Antonio Graves appears unlikelty to play tomorrow night because of his ankle. That means the freshmen will get more playing time.

Ramon will probably get the start in place of Graves (if Pitt starts the 3-guard lineup). He got starts early in the season when Graves was first hobbled by the high ankle sprain, and played very well. Coming off the bench, Ramon hasn’t been as good a shooter. With the improved competition of Richmond (as opposed to St. Francis), it will be interesting to see if maybe Ramon just plays better when he starts as opposed to coming off the bench.

Keith Benjamin will also see increased minutes. Benjamin hasn’t played nearly as much because of knee issues in the fall. Benjamin has been a little behind in getting up to speed on the defensive end. And with Pitt, you don’t get the minutes if you don’t play defense.

Then there is a rather silly piece sounding the trumpets of fear for Pitt basketball. That by next season Chevy Troutman and Mark McCarroll will graduate, Chris Taft and Carl Krauser could leave for the NBA, Coach Jamie Dixon leave for another job.

Dixon will get mentioned, but as I’ve said before, it won’t be to USC. They want to hire a new coach in the next couple of weeks, and I just don’t see any coach bolting a top-10 team mid-season to start rebuilding another. If they were waiting until after the season, maybe something to watch, but not now. Really, looking at college basketball right now, there aren’t a lot of jobs that could come open that would be better than Pitt’s. So, yes, his name will come up, but I don’t see many places where I can take it seriously.

Taft is very likely gone. We all knew that going into the season. I’m just happy he is here for his sophomore season. Krauser, could very well leave. That will be a big question mark, but I already like what I’m seeing from Ramon. Graves has so dramatically improved.

Right now, there should be no other feeling other than optimism regarding the b-ball team and program. Changes coming or not.