Pitt's Young stays hungry
PITTSBURGH — Sam Young's college basketball career is dwindling down to a few precious games, one final Big East tournament, a last chance at the success that has long dodged No. 4 Pittsburgh in the NCAA tournament.
This is the season the 6-foot-6 Young could have passed up — a breakout junior year likely would have made him millions as Pitt's first NBA first-round draft pick since 1999. But as his teammates learned long ago, the complex and often hard-to-read Young is not wound that way.
They realized that the first time he sat down at a grand piano in a hotel lobby and played a complex melody. When they discovered he reads his own poetry during open mike nights at Pittsburgh coffee houses. When they learned his brother, who is blind, qualified for the Maryland state high school wrestling tournament. When they heard the cell phone greeting in which he recites all the supposed deficiencies he has on the court.
Right now, there aren't many — Young, not heavily recruited out of high school, averages 17.9 points and has had 10 games of 20 points or more for Pitt, which earned the first No. 1 ranking in school history earlier this season.
"We've made some history and we're continuing to make some history," Young said. "And I think we'll continue to make history down the stretch."
Most of all, Young wants to make it in March, when Pitt has repeatedly failed despite being a Top 25 fixture for eight seasons. The Panthers, second-round losers to Michigan State last season, haven't advanced past the round of 16 since 1974 or made the Final Four in 68 years.
"It's a chance for us to do things Pitt has not done in the past," said Young, who considers a No. 1 seeding to be the first step toward a deep NCAA run.
