Several Pitt athletes worth watching in upcoming year

Panther fans should keep their eyes open this season, because if they look away for a moment,… Panther fans should keep their eyes open this season, because if they look away for a moment, they might miss something big. Pitt sports have been on the rise and next year will be no exception.

The team that will be most watched will be the 2004-2005 men’s basketball team. The new recruits, transfers and returning players will form another team worthy of a run at the Big East Championship.

Men’s and women’s soccer have several young stars returning to their squads, and volleyball, football and baseball look to continue their success from previous seasons.

All of the teams will give fans reasons to watch this upcoming season, but there are a few athletes whom all Pitt students should keep their eyes out for. The following are the most notable players to watch this next year.

Chris Taft

Larry Fitzgerald aside, Taft was Pitt’s most impressive athlete last year. As a freshman, he stepped into a starting role on the men’s basketball team and made noise throughout the Big East. He finished the season averaging 10.9 points per game. He was eighth in the Big East in rebounds with 7.5 per game, with 270 total for the season. He was seventh in blocked shots with 1.67 per game and 60 on the season. He started 24-of-36 games and helped lead the Panthers to a 31-5 record at season’s end. He returns for his second season with only the ghost of UConn’s Emeka Okafor ahead of him. If he continues where he left off last year, he could be the Big East’s most dominant forward. Jim Negrych

Negrych showed off his talent quietly on the baseball field while many students were packing their bags and heading home for the summer. The Panther second baseman was inserted into the starting lineup as a freshman and made an immediate impact.

Negrych was batting .379 (as of May 8) after 42 games. He has hit six home runs and knocked in 35 runs. On the defensive side, he has 71 putouts and a fielding percentage of .960.

His team is in the running for the Big East Championship, and he has helped them to a first place position in the Big East.

Keeyan Young

As a sophomore, Young was named to the All-Big East Second Team, which is decided by the coaches. He has 11 goals and six assists in his two-year soccer career as a Panther. He finished last season with six goals and three assists — led the team with 15 points.

Despite the team’s disappointing 6-11-1 record last season, he and the rest of his young team hope to make a run at the Big East Championship this season. His ability to score could be what takes the Panthers to the next level. Jamie Pelusi

Pelusi has been solid in net for the Pitt women’s soccer team. Last season, her sophomore year, she had a goals-against average of 1.32 with 104 saves. In her freshman year, she made 139 saves — a total that places her second in the Big East.

She has a win-loss record of 4-5 and she recorded three shutouts last season. She will again be in net for the Panthers this 2004 season, and with two years of Big East soccer experience in her back pocket, the Panthers could make a push for the tournament in late fall.

Francesca DiMaria

DiMaria became the seventh Panther to reach 100 hits for her career — and she reached this milestone in the middle of her sophomore year.

DiMaria was batting .302 (as of May 4, 2004) with 19 RBI’s. She has five hits and eight doubles so far this season. Her fielding percentage is .969 this season and .965 for her career.

She started 55 games as a freshman and batted .353, knocking in 32 runs. She hit six home runs and 13 doubles that year.

Tyler Palko/Luke Getsy

Who wants to be a starting quarterback? Head coach Walt Harris has yet to make a decision as to which sophomore quarterback will step in as his starter. Neither has much game experience, and whoever gets the final nod will be in the eyes of all of Pitt’s campus — and the nation. The Panthers have six nationally televised games next season, including their season opener against South Florida at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Fla., on Sept. 6.

The New York Recruits

Pitt basketball has again raided the streets of New York to better its basketball team. The most notable New Yorker to join Pitt’s 2004-2005 squad is Ronald Ramon. He is a 6-foot point guard from the Bronx who averaged 19.2 points per game his junior year in high school. Ramon has made the difference in tournaments in his young basketball career thus far, as he led the Gauchos, one of the nation’s most prestigious Amateur Athletic Union programs, to two national AAU titles.

The other recruit is a junior college transfer from Northeastern Junior College in Colorado. John DeGroat is a native of Monticello, N.Y., who finished his sophomore season with a three-point shooting percentage of 44.4 percent. He was six of seven from three-point land in his final game with Northeastern.

Ramon has a shot at taking Julius Page’s old two-guard position, and DeGroat will look to fill the shoes of Jaron Brown and add firepower from beyond the three-point line — a threat that Pitt has lacked in recent years.