Friday, 25 May 2012 20:23

Written by Ray Fittipaldo

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon was so excited about the news that Trey Zeigler is going to be eligible for the 2012-13 season that he tweeted it. How rare is this?

Dixon tweets about as often DePaul wins Big East games. The previous tweet from Dixon came more than two years. I stopped following Dixon because he never, evert tweeted.

The last time I remembered reading a Dixon tweet when when he congratulated the Penguins on winning the Stanley Cup. That was all the way back in 2009. Yes, Pens fans, it's been a long time.

When reached Friday evening, Dixon said he expected Zeigler to be granted the special waiver from the NCAA. Zeigerl's father, Ernie, coached Trey for his first two seasons at Central Michigan, and Trey wanted to leave CMU after Ernie was fired in March.

Dixon said associate athletic director Dan Bartholomae researched several other cases involving athletes in other NCAA sports who were granted immediate eligibility after their parents were dismissed. Dixon said this was the first case he ever heard of in men's basketball.

Here are a few quotes from Dixon:

On what Zeigler means to this year's team: "With him being a junior, it guves us a guy who has more experience than any other of our [shooting] guards. On paper, it looks good. We'll see how it works out."

On Zeigler's game after coaching him for two hours this week in NCAA approved workouts: "He's a very good passer, very athletic and very good off the dribble. He's more athletic than I remembered when we recruited him."

On Zeigler's ability to play shooting guard and forward: "His versatility will be a great asset. I don't think we'll lock him into one position."

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