Someone take some zinc, and maybe som echinacea or something over to Aaron Gray. At the very least some green tea to get him healthy for Saturday. He’s been battling some bug since the Duquesne game, and now with the Wisconsin game looming, his status is in doubt (that, or Jamie Dixon is going Bill Belicheck this year).

Looks like Paul Zeise will be filling in a bit on the Pitt basketball beat for the P-G. Ray Fittipaldo probably has to get back to the PSU beat for a couple weeks for their bowl game. So Zeise has the b-ball coverage including today’s online chat.

iambringingsexyback: Paul, after 10 games , what is the biggest weakness on this team? A legitimate scorer, someone who can take over a game? Lack of frontcourt depth?

Paul Zeise: That’s a great question. I think Mike Cook can be that go-to guy but he obviously has to become more assertive on offense and develop that scorers mentality. It is tough given the system the Panthers play for anyone to really step out like that but I think it really helps come tourney time when you have that one guy you can go to and get a basket when you need it. I think the outside shooting probably is still a question even though they’ve been shooting fairly well from the outside in most of their games. The only other question is this- – if a game is called tight, like most NCAA games are, especially in the NCAA, can this team adjust? They haven’t in the past, but this seems to be a little more skilled and athletic team than we’ve seen.

Everyone will have to step up on Saturday. Even with Gray Wisconsin matched up well with Pitt.

To the surprise of no one, Buddy Morris was hired for his third go-round as Pitt’s Strength & Conditioning Coach. Tom Myslinski was hired as the assistant, again as widely expected.

Not really fired up too much about this one way or the other (hat tip Joe T).

“One guy graduated from here, the other got his master’s from here,” Wannstedt said. “So this means more to them than just a regular job. I think our goal here was to get the strength and conditioning staff in place as quickly as possible because we felt like the areas we needed most improvement in are our strength and our toughness, both mentally and physically.

“I believe Buddy and Tom will push our team and will help us achieve the kind of growth in those areas during this offseason and moving forward. These are two of the best in the business, we’re fortunate to have them both.”

All sounds good.  I’m not sure how big an impact this will actually have, other than Coach Wannstedt being more comfortable with them in those positions.

The former strength and conditioning coach, Mike Kent was hired from Louisville, where he received a decent amount of credit for the job he did with their strength and conditioning as their profile was rising. Kent, as I recall, stressed a lot more on the conditioning and stretching/flexibility to avoid injuries and create more speed and stamina. Something, in theory, Wannstedt probably agrees. The results, of course generally didn’t reflect that — at least on the lines.

Not much going on right now. Almost forced to look to the high school level and future Pitt players. Southern Columbia, led by Pitt recruit Henry Hynoski will be going for its 5th straight championship at the A-level.

All the PIAA Championships are scheduled for this weekend in Hershey.

So, if you feel like, you can scan the nominees for All-Pennsylvania team at A, AA, AAA and AAAA for Pitt recruits and remaining tagets.