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Deandre Kane, the best player in the WPIAL this year, desperately wants to attend Pitt. One of two major problems, however, is that he needs to ensure that his SAT scores are high enough to make him eligible to play there.

Kane is undoubtedly a special talent, averaging 31 points a game against solid WPIAL talent. His shooting stroke has developed this year as he has been called to carry a team that featured two Division I talents including Pitt freshman Dejuan Blair. Kane is definitely a potential star in college, developing a sweet shooting stroke that allows him to hit the shots that he makes.

Evidently, he works well on a team where he is asked to not be the star, as he only averaged 14 points on last year’s team, where he was required to share the ball with several more experienced players. At Pitt, this would be an absolute necessity as the Panthers play team-oriented ball that only works when players are willingly sharing the ball and defending. Kane would need to buy into this philosophy and, more likely than not, would be willing to do so if Pitt were to recruit him.

The major problem standing in the way of Kane’s commitment to Pitt is that, with the verbal commitment of SG Jermaine Dixon to Pitt last week, it does not seem as if there is a scholarship available for Kane. The commitments of Dixon, Nasir Robinson, Travon Woodall, Ashton Gibbs, and Dwight Miller mean that Pitt is actually one player over the scholarship limit for next season. Now, Pitt does have two legitimate candidates to leave the program in Austin Wallace and Cassin Diggs, both of whom have likely career-ending injuries. If both players left, there would be scholarships for both Kane and Dixon and the whole situation could end up in a very positive way for everyone.

Kane’s talent is unquestionable, but his test-taking aptitude is definitely in question.  Kane has not yet scored high enough on the SATs to gain eligibility and Pitt may need to wait until he is academically eligible before offering him a scholarship, if they choose to do so.  Otherwise, they could attempt to slip him into the program through some sort of back door that would allow him to actually be in the Class of 2009.  That solution seems greatly unrealistic, however, as other schools such as St. John’s (where ex-Schenley star D.J. Kennedy plays) and Wisconsin have also entered the picture, giving Kane other legitimate options. If Pitt does not have a scholarship available, he could very realistically end up at one of these other schools.

Kane belongs in a Panther uniform, but it does not seem as if that is a realistic possibility despite its logic for both Kane and, potentially, for Pitt.

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