Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Junior center Aaron Gray will be back for his senior season at Pitt. Gray had until 5 p.m. today to decide whether to return to the university or remain in the NBA draft.

He faxed a letter to the NBA offices in New York today to make his decision official.

Gray had been projected as a first-round pick in the draft, but he did not receive any guarantees from NBA teams that he would be their first round pick.

Expect Pitt to be a pre-season pick to headline the Big East. More later.

UPDATE (6:15): Forget later for the moment. Here’s the press release from Pitt.

“I am extremely excited that Aaron will be returning to the court for us next year, but I am even more excited that he will be representing the University of Pittsburgh,” Pitt Head Coach Jamie Dixon said. “He embodies everything you want a student-athlete to stand for. While his progress has been substantial over the last three years, I believe his improvement in the coming season will be even more dramatic. From the information we gathered from NBA people, the consensus was that Aaron would have been a first round pick in this year’s draft or next year’s draft. Either way, he will have a long NBA career. Along with his parents, Mike and Sandy, Aaron has always made decisions for the right reasons and this is just another example.”

“In discussing my options the last couple of weeks with my family and Coach Dixon, I feel that it is in my best interest to return to Pitt for my senior season,” Gray said. “My options were to play my senior year and graduate from the University of Pittsburgh or play in the NBA. This decision will allow me to achieve both goals. I’m looking forward to continuing the success that we’ve established at Pitt and finishing my career with fellow seniors Levon Kendall, Antonio Graves and Doyle Hudson.”

Whoo-Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!