With not much new going on around the Pitt Panthers football and basketball teams this time of year, I’m back with my Pitt Panthers notebook to take a quick spin around Pitt’s athletic programs.
Perhaps the biggest news going on over the course of the past couple of weeks came in the form of Pitt freshman guard James Robinson, who helped Team USA capture the FIBA U19 World Championship Gold Medal with an 82-68 win over Serbia in Sunday’s title game.
The victory gave the United States its second championship at the U19 level since 2009 when Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon and former Pitt player Ashton Gibbs guided the Americans to the title in New Zealand.
The victory also gave Robinson his second career Gold Medal in international play. Over the series’ nine games, Robinson scored 19 points, finished with 19 assists, totaled 10 steals, committed only seven turnovers and played 127 minutes.
He averaged 14.1 minutes, 2.1 points, 2.1 assists and 1.7 rebounds per game. He also ranked second on the squad in assist to turnover ratio with a 2.71 mark.
– Sticking with the basketball team, Jamie Dixon and the Pitt Panthers landed a late 2013 commit from shooting guard Detrick Mostella (La Lumiere School/Decatur, Ala.). The former Oklahoma State commit had changed his college plans for the fall and give the Panthers a much needed weapon in the backcourt.
Mostella gives Pitt an exceptional athlete at the two-guard, who has great speed and finishes above the rim. He’ll hopefully give Pitt a scoring boost sharing the backcourt with rising sophomore James Robinson next season at Pitt.
The 6-foot-3 shooting guard had previously committed to the Cowboys this past November. The four-star prospect is ranked No. 53 overall in the Class of 2013 and is the second four-star recruit to pledge to Dixon and the Panthers.
– A final note with the basketball team, Derrick Randall will continue his career at Pitt starting this fall, following his transfer from Rutgers. He is reportedly seeking a waiver in order to be eligible to play this season. The 6’8″ athletic forward didn’t see a great deal of playing time in either of his seasons at Rutgers, averaging just 9.8 minutes per game. In those two seasons Randall, a native of the Bronx, posted averages of 2.3 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. Randall made the decision to transfer in the aftermath of Mike Rice’s firing.
– In case you missed it, Pitt officially became a member of the ACC on July 1.
– Onto the football team where defensive lineman Aaron Donald received another preseason accolade when the Maxwell Football Club named him to the watch list for the Bednarik Award, annually presented to the nation’s top defensive player.
Donald enters his senior season owning impressive career credentials. He was named All-Big East each of the past two years, collecting 16.5 sacks and 34.5 tackles for loss during that span. Last year, he compiled 64 total tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks and a forced fumble. He also led the Big East and ranked 12th nationally with 1.54 tackles for loss per game.
– The 2014 recruiting class continues to grow with the addition of North Allegheny athlete Elijah Zeise announced that he had committed to the Panthers. Zeise picked Pitt over offers from Arizona, West Virginia and Temple, and he was hearing interest from Duke, Cincinnati, Purdue and others. Pitt was the first school to offer him a scholarship and also the first to project him as a receiver.
Zeise is the 14th recruit to commit to Pitt in the class of 2014. He joins Bethel Park offensive lineman Mike Grimm, Shady Side Academy athlete Dennis Briggs, Fox Chapel linebacker Quintin Wirginis, West Catholic athlete Patrick Amara, Maria Stein (Oh.) Marion quarterback Adam Bertke, Wallingford (Conn.) Choate Rosemary Hall defensive tackle Connor Dintino, Davie (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas quarterback Wade Freebeck, Traverse City (Mich.) offensive lineman Connor Hayes, Staunton (Va.) Riverheads defensive tackle Mike Herndon, Detroit (Mich.) Martin Luther King cornerback Avonte Maddox, Wilmington (Del.) Salesianum School tight end Brian O’Neill, Cincinnati (Oh.) Reading Community defensive end Shane Roy, and Newburgh (NY) Free Academy safety Jalen Williams.
– Finally, there have been many predictions on exactly how well the Panthers will do this season in their inaugural ACC season. However if you take a look at Pitt’s page on the ACC’s official website, you’ll notice that they have the Panthers penciled in for an 0-12 season. The ACC certainly thinks highly of everyone. Well, accept for Pitt. They’re apparently projected in for a long season.
I don’t expect Pitt to dominate the ACC by any means, but 0-12? Whoever predicted that should be banned from predicting anything in the near future. That’s just foolish.
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