Let me state something right away. This is small potatoes. Mike Haywood isn’t pursuing legal action for his full contract. Insane claims or anything that would get him laughed out of court — like say being reinstated as Pitt head coach or getting paid $7.5 million over 5-years. He is “only” seeking the $300,000 severance from his deal with Pitt Pitt was to pay on his behalf to Miami (OH) for his contract buyout. [Correction made, as Pitt Script clarifies that aspect.]

It will get a lot more attention because, a) it is late-June and still more than a month before camps even open; b) it recalls the chaos and mess of the arrest and subsequent firing; and c) it was made public because Haywood’s people publicized it.

And just when I thought my day couldn’t get any worse, I returned home and decided to check my e-mail only to find a press release sent out by attorneys and a public relation’s person on behalf of Michael Haywood – yeah, THAT Michael Haywood — stating that he has asked the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and other state and federal agencies to look into the university’s firing of him.

Press releases to the media helps to explain why it is all over wires and media outlets.

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This week my boss is off from work, so I am covering her stuff. Logged a 15 hour day, but the promise of sleeping in a bit today was a good carrot. This morning the wife gets me up because her car had a flat. If anyone needs me I’ll be under the table clutching some Scotch.

I’ll get to some second-hand Greentree summer league stuff a bit later. From what I’m reading, the kids look good. But at the same time, this is far different from what they’ll be doing come the fall, and the talent level is much more varied. Encouraging, but it has to be treated a lot like spring practices in football.

Not that it is that relevant, but the USA Basketball U-19 team is off to a poor start. In exhibition games against the Lithuanians U-20 and U-19 teams, the team has lost by 29 and 33 points, and allowed more than 100 points in both games. Exhibition games, yes. Disturbing nonetheless. Some might argue it’s the talent disparity. That this squad lacks the good U-19 talent, because those players didn’t play. At the same time they said similar things about the 2009 squad. Remember the head scratching over Ashton Gibbs being on the squad?

The biggest difference seems to be the coaching.

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A little tidbit at the end of new ESPN Big East blogger, Andrea Adelson’s bit on Zach Brown coming to Pitt.

Behind Graham, there is total inexperience and uncertainty. You have walk-on Desmond Brown and then the four incoming true freshmen: Isaac Bennett, Jeremiah Bryson, Malcolm Crockett and Corey Davis.

At least Brown has some game experience against some excellent competition in the Big Ten. Even with Brown, there is no question the true freshmen are going to have every opportunity to see the field, too, simply because depth is such a problem. Every team needs to go at least three-deep in its backfield to feel comfortable, and to be sure not to totally wear out the starter. Two-back systems have been the answer in many places.

All four freshmen running backs have reported and are on campus. In fact, every freshman is there minus defensive back Jevonte Pitts, who is most likely headed the prep school route.

[Emphasis added.]

Good to know that the freshmen are already getting ready for the upcoming season. Lots of opportunities, I expect.

Jevonte Pitts is the cousion of Lafayette Pitts and was the teammate at Woodland Hills of EJuan Price. Between his academic issues and not exactly a standout on the team, Jevonte’s recruitment was seen mainly through the prism of luring Lafayette and Price to Pitt.

Whether that remains true or not, it looks like Jevonte will have another year to try and get himself in a position to disprove the conventional wisdom.

Morning all. A week plus off for me to recharge the batteries a bit. Mounds of stuff piled up.  Have to say that the downtime from posting for me was surprisingly needed. A break that helps remind me that this should be fun to do — not a grind. A very big thanks to the boys of both the Incline Blog and Fighting Wannstaches for minding the place while I was doing other things. Judging by the volume of comments, I guess they stirred things up in this little sandbox. Don’t forget to check these guys out on their home blogs.

Also, thanks to Silver Panther in NYC for getting his Summer School series going. Judging by the number of posts in the draft queue, you can expect more of this in the coming weeks.

Lets jump back into it. The long (well, maybe a week or so) rumored transfer of Zach Brown from Wisconsin to Pitt for his final year of eligibility finally took place. Brown played three seasons — with diminishing opportunities — took a redshirt and is set to graduate by August. Under NCAA regulations, he can transfer to another school and begin taking graduate level classes if the school to which he is transferring offers a program not offered at his present school.

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Welcome to Pitt Basketball Summer School. A look at individual Panther players and what they need to do to get better — and by extension make Pitt a better team for the 2011-12 season. Brought to you by SilverPanther in NYC.

Intro:
Today we look at 2010-11 First Team All-Big East senior guard Ashton Gibbs, the Panther’s leading scorer for the past two years. Did you know he practices shooting a lot? Also, he’s a snazzy dresser.

What he gave us last year:
Well to begin with, 522 points or about 17 per game. He shot 47% from the field and 49% from beyond the arc. 89% at the line. I’ve heard people call him a 1-trick pony in an almost pejorative sense, but his 1-trick happens to be the ability to shoot accurately from anywhere on the court. Ashton Gibbs is just a flat-out great shooter. He has no preference for a particular spot, can shoot off a pick, flat-footed, or stop and pop. I just don’t recall Jason Mathews having the ability to shoot like this. There were games when Ashton was quiet, when he was off, and when he was just completely marked. But in Pitt’s 28 wins, he was usually a key factor- and often THE factor.

While not a flashy ballhandler, he managed to be a deft one, capable of bringing the ball up the court and pass it off to Wanamaker in Pitt’s slightly unconventional 1-2 guard setup. Occasionally Pitt did run into some problems when teams brought hard or even nominal pressure on Gibbs all the way up the court. He would handle it without turning the ball over, but the offense lost time on the shot clock, and thus, the ability to run more screens or set-up shots. Still, Ashton is typically of steady and deliberate hands. He rarely made a mistake pass or took an ill-advised shot. He’s a shooter, not a gunner. And he rarely forces an issue. Last year he showed more athletic ability than in the past by mostly getting craftier through the use of stutter steps, pump fakes, and occasional lateral slides. He’s not far behind Sam Young’s pantomime ball fake, except that Ashton uses it to get the defender off his feet and then throws himself into it for a shooting foul- whereas Young used it to get by a defender.

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Welcome to Pitt Basketball Summer School. A look at individual Panther players and what they need to do to get better — and by extension make Pitt a better team for the 2011-12 season. Brought to you by SilverPanther in NYC.

Intro:
In our first installment, we take a look at Travon Woodall, the redshirt junior guard. He’s an upperclassman now and going into his 4th year in the program. Will he be the next tough NYC-area point guard to be the primary driver of Pitt’s engine? Or will he be a role player, a catalyst, and a supporting player in a backcourt by committee?

What he gave us last year:
Travon and Dante Taylor were the first two off the bench in 2010-’11. Travon came in to play point guard and usually Ashton Gibbs moved to shooting guard or Gibbs rested and someone else played on the wing. As a pure PG and playing about 22 minutes/ game, Travon tried his best to play the role of distributor and offensive “tempo catalyst”. He was second on the team in assists and assists/game behind Brad Wanamaker. In the later half of the Big East season, he started for an injured Gibbs and played well in solid wins on the road at WVU and Villanova, and a home blowout vs. South Florida. He also started and struggled a little bit against St. John’s at MSG, but managed to hit two big shots including a gritty late 3-pointer that ALMOST would have been the game winner. I was surprised to discover that his 2.3 assists to turnover percentage was good enough for 4th best in the guard-centric (recently anyway) Big East Conference. But I didn’t necessarily need quantitative figures to verify Travon’s poor shooting- both inside and behind the arc. He threw up a lot of bricks and seemed to go through some dreadful stretches. He finished at 36% from the field and 29% from 3pt range. Defensively, he ripped away 26 steals- 2nd best on the team behind Wanamaker’s 49.

Coming off his uneven redshirt Freshman year, he seemed to play a little more consistently and under control. While earlier in his career he would rush and force things when inserted into the game, sometimes seemingly disrupting order, he’s managed to mostly be a positive influence on tempo. He seems to have a knack for hitting important shots late in the game. And he is fearless, although not exceptionally skilled, in transition.

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It has been 7 days since it was announced that Pitt and Penn State will renew their rivalry for 2 years in 2016 and 2017.  We’ve had 7 days to ponder the arrogance of Penn State AD Tim Curley’s comments on 93.7 The Fan and 7 days to discuss the reasons the series won’t last longer than 2 seasons.  We’ve heard Pitt needs Penn State to fill Heinz Field, Penn State needs a true rival, Penn State can’t do home-home series because it is in a tight “financial” situation (which doesn’t happen if you promote something other than Women’s Volleyball as your #2 sport), Pitt isn’t a worthy opponent for Penn State, JoePa refuses to play Pitt, along with many others tall tales.  Fellow babysitters, The Incline Blog Staff, even their take on this the other day right here at Pitt Blather.

But that is not why we are here today.  Today, we’ll look beyond these issues and examine the finer details surrounding the rivalry since it last took place on September 16, 2000. (more…)

Officially Official:

Before I get to this brief post I wanted to say thank you to Chas for an opportunity to blog on his site.  Hopefully he knew what he was getting into…

Over the weekend it was learned that 4-star LB Ejuan Price from Woodland Hills had asked to be released from his scholarship at Ohio State.  Immediately everyone started talking about whether or not Price would be coming home to Pitt.

It appears to be unofficially official that Price is coming home..  Today the Post-Gazette reported that Woodland Hills coach George Novak stated Pitt has a scholarship for Price and had this to say:

“Pitt is where he wants to go,” Novak said. “Hopefully, he can get all the paper work together and get enrolled in summer classes there.”

Well that’s encouraging,  how can I help get him enrolled in summer classes?  Actually, he can take my summer classes for me if it helps get him here sooner.  For anyone who doesn’t know about Price  here is a quick blurb about the 4-star line backer from Scout.com:

“Price is a devastating tackler who has a very quick first step and closes fast on the ball carrier. He sheds blocks and plays well in traffic. Price moves well laterally tracking down ball carriers sideline to sideline.”

The only negative they have to list about him is his size, specifically only being 5’11” or 6′ tall.  That’s the only negative?  I’ll take it.  I was going to insert a bad photoshop of Bob Barker punching Happy Gilmore with Jim Tressel’s head in this post but really, should you kick someone when they’re down?

Hopefully there will be something officially official soon regarding Price and Pitt, and when it is released hopefully it will be good news.  Only 74 more days till kickoff.  These 74 days “must go faster.”

Small update to the original article as I just saw this tweet:

It’s safe to say we’ve never had over 150 comments on one article over at The Incline (shameless plug), let alone that many in less than 48 hours. Quite impressive. Nothing to see here Nitters, move along to your true rivals’ (OSU, MSU) blogs. Ok,  I’m done mentioning PSU. This post is all about Pitt.

Over the weekend, Coach Graham’s staff received 3 more commitments. Of course, if you read the message boards, you’ll find out that Graham is a great college coach, but a terrible recruiter. These posters know this before one kick of the ball in the 2011 season. Let’s just give Graham and his staff some time to coach the players, get into homes and meet parents, and most importantly, coach a football game for the Panthers before we jump to conclusions. Welcome to Oakland:

• Trenton Coles, WR, Clairton HS
• William Parks, DB, Germantown, PA
• Brandyn Cook, OL, St. Xavier (Cincinnati, OH)

Among them, some nice offers, some okay ones, some questionable. Only time will tell. Give Graham a chance and let’s see what happens before being negative.  I don’t follow the recruiting as closely as I used to because I’ve seen so many highly rated guys bust and lesser known players flourish under certain coaches and systems. If you know these kids and want to discuss the matter of “stars”, have at in the comments, hopefully you’ll be Nitter-free.

Later this week I’ll be doing a little piece on the attitude and mindset of Pitt fans, and what I’d like to see change. It should be a fun read. Hail to Pitt!

First off, I want to thank Chas for the opportunity to lower the credibility of his blog by allowing us to post here. My name’s Pat, I’m one of the writers over at The Incline, a relatively new blog covering all the teams in the Burgh, even the Pirates! Stop on over and say hi. It truly is an honor to post here on Pitt Blather, especially since we only started our blog about two months ago.

But enough with the infomercial and ass kissing, lets get back to Pitt and PSU renewing their series. A few days have passed since the announcement, and I don’t know about you guys, but I’m still pretty pumped. The media has been all over the story, and new Pitt head coach Tom Bradley shared a few thoughts on the rivalry. Wait, what? He isn’t our coach? Has someone told WTAE? Anyway, his thoughts:

“People want us in Philadelphia and New York and over here and over there, and it’s a push-pull for (athletic director Tim Curley), and that’s obviously a tough job.”

Easy there, Tommy boy. Those Nitters think pretty highly of themselves, don’t they? Why would they schedule Pitt, a longtime rival in the same state, when they could play Temple in Philly? It must be really hard being so popular.

And this is what drives me nuts about Penn State fans. They love constantly reminding you of their great team, school, and coach. Unfortunately, their team loses big games and can’t beat Iowa, the school is in a cow pasture, and the coach, well he’s old. Most fans and writers assumed that Paterno was hands-off during the negotiations, considering the games are 5 years away, and he’s like really old. But that hasn’t stopped some Penn State fans/bloggers from grasping at straws to protect their coach and question the media’s coverage:

“By all accounts, Paterno has been as active in the last few months as he’s been in a long time. He’s been walking up to miles per day, and he’s been Skyping with high school recruits. There’s little reason to believe he holds any more or less power than he has at any point in the last decade while the series has been on hold.”

Miles a day. Miles!

“That leaves the Pittsburgh media in a no-win situation. They can’t argue, at least logically, that Tim Curley and Penn State the athletic department overpowered Paterno to make the series happen, nor can they argue Paterno has been standing in the way now that the series has been announced under his watch. Of course, that won’t stop them from trying, but their credibility is gone.”

Ok, I’ll try and logically argue that Curley overpowered Paterno (although I don’t know how many people are saying the AD “overpowered” him). The conversation goes like this:

Tim: Joe do you plan on coaching until 2016?

Joe: Probably not.

Tim: Ok, we’re going to play Pitt then.

Joe: Have you seen my glasses?

I’d say that’s both logical and probable.

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(Hi, hello and welcome to my best impersonation of Chas)

And so the Jim Tressel fallout at Ohio State begins.  News broke last night that former Woodland Hills linebacker Ejuan Price has requested a release from his letter of intent with the university.

Woodland Hills High School linebacker Ejuan Price has seen the turmoil surrounding the Ohio State football program and decided he doesn’t want to play for the Buckeyes.

Price, who signed with Ohio State in February, has requested a release from his letter of intent with the Buckeyes. Woodland Hills coach George Novak said Price requested the release a month ago.

Price, a 4* inside linebacker, had received seven scholarship offers this past year, six of them from B1G Ten and BIG EAST schools.  His final two choices came down to Ohio State and Pitt, which he decided between with a best-of-5 coin flip.

Tied at two, the fifth flip was heads [Ohio State].

“I wanted to make sure my decision was solid,” said Price, a linebacker, who signed Wednesday with Ohio State after much trepidation and a couple of last-minute calls to coaches Jim Tressel and Todd Graham.

I’m not quite sure how flipping a coin is equated with making a solid decision, but Pitt lost that battle.  Will this open him back up for a chance to come back to Pittsburgh with former teammate Lafayette Pitts?  We should find out soon.

[Woodland Hills coach George] Novak said Ohio State is supposed to let Price know Friday whether it will release him.

…

“He has some ideas, but if he gets his release I’m not sure where he would go,” Novak said.

The Post-Gazette article also incorrectly stated that Iowa was his other top choice with Ohio State.  Many believe that the PG was actually referencing New Jersey linebacker Quinton Alston Jr., who de-committed from Pitt after Mike Haywood’s arrest and committed to the Hawkeyes.

I’m heading out of town for a few days. Going to Chicago for a graduation (quarter system) and stretching it out for a bit of a family vacation.

That means I’m actually taking a planned break from posting. Not to worry, though, I’ve made arrangements for some neighbors to come by and make sure everything is doing fine. The good folks at the Fighting Wannstaches and The Incline Blog will be posting here. In addition SilverPanther in NYC has a special series of posts over the coming week that I’m very excited to see.

Heck, odds are you will barely notice I was gone.

If you are like me, you really haven’t given too much thought to Father’s Day too much thought. Then it is upon you, and you realize that you didn’t get anything. Time to scramble and figure out that last minute gift.

This is my suggestion if your dad likes sports and to think a little (or you get it for yourself): Scorecasting by Tobias Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim. Full disclosure, I was sent a free copy of the book to review.

Scorecasting is a kind of Freakonomics for sports. Tobias Moskowitz is a behavioral economist at the University of Chicago, and L. Jon Wertheim is a veteran Sports Illustrated writer. They put together a good read exploring some of the myths in sports and applied economic principles to explain and understand them. .

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The depth chart for Pitt at tailback has been expected to be Ray Graham and one of four freshmen coming in August. Not exactly the most inspiring, but since Pitt has had two true freshman tailbacks emerge as impact starters previously, it hasn’t been the most pressing concern to most Pitt fans.

Yet it seems Pitt might end up with some experienced help, to back up Graham.

Wisconsin running back Zach Brown visited Pittsburgh the past three days and is considering transferring there, sources told ESPN’s Joe Schad.

…

Brown redshirted last season and is expected to be eligible to play in the fall after finishing his history degree. Brown ran for 568 yards as a freshman, but saw his playing time diminish as a sophomore and junior.

He decided to redshirt last year, with the Badgers boasting a group of backs that included Montee Ball, James White and John Clay.

Clay left school early, but Brown never jumped up the depth chart this spring.

Brown would make a useful back-up and give a chance to redshirt more of the incoming freshmen running backs.

Well, I think we all knew this was going to be the major post topic of the day.

I want to thank Pitt and Penn State for making this announcement now. It was getting down to minimum content time here at PittBlather. I’m talking bottom of the barrel, tangentially related, minimal stuff.

I mean, sure the actual game is some 1914 days away or so, but it is still exciting news. All over the Pennsylvania papers and picked up nationally on the wires.

There are and will be plenty of people to try and minimize this. To say it is not the same as it once was. It no longer has the national significance from the 70s and 80s. Fine. They are right. Both teams are in different conferences. It’s a non-con game that will be played in mid-September. We have no idea what either team will look like in 5 years. All of that is true. But it still matters. It is still a big deal. It still has a lot of people excited.

If Pitt announced season tickets were available for the 2016 season right now, I’d be putting my money down. My parents are both Penn State grads. Shortly after the news broke my dad called to ask whether I’m getting an extra ticket for the game so he can go.

On to the link round-up.

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