Kevin Willard returns to the place where he went to school, met his wife, played Pitt basketball for his father — and as a result probably caught more sh*t than he deserved. The first year Seton Hall coach, though, is not going to be caught saying anything negative.

Kevin Willard figures to reflect, if only for a moment, when he looks over at the Pitt basketball players Saturday.

There were years when he was one of them.

The first-year coach at Seton Hall played at Pitt for his father, Ralph, from 1995-97 and this weekend returns to campus as a head coach for the first time.

“I’m really proud how well they’ve done,” Willard said. “You have to have a sense of pride.”

Coach Dixon, possibly thinking ahead to a couple years when TCU is in the conference offered his own thoughts.

“It’s a unique situation,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “I was thinking about here’s a guy coming back home, a place where he graduated and played at.”

Yes, and?

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Pitt has its first new verbal since Todd Graham took over. A JUCO Offensive Tackle out of New Jersey named, Zenel Demhasaj.

Now Demhasaj is a 2-star recruit, but when it comes to evaluating JUCO players, ratings tend to be less accurate, plus he has been recovering from an ACL tear. When you factor in Pitt’s absolute need to get depth and fast on the O-line it seems like a decent risk.

Demhasaj was a guy Pitt was actually recruiting before Wannstedt was fired ($$). He’s big. Very big. Mearsuring 6-6 to 6-7 and about 320 pounds.