North Carolina Point Guard Josh Newkirk Commits To Pitt

Remember the argument that the move to the ACC would decimate Pitt's recruiting? The idea went something like this: the Big East will use its voodoo powers to convince New York, New Jersey and New England Prep recruits to stay in the conference (and play in exotic basketball locales such as Houston). By moving to the ACC, Pitt and Syracuse would be abandoning their recruiting territories and would gradually slide into mediocrity.

Not only has that not happened, but it seems like Pitt's recruiting area may have even expanded. Almost one year ago to the day since that article was published, and today Jamie Dixon snagged the commitment of point guard Josh Newkirk from the heart of ACC Country.

Newkirk is a three-star prospect according to Rivals, ESPN and 247 Sports. Scout is the lone source ranking him as a four-star guy. Newkirk had offers from Arizona, NC State, Memphis, Missouri, Georgia Tech and Tennessee. The east coast basketball site NBE ranks him as the 90th player in the country.

More on Newkirk after the jump.

Newkirk joins power forward Mike Young and fills out Pitt's available scholarships for the class of 2013. With the possibility of Steven Adams being a one-and-done, however, I'd expect Pitt to continue recruiting center BeeJay Anya. Newkirk, Anya and Young all visited Pitt for the Virginia Tech game, so hats off to the football team and Mike Young for helping make this happen. Two down, one to go.

This commitment probably locks up the point guard position for a few recruiting classes. James Robinson will be a freshman this season and is expected to play behind Tray Woodall. Newkirk will be replacing Woodall on the scholarship board and he and Robinson should have three years together at point guard.

We'll have more reaction tomorrow, but for now, here's some highlight videos:

Josh Newkirk Official Junior Year EliteMixtape; Most Athletic PG in Class of 2013? (via EliteMixtapes)

Josh Newkirk Junior Season Mix #BallGame (via OWilsonProductions)

Josh Newkirk Offseason Workouts Vol. 1 (via OWilsonProductions)

Welcome home, Josh.

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