Central Michigan guard Trey Zeigler is headed to the Big East.
And then the ACC.
The 6-foot-5, 200-pound guard committed to Pittsburgh on Saturday and will have two years of eligibility remaining after he sits next season.
He chose Pitt over Duke, UCLA and Arizona State. His only other visit was to Duke. To read more of this story, click here
Pittsburgh redshirt freshman guard Isaiah Epps of Plainfield, N.J., has decided to transfer due to family-related reasons.
He has been granted a full release from his scholarship and is expected to transfer to a school closer to his home.
“We have been in constant communication with Isaiah regarding his family’s well-being,” PItt coach Jamie Dixon said. “We believe that it is best for Isaiah to be close to home and we will assist him in finding the best possible situation to reach his goals-both academically and athletically. He’s a great kid, hard worker and good player. We thank Isaiah for his contribution to our program over the last two years and wish him much success in the future.”
Epps, a 6-foot-2-inch, 185-pound guard, started two contests and played in 19 games this past season. He averaged 0.1 points and 0.2 rebounds per game.
Pitt, which has one scholarship open, will host Central Michigan guard Trey Zeigler this weekend. He is transferring.
Also, as reported by the New York Post, Pitt will visit Olney (Ill.) Central guard Trivante Bloodman on Thursday.
After helping Teaneck (N.J.) High School win the Bergen Jamboree last week, Chris Jones decided it was time to settle his future plans, too.
The 6-foot-5, 205-pound shooting guard pledged to Pittsburgh on Monday.
“It’s a great school with a great coach and I have a good relationship with [assistant coach] Brandin Knight,” Jones told SNY.tv by text.
Jones said he also held offers from La Salle, Rhode Island, Boston University, Colorado, Nebraska and interest from UConn, Virginia Tech and Seton Hall. To read more of this story, click here
NEWARK — Seton Hall hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2006.
Pittsburgh is one of three teams — along with Kansas and Gonzaga — to win more than 20 games overall, capture 10 league games and appear in the Big Dance 10 straight years.
Now, with Seton Hall’s 73-66 victory over the Panthers Sunday at The Prudential Center, the Pirates (17-8, 6-7 Big East) have simultaneously helped their NCAA resume while severely injuring Pitt’s.
“”They’re still hanging on the edge but I would say the right side of things for the moment,” bracketologist Jerry Palm of CollegeRPI.com told SNY.tv in reference to Seton Hall. “They gotta keep going.” To read more of this story, click here
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. To read more of this story, click here
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. To read more of this story, click here
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. To read more of this story, click here
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.” To read more of this story, click here
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. To read more of this story, click here
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. To read more of this story, click here
