The season opener is tomorrow, and given the upset of Kentucky along with struggles by UConn (and by the way they are in another, uh, dogfight with Buffalo as I write this) and Memphis, I take nothing for granted.

Looks like Pitt might start the season a little thin at small forward with Gilbert Brown banged up.

Brown injured his right (shooting) shoulder in Sunday’s exhibition game against IUP but played through the pain. He has not practiced since.

Brown, a redshirt freshman who was plagued by illness and injuries last season, did some shooting drills yesterday. Coach Jamie Dixon was holding out hope that he would be able to practice today.

“Someone came down on his shoulder as he was lifting it up,” Dixon said yesterday. “There’s going to be some pain. I’m a little concerned that it could be around for a little bit. It could be around for a while. He’s played very well. I’m really happy with his progress, so this is a step back for him being out for a couple of days. We’ll see how he responds [today]. Since he shot today and did some running, I think he’ll be able to go live.”

Dixon declined to say specifically what type of injury Brown has, but he is holding out hope that it is not serious because of Brown’s progress the past few days.

I’d rather hold him out for another week. Brown is going to be needed this year.

Joe Lunardi puts Pitt at #35 in his early Bracketology report.

35. PITTSBURGH. Pitt’s five-year RPI average is 13.6, which is fourth-best in the country after Duke (7.0), Kansas (12.6) and Kentucky (13.4). Certainly Jamie Dixon hasn’t gotten enough credit for an amazing job with the Panthers.

Meanwhile ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. looked at the Big East recruiting for 2008, and observes this about Pitt (INsider subs.).

Jamie Dixon and the Panthers finished last season 28-9 (12-4 Big East), though their frontline was hard hit by the graduation of Aaron Gray and Jason Kendall.

The 2007-08 team will be talented, deep and experienced. It may or may not be good enough to make the NCAA tournament. Their ability to have a good season and make the tournament will probably be based on the ability to replace Gray and Kendall and get production from their newcomers.

The Panthers have had a very good recruiting year getting three talented players: Ashton Gibbs (West Orange, N.J.), Travon Woodall (Jersey City, N.J.) and Nasir Robinson (Chester, Pa.), all who are ranked in the ESPN 150. These three will continue to give Dixon the type of players he loves to have in his program since they are all versatile, tough and can defend.

Clyde Vaughan is still trying to rebuild his reputation after a very abrupt fall from grace at UConn.

After his playing career at Pitt, Vaughan became a rising star in the coaching ranks as an assistant coach for Seth Greenberg at South Florida and then under Jim Calhoun at the University of Connecticut. But in August 2004, his career was derailed when he was arrested for patronizing a prostitute and interfering with police officers during a Hartford, Conn., prostitution sting. Vaughan resigned and has been out of coaching since.

Vaughan is currently working toward a master’s degree at Waubonsie College in Aurora, Ill., while running his All-American Basketball Academy.

His dream and long-term goal is to come back and coach in college again at Pitt. Vaughan said he had discussions with Pitt coach Jamie Dixon in April 2006 after Barry Rohrssen left Pitt to become the head coach at Manhattan. But when it came time to hire a new assistant, Dixon hired Mike Rice.

“I talked to Jamie, and he said the people who make the decisions wouldn’t go for it,” Vaughan said. “It was mostly Jeff Long. Bill [Baierl] fought to get me here.”

I’m not sure Vaughan fully gets that he did it to himself.

“Yeah, I made a mistake,” Vaughan said. “I put myself in a bad situation, and I paid for it. But everyone deserves a second chance, especially at your alma mater. I was really hurt when Pitt didn’t hire me. Other than getting married and having my son, these were the best four years of my life.

“I can get the job done here. I’m not politicking, but I can get you the All-Americans. Pitt is a hard-working town used to getting players like me, guys who overachieved. But I can get you the All-Americans. If you don’t believe me, ask Jim Calhoun or Seth Greenberg. Coach Calhoun called Pitt for me. He told them I was the best recruiter he ever had even though I was only there for two years.”

The self-confidence is still not lacking, but it was such an embarrassing act that he hasn’t been hired since. Despite his self-professed recruiting acumen.

It doesn’t seem that Austin Wallace will be much of a factor this year.

Q: I hear so many things about Pitt’s freshmen, namely DeJuan Blair, Bradley Wannamaker and Gilbert Brown. Whatever happened to Austin Wallace? I hear nothing about him this season. Has he not progressed as the coaches would like?

FITTIPALDO: It does not appear Wallace will have a big role on the team this season. He played only a few minutes in the two exhibition games. Austin was a project when Pitt signed him. He was 17 when he arrived and they redshirted him last season. He just does not appear to have the skill set that the other power forwards and centers on the team have. It’s almost like he’s a tweener — not quite big enough to be a quality center and not quite athletic enough to be an effective power forward.

Hopefully he will continue to develop and in another year be ready for the rotation.

P-G Beat writer Ray Fittipaldo also had his first chat of the season.

99fcpanther: Do you think Diggs and McGhee will get minutes this sesaon as backups to Blair or is McGhee a candidate for a redshirt?

Ray Fittipaldo: Originally, the plan was to try to redshirt McGhee, but I’m not sure if they’ll be able to do that. I know it was only two exhibition games, but I thought McGhee outplayed Diggs. I think they’ll go with Diggs as Blair’s backup in hopes that he can fill that role, but if he does not play up to par, McGhee could find himself playing a role on the team this season. We’ll see how that develops over the first few weeks.

Last year, Pitt had a big luxury in being able to redshirt the freshmen. This year, that isn’t likely. It isn’t necessarily that bad a thing as it does reflect greater talent being recruited and the coaches doing more than paying lip-service to the idea that that the best players play.