I’m on DVR delay tonight, so no liveblog. Fire away,  but try to keep it somewhat clean.

Rivals.com has a story on commitments expected at the game this weekend.

Other Rivals100 players are also expected to announce. Monroeville (Pa.) Gateway defensive end Shayne Hale will choose between Pitt, Ohio State and Virginia and is expected to put on a Panthers hat. Hale hadn’t been considering Pitt until recently so his change of heart is quite a surprise and would be huge for Dave Wannstedt and his staff.

Just about 5 weeks to NLI day.

There was the story from Joe Starkey on Brian Davis. Essentially about what was and might of been.

What happened at Pitt?

“Basically, I stopped going to class,” Davis said. “Can’t blame anyone but myself. I’m not the only one who’s ever done that, won’t be the last, but I can’t blame anyone but myself.”

Davis believes he erred in staying too close to home. He put too much time into entertaining his homeboys from Washington and too little into taking care of business at Pitt.

Davis, though, is content with his life and has one.

Not so for Todd Becker.

Becker made waves as a true freshman on special teams for Pitt, a top-10 program at the time, and was named special teams captain as a sophomore. But on Dec. 16, 1982 — the day before the team was set to fly to Fort Worth for the game — his life came to a tragic end.

At the time, Becker had been banned from a dormitory for several minor infractions, most notably squirting a fire extinguisher. He snuck into the building to attend a party thrown by several of his teammates, but when authorities were called, he fled for fear that he wouldn’t be able to play in the bowl if he were caught.

Becker ultimately fell to his death from a third-story window. He was 20 years old.

The program hasn’t been the same since, enduring just 12 winning seasons in the ensuing 25 years. Pitt lost that year to SMU, reached another New Year’s Day bowl in ’83, but didn’t return until 2004 — and even then, was highly overmatched.

Something that has more to do with coaches, recruiting and players since then; but it makes an interesting time mark.

The regrouping game.

The Leopards, who went 9-21 last season and lost games this season to Wagner and Farleigh Dickinson, afford Pitt a chance to tinker with its rotation before heading into the 18-game conference schedule.

Pitt’s Big East opener is Sunday at No. 17 Villanova (10-1).

“(Lafayette is) going to go out here and play us hard,” Ramon said. “That’s for sure. But at the same time it’s a game that we can see different lineups and see how we are synchronized out there as a team.”

Hopefully, all nine scholarship players will get a chance.

Dixon will start two seniors, a junior and two freshmen against Lafayette. Another freshman, Brad Wanamaker, is the only healthy reserve guard. And two other first-year players — junior-college transfer Cassin Diggs and freshman Gary McGhee — could be pressed into action as well.

Pitt opens Big East play Sunday at Villanova, so the game tonight is one in which the Panthers can experiment with different combinations.

…

Dixon likely will try many different combinations over the next few weeks as he tries to figure out what is best for his team in the wake of the injuries.

One option is playing a bigger lineup that would include Diggs or McGhee and Tyrell Biggs.

Junior forward Sam Young, the team’s leading scorer, has experience playing small forward and could play some there with Biggs at power forward and Blair at center. He could even move Blair to power forward and play with Diggs or McGhee at center.

It’s going to be something to see just how flexible some of the players are. Young prefers to be an undersized PF. He was unhappy trying to play the small forward spot last year. Will he be more flexible if Pitt needs him to be elsewhere?

I guess, to some degree, it will be a question of leadership on the court from players like Young and Ramon.