Pitt received a verbal (via Big East Basketball Report) from Austin Wallace.
Austin Wallace knew what he wanted. First off, the 6-9 power forward from LaSalle wanted to go straight to college, not to prep school like some colleges wanted him to. He wanted a campus out of the city, but not too far. And most of all, Wallace wanted a team that had players he was comfortable with.
Wallace, it turns out, wanted Pittsburgh.
Saturday night, Wallace called Panthers head coach Jamie Dixon and gave him a verbal commitment.
“They told me to come with my toughness and they would help me get to another level,” Wallace said. “They said they would make me a better player. I was comfortable there. I didn’t want to go to a school because of a head coach or a coach, because what if he leaves? I wanted a school where I liked the players and the school.
“I wanted Pittsburgh. They had one scholarship left and I didn’t want to wait and have to go to a second choice.”
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Louisville had shown some interest in Wallace early in the summer, but wanted him to go to prep school. Wallace, a B student who is on track for freshman eligibility, did not want to wait. Other schools – Florida Atlantic, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, Marquette and Purdue – wanted him right away. The difference came when Wallace visited Pitt last weekend.
Most indications had him choosing between Pitt and Florida Atlantic (where former ND & UNC Coach Matt Doherty is now coaching).
Wallace appears to be something of a project, to judge the recruiting sites evaluations. He isn’t highly rated at the moment, but is considered to have a lot of room to develop very quickly. He recently had a growth spurt to go from around 6’7″ to 6’9″. He needs to get stronger, though. He’s still sticklike at around 210 pounds.
Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News has a post on Krauser coming back to Pitt and advice to him if he wants to raise his stock: involve the rest of the team.
Last year, there frequently weren’t many options that seemed more appealing than Krauser trying to get himself a shot. It might change this season. Inside, 7-footer Aaron Gray is a better pure post-up player than predecessor Chris Taft, who relied almost exclusively on his athleticism. Power forward Levon Kendall now is best-known for scoring 40 points in Canada’s upset victory over the U.S. national team at the U-21 World Championship. The team’s wing players still are young, but in their second seasons instead of their first.
If Krauser works to involve them all, his own shooting percentages should increase as the quality of his shot attempts improves. Scouts’ views of his ability to manage a game could be enhanced. He has played for teams that have made three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, two of which reached the Sweet 16. He could make it four in a row, five for the program. That’s not guaranteed, but this is: Krauser will complete his degree requirements in December. That cannot be a bad thing.
Krauser will have to remember that. Shoot-first point guards are a dime-a-dozen in the NBA. The ones that distribute and make the players around them better are the special point guards.
Season tickets went on sale to the general public today. These are tickets with out the blind/priority “donation” requirements.
The Athletic Department also announced a new program for student tickets. The previous system was apparently plagued by problems and glitches that caused a lot of hard feelings amongst students in the way the system (didn’t) functioned. Hopefully this will work better.
