Probably without intending to, ESPN.com’s Andy Katz managed to make me a little nervous about Pitt’s upcoming trip to Ireland this summer.

The Panthers are the pick to win the Big East with the return of every starter save Jermaine Dixon. The last time Pitt went on a foreign trip it was to Canada in August 2004. Coach Jamie Dixon had just completed his first year and the core of the group was still young with Levon Kendall, Carl Krauser, Chevon Troutman, Ronald Ramon and Chris Taft highlighting the roster. That team finished 20-9 and was a No. 9 seed.

The expectations are even higher for this group. That’s why Dixon wanted to take advantage of the new rule, and the team will be in Ireland from July 29 to Aug. 9.

From a basketball perspective, the practices — like the one the Panthers held last Friday and will again this Friday — are key. The most important issue for Pitt is figuring out the rotation, especially up front.

Pitt has several big men, Nasir Robinson, Gary McGhee, Dante Taylor, J.J. Richardson and Lamar Patterson, who will all have to figure out their roles. In the backcourt, the Panthers will likely go with a three-guard lineup of returnees Ashton Gibbs, Brad Wanamaker and Gilbert Brown in place of Jermaine Dixon. But incoming freshmen Isaiah Epps and Cameron Wright could certainly push those three at times. Learning how they handle the road will be key for Jamie Dixon.

Dixon said that when he took the team to Canada in 2004, he was hoping to find an effective 3. He didn’t on the trip and said he was still searching in March.

This roster isn’t devoid of options for him. But he’ll learn quite a bit more on this excursion and he’ll have plenty to ponder come October.

But way to remind what a disappointing season 2004-05 turned out to be, and just how little that trip did to help.

The new rule this year with the trip is that freshman are eligible to go as long as they have taken at least one summer class.

Katz also points out that last year the Pac-10 sought to have the NCAA ban these trips outright — ostensibly to save athletic departments money. This despite the fact that most teams get the funds for the trips from other sources (last year, Vandy coach Kevin Stallings paid for his team’s overseas trip out of his own pocket).

I find this somewhat illustrative, however, of the fact that while the NCAA gets blasted for many things, it is not simply some 3d party monolith that imposes its will capriciously on the helpless schools. The NCAA is made and run by the schools and reflects their own desires and controls. All of those strange, arcane and strange decisions have their basis and genesis usually from the member institutions.

Ray Mernagh has a puff piece on Pitt assistant Brandin Knight.

So when Knight’s phone rang earlier in the spring and former fellow assistant Mike Rice was on the line offering him the associate head coach position at Rutgers, three versions of Knight’s “family” came into play. The fact that it was Rice calling changed the whole scenario for Knight and for the first time since being at Pittsburgh as a coach he really had to consider leaving. Another aspect of the job offer was that it would bring Knight and his family back to their roots in Jersey, and more importantly, back close to Mel and Brenda Knight who are getting older. The job offer was also a chance for Knight to go somewhere else (he’s spent his entire coaching career at Pitt) and to spread his wings a little. It was also a “promotion” in terms of hierarchy, he would be the point man for Rice, working hand in hand trying to bring a program from the depths back to a place that mattered.

Knight thought about it before deciding that he had already been a part of a reclamation project of that scale, and while he thinks Rice is likely to get the job done at Rutgers, things are pretty good at Pitt. Knight knows that when the time comes to leave he’ll know it, and the thought here is that it will be for a head coaching opportunity at a lower level and not an assistant spot. Dixon has become a coach that helps guys get jobs if that’s what they want. For Knight, the situation will have to be right to jump. He’ll need to know he has a really good chance to succeed at whatever job he eventually leaves Pittsburgh for.

It had to be a tempting offer. Staying for at least this year could be even more beneficial. If Pitt can have the kind of year hoped, then his stock rises higher. It also has to be remembered that Knight is only 28. Still rather young for coaching. He definitely is on a fast track, but there is time.