Tuesday, 20 November 2012 16:53

Written by Ray Fittipaldo

Even though Jamie Dixon has not been getting as many players from New York as he used to, Pitt’s coach will continue to seek games at Madison Square Garden and other New York venues after the Panthers leave the Big East following this season.

Pitt’s exposure at WMAF – the World’s Most Famous Arena – has been important for the program over the years. In the Ben Howland era and early in Dixon’s tenure Pitt’s roster was chock full on players from the New York Metro area. In some years, half the roster, sometimes more than half, had players from New York and New Jersey.

That’s not the case any longer. Only Tray Woodall, Dante Taylor and Chris Jones hail from New York or New Jersey. But that doesn’t mean Dixon wants the New York pipeline to dry up. He is going to continue to recruit the area and play non-conference games there because it’s been a reliable area in the past and hopefully will be again in the future.

The Panthers will play in-season tournament in the new Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn and have another game tentatively lined up in the Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden, although Dixon said that could change because that event sometimes coincides with Pitt’s finals week.

“We want to lock into those,” Dixon said. “We always want to play there. We want to do that for obvious reasons. We draw really well there. We wouldn’t be there unless they like having us there. It’s a good thing for us and something we want to continue for obvious reasons.”

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