A couple weeks ago there was the story about the Pittsburgh summer league in the Trib. Now the P-G adds its own story without much more new info other than to point out that it’s got room to grow.

“It’s something all the college kids around here needed,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “It’s beneficial for all of the teams from Division I through Division III. It’s been great. All the feedback I’ve been getting from the coaches at all the schools is that they’re very appreciative of the league.”
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“The competition is good,” said Mike Cook, a guard/forward at Pitt who is preparing for his first season with the Panthers after sitting out under NCAA transfer rules last season. “The guys from Duquesne and Robert Morris are good and the guys from the smaller schools can shoot. Everyone is good. Everything I do here is getting me ready to play in Big East games.”

Cook spent his previous summers in his native Philadelphia playing with college and NBA players in a Pro-Am League. And while the Pittsburgh Basketball Club Pro-Am pales in comparison, he said the foundation for a good league was set this summer.

“This is just the first year,” Cook said. “I see this getting better.”

I pointed out when the first article ran, that Coach Dixon did some great behind the scenes work for basketball in Pittsuburgh in encouraging this. John Giammarco, the organizer of the summer league agrees.

“Now you can come and watch Sam Clancy give tips to Division III kids. That’s good stuff. We’re starting to rebuild that basketball togetherness. Jamie deserves the credit for this. He sincerely cares about basketball in Western Pennsylvania. I don’t think you could have said that about other coaches who have been at Pitt in the past.”

With Coach Dixon’s off-season extension with Pitt, there is a real possibility of seeing something long-term built with him and the basketball program here. I find that tremendous considering that there hasn’t been anything like that for I don’t even know how long.