So the fallout from USC will echo for a bit. Interesting bit, if true.

The university wasted no time searching for a replacement with Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon the top choice followed by former NBA coaches Jeff Van Gundy and Reggie Theus and Southern Mississippi coach Larry Eustachy.

Sources said last week USC started the process of contacting Dixon, a native of the San Fernando Valley and one of the nation’s top young coaches. But the Pitt coach is believed to have a buyout clause worth more than $1 million. Dixon did not return a message Tuesday night.

Only the timing of Floyd’s decision came as a surprise. Sources close to Floyd said USC was prepared to fire him but not until the completion of an NCAA investigation into whether former guard O.J. Mayo received cash and other benefits from his closest advisor, Rodney Guillory, who helped steer Mayo to the Trojans.

So if this information was to be true, they were pursuing the standard back-channel feelers to see about getting Dixon… eventually. If the other part of the story — that USC would fire Floyd after the NCAA investigation was complete — is true, well that end still does not appear to be near.

The NCAA has combined that investigation with the USC football side with Reggie Bush. Both have been dragging for some time and no one is predicting an imminent conclusion any time soon.

In other words, I’m a little hesitent to believe too much of this. Besides look at that list of potential. It’s apparently pipe dreams in Dixon or Jeff Van Gundy. Then it drops all the way down to Reggie Theus or Larry Eustachy. (Larry Eustachy? Really? They want to follow Floyd with another Iowa State coach that found a unique way to destroy his own career and toils down at Southern Miss?)

Give Andy Katz at ESPN.com credit for trying to put the early kibosh on the rumors of Dixon to USC. He was saying nay on that last night on ESPNews and in his story today.

They could make a play for someone like Pitt’s Jamie Dixon. But through sources, Dixon has said he’s not interested in making a move. He is currently vacationing in Hawaii and will be heading to Colorado Springs and then New Zealand for the next four weeks as head coach of the FIBA U-19 USA team.

As I said last night. There is no way Dixon or any quality coach that has a job right now would leave for USC at this point.The U-19 head coaching gig alone is reason enough. He can’t and wouldn’t pull out now. So he would not be able to actually start the job — recruiting, hiring assistants and all the other stuff until nearly August.

Also, this is not Indiana plucking Tom Crean from Marquette while waiting for the NCAA fallout from Kelvin Sampson. USC will not spend that kind of money for a coach that Indiana did. Nor does USC have the tradition or support for basketball.

There is already speculation that USC is acting to sacrifice the basketball coach and program to the NCAA to spare the football. Not many smart coaches in a good spot are going to jump into that mess without a big-ass payday — regardless of family and local ties.

If I’m correct, Dixon will be making somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.6 million dollars at Pitt. Given cost of living increases — housing allowance alone — plus the length of any deal they’d have to give him to come into this mess. Well, we are probably talking somewhere in the region of a 7-year. $21 million contract.

It would have to be something with a lot of money and a lot of security. USC didn’t even break $1 million with Floyd’s old contract (there is some uncertainty as to whether Floyd and USC finished his new contract before the resignation).

The names that actually make some sense if they want to hire now rather than have a 1-year lame-duck interim coach would be out-of-work coaches like Billy Gillispie or even Bob Knight. Or even Dan Monson at Long Beach State (who came and cleaned up Minnesota after Haskins — albeit without winning).

My first impulse would be that USC would just do the interim route, but they might think long and hard about how poorly that went for Cinci after the late firing of Huggins at Cinci. That would probably be the more comparable situation than the rosy-view of how things worked out at Arizona. Cinci had lots to deal with after Huggins was gone from increased NCAA scrutiny, to lots of talent leaving right away, and less money.

So we can expect the rumors and noise, but not much else.

I had the same reaction that Omar had upon the news that Tim Floyd had submitted his resignation. Here come the Jamie Dixon to USC rumors — again.

“As of 1 p.m. today, I am resigning as head basketball coach at the University of Souithern California. I deeply appreciate the opportunity afforded me by the university, as well as the chance to know and work with some of the finest young men in college athletics. Unfortunately, I no longer feel I can offer the level of enthusiasm to my duties that is deserved by the university, my coaching staff, my players, their families, and the supporters of Southern Cal. I always promised my self and my family that if I ever felt I could no longer give my full enthusiasm to a job, that I should leave it to others who could. I intend to contact my coaching staff and my players in coming days and weeks to tell them how much each of them means to me. I wish the best to USC and to my successor.”

Realistically, those rumors will have no truth. Even if, for the sake of argument, that Coach Jamie Dixon was interested/attracted to the USC job when it appeared Floyd was leaving for Arizona in April. The situation has changed. Beyond the potential sanctions looming over USC Athletics, no coach with the reputation and talent that Coach Dixon has earned would leave for a new job in June.

Especially when you consider that Dixon will also be involved in coaching the USA U19 team next month. He just does not have the time to even consider a move.

Right now, USC is screwed. Most likely they will have to go with promoting one of the assistants as interim coach for this coming season. No coach of any quality will go near the job until the NCAA violations are resolved. Couple in the fact that it is the second week of June, and there just aren’t many candidates out there.

Right now USC basketball is a sinkhole, few coaches would touch.

Coach Dixon coached briefly in Hawaii. He met his wife there. I believe her family still lives there. And when he goes back, he can deduct the cost on taxes with a business related appearance.

Pittsburgh men’s basketball coach and former Hawaii assistant Jamie Dixon will be one of the featured coaches today at the Punahou Summer Camp coaches clinic.

The clinic will be held today and Thursday from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Punahou. Dixon is scheduled to appear only at today’s session.

If you are following my Twitter, then you already know that the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) picked up a new sponsor for insoles and socks.

What made me take notice of the absurd press release was the quote from a coach.

“The care, comfort and health of our feet are concerns for coaches and players in all sports, but especially basketball,” said Jamie Dixon, head coach at the University of Pittsburgh. “We need to be proactive in the care and prevention of foot injuries to our players. At the same time, coaches are on their feet for long periods during practices and games and want to be as comfortable as possible.”

I’m just going to assume that when SofSole was preparing the press release they drafted this and then went to the NABC to have them select a coach to credit the quote. Clearly Coach Dixon got the short straw.

Several little things to get out.

A story on incoming freshman Talib Zanna’s journey from Nigeria to the United States. Go figure, it was not an easy thing. Even coming from a well-educated family, Nigeria is a mess and his father passed away this past year.

A nasty mess brewing at the Kiski school where 2010 verbal commit Isiah Epps might prep (unlikely now).

A coach hired to take the basketball program of an Indiana County private school to national prominence sued Monday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, claiming he was forced out for recruiting too many black players.

Anthony Cheatham, 31, of Edgewood claims administrators at The Kiski School told him they would not tolerate fielding an all-black lineup.

“He was told to recruit scholastic, highly talented basketball players,” said Cheatham’s attorney Sam Cordes.

Cheatham was an assistant at Robert Morris and also trains future and present NBA players including Sam Young. Messed up stuff.

I really don’t think Coach Dixon is sweating his annual NCAA Recruiting exam.

“You can’t recruit until you pass it,” Dixon said hours before the Erie Chapter of the Panthers Club’s annual sports banquet at the Kahkwa Club on Tuesday.

With college basketball coaches being able to start summer recruiting next month, passing the test now is a must for them.

“I’ve never failed the test,” said a smiling Dixon, whose team won a school-record 31 games in reaching the Elite Eight last season before losing to Villanova.

Dixon said the coaches have 90 minutes to take the test and must score 80 percent.

It’s an open book test, but the rules are lengthy and not so easy to figure out.

“Open book” being the key aspect.

To help pass the time of the offseason, one of my colleauges at FanHouse has prepared a list of the top-25 college basketball coaches.

He places Jamie Dixon at #17. I only quibble that Dixon should be about one spot higher, because he has overrated Matt Painter of Purdue. Painter is good and may merit being up there in a few years, but not yet does he rank #14.

By the time the Tim Floyd and the USC mess is finished, the Trojan job will be one of the most unattractive spots out there. Thus making the inevitable rumors that will occur after Floyd is fired regarding Dixon just silly. Really, shedding players and recruits at an epic pace. Floyd just seems clueless to his culpability.

“Kansas has two players who would have been NBA lottery picks, Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins, and they are returning to school,” USC Coach Tim Floyd said late Monday night, only hours after hearing about Johnson. “Good for them.

“Our guys get an offer from Islamabad and they’re gone.”

Let’s see. Collins and Aldrich are at Kansas where they have a shot at winning the national championship in 2010. They are on a stable team with a coach that has won and put players in the NBA.

Floyd and USC recruit hoping the glamor and location will get the kids, and the main promise seems to be that they will be able to get a future paycheck for playing basketball. The team has little shot at even contending for the Pac-10 next year.

Then there is that whole NCAA investigation hanging over the program; a coach that nearly bailed for Arizona — after previously telling a recruit that he wouldn’t like it if the recruit looked at other schools after giving a soft verbal; to say nothing of that the kids that want to bail ASAP were the ones the coach recruited and presumably knew what they were looking for.

It is disturbingly stark at the moment. Any story regarding Pitt basketball is filled with puffery and positive vibes. Pitt football stories at this point, well just a little less upbeat.

Trying to get some things caught up.

Coach Dixon gets some more love from his time in NYC.

Dixon wants more. He wants to see Pittsburgh accomplish what Connecticut did. And he believes everything is in place to make that happen.

“The one thing we haven’t done that the elite programs have is win a national championship,” Dixon said Wednesday at Garden, where he was the featured speaker at the Frank McGuire Annual Coaches Seminar. “We’re at the point now where kids like to say they’re being recruited by Pittsburgh.”

According to Scout.com, Pitt ended up with the 14th best recruiting class in the country and 3d best in the Big East behind Villanova and UConn.

Shocking to learn that UConn skimps on academic compliance staff. Pitt has the largest compliance dept in the Big East.

Redshirting freshman Dwight Miller talks to his hometown newspaper in the Bahamas about his first year.

Journal: In terms of your skills, since leaving The Bahamas what areas have you improved mostly?

Miller: I think I have improved on my on the court IQ and I know more about what is gong on during the game and what I need to do to help my team. I have also been working a lot on my outside game because of the system we play at Pitt. It is one based around forwards and I most likely will be playing the four (power forward) that would require me to be able to play inside and outside.

Journal: Do you think you will be in the starting line up this year or would you be willing to come off the bench?

Miller: I feel pretty confident that I would be in the starting line-up, but then nothing is guaranteed. You have to go and work for it. We lost four starters this year, so pretty much that’s four open spots to be filled and you just have to go in there and play hard for the spot.

He’s got a lot of work ahead of him to have a shot at starting. He’s going to get minutes, but starting still seems like a stretch.

Meanwhile, Pitt’s solitary recruit for 2010 might spend a year of prep school fairly close to Pitt.

Epps will be 19 in August and too old to play his senior year in New Jersey. He is seriously considering attending Kiski School, a prep school in Saltsburg near Indiana.

Anthony Cheatham, recently hired as Kiski School’s new basketball coach, said “there is a strong chance” Epps will enroll at Kiski. Cheatham said Epps is expected to visit the school tomorrow, along with Shaquille Thomas, a standout 6-6 junior forward at Mountain State Academy in Beckley, W.Va. Both Epps and Thomas are ranked among the top 100 players in the country for 2010.

Of course the article also says that Kiski doesn’t do scholarships (only financial aid) and costs around 36K for a year. So, that could be a factor.

A little love towards the local Pittsburgh hoops scene on the upswing.

Part of the reason for that is in fact the success of Pitt basketball, which has helped raise the sport’s profile in the city. DeJuan Blair was the team’s first homegrown star in 20 years. And his high school teammate D.J. Kennedy has been a two-year started at St. John’s.

But you’ve probably never heard of another real driving force behind what I hope is a budding hoops renaissance in Pittsburgh: Daryn Freedman, who two years ago brought the venerable Hoop Mountain National Exposure Basketball Camps to town and also began running the Basketball Stars of America AAU program.

Freedman, a disciple of John Calipari’s, spent nine years as a Division 1 Assistant at UMass, University of Memphis, Northeastern and Duquesne, and four years working in the NBA with the New Jersey Nets and Philadelphia 76ers. Now he is back in Pittsburgh running camps and building the city’s grassroots AAU program, which had been seriously lacking. His NCAA experience also provides him with a network of college basketball coaches around the country, giving his players a higher recruiting visibility as well as access to better instruction.

No mention of J.O. Stright and his AAU team. I’m guessing there might be some, uh, friction between them.

And this is why the NCAA rule starting next year that mandates that underclassmen only have until May 8 or so to decide whether they are staying in the NBA Draft or not is all about the coaches and programs, and have nothing to do with the players.

Most NBA teams just are not bringing in the kids for workouts until the first week or so of May. Add in that for underclassmen to keep their eligibility they can’t just take off for workouts in April when classes are still going — it’s one thing to be excused for a basketball game or tournament but no excuses allowed when it is an NBA workout.

Sorry, getting off-topic before even starting. The intent was to get to the circumstances of Sam Young getting injured in his very first NBA team workout.

“It will be OK,” Young said Wednesday. “It’s not going to affect anything, not even a little bit.”

Young, who is preparing for the June 25 NBA Draft, required a brief visit to a Toronto hospital but is expected to return to workouts later this week.

He was hurt while being tested for his vertical leap. He twisted his body as he leapt, and a screw on the vertical-leap pole pierced his arm. Rather than risk tearing any muscle, the Raptors personnel removed the screw from the pole, left it in Young’s arm and took him to the hospital to have it dislodged.

“They didn’t want to rip the screw out of his arm,” said Young’s agent, Lance Young (no relation). “They said to make sure he takes his antibiotics for infection.”

Lance Young said the injury didn’t require any stitches and currently is protected by a small butterfly bandage and medical tape. Young was told to avoid overexerting the arm for about a week.

Young was cool about it but another player there for a workout was less so.

“I didn’t know what to expect and the first thing that happened is a guy got his arm stuck in the thing (measuring device),” Pendergraph said. “I thought, ‘this is going to be a long one.'”

Coach Dixon is also encouraged about any opportunity for Levance Fields.

A lot of people say it’s almost better not to be drafted than to go in the second round. Then you can pick your team and see who has a need,” Dixon, the Naismith National Coach of the Year, said Wednesday.

Keith Glass, Fields’ agent, said several teams, including the Orlando Magic and Chicago Bulls, have expressed interest in having Fields join their summer league teams if he is not drafted.

“There’s been a lot of interest,” Dixon said. “A lot of maneuvering to figure out which teams he’s going to be with, what days, when they’re bringing in guards.”
…
“We want to get him in the best shape that he’s been in,” Glass said. “He’s not been able to be in great shape because of the injuries. Every team in the league loves the way he plays, but their concern has always been his conditioning and the shape that he’s been in.”

“He’s been hurt the last couple of years,” Dixon said. “If he’s not injured, I think he shoots a higher percentage.”

Dixon believes that if Fields can drop some weight and get a little quicker, he could contribute to an NBA franchise. If not, he mentioned that several of his former players — Ronald Ramon, Antonio Graves, Levon Kendall and others — were making a healthy living overseas.

Realistically, Fields is heading for Europe or Israel. Still, at least he is getting enough interest from teams to get a look — or be fodder for the draft prospects.

Coach Dixon was in NYC for a coaching clinic (I guess) which explains this seemingly random tweet. Adam Zagoria has a slew of stuff from Coach Dixon. Ranging from the confirmation of Pitt now being Nike, to the NJ guards expected to be a big factor next year, to Isiah Epps prepping somewhere, the Big East being open for other teams this coming year, holding the open scholarship for someone else for the 2010 recruiting class, to his lack of interest in Arizona.

Dixon said people shouldn’t be surprised that he stayed at Pitt instead of taking the Arizona job, which ultimately went to Sean Miller.

“I think only the people that don’t know our university and don’t understand what we have there [were surprised],” he said. “We have a great place and there’s a sense of loyalty to the kids and the school on my part.”

He added: “Sean’s going to do a really good job there.”

Given Tim Floyd’s days suddenly look numbered, hopefully he means it.

Yep. Him too.

Hopefully he’ll be tweeting updates from New Zealand. The Pitt Athletic department issued a press release on Coach Dixon being the head coach of USA Basketball’s U-19 squad. Dixon in the statement speaks of it being a good for the school and program.

“It is a tremendous honor for the university and our program,” Dixon said. “Working with Coach Painter and Coach Lowery will be an outstanding experience. They are both good friends and have had great success coaching at their respective schools. I’m excited about the tournament, the entire process and the challenge of winning. I want to thank Coach Jim Boeheim, Jerry Colangelo and the Board of Directors, Jim Tooley and Sean Ford, along with the entire USA Basketball organization for this opportunity. I am definitely looking forward to July.”

There’s a good chance that Coach Dixon will get an early start on coaching Dante Taylor who is expected to try out for the squad.

Tryouts for the Under-19 team will be in mid-June in Colorado Springs, Colo. One of the invitees is Taylor, a 6-foot-9 power forward from Fort Washington, Md.

“I think I’m going to go,” said Taylor, who will be among 20 or so players auditioning for 12 roster spots.

Last year, players on the silver medal-winning Under-18 team included point guard Kemba Walker of Connecticut, North Carolina recruits Travis and David Wear and Villanova-bound Dom Cheek.

Dixon has input on the roster, but the selection committee has the final word, according to USA Basketball’s Craig Miller.

There’s a surprising amount of politicking and effort in getting players placed on the squad. So, I’m guessing one of the roster spots will go to a Duke transfer.

Duke is hoping Liberty transfer Seth Curry will be on the U-19 team competing in New Zealand this July so he can get game experience. Curry will sit out next season as a transfer and will likely be the starting lead guard on the 2010-11 Blue Devils.

Let’s see, Duke’s Coach happens to have been the USA Basketball gold medal winning coach last year. He might have some pull with USA Basketball on that.

The person that recommended Coach Dixon take the gig after Bob McKillop pulled out of it was Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim.

The coaching selections were made by the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Committee, chaired by NCAA representative Jim Boeheim (head coach, Syracuse University) and approved by the USA Basketball Board of Directors.

“This is an exceptional young coaching staff,” Boeheim said. “Matt (Painter) has done a great job at Purdue retooling that program and what Chris (Lowery) has done is remarkable. Jamie Dixon has won more games in the Big East Conference than anybody in his first few years of coaching, and there have been a few good coaches in the (Big East) conference. They’re young guys who have had a lot of success and I just think it’s really a tremendous coaching staff.”

Coach Dixon is also looking forward to the opportunity to take a paid trip back to New Zealand.

Dixon will be getting back to his coaching and playing roots in New Zealand. After his college playing career at Texas Christian, Dixon played professionally for two seasons in New Zealand and became somewhat of a star in the country. He averaged 42 points per game in his final season as a pro.

In addition to being a star player in the country, Dixon started his coaching career there. He helped coach boys’ and girls’ high school teams.

“It’s really a beautiful place,” Dixon said. “I have very fond memories of playing there for two years. It was a very good period of growth for me, basketball-wise and culturally. I really wanted to experience New Zealand in every possible way. I didn’t just want to play basketball. I made an effort and took great pride in coaching the little kids and working with the younger players.”

It’s even drumming up interest in New Zealand at Dixon coming back (even if they keep calling it Pittsburgh University).

PEOPLE who want to make it big in basketball don’t exactly have New Zealand in the equation.

But one man who swam against the tide to build his playing career at a humble Centennial Hall gymnasium in Napier has made it big in the coaching arena in the United States.

Not only that, former US Hawk import Jamie Dixon is at the helm of the Stars and Stripes under-19 team to compete in the World Championship to be hosted in Auckland in July.

The 43-year-old Californian is the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh, a role he has filled with aplomb since 2003.

His former coach and current Easy LPG Hawks general manager, Curtis Wooten, tells SportToday the guard, averaging 42 points a game in the National Basketball League (NBL) in the 1989-90 seasons, was a class act.

“His highest score was 63 points against Auckland. He was simply the best total package we ever had, both on and off the court, as a human being,” he says of Dixon who etched his name on the silverware of the most outstanding guard, leading individual scorer, the leading assist and making the All Star Five teams each season. Retired Hawk Willie Burton, a former Palmerston North player then, was in the All Star teams too.

Wooten says of Dixon: “He shot a three well, was competitive, had a great mind and was very instinctive.”

Wooten, who was named the NBL coach in 1989, said he was very coachable and had a magnetic trait for milking fouls off the opposition.

“He had a great cross-over and head fake (the ability of a player to raise their chin up and hoodwink the opponents into thinking he is going to shoot only to continue dribbling).

“We’d be 14-2 points down and he’d come to me and ask, ‘So what do you want me to do now, coach?’. And I’d say, ‘Just start shooting, man’,” Wooten reminisces with a laugh.

Apparently it was a bit of a run-and-gun team with little defense. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that concept and Coach Dixon.

It may be the rubber chicken circuit, as opposed to sitting down with media to discuss the team for 2009, but Coach Dixon is not in the mood to sell Pitt short for next year.

So Dixon, whose team went 31-5 last season and reached the Elite Eight for the first time, isn’t about to throw in the towel after losing senior point guard Levance Fields, forwards Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs and sophomore center DeJuan Blair.

“Every year we’ve lost two or three starters,”?Dixon said before speaking at Sunnehanna Country Club on Tuesday night. “This year we lost three or four. Every year it’s a challenge. Our players may have made it look a little easier than it is.”

Dixon is hoping that his returning players, along with an influx of young talent, can make the transition even easier this time. That 20-win season in 2003-04 was Dixon’s worst, which says something about how far the Pitt program has come in the past decade and even more about how it has been able to replace quality players year after year.

Dixon is also coming out and saying that the front court will be starting freshmen. Not even pretending otherwise. He’s also putting expectations squarely on Gilbert Brown’s shoulders.

“We’re going to be playing freshmen on the front line,”?Dixon admitted. “We haven’t done that as often, but our perimeter is very experienced. That’s something that you like to have.”

Guard Jermaine Dixon returns after starting all 36 games as a junior transfer. Brad Wanamaker and Ashton Gibbs also saw quality minutes in the backcourt.

But the key to the how Pitt responds next season could be junior Gilbert Brown. The 6-foot-6 swingman has shown flashes of his extraordinary athleticism, but he hasn’t been able to consistently produce in 72 career games.

“He’s got to get healthy,”?Coach Dixon said. “He’s had three years of being injured throughout. You can only accomplish those things when you’re healthy and able to play throughout, not in bits and pieces or short stretches.”

The Pitt coach reiterated that message to Brown a few weeks ago at the team’s year-end banquet. But it didnt quite have the impact Dixon had hoped it would.

“He turned his ankle after the banquet, when I talked to him about not getting hurt anymore,”?Coach Dixon said. “He turned it the next night. He’s had every injury known to man in his three years. We’re looking forward to him healthy.”

I would question laying this on Brown, except that Brown will be a redshirt junior. Coach Dixon has had him around for 3 years, and has shown in his time that he has figured out what works to motivate each player. Whether it is privately talking and trusting the players (Fields, Ramon, Graves), trying to keep humble/motivate (Blair) or letting people know that he’s going to be the “man” (Young).

He must know the psyche of Brown at this point. Clearly he believes that Gilbert Brown needs to publicly hear that he will be the man on this team. Probably as much to reassure him that the young frontcourt won’t be the focus or other wing players coming in are not going to supplant him.

Dixon is also proud of the players leaving after this season, and the fact that they are all going to play professionally somewhere.

“Sam, there’s a real buzz about him because of how he played at the end of the year and in the NCAA?tournament,”?Dixon said. “There’s a lot of excitement about him, no question about it. And DeJuan, the same thing.”

Dixon said seniors Levance Fields, who was an AP?All-America honorable-mention pick, and Tyrell Biggs also have the opportunity to play professionally.

“All four will be in NBA?camps,”?Dixon said. “All will have opportunities to play at the next level. That’s what our guys – they come to graduate, get better players, grow as people and play in the NBA. We’ve put those guys in a position, with their hard work, to have the opportunity to reach that dream.”

Blair has been down in Florida at the IMG Academy working out and getting ready for the draft. Going to IMG for training, also means more chance to be hyped. As the IMG blog does light interview pieces on each player down there.

On his infamous shoulder toss of Hasheem Thabeet… I see the picture almost every day. It was funny to me because of how he landed. The way he flipped over was incredible. I didn’t think it happened until I saw the replay. I think I would have broken his arm if he would’ve kept standing straight over me.

On Barack Obama and March Madness… It was great when Barack said my name and Dwyane Wade picked us to win on SportsCenter. I’m going to get that video of Barack. But it didn’t help us. You know how people say their life passes before their eyes, well, the whole season flashed before my eyes when (Villanova’s) Scottie Reynolds hit that shot. We didn’t fulfill our dreams. I  guess in a way it was a successful season and it wasn’t.

Sam Young has really not been heard from since the season ended. He’s been getting ready for the draft and workouts are getting underway. Unfortunately, Sam Young was scratched from a workout in Toronto.

The team hoped to work out six players yesterday in advance of the NBA draft, but the two headliners, Terrence Williams of Louisville and Sam Young of Pittsburgh were held back until today, because Young was injured while taking a physical.

What kind of physical do they give in Canada?

When Coach Dixon took over as head coach at Pitt, there was one thing that he was completely unprepared to handle — the public aspect. Going out on the rubber chicken circuit. Getting out there and meeting alum. He spoke in cliches, coachspeak and monotones. Generally, just looking very uncomfortable. He and then football coach Walt Harris formed a somnambulistic speaking duo that could not be matched.

Time and simply being more comfortable with the public aspect has changed much. Now Coach Dixon is hitting every little spot on the circuit. Going to Clearfield County as the featured speaker.

Then helping to keep the Johnstown Panther Club’s banquet going.

A year ago, the initial banquet resulted in a surprisingly high turnout, but economic fears seemed to be taking a toll on this year’s affair. There was talk within the club about cancelling the banquet.

That all changed when Pitt confirmed that Dixon would appear at the banquet. Advertising dollars started rolling in, along with the RSVPs required to attend the banquet. Now, the numbers are about on par with last year.

“He’s not only a hell of a basketball coach, but he’s also apparently recession-proof,” said Shawn Piatek, the former Tribune-Democrat staff member who is the club’s president.

Dixon isn’t the only member of the Pitt athletics staff making the trip east to Johnstown, but he is the top drawing card.

And Coach Dixon is being optimistic about the next season.

“Every year we lose great players and every year we have new guys step up,” he said at Thursday’s 26th annual Mon Valley Panther Club Chapter Banquet at The Willow Room.

“Don’t forget our two redshirt freshmen Dwight Miller and Travon Woodall,” he said. “We have a very good group of players coming in. “We’re excited and looking forward to next year.”

Dixon shared the spotlight with Pitt Athletic Director Steve Pederson and Bob Junko, the school’s director of football relations and program enhancement.

“I hope you really enjoyed this year because a lot of people were here when we didn’t have this kind of success,” said Pederson.

He was referring to the football and two basketball teams.

“We were one of only four colleges in the country to go to a bowl game and both Sweet 16s,” he said. “Oklahoma, Connecticut and Michigan State were the others.

“I believe we have many more great years to come,” he went on. “Our students are graduating at a higher rate and I’m excited about the way they handle themselves on and off the field. We want to win with good people and not at all costs.”

Dixon heads down to Tampa next week as one of the “name” coaches attending the Dick Vitale Gala. Tickets still available at only $1000 per seat.

Heck, he’s still big in New Zealand — which is heralding his return of sorts.

It will be a homecoming of sorts for former Hawke’s Bay NBL import Jamie Dixon when he returns to New Zealand as coach of the USA team for the FIBA world under-19 basketball championships in Auckland.

Dixon, who had a stellar playing stint with Hawke’s Bay in the late-80s as an outstanding point guard, has gone on to an accomplished coaching career in the American college game. He has spent the last decade at the University of Pittsburgh where, as head coach for the last six seasons, he has shaped a powerhouse programme. They have won 20-plus games for the last eight years.

Sniff. He’s all grown-up now.

Okay, now it is the U-19 squad, not the U-21 team that was originally indicated. Coach Jamie Dixon needs to make sure his passport is in order.

Pitt’s Jamie Dixon will replace Davidson’s Bob McKillop as the head coach of the U.S. men’s U-19 team at the FIBA World Championships in Auckland, New Zealand. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who is the chair of the junior national team selection process, confirmed that Dixon will replace McKillop, who withdrew last week after junior Stephen Curry decided to declare and stay in the draft.

Dixon was already chosen to be an assistant under McKillop. So, too, was Southern Illinois’ Chris Lowery. The championships will be held July 2-12 and the U.S. is in a group with Egypt, France and Iran and will open with the Iranians in the 16-team competition. Some of the top freshmen and possibly sophomores in college are expected to be invited to the trials, which will be held in Colorado Springs in mid-June. A year ago, McKillop led the U.S. to the silver medal in Argentina. Dixon said he met with McKillop at the Final Four and they discussed the team at length, but then at the end of the talk McKillop told him he might coach the team.

Dixon said he had been looking forward to getting involved with USA Basketball. This trip piqued his interest since he played professionally in New Zealand for two years after a brief stint in the CBA following his college career at TCU. Dixon said he can’t wait to get back to New Zealand, a country he called one of the most beautiful on earth.

Not sure if he can get to Australia to check on some possible recruits there.

The US’s first game will be against Iran on July 2. Just eyeballing the groupings, USA is in Group B, with Egypt, Iran and France. France would obviously the toughest oppenent in the group.

A strong finish by Talib Zanna to his season and his subsequent performance in senior all-star games has boosted him into Scout.com’s final top-100 rankings. He goes from unranked to #63 and 4-stars. Dante Taylor finished the rankings at #16.

Meanwhile, the still too early list of top-25 teams has an update by Andy Katz. He drops Pitt in at #24.

The Panthers re-emerge in the rankings despite losing the top three scorers/leaders off their Elite Eight team, Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and Levance Fields. The rotation of four guards — Jermaine Dixon, Ashton Gibbs, Brad Wanamaker and Gilbert Brown — should be a tough matchup in the Big East. The key will be how quickly newcomers up front — namely top-five power forward Dante Taylor — develop into productive posts.

Locally, the Hill District rec center reopened with much hoopla.

While part of the ceremony was dedicated to the reopening of the center, a major reason for the gathered crowd was the “celebration of legends” ceremony, which included the unveiling of a banner commemorating each honored individual’s high school jersey.

Among the many “legends” honored were former Pitt stars Darrelle Porter, Sam Clancy and DeJuan Blair as well as all-time Pittsburgh greats such as the late Robert “Jeep” Kelley, Petey Gibson, Major Harris, Warner Macklin, Karen Hall, Maurice Lucas and Darrick Suber.

In all, 18 people were honored and will have their banners hanging in the newly remodeled gym forever.

“I’m only 19. I don’t think I am old enough to be a legend,” joked Blair, who was one of three of the honorees who spoke to the crowd.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, who was the guest speaker, said it was an honor to be a part of the program, especially since he has heard so much about the history of Pittsburgh basketball and all of the legends, and that this gave him a chance to meet some of them.

“I had met some of these guys before,” Dixon said. “I always get frustrated when I hear stories about what it used to be around here in terms of basketball because, as the Pitt coach, I wish it still was. But I think down the road here it can be a great place for basketball once again, and DeJuan is a guy who could very well be looked at down the road as the one who got it back started again.

“I had no idea all of these guys were going to be here. This was just something special. And like I said, I’m just humbled that they’d ask me to be a part of it.”

The Ammon Community Center was closed since 2004. It cost some $600K to reopen.

Here’s a pretty good interview with DeJuan Blair. Good news, it appears he actually finished his semester at Pitt.

Jonathan Givony: A couple weeks ago, when you declared for the draft and were asked to explain why you’re not just testing the waters, you said something along the lines of, “I’m an internet freak, I go on all the draft boards, nobody’s got me going in the second round, that’s almost a guarantee for me. Were you being serious with that comment?

DeJuan Blair: No, that was just, there was a little hostility coming from the crowd, there was a lot of tears watering up. If you were there, everybody laughed, so it was kind of a little joke. I actually don’t go on the internet. I was told that question was going to come up, I shouldn’t have said it, but I was just trying to liven up the room a little bit.

Jonathan Givony: What’s the best thing that you learned in your two years playing for Jamie Dixon?

DeJuan Blair: To be coachable. To be coachable and listen. If you call him and ask him, you know, and to be respectful also. He taught me a lot of stuff on the court about adapting to college, being respectful and coachable, because NBA coaches will be on you, just like he do, you just gotta learn to deal with it like you deal with everybody. He taught me a lot.

Jonathan Givony: What kind of NBA player is Sam Young is going to be?

DeJuan Blair: I don’t know, he’s going to be a tricky NBA player. You don’t know until Sam starts playing, you never know. He’s a workaholic, but you never know what type of a player he’s going to be, probably an excellent player, but you don’t know.

Let’s say for arguments sake that Pitt does not use that scholarship before the end of the summer. That means Pitt still has only one to offer for 2010. While Tom Herrion and Brandin Knight are out recruiting and being a presence on the circuit, Coach Jamie Dixon has some other things to do.

Davidson coach Bob McKillop said he has turned down the head coaching job of the World Championship for Young Men’s team this summer in New Zealand. McKillop coached the team during the qualifying event last summer. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who serves as the chair of the junior national teams, said that a replacement for McKillop hasn’t been determined yet. The assistants on the team are still slated to be Pitt’s Jamie Dixon and Southern Illinois’ Chris Lowery, and Dixon could end up being the choice as the head coach. UCLA’s Ben Howland was queried about his interest, but he declined because he didn’t want to miss the first seven days of the July evaluation period.

The name that may be more familiar is as the FIBA Under-21 (U-21) World Championship.

Nothing like more events that raise Coach Dixon’s and Pitt’s profile nationally. That only helps with recruiting — and hopefully that will get Coach Dixon more involved in the U-17 USA team.

The press conference for Coach Jamie Dixon being named the Naismith Coach of the Year had some interesting tidbits about the players.

Dixon said Fields won’t participate in the Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational Tournament today through Saturday at Churchland High School because “the groin is still bothering him.”

Young declined the opportunity to participate in the showcase, opting to instead wait until the NBA pre-draft camp in late May at Tim Grover’s Attack Athletics training facility in Chicago.

“He felt that it was best that he not attend,” Dixon said. “He’s looking forward to opportunities in Chicago.”

Dixon said he’s trying to find a spot for senior forward Tyrell Biggs at the Portsmouth Invitational.

I’m a bit surprised that Young isn’t going to Portsmouth. It seems a late decision. It’s not uncommon to skip and since he seems to be a very strong contender to be taken before the end of the 1st round of the draft, the conventional advice is to not do anything to hurt the chances. Still, this seems like an abrupt move.

Seems that most of the questions at the presser was about DeJuan Blair (big shock).

The coach spent most of the rest of his time at the podium inside the Petersen Events Center talking about the draft prospects of his seniors and the decision that Blair has looming. Dixon said he had numerous meetings with Blair and his family the past few days discussing Blair’s intentions of declaring for the NBA draft, but he said Blair was not yet ready to announce his decision.

Darrelle Porter, family friend, former Pitt star, ex-Duquesne head coach and Blair’s old AAU coach is saying that Blair is in and won’t be back.

“I think DeJuan’s confident in his abilities and confident enough to put his name in, so he’ll probably stay in,” Porter said. “It’s hard to tell someone to come back and work on some things when he’s looking at a guaranteed contract. It’s been a goal of his for a long time.

“Now, he’s got a chance to reach his dream.”

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Dixon would end up spending most of the time at a press conference ostensibly about him receiving an award that he talked about his players. Dixon hardly has been comfortable talking himself up, most times. He often tries to put the credit at the players.

Just realized it’s after midnight.

Yeah, we all know it’s coming.

“You’ll know tomorrow,” Blair said. “That’s all I’m saying.”

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon met with Blair and his family Monday, but said today that Blair wasn’t ready to make an announcement. One source close to the Blair family, however, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that Blair plans to announce his intentions at a Wednesday news conference.

The good news is that he won’t be hiring an agent.

Andy Katz at ESPN.com continues to pound the doubting angle.

A number of NBA personnel told ESPN.com they are skeptical about whether Blair can make the transition because he plays below the rim.

As much as I want him to stay, I have a hard time buying it. At the same time, it only reinforces why he has to look at going pro now. If the doubts and concerns are there and actually widespread, then coming back for another year gives them a chance to further pick him apart.

As far as Coach Jamie Dixon winning the Naismith Coach of they Year award, he deferred on taking much credit.

“It means we had a lot of good players,” Dixon said in a phone interview about the coaching award. “It’s a reflection of players individually and as a group … The players developed into better players than may thought (they) would become.”

According to ZagsBlog, Basketball Times put out its list of the top-100 coaches and assistants. Coach Dixon was ranked #12, and Tom Herrion was ranked #8 in assistants. There’s nothing on the BT website to see the whole list. It’s just a list, and seems more of a debate sparker than anything actually definitive.