Pre-season mags predicting orders of conferences and top-25s are generally speaking: simply a matter of expectations, name recognition, a quick scan of returning starters and personal biases. I like them only as a matter of setting out what the more national perspective is on expectations for Pitt and other teams.

Usually, I find more reliable and trustworthy, conference previews from beat writers of the individual teams in the conference. They may still have biases towards the particular team they cover, but they also have a better idea about the other teams that they have seen, talked to and generally paid more attention to their activities during and after the season. There are the head-to-head and more common opponents to compare.

The Big East this year, is an exception to that. This time, the beat writers know no more than the pre-season mags. There are 3 new teams to cover and no solid basis to compare them to the other teams. Add in 2 new head coaches to the other 5, and really there is just no way of knowing.

With that extended caveat, the Rutgers beat writer does a BE preview (via Knight Hawk — Rutgers blog).

PITTSBURGH

Nickname: Panthers

Head coach: Dave Wannstedt

Last year’s record: 8-4 (lost to Utah, 35-7, in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl)

Names you should know: QB Tyler Palko, WR Greg Lee, TE Erik Gill, OL Charles Spencer, LB H.B. Blades, CB Bernard “Josh” Lay, CB Darrelle Revis

Football tradition: The Panthers claim nine national championships — the most recent when Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett led Pittsburgh to a 12-0 season in 1976 — as part of their rich football history. Glenn “Pop” Warner and Jock Sutherland, two of the game’s coaching giants, applied their trade at the school, and the program’s list of retired jerseys features several of college football’s all-time greats: Mark May, Dorsett, Dan Marino, Hugh Green, Bill Fralic, Joe Schmidt, Jimbo Covert and Mike Ditka. Pittsburgh ranks 12th among Division 1-A schools with 22 inductees in the college football Hall of Fame.

Why they will finish higher than Rutgers: The cupboard certainly wasn’t left bare for Wannstedt, a Pittsburgh graduate who was the Miami Dolphins’ head coach from 2000-04. After earning a share of the Big East title and representing the league in the BCS, the Panthers return 16 starters and both kickers. Palko, a junior, blossomed into a star the second half of last season.
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FIVE GAMES YOU SHOULDN’T MISS

Notre Dame at Pittsburgh, Sept. 3

Irish usher in the Charlie Weis era just as the Panthers embark on the Dave Wannstedt era. An important opener for both.

South Florida at Miami, Oct. 1

The Bulls aren’t ready to beat Miami yet, but how much would it help the Big East’s image if USF put a scare into the Hurricanes in the Orange Bowl? Miami is where South Florida wants to be some day.

Louisville at North Carolina, Oct. 8

It’s an ACC-Big East matchup and those always matter now — especially when Louisville looks to be the Big East’s best team.

Pittsburgh at Louisville, Nov. 3

The way things shape up, this should be the game that decides the Big East title and a BCS bowl berth.

Pittsburgh at West Virginia, Nov. 24

The Thanksgiving night matchup is far and away the best rivalry the Big East has to offer. The Backyard Brawl almost always seems to produce something memorable or unexpected.
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BEST OFFENSIVE PLAYER

Tyler Palko, QB, Pittsburgh

The junior blossomed into one of the country’s top QBs the second half of last season, finishing the year with 3,067 passing yards and 24 TDs.

BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER

H.B. Blades, LB, Pittsburgh

The latest football star from the Blades family — dad, Bennie, and uncles Brian and Al all were standouts at Miami — earned first-team all-league honors as a sophomore last year.

Like everyone else he picks Louisville and Pitt 1 and 2.

The piece also picks Rutgers to have their first winning season since 1992.

An interesting companion piece discusses how all the Big East schools have just completed, are working on, or are about to upgrade their overall athletic facilities. I take that to mean these are programs that will not be losing the Big East’s auto BCS bid without a major fight that I don’t think the rest of the conferences want to happen. Too many documents that could come out in discovery that would not be good for most conferences.

Apparently I’m not the only one concerned about not having enough material in the dead times. CollegeFootballNews.com has an interview with Tyler Palko. They did the interview back in April but have been holding it until today.

CFN: How stressful was the time period between knowing Walt Harris was gone and before the new coaching staff came in? You’re obviously not going to dog your new coaches, but what was your reaction when they decided to hire Dave Wannstedt?

TP: I understand that this is a business and the decision was made by people who are paid to make the hard decisions. I’m not getting paid to make those decisions. I’ve been around football forever, and I understand not to worry about the decisions that are out of my control. Coach Harris and I had a good relationship, and we’ll continue to have a great relationship because of all he did for me through my first three years of college. But the new staff brought in some new energy, and obviously Coach Wannstedt is a very respected coach around Pittsburgh and the NFL. You can’t turn your back on a coach and a staff with so much experience just because you liked the old coach; that’s an immature way to look at it. You have to roll with the punches. Fortunately, the whole experience has been positive so far, and we’re ready to move on to bigger things.

CFN: The current joke is that this is the first time Wannstedt has been able to coach a pro quarterback. Because of your status on the team, did he do anything special to ingratiate himself to you to ease the transition?

TP: When I was at the press conference, he put the pressure on me right away. They asked him about is quarterback situations in the past and how and why they weren’t successful. Then he starts out with how I need to have a great off-season. Actually, he has been tremendous. He sat me down right away and talked to me about being a leader and what’s expected of me this year, and he talked to me about always working and always getting better. I’ve always been evaluating and working on what I need to do to get better, so he really didn’t tell me anything earth shattering. It’s all about working hard and being a leader, and I already feel like I try to do both.

It may be just me, but it seems like every other week I find yet another interview or update piece on Yogi Roth. This one fleshes out Roth getting his present job on Pete Carroll staff at USC.

Roth received his present job offer when discussing job possibilities with ESPN.

“Coach Carroll offered me this position when I was sitting in a meeting with ESPN,” said Roth, who is single and lives in Hermosa Beach, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles. “They told me at ESPN that television isn’t going anywhere and they said I can always come back to television.

“But what’s going on at USC is very special.”

Roth’s relationship with Carroll developed during his early days at Pitt. Carroll’s son, Brennan, was a tight end at Pitt.

“He was two years older than I was and he took me under his wing,” Roth said. ” I would go out to the West Coast during summers and work coach Carroll’s camps.”

You know, I forgot that Pete Carroll’s son was a Pitt grad. Hmmm. Carroll and Wanny are reasonably close. You don’t suppose all of these connections would help work out a home-and-home with USC in the near future do you?

Canada’s under-21 team completed the sweep in the tourney warm-up. It wasn’t even close, as Canada put the Australians away early.

Canada defeated Australia 100-80 last night in the final of the inaugural Jack Donohue International Classic, a round-robin tournament held at the Hershey Centre this week. The Canadians were 4-0 in the tournament and led at the end of each quarter of the final last night. They were sparked by some torrid three-point shooting. Andy Rautins, a Canadian citizen who played high-school basketball in Syracuse, N.Y., where he’ll attend university in the fall, connected on six three-pointers, including five in the first half, and led all scorers with 20 points. Canada shot 13-for-25 as a team from behind the arc. Levon Kendall of Vancouver chipped in 14 points and a game best total of eight rebounds in 19 minutes.

It was, apparently, Levon Kendall’s 3rd straight good game. In the game against China the day before, he sparked the rout in the 3rd quarter with 9 points and 2 rebounds.

Canada will face 2 of the 3 teams — Australia and Greece — again next week in the real tournament. They are all in the same grouping that will play round robin, along with Argentina, Israel and Iran. The US squad is in the other grouping.

Kendall also gets a piece discussing him as the anchor and key for this squad in the upcoming games, and speculating as to whether he can make the NBA.

The question is how far Kendall’s basketball journey will take him. Based on his production at the University of Pittsburgh, where he averaged 3.5 points and 2.5 rebounds a game in a part-time role last season, a spot in the Panthers’ starting lineup would be a worthy goal.

Based on his performance for Canada this summer, that journey could lead to the National Basketball Association.

“Can Levon Kendall play in the NBA? I think he’s legit,” said Leo Rautins, the head coach of Canada’s senior men’s team. “I’ve told him, ‘Hey, you can be an NBA player,’ but he’s got a little bit of that West Coast casual in him. He’s got to break through the casual. When he’s intense, when he goes at people, he hurts people.”

But perhaps the most important step Kendall made in realizing his potential came while lifting weights in Vancouver in May. A documentary featuring Steve Nash, Todd MacCulloch and Jamaal Magloire was on television, and Kendall noticed a common thread among the three Canadians who made it to the NBA.

“I noticed that every one of them said at one point they made a decision that they wanted to play in the NBA,” Kendall said. “Up until then, I’d never really fully committed. Obviously, it was a goal, but when people would ask me about it, I would say: ‘We’ll see what happens after school. If not I’ll go overseas.’ “

And now? “I realized I have to make a choice and commit. Now, whenever anyone asks me, I say my goal is to play in the NBA. That kind of puts it out there.”

If he’s serious, it will have to start at Pitt this season. It will be his senior season. He should have a shot to start at small forward and it will be up to him to make the most of it. He’s going to have to show the intensity he showed in early in Big East play and much more consistency in his shot then the brief flashes he had in that stretch.