Okay, now it is the U-19 squad, not the U-21 team that was originally indicated. Coach Jamie Dixon needs to make sure his passport is in order.

Pitt’s Jamie Dixon will replace Davidson’s Bob McKillop as the head coach of the U.S. men’s U-19 team at the FIBA World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who is the chair of the junior national team selection process, confirmed that Dixon will replace McKillop, who withdrew last week after junior Stephen Curry decided to declare and stay in the draft.

Dixon was already chosen to be an assistant under McKillop. So, too, was Southern Illinois’ Chris Lowery. The championships will be held July 2-12 and the U.S. is in a group with Egypt, France and Iran and will open with the Iranians in the 16-team competition. Some of the top freshmen and possibly sophomores in college are expected to be invited to the trials, which will be held in Colorado Springs in mid-June. A year ago, McKillop led the U.S. to the silver medal in Argentina. Dixon said he met with McKillop at the Final Four and they discussed the team at length, but then at the end of the talk McKillop told him he might coach the team.

Dixon said he had been looking forward to getting involved with USA Basketball. This trip piqued his interest since he played professionally in New Zealand for two years after a brief stint in the CBA following his college career at TCU. Dixon said he can’t wait to get back to New Zealand, a country he called one of the most beautiful on earth.

Not sure if he can get to Australia to check on some possible recruits there.

The US’s first game will be against Iran on July 2. Just eyeballing the groupings, USA is in Group B, with Egypt, Iran and France. France would obviously the toughest oppenent in the group.

Well, Tommie Duhart does not have to worry about being in Coach Dave Wannstedt’s doghouse any longer.  The senior is joined by another senior, in T.J. Porter who has had two DUI in less than a year. Both have been dismissed from the team.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt has dismissed two seniors — defensive tackle Tommie Duhart and receiver T.J. Porter — from the Panthers’ football program.

Both players will transfer, according to a statement released by the university’s athletic department. A Pitt spokesman said Wannstedt will have no further comment on the issue.

As the brief story from the P-G notes, “this announcement is not a surprise.”

Both Porter and Duhart were suspended from spring practice. The fate of two other late spring suspendees — Wayne Jones and Aaron Berry — remain unresolved at this time.

Looks like Coach Jamie Dixon is right there to land one more player for the recruiting class. Kevin Parrom, out from his Xavier commit is down to either following Sean Miller to Arizona or Pitt.

Xavier, to whom he originally committed, and Virginia Tech are no longer in the mix.

“Yeah,” Parrom wrote in a text message.

The 6-6 Parrom, a New York native playing at South Kent (Conn.), will decide after taking an official to Arizona this weekend. Former Xavier coach Sean Miller and assistant Book Richardson are now at Arizona.

“Sometime next week,” Parrom said of his decision.

Parrom is ranked 88th overall by Scout.com as a 4-star SF and 86th by Scouts, Inc./ESPN.com.

He enjoyed his visit to Pitt this past weekend.

A strong finish by Talib Zanna to his season and his subsequent performance in senior all-star games has boosted him into Scout.com’s final top-100 rankings. He goes from unranked to #63 and 4-stars. Dante Taylor finished the rankings at #16.

Meanwhile, the still too early list of top-25 teams has an update by Andy Katz. He drops Pitt in at #24.

The Panthers re-emerge in the rankings despite losing the top three scorers/leaders off their Elite Eight team, Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and Levance Fields. The rotation of four guards — Jermaine Dixon, Ashton Gibbs, Brad Wanamaker and Gilbert Brown — should be a tough matchup in the Big East. The key will be how quickly newcomers up front — namely top-five power forward Dante Taylor — develop into productive posts.

Locally, the Hill District rec center reopened with much hoopla.

While part of the ceremony was dedicated to the reopening of the center, a major reason for the gathered crowd was the “celebration of legends” ceremony, which included the unveiling of a banner commemorating each honored individual’s high school jersey.

Among the many “legends” honored were former Pitt stars Darrelle Porter, Sam Clancy and DeJuan Blair as well as all-time Pittsburgh greats such as the late Robert “Jeep” Kelley, Petey Gibson, Major Harris, Warner Macklin, Karen Hall, Maurice Lucas and Darrick Suber.

In all, 18 people were honored and will have their banners hanging in the newly remodeled gym forever.

“I’m only 19. I don’t think I am old enough to be a legend,” joked Blair, who was one of three of the honorees who spoke to the crowd.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, who was the guest speaker, said it was an honor to be a part of the program, especially since he has heard so much about the history of Pittsburgh basketball and all of the legends, and that this gave him a chance to meet some of them.

“I had met some of these guys before,” Dixon said. “I always get frustrated when I hear stories about what it used to be around here in terms of basketball because, as the Pitt coach, I wish it still was. But I think down the road here it can be a great place for basketball once again, and DeJuan is a guy who could very well be looked at down the road as the one who got it back started again.

“I had no idea all of these guys were going to be here. This was just something special. And like I said, I’m just humbled that they’d ask me to be a part of it.”

The Ammon Community Center was closed since 2004. It cost some $600K to reopen.

Here’s a pretty good interview with DeJuan Blair. Good news, it appears he actually finished his semester at Pitt.

Jonathan Givony: A couple weeks ago, when you declared for the draft and were asked to explain why you’re not just testing the waters, you said something along the lines of, “I’m an internet freak, I go on all the draft boards, nobody’s got me going in the second round, that’s almost a guarantee for me. Were you being serious with that comment?

DeJuan Blair: No, that was just, there was a little hostility coming from the crowd, there was a lot of tears watering up. If you were there, everybody laughed, so it was kind of a little joke. I actually don’t go on the internet. I was told that question was going to come up, I shouldn’t have said it, but I was just trying to liven up the room a little bit.

Jonathan Givony: What’s the best thing that you learned in your two years playing for Jamie Dixon?

DeJuan Blair: To be coachable. To be coachable and listen. If you call him and ask him, you know, and to be respectful also. He taught me a lot of stuff on the court about adapting to college, being respectful and coachable, because NBA coaches will be on you, just like he do, you just gotta learn to deal with it like you deal with everybody. He taught me a lot.

Jonathan Givony: What kind of NBA player is Sam Young is going to be?

DeJuan Blair: I don’t know, he’s going to be a tricky NBA player. You don’t know until Sam starts playing, you never know. He’s a workaholic, but you never know what type of a player he’s going to be, probably an excellent player, but you don’t know.

In the NFL Draft, the cliches are standard. Players drafted in the 1st round are generally the “top guy on our board” and/or “the guy we really wanted.” While in the 2nd round, they go to things like “we couldn’t believe he was still available,” or “we graded him as a 1st rounder.” The 7th round is “taking a flier.” All the other rounds are about getting the “sleeper” and “value” picks.

That is the feeling for 49ers fans after getting Scott McKillop in the 5th round.

Our initial reaction after giving McKillop’s credentials the quick eye test was there is nothing particularly impressive about this pick, but that changed after closer inspection and what we had to hear around the building today from Niners insiders and other analysts about what this scrappy guy brings to the table. He was ultra-productive at a big-time college program, and while that doesn’t always translate to NFL success for an inside linebacker, McKillop is a guy who can get to the football and seems to fit in with what the 49ers are trying to accomplish defensively. He’s a sell-out performer who can help on special teams and has potential to eventually be the guy that’s lining up regularly next to Patrick Willis in the middle of San Francisco’s 3-4 defense.

That seems to be the theme. The eventual replacement for Takeo Spikes after a year or so on special teams.

As mentioned in the last blog, he’s a tackling maniac who won’t wow anyone in practice, but he’s nearly 250 pounds and could be the perfect replacement for Takeo Spikes.

The cracker jack 49ers public relations staff just had McKillop on a conference. He sounded earnest and excited. McKillop was a special teams standout for the Panthers before becoming a starter at middle linebacker in their 4-3 defense.

Here’s the transcript from the conference call.

RE: Did you play much special teams at Pitt?

“Yes. Actually my first two years at the University of Pittsburgh I backed up H.B. Blades, who’s at the Washington Redskins now. So that was basically my niche in the team was playing kickoff, kickoff return, punt, punt return. Actually at Pitt, I’m our backup long-snapper.”
…
RE: This is obviously a 3-4 [defense]. What about the transition there? What do you expect?

“I’m looking forward to the challenge. I think that I’m a very smart player. I think that I can pick up well on new defenses and I’m looking forward to getting there as soon as possible, being a film rat and just trying to study and learn the defense and special teams as well. I’m really excited about that. That was the first thing that opened eyes here at the University of Pittsburgh was special teams: making plays and just trying to get my name recognized for helping out the team.”

RE: Where do you see yourself fitting in here as a rookie?

“I’m looking forward to making the team. Nothing is guaranteed. I’m looking forward to contributing on special teams. I know a lot of people say that they love special teams but I truly do love special teams. I didn’t play at all my first two years and all I was was special teams and that’s where I first made a name for myself. If they need some depth at any linebacker position, I’d be more than willing to help out. But there are a bunch of great linebackers that are already there. I’d just be willing to help them out [by] any means necessary.”

The 49er coach Mike Singletary spoke a bit about the pick.

RE: Earlier in the fifth round, you took [Scott] McKillop. Were you thinking [Nate] Davis possibly there?
“We were hoping he was there. When we did it that way, we looked at the linebacker situation and realized that [McKillop] had some real value as a long snapper as well. Something that we needed. The other thing – he would really help us on special teams. And, he’s a pretty decent linebacker as well. So felt very good about the fact that he was there. So we’re looking at two players that we really didn’t feel would be there at that particular pick.”
…
RE: Does [Scott] McKillop project to be a Ted linebacker? Is that the plan to have him play?

“Ted or Mike, it depends but I think he’s flexible. I think that he’s one of those guys that could do either. I know he’s a very bright guy and when you watch him play, he can play either Ted or Mike. We’ll see how it goes.”

RE: Will he challenge Jeff Ulbrich for a spot on the roster?
“He’s going to challenge everybody. When he comes in there’s competition everywhere I wouldn’t just say ‘Well, he’s going to challenge Jeff Ulbrich.’ We just want the best guys on the field so in my mind everybody out there, whether it’s Jeff Ulbrich or whomever it might be if we brought another linebacker in, it’s just a matter of how the numbers work out. But the competition has to be there and we’ll go from there.”

Good luck to Scott McKillop out in San Francisco.

Let’s say for arguments sake that Pitt does not use that scholarship before the end of the summer. That means Pitt still has only one to offer for 2010. While Tom Herrion and Brandin Knight are out recruiting and being a presence on the circuit, Coach Jamie Dixon has some other things to do.

Davidson coach Bob McKillop said he has turned down the head coaching job of the World Championship for Young Men’s team this summer in New Zealand. McKillop coached the team during the qualifying event last summer. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who serves as the chair of the junior national teams, said that a replacement for McKillop hasn’t been determined yet. The assistants on the team are still slated to be Pitt’s Jamie Dixon and Southern Illinois’ Chris Lowery, and Dixon could end up being the choice as the head coach. UCLA’s Ben Howland was queried about his interest, but he declined because he didn’t want to miss the first seven days of the July evaluation period.

The name that may be more familiar is as the FIBA Under-21 (U-21) World Championship.

Nothing like more events that raise Coach Dixon’s and Pitt’s profile nationally. That only helps with recruiting — and hopefully that will get Coach Dixon more involved in the U-17 USA team.

Okay Eagles and 49ers fans, the Pitt store in its wisdom, has previously marked down the price of Pitt jerseys with the #25 and #40.  So you can grab that college jersey for LeSean McCoy and Scott McKillop (I refuse to link to the gold jerseys). Heck, for McCoy, you can grab on sale youth, infant and toddler jerseys.

There’s no #34 jerseys available for Cardinals fans who like the underdog.

LaRod Stephens-Howling was choked with emotion on Sunday as he spoke to Arizona reporters.

“It’s been a dream all my life,” Stephens-Howling, who is 5 feet 6, said of playing in the NFL. “I’ve been told so many times that I couldn’t do it because of my size. I can’t wait to come in and do whatever I can for the team.”

The Cardinals were intrigued by Stephens-Howling’s special-teams ability, both as a kick returner and in coverage.

Heck, count me among those who sees Chris Wells from Ohio State as injury-prone, so Stephens-Howling might get some opportunities.

They are thrilled in Johnstown about this.

Tony Penna, the athletic director at Johnstown High, was thrilled when he saw the news on television.

“I feel like a little kid,”?Penna said.?“He’s Johnstown’s boy. He belongs to the town. He’s just such a great kid.?I’ve always told people he’s the greatest human being I’ve ever met. He’s deserving of everything that he’s gotten.”

It wasn’t just Stephens-Howling’s athletic exploits that made him such a star at his alma mater.

“The school will be electrified (today). He’s its best diplomat,”?Penna said. “He was such a great example as an athlete at Johnstown. The academic people loved him. The athletic people loved him.?The administration loved him.

“He was the total package.?Besides his ability, he was a better man,”?Penna said.

It’s a common refrain when Stephens-Howling’s name comes up with those who know him.

And LSH returned the affection.

Stephens-Howling has talked at length about how proud he is that his signing with Pitt helped open the door for other local athletes to get noticed.

It worked, as a number of Johnstown-area players ended up with scholarships and almost a half-dozen local players ended up at Pitt.

“It’s just great to see that people are respecting the area,”?Stephens-Howling said. “It’s great for them to see that people here can play football.”

As always, Stephens-Howling was quick to point out that he’s thankful for the support he gets from the people in his hometown.

“I ?really appreciate everything that Johnstown has done,”?he said. “They never let me down. Even when?I was on the back burner at Pitt, they always supported me.”

Another fellow 7th rounder went to Chicago.

He likes Derek Kinder from Pitt. The coaching staff really liked him and he got a strong endorsement from Dave Wannstedt.

And yet, Chicago still drafted him. It might be in no small part because of realizing that Kinder was coming back from a brutal injury.

Kinder has his 2007 season come to an end before it began after his suffered a season-ending knee injury. He made a pre-draft visit to Halas Hall and ran in the 4.4s at his Pro Day.

The Bears people are actually talking up the pick at that point.

The wide receiver’s stock no doubt was affected by a right ACL tear, an injury that caused Kinder to miss the entire 2007 season. The Bears still did their homework, regardless, bringing Kinder in for a visit. Offensive coordinator Ron Turner picked the brain of ex-Bears coach Dave Wannstedt, now Pittsburgh’s head coach.

“Our coaches really liked him,” said general manager Jerry Angelo. “Ron talked to Dave Wannstedt quite a bit. Dave really said tremendous things about him. Knows our system, obviously. That played a part into it.”

The Bears view the 6-foot-1-inch, 210-pound Kinder as a big, physical receiver capable of competing for playing time. After a 57-catch, 847-yard season in ’06, Kinder was a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver.

“I was hoping if I was fortunate enough to get drafted that it would have been Chicago,” Kinder said.

Way to say the right thing. If Kinder hadn’t been drafted, he was probably going to sign as a free agent with Dallas.

A bunch of things to get out of the browser tabs.

Starting with the actual incoming kids. Another write-up from the Reebok All-American Game last weekend.  Dante Taylor was viewed as the most impressive player in the national game.

Taylor finished with 26 points and 9 rebounds en route to being named a game MVP for the second game, playing with Team Finish. The big man consistently showed the ability to play on the blocks and from the wing, run the break and start it with outlet passes. Additionally, his rebounding and defense were outstanding, and the kid really never stopped hustling. He was clearly the best player on the court. After the game, Taylor said he doesn’t view himself as a true post player, but he should be a big help to Jamie Dixon in replacing DeJuan Blair.

The thing with Taylor coming in this fall, will be managing expectations of fans. There’s been a lot of good stuff written about him.

As for Talib Zanna, who played in the local game.

The stand out star of the preview game, Zanna finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds. Yes, that’s right – Pittsburgh has drawn the top player in each game. Zanna looks to have the ability to complete a nice four year career for the Panthers and maybe play high level European ball. Zanna made his living around the basket, grabbing rebounds, getting put backs, and scoring in the post. He should compliment Taylor nicely.

As for the future, one of the big targets for the 2011 recruiting class is a shooting guard named Mike Taylor.

The 6-foot-3 sophomore shooting guard out of Brooklyn Boys & Girls is a star on the rise and picked up a slew of major offers after an open gym Friday at his school.

“Jamie Dixon absolutely loved him and told me to tell Mike he has an offer [from Pitt],” Boys & Girls assistant Elmer Anderson said. “Maryland, Indiana, Villanova, St. John’s and Providence also offered.” Rutgers has also offered, Anderson said.

“And at one point he hit nine straight 3’s from deep all over the place,” he added.

“Twenty-three Division 1 schools were in attendance, including UNLV, Rhode Island, UMBC, Stonybrook and New Hampshire. Mike will certainly be one of the most highly recruited players in New York City the next two years,” Anderson said.

You can’t put a real leader out there for a sophomore, but it is promising that Coach Dixon and Pitt keep getting mentioned with Taylor’s future.

“I can’t remember them all,” he admits. “It’s crazy.”

Life is good these days for the 6-foot-3 Taylor, Boys & Girls’ sophomore guard. Of the 30 major Division I schools who attended the Kangaroos’ recent open gyms, most of the coaches were there to watch Taylor’s sweet jump shot, including Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon.

He is a dying breed – a pure shooter. Where others may goof around by dunking the ball in between breaks, Taylor, who Boys & Girls coach Ruth Lovelace has said is already the most recruited player in her tenure, steps behind the 3-point line. During water breaks, he practices his follow through. When teammates want to organize a game of pick-up, he makes sure to get up a certain amount of jumpers beforehand.

“Shooting remains basketball’s EZ Pass, and there are few really good shooters left in the game, especially good shooters coming from New York City,” talent evaluator Tom Konchalski said. “He’s a throwback.”

The evaluations look very promising.

A superb scoring, combo guard that has the always attacking mentality that big time New York guards have. He can score in a variety of ways. Michael is a great 3 point shooter that has a extremely quick release and has great elevation on his jumper that allows him to get a shot off even with a hand in his face. He shoots it off the dribble or coming off screens. He is a shooter that you can run sets for. Michael is a pressure defender that is tough and plays very hard.

It will be a battle to get this kid.

Of course, that is for 2011. There is still a scholarship that could be used now. Would Pitt take a transfer from Florida? Even if it was yet another forward? Allan Chaney is looking for a new home.

The 6-foot-8, 231-pound Chaney arrived in Gainesville highly touted after averaging 26 points and 15 rebounds as the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year his senior season [in Connecticut]. He expected to play facing the basket at small forward and power forward, but he said Donovan played him mostly inside and Chaney felt the coaching staff never focused on his ball-handling skills or outside shooting.

“They talked about all the good things I can do, but they never used me that way,” Chaney said.

…

Thus far, Providence and Virginia Tech “are my two top schools, off the top of my head,” Allan said. At Providence, he said he can see himself playing a similar role as versatile forward Geoff McDermott. He also likes Virginia Tech’s style of play and has a good friend there in guard Malcolm Delaney.

Arthur Chaney said he’s also spoken with Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon and Ohio State’s Thad Matta. Miami, Penn State, Temple, Indiana and Rhode Island have also called. Arthur Chaney said the only major conference to not have a school show interest is the SEC, of which Florida is a member.

“We’re stressing to programs that he prefers to play face to the basket,” said New London coach Craig Parker, who speaks with Chaney regularly. “And if they don’t plan on using him that way, then that’s not the one for him.”

Chaney was a top-100, 4-star recruit. Chaney fancies himself as more of a wing forward, and apparently has some good range with his shot. At 6-8, he would be a tough match-up defensively, but needs some work at that end.

Chaney has decent, but not great athleticism and explosion. If he plays on the perimeter in college, he will have to increase his foot speed and lateral quickness. He has a habit of playing to the level of his competition, which can be good against high-level players, but bad when he opposes players that are not of a comparable skill level.

His energy and motor need work. It seems like something of a longshot that he would come to Pitt. As much as he says he’s willing to play some inside, he does not have the enthusiasm to do that. Reads a bit like Tyrell Biggs, and that never quite worked out well.

Finally, make sure you read through the reviews in Part 1 and Part 2 of players from the Pittsburgh Jam Fest. Isiaha Epps (Pitt verbal for 2010) along with other possible Pitt targets for 2010 and 11 include Tom Droney, Ronald Roberts, Kyrie Irving and Trey Ziegler.

Looks like Pitt got a local kid, early. Before the camps and more offers were coming.

Pitt landed its second football commitment for the class of 2010 today when Penn Hills defensive tackle Aaron Donald called associate head coach Greg Gattuso and told him he wanted to become a Panther.

It is a major recruiting coup for Gattuso, who is primarily in charge of recruiting Western Pennsylvania, and the Panthers as Donald is considered one of the top defensive linemen in the state.

Donald had interest from programs like NC State, Purdue and Michigan State. The offers at this point, though, outside of Pitt were MAC schools and Rutgers. He decided to stay local.

“Pitt’s the best school for me,” Donald said.

Donald is listed as a 4-star by Scout.com, while Rivals.com has no rankings as of yet. ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. has Donald on their ESPNU 150 watchlist.

He hustles around and can make plays when he gets into the backfield. He is a good tackler and the ball seems to have a knack for popping loose when he is around. As a pass rusher he can bull rush some. He is active with his hands and can get to half-a-man to get up-field. He displays solid football instincts. Donald is a good prospect and a bit of a sleeper among the defensive tackles in this class. You wish he was a little bigger, but the kid plays the game well and is active.

Go figure, Wannstedt gets slightly undersized, but active defenisve player. What are the odds.

Looks like a solid pick-up.

So, Barry Rohrssen is mulling an offer to join John Calipari’s staff at Kentucky. It is apparently about the money. He’d take a demotion from HC at Manhattan and leave the area he is from to live in Lexington and recruit NY/NJ with Orlando Antigua. Looks like the money for assistants in college basketball is starting to climb closer and closer to the price tags for college football coordinators.

Here’s a short, look at who is back/best for each Big East team (though, it still includes Flynn from Syracuse). Hate to say it, but WVU could very well be the best team in the Big East in 2010.

You could pay to get yelled at by Bob Huggins at his fantasy camp. Only $3000 and a two shot minimum.

An interview with Big East official Mike Kitts.

Mike Kitts: I don’t like to talk to coaches a lot. Unless I have a play — I call ’em a 50-50 or a ‘tweener.’ (Block-charge, for example.) Where something has to be said. I’ll say, ‘This is the way I saw it. You might have seen it totally different, but this is the way I saw it.’

Those things need to be explained during the game. There are other plays where I’m 100 percent right; I don’t have to explain anything. I like talking to the players. If I get those guys on my side, for the most part, the kids in Division I basketball are phenomenal. They’re good kids. They want to win. You can talk to them.

DD: When you say ‘Get them on my side,’ what do you mean by that?

MK: When there’s a free throw being taken and I’ve got, say Levance Fields next to me, I’ll say, ‘How would you like to referee this game?’ And he’ll say, ‘No, this is not easy, Mr. Kitts.’ Just let them know how difficult the job is. And if you have a problem with a particular kid, you can go to the captain on the team.

DD: And what do you view as a problem?

MK: Well, what we’re seeing a lot of now is the stuff with the pounding the chest, the unsporting acts that they want us to call now. Getting in your face on a dunk. The coach comes back and tells us, ‘The kid’s just excited because he made a nice play.’ But during the course of the game, I have to have composure as an official, the coaches have to have composure and the players have to have composure.

And if they don’t have composure, we have a rule to take care of that. For the most part, I’m probably a guy that leans the other way. I’ll talk to the kid before I tech him up. Unless it’s so blatant there’s nothing else I can do but tech him up.

Testing the NBA Draft waters for juniors is not as easy as it used to be in today’s economy. Starting next year, it’s going to be harder. The NCAA is poised to go with the push from the ACC to have the deadline to pull out set for May 8 — before most NBA teams would have a chance to work out or camp undecided underclassmen.

Count Coach Jamie Dixon among those who does not like the new rule that bans coaches from attending AAU tournaments in April.

College coaches spent the first three days this week on the road, bouncing from one high school to another to make up for missing events over the weekend. Saturday and Sunday were live recruiting days, but with few players home, the weekend was considered a waste.

“I was a big proponent of being able to go out [on the weekend to the events] but I know a lot of coaches were against it for their own reasons,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “I don’t understand how the smaller schools voted against it, too.”

The reason the April evaluation period appealed to smaller schools was because it enabled them to save money and evaluate a large pool of players in one place. That’s something Wojcik said he would do when he was at the Naval Academy.

As usual, the rules end up helping the bigger name coaches and programs.

Recruiting controls and limits on testing the NBA draft waters reminds me of most campaign funding reforms. Ostensibly content neutral and supposed to level things and make them cleaner. Inevitably, they favor the incumbents and entrenched interests that have the name recognition and better access to money.

The next round of the SEC/Big East Invitational has been announced. Once again, no Pitt participation. Not really bothered about not taking part this year since it is Pitt’s rebuilding/reloading year. The headline game will be UConn-Kentucky at Madison Square Garden. They finally got around to start building an official website for it.

That means Pitt will be in next year’s set. Right now, that means the possible opponents from the SEC — assuming that it won’t be any from this year’s or last year’s group — South Carolina, Alabama, Auburn or LSU. Though, it should be noted that Mississippi State was in the 2008 and will be again in 2009.

Presumably, Pitt will go to a SEC-neutral sight since the other 3 teams from the BE that not participated are Rutgers, Seton Hall and ND. Rutgers and Seton Hall seem likely to stay and host in NJ.

No. Jim Boeheim at Syracuse did not try to push out Paul Harris and Eric Devendorf. Why would anyone think that?

“We lost three starters but I’ll take Wesley Johnson over Paul Harris and Andy Rautins over Eric Devendorf,” Boeheim said. “In some ways, Triche will be better for us. He’s really good.”

Boeheim went on to praise Johnson, saying that he’s “the real deal, he’s really, really good.” Boeheim said the confusion with Harris about him declaring for the draft was a miscommunication. When Boeheim said Harris was going to declare for the draft, Harris interpreted that as meaning Boeheim had actually turned in the paperwork. He said that didn’t happen. According to Boeheim, Harris intends to declare for the draft by Sunday’s deadline. Devendorf does as well.

Lovely.

*Well, as long as you weren’t red-shirted. Travon Woodall and Dwight Miller got jack, since they were glued to the bench this year.

The basketball team had their awards banquet and everyone else got some sort of award.

Ten team awards were announced by Dixon. Fields, Young and Blair became the first trio to earn co-Most Valuable Player honors. Sophomore Brad Wanamaker earned the team’s Most Inspirational Player Award, junior Jermaine Dixon was honored with the Best Defensive Player Award and sophomore Gary McGhee earned the Coaches Award for outstanding attitude. Freshman Nasir Robinson was named the team’s Most Improved Player. Freshman Ashton Gibbs was named the team’s Free Throw Shooting leader after converting 80.0 percent and sophomore DeJuan Blair was the team’s top rebounder (12.3 rpg.). Seniors Tyrell Biggs, Fields and Young all received the Captains Award for outstanding leadership. Biggs won the Jaron Brown Pursuit of Academic Excellence Award and redshirt sophomore Gilbert Brown received the team’s Academic Excellence Award for his success in the classroom.

…

TEAM AWARDS

Most Valuable Player:  Levance Fields, DeJuan Blair, Sam Young
Most Improved Player:  Nasir Robinson
Best Defensive Player:  Jermaine Dixon
Captains Award:  Tyrell Biggs, Levance Fields, Sam Young
Team Rebounding Leader:  DeJuan Blair (12.3)
Free Throw Shooting Leader:  Ashton Gibbs (80.0%)
Most Inspirational Player:  Brad Wanamaker
Coaches Award:  Gary McGhee
Academic Excellence Award:  Gilbert Brown
Jaron Brown Pursuit of Academic Excellence Award:  Tyrell Biggs

Maybe the hiring of a licensed NBA agent is the first step.

[Happy] Walters is the founder of Immortal Entertainment of Santa Monica, Calif., which has subsidiaries such as Immortal Records, Immortal Soundtracks and Immortal Film and Television in addition to Immortal Sports.

He is probably best known for launching the music careers of such acts as Korn, Incubus, Rage Against the Machine, Cypress Hill, Kanye West and House of Pain.

Walters only has a few NBA clients, most notably Mickael Pietrus of the Orlando Magic and Shawne Williams of the Dallas Mavericks. Walters also represents players who play overseas and got to know Blair through another Pitt player, Tyrell Biggs, who signed with Walters first and is attempting to earn a professional contract.

Okay, so it isn’t David Faulk.

When Blair announced, one of the soundbytes was that he was “not Chris Taft.”

No, but he sure didn’t inspire the confidence of his decisionmaking or where his head was in this. It seemed more about celebrity. Talking about local marketing deals. Showing up as the coach of the Steelers basketball team.

The end of the article is more encouraging.

Blair will leave next week for the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., to work out with its executive director, David Thorpe. He will be there for most of the month of May as he attempts to get himself into the best shape possible for workouts with teams.

Blair could not be reached for comment, but Sharene Dixon, Blair’s aunt who will be living with him in his new NBA city, said the family chose Walters to represent Blair because they felt Walters was the best fit for Blair.

Dixon, who graduated from Robert Morris University and has a master’s degree in curriculum development and structural design, said she and her husband will be helping Blair adjust to life as a professional basketball player. She will be leaving her teaching job in Virginia to work for her nephew.

I would have been happier if he took off to start training right away (since he was no longer taking classes). It will be curious to read in the coming weeks what he looks like in the workouts. That seems to be the big issue.

Because of his lack of height, Blair has to come in willing to work on getting his body in peak condition and out-working everyone on the boards. If Paul Millsap can thrive, so can Blair.

I do like that his aunt is the one that will be staying with him and helping. Even as an employee of Blair. She is educated, stable and hopefully will make him think beyond just getting paid.

The majority of mock drafts, for whatever they are worth, have lately shown LeSean McCoy slipping behind UConn’s Donald Brown and out of the the first round of the upcoming NFL Draft somewhere into the 2nd. Essentially, the 4th best running back in the draft.

1. Chris Wells, OSU
2. Knowshon Moreno, Georgia
3. Donald Brown, UConn
4. LeSean McCoy, Pitt
5. Shonn Greene, Iowa

Questions have arisen regarding his durability and size to be a feature back. Being sick before the combine and limited in what he could do, combined with a less than stellar pro day at Pitt have done damage to his stock.  At this point, a best case scenario would be a team trades up early in the second round to grab him.

So the question becomes whether he made a mistake by going into the NFL Draft this year? Would he have been better served by playing one more season at Pitt?

• DeMarco Murray, Oklahoma
• Jahvid Best, Cal
• Kendall Hunter, OK St.
• Noel Devine, WVU

These are some of the juniors this year that would have competed with McCoy as one of the top junior RBs in college for 2009. Odds are McCoy would have still been considered the 3d best or so RB in that group, and at risk of slipping. He might have stayed in the first round, but I really doubt he would have been a top-15 pick.

Running backs have lost some of their elite value in the NFL Draft. Teams are more willing to gamble on later round picks and even go with free agent signees. Some of it is that aside from a handful of elite backs, the difference seems smaller than ever. The other factor is the increased use of running back  committees. Not relying on just one back.

I have a hard time saying McCoy has made a mistake. Given the workload, injuries from high school and limited shelf life makes it a situation where going a little sooner is better than later.

Despite his impressive production, entering the draft as a sophomore (three years removed from high school) was still deemed a risk. But so is another year of taking hits with a heavy workload.

“This game, at our position, you’re only allowed a certain amount of hits and that’s it,” he said. “You’ve got to make sure you take enough hits and get out and go to the pros and do something you’ve always wanted to do since you were a little boy.”

Making even premature pre-pre-season predictions of basketball top-25s are no more than rough drafts,  until after the deadline for withdrawing from the NBA draft. At which time, they at least have some basis.

Most exclude Pitt at this point. Not surprising given what Pitt has lost from the starting line-up. As Andy Katz summerized:

The hardest teams to figure out were Pitt and Connecticut. The Panthers will be good, but losing seniors Levance Fields, Sam Young, Tyrell Biggs and now DeJuan Blair makes it hard to predict how good the Panthers will be early in the season. The recruiting was strong, and the rebuilding will begin in earnest. The Huskies are expected to lose Hasheem Thabeet to go along with the departure of seniors A.J. Price, Jeff Adrien and Craig Austrie. Stanley Robinson could declare, too, and stay in the draft. That would leave Kemba Walker and the return of a healthy Jerome Dyson on the perimeter as the most productive returning players. The gaping hole inside made it hard to be sold on the Huskies — yet.

That is not absurd thinking. Putting Pitt in a pre-season top-25 would be highly speculative. Any team that loses its top 3 scorers and minutes played, leading rebounder, leading assist guy would be expected to be on the outside. Pitt has a top-25 recruiting class coming in, but objectively looking at the players remaining as well makes it very speculative as to what kind of jump each will make.

So, I was stunned when I actually saw Pitt in the top-25 of any rankings.

11. Pitt. DeJuan Blair is gone. But the Panthers’ frontcourt remains imposing with Dante Taylor.

That seems a bit high. Just a sign of what kind of respect Pitt and Coach Jamie Dixon has earned with the sustained performance over this decade regardless of the players.

Well, this is not exactly coming to Pitt. Or even Seton Hall. It’s not even Rhode Island. DeAndre Kane, once-upon a time of Schenley High and once a player in which Pitt had interest, is headed to the Thundering Herd of Marshall. Playing time is claimed to be the main issue for him. He’ll get it at Marshall. Academic issues, which have dodged Kane for quite some time, is something of a subtext in his decision in my view.

Over the weekend the AAU Tournaments got underway. In case you were unfamiliar with the NCAA logic, coaches are now banned from attending these April tournaments. Why? So the high school students wouldn’t miss as much school for the spring tournaments. The idea being that if the coaches were not there, the interest in these tournaments would be deadened and not happen. Naturally, it hasn’t worked that way.

Instead, it creates a new revenue stream for the promoters who can now sell video of the events to coaches. It may also lead to a new gray area where coaches may hire (unofficially of course) someone they trust to attend and evaluate players. Even shadier, the unofficial “scout” would be able to make direct contact with potential recruits. Maybe let them know that “Coach X” sends his regards or whatever. I’m not impressed or enthused by the rule.

At the Reebok All-American Game in D.C. over the weekend there were a couple Pitt commits playing. Talib Zanna and Dante Taylor made appearances and stood out in their respective games.

Zanna was part of the undercard.

Talib Zanna has turned himself into a player. I saw Zanna last year at the National High School Hoops Festival, and there was certainly potential there, but the big man hadn’t yet grown into his body completely. The 6-8 forward who plays at local hoops power Bishop McNamara has since signed a letter of intent to suit up in the Big East next season with Pitt. Zanna did most of his damage inside, playing aggressively on the glass and showing a developing post game. At this point he is limited to a drop step and baby hook to the middle, but the potential for more is there. I was most impressed by his ability to handle the ball in transition, which he did on several occasions, leading the break for Team Finish.

Zanna finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds. He was named one of the game MVPs

Then there was Dante Taylor in the prime game.

Taylor went to work in the first half, netting 16 of his game high 26 points before the break in action. There wasn’t a question that he was the most physically imposing and gifted player on the floor during the game, getting his baskets on a variety of thunderous dunks in the lane and the a pair of spot up three’s on the wing. Having only seen video of Taylor in the past, I was most impressed with the big man’s motor. He hustled up the court on seemingly every play (rare in these kinds of games) and overall has good speed for a dude packing 220+ onto his frame. With Pittsburgh losing Sam Young and DeJuan Blair there is no question that Taylor will be starting from day one when he arrives on campus and this performance indicates the rook will handle himself just fine in the Big East.

Taylor also shared in MVP honors in the game. Taylor shot clutch free throws at the end of the game to clinch it for his team — very promising.

Pitt’s 2010 verbal, Isiah Epps, was in Pittsburgh for the Jam Fest. He does not lack for confidence in his game and has a vision for his future.

Epps can’t wait to take the court at Pitt — even if one of his goals is not to stay a Panther for long.

“I want to make them No. 1 in the nation,” Epps said. “I want to be their leading scorer, lead them in assists, just make them good in everything. I want to be one and done, too. I want to go straight to the NBA after a year.”

There is an instinctive quesy feeling about any kid already thinking NBA. The fact is, most top basketball players envision themselves in the NBA sooner rather than later. That’s where their dream is. The pros. So, hopefully his game is really that good.