Pitt made a few players available to the media yesterday. Aaron Donald, Todd Thomas and Devin Street talked about the upcoming season.

Donald was the obvious headliner. As the various watchlists start getting tossed out, Donald’s name was on the Bednarik (best defensive player). In the various preseason mags, Donald’s name pops up as one of the top DT’s in the ACC.

So in this three-man media mix, Donald will take the role of the quiet leader.

This season, Pitt needs Donald’s ability to set a good example as much as his muscle.

“He’s definitely not a talker,” junior linebacker Todd Thomas said. “He leads by working hard and just doing what you have to do.”

Donald, 22, admits to his “laid-back” nature, but he said he won’t hesitate to evolve into a vocal leader if necessary. Teammates — and opponents — will be wise not to make him mad.

“They ask me questions; I try to give them feedback,” he said of younger Pitt players. “If they are slacking, I’m going to say something about it.

“If I see that somebody needs help or needs me to say something to them, I’m going to be that person to do that.”

The vocal leader who will call out guys that aren’t putting in the effort, will be played by Street.

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Boy, nobody wins if those are the choices.

Sorry, Pitt fans but Notre Dame is now the early leader for most likely to ferment a new, nasty basketball rivalry with Duke.

Here’s how it went down. The New York Post had a wide-ranging interview with Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. In the interview he was less than diplomatic regarding new member Notre Dame:

Q: Do you like the relationship with Notre Dame the ACC agreed to (joining in all sports except football, but playing five football games a season against ACC foes) in order to add the Fighting Irish?

A: I think you can’t do something for one that you’re not willing to do for all in these type of situations. I would never have accepted personally them coming in and not being totally in.

Why don’t Duke and North Carolina do something different in basketball? I mean it’s not right. I’m happy that they’re part of it I’m just not happy the way that they’re apart of it.

They add value but, just being old-fashioned, [if] we’re playing cards, we all get five cards. That’s why they were never a member of the Big Ten.

This came out the day after ACC moving day. So right after all the praises were sung of the new members and conference, Krzyzewski just fires away.

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Really, really have to get caught up on the open tabs. It’s only a month until training camp.

At some point, I suppose we will get the official word that Pitt has added another Wisconsin transfer.

According to a source, the UW staff has parted ways with rising redshirt freshman safety Reggie Mitchell.

Safeties coach Bill Busch was not available Wednesday. However, WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh reported Mitchell, a native of Pittsburgh, had been released from his scholarship and will be joining the Panthers.

Mitchell was recruited to UW by Joe Rudolph, who joined offensive coordinator Paul Chryst at Pitt after the 2012 Rose Bowl. Rudolph is Pitt’s assistant head coach/offensive coordiantor under Chryst.

Mitchell was an unheralded (read: 2-star) recruit who turned out to be another good find. He was looking like a starter at free safety for the Badgers in the fall after moving from cornerback, but the Shady Side Academy grad wanted to come back home. Not surprisingly Wisconsin fans are starting to get a bit tired of kids leaving the program for Pitt. Especially when it leaves Wisconsin really thin at a position.

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Hope everyone had a good, long holiday weekend. Took in a good cookout. Brief trip to my inlaws — no internet and a horrible bed that messed with my back. The requisite yard work that needed done. Now it’s back to everything else.

USA U-19 team that included James Robinson finished their sweep through the FIBA competition to win the gold. Robison, after initially being cut, was added late when Jerami Grant was diagnosed with mono. It’s the second straight year that Robinson and the USA team has won the gold in FIBA competition.

For the series (PDF), Robinson averaged a bit over 14 minutes he had 19 assists, 7 turnovers and 10 steals. He only played 2 minutes in the championship game. Frankly, he shot horribly in Prague. He was 8-31 which also included 0-6 on 3s. Worst on the squad.

Robinson’s shooting continues to be worrisome. Yes, he is a facilitating point guard. A pass first guy. But as we saw this past season, teams will play off of him. Guarding the passing lanes. Daring him to shoot or even try to drive to the basket. Yes, he has made some big shots and is fearless. But he needs to get a more consistent shot.

North Allegheny’s Elijah Zeise called the coaches this morning to inform them of his commitment. Zeise projects to WR or Safety at the next level and one of the key reasons he’s going to Pitt is the staff’s desire to start him off at WR. The 6’2 185 pound verbal is the son of Post-Gazette sportswriter Paul Zeise. Paul used to be the Pitt beat writer before requesting an assignment elsewhere so there would be no image of bias from him with regards to Pitt.

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A shooting guard from Alabama, playing in Indiana who originally committed to Oklahoma State? I’m not going to complain. Especially when he is a solid 4-star recruit with major hops and loves attacking the basket. This is when it works out to have those open scholarships even in July.

Detrick Mostella is by every recruiting service ranking, a 4-star talent. Rivals.com puts him as the 14th best shooting guard and 53 overall best player in 2013. 247 says 13th and 45. Scout.com is a bit lower at 21st and 84th. ESPN.com said 20th and outside of their top-100. So, yeah, a talent.

He’s also now a late addition to the Pitt 2013 recruiting class.

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The basketball Big East still has its claim staked with the Big East Tournament. The Big Ten is trying to work its way in there with (*cough*, *snortle*) Rutgers joining and being a part of the Pinstripe Bowl. The American… Okay they quit and are going to Memphis for their tournament.

Then there is the ACC. Having their “Welcome to the ACC” event for Pitt, Syracuse and Notre Dame in NYC was yet another signal that the ACC is making a push for their place in NYC.

To ACC-centric beat writers this was a particularly overt and direct move.

This was the ACC like we’ve never seen. Lobster-on-crostini hors d’oeuvres and piped-in-jazz overlooking Times Square rather than barbecue, hush puppies and Kenny Chesney out yonder. An aggressive, confident marketing campaign instead of the staid, traditional odes to the past.

All to mark Monday’s official arrival of Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame to the conference. All to transparently proclaim the ACC is in the big city to stay.

Oh, there were down-home touches such as sending the 15 schools’ mascots to the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty. But Monday’s rollout was more Gordon Gekko than Bones McKinney, more single-malt than sweet tea, complete with the Twitter hashtag “#ACCtakesNYC.”

The only thing missing was ACC graffiti at Penn Station.

In short, this is business, kids, and the league wisely intends to do “bidness” in New York.

“This is a very prominent city from a media standpoint, from a sports standpoint, that has not been in our footprint,” Commissioner John Swofford said during an afternoon news conference at the NASDAQ stock exchange. “It is now, as of today, and we want to treat it with the appropriate level of importance we think it brings.”

If you think Swofford was being subtle about saying that the ACC is looking at NYC as in their market area, well…

“We wanted to showcase the Atlantic Coast Conference in New York City and to show that this is a very important part of our new footprint,” ACC commissioner John Swofford said.

The Big East and Big Ten could reasonably view that statement as meaning: shots fired.

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Note:  This letter contains profanity and may not be safe for work and sensitive people. 

Blawnox, PA – Dear Friends,

Today is a great day for the University of Pittsburgh.  We are now all grown up and legitimate.  Being in the Big East felt like being the bastard child of the town slut and Eddie the use car salesman.  I mean, we knowingly associated with WVU.  Knowingly!  It’s been over a year since that ended and I still feel dirty.
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A couple other ACC/Pitt items.

If you live in Atlanta or want to road-trip for the Pitt-GT game, today is the day to buy tickets.

On the day that Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Notre Dame officially join the Atlantic Coast Conference, Georgia Tech is making it lighter on the wallet to see two of those league newcomers in Bobby Dodd Stadium this fall.

The Panthers, Orange and Fighting Irish become official members of the ACC on Monday, a ceremony celebrated by the league office at an event in New York.

In recognition, Georgia Tech is offering a one-day-only sale of tickets to the Yellow Jackets’ home football games this fall against Syracuse (Oct. 19) and Pittsburgh (Nov. 2), Tech’s Homecoming opponent. The $15 cost per ticket signifies the 15 schools that now make up the ACC roster, and online sale of these tickets will last 15 hours, beginning Monday at 9 a.m.

Then the price goes back up to $40. Of course, I’m sure the gameday scalper prices would be reasonable. Still, if you like to plan ahead, this is a good deal.

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Found (thanks Spilly).

It’s official. The paperwork is complete. All faxed in to the home office. No give backs, ACC. You are stuck with us now.

Odd little visual quirk of this. ND, Pitt and Cuse all fit in alphabetically in one little group. And when Louisville comes in next year, they will be slotted right where Maryland was.

So we toast to the new ACC and pour one out for the old Big East.

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