Rivers dances into bigger role

A lot of Pitt basketball fans have asked the question, ‘Who is that kid dancing in the team… A lot of Pitt basketball fans have asked the question, ‘Who is that kid dancing in the team huddle before games?’ The answer is student manager Nick Rivers, and he was a standout basketball player at Brophy College Preparatory in Arizona where he played in high school and AAU games against players like Jerrod Bayless of the Portland Trailblazers and Taylor King of Villanova. He wasn’t able to continue his career to the collegiate level, and he came to Pitt last year in a different capacity. ‘I decided to be a manager to stay around the game,’ he said. ‘I wanted to be a part of something.’ Rivers, a sophomore, does all the same tasks as the other student managers for the basketball team. He sets up for practice, cuts up fruit during the games and does anything and everything that the coaches need. But there’s one area of Rivers’ job that is unique from the other managers: He performs the pre-game dance. His routine, while it’s never quite the same, is a blend of hip-hop and break dancing inspired by his West Coast roots. Now a ritual at every home game, his dancing started off in the locker room.’ According to Rivers, the players often do dances there when a good beat comes on, so he joined in. ‘One day I just started dancing to E-40’s song ‘Tell Me When To Go,’ and all the players were laughing, and Levance [Fields] said I should do that before the games,’ he said. At first Rivers was skeptical, as he didn’t want to take any of the spotlight away from the players. But he finally agreed. ‘I just stepped to the plate and had fun with it,’ he said. Freshman guard Travon Woodall said he believes Nick’s dancing symbolizes just how important the managers are for the team. Managers, along with many other workers behind the scenes, often go unnoticed. ‘We wanted to give the managers the chance to show how much they really contribute to us winning,’ said Woodall. While many pre-game huddles are aimed at getting the players pumped up, Rivers has taken a different approach to keep the players loose before the game. ‘I try to do funny moves to make the players laugh and make them realize that basketball is a fun game,’ said Rivers. ‘It can be really tense before the game having all the pressure on you from the coaches and the fans.’ Not only does Rivers try to help out the players with his dances before the game, but he also looks to get everyone else in the building involved as well. ‘Nick’s an entertaining guy,’ said Pitt junior guard Jermaine Dixon. ‘He gets the crowd into it, and he gets us into it big time.’ But for future games, don’t just expect the same dance out of Rivers. ‘I have to keep it new and catch them off guard,’ he said. His dance could turn into a yearly tradition, as the Panthers are unbeaten in games when Nick steps into the huddle to keep them going. And approaching tournament play, he’s hoping to be Pitt’s source of good luck.