Open thread time.

I’m actually not going to listen to the game. I am heading out to drink discuss issues and politics with other bloggers in my area.

Looking forward to reading everyone’s thoughts later.

An article today about balanced scoring on Pitt, sort of.

That’s not the way it is this season. Coach Jamie Dixon has two dependable scorers in senior guard Carl Krauser and junior center Aaron Gray. The third scoring option? Well, Dixon really doesn’t have one. And truth be told, it doesn’t concern him much.

Dixon contends he still has a balanced scoring team. It’s just that it’s hard to recognize at first glance.

“I felt it was going to be different this season,” he said. “Usually you have three or four or five guys in double figures. That’s what you think about when you think about balanced scoring. We’ll have a different type of balanced scoring. We have nine guys with five points or more. I don’t know if a lot of teams have that. That puts balanced scoring in a whole different light.”

After Krauser and Gray, seven players average between 5.0 points and 7.5 points per game. Junior forward Levon Kendall averages 7.5; sophomore guard Ronald Ramon 6.3; freshman forward Sam Young 6.1; freshman guard Levance Fields 5.9; junior guard Antonio Graves 5.9; senior forward John DeGroat 5.1; and sophomore guard/forward Keith Benjamin 5.0.

None of those seven have scored in double figures more than twice this season. Graves scored the most in one game, a modest 15 in the opener against St. Peter’s.

“It’s still balanced scoring when you look at the whole thing,” Dixon said. “The minutes are very balanced. We know who our two scorers are going to be. People are going to talk about who that third scorer is going to be. I don’t think we’re going to have that same guy every game. Our third guy will be the third different guy every night.”

The argument is that there is balanced scoring by position. Not by individuals, because there is so much sharing of time at most spots. It’s a fair point, and at this point is good.

Still, I think most would like to see one of the players start asserting more consistently. Obviously, part of it is having more playing time, but any player will have to first establish that he is the best option on defense.

In the Trib’s notebook they point out that former Panther, Chris Taft is still fighting back spasms and has been inactive for the last 3 weeks for the Warriors. He suffered the back injury during summer league, and hasn’t been whole since.

The notebook also picks up on Trevor Ferguson planning to attend NC State. Hmm. Wonder where they picked up on that?

Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News, notes that the move to shooting guard for Carl Krauser is working well.

Pittsburgh has removed some of the pressure on senior Carl Krauser by starting him at shooting guard and using sophomore Ronald Ramon and freshman Levance Fields for a lot of the point guard minutes. The change appears to be elevating Krauser’s game. Entering the week, he was averaging a career-best 17.6 points and shooting 48.0 percent. He shot 41.1 percent last year.

Admittedly he isn’t facing the good defenses yet, but it is still a great start. I also want to point out this from DeCourcy:

When a team carries an unbeaten record this deep into the season, there are two common reactions to that achievement. Teams that were ranked in preseason polls and magazines are acclaimed as legitimate national contenders. Teams that were unranked are dismissed as frauds. It’s not often that we’re all patient enough to see whether there might be a little magic in some of the latter group — or a few frauds in the former.

He was talking about Tennessee, but it seems applicable to Pitt. Jibes pretty well with what I said earlier, though he probably said it better. Keep winning and eventually they will give the love.

Finally, a strangely late story on Vermont in a rebuilding year and the first time in a couple decades with a new coach. Funny how Pitt managed to get Vermont on the schedule this year.

Last year, Vermont couldn’t find many teams that wanted to schedule it for a non-conference game. Heading into this year, teams couldn’t get the Catamounts scheduled quick enough.

The Catamounts (3-5) visited Pitt Saturday and they gave the Panthers all they could handle before running out of gas and dropping a 63-52 decision. Pitt was one of two Big East schools who won the “sweepstakes” to get a game with the Catamounts, but the Panthers had help. Gabe Rodriguez, the Catamounts’ director of basketball operations, is the cousin of Orlando Antigua, Pitt’s director of basketball operations.

Yeah, that would help.

That seems to be the suggestion of tonight’s game versus Coppin State. The last easy game for Pitt.

Pitt’s cup cake marathon continues. A win will get them to 9-0. They do have a win over Auburn who is playing well, but none of the rest will really mean much. This is the end of the cup cakes for them though. They travel to South Carolina next and are at home against Wisconsin after that. Then it’s on to Big East play.

I’m not going to pull a Lou Holtz and say that I fear an upset. I think Pitt can probably win this game with only a good 20 minutes. Having said that, I’d be very upset if they mailed it in. An argument could be made that there is more of a test for Coach Dixon. The team just got ranked, they are playing a team that is 0-8, and after this game they can head home for a few days break. It’s up to the coach to make sure the team is still ready to play and mentally isn’t already on the plane home.

Of course they are saying the right things:

Unbeaten Pitt (8-0) plays host to winless Coppin State (0-8) tonight at Petersen Events Center for the second consecutive season, but the Panthers aren’t even thinking of chalking up an automatic victory against the Eagles, who are in the midst of perhaps the nation’s most difficult non-conference schedule.

“That’s a team that definitely wants to go out there and show people they can play. We can’t underestimate them,” Pitt guard Ronald Ramon said.

Coppin State has yet to play a home game and is playing probably the most difficult non-con. This has included: Charlotte, Xavier, Illinois, Clemson, UCLA and Oklahoma. Then, after Pitt, they have Michigan and Michigan State. Give Fang Mitchell credit for scheduling like this, and pretty much covering the costs and then some for the basketball program with all of these guaranteed games.