Before he even thanked the Pitt fans gathered at Petersen Events Center, Jerome Lane just wanted to pause and point out the sheer surrealism of the moment.
“First of all, you gotta think about it, man. After 30 years, you still get a standing ovation?” Lane beamed. “That means you put some type of print on the city of Pittsburgh that they really love.”
That much was obvious Saturday afternoon in a game against Syracuse when early in the first half, the scoreboard treated the 7,033 in attendance to the highlight that made Lane a household name in college basketball.
Not long after Bill Raftery boomed “Send it in, Jerome!” out of the arena speakers, there was Lane standing and waving, as he was announced to a throng of Panthers faithful who gave him a warm welcome home. The backboard-breaking former star said it was his first time at a basketball game here since March 7, 2009, when Pitt was ranked No. 3, Connecticut was No. 1 and DeJuan Blair and Sam Young led the way to a victory.
“I’m very happy to be here,” said Lane, who lives in his native Akron, Ohio, and was honored on the court at halftime along with more than a dozen other Pitt basketball alumni. “I’m very happy the people appreciate what I’ve done, and you just gotta love the city of Pittsburgh.”
But Lane also offered some candid commentary: One thing he doesn’t love is the current condition of his old program. He still follows the team, but like many others, he’s less than thrilled with its struggles in coach Kevin Stallings’ second season.
“I watch ’em every time they come on. It’s a disappointing year,” Lane said. “I know we’re young, but you just see a lot of pieces that’s not Pitt, you know what I’m saying? We were dominant. And this team right here’s just not strong.”
Indeed, Lane was a 6-foot-6, 230-pound force — powerful enough to bring down an entire basket, obviously. Pitt’s best squads in the years of Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon the past couple of decades were viewed the same way, as rough-and-tumble bunches who could at least be counted on to be more physical than their opponents each night.
To the third-leading rebounder in school history, it’s obvious what his alma mater needs to get back on track.
“Some prominent recruits,” Lane quickly responded. “We need some Blairs, some Youngs, guys like that.”
Lane and all-time leading scorer Charles Smith, also a prominent figure in the letterman reunion, were McDonald’s All-Americans when they signed with Pitt in 1984. Together, they helped lead Pitt to a 49-15 record their final two seasons.
“There’s somebody out there that can pull somebody in here if coach Stallings can’t do it. That’s what you gotta do,” Lane said. “You gotta get somebody up there that can get those great players to come here. Hey, just think about this: When we first got here, Pitt was a football school. We turned it into a basketball school.”
These days, those on the outside are mostly just wondering how Pitt has fallen so far so fast. For Saturday’s throwback-themed game, yet another defeat to make 0-9 in ACC play, the team’s current players all wore warm-up shirts that had the name and number of past greats on the back.
It was a nice touch — Lane was represented by walk-on Anthony Starzynski — but also a wistful reminder of what used to be. There’s only so much Lane or anyone else can say about the present state of affairs, but at least he and the Panthers have this going for them: No one ever seems to get tired of talking about that slam dunk on Jan. 25, 1988 at Fitzgerald Field House.
The man of the hour claimed that he doesn’t, either.
“Just think,” Lane said with a chuckle, “they wouldn’t be talking about me 30 years from now.”
Sports@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1621.
CORRECTION, posted Jan. 27, 2018: An earlier version of this online story misidentified Pitt’s 2009 home victory against Connecticut. DeJuan Blair flipped 7-foot-3 center Hasheem Thabeet over his shoulder in a game at Connecticut.
First Published: January 27, 2018, 11:16 p.m.
Updated: January 28, 2018, 4:39 a.m.
