Kevin Jones of West Virginia will likely end up winning the Big East Player of the Year Award.
And rightfully so.
But Pitt’s Travon Woodall may prove to be the league’s Most Valuable Player, a category for which the Big East has no actual award.
He was named the Big East Player of the Week for last week.
Consider that Pitt is 5-6 without their redshirt junior point guard this season and 10-3 with him. (more…)
Pittsburgh junior point guard Tray Woodall hopes to return from his abdomen/groin injury this weekend against Louisville.
“I want to play Saturday,” Woodall told SNY.tv.” It’s College GameDay. Who would want to miss that?”
Woodall participated in contact drills Thursday for the first time since the Notre Dame game Dec. 27 and said he “felt good” but still had to be cleared. (more…)
By JOSH NEWMAN
Special to ZAGSBLOG
NEW YORK – You’ll have to excuse Steven Adams, Notre Dame Prep’s free-spirited, guitar-playing, happy-go-lucky, Pittsburgh-bound 7-foot center. The New Zealand native hasn’t been in the United States very long and everything is a little foreign to him, just as he is to this country. The best example of this comes courtesy of Crusaders head coach Ryan Hurd.
“Any city we head into, he’ll ask, ‘Is this the ghetto?” Hurd told SNY.tv.
In terms of basketball, Adams isn’t much brighter right now in some ways. He is still getting used to the faster, more physical style of American basketball. Adams and Notre Dame Prep, a New England prep school power with a slew of Division I recruits, share a region with some of the country’s elite players and teams. Despite this, Adams has no idea who Tilton (N.H.) School junior shot-blocking sensation Nerlens Noel is, nor does he comprehend who longtime Connecticut prep school power St. Thomas More and head coach Jere Quinn are. (more…)
Former Pittsburgh forward Khem Birch has three visits planned this week.
“This week he’s going to go to Florida (Tuesday), New Mexico State (Wednesday) and UNLV (Friday) and he may go visit another maybe one or two,” his mother, Wendy Sparks, told SNY.tv by phone.
“We’re not sure which ones he’s going to go visit. He has to decide soon because he wants to be back in school by mid-January.” (more…)
Missouri coach Frank Haith denied a report that his staff had tampered with Pittsburgh forward Khem Birch.
“We haven’t asked for a release,” Haith told Sporting News. “We haven’t done anything with the kid.”
Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com reported that sources told him Missouri was the only school to which Pitt would deny a release if they asked.
A former McDonald’s All-American, the 6-foot-9 Birch told Pitt coach Jamie Dixon in mid-December he would transfer. (more…)
Khem Birch has not asked for his official release from Pittsburgh but head coach Jamie Dixon does not anticipate the player returning to play for the Panthers, a school official confirmed Tuesday to SNY.tv.
The 6-foot-9 McDonald’s All-American left the team last Thursday and told Dixon he intended to transfer.
One source in Birch’s inner circle said Birch is currently at home in Montreal “keeping a low profile.”
Although both Missouri and New Mexico State have been linked to Birch, no list of potential destinations has been formulated, a second source said. (more…)
Pittsburgh announced Friday evening that freshman center Khem Birch has decided to withdraw from the team.
The news was first reported by CBSSports.com.
“Khem has decided to leave the team for personal reasons,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “We thank Khem for his contribution to our program over the last semester and wish him great success in the future.”
Birch, a 6-foot-9, 209-pound center who was a McDonald’s All-American, started each of Pitt’s last six games. He led the Panthers in blocked shots (19), averaged 4.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and shot 57.1 percent (16-28) from the floor.
Birch totaled one double-double of 15 points and 10 boards at Penn on Nov. 25 and surpassed career-highs for blocked shots (six) and rebounds (11) in a home win against Robert Morris on Nov. 27.
No. 15 ranked Pitt (9-1) hosts South Carolina State tomorrow at the Petersen Events Center.
NEW YORK — Ashton Gibbs played 39 minutes at point guard for No. 15 Pitt in its 74-68 win over Oklahoma State Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
And head coach Jamie Dixon knows he can’t have Gibbs sustain that pace for a long period of time.
“Ashton looked comfortable, fatigue doesn’t seem to be a big thing,” Dixon said. “It’s not a good thing. Him doing 40 minutes against the press is not a good thing…
“We need Travon back, there’s no question about it.” (more…)
Tough break for Pittsburgh.
Junior guard Tray Woodall will miss the next month due to a groin strain and abdominal tear suffered in Thursday night’s win over Duquesne. Doctors expect the former St. Anthony star to return to the court following four-to-five weeks of rest.
“We anticipate that Tray will make a full recovery and join his teammates on the court soon,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. (more…)
Pittsburgh has officially signed 7-footer Steven Adams, which is bad news for the Big East.
And maybe the ACC.
“We are extremely excited about Steven and James,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said, referring also to DeMatha Catholic guard James Robinson. “Both are good players from winning backgrounds and both have outstanding work ethic.”
Adams is a 7-foot, 240-pound center from New Zealand who has been rated as a consensus national top-10 recruit. This summer he led the adidas Nations Tournament in both scoring (22 ppg.) and rebounding (16.8 rpg.). (more…)
“Adam Zagoria sees the story behind the daily happenings.”
~ St. Anthony Coach Bob Hurley
Zagoria covers the New York Knicks and Big East hoops for NBA.com and SNY.tv. He also appears as a Big East Basketball Insider on SNY and 1050 ESPN Radio.
He is an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, SI and Basketball Times.
