Malcolm Gilbert has had Pitt’s eye for some time. Over this summer, Gilbert had put Pitt at the top of his list. The 6-11 center apparently decided to join Pitt’s already solid recruiting class.

“Just a great fit for me both athletically and academically — Jamie Dixon is a great coach with great experience and he’ll make me a much better player plus Pitt’s consistency of success makes it a great fit,” said Gilbert on why he committed to the Panthers.

The 6-foot-11 center was one of the top remaining post players in the class. He and his family felt the fit and timing was right for a commitment.

“My family is really in favor of the choice and even though the decision was mine it feels good that we’re all on the same page,” Gilbert said. “It takes a little bit of stress off my shoulders and allows me to focus on my senior year goals both with academics and athletics.”

Gilbert is also an outstanding student that had legitimate interest in, and from, Ivy League schools.

Guess we don’t have to worry about whether he can meet the academic qualifications.

Scout.com and ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. have him as a verbal to Pitt. Rivals.com does not yet.

He’s considered the #!6 or 17 center prospect in the 2011 class. Both Scout.com and Rivals.com put him as a 3-star recruit, while ESPN.com is a bit higher on him. The ESPN.com profile is a year out of date (Insider subs), but it sure seems to describe a Coach Dixon project center to a “T.”

August, 2009: Gilbert is a post player whose defense is far ahead of his offense at this stage in his career. He has very long arms and good timing which helps him block and change shots. He is not a very good defender on the perimeter at this stage because he does not have incredibly quick feet. Smaller, quicker posts blow by him, but he makes up for it with his length and good timing. When he catches in the post, he uses the spin move to try and score. He also likes to face up and has huge hands that help him catch good and bad passes. He does a good job of passing out of the double team from the post and likes to go over his left shoulder for his turnaround jump shot in the post.

Pitt beat out Wake Forest, Ohio St., Virginia, Clemson and VT for the big man.

The thing about his verbal that will fuel discussion and speculation is that he is Pitt’s 4th verbal for this class. Pitt only has 3 seniors (Gil Brown, Gary McGhee and Brad Wanamaker). That means renewed speculation on who might be transferring after this season or whether one of the 4 incoming recruits may struggle with academic qualifications.