I’d be completely frazzled if my dad spent a month living in my place.

Ricardo Ramon, Ronald’s father and a former professional basketball player in the Dominican Republic, Argentina and Brazil, moved in for a month in August. It was a month Ronald and Keith will never forget and one that could have a big impact on Pitt’s season.

“It’s funny,” Ronald Ramon said. “When you leave home, you don’t have anyone in control over you anymore. When he was in the house, he was trying to tell us what to do. He definitely put the rules down.”

He was there to help his son get his conditioning back after having to take 3 months off from shoulder surgery. Seems he basically took it upon himself to coach and practice most of the team during the summer.

So for four weeks it was basketball boot camp. Ricardo Ramon put Ramon, Benjamin and other Panthers through three-a-days. In the mornings, they would go to Schenley Park for a morning run. In the afternoon, it was weight lifting. In the evenings, it was basketball drills and pickup games.

“I took all that time off and I needed to get back in shape,” said Ramon, who is a native of Brooklyn, N.Y. “I was going to go home, but we had all the facilities here for us. It helped me a lot. I got back into shape, back where I want to be. It was a big confidence boost for me because I couldn’t play for two or three months.”

Senior center Aaron Gray, who returned to Pitt for his senior season after entertaining thoughts of going to the NBA, said the workouts were some of the hardest he has gone through.

“He was killing us,” Gray said. “But it was real good. It made us better.”

Not surprisingly Coach Dixon and the Panther coaches had no problem with this. NCAA rules prohibit them from doing much team coaching in the off-season, so this can only help.

Still, having your dad there for the month. You know he took some serious grief for that.