Keith Benjamin was the most productive player for Pitt in the win against Maine. He had 10 points (4-5) and 4 assists in only 17 minutes. He gets the lead piece in a story as much about the Pitt players being moved into different positions.

Pitt sophomore Keith Benjamin was recruited to Pitt to be the replacement for Julius Page at shooting guard. Benjamin was the same type of player as Page, who was athletic, could score and play tough defense.

But 15 months into his college career, the man who was supposed to blossom into Pitt’s next great shooting guard is playing a new position. Benjamin is sharing minutes at small forward with John DeGroat and Antonio Graves. And Benjamin, 6 feet 2, 190 pounds, admits the transition has not been easy.

“There’s been an adjustment mentally, physically, everything,” Benjamin said. “Sometimes I go home mad, saying, ‘I’m a shooter, man. I’m a scorer.’ Then I come back to the gym every day and I realize this is what I have to do for my team. Coach [Jaime] Dixon sees a lot in me playing the three [position], so I’m just trying to put my best effort out there.”

Benjamin is one of several players who are playing out of position as Dixon attempts to find roles for his top players. Graves was the starter at shooting guard for most of last season, but is playing a lot of small forward this season. Sam Young, recruited to be the small forward, is playing power forward. And Tyrell Biggs, recruited as a power forward, is playing center.

The position changes were made because Dixon has a bevy of talented guards but not a backup at center.

Benjamin had a series of nagging injuries last year that aided in keeping him buried on the bench last season.

Coach Dixon appears to be minimizing the position switch issue because in the present system, “there’s not a lot of difference between the shooting guard and the small forward.”

Offensively, I can’t disagree. I worry more about on the defensive side, where as the competition and talent improves there will be bigger, stronger, faster players that can take it inside a lot easier.

Obviously the player facing the most scrutiny this season will be Carl Krauser. There’s been a lot of arguing as to whether Krauser coming back this season was a good or bad thing. Not for helping the team win, but helping the young players develop. I’ve been back and forth on this. Others have gone the opposite way.

With that in mind, this should be a rebuilding year for the Panthers. Let the talented group of young guards that have played — Ronald Ramon, Antonio Graves and Keith Benjamin — gel with freshman standout Levance Fields for a year, and while Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall mature for another year, the sky could be the limit for the 2006-07 Panthers.

However, with Krauser here this season, that rebuilding won’t happen to the extent that it should.

I’ll be the first to tell you I’m a Krauser fan. Krauser is the best athlete to interview and is always a treat to be around. And if I’m not covering the games, I’ll be jumping up and down in the Zoo making the “X” over my head when he hits a three. But I just don’t think Dixon and the Pitt program should be thankful that Krauser is back this year.

It’s not Krauser’s fault, but it just seems obvious that while he might help the team this year more than the younger guards would, this fifth year might be detrimental to Pitt in the long run.

It will be interesting as the season plays out if Krauser’s playing time gets cut and Dixon begins thinking about the future of his program. That will depend on how Krauser and the young Panthers do in the tough Big East.

I don’t think Dixon would have had the luxury of many fans being willing to write this season off as a rebuilding year without Krauser. There seems to be the early stages of a hardening of opinion regarding Dixon. Even with a legitimate rebuilding year, there would have been a lot of blame placed on Dixon. How Krauser, the team and the future is handled is more about Dixon than anything else.

After Krauser, the player under the most scrutiny is Aaron Gray. Gray was like a back-up QB last year. Very popular, but not called upon to do too much. Now he’s the starter and people are quick to rip him for not playing forceful enough. This is his first year as a starter. He barely got on the floor as a freshman. His sophomore year saw him rarely reach 10 minutes in a game. He could come in and not worry about foul troubles. Now he is starting and will be expected to be in there 25-35 minutes a game. It’s an adjustment.

“Playing against these (non-conference) teams, it’s definitely great that we don’t play against (the likes of) UConn and Syracuse right away,” Gray said. “It gives our team a chance to tune-up the things we need to. It gives a chance for guys to get a lot more comfortable.”

Gray, who is second on the team to Krauser in scoring (12.3 ppg.) and leads in rebounding (10.3 rpg.), shot 6-for-10 against Maine. But, as he has done in every game so far, he misfired on several shots near the basket.

It doesn’t seem to concern him, though.

“Every night, I just come out and try to play as hard as I can,” he said. “I’m not really a numbers guy. The only number I look at right now is three, because we’re 3-0 as a team.”

Those missed open shots seemed to generate the most complaints. Centers, almost without exception, are projects. They come to college after easily dominating in high school entirely based on size. They take time to learn about footwork and positioning. College brings greater balance by virtue of speed, leaping ability and more size. Gray’s development through the season is being heavily scrutinized.

At least his hometown area is happy to see him starting.

Ex-Lehigh Valley standouts are playing well.
…
Aaron Gray, the 7-foot center from Emmaus, is starting for the first time at Pittsburgh and has played like the beast he’ll definitely need to be once the Big East season begins. In three games, he’s averaged 12.0 points and 10.3 rebounds, and has attempted more free throws (19) than any other Panther.

He had a career-high 13 rebounds, plus 15 points and four blocks in Pitt’s 62-49 win over Maine Saturday night.

Hey, if all of Scranton can become a Syracuse bastion because of McNamara, maybe Gray can help out on the Eastern part of Pennsylvania.

Keith Benjamin was the most productive player for Pitt in the win against Maine. He had 10 points (4-5) and 4 assists in only 17 minutes. He gets the lead piece in a story as much about the Pitt players being moved into different positions.

Pitt sophomore Keith Benjamin was recruited to Pitt to be the replacement for Julius Page at shooting guard. Benjamin was the same type of player as Page, who was athletic, could score and play tough defense.

But 15 months into his college career, the man who was supposed to blossom into Pitt’s next great shooting guard is playing a new position. Benjamin is sharing minutes at small forward with John DeGroat and Antonio Graves. And Benjamin, 6 feet 2, 190 pounds, admits the transition has not been easy.

“There’s been an adjustment mentally, physically, everything,” Benjamin said. “Sometimes I go home mad, saying, ‘I’m a shooter, man. I’m a scorer.’ Then I come back to the gym every day and I realize this is what I have to do for my team. Coach [Jaime] Dixon sees a lot in me playing the three [position], so I’m just trying to put my best effort out there.”

Benjamin is one of several players who are playing out of position as Dixon attempts to find roles for his top players. Graves was the starter at shooting guard for most of last season, but is playing a lot of small forward this season. Sam Young, recruited to be the small forward, is playing power forward. And Tyrell Biggs, recruited as a power forward, is playing center.

The position changes were made because Dixon has a bevy of talented guards but not a backup at center.

Benjamin had a series of nagging injuries last year that aided in keeping him buried on the bench last season.

Coach Dixon appears to be minimizing the position switch issue because in the present system, “there’s not a lot of difference between the shooting guard and the small forward.”

Offensively, I can’t disagree. I worry more about on the defensive side, where as the competition and talent improves there will be bigger, stronger, faster players that can take it inside a lot easier.

Obviously the player facing the most scrutiny this season will be Carl Krauser. There’s been a lot of arguing as to whether Krauser coming back this season was a good or bad thing. Not for helping the team win, but helping the young players develop. I’ve been back and forth on this. Others have gone the opposite way.

With that in mind, this should be a rebuilding year for the Panthers. Let the talented group of young guards that have played — Ronald Ramon, Antonio Graves and Keith Benjamin — gel with freshman standout Levance Fields for a year, and while Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall mature for another year, the sky could be the limit for the 2006-07 Panthers.

However, with Krauser here this season, that rebuilding won’t happen to the extent that it should.

I’ll be the first to tell you I’m a Krauser fan. Krauser is the best athlete to interview and is always a treat to be around. And if I’m not covering the games, I’ll be jumping up and down in the Zoo making the “X” over my head when he hits a three. But I just don’t think Dixon and the Pitt program should be thankful that Krauser is back this year.

It’s not Krauser’s fault, but it just seems obvious that while he might help the team this year more than the younger guards would, this fifth year might be detrimental to Pitt in the long run.

It will be interesting as the season plays out if Krauser’s playing time gets cut and Dixon begins thinking about the future of his program. That will depend on how Krauser and the young Panthers do in the tough Big East.

I don’t think Dixon would have had the luxury of many fans being willing to write this season off as a rebuilding year without Krauser. There seems to be the early stages of a hardening of opinion regarding Dixon. Even with a legitimate rebuilding year, there would have been a lot of blame placed on Dixon. How Krauser, the team and the future is handled is more about Dixon than anything else.

After Krauser, the player under the most scrutiny is Aaron Gray. Gray was like a back-up QB last year. Very popular, but not called upon to do too much. Now he’s the starter and people are quick to rip him for not playing forceful enough. This is his first year as a starter. He barely got on the floor as a freshman. His sophomore year saw him rarely reach 10 minutes in a game. He could come in and not worry about foul troubles. Now he is starting and will be expected to be in there 25-35 minutes a game. It’s an adjustment.

“Playing against these (non-conference) teams, it’s definitely great that we don’t play against (the likes of) UConn and Syracuse right away,” Gray said. “It gives our team a chance to tune-up the things we need to. It gives a chance for guys to get a lot more comfortable.”

Gray, who is second on the team to Krauser in scoring (12.3 ppg.) and leads in rebounding (10.3 rpg.), shot 6-for-10 against Maine. But, as he has done in every game so far, he misfired on several shots near the basket.

It doesn’t seem to concern him, though.

“Every night, I just come out and try to play as hard as I can,” he said. “I’m not really a numbers guy. The only number I look at right now is three, because we’re 3-0 as a team.”

Those missed open shots seemed to generate the most complaints. Centers, almost without exception, are projects. They come to college after easily dominating in high school entirely based on size. They take time to learn about footwork and positioning. College brings greater balance by virtue of speed, leaping ability and more size. Gray’s development through the season is being heavily scrutinized.

At least his hometown area is happy to see him starting.

Ex-Lehigh Valley standouts are playing well.
…
Aaron Gray, the 7-foot center from Emmaus, is starting for the first time at Pittsburgh and has played like the beast he’ll definitely need to be once the Big East season begins. In three games, he’s averaged 12.0 points and 10.3 rebounds, and has attempted more free throws (19) than any other Panther.

He had a career-high 13 rebounds, plus 15 points and four blocks in Pitt’s 62-49 win over Maine Saturday night.

Hey, if all of Scranton can become a Syracuse bastion because of McNamara, maybe Gray can help out on the Eastern part of Pennsylvania.