News and Notes

Haven't had a news and notes section in a little while - lots of small tidbits out there recently:

ESPN.com's Brian Bennett has a Top 30 Big East list and he's down to his final two.  Pitt will wind up with five players in the list as the top two will be Dion Lewis and Noel Devine.  Even better, Pitt has three of the top four in the list with Greg Romeus, Jonathan Baldwin, and Lewis.

Along those lines, Bennett lists his top triplets in the Big East and to no surprise, Pitt is #1 with Lewis, Baldwin, and Tino Sunseri.

Top triplets?  Yes, things are officially slow.

Here's an interview with former Pitt player and new Seton Hall coach, Kevin Willard.  Judging by the length of some of these answers, it looks like Willard was either not in the mood to talk or standing on a tee box with driver firmly in hand. 

And speaking of Seton Hall, Willard says in another article that Herb Pope is recovering nicely:

“Herb’s doing great, Herb’s doing great,” Willard said Thursday. “Taking classes, working, getting back because he did miss quite a few classes. He’s really working hard to get back academically what he needs to do and get back on track for graduation. Herb’s doing pretty good.”

Former Pitt great and current Pope mentor, Charles Smith, also comments briefly via text in the article.

And Bob Smizik of the PG notes that the negotiations to move Pitt games to the new radio station The Fan may hinge on coverage of women's basketball.  I can't make this stuff up.

Miscellaneous Notes

Found a fairly long, but inconsequential interview with Charles Smith by CollegeHoopsNet.com the other day. There's a few good things in here, but like half of it is dedicated to a game-by-game breakdown of international competition. Kind of a slow read. I did find this interesting, however:

JT: In 1987 you said you were "80% sure" that you would turn pro, but you chose to return to school. Why were you going to turn pro, and why did you end up changing your mind?

CS: My academic advisor asked me what I was going to do, and when I told her I was thinking about going pro, she told me to come in and talk to her. We talked about the opportunity to graduate and enjoy my senior year. My major was Communications, and she said it made sense for me to get my degree; she was a deciding factor. It worked out well for me, as I was the 1st one in my family to graduate from college.

Man, I wonder what the chances are now that an academic advisor could talk a kid out of going pro. I'm guessing somewhere in between slim and none.

DeJuan Blair was back in town. And oh, what a difference a year makes:

"My favorite part of my first season was just making it," Blair said. "I didn't think I was going to make it at all. I went through all of that stuff, my name not being called [in the first round]. I had some doubts. I definitely had some doubts."

Last year, those doubts didn't seem to surface - at least in public. I'll admit I was one who thought he would be better served coming back to college and working on a jumpshot I thought he would need against taller players.

In the immortal words of Fred Savage in Wonder Years, wrongo.

Little did I know he would simply outwork everyone on the next level. I've got nothing but praise for him.

And Shady was back in his hometown for the first ever "Shady's Community Day." Far from me to knock a charity event (especially for a worthy cause, which this one is) but if ever something were in need of a name change, this might be it.

Mel Kiper has some sort of top five list for college football juniors (must be an Insider to view) out there. It's a top five list, but not really a top five list. Color me confused. At any rate, he's got several Pitt players in there.

And Brian Bennett at ESPN.com has several updates out there including his Big East rankings for defensive line (Pitt is first) and offensive line (Pitt is 4th). He also gives a video preview of sorts for Pitt in 2010.

Minor Basketball Notes

A few very random basketball pieces out there:

To start, there are a lot of preseason rankings out there. I've followed a few, but there are getting to be too many to keep up with. Chas over at Pitt Blather has a good rundown of the ones out there.

Pat Forde at ESPN.com thinks Pitt is a contender for next season and possibly the best team in the Big East:

4. Pittsburgh: The Panthers overachieved last season, winning 25 games with only a single senior playing a major role. Expect more next season from a program still trying to shatter the Elite Eight ceiling that has hovered above it in recent years. In a Big East that has lost a lot of sizzle, Pitt could be the clear preseason favorite.

Former Pitt standout Charles Smith has been advising Seton Hall's Herb Pope and says he should be able to make a full recovery from his recent health issues that helped force him out of the NBA Draft.

And Jamie Dixon apparently helped, at least somewhat, in Robert Morris' hiring of assistant coach Andrew Toole.