A round-up of some stuff from national sites on Pitt basketball.
From a chat with ESPN’s Andy Katz:
Paul (San Diego – Pitt Alum): Is Pitt able to live up to the hype this year. They are being touted as a final four team again but I just see us settling for another Sweet 16 exit. Can you ease my mind?
Andy Katz: Yes they can. Aaron Gray is better and so are the guards in Ronald Ramon and Levance Fields. Levon Kendall has become one of the top role players in the Big East and a capable scoring option. I still say there is a high ceiling for Sam Young. So, yes, they should be in the group that goes for a Final Four berth.
Luke Winn at SI.com blogs his “All-Attribute team.”
THE GLASSMASTER-AT-BOTH-ENDS CENTER: Aaron Gray, Sr., Pitt.
Rebounding percentage — not total rebounds, but the percent of available boards grabbed while on the floor — was the determining factor in this pick. And in that department, no one comes close to Gray, who ranked in the top-10 nationally in both offensive and defensive rebounding. The Panthers’ 7-footer, who matured from reserve to national star last season and was a late scratch from the 2006 NBA Draft, got his hands on 15.7 percent of offensive boards (seventh in the country) and an amazing 27.0 percent of defensive boards (fourth in the country) — better than such monsters as Tyrus Thomas of LSU, Leon Powe of Cal and Paul Millsap of Louisiana Tech. The pros may have been skeptical about Gray’s athleticism, but he’s welcome on this team any time.
Meanwhile Seth Davis sits down with Jamie Dixon and Orlando Antigua for dinner at an old favorite Tessaro’s in Bloomfield after taking in a Pitt practice. He raises some serious questions about the team leadership, but comes in at the end with this.
Bottom line: Not only has Pitt not reached the Final Four since 1941, but the Panthers have not been past the Round of 16 since then either. They’re one of only four schools to make the NCAAs in each of the last five years, and three of those times they reached the Sweet 16. This feels to me like a program ready to break through. Pencil in the Panthers to at least reach the Elite Eight. If they get a little lucky, a trip to Atlanta is definitely within their grasp.
Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News thinks Pitt will end up redshirting Freshman Center Austin Wallace. It makes sense with Gray, Tyrell Biggs and Doyle Hudson all ahead of him. Next year it will just be Biggs. Give Wallace time to really learn and have full eligibility. Not that he has a big shot of getting meaningful playing time.
