That seems to be the response to the new Pitt basketball non-con as reported in the papers.

With Pitt’s non-conference basketball schedule receiving as much scrutiny as any team in the country the past several years, there was a movement within the athletic department to upgrade the level of opponents so the NCAA selection committee would have less ammunition to downgrade the Panthers when it came time to seed NCAA tournament teams.

Pitt’s non-conference schedule, released yesterday, addressed some strength-of-schedule issues, but another aspect of the schedule that has drawn criticism remained the same.

That other issue is the fact that Pitt has only one game that takes them out of Pennsylvania, nay, out of Pittsburgh.

Apparently AD Jeff Long actually got involved in the scheduling to try and raise the level of opponents. (An implication that Coach Jamie Dixon wasn’t going to change the approach to non-con scheduling?)

The other story focuses heaviest on the New Years Eve game against Wisconsin.

Technically Pitt’s schedule has 2 Big 11 teams, 2 SEC teams an A-10 team and a good mid-major opponent. If you didn’t know the foes, it would seem like a pretty rugged non-con.