Aaron Gray’s hometown paper loves seeing Gray succeed. Assuming he gets drafted in the first round of the NBA draft, he’d be the first kid from the Lehigh Valley to accomplish that. So, they sent a reporter and photographer to document a day in the life of Gray.

”I don’t go out much,” said Gray, whose Panthers (19-3) are ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press poll. ”I get so much attention, but I really don’t want that much attention. I think I’ve gone out like 10 times in my four years here. I’d just rather hang out with people, low key.

”I’ll go to houses where there are people that I know, so that I don’t have to be bombarded with the same questions. You know, the people who’ll try to tell you how to play, the people who’ll tell you how great that you are, or the people who’ll tell you how bad you are.”
…

The Petersen Events Center, a 21st-century arena where Pitt plays its home games, sits at the peak of the upper campus. It’s a steep climb to Petersen, one reminiscent of Gray’s rise in college basketball.

”My earlier years here, we lived down the hill and we had to walk up to practice every day,” Gray said, ”so we’d be loose, ready to go, stretched out and have a little sweat just from walking up the hill.”

Now he drives to practice, arriving Monday just after noon and staying until nearly 5 p.m.

Yet another reason the players are probably glad not to play at Fitzgerald any longer. That was always a hell of a haul if you didn’t bother with the shuttle.