UPDATE: Head coach Kevin Willard confirms that Pope is also in the dark about this (as media relations contact Matt Sweeney stated earlier):

“We saw it this morning. He’s in class, he’s on campus,” Willard said. “He doesn’t know what it’s all about. That’s all we know about it.”

Asked how it would affect the Pirates, hypothetically, if the news were true, Willard replied, “There’s nothing you can do. That’s life. You find a different way with the players who are happy to be here.”

I want to get away from mentioning Herb Pope, I really do.

Yes, I realize he never actually even played for Pitt. He was a one-time blue chip prospect, was headed for Pitt, and, well, the wheels came off.

But he always seems to be in the news, and now the reports are that he's signed a pro deal with Antalya, a Turkish team. Funny thing is the headlines out there are saying that Seton Hall is denying the reports. It's not so much a denial as much as they don't know anything about it:

There’s a report out saying Seton Hall forward Herb Pope signed with Turkish professional team Antalya, but both head coach Kevin Willard and media relations contact Matt Sweeney said they knew nothing about it.

"Herb is on campus. He’s been in class and this is all news to both [Willard] and Herb," Sweeney said.

Eurobasket is, from everything I've seen, a pretty reliable site. I don't think they would make something like this up. Similarly, I don't know why a professional European team would make this up as well. It's not like Pope is some uber star and they were anxious to get the news out. And the report is that he has signed, not that he's thinking about it.

Personally, I'm inclined to believe the Eurobasket report.