Aaron Gray is starting to get some love in the Big East. This year, with 16 teams the Big East is doing the co-player of the week thing and also listing several other players in the “honor roll.” Gray made the honor roll list this week. He was also the recipient of the lead story in the Hartford Courant’s Big East notebook.

Center Chris Taft was a big part of everything Pittsburgh accomplished last season – a very big part at 6 feet 10 and 250 pounds. It isn’t easy to replace 13.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and the physical presence Taft gave the Panthers inside.

But Aaron Gray is trying. And it doesn’t hurt that Gray is 7-0 and 275 pounds.
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Gray, who scored 10 points against Auburn, is averaging 13.6 points and 9.2 rebounds. He is playing 25 minutes, almost double what he averaged last season as a sophomore. And coach Jamie Dixon couldn’t be happier.

“It’s been pretty steady, but all in all, it’s been a dramatic improvement from the day we signed him,” Dixon said. “People wouldn’t recognize him now. He’s getting better and better. The obvious things are his body and conditioning. Those are the things that really stand out.

“But his biggest improvements this year have been defensively, away from the ball, and he is scoring more around the basket. He’s just more comfortable. He’s doing the little things that big guys have to do. He’s keeping the ball up, getting his balance, playing without the ball, and working for position. When you look at the whole picture, it’s been a dramatic improvement over three years.”

The AP Writers poll took some notice of Pitt’s blowout of Auburn. Pitt isn’t ranked, but got 18 points in the “others receiving votes” portion. Roughly making them #34.