Topic: HZ: Pittman, in Herd Camp Now, Facing Familiar Bearcats

[ZackUSAF82]

By JACK BOGACZYK
HERDZONE.COM COLUMNIST

HUNTINGTON - A river runs through Elijah Pittman's history with Cincinnati Bearcats basketball, but the Marshall junior forward said there's no reason to burn any bridges.

Pittman grew up in Covington, Ky., across the Ohio River from the city that's home to Oscar Robertson's alma mater. And in years before Pittman helped Holmes High to a Kentucky Sweet Sixteen state tournament runner-up finish and then a championship, he said he had a summer presence on the UC campus with, among others, current Bearcat Coach Mike Cronin.

"He knew me when I was younger," Pittman said of the Bearcats' seventh-year coach who went from Cincinnati to Louisville as an assistant and then on to head coach at Murray State before getting the UC job. "He recruited me some. I went to a whole lot of camps over there.

"When I've seen him since, he's let me know how good of a player I was, I could have been there, could have went there. But I'm here now."

Link: http://www.herdzone.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/121412aaa.html