, Pittsburgh Schenley. With his bulk and low-post skill, Blair has punished some highly regarded opponents. But there’s still an element of skepticism about his potential, perhaps because he looks heavy or perhaps because it has been a long while since Pittsburgh produced an elite player.

The camps are also expected to produce some high profile verbals to maximize some attention. While Pitt probably will not be one of the beneficiaries, they are pursuing another highly thought of player.

“I have a number of scholarship offers including Florida, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Kentucky,” stated power forward Patrick Patterson (6-foot-9 inches, 225 pounds) from Huntington High School in Huntington, WV. “I have gone back and forth with some favorite schools, but I’m wide open for the most part.

Patterson averaged 16 points and 13 rebounds a game as a junior. Scout.com ranks him a “five star” prospect and the 8th ranked power forward in the nation.

“Coach (Orlando) Antigua is the main Pitt coach I have been in contact with. He seems like a good guy. I plan to take five official visits. Three of them will be Wake Forest, Kentucky and Florida. Pitt is fairy close to home and they play in the Big East. I’m considering them for one of the trips.”

Scout.com also has Patterson as about the 22nd best prospect in the country. Rivals.com puts him as only a 4-star and at 46th best in the country (13th best Power Forward).

Pat Bostick is heading to the 2006 EA Sports Elite 11 Quarterbacks Camp in Southern California at the end of July.

Only the top dozen senior high school QBs in the country are invited to this prestigious annual event, which has seen the likes of Matt Leinart, Vince Young, Brodie Croyle, Carson Palmer, David Carr, Ben Roethlisberger (who Lalich draws comparison to) Drew Weatherford, Kyle Orton, Chris Leak, Tim Tebow, Casey Clausen and Brock Berlin among its alumni.
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Some of the other QBs invited include Stephen Garcia of Tampa, Fla., and three QBs from Texas: Brock Mansion (committed to Cal); Ryan Mallett (Michigan); and Jarrett Lee (LSU). Jimmy Clausen (Notre Dame), Pat Bostick (Pitt), and Willy Korn (Clemson), are also among those invited along with Hampton’s Tyrod Taylor (uncommitted).

Tyler Palko also went through the camp which runs from July 24-27. Some of the others attending includes Peter Lalich (UVA), John Brantley (Tenn), Aaron Corp (USC), Keith Nichol (Mich. St.) and Stephen Garcia (uncommitted).

Meanwhile recent verbal commit, Greg Gaskins gets a nice piece in his local paper.

Six months ago, Greg Gaskins wasn’t even on the radar of NCAA Division I-A college football programs.

But that was before Gaskins added two inches and 25 pounds to his frame.

Schools at the highest level suddenly started taking interest in York High’s 6-foot, 4-inch, 285-pound offensive lineman.

The University of Pittsburgh and the University of Maryland, along with Division I-AA University of Massachusetts, offered full scholarships.
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“By April, we said, this kid is a I-A player,” York High head coach Matt Ortega said. “Some of the colleges said ‘We’ll follow him his senior year.’ But Pittsburgh and Maryland came through with the offers.”

Ortega thinks that Gaskins is only beginning to scratch the surface of his potential.

“The upside of this kid is tremendous,” Ortega said. “The kid is 16 years old. He’s a pup.”

He may be young, but he’s mature. Gaskins ranks third in his class and plans to major in either engineering or business management in college.

Hopefully this is a case where the Pitt coaching staff recognized a late bloomer’s potential before many other schools did.

So what are the odds on Pitt winning the National Championship? Not too bad.

Pittsburgh at 40/1 returns eight of their top 10 players from last year led by All Big East center Aaron Gray, who flirted with the NBA draft before deciding to return.

The big leader is North Carolina at 5-1. Florida is next at 6-1. Duke clocks in at 15-1 and Gonzaga at 35-1. Lots and lots of expectations.

Not everyone, though, thinks Pitt will fulfill them. Adam Skwara, the B-ball recruiting writer for Rivals.com thinks otherwise.

With UConn’s entire team drafted by the NBA last night and Villanova losing Randy Foye, Allan Ray and Kyle Lowry – is the Big East wide open this year? Who will step to the front – Georgetown? Pittsburgh? Louisville?

Jason in Louisville

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I wouldn’t say the Big East is wide open, but it will certainly have some more parity. It will be much easier for a sleeper or two to emerge this season.

Pittsburgh is the clear favorite, thanks to the last-minute return of 7-footer Aaron Gray. The Panthers have plenty of depth and I expect rising sophomore Sam Young to become one of the league’s stars. Losing emotional leader Carl Krauser will ultimately prove costly.

Georgetown is also a legitimate Final Four threat. The Hoyas are experienced, talented and will boast one of the nation’s top frontcourts, led by 7-foot-2 Roy Hibbert and athletic power forward Jeff Green.

Connecticut won’t be winning 29 games again and they will be vulnerable in December. That said, the extremely young Huskies will be a contender when the league tournament approaches. Jeff Adrien will emerge as one of the league’s top big men and word is that guard A.J. Price – who hasn’t played in three years because of a brain hemorrhage – is looking like the four-star recruit that Jim Calhoun snagged in 2004. Rivals.com’s No. 3-ranked recruiting class also adds eight new players, including five-star prospects Stanley Robinson and Curtis Kelly, who will make impacts right away.

Marquette and Louisville are both capable of making runs at the league title, although they will all have to figure out ways to mask glaring weaknesses.

The Golden Eagles will have the league’s top point guard in Dominic James and possibly the best backcourt with his sidekick, Jerel McNeal. The downside is leading scorer Steve Novak is gone. His long-range 3-pointers won’t be missed as much as his size. Novak was their leading rebounder at 5.9 boards a game last season. The 5-11 James was next at 4.5.

With the addition of five-star recruits Earl Clark and Derrick Caracter, the Cardinals are as deep and talented as any team in the league. But without Taquan Dean they are lacking a proven leader and a reliable scorer. Ultra-athletic small forward Terrence Williams is the heir apparent, but I don’t think he has the game to score 15-plus every night. A healthy Juan Palacios is a better candidate.

The dark horse is DePaul. Four double-digit scorers are back, including the best-player-nobody-has-heard-of: Sammy Mejia. If often-injured big man Wesley Green can give them a presence inside this team could be dangerous.

Syracuse is the biggest mystery out there. No one player was as valuable as Gerry McNamara last season (see the 2006 Big East tourney). The Orange have added some big scoring weapons with Paul Harris and Mike Jones to pick up some of the slack.

[Emphasis added.]

Not that he is disputing Pitt as the favorite. Strange, that G-town isn’t being talked up more. They gave Florida a tough battle in the NCAA, and only lose Bowman. I would expect more than a couple prognostications to pick them to win the Big East.