Apparently the NBDL Canton Charge likes guys with ties to Pitt. Tyrell Biggs is on the squad. As is one-time Pitt player who transferred to UMass, Dante Milligan. (Sidenote, Luke Harangody has also been sent down to Canton.) In addition, this year’s squad features Antonio Graves.

Graves had actually carved out a nice career in Europe, until suffering a wrist injury and a botched rehab following surgery in Turkey. Another surgery later, he is back to trying to earn a living in basketball.

“They were really patient with me. I was in a cast for four or five months. I was in a cast for a month while I was on the roster.”

Graves sat out the first 10 games of the Charge’s 50-game season. League rules prohibit teams from carrying more than 10 players on the roster and there is no injury list. The organization thought highly enough of Graves to essentially play a man down for the season’s first month.

“We were confident in the type of player he was and what he could add to our team,” said 35-year-old Charge head coach Alex Jensen, a former Utah standout who served on Rick Majerus’ Saint Louis University coaching staff before joining the Charge in October. “When I first started here, I wanted to look down the road rather than just in the immediate future. We’re glad we kept him.”

Graves was a solid player for Pitt. Complete glue guy who played great defense by the end of his four years at Pitt.

The ACC today, announced the future set up for divisions and  scheduling.

As expected Pitt was placed in one of the present divisions and Syracuse was placed in the other. The idea of a North-South divisional set-up was never going to fly. First because putting Miami and FSU in the same division seems silly, but more importantly it would be bad for teams in the north to not have regular trips to Florida for recruiting.

Here’s how the divisions will look:

Coastal

Pitt

Virginia Tech

Duke

Virginia

Georgia Tech

North Carolina

Miami

Atlantic

Syracuse

Boston College

NC State

Wake Forest

Clemson

Florida St.

Maryland

(more…)

I know, it is the topic lately. Whether fans or media. With Travon Woodall healthy, Pitt is surging (Insider subs) with 3 straight wins. They look like a completely different team. The team left for dead as recently as last week now has a pulse.

And so goes all the talk about if Pitt can make the NCAA Tournament.

I do get it. Especially from the media side. It’s a guaranteed read when you talk about the bubble (trust me, the most commented most read stuff I did for NCAA Basketball FanHouse outside of the NCAA Tournament was “bubble” posts). It’s a big reason why you see these discussions happening earlier and earlier.

The importance of the NCAA Tournament and interest in it continues to thrive, and so all talk of who is in or out gets more attention/discussion. And following the Super Bowl on Sunday, you can bet that there will be even more of it.

Now here’s the reality. It’s too soon. It’s all theoretical. Is Pitt on the bubble? Are they outside the bubble? What do they have to do to make the Tournament? There are 8 games left for Pitt plus the Big East Tournament. That goes for all the other teams that you already hear being discussed in terms of “can they get in, get in the conversation, get on the bubble, etc.”

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