Did Jonathan Baldwin think he was in a Rat Pack movie or something?

…charged with indecent assault for allegedly slapping then groping the behind of a female student, but campus officials aren’t commenting on the charges.

A criminal complaint obtained by The Associated Press shows 19-year-old Jonathan Baldwin is charged with indecent assault, harassment and disorderly conduct. Campus police say the woman complained of the alleged assault April 18 and charges were filed the next day. Baldwin faces a preliminary hearing May 27.

That was good for 4 points in the Fulmer Cup — at this time. If this gets resolved, I think Baldwin should be required to wear this t-shirt for the first week of practice in August.

I should know better. It’s the offseason. Not much to discuss. So, a useless story will generate more attention than it should.

“I’ve tried to talk to the Big Ten people about, ‘Let’s get a 12th team — Syracuse, Rutgers, Pitt — we could have a little bit of a playoff.'”

Paterno spoke to several college football reporters before a booster meeting at the Plaza Hotel. The comments came in response to a question on whether a team from the Northeast could win a national championship. The 1986 Nittany Lions are the last No. 1 team from the region.

“The only [Northeastern] team that’s got a shot would be us, and yet we’ve got a tough job because the Big Ten is not as visible in the key times as the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12.”

Asked what sort of response he had received, Paterno raised his eyebrows in a facial shrug.

“You know, it’s a conference that’s dominated by a couple of people,” Paterno said. “If I start talking, they’re polite, but they snicker.

“They don’t know I know they’re snickering, but they’re polite. …I wish I were younger and going to be around [another] 20 years.”

With the conference commissioners holding so much power, Paterno said, the whole landscape could change if two or three people change.

“We’re not talking about invading Normandy,” Paterno said. “We’re talking about some alignments that could happen very quickly.”

Whether it is talk about expanding for purposes of the Big 10 Network, it’s just that — talk. It’s not happening. Not now. Not in the next several years. It may happen at some point, but not in the near future.

The only exception would be if ND came to them. That would be it.

From a geographic/market standpoint, there is probably little interest in adding Pitt. Rutgers or Syracuse is much more attractive in that respect. Frankly, if you want to play that game, the Big 11 is best to wait and watch anyways.

Rutgers may be the stronger football program at this point, but can it be sustained? They are a mess in basketball — still. They have major budget issues that even predated the recession. If Syracuse can at least get back to mediocrity in football, the overall health of their athletic department makes them actually a more attractive program in the long term.

That said, it is nothing new. Paterno has said on occasion before that he would “support” Pitt getting invited to the Big 11 if they ever expanded. It was an empty promise then.

The desire by Paterno for a Eastern member in the Big 11 is simply about the geographic isolation of Penn State. It is, as usual, self-serving for Paterno and Penn State. It is not about the Big 11 or any desire to reach out to the other 3 programs mentioned. It is not about helping the Big 11 and their big gap between the end of the season and bowl season.

Well, Tommie Duhart does not have to worry about being in Coach Dave Wannstedt’s doghouse any longer.  The senior is joined by another senior, in T.J. Porter who has had two DUI in less than a year. Both have been dismissed from the team.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt has dismissed two seniors — defensive tackle Tommie Duhart and receiver T.J. Porter — from the Panthers’ football program.

Both players will transfer, according to a statement released by the university’s athletic department. A Pitt spokesman said Wannstedt will have no further comment on the issue.

As the brief story from the P-G notes, “this announcement is not a surprise.”

Both Porter and Duhart were suspended from spring practice. The fate of two other late spring suspendees — Wayne Jones and Aaron Berry — remain unresolved at this time.

It’s as scientific as any other system.

Hat tip to UConn Blog, which feels extremely betrayed by the lack of canine solidarity.

It’s no more reliable than “expert” picks.

I need a laugh and the Rice Owl Mascot provides it by being ejected from last night’s Tulane-Rice game.

Watch at about the 1:40 mark you can see Sammy put his head into Curtis Shaw’s.

The defense is going to have to back up the words of the senior defensive tackle.

“[Oregon State’s offensive line] is a tight unit and seem to know where they are at,” Duncan said. “But the thing I see when I watched them is that I don’t think they have faced a defensive line like us. I mean, the last defensive line they played like us was Penn State and the results speak for themselves.

“Like [Southern California], for instance, they had some big [defensive linemen] guys, but they weren’t as quick as us. They might have been as strong us, but they are not as quick as us. Like I said, I don’t think [Oregon State] has faced anyone like us and that will be our plan, to surprise them [with athleticism].

“If not, if they want to make it a fight, we’ll strap it up like we do.”

Duncan continued to say that the Beavers’ offensive line is good, but that it struggled against speed and he talked about the speed of the Panthers’ defensive ends, Jabaal Sheard and Greg Romeus, as well as the athleticism of defensive tackle Mick Williams.

He said that Penn State’s defensive line exposed some holes in Oregon State’s line and he believes the Panthers’ defensive line will be able to duplicate the Nittany Lions’ strategy because they are similar in speed and athleticism. Penn State beat Oregon State, 45-14, Sept. 6, and in that game the Nittany Lions held the Beavers to 92 yards rushing.

“Looking at the film, Penn State did some twists and had all kinds of things like that going on and [Oregon State’s] O-line couldn’t adjust to it,” Duncan said. “Their O-line is still young, besides the one tackle, who is a senior. So the mixture of Penn State being quick and with them moving around, I don’t think it was a combination that Oregon State could handle, so hopefully that’ll be our game plan going in.”

Okay. And yes, the Oregon State O-line is aware.

Some OSU response: From left guard Adam Speer … (Laughs when told what Duncan said) “That’s kind of funny. Go ask USC, UCLA, ask them what they thought of us. I hope he thinks we’re not any good, and we’ll see afterward what he really thought.”

From right guard Gregg Peat ... “I think they’re a great defense. Surely, they have a season to be proud of and a defensive line to be proud of. As far as him saying whatever he’s going to say, it’s a football game. We’ve faced great defenses. They are a great defense. We’ll look forward to the challenge. Talk it up all you want, it’s another defensive line.”

Of course that Penn State game was in the beginning of the season. You would think that Pitt players, especially would take into account a performance at the beginning of the year as not indicative of the end of the season performance.

Not that Duncan didn’t have a spark of truth in what he said.

But the Pitt nose tackle put his finger on what probably is this game’s most important matchup.

If the Beavers can’t clear running lanes for backup tailback Ryan McCants by blocking Duncan, defensive tackle Mick Williams and quick defensive ends Jabaal Sheard and Greg Romeous, Oregon State could be in for a long day.

McCants will start in place of injured Jacquizz Rodgers, the Pacific-10 Conference offensive player of the year. Rodgers, who has a cracked shoulder blade, didn’t play in the Civil War, a game in which McCants carried 10 times for 32 yards.

It was a significant drop-off. Jacquizz Rodgers gained 186 on USC, 144 against UCLA and 144 against California.

When Oregon State’s running game gets stuffed, the play-action passes stop working, the offense gets out of sync, the defense spends more time on the field, and the Beavers’ chances of winning start to unravel.

All of which means there is a lot riding in Wednesday’s Sun Bowl on the Beavers’ Big Uglies, and they have been called out.

Now we know the Oregon State O-line will be out to prove something.

Figures, it’s always in the notes where the most interesting nuggets are found.

Freshman defensive back Ronald Hobby is the only player who is out for the Sun Bowl. Wannstedt said Hobby’s career is likely over due to his academic issues. … Redshirt freshman walk-on lineman Josh Marks has been dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons. … One player who could still be left behind if he doesn’t continue to toe a fine line is redshirt junior defensive tackle Tommie Duhart. Duhart has been suspended most of the second half of the season with various off-field issues. “As long as Tommie continues to do everything he’s supposed to do, he’ll get an opportunity to play,” Wannstedt said.

Hobby was a 3-star recruit from Maryland. I can’t even conceive of how little effort he must have put into the school portion to be permanently done after one semester. What makes it so poor, is that you just hope it was pure laziness that led to this outcome. Not some sort of personal problem or family issues. No matter what, I hope he can figure things out somewhere else. Hobby even enrolled at Pitt back in January to get an early start on things. Hmm. There might be a clue in that story.

“Half the time, I want to sleep,” Hobby said, “but I can’t sleep because I have so much work to do.”

Uh-huh.

Then there’s Josh Marks. Well, here’s what I wrote back when he first came aboard in August.

The controversy at Penn State was over his conditioning. There is little dispute he was overweight. With a year of only practicing and Buddy Morris working with him, we’ll find out whether it was the something more that was bothering him at Penn State.

I’m cautiously optimistic about this. At the very least, this is a low-risk gamble. Marks was a top OL recruit, that Pitt really wanted. His work ethic had never been questioned before. Again, the reports – even before his departure – were that he had struggled with conditioning from the spring onward.

If it was a short term slump on his part he will get over it and Pitt greatly benefits. If it really is his attitude, then the team will probably figure it out before the end of this year.

Looks like it was his attitude, and Pitt did figure it out before the end of 2008. The only minor concern is worrying if he poisoned the atmosphere with his old HS teammate. Henry Hynoski. Hyno will likely be fine. His work ethic and attitude have never been questioned. Plus the bloodlines are solid.

Happy Thanksgiving. This is actually unrelated to Pitt. I just want someone to take away the password to my blog if I ever reach the levels demonstrated below.

A couple things that almost defy belief.

From the “there’s always a hater” file:

Jay from Cincinnati writes: There was a small blog in the Cincinnati Enquirer with your comments about Coach Brian Kelly and the national coach of the year, Why? Now don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with the results from the team this year. But he’s only been here two years, hasn’t seen any action from his recruits, he was ready to throw the towel on Tony Pike and was forced to use him when other QBs went down. You don’t groom a QB after the season started and be forced to use him. What you’re seeing is all Tony Pike. One could question Coach Kelly’s ability to see talent by not naming him the starter from the very beginning. Take a look at the film from the West Virginia and Louisville games, there are some very questionable calls from the offense. Coach of the year for what? Being a salesperson for the team, school?

Brian Bennett: Thanks, Jay, for proving that no matter how much a coach does, even if he goes 20-5 and gets a program without much history to the cusp of the BCS and does so despite having to use five different quarterbacks in a season, there will always be someone to complain about it.

Wow.

From the frustrated fanbase has lost its mind department, Irish fans are a little unhinged.

Here are a couple of things he [new Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick] could do to forestall the uprising:

• Immediately renegotiate all game contracts to designate that only neutral conference officials be used in any game in which Notre Dame plays. It’s bleeding obvious, and today’s game was just one more log on that fire. Taking it one step further, he should lead the charge in taking officiating away from the conferences altogether.

…

• Demand that Notre Dame have some say (assuming it does not currently) in the selection of the announcers for NBC broadcasts. We don’t need homers, but we could live without the glee provoked by Notre Dame’s miscues evinced by the former Southern Cal quarterback and his figure-skating-devotee partner. We’d be better off with the actual Mitch Daniels and Bea Arthur. We should can their look-alikes.

That’s right, ND fans are complaining about not getting the calls in their own stadium. Forget the fact, that practically every non-con game in every conference goes by the following rules: conference refs from the visiting team are used. Oh, that’s right, the Irish don’t have a conference affiliation for road games.  They  — they feel that the NBC announcers are anti-ND?  So when in doubt, fall back on the fact that Pat Haden played QB at USC. I’m sure they don’t care, but no one else sees these things through that Irish prism.

It is not a totally uncommon occurrence for the boys of BGS — who I actually enjoy reading when they stick somewhere near reality. They just have a touch of paranoia and see conspiracy from anyone who went to a rival school.

A real classic example came way back when they still loved Charlie Weis. Remember the reported interest Weis had from an NFL team. The thing Weis never denied getting and which helped him get his ridiculous 10-year contract. Well, when the rumors first started, the messenger was clearly doing it to preemptively strike down the Irish before they could return to glory.

Why would he do this? Well, surprise, surprise…Schefter’s a notorious Michigan homer. (Check this out, direct from the annals of Wolverine nostalgia.) Schefter’s “developing story” was nothing more than buckshot from Ann Arbor, aimed not only at Irish fans who are feeling pretty good about their coach, but also directly targeting recruits who are considering the Irish. (“Despite the fact that he has one of the country’s most heralded recruiting classes coming in next season, Weis has positioned himself to leave Notre Dame after this season for the NFL…”) What better way to shake the foundation of an up-and-comer than insinuating he’s not long for college ball.

I don’t even know how to begin to address the substance of those delusions.

This is where the bowl structure works against Pitt and several other schools. It’s about who puts seats in the stands. Not wins and losses or rankings.

No one should be counting on the Big East heading to the Gator Bowl, period. With ND out of that, the Gator still has the right to take a Big 12 team. That means, assuming Nebraska wins this week, they and their well traveling horde will get the nod.

The Sun Bowl may have to invite a BE team, provided Rutgers gets to 7 wins. If the Scarlet Knights gag against L-ville then the Sun Bowl can and will grab a 6-6 ND team.

That leaves the Meineke Bowl, PapaJohns.com Bowl, International Bowl and St. Petersburg Bowl. There will be at least 4 teams (excluding Cinci) with 7 wins or more — but no more than 9. With the non-BCS bowls as long as the teams are within a couple wins of a team there is flexibility in who a bowl picks.

Meineke is the biggest and gets the first choice.

Meineke: The folks in Charlotte are going to take West Virginia unless the Mountaineers get routed by Pittsburgh and fall to Louisville and USF. In a bad economy, the ticket allure is just too big. The backup plan is Rutgers, but that might be difficult politically.

Papajohns.com: Rutgers or Pittsburgh. One of these teams may have to play outside the Big East tie-ins. See below.

International: UConn. Book it.

Now in other stories, it is also factored that if Meineke gets UNC from the ACC rather than Virginia Tech or BC, then Pitt would stand an excellent chance of getting picked for it.

USF is a lock for the St. Pete’s bowl after last night.

Frankly, I’m sure I’ve made a mistake somewhere along the line because this crap is so convoluted and subject to changes and much more, so this could be completely wrong.

Rutgers is the only team still trying to clinch an absolute lock bowl bid.

The point is, as long as Pitt wins there is less of this crap to be concerned.

ESPN casting call for college basketball commercial. It’s time to stereotype.

ESPN
Promo
SAG
PAY RATE: SAG PROMO RATE

Director: Matt Aselton
Casting Director: ERICA PALGON
Interview: Thurs 11/13 and Fri 11/14, Mon 11/17
Fitting: 11/21
Shoot: 11/24, 25
Location: New York

SUBMIT ELECTRONICALLY LIZ LEWIS CASTING PARTNERS

EVERYONE MUST BE STRONG WITH COMEDY/IMPROV. PLEASE WRITE ANY ADDITIONAL NOTES, IN THE NOTES PAGE, ABOUT ACTOR’S COMEDIC/IMPROV EXPERIENCE/TRAINING, THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL IN LOOKING THROUGH SUBMISSIONS

All roles are ages 18-22 yrs old. WITH THE EXCEPTION of PERDUE.

The concept: The spots take place in the ESPN College Basketball Call Center (CBBCC). All of these guys are there representing their schools, calling people on the phone to get them to watch more College Basketball. Basically they are selling college basketball.

…

[ PITTSBURGH ]
FEMALE. Pittsburgh is a tomboy. She obviously grew up in the neighborhood and isn’t going to take any guff from anyone and she’ll wallop you in the eye with a crowbar if you suggest different. So don’t. Think Tina Fey type.

Ohhhh-kaaaayyyyy.

Here’s some more from the Big East schools:

[ CONNECTICUT ]
MALE. Connecticut is all things Connecticut. He’s a little bit older.
He’s a little bit thicker around the waist. He’s WHITE. He’s also competitive. Very. Waspy, blue blood.

…

[ LOUISVILLE ]
MALE. Louisville is very true to place. He’s short. He’s HISPANIC. And one day he hopes to carry on in proud Louisville tradition and race thoroughbreds.

…

[ VILLANOVA ]
MALE. Villanova is the poor man’s Duke — he’s not quite as handsome, he’s not quite as rich, he’s not quite as dapper. After 2 or 3 beers though, who cares? As he’s friendly enough.

[ NOTRE DAME ]
MALE He’s an ASIAN kid who is in to all things Notre Dame, ridiculously so. Oh, and he’s always fighting. Every time we encounter him he always has some words or another, be it the faint traces of a black eye, or a scab or whatever. He epitomizes the fightin’ Irish.

…

[ SYRACUSE ]
MALE. Jewish kid from Long Island that is loving the college experience. It has opened up a world he never knew existed. All you can eat buffets in the cafeteria — who knew? To Syracuse, everything is a party.

[ GEORGETOWN ]
FEMALE. Georgetown, a 4.36 GPA who’s lived in 9 world-class cities, but all the time in her sister’s shadow (her GPA is 4.37). She’s sort of the female Duke, except most people like her. Think Reese Witherspoon.

…

[ MARQUETTE ]
FEMALE. Marquette, on a scale of 1-10, she’s a six. A B-, C in every category you can define a person by. Her defining characteristic is you don’t really remember her. You’re not breaking your arm to get to her, but you’re not chewing it off to get away. She does have a winning personality though. Midwest, sweet girl.

Apparently the plan has already been torched according to Awful Announcing’s update. ESPN apparently outsourced the plan and denies all responsibility for the stereotyping casting call.

Well, it seems that Pitt was ultimately tripped up by the insane NCAA and conference rules that got Nebraska this summer. Darnell Dodson is not permitted to come to Pitt.

Dodson was a class of 2007 commitment for Pittsburgh, but found out last September that he was not going to be cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse. Since Dodson was enrolled at Pittsburgh and declared a non-qualifier, he was not allowed to be on scholarship at Pitt due to the Big East rule not allowing member schools to accept non-qualifiers…

Of course, Dodson had initially appeared eligible, but the NCAA Clearinghouse came back with more questions — in September. They hadn’t ruled on his status prior to the start of Pitt’s fall semester. In fact, they didn’t rule on him until October.

That left him and Pitt in a questionable situation. Especially since he was already enrolled. That meant all Pitt and Dodson could do would be take a chance with an appeal when the time came. It didn’t and an additional upshot is that the Big East keeps him from being recruited by any other Big East teams. Seems the Big East has a rule akin to the Big 12 that says if a non-qualifier is enrolled — even if he is declared a non-qualifier after the fact — he is out at all BE schools after he goes to Junior College. Which is really stupid since the NCAA banned kids from going to prep school when they can’t get eligible — so Dodson had little choice but to go JUCO.

Given Dodson’s from the Maryalnd, I’m guessing Gary Williams and Maryland will be active in pursuing him. Along with schools like VCU and Virginia Tech. Good luck to Darnell Dodson.

Pitt almost immediately, though, filled the scholarship with a power forward/center project in Talib Zanna.

Talib Zanna has impressed the NBE Basketball Report in the summer for the player he has become, but the player he could become has always had our staff very intrigued. Early in July at the Agent Zero to Hero event Zanna showed his ability to run the floor and improved willingness to battle in the post. At the Reebok Summer Championships Zanna displayed ability to face-up and attack off the dribble.

At 6-foot-9 and 220 pounds Zanna has the size to compete in the Big East and the athletic ability that had college coaches watching this summer. One major college assistant watching Zanna this summer remarked he “Has Major upside! Very long and athletic. Rebounds very well.” Zanna finished his summer playing for the Triple Threat AAU program after starting the AAU circuit with the DC Blue Devils. He will compete in his senior season with Bishop McNamara this season.

Tanna also had interest/offers from Georgetown, UConn and Providence. Not to mention VT, Clemson and Villanova.

Rivals.com doesn’t have him ranked or starred. Scout.com puts him as a 3-star and ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. considers him a top-150 player (Insider subs.).

Zanna is a highly skilled and athletic big man who missed most of his sophomore year due to injury. This native of Nigeria has lots of bounce that enables him to get to the ball quickly on the glass to rebound and to dunk a lot. For his size he can face and penetrate, pass off the high post, and drop an occasional three. Able to score with either hand, Talib plays much in the mold of Tim Duncan.

Definitely a player that Pitt looks at as a development project, high-upside player.

Zanna, who came to the United States from Nigeria in 2006, was in Pittsburgh when the Panthers’ played host to Iowa earlier this month at Heinz Field.

Zanna has a reputation as a player who can run the floor and is willing to battle inside.

“He’s a strong, athletic kid,” said Keith Stevens, who coached Zanna on the D.C. Blue Devils AAU team. “He has a lot of potential. He has the ability go 15 feet from the basket and hit shots; and he’s a solid defender. He’s going to be a perfect complement to Dante Taylor.”

Locally, Tom Droney crossed Wake Forest off his list. He’s down to Pitt, Davidson and ND.

Not really my preference, but it seems to have gotten the attention of the NCAA in Ben Mauk’s case.

The NCAA agreed on Wednesday to re-hear Mauk’s appeal for a sixth year to complete his four years of eligibility.

If the appeal reaches the Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee, which ruled against Mauk on Aug. 8, Mauk has been assured that he will be given a chance to speak, something that he was not allowed to do the last time.

But Kevin Murphy, Mauk’s attorney, said he hopes the matter never reaches the committee.

“The (NCAA) staff is going to hear it first,” Murphy said. “If the staff agrees with us, he’s back on the field.”

File a lawsuit that would force the NCAA to make its explanation in a court of record and suddenly they want to re-hear the matter. Funny how that works.

Count on Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News to know about all of this.

The Panthers played 27 regular-season games–nine non-conference, 18 in the Big East season. They competed in the Big East tournament, which counted as one game because any team could be eliminated the first day. They played four early games in the Hispanic College Fund Basketball Challenge, which counted as two under NCAA rules for multi-team events. The Panthers’ NCAA Tournament appearances does not factor in; postseason doesn’t count because there’s no expectation a team will make it. So as permitted by the organization’s rules, Pitt’s schedule officially consisted of 30 games last season.

If you count Cook as having played 11 games, he is not eligible for the waiver. Indeed, he took the court 11 times. There’s no disputing that. He played a full complement of minutes in every one of those games.

However, it seems curious for the rules to be different for a team and a player in terms of how the games are calculated. If those four games in the Hispanic College Fund tournament counted only as two on Cook’s record–as they did for Pitt to meet NCAA scheduling rules–he officially would have played nine games last season. He’d be at exactly 30 percent and eligible for the waiver.

That case was made to the reinstatement committee nearly two months ago. Its members apparently thought hard about this, because they did not issue an answer for quite a while. But they still said no.

“They say, ‘There may be merit to your case, but we can’t do anything about it,’ ” Dixon said.

The university was told it could attempt to change the rule through the NCAA’s legislative process.

Of course, by the time a new rule could be adopted, Mike Cook’s grandkids would be D-I prospects.

If the committee had wanted to be just, it could have essentially rewritten the rule by issuing a precedent-setting decision. Instead, the committee chose expedience.

Got that?

Two different calculations, one screw over.

Cook had never taken a redshirt — medical or otherwise. He sat out one year under NCAA rules for transfers — he was not eligible to play. While getting a 6th year is rare, it would only have been a 5th year of actual eligibility. That’s one of the key differentials between the Ben Mauk case at Cinci and Mike Cook’s.

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.

University of Pittsburgh head men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon announced Wednesday that senior forward Mike Cook has been denied an additional year of competition from the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

In order to be considered for a sixth year extension, Cook would have needed to obtain a medical hardship waiver for his participation during the 2007-08 year. NCAA rules state that to be eligible for a medical hardship, a student-athlete must participate in no more than 30 percent of the team’s regular season games in order to guarantee an extra year of athletic eligibility. Even though Pitt played 37 total games including six postseason games, NCAA rules only allow postseason contests to be counted as one game when determining total number of games played. Since Cook played in 34 percent of Pitt’s games, Pitt filed an appeal with the NCAA to grant him an additional season of competition, as well as a sixth year after the hardship waiver was denied by the conference. The appeal was denied by the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee, comprised of faculty members and conference and athletic administrators.

One game. If it had been the 10th game when he got hurt — he’s getting another year. If it had been in game 12, not at all in dispute and there isn’t even an appeal. But right in the middle. Realistically Pitt played 37 games. For counting purposes a conference tournament and the NCAA Tournament get lumped as one single game. The numbers were uncomfortable.

In the end they fell back on, “a rule, is a rule, is a rule.” Why? Damned if I know. I do know whatever the letter of the rule, the spirit just got dumped on like John Edwards in a cancer survivors chatroom.

“Situations like this are hard to take when you know how dedicated Mike’s life has been to playing basketball,” Pitt Basketball Coach Jamie Dixon said. “Over the last three years, Mike has contributed significantly to our success both on and off the floor and has been an important member of our basketball family. When I asked Mike why he wanted to come to Pitt, he simply said he ‘wanted to win’. And he has won, going 40-8 as a starter. He has grown into a leader and has become an outstanding example for the younger players in our program. Mike has earned his degree and will have the opportunity to continue his career professionally when he returns to the floor.”

He did indeed. He left East Carolina where he was the man, but the rest of the team sucked. He had to do everything. He could have padded his stats and likely looked a lot better to NBA scouts. He came to Pitt and became part of a team. A family. He gave up a lot more chances to score. Embraced defense and — I hate this, it’s like a frickin’ eulogy.

I’m just really pissed about this.

Look, by all accounts Cook’s rehab is going a bit slower than expected. This was a brutal injury for a wing player. In all probability it will take him another 6 months — at least — before he can approximate where he was before the injury. He would have been a great presence and leader for the team, but his contributions would not have been as big. This wasn’t about how much better Pitt could have been with him. I think that was overstated.

It’s about the NCAA, once more, talking about how it is about the student-athlete. That it’s about the kids, and then falling back to hidebound rules when convenient and screw the kids.

One thing in the Pitt press release, though, did make me feel good.

Cook graduated from Pitt this spring with a communications degree and has spent the summer rehabbing his injury and preparing to action. The university will provide Cook an opportunity to remain in Pittsburgh as he takes additional classes and continues his rehabilitation.

That’s how you treat the student athletes.

Cook will at least have the time to really rehab. To really get better. All the while getting more education and prepared for the future. Even if in the short term, it’s just about basketball.

In an interview last month, Cook sounded ready to move on.

“As long as I can play basketball, that’s the most important thing to me,” he said. “If it’s not here, then I have to work for it to be somewhere else.”

Perhaps Georgia Tech AD Dan Radackovich misremembered?

Or perhaps it was AD Steve Pederson and Assistant Athletic Director/Football Operations Chris LaSala?

You may recall Post-Gazette beat writer Paul Zeise wrote this.

There are rumors flying around the Internet that Pitt and Georgia Tech are nearing a deal to play a home and home in football. As it turns out, they seem to be just that — rumors, and not very credible ones.

How do I know?

I asked Steve Pederson — who in turn asked Chris LaSala — and both laughed as they said they have never spoken with Georgia Tech.

Since I was likely the source thanks to a loyal reader and an Atlanta resident, I couldn’t back up the “rumor” at the time. The station only put the first half of the interview on their site.

Thankfully there are all these technological things like e-mail and mp3s. So, I e-mailed the producer of Mayhem in the A.M. at Sports Radio 790 The Zone in Atlanta, Scott Klug. He was nice enough to send me the MP3 of the second part of their interview with Georgia Tech AD Dan Radakovich.

Here’s the final 1:47 of the interview where they do get into the non-con football schedule.

GT AD Dan Radakovich Interview

Is this conclusive that it will happen? No. Does it suggest that Pitt and GT have done more than a little talking? I’d say so.

So, at least now that “rumor” has a source.