No Mo

Potential Pitt recruit Maurice Walker apparently couldn't wait for Pitt anymore and has committed to Minnesota.

As of this interview where's pictured in a Pirates hat only a few days ago, Pitt was one of his three favorites and the only school he had visited.

It hurts a little that Pitt couldn't make room for him, but if incoming recruit J.J. Moore qualifies academically, then Pitt will already need to get rid of a current player. With Walker, that would have increased the casualty list to two. And you've got to believe that teams really don't like essentially taking away a scholarship from someone. It looks bad and gives future non-blue chip recruits reason to worry about being 'asked nicely' to transfer.

It also hurts because he was a top 10-15 center and from reports, had previously shown some fairly strong interest in coming to Pitt. Pitt's 2010 recruits aren't frontcourt players and they could have used a little size. And with Pitt's history of developing some NBA frontcourt players in Aaron Gray and DeJuan Blair, Walker may have been a good fit.

But the incoming class should be good, so it's hard to quibble. Fact is, having too many good prospects and not enough spots is actually a good problem.

Links Du Jour

Long, long day today - just getting to some links:

Looking ahead to the NFL draft, Dorin Dickerson and Nate Byham get combine invites.

After a year of shutting down some of the top receivers in the game, former Pitt cornerback Darrelle Revis finishes 2nd in the voting for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

The Pitt women have tumbled out of the polls after losing their last three games.

Gary Parrish over at CBSSportsline.com has the Pitt men all the way up to 12th in its most recent poll.

And in the Post-Gazette's weekly Pitt basketball chat, Ray Fittipaldo discusses a number of topics including prospect Maurice Walker, his updated over/under on Pitt's Big East wins, and the likelihood of Ashton Gibbs leaving early for the NBA, and

Jumping ahead to the basketball game tomorrow:

Pitt is 4-0 since the return of Jermaine Dixon and Gilbert Brown.

Ol' Sourpuss, Jim Calhoun, actually gives a compliment that's not backhanded.

UCONN's coach and one of its players can't quite decide on the importance of the game tomorrow night:

"It's not a critical game for us," said UConn coach Jim Calhoun, downplaying the importance only slightly. "It's an incredibly important game for us, as every single game is."

Meanwhile...

"I think for us it's a must win," UConn guard Kemba Walker said. "We need it. I think we need a win right now."

And if you think you needed another reason why tomorrow's game may be a difficult one:

No. 16 Pitt will shoot for a three-game Big East road sweep -- an unprecedented feat for the Panthers since they joined the conference 27 years ago.