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Injuries, NCAA rule changes force cancellation of Pittsburgh Pro-Am basketball league

Injuries, NCAA rule changes force cancellation of Pittsburgh Pro-Am basketball league

The Pittsburgh Basketball Club Summer Pro-Am League had a glorious nine-year run, but at least for this year it’s being canceled due to injuries and changes to the NCAA rules regarding the rosters.

Club president John Giammarco said University of Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon told him he didn’t have enough healthy players for the league this year.

Giammarco said that without the Pitt players, the league lost some of its attraction for other teams and to the fans, and that’s when it fell apart.

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“This is really a shame for the fans and the people who came out to watch the league and loved it,” Giammarco said. “But the reality is, the showcase program in town is Pitt and because of a roster shortage and injuries, they basically took their ball and ran home and that sent this into a tailspin.

“I understand it but at the same time I have a hard time with the idea that you let seven or eight players affect a whole lot of other players who wanted to play. I can tell you that the disappointment from fans and some players and the feedback I am getting is best described as toxic.”

Dixon, who has three players out with surgeries and at least five others either recovering from previous surgeries or nagging injuries, said the changes to the NCAA rules were also a part of the decision.

“The rules have changed to where you could only have two players from one college team on each of the summer league teams,” Dixon said. “That sort of made it difficult with only so many Division I players available to have the kind of competitive league you are looking for.

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“Hopefully, it is something we can revisit for next year, but for this year it just didn’t seem like it was going to be able to work out.”

Robert Morris University also had some scheduling conflicts because the Colonials had night classes on Wednesdays and the league games were scheduled on Monday and Wednesday.

Duquesne coach Jim Ferry said he is disappointed that the league isn’t coming together this year and like Dixon hopes it can make a comeback next year.

“Jamie called me and talked to me about it and I completely understand where he was coming from,” Ferry said. “I’m disappointed and those guys did a really good job of running a league but sometimes there are things that happen that are just beyond your control.

“I liked the league a lot, I was in New York City all those years and we didn’t have a Pro-Am league like this one.”

Giammarco said he’s not too optimistic that the league can take a year off and be revived next year because of the amount of planning involved.

“I just don’t think the passion will be the same, I think people will move on from it. It is yet another self-inflicted wound to a basketball institution in this town,” he said.

“My disappointment is for the fans but also for the guys who volunteered to do stats, the kids who volunteered to help out,” Giammarco said.

He said part of the charm of the summer league was that fans who maybe can’t afford to see Pitt play during the regular season could see the Panthers players up close and for free.

Giammarco had proposed keeping the league alive for this year and filling in the rosters with some of the top Division II players in the area, but he said that idea was not well received.

Paul Zeise: pzeise@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1720 and Twitter @paulzeise.

First Published: June 24, 2015, 5:04 p.m.

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