Apparently.

A few weeks ago, Penn State was spinning that Joe Paterno had missed significant alumni functions because of a bad reaction to some medicine.

West Virginia has determined that this is the way to go to explain Bob Huggins and 7 broken ribs in Vegas.

West Virginia University basketball Coach Bob Huggins had taken medication on an empty stomach before he was injured in a fall in his hotel room last week, Athletic Director Oliver Luck said Thursday.

“He said he kind of stood up quickly and apparently had a bit of lightheadedness and tripped – and I don’t know if he tripped, per se – but he fell down and hit the edge of a table,” said Luck, who has had frequent contact with Huggins since his coach was hurt one week ago in Las Vegas.

Medicine? Medicine for what?

(more…)

While the Pitt football team is making the Mouse Monopoly rounds, the basketball team should be in Ireland. For many it is their first time out of the United States, and while they are looking forward to seeing some of the sights, they also just want to play some basketball.

“I’m anxious to play,” Wanamaker said. “I can’t wait. Guys are learning their roles. We’re becoming better as a team, bonding together. Guys are getting their confidence and getting ready for the season. I think it will help a lot.

“We know what we have to improve on, what and what not to do. I think it will be a big plus for us.”

And Coach Jamie Dixon isn’t doing this trip just because it is fun for the kids. It’s an opportunity.

“We’re going over there more for the freshmen,” Dixon said. “More and more teams will be doing it with the new freshman rule.”

Until this year, teams could take foreign competition tours, but incoming freshmen could not participate. As a result, teams did not always take advantage of the NCAA rules that allow a foreign trip once every four years.

Dixon predicts that will change now.

…

“We got a lot out of it already with the practices,” Dixon said. “For returning guys it was good. But even more so for the new guys and for Lamar [Patterson] and Talib [Zanna], the guys who redshirted.

“You can see their growth. You’ll have the experience of the travel. You gain some things doing things together.”

While these games are exhibitions, the players aren’t taking them lightly. They know that some of the competition is more than merely a local team.

Pitt will face Australia’s oldest and most respected basketball club, the Melbourne Tigers, on Aug. 6 in Belfast. The Tigers, which feature former Syracuse guard Eric Devendorf and former Utah center Luke Nevill, have claimed four Australian NBL championships. The Panthers will take on the English National Team the following day on Aug. 7 in Belfast and the Irish National Team two times in Dublin.

…

“We’re going out there playing against grown men, and we all want to show how much stronger we got as a team, especially in the Big East,” Woodall said. “The rules are kind of different, they’re a lot different, but we’ve just got to get acclimated much faster. It gives us a chance to build chemistry and play against more physical talent.”

There will also be adjustments to some of the international rules.

The ball has a slightly different feel. The three-second lane is wider. The shot clock is shorter (24 seconds). There are no one-and-one free throws. There are four 10-minute quarters instead of two 20-minute halves. Only the coach can call timeout, and the three-point line is three inches closer.

To simulate the foreign game, Dixon employed a 20-second clock during 5-on-5 drills in practice.

“It’s basketball,” Brown said. “There are just a few different changes. We’ll be all right.”

The one rule that has the Pitt players excited is the lack of goaltending, offensive or defensive, once the ball hits the rim. Any player can touch the ball in the cylinder, which could lead to some thunderous put-backs.

“I like that rule,” Woodall said. “We’ve got a bunch of athletic guys who will definitely do that.”

I kind of worry about some bad habits developing with the goaltending stuff, but I think that is counterbalanced with an encouragement to be more aggressive on rebounding and shot-blocking.

Of course, lost in all the talk of what this means for Pitt and the Pitt players is the aegis under which Pitt is traveling and playing in Ireland.

When he speaks of the 10-second rule, Ringland is referring to basketball programs that bring Protestant and Catholic kids together through a non-profit organization called PeacePlayers International. The Pitt basketball team will get a close-up look at the program during a 12-day, six-game exhibition tour that is sure to leave a lasting impression. The Panthers take off today and are scheduled to visit Belfast next weekend.

Steelers president emeritus Dan Rooney, the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, and his wife, Patricia, helped organize Pitt’s trip. So did the Panthers’ director of basketball operations, Brian Regan, who has witnessed first-hand the power of PeacePlayers.

“These are kids who could be sitting together at the negotiating table someday,” Regan says.

Basketball is a non-sectarian sport in Ireland. It is neutral. The miracle happens almost the instant the PeacePlayer participants — usually ages 9 to 15 — are set loose on the court and immerse themselves in a swirl of chatter of errant shots.

Ten seconds later, the whistle blows, and the kid standing next to you might be from the other side of the wall. But you’re 11 years old, so why would you care?

“The idea is to throw them together before they realize they’re actually together,” Ringland says. “They mix naturally. The divisions disappear.”

Today is Pitt’s turn for the ESPN blitz in Bristol, CT. Coach Wannstedt, Dion Lewis and Greg Romeus.

“This is one of the most anticipated seasons for the University of Pittsburgh in recent history,” Pitt spokesman E.J. Borghetti said. “In addition to having extremely high team aspirations, we believe we have two of the elite talents in all of college football in Dion Lewis and Greg Romeus. And I can’t think of a better place to promote that than the worldwide leader in sports.”

And on Tuesday, it is Big East Media Day up in Newport, Rhode Island. In addition to Coach Wannstedt, Lewis and Romeus, Jason Pinkston, Jonathan Baldwin and Dom DeCicco will be representing Pitt.

Closing fast on the start of training camp and the start of the 2010 season.

Maybe it says something about recruiting and the whole spectacle it creates, but I am already very happy about Terrell Chestnut becoming a Pitt Panther.

Chestnut’s local paper shot some shaky video of his announcement — unfortunately they used a non-embeddable video player so you have to go to the story. The other annoying thing is that they broke it up into two parts, but set both to auto start.

Still, they aren’t particularly long, and worth the annoyance. The first clip is of Chestnut’s high school coach speaking glowingly of his character, intelligence and leadership. He also calls it the biggest signing at the school since he has been the coach.

The second clip is Chestnut making the announcement, or as he puts it “one of the best moments of my life.” Chestnut’s announcement is almost entirely about thanking family, teachers, coaches, teammates, and everyone who has helped him. There is nothing about the process. Nothing about himself and making the choices. Then at the end, simply putting a Pitt hat on his head and saying he is going to the University of Pittsburgh.

No multiple hats. No self-aggrandizement. Just taking the opportunity to acknowledge and thank the people that helped him, before announcing his choice.

I don’t begrudge the kids who make it a spectacle. I don’t particularly like it, but I don’t begrudge it. They are young. For the great majority, they will never again receive that kind of attention and interest. Once they get to college all power shifts away from them.

Yet, watching the video of Terrell Chestnut make his decision, fills me with pride that he chose Pitt.

Once again, Bryan at Pitt Script was all over a verbal commit. So be sure to check his stuff out. The kid from Pottsgrove picked Pitt.

“I loved the campus, the city, and what the school has to offer education-wise,” the 6-foot, 180-pound senior said. “It’s a great fit for me.”

On Wednesday, Pittsburgh received an oral commitment from Jameel Poteat, a running back from Harrisburg’s Bishop McDevitt. The 5-11, 195-pound speedster, rushed 269 times for 1,664 yards and 27 touchdowns last season.

Chestnut, a four-year starter projected to be either a cornerback or safety in college, chose Pittsburgh over runner-up Rutgers, West Virginia, and Penn State. “Pitt edged Rutgers out at the end,” he said.

Terrell Chestnut could have been influenced by plenty of factors on his high school team, but was not.

“Terrell has got the whole package,” Pottsgrove coach Rich Pennypacker said. “Pitt is getting a gem. Besides being a terrific football player, he’s an outstanding kid and student. He’s well respected. It’s a proud day for us.”

Last season, Chestnut, clocked at 4.5 seconds in the 40-yard dash, rushed for nearly 1,000 yards and scored 19 TDs as the Falcons went 14-1, claimed the Pioneer Athletic Conference championship, and won the program’s first PIAA District 1 Class AAA title.

Chestnut, of Pottstown, was not swayed by the fact that Pennypacker went to West Virginia and several of the team’s assistant coaches had ties to Penn State. “We didn’t put any pressure on him,” Pennypacker joked.

Chestnut’s high school coach wasn’t kidding about Chestnut being an outstanding student. His intent is to major in pre-med at Pitt.

Credit on the recruiting goes to Tight Ends Coach Brian Angelichio.

With Chestnut and Poteat yesterday, there is little doubt that Pitt has the best recruiting class in the Big East at this point.

Chestnut is the 12th verbal for Pitt’s 2011 class, and the 4th 4-star.

Mike Vukovcan, though, does make an interesting list of other 4- and 5-star recruits in Coach Wannstedt’s tenure. I think he’s a little hard or premature on some, but it is a good reminder of the vagaries of recruiting and rankings.

Still, getting a kid like Chestnut coming to Pitt is nothing but a positive. Regardless of what happens on the football field.

Bloodlines, pipelines, whatever it is Jameel Poteat is ready to embrace the challenges of being a top recruit following others who came before.

Numerous college coaches told Bishop McDevitt High School (Harrisburg) standout Jameel Poteat that, if he chose Pitt, he always would play in the shadow of former McDevitt and Panthers star LeSean McCoy. They also told him he should come to their school to carve out his own legacy.

Not only did such a sales pitch not work, it had the opposite effect on Poteat, who made a verbal commitment Wednesday to the Panthers in large part because he wants to carry on the Panthers’ running-back tradition.

Poteat is close to McCoy.

McCoy and Poteat are very close. The pair go way back, starting from the time McCoy was at McDevitt and came to see Poteat play in a Pony League game.

The relationship has grown since then. McCoy is both a mentor and big brother to him. Every time McCoy stops back to Harrisburg, he offers advice to Poteat about on and off the field matters, including how to conduct himself and what goes into making a pro.

“I speak to Shady every day,” Poteat told MaxPreps last November. “I saw him one time signing autographs here and I told him it was crazy. He told me if I keep doing what I’ve been doing, stay focused, and keep working hard, the same thing could happen to me. We started talking about recruiting. He’s helped me running the ball, telling me I have to realize that every carry is not a touchdown. He tells me to get what you can get and be patient.”

Then there is the fact that Bishop-McDevitt has seen several of its best players head to Pitt since Coach Wannstedt came back to Pitt.

Not only did the school produce McCoy and former cornerback Aaron Berry but also incoming freshman receiver Salath Williams. Tight ends coach Brian Angelichio recruited Poteat, and Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt has made McDevitt a priority on the recruiting trail.

“I’m starting to take heat from other schools. They’re saying, ‘Your top kids are going to Pitt,'” Weachter said. “Honestly, they’re outworking people. The six allowable visits, they’re here every time. Whether we have a top kid or not, Dave’s here every time.

“Shady had nothing to do with it. He said, ‘I picked my school. You’ve got to do what’s best for you.’ Every time I turn around, Pitt is here and our kids are really comfortable with the Pitt coaching staff and football program.”

Not to mention his cousin Hank Poteat was a standout at Pitt, when there was little else to enjoy with Pitt football in the 90s. Then there is  family, development and atmosphere aspects at the Pitt program.

I asked him what was your number one reason for picking Pitt. Poteat said” It was close to home, his family wanted him to go there, he had a great relationship with coach Walker the running back coach, great history with running backs, and it feels like home. Poteat also said it’s a big relief to to get this big moment out of the way so he can be a kid again and focus on playing football for McD.”

I am honestly amazed that some SEC school hasn’t thrown a boatload of money at Coach Walker. His track record at developing backs at Pitt and before that Syracuse is so outstanding. I’m not complaining that he is still at Pitt, I’m just surprised Pitt still has his services.

I don’t think anyone really expected anything other than this for the initial preliminary hearing for Jabaal Sheard’s adventure in Barkleyism.

A preliminary hearing for suspended Pitt defensive end Jabaal Sheard has been postponed to Aug. 4.

Sheard’s attorney, William Difinderfer, asked for a postponement while he and the prosecutors attempt to negotiate a plea agreement, prosecutors said.

By the time the plea agreement is reached, you can expect the felony charge (aggravated assault) to be reduced to some sort of misdemeanor level.

Training camp opens August 7, so you know that Sheard’s attorney is pushing to get a resolution by the August 4 date.

If charges are withdrawn, defense attorney William Difenderfer said he will recommend his client be reinstated to the team in time for training camp next week.

…

Sheard’s lawyer said the hearing was postponed until the court could determine the cost of Parker’s medical bills and lost wages, which Sheard is expected to pay.

I can see Sheard reinstated for camp. Unless the plea agreement gets things down to a mere disorderly conduct charge, though, I can’t see how Sheard isn’t suspended for at least one game. Unlike DGunn’s incident last year, this wasn’t a relatively victimless incident. There have to be some consequences.

I don’t want to say outstanding yet, but it sure looks like it is going to be Coach Wannstedt’s finest recruiting class from the perspective of talent across the board.

Jameel Poteat made the call  — credit to Bryan at PittScript for being all over the news — and of course it was Pitt.

It is now expected that Terrell Chestnut will make Pitt his choice when he announces tomorrow. Kind of nice when things are going as expected with recruits.

With the NCAA enforcement paying attention to social media as a way to find out who could be violating rules, Greg Romeus’ name is somewhere in the midst of the burgeoning agent scandal.

Greg Romeus attended San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore’s South Beach party in May, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told NFL Insider Aaron Wilson.

Romeus is from nearby Coral Springs, Fla., so it’s plausible that the NFL draft prospect could have arranged for his own transportation to the pool party at Gore’s residence.

We’re told that Romeus is prepared for any inquiries about how he came to be at the party.

The story notes that reports state that Romeus has denied to Pitt officials and coaches that he was even in Florida. Hopefully this is true.

If the NCAA starts sniffing around him, he had better be honest about things even if he attended. Last year Dez Bryant for Texas Tech Oklahoma St. had his career ended because of lying to investigators. Not for actually meeting with Deon Sanders. It’s always the cover-up that makes things worse.

Romeus is poised to be a first round pick regardless of this. It will, however, effect a lot of other things.

Romeus is one of the seniors on the squad and a face of Pitt football this year.

The Big East exposure continues on Friday as Pittsburgh hits the Bristol campus.

Coach Dave Wannstedt, running back Dion Lewis and defensive end Greg Romeus will appear in spots on the “Mike and Mike Show,” “College Football Live,” “The Scott Van Pelt Show” and ESPNews.

Romeus has also been named to the watchlist for the Allstate Insurance and American Football Coaches Association’s Good Works Team.

Some of you have noticed the new Yardbarker menu at the top of the site. Obviously this is something new.

I’ve linked Pitt Blather into the Yardbarker eco system. The site and content is still entirely mine. They have no editorial say in the site. Yardbarker gets to syndicates the content, gets credit for my traffic and can sell ad space on my site — of which I get a cut.

I am no longer writing/editing at FanHouse for AOL. Things had been changing there for the last year, and I no longer felt that I was a part of the direction the site was going. I’m proud of being part of it from the beginning, and there are  people there who I respect and like, but it was time for me to leave.

Leaving, though, means some lost income and the end of a gig. I got the FanHouse opportunity through Pitt Blather, so it makes sense to put my work here to good use and focus once more.

Being on network like Yardbarker (hopefully) will provide more promotion for the site and other opportunities. Yardbarker seemed like the best network to join. In addition to the size and the affiliation with FoxSports and MSN, one of my former editors at FanHouse is now a part of Yardbarker. So there is some level of familiarity and trust.

Yardbarker does not have access any of your e-mail addresses, personal info and what not. The only differences you should expect to see are some ads and that menu at the top.

The only other change right now is that I converted my netbook to Linux based Ubnutu. I’m struggling to get the wireless connection back, so if anyone has any experience or knowledge they can share, that would be great.

A couple things of note.

Pitt appears to have only one shot at winning a game in the Big East/SEC Invitational.

The future of the Big East-SEC Invitational is on “life support” and the event is unlikely to continue after this season, a college basketball industry source told FanHouse.

The Big East-SEC Invitational began in 2007. The format has the leagues playing four games each season with a pair of double-headers split between a Big East and SEC venue.

Multiple sources told FanHouse the future of the Big East-SEC Invitational is bleak because the conferences are not committed to making it work and they don’t feel like they gain much by making it a priority.

Well it was a joint effort at stupidity by the Big East and SEC, so I can’t totally blame this on the Big East. Only 4 games on two nights in semi-neutral settings. Guaranteeing little interest and poor turnout. Rather than make it a real series for home and away match-ups, they would rather give-up.

Outside of Kentucky, the rest of the SEC only cares about basketball insofar as their fans have  a sense of entitlement to have good teams because of the money the conference rakes in and something to do between the end of bowl season and spring practices (see also, Longhorns, Texas).

The Big East, though, does deserve a fair amount of blame. The Big East had the ACC challenge going before the Big 10/11/12 got into it. The Big East coaches at the time, though, constantly fought and whined about playing a tough non-con game on the road every other year and worked to end it. That makes it two conference challenges that the Big East will have played and now killed.

It’s not that the ACC-Big Ten challenge is that great, but it is compressed, easily followed and well publicized by both conferences. The Pac-10/Big 12 mess has everyone playing but so spread out that it is more of an agreement for teams to get good non-con games than any sort of challenge.

Over at Rush the Court, they have a (subjective) list of the top-20 Big East players for the upcoming season.  Ashton Gibbs is on the list at #7 and Brad Wanamaker checks in at #13. That’s it for Pitt players.

At first I had the knee-jerk reaction: typical underrating of the individual talent at Pitt even as the squad is expected to compete for the top spot. Except it isn’t. There’s a fair amount of respect for Pitt players.

With 16 teams in the conference, individual talent is spread. The list contains players from 12 of the programs: Georgetown (3), Villanova (3), Syracuse (2), Marquette (2), Seton Hall (2), Pitt (2), ND, UConn, WVU, USF, St. John’s and Cinci.

No Louisville players on the list. Guys like McGhee, Oriakhi (UConn), Siva (Louisville), Jardine (‘Cuse), Famous (USF), and Stokes (‘Nova) couldn’t get there. There may be a bit of guard bias in the list but it gives you an idea of just how deep and tough it is to have a 16-team conference.

On Thursday Terrell Chestnut will make his verbal commitment public.

The 6-foot, 180-pound senior, a quarterback and defensive back, has narrowed his list of choices to Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, West Virginia and South Carolina. He has more than 30 scholarship offers.

Last season, Chestnut, who has started since freshman year and is projected to play safety or cornerback in college, rushed for nearly 1,000 yards and scored 19 touchdowns as the Falcons went 14-1, claimed the Pioneer Athletic Conference championship and won the program’s first PIAA District 1 Class AAA title.

Rivals.com ranks Chestnut, an Inquirer first-team all-Southeastern Pennsylvania selection last year, as the state’s sixth best senior recruit.

If he chooses Pitt, Chestnut may play with standout running back Jameel Poteat. Pittsburgh reportedly has the inside track on landing the standout running back from Harrisburg’s Bishop McDevitt. Poteat, a 5-11, 195-pound senior, is set to announce his decision Wednesday. He rushed for 1,664 yards and 24 TDs last season.

Chestnut has been rumored to be leaning Pitt’s way in recent weeks. Rutgers and Penn State had been after him for a while, though Scout.com’s profile page says he has no interest in PSU. Getting a 4-star defensive back would obviously be excellent regardless of who else was recruiting him.

As for Poteat, announcing on Wednesday is a bit of a move-up on his original time-frame.

His timetable will fall anywhere from August to sometime in mid-September before he makes a choice.

“I have to put something out there, because some schools have backed off because everyone thought I was going to Pitt,” said Poteat, who plans on playing in the Army All-American game and the Big 33 game. “That’s not true. I know there’s a great tradition of McDevitt players going to Pitt, and Pitt’s a great school. But right now, everything is still up in the air. I’m not saying I’m not going to Pitt. I may still go to Pitt. But right now, I’m undecided. That’s a fact. Undecided.”

Poteat said he’ll take three official visits and he put a personal deadline on his choice to within the first two or three games of the upcoming McDevitt season.

Lots of programs like him and have given him offers. Obviously Pitt has always been considered something of a favorite with his family ties to Pitt. Not to mention recent ties to Bishop-McDevitt.

Here’s a bit on the 4-star back (Insider subs).

Has a sneaky extra gear but lacks great breakaway burst. Bottom line, Poteat may not be a game-breaker but he’s one of the top every-down backs in this class who can carry the load as well as pick up the blitz and catch the ball out of the backfield. College ready.

Can’t help but wonder if he is moving it because Savon Huggins out of New Jersey  — another 4-star tailback and the top recruit in Jersey — seems to be looking more towards Pitt. He has taken an official and unofficial visit to Pitt this spring and summer.

Has it really been more than 5 years since Huggins was pulled over and video taped drunk?

So, he’s in Vegas for AAU tournaments/recruiting and people are supposed to believe this?

Drew Payne, vice chair of WVU’s Board of Governors and a friend of Huggins and members of his family, spoke with Larry and said Huggins was injured while he packed and readied to leave for the airport and a flight to another AAU event.

“He’d been to a couple of games Friday and went back to the hotel room and he tripped on something and fell and hit a table going down,” Payne said. “He messed up his ribs and maybe even hit his head a little bit. But it was around 4 o’clock in the afternoon and he had to call his brother for help. He was in pretty bad pain and couldn’t really move.”

In a Vegas hotel room?

Last year it was black eye(s?) from “walking into a door.” In May 2008 he “tripped” getting off of a plane in North Carolina. This year he “tripped on something.”

Uh-huh.

The kicker to me, is that the first concern upon this getting out was to make sure recruits were aware that he didn’t have a hear attack or heart related incident.

I guess it’s better to let the impression remain that the coach is a clumsy drunk rather than one with a heart problem.*

• (*Johnny Majors may or may not concur with this statement.)

/sigh

There is never such a thing as a simple or quick project when it involves plumbing, knocking down drywall and installing drywall.

After going well over budget, extremely well over the planned time, it is still a non-functional bathroom. The plumber comes tomorrow to install the new valves for the shower and to add cut-off valves for the bath/shower (have to love older homes that somehow thought that cut-off valves were an option of excess.

I’ve lost track of the number of extra trips to Home Depot, Lowe’s and the Ace down the street.

For the first time in my relationship/marriage the wife actually made me shave. I wasn’t bothering while working, and had a playoff-beard thing going where I wasn’t going to bother shaving until we had a working bathroom/shower.  She didn’t like it and observed that it wasn’t exactly speeding up the process.

Needless to say I don’t even know what I have missed since Tuesday.

I think the recruitment/commitment of Breon Allen over the weekend caught most of us off guard. Not because we never heard of him, or that he’s a diminutive running back  somewhere around 5-6. It’s that he had no other BCS offers. His only 1-A offer was from Marshall and some 1-AA programs. He also has not actually visited Pitt at this point.

New Linebackers Coach Bernard Clark recruited him.

“I was talking to him last night [Bernard Clark Jr., Pittsburgh’s linebackers coach], and the first thing he said was, ‘Size don’t matter,’ and that blew me away. So I’m committing to Pitt,” Allen said.

“They said they wanted me to play straight-up running back, and that was appealing to me,” he added.

There was some interest by other programs like FIU in him, but as a undersized cornerback.

Here’s a ten minute sequence of Allen’s highlights. In the interest of shorter attention spans, this highlight real is a bit over 4 minutes.

Obviously in college, size of the tailback is less of an issue. Dion Lewis, Jacquizz Rodgers, Noel Devine, etc.

As the ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. report (Insider subs) indicates, he is a versatile athlete.

Allen is a slippery, undersized scatback that could be utilized as a utility offensive weapon and definitely has upside as a return man. He lacks size, power and bulk, but is very quick with great feet and good lateral agility. His stature could lead to him finding a home at cornerback on defense if he cannot hold up as a fulltime running back. Uses vision and patience to stretch runs outside and slip through small cutback creases. Shows the ability to change speeds and burst through the seam. He’s a very jittery through the hole, natural runner who has good body control and balance. Flashes nice stop-start quickness and the sharp cutting ability to make defenders miss.

So along with Lafayette Pitts, Allen could be a factor in special teams for returning kicks and/or punts.

I wonder if Pitt’s struggles in the return game the last year or two has Coach Wannstedt looking a bit harder for a player that can provide more of an impact.