And it is time for a Steven Adams update.

The best team in New Zealand national team — Tall Blacks — wanted him for their trip to China and Europe. They had him for tryouts. Even though, they knew it was doubtful that he would be permitted to take the trip.

Adams, brother of Olympic shot put champion Valerie, would be nigh on an automatic pick because he’s the only genuine piece of tall timber in contention along with Breakers and Waikato Pistons standout Alex Pledger. After Adams had a promising debut NBL season with the Saints, the national coaches were keen to begin his introduction to the international game.

US scouts have predicted a potential NBA future for him and he was snapped up by highly credentialed Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon last year.

But Vucinic confirmed there were doubts around the Scots College youngster who is being groomed for the 2012 entry class for the University of Pittsburgh.

“There are some issues with him around his availability for the programme, with school and other things,” Vucinic said yesterday. “We’re trying to work through that, but for whatever reasons, if he’s not available he still becomes a big part of our plans for the future.”

It’s understood that Adams’ minders, including Saints assistant coach Kenny McFadden, have told the Tall Blacks coaching staff his schoolwork must come first as he seeks to fulfil eligibility criteria ahead of his American college entry.

And sure enough he was left off the final roster.

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Okay, before calling it a night, one more verbal to put in the books. Say hello to Marchez Coates out of Maryland. For those of you worried that with the verbal from Voytik you would lose a reason to angst over stars and competing offers from MAC schools, Coates can reaffirm your angst.

He’s listed as a 2-to 3-star recruit. He camped at Pitt in June, and impressed while there to pick up his offer. He also received instructions at the camp from Darrelle Revis.

His highlight reel suggests that his future might be at safety, because there seemed to be a lot more hitting than making plays on the ball.

In case you had doubts.

So, yeah, that happened.

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Trying to get full confirmation, but I’m seeing Tweets that Chad Voytik has given Pitt a verbal.

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Confirmed.

Pitt landed its most high-profile recruit from the Class of 2012 when four-star quarterback Chad Voytik of Cleveland (Tenn.) High School gave Panthers coaches his verbal commitment, Voytik’s father Dr. Gary Voytik said this morning.

Whoo-hoo!

Seems reasonable enough.

Pitt coach Todd Graham said today redshirt freshman quarterback Anthony Gonzalez will be suspended for the first two games of the season against Buffalo and Maine for violation of team rules.

Gonzalez, 20, was cited earlier this year in his hometown of Bethlehem on charges of possessing a small amount of marijuana and fake identification, and underage drinking.

Gonzalez will be permitted to practice with the team when training camp opens Aug. 8 …

While participating in preseason camp, Gonzalez will be subject to “internal accountability,” Graham said.

“A championship program has to be built on accountability and discipline, on and off the field,” Graham said. “We know Anthony will learn from this experience and be better for it moving forward.”

I have no problem with this suspension. I’ve said before that I don’t consider this a huge offense — except for the timing.

Otherwise, the article confirms that Brandon Sacco has left Pitt — reasons not given.

Big hat-tip to Cardiac Hill for finding this one first. Pitt has added a QB to the roster with less than two weeks before camp begins. A kid heading the JUCO route will instead be a preferred walk-on at Pitt.

“The whole time I had been dead set on attending Tyler [Junior College],” Anderson said Wednesday. “Coach (Todd) Dodge gave me a call, and said they really needed a quarterback.

“He just asked me up for a visit to see how things would go, and I just fell in love with the place.”

The good news, he’s a winner. Led his team to a 16-0 season in his senior year and won the Texas Class 5A Division I State Championship.

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Chad Voytik is probably going to commit to Pitt at some point. That seems to be the consensus. Pitt is leading for his services, and he is down to Vanderbilt and Pitt at this point.

“It’s Pitt and Vandy,” Voytik said. “I’m down to those two schools for the most part. I really like Pitt right now. They’re probably the leader. But Vandy’s close behind.”

New Panthers coach Todd Graham has not been afraid to expand the program’s recruiting to grab quality prospects such as Voytik. On the quarterback’s end, the school has plenty of things going for it as he looks at the positives and negatives of each option.

“It’s just the fit, the coaching staff and the kind of offense they run,” he said. “They opportunity (to play early) is the main factor. I’ve been there twice, and I loved it when I was up there.”

In-state program Vanderbilt has built some momentum on the recruiting trail with a string of quality commitments recently, and that is certainly something working in the school’s favor.

“They’re getting some great recruits,” Voytik said. “They’ve got a bunch of Tennessee kids like (running back Brian) Kimbrow. That’s a good program, I feel like they’re on the rise. It may be a year or two, but I feel like they’re going to turn things around and it’s a good school.”

Based on all indications however, it looks like the Tennessee native will head to the northeast to play his college ball.

Voytik lives in Cleveland, Tennessee, though, it would seem he does have some family in the Pittsburgh area.

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Ever since Levance Fields graduated, the concern coming into any season has been who will be the point guard. Pitt hasn’t had a true point guard since. Woodall was thought to be the guy once upon a time. Then Epps. Heck, John Johnson hasn’t even taken part in team practices yet, and most have written him off as a point guard for Pitt.

I made this point at the end of last week, there just aren’t a lot of good, pure point guards in college right now. If there was, Ashton Gibbs wouldn’t be a lock to help run the point for Team USA in the upcoming World University Games.

Coach Jamie Dixon doesn’t deny that the issue of point guard is up in the air coming into the season.

Jamie Dixon will bring in arguably the most heralded recruit in his 11 years at Pitt — Khem Birch, a 6-8 shot-blocker from Canada and a McDonald’s All-American. That will bolster an already-loaded frontcourt that includes another former McDonald’s All-American in 6-9 junior Dante Taylor, as well as promising 6-9 sophomore Talib Zanna, who missed the final seven games last season with a broken thumb.

The biggest question will be at point guard, where Dixon will have to find a suitable replacement for the graduated Brad Wannamaker. Travon Woodall, a 5-11 junior, has come off the bench at that position in the past, and senior Ashton Gibbs has also spent time there, but there is no clear incumbent for the position. “Last year we had things in place. We knew where we stood,” Dixon said. “This year some things have to play out.”

For all his regular-season success at Pitt, Dixon has still not had that breakthrough run to the Final Four. The Panthers’ second-round loss to Butler might be the most memorable since it ended with that odd foul-and-free-throw sequence. A lot of coaches decline to watch video of such wrenching losses, but Dixon told me he did watch that game to learn what went wrong. “You learn by watching wins and losses,” he said. Dixon also said that game no more painful than any of the other postseason losses his team has suffered. “The more you win, the bigger the loss,” Dixon told me. “We’ll never be happy just to make the tournament. I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.”

Coach Dixon’s refusal to complain about the bitter losses. To try and put them in perspective and, (at least publicly) remain even-keeled about it both increases my appreciation of him and enrages me.

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Congratulations to Dom DeCicco and Henry Hynoski. Now that the NFL Lockout is finished, NFL teams are permitted to sign undrafted free agents. Today is the first day that players can officially sign

DeCicco will get a chance with the Chicago Bears.

“I knew my time would eventually come,” he said, pointing out that waiting for the lockout to end was difficult.

“The only (thing) I can compare it to is when you play a bad game and you want that next week to come so bad so you can prove yourself.”

DeCicco, who played on one PIAA champion and two WPIAL title winners at Thomas Jefferson, said he had calls from the Steelers, Bills, Bears and Saints on Monday. He chose the Bears because they brought him to Chicago for a pre-draft visit and he developed a relationship with linebackers coach Bob Babich of Aliquippa and scout Rex Hogan.

“It made the most sense, even though they weren’t offering the most money,” he said.

Hynoski will take a shot with the New Jersey Giants — after a little debate.

Apparently Iowa has this thing for football called “Color Games.” Given the color scheme of Iowa, I thought it might be some sort of bizarro alternate color unis or something else.

No. It’s just games that they announce that the fans should all wear one of the two colors. One game in black, one game in gold and one where the fans wear black or gold depending on the section they are sitting.

Iowa has announced which games are color games. The Pitt-Iowa meeting on September 17 is one of them. In a very nice way they honor and show respect to Pitt by making that “color game” the one a Pitt color.

Be Bold, Wear Gold

Iowa vs. Pittsburgh (Sept. 17)

The Hawkeyes will entertain the Pitt Panthers of the Big East Conference in their second home game of the 2011 season. The game will also be Iowa’s second non-conference game against a Bowl Championship Series team.

You just never can underestimate that mid-western friendliness. That’s the way to make a visiting team feel welcome.

A couple verbals for the football team over the weekend. Twin brothers Chris and Demitrius Davis.

Chris Davis (5-9, 185 pounds) chose the Panthers over offers from Arkansas, Baylor, Boise State, Cincinnati, Purdue, Oregon State, Iowa, UCLA and West Virginia.

Demitrious Davis (5-10, 183) had many of the same offers as his brother and also had an offer from Oregon.

Both players are projected to be slot receivers in Graham’s offense.

Both are really speedy players on the field. The ESPN.com profiles on both (Insider subs) emphasize two things: how fast they are and that they are not tall.

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Manny Diaz, he of the multiple tasings, has officially transferred. He’s heading close to home with Stony Brook.

“We’re excited to get a premier player like Fernando,” said Stony Brook coach Chuck Priore. “It’s always a goal of ours to recruit quality local talent to give Stony Brook as much of a local flair as possible.”

As you would expect the Sea Wolves press release has no mention of why he is no longer at Pitt.

Diaz recently had his charges reduced to minor, summary offenses which gave him the chance to get that fresh start. Hopefully he can make it in 1-AA in the Big South conference.

Technically, Ashton Gibbs has to tryout and make the squad to be part of Team USA for the World University Games. It was conceivable that the player that ended up being a key part of the U-19 gold-winning team of 2009, and one of the best players in the Big East might not make the team. The competition could be the factor.

I trained really hard for (the NBA Draft), but I think it was a good decision (to stay),” Gibbs said. “I get to play with Nasir (Robinson) and Travon (Woodall), two guys I came in with. I want to get my degree. And, I think we’re going to be a good team this year.”

And, he may play overseas after all. At the end of July, Gibbs will attend the camp for Team USA’s entry in the World University Games. His play last season (first-team all-Big East, 49 percent from 3-point range and 16.8 points per game) combined with his prior international experience (he and coach Jamie Dixon helped lead the Americans to gold in the under-19 World Championships in New Zealand) make Gibbs a favorite for the team.

In his mind, he’s a perfect fit.

“There are a lot of other good players there, but I don’t pay attention to the list,” Gibbs said. “I do the best I can and try to make a difference on the defensive end.”

Since Gibbs didn’t offer, some of the other 21 players are Xavier’s Tu Holloway, Notre Dame’s Tim Abromaitis, Missouri’s Kim English and Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor. The camp commences on July 29, with first cuts on July 31 and team announcement on Aug. 8, when the Americans leave for China.

Yeah. Well Tu Holloway has already backed off from being part of the team.

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Yes, I’m well aware that this is a big recruiting weekend for Pitt football. I hope/expect a few commits to be made by Monday or so.

That said, July recruiting is really about basketball. All the tournaments. The players making announcements. Kids not just for the upcoming class but beyond making noise and getting noticed.

It is presumed that Pitt is looking to bring in a guard to this 2012 class to replace senior Ashton Gibbs. That and the fact that Pitt already has a verbal from the New Zealand big man Steve Adams. There are exceptions to this. For example, Pitt has pursued Amile Jefferson who is a power forward. He is also a top-20 player in the 2012 class. (And before anyone jumps in to correct me, yes I know that he is likely to transition to small forward given his 6-7 or 6-8 size, but he is classified as a power forward in recruiting rankings.)

A rough look at the the roster for 2012 right now shows 4 front court players (Birch, Gilbert, Taylor and Zanna). The back court has 4 players (Epps, J. Johnson, Woodall and Wright). Then there are 3 wing players who are the guard/forward type (D. Johnson, Moore and Patterson). Obviously, this presumes no transfers or early pro declarations — so that can completely change needs or players that Pitt is willing to take.

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It is 45 days to the first game of the 2011 season. A little more than two week’s ’til a good friend’s bachelor party training camp opens. Less than two weeks to Big East Media Day — and hey, you can watch the event on your computer.

In the meantime, news regarding Pitt football is a little sparse.

Kevin Harper talks the art of kicking a football with his (and technically mine) local paper.

“Right about now,” he said, when asked at what point he finally became 100 percent confident as a kicker.

After a redshirt season and two more behind Dan Hutchins, Harper is now the Panthers’ kicker.

“It’s been a long process,” he said. “You’re always looking for consistency and the right mechanics. That’s the key.”

Don’t forget the mindset, a trait Harper said is also critical.

“When you see guys miss an extra point, a lot of that is the snap and the hold, but a lot of that is probably nerves,” Harper said. “That’s what separates the great one from the good ones.”

The story includes videos of him kicking a 65-yarder on the field (and hitting the crossbar on a 70-yard attempt). He is wearing Pitt gear in the pictures and video — sort of. It’s the Nike Pro Combat stuff, so…

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