On Tuesday, Pitt announced that two of its players, William Jeffress and Nate Santos, will be competing over in Athens, Greece on the USA East Coast Collegiate team.
The team will train for two days in New York City and then travel to Greece. There, it will practice for two days and then play three games against professional teams from Greece.
Jeffress and Santos will be playing alongside players from the Division I, II, and III levels. The team’s roster is listed below.
Asamoah (Delaware – DI), Dyson Harward (Lycoming- DIII), Aundre Hyatt (Rutgers – DI), Jordon Jefferson (Arkansas Little Rock – DI), William Jeffress (Pitt – DI), Nigel John (Arkansas Little Rock – DI), Matthew Kelly (Assumption- DII), Noah McDavid (Tarleton State – DI), Ethan McEachern (Rochester), Panayiotis Pavlidis (Molloy – DII), Nate Santos (Pitt – DI), James Taylor (Mercy – DII), and Mo Terry (Lycoming-DIII).
Jeffress, a rising junior at Pitt, played in 31 games last year for the Panthers. The 6-foot-7 wing averaged 3.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. Santos, a rising sophomore, posted 2.8 points and 1.9 rebounds per game as a freshman last year.
interesting selection of players. did Pitt lobby for this to get these guys some experience ?
I don’t really have an answer to this question, but some confidence would do Jeffress some good. You can see the ability, but a lot of times it seems like he’s hesitant or unsure of himself. The experience would obviously do them both some good. You would hope they’re some of the main cogs on that team.
I am sure that every player on the team was lobby ed for. That does not mean that they do not have talent. This it’s a great opportunity for them to work on their game in a team atmosphere and get some international experience.