Not sure why, but both papers ran a story on Brandin Knight and Carl Krauser’s relationship.

“Carl truly is almost like a brother to me. My daughter calls him uncle. His son is my godson. Our relationship is a lot more extensive than the basketball stuff. There are a lot of times that we deal with things personally.”

Dixon marvels at the similarity between the two, even though Krauser’s emotion is felt more than it was with Knight.

“You always wondered how the relationship was going to work out with two guys that are so competitive,” Dixon said. “But both guys wanted to win so bad that they knew it was the right thing.”

Dixon laughed recalling the time Knight argued with him when Dixon decided to redshirt Krauser in his freshman season.

“That’s how much he wanted Carl to play and it showed how much he wanted to win,” Dixon said.

Tomorrow, with Knight possibly looking on, Krauser may play with increased passion.

“Brandin and I have spent quite a bit of time together since we’ve gotten to know each other,” Krauser said. “We both came from the same kind of background. We understand what it’s like to be the only ones out there.”

Asked to tell what he really thinks of Knight, Krauser wasted no time spilling his answer.

“I think he’s the best point guard ever to play here at Pitt,” Krauser said. “That’s my man.”

That might make for a fun debate in the off-season: over best point guard in Pitt history — Krauser, Knight or Miller.

I found this interesting as well,

“I can remember when we were recruiting Carl and people would say Brandin is there and you don’t want to go there,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “People wondered how it would work. You wondered how their relationship was going to work out.

“Their relationship has meant so much to our program. They’ve learned from each other. With Brandin, I don’t know if I’ve ever been around a smarter player. And with Carl, I don’t know if I’ve ever been around a tougher player.”

Knight credits Krauser with making him a complete player. When Knight was named Big East Player of the Year in 2002, Krauser, a pugnacious freshman at the time, was one of the biggest reasons. It was Krauser who guarded Knight every day in practice, pushing him to be a better player.

“Competing against him every day in practice meant a lot to me,” said Knight, who is Pitt’s all-time leader in assists. “There was nobody in the league who was better than Carl even then. Carl is a competitor. For me to face other guys in games … it was just like practice.”

See, I had really questioned past assertions by Krauser about that. I was wrong.

Mostly unrelated, except as another “human interest” type story is a semi-retired college professor who loves college basketball.

Dr. Chris Shinkman is serious about his hobby. What many people do for a living, Shinkman does for sheer passion for the game.

Shinkman sees more than 100 games a year, culminating in the Final Four for the past 28 years.

“I’ve been following basketball my whole career,” said Shinkman, who calls himself a semi-retired adjunct professor at Virginia. “I’ve been a lot of places and I’ve met a lot of great people. It’s just something I love to do.”

He was in Beckley Thursday to see Mountain State University in the Mountain State Coal Classic at the Raleigh County Armory.

He saw American vs. Navy Wednesday night and will be in Philadelphia for Temple-Maryland Saturday.
…
Shinkman, who lives in Bethesda, Md., said he has been a basketball fan his entire life and will travel to see teams play. But living near the nation’s capital affords him the opportunity to see teams from the Big East (Georgetown), ACC (Maryland), Colonial (George Mason) and the Patriot League (American) right on his doorstep.

He keeps a notebook when he sees a game.

“Just some notes to remind me what I liked and who I saw,” Shinkman said.

He’s seen John Beilein’s WVU squad play a couple times and came away impressed.

“I’ve seen them at the (WVU) Coliseum and I’ve seen them in Pittsburgh,” said Shinkman, who holds a Ph.D. from Pitt. “I’ve admired John Beilein ever since he was at Richmond. Everybody knows he’s a great coach. His players have individual talent, but he has created a team. For him to blend (Jo) Herber, (Mike) Gansey, (Kevin) Pittsnogle and his son (Pat Beilein), all of whom are very different, into a cohesive team is impressive.”

[Emphasis added.]

The story doesn’t indicate in what, but it would appear his doctorate is in Philosophy. Which just makes it that much more interesting to me, for whatever reason.