There’s no disputing that John DeGroat was an absolute bust with Pitt. He never showed much in the way of skill and he seemed to have little confidence. In fact, in his final year he got worse the further into the season. The bizarre turnovers at the start of games because he would double dribble or pick-up the ball with no one near him. It was painful, even if he didn’t play much beyond a few minutes per game. Even that was enough to frustrate most fans who wanted Coach Dixon to just plant him on the bench and not let him start. Mop-up duty, maybe.

Still, given what DeGroat had overcome growing up, and how well he turned out, I rooted for him.

So when he suddenly seemed to put it all together in the CBA last year, that was just something great to read. And it seems to have opened the door to other opportunities.

DeGroat’s NBA audition comes with no guarantees. He is a long shot. DeGroat could get a shot at a free-agent camp after next month’s NBA draft, or possibly showcase his game with a team in the NBA’s summer league.

DeGroat’s agent, Oliver Macklin, who played for the University of Connecticut in the early 1990s, has heard from several NBA teams about his client, including the Lakers, Clippers, Celtics, Cavaliers and Sonics.

“I think John’s chances at getting a legit look are pretty good,” Macklin says. “It’s not like he’s an average CBA player, he’s an all-star. The teams that have contacted me love his energy. John doesn’t have to go to the NBA and be a superstar. He just has to play good defense and hit some open shots.”

Adds Macklin: “I think John has a good upside. The NBA Developmental League is an option and there were 22 NBA call-ups from the D-League last year.”

That’s tremendous. Great. But DeGroat himself says something in the story that makes no sense other than to take a shot at Coach Dixon.

Looking back, DeGroat says Pitt might not have been the best fit. He played sparingly his first season, but started every regular-season game as a senior. However, Pitt coach Jamie Dixon benched a slumping DeGroat for most of the Big East and NCAA tournaments.

“I really don’t know what happened,” DeGroat says. “I’m still on speaking terms with (Dixon), he’s a good coach, but he’s not the best under pressure. But, no matter what, he gave a kid from upstate New York a Division I shot.”

What does that have to do with how badly DeGroat played? There’s a little bit of self-deception it seems from DeGroat. Trying not to take much responsibility for his bad play.

It’s painful to watch him regress over the last few weeks. I’ve never seen such happy feet from a basketball player. He starts to shuffle his feet when he gets the ball, like he is going to do some sort of hesitation dribble-drive. Unfortunately he keeps forgetting to dribble. 2 turnovers in 5 minutes. I feel bad that he is having his minutes falling faster and faster, but he is doing it to himself by being so wound-up when he touches the ball.

I mean if he was going to make excuses, the least he could have done was go with something that related to his situation. Say he was looking over his shoulder afraid of making a mistake and getting pulled. Or something like that.

I still want John DeGroat to have success. He is more than a little diminished in my eyes, though.

Mike McGlynn is ready to play for the Eagles, including having signed a 4-year contract. It’s very likely that McGlynn will continue for a while to be an offensive lineman playing at multiple spots. One day it may be guard.

McGlynn, a right tackle for much of his collegiate career, says Eagles offensive line coach Juan Castillo has told him he’ll likely play guard or center in the NFL. With two-time Pro Bowler Shawn Andrews on the Eagles’ right side, McGlynn likely will have to be a left guard if he hopes to start.

The next day he’s at center, snapping the ball to Kevin Kolb.

He is getting the positive press.

McGlynn knows what he’s up against, and also knows by now how much more time he’ll need to put in to gain the complete trust of meticulous offensive line coach Juan Castillo.

So each day during this Eagles’ organized team activity for rookies and first-year players, he just tries to soak up as much as he can from Castillo, who is the perpetual motion machine that has driven the line even before Reid arrived.

“So far it’s going good,” McGlynn said. “My goal is to play, but I just want to pick everything up right now, take one thing at a time, pick everything up, the offense, the techniques, then try to earn a spot on the team.”

And he’s got his cliches down. Good sign.

One of Pitt’s incoming freshmen, taiback Chris Burns didn’t play in the Big 33 game, but will be playing in the PFSCA East-West All-Star game this Saturday.

Going from Class AA football to big-time Division I is quite a leap, though. New Wilmington might be just an hour from Pittsburgh, but, for most high school athletes, it might as well be a world away.

‘‘It’s probably going to be quite a change for me. All the guys are just as fast, just as strong,’’ Burns said. ‘‘I’m just going to work on the little things, do what got me here and ask questions, keep working hard and ask God for strength in the hard times.

‘‘I think if you can play football, you can play football. It doesn’t matter what class you come from.’’

Burns will have to play behind LeSean McCoy at Pitt. Burns grew up an Ohio State fan, but neither that, nor having to wait his turn to carry the ball, could keep him from joining the Panthers.

‘‘I picked them is because they’re an up-and-coming program. I think they’re on the rise to being one of the big contenders in college football in years to come. We’ve had great recruiting classes these past few years, and the coaches really know what they’re doing,’’ Burns said. ‘‘Things kind of fell into place there.’’

One of Burns’ future teammates at Pitt is Bishop McCort tight end and current West player Mike Cruz. The pair went head to head in the PIAA playoffs this year; Burns ran for 233 yards and four touchdowns in a 35-24 Greyhound win.

Gateway (and the West) Coach Terry Smith believes Burns will be fine in the transition to D-1. It’s not a rush. He is a virtual lock to redshirt this season. A depth chart with McCoy, Stephens-Howling and then Harris and Collier jockeying for the 3d and 4th spot.

This same weekend, some of the incoming freshmen will be moving into their dorms.

Big 33 teammate and Central Catholic graduate Andrew Taglianetti was to move into his dorm at Pitt this weekend. Certainly a standout on offense and defense throughout his high school career, perhaps the most special part of the Post-Gazette’s WPIAL Class AAAA player of the year is special teams.

“I have yet to see a kid dominate three sides of the football in high school as much as he did,” Central Catholic coach Terry Totten said.

Name the special teams unit — kickoff return, kickoff coverage, punt return, punt return coverage, field goal blocking … Taglianetti was on it for Central Catholic. And he found ways to standout amongst standouts on special teams for the Pennsylvania team at the Big 33.

Taglianetti blocked a first-quarter Ohio field goal attempt.

“I take a lot of pride in special teams,” Taglianetti said. “I think it’s a huge asset that can change the game. It’s something I can consistently do well in. The coaches put me in the position to make plays, use my speed and athleticism. I just do whatever I can to come through for the team.”

That was my first thought when I saw the basic physical attributes of Pitt’s newest commit, Dion Lewis.

Pitt football received a second verbal commitment for its 2009 recruiting class from Blair Academy running back Dion Lewis, who will be a senior this fall at the Blairstown, N.J. school.

Lewis, 5 feet 7, 180 pounds, chose Pitt over Stanford, Syracuse, Wake Forest, Connecticut and Boston College and Cincinnati.

“I had a great visit this past weekend,” said Lewis, who rushed for 12.3 per carry as a junior at Blair Academy and plans to graduate from high school in December and enroll at Pitt in January.

Granted, LSH was a little lighter as a freshman, but the basic size seems similar.

Pitt loses tailback LaRod Stephens-Howling and fullback Conredge Collins to graduation, and the academic status of fullback Shane Brooks is a concern. The backfield could be further depleted if star tailback LeSean McCoy declares for the NFL Draft after his sophomore season.

“That was one of the reasons,” said Lewis, who was recruited by new secondary coach Jeff Hafley. “LeSean McCoy is a great back, but he might go to the NFL. (The coaches) said if he has another year like he had this past one, he’s probably going to go.

“I have a chance to compete, and that’s all you want. I know (McCoy is) a great back. Even if he stays, I’ll probably just redshirt and compete for the job the next year.”

Lewis is a 3-star recruit in both sites. ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. (Insider subs) is cautiously optimistic about his potential.

He is short but not little. Thickly-built, compact body allows him to absorb hits and continue forward progress. Hits the hole quickly but with good vision and patience. Shows the versatility to bounce it outside or pick and slide his way through the in-line traffic. Accelerates to full speed quickly generating good power through traffic. Consistently keeps his legs churning on contact and can be slippery to wrap up…While he flashes good speed in the open field his shorter stride limits acceleration. Will not separate from Division 1 defensive backs with his current top-end speed. Yards after contact will diminish against bigger and stronger defenders…

And of course, his size automatically raises concerns of durability.

Pitt didn’t have much to worry about yesterday, but it was a busy day regarding the final decisions of lots of underclassmen regarding the NBA Draft. Kept me busy over at FanHouse. Something I’ve learned after yesterday is that the one-and-done rule hardly stemmed the flow of freshmen and sophomores to the NBA as optimistically thought last year. Last year there were 8 freshmen and 5 sophomores in the NBA Draft. This year, it is 14 and 10. A couple late returns to college kept it from being higher. This includes a rather old freshman from Lincoln University — JuJuan Robinson who is 24 and was with Providence back in 2004.

What that means is it triggers the latest in pre-pre-season polls. Just the thing to fill in the blanks. Almost universally, you can expect UNC to be given advanced #1 billing.

Andy Katz got things going with his latest, he keeps Pitt at #2.

he hint of Mike Cook coming back for a sixth year (after tearing his ACL in December) makes the Panthers even more formidable. Sam Young and DeJuan Blair are big-time bigs, and Levance Fields might be as good a floor leader as anyone in the country. This Pitt team could win the national title.

Of course, getting through the Big East will be a big challenge this coming season. Katz has ND and Louisville at Nos. 4 and 5. That’s 3 Big East teams in his top-5. All with legit claims on the top of the Big East. Then there’s UConn, WVU, and even Villanova and Marquette. Syracuse, Georgetown and Cinci will all be tough teams. All told, he put 7 BE teams in the top-20.

That said, with UNC as the top pre-pre-season team and arguably the ACC not losing a lot of underclassmen (like the Big East) there will be plenty of East Coast arguing over which conference is superior in the coming year. Look at just the freshmen and sophomore entry lists. It’s predominantly from the Big 12 (5 players) and Pac-10 (8 players).

I’ve been slow to post about the Big 33 game. I think some of it dates back to high school, when it was never that big deal at Lebanon High. Sure the contest would be held in Hershey, some 20 minutes away. But when the only time your high school got mentioned in USA Today was for snapping the nation’s longest HS football losing streak, you don’t send too many players to a state all-star game. Consequently, the interest was never that high. Unlike in Western PA where the WPIAL is always strongly represented.

I also think that the HS All-Star games in the early summer have no where near the cache they once did. Plus, the most important thing for Pitt is that none of the incoming kids get hurt in an exhibition game (i.e., Dorin Dickerson a few years back).

Still, the Pitt kids on the team were the big impact for whatever that is worth.

Performance in the Big 33 game is by no means a portent of individual success in college football.

Dave Wannstedt can hope, though.

Wannstedt’s University of Pittsburgh recruits were making plays all over the place as Pennsylvania blasted Ohio 31-16 in the 51st, and certainly longest, edition of the annual high school all-star game.

The story suggests that the conflict with the North-South game on the same day in Ohio led to diminished talent on the Ohio side, and the one-sided nature of the game. The flaw in that theory is that the Ohio squad had 4 or 5 players heading to Ohio State and another 14 to BCS programs. Ohio’s in-state all-star game the same night, none of the participants will be attending Ohio State. The simpler explanation was that Pennsylvania’s 2008 senior class was one of the most talented in the state in years.

Brief note, in the North-South game, Pitt commit kicker Kevin Harper was 4-4 on PATs and had a 30-yard FG.

Most of the attention was on the offense, where Pitt players got the most attention.

A trio of Pitt recruits did most of the damage for Pennsylvania, which led 24-0 at the half.

Quarterback Tino Sunseri (Pittsburgh Central Catholic) hit Jonathan Baldwin (Aliquippa) on a 10-yard TD pass for the game’s first score. Sunseri rambled 50 yards to the 1 two possessions later and, after a penalty, connected with Cameron Saddler (Gateway) for a 5-yard score to make it 14-0.

Sunseri and Saddler combined for the game’s highlight in the fourth quarter. Sunseri hit the receiver in stride on a middle post pattern, and Saddler broke a tackle sprinting to a 79-yard TD.

Then there was the defensive showing of Jared Holley.

On almost any another night, the individual performance by Pennsylvania defensive back Jarred Holley against Ohio would have been good enough to win the former Easton star MVP honors.

…

Over the years, Holley has also played tailback and wideout for the Red Rovers. But used exclusively at his college position — cornerback — against Ohio, Holley shut down the visitors’ deep pass attack and saved a touchdown with a tackle of tailback Isaiah Peat in the secondary.

Peat broke through the Pennsylvania’s second layer and almost scored before Holley tackled him following a 22-yard gain.

“The Pitt guys came ready to play, we had a lot of fun out there and we were joking the whole game about how the Pitt boys shut [Ohio] down,” said Holley, who was also pursued by the Penn State program, but opted to play for the Panthers and Dave Wannstedt.

Holley had two interceptions as well. The PA MVP was actually a Temple commit in DE Adrian Robinson. For Ohio, it was Michael Shaw who signed with Michigan on signing day — backing out of a verbal to Penn State.

Temple commits actually had a great showing on defense. In addition to Robinson, Defensive Lineman Shahid Paulhill had two sacks, five tackles and four quarterback pressures. Still, even the Philly papers noted Pitt’s incoming talent.

If this game was a glimpse of the future, the University of Pittsburgh will become a Big East contender.

Pitt recruits quarterback Tino Sunseri, wideout Jonathan Baldwin and multi-purpose player Cameron Saddler accounted for most of Pennsylvania’s fireworks.

Sunseri completed 6 of 12 passes for 189 yards and three scores.

Saddler had two receptions for 84 yards and two scores. The 5-7 speedster also carried twice for 14 yards. Baldwin had three receptions for 55 yards and a touchdown.

Baldwin scored on a 10-yard pass from Sunseri that made it a 7-0 contest with 9:00 left in the first quarter. Two possessions later, Sunseri threw a 5-yard TD to Saddler, making it a 14-0 contest with 1:07 remaining in the first quarter. That play was set up by Sunseri’s 50-yard scamper to the 1.

Saddler later caught a 79-yard touchdown pass from Sunseri to give Pennsylvania a 31-10 lead with 9:08 remaining.

Mike Shanahan, another Panthers recruit, also shined. The Norwin wideout caught three passes for 70 yards.

Another amusing aside. Check out the comment at the bottom of the column. Even though, most papers covering the game mentioned how the future Pitt players had a huge impact, since the Philly writer is a Pitt grad — the bias accusation comes from Temple fans. Keep in mind, the excerpt was the only mention of Pitt, and 3 of the 4 TDs by PA involved at least one Pitt commit. Oh, and Sunseri ran for a 50-yard gain to the 1 that set up the other TD.

Ah, the fevered mind of fandom. Something of which apparently has some Penn State fans grumbling about the appearance of the PA team’s unis.

A few Penn State fans have complained in recent years that the Pennsylvania team, while wearing blue and white in its uniforms, has gone with gold helmets, giving the team a serious Pitt flavor.

Gasp. They have found out about the secret propaganda and indoctrination program.

Andrew Taglianetti also made a play on special teams by blocking a field goal attempt. That should be something to help him get on the field early, at least in special teams.

Only Pitt commit not to make a name was Antwuan Reed out of Johnstown. He played both RB and DB in high school but played only on defense in the game. As the only Johnstown area player in the Big 33 game, he did get the local love before the game.

Reed has 129 tackles, five interceptions and two fumble recoveries. As a senior, he rushed for 1,915 yards with 55 tackles and an interception and was chose as The Tribune-Democrat Offensive Player of the Year. He was twice named to The Associated Press Class AAA All-State team.

Hours after signing his letter-of-intent to play at Pitt in February, Reed was named an Old Spice Red Zone Player of the Year. Photos of him and 49 others similarly honored appeared as a full-page ad in The USA Today.

Jonathan Baldwin got his own puff piece just before the game.

“Obviously, we’re going to try and do some things to get him the ball because he can make a difference,” [North Allegheny Coach Art] Walker said. “I think Pitt has a definite gold mine with him. They should be extremely excited they have him.”

Walker believes Baldwin could have an impact at Pitt early in his career. Baldwin is listed on the Big 33 roster at 6 feet 6, 215 pounds.

“Once he’ll be able to just work on being a receiver every day, he’ll be able to work on little things, like routes,” Walker said. “But he has a great knack already to just go after the football. I have not seen him wait for a pass yet. He goes and gets it, and his hands are amazingly soft for how big they are.

“But the most impressive thing about him, besides being a tremendous athlete, is he is so coachable. We’ll run something, and he’ll say, ‘Coach, I never really ran that route before. Will you show me?’ ”

Baldwin, a two-time Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 selection, also has opened the eyes of his Big 33 teammates.

“I’m in love with Jonathan Baldwin because this dude is freakish,” said Gateway slotback Cam Saddler, also a Pitt recruit. “As long as the ball is in the air and it’s intended for him, he’s going to get it.”

Saddler, never at a loss of words, is one of the emotional leaders of the Pennsylvania team. “At the beginning of the week, Jon was real sensitive,.

“I was throwing jokes at him, and he was taking them deeply. I said, ‘This dude is super sensitive.’ By Tuesday of this week, he caught on. That was the last day he got mad at me.”

Pennsylvania’s other starting receiver is Norwin’s Mike Shanahan, is a Pitt recruit, too.

“I’ll tell you what, Shanahan is a good player, too,” Walker said. “He’s almost the same size as Baldwin, but Mike is actually more polished with his routes. Jonathan just has more speed. I think [Shanahan] is a real sleeper at Pitt.”

Lots of options at WR this fall and into the future.

Lots of recruiting stuff out of the Garden State.

The NBA Top 100 camp starts tomorrow on the campus of UVa. Several players who Pitt is pursuing and one who has already committed are going to be attending. Lamar Patterson, Durand Scott and Dominic Cheek are all invites.

Dan Jennings, someone Pitt has been interested in a while, feels like he is being ignored since Orlando Antigua was his primary recruiter.

At one point Pittsburgh was one of his favorites, but when assistant coach Orlando Antigua left for Memphis, “I haven’t got a real big call yet (from Pitt).”

“Louisville has been calling often,” he added. “St. John’s been calling me. Minnesota been calling me.”

Jennings said he wants to “take my time during the process.”

“I’m not going to rush it. I”m just going to take my time.”

Jennings spent last season at national prep powerhouse Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., but will prep a fifth year next season.

“I’m thinking about Brewster (N.H.) Academy or South Kent (Conn.),” he said. “I’m not sure yet. I’m going to look at the schools and see.”

South Kent will also likely add 6′6 former St. Raymond’s of the Bronx standout Kevin Parrom, who is considering Marquette, St. John’s, Rutgers, South Carolina, Pittsburgh, Providence, Clemson and Rhode Island. He has been to Rutgers and St. John’s unofficially.

As for Dominic Cheek. Now that Orlando Antigua is in Memphis, guess which school has now gotten involved in pursuing him?

Cheek, a highly athletic and skilled 6-foot-5 wing from St. Anthony of Jersey City, recently picked up offers from Louisville and Memphis.

“I talked to Rick Pitino and everything,” Cheek said at the Rumble in the Bronx at Fordham University. “It was exciting.”

He added that former Pitt and current Memphis assistant Orlando Antigua is recruiting him for John Calipari’s team.

Cheek, ranked No. 4 among shooting guards in the Class of 2009, also listed Tennessee, Villanova, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Florida, Connecticut, Rutgers, Seton Hall, Texas and Maryland.

“I’m still wide open right now,” said Cheek, who hit a bunch of 3-pointers while also making athletic forays to the hoop in leading the Playaz to several victories. “I don’t have a favorite right now.”

Cheek said he plans to “start cutting the list down soon.”

Meanwhile, one other swingman from New Jersey — though he goes to Oak Hill (VA) — Brian Oliver is also on Pitt’s list.

Oak Hill swingman Brian Oliver has a top five of Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Miami, West Virginia and Pitt, according to his father, Robert, but even he said the list could change.

“He said he wasn’t going to decide until September,” Robert said. “He said he was going to take his visits.”

Oliver is a 3-star or 4-star recruit and a top-100 player (Insider subs) who has now verballed at one point to Georgia Tech before backing away.

At the very least, Brandin Knight will need to make some phone calls.

Hmm. Some likely good news via Pittsburgh Sports Report.

According to a source close to the situation, the Pitt basketball program received good news today when the team learned that NASIR ROBINSON of Chester High School in Chester, PA has officially qualified.

While Robinson’s test scores had been high enough, he still had to wait for his final G.P.A before his eligibility could be official.

Of course there seems to be some concern that Darnell Dodson might never play for PItt. Dodson appeared to have reached qualifying status in the summer. Even getting a head start over the summer by taking some courses before the fall.

Then he wasn’t. The NCAA Clearinghouse had a problem and took until late October to declare him ineligible.

There appears to be some concern over a Roburt Sallie situation.

The reason lies in Big 12 Conference Rule 6.2, which states that any student-athlete who enrolls at a conference institution, part time or full time, must meet NCAA initial eligibility requirements.

Sallie had not met those requirements when he enrolled part time and paid for his own classes at Nebraska in the fall of 2006. At the time, Sallie, a prep school standout who’d signed with the Huskers, was waiting to hear if the NCAA academic clearinghouse would grant him eligibility.

…

Had Sallie enrolled full time at Nebraska in the fall of 2006, he would’ve been in violation of the NCAA rule, too. Instead, he’s only in violation of the Big 12 rule, meaning he can still compete at any NCAA school outside the Big 12.

I honestly don’t know whether the Big East has a similar rule to the Big 12’s “Rule 6.2,’ but that there is a NCAA type rule that renders him “ineligible to compete at any time for any NCAA school” if the NCAA Clearinghouse denied him is insane.

The NCAA has a rule making a player forever ineligible to play if they start taking classes while they re-evaluate his eligibility status. Putting the kid in limbo. So even if a kid does everything right after not being cleared. Goes to junior college. Gets the academics in order, the NCAA would not allow a kid to receive a scholarship to play and go to a NCAA school.

Of course, it does seem that Pitt never let Dodson actually practice with the team. He was enrolled at Pitt, and taking courses. This whole thing seems ridiculous. And yet, no one is sure. It makes my head hurt.

Everyone move up one spot. Brandin Knight went from Director of Basketball Operations to Assistant Coach after Orlando Antigua left for Memphis. Now Brian Regan moves from Video Coordinator to Director of Basketball Operations.

“We are excited to promote Brian to our Director of Operations position,” Dixon said. “Brian has proved to be a valuable part of our program and has played a key role in our success. He brings with him extensive experience at several different levels. He is also thrilled to be working at Pitt and in his hometown of Pittsburgh.”

A native of Pittsburgh’s Northside, Regan has a combined 20 years of college coaching experience. He spent five seasons (2002-07) as an assistant basketball coach at Colgate University under Head Coach Emmett Davis. As a top assistant at Colgate, Regan’s responsibilities included recruiting, scouting and coordinating the Raiders’ summer basketball Day and Elite Prospect Camps. He also served as the academic coordinator for the program and worked primarily with the Raiders’ post players.

Prior to his stint at Colgate, Regan served as an associate head coach at Assumption College under Head Coach Tom Ackerman. During his three-year tenure (1999-2002), Assumption posted one of its most successful seasons in school history, advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament “Sweet Sixteen,” captured the Northeast-10 championship and compiled a 24-6 record.

Regan is no stranger to the Western Pennsylvania coaching ranks after having served assistant coaching stints at Slippery Rock University (1994-99), LaRoche College (1993-94) and Robert Morris University (1990-93). During his tenure at Robert Morris, the Colonials won the Northeast Conference title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 1992. Regan began his coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at Pitt, serving for two seasons (1988-90) under Head Coach Paul Evans. He helped guide the Panthers to an NCAA Tournament berth in 1989.

A 1988 graduate of Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., Regan earned a degree in communications. He also attended the Kiski School in Saltsburg, Pa. His father, the late “Baldy” Regan, served as a Pittsburgh city councilman.

So, is there a graduate assistant up for a promotion?

We haven’t heard much about the Legends Classic in a few weeks. Just that Pitt was a likely participant. Jeff Goodman at FoxSports.com, has this today.

The word I’m getting is that the four teams in the Legends Classic will be Pittsburgh, Mississippi State, Washington State and Texas Tech.

Those would be the “host” teams for the opening round. The participating teams are not known. From a competitive standpoint, this actually looks like a great little tournament. From a buzz creator, well, no. Assuming Pitt makes it to the Prudential Center in New Jersey, they will be school most likely to travel well.

Looks like the campus rounds will be on November 20-23 and the games in NJ on November 28 and 29.

Brilliant. The Backyard Brawl is November 28. Hmmm. Looks like that noontime start may not be such a bad thing.

Unless it is absolutely explosive, this will hopefully be the only mention of this on the blog.

Mark Wogenrich, one of our Penn State football beat writers, tells us that ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” investigative TV show is pursuing a story about the legal issues involving the Lions’ football team since April 2007.

It’s such an easy target, it almost seems surprising that they hadn’t done the piece yet.

That said, they hardly seem worse than so many other teams. But like other schools/fans that play the self-righteous, higher standard card any chance they get, they really can’t turn around and claim they are no worse than any other school.

You can’t have it both ways. Either you are no better/different from other schools and their fans, or you are on a higher standard and have to deal with extra scrutiny when those standards aren’t met and even ignored.

NBE Basketball Report has its usual collection of good stuff.

Last week they had an interview with soon to be Panther, Ashton Gibbs.

NBE Basketball Report: What areas of your game did the Pittsburgh coaches or any other coaches say you should work on?

Ashton Gibbs: My strength and speed is the main thing. College is a totally different game than high school. Those are areas that a lot of players usually need to improve on coming out of high school.

NBE Basketball Report: What have you been doing to work on improving in those areas? Have you done anything extra since the end of the high school season?

Ashton Gibbs: I’ve been working everyday with a trainer dealing with strength and conditioning, but I’ve also been doing a lot of skill work.

NBE Bball Report: Are you going out to Pittsburgh for the summer?

Ashton Gibbs: Yes, I’m coming for summer school at the end of June.

I imagine one of the things will be getting used to shooting from the new 3-point line (it goes from 19’9″ to 20’9″ in the men’s side).

There’s also a look at the AAU team, NY Gauchos. The team features one of Pitt’s targets in Dan Jennings. Pitt has also shown some interest in Durand Scott, but he isn’t a need. I don’t think they are seriously perusing another SG/SF for the 2009 recruiting class. Not with Darnell Dodson still likely to be signing and the chance of Dominc Cheek.

Cheek, by the way, was one of several top players from the NY/NJ at the Rutgers campus for a camp.

Not sure what his position is in the Pitt Athletic Department, (He could be an intern, but not listed on the staff directory.), but it does seem that Dave Milliron has been engaged to produce some press releases that present more about the teams and the people in the various sports since May.

His latest is a Q&A with newly promoted Pitt Basketball Assistant Coach Brandin Knight.

How will this new position be different than when you were the director of operations?

“Being the Director of Operations consisted of more administrative work such as organizing meetings and community service. As an assistant coach, I will be able to work more closely with the program and interact much more with the players.”

What are your own goals in the coaching profession?

“Right now, I want to be the best assistant coach I can be. Eventually, my ultimate goal is to become a head coach, but in the coming months I will try to soak up as much knowledge as I can about being a great assistant.”

Are you able to participate in the recruiting aspect of the basketball program? If so, what is that like for you?

“Yes, now I can recruit with the other coaches. I really look forward to it. I try to form great relationships with all the current players and hopefully I am able to extend that to younger players who will then want to take a shot with us.”

Future Panther Ashton Gibbs attended the same prep school as you. How close are you and did your friendship help Ashton want to be a Panther?

“I have known Ashton since the fifth or sixth grade and we have maintained a great relationship since then. A big part of Ashton coming to Pitt was because his family felt comfortable with the University and felt it was a great place for him to be able to succeed.”

Andy Katz at ESPN.com mentioned it briefly on his blog (Insider subs).

Pitt’s Brandin Knight is ready to be a fulltime assistant coach. He has really matured in dealing with him over the past two years. He should do fine in replacing Orlando Antigua on the staff now that he’s off to Memphis.

Of course praising Knight is a good way to also maintain another source of information.

This does open up a position for Director of Basketball Operations on the Pitt coaching staff. There’s some speculation about Clyde Vaughn.

I’m not sure if he would take that spot. Vaughn, before his problem in Connecticut was a full assistant coach at one of the top programs in the country. There is some pride involved as Vaughn is in his late 40s and would be taking the job held by a 27-year old who was promoted.

I would love to see Vaughn getting involved with Pitt on the coaching side. At the same time, the Connecticut arrest was his third in three coaching stops for similar actions. That’s a concern.

I love regional hall of fames. You never hear or read about most of them until there is a press release combined with a slow news day. Maybe a little more attention at a smaller paper that has a local connection to one of the inductees.

Take, oh I don’t know, the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame. You knew one had to exist. Just never really heard of it.

Well, this year one of the inductees includes Walter Hynoski who starred at Penn in the 50s. Yes, he’s related to Pitt fullback Henry Hynoski — cousins.

Walter gets a pleasant enough piece in his local paper and it lists some of this year’s other inductees.

Hynoski, who is retired and lives in Holland, Pa., was notified of his election recently. The induction ceremony will be Nov. 1. Two others from the area to be inducted with him are Dick Purnell, former Shikellamy High School football coach, and Bob Unger, a Pottsville High graduate who was an All-American in football at Princeton in 1952.

Other members of the 2008 class are former Wisconsin football coach Barry Alvarez, former Minnesota Vikings placekicker Fred Cox, ex-NFL quarterback Joe Pisarcik, Pete Vukovich, who won the American League Cy Young Award in 1982; former Pitt football coach Walt Harris, former NFL running back Doug Kotar, Jim Mutscheller, Elaine Sobansky-Blackhurst and Leroy Hennon. Ted Meredith and Franco Harris will be honored as Atletes of Distinction.

I guess it’s something else to add to the old resume.

Obviously the departure of Orlando Antigua was anticipated for some time. Even if Memphis can’t make an official announcement for a few days.

Though Antigua has accepted the job in principle, the university can’t announce his hiring until the formal processes are complete. Once official, Antigua will join Josh Pastner and John Robic on John Calipari’s bench.

Antigua, a native of The Bronx, will serve as the Tigers’ primary recruiting contact in the New York area. He replaces Chuck Martin (also a Bronx native), who left in April to take the head coaching job at Marist.

He has to get “official” rubberstamp approval from the Memphis President and Board of Regents.

So, that means Pitt can’t actually say what happened to Orlando Antigua, in the press release they put out the same day announcing Brandin Knight being promoted to replace Antigua.

University of Pittsburgh head men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon announced the promotion of Brandin Knight to assistant coach on Friday evening. A former Pitt star and All-America point guard, Knight has spent the previous two seasons on Pitt’s coaching staff, working last year as its Director of Basketball Operations and serving as Program Assistant/Video Coordinator in 2006-07.

“Brandin has always been a tremendous asset to our program,” Dixon said. “As a player, Brandin proved to be a coach on the floor and he has developed through the years into an outstanding basketball coach. He has been a terrific role model for our players and he was instrumental in turning our program around. He has been approached for numerous assistant coaching positions and has remained loyal to Pitt.”

“As one of college basketball’s elite point guards, Brandin Knight was a vital catalyst in turning Pitt Basketball into the power that it is today,” Pitt Athletic Director Steve Pederson said. “He is an incredibly gifted basketball mind who will be a major asset as a teacher of the game, as well as a recruiter. Brandin was born to play point guard and we’ll soon see he was born to coach too.”

Yes, Dixon “announced” from Hawaii.

“I always said when he was a player he was a coach on the floor,” Dixon said last night from Hawaii, where he is vacationing with his family.

“I’ve always said he’s the smartest player I’ve ever coached. And, if you talk to our administrative people, they’ve been very impressed with him the past few years as well. The timing is good. He’s more than ready.”

There’s just some paperwork, and clearly Coach Dixon wasn’t even going to pretend that he was looking for someone else.

I guess I’m a little surprised Coach Dixon didn’t at least talk to some other candidates. Pitt needs someone to really be able to work NY/NJ. It’s tough enough recruiting in that area with teams like Kansas, Duke, Memphis, UNC and everyone else. Plus in the Big East with Pitino, Boeheim, Wright plus Huggins and Hill at Rutgers having an impact.

Apparently Brandin Knight has been impressing people and has the confidence of the coach. Considering the success of assistant coaches hired by Dixon, I’m not about to say his instincts/decision-making on this is wrong. He’s clearly got something working.