Former Pitt center J.J. Richardson signed an Offer of Athletics Financial Aid and is officially headed to Houston. As I mentioned earlier this week, Richardson is good enough to play and step in right away, but should have some competition down in Houston.
But he's Texas-bound after choosing the Cougars of apparently Tulsa and ... Charlotte? I'll get to that in a minute.
So now that Richardson has reportedly signed, head coach James Dickey couldn't be happier:
"We are extremely pleased that J.J. chose the University of Houston. This is exciting for ourbasketball program and the University," Dickey said. "To have a player of his size and ability is a great addition to our program. He is a strong, physical and skilled player that will really fill the power forward position on our team. J.J. is a quality student-athlete, and we look forward to his continued development during his redshirt season."
But about that Charlotte thing...
The thing that struck be as a bit odd was that the article mentions Richardson chose Houston over Charlotte. You may remember that he initially said he wanted to be closer to home. Tulsa and Houston? Check. And while Charlotte is closer to Texas than Pitt is, it isn't exactly a stone throw away. It's safe to say that the whole close to home thing would have definitely come up had he ended up there.
It goes without saying, but hoping for a smooth transition for Big Hungry.