Tuesday, October 8, 2019

News and Notes - Tuesday, October 8th, 2019

And just like that, we're now less than one month away from Pitt basketball's season opener! We'll be counting down the days, here at the Pitt Basketball Lead. Until then, there's plenty of Pitt basketball news to report:
  • The news of the day is that former Pitt basketball star Ronald Ramón is rejoining the Pitt basketball program in a new role, as Assistant Director of Operations, according to Pitt Athletics:
  • As head coach Jeff Capel noted in his press release on the addition of Ramón, it's important to have a guy involved who has a history with the program like Ramón does. And for many Pitt fans, it's great to have a guy back who elicits such great memories like this one:
  • According to Capel, Ramón's role will involve alumni relations, community service event planning, and coordination of recruiting visits. Especially as it pertains to recruiting visit coordination, it will be great to have recruits in contact with a former Pitt player who can attest to his experiences as a student athlete at Pitt. 
    • That goes not just for his experiences on the court, but also for his experiences with, say, Pitt's life skills program, which is a major distinguishing factor between Pitt athletics and the athletics programs at other schools.
  • The Pitt Basketball team just finished up with a busy weekend, as they headed out to Greensburg and Seven Springs to kick off this fall's training camp:
  • Pitt started off with a practice at the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg branch campus, and then hit a high school gym for practice on Saturday on their way to Seven Springs for some team-bonding activities:
  • Speaking of those team-building activities, it looks like they had a good chance to have some fun both nights. The team went bowling on Friday night, and enjoyed an escape trail, a rock-paper-scissors tournament, and other fun team-building activities throughout the weekend:
  • I think this is great, personally. It's always a good thing to see the team create an opportunity to gel together before the season starts. And importantly, it seems like they're having fun together. That will come in handy once they start playing games.
    • Speaking of playing games, just a reminder that Pitt has a secret scrimmage in just 11 days, on Oct. 19, against the University of Maryland Terrapins.
  • Pitt's Blue & Gold Madness event, which will include both the men's and women's basketball teams, is also coming up this Friday, Oct. 11, at 7 PM at the Pete. Stay tuned! We're hoping to have more details to report on the event leading up to Friday for those who may be interested in attending.
  • Speaking of the Pitt women's basketball team, isn't it impossible not to like head coach Lance White? He just seems like a really fun guy, and he is bringing a lot of great energy to a team that badly needed it:
  • White, who was named the head coach of the Pitt women's basketball team in April 2018, led Pitt to an 11-20 overall record in the 2018-19 season, with a 2-14 ACC record--a nearly identical record as the 2017-18 season, in which Pitt finished 10-20 with a 2-14 ACC record.
  • Still, there's plenty of reason for optimism surrounding Pitt women's hoops. White seems to be an excellent recruiter, and just a few weeks ago landed a fantastic prospect in four-star Tracey Heuston, who is the 78th overall recruit in the country according to ESPN:
  • This year figures to be a fun year for both the men's and women's teams, and I'm really looking forward to watching both progress this season, starting with Blue & Gold Madness on Friday. 
That's it for today's news everyone, stay tuned for more content. Hail to Pitt!
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