So much to choose from on topics. Pitt basketball and the IUP exhibition tomorrow? Pitt football trying to remember how to score in the red zone? Mindless babble on expansion of the Big East and candidates?

Fine. Basketball it is.

In case you didn’t know, Coach Dixon has no problem expecting big things from this team this year. No downplaying goals. No excuses about youth, talent, size, etc.

Dixon has been vocal about the Panthers taking the next step and winning a title, but he shrugged off the importance of reaching a Final Four. The goal, he said, has always been to win it all. Nothing less.

“The goal is to win the national championship,” Dixon said. “If you get it, it’s not going to change anything. North Carolina won a national championship [in 2009] and what were they trying to do this past year? They weren’t thinking about their national championship last year.”

And the players feel the same way.

“We always have high expectations, so that hasn’t changed,” forward Gilbert Brown said. “But our goal is to exceed expectations. We’ve come close, but we want to do something very special this year.

As much as there is a part of me that fears the letdown if they fall short, I love the fact that the coach and players are willing to embrace the expectations and goals. Taking the pressure with it.

A little love from Indiana for Gary McGhee.

Gary McGhee’s college basketball career at the University of Pittsburgh has been all about progressing from one step to the next.

McGhee was a four-year varsity starter in high school for the Highland Scots. When he arrived on campus in Pittsburgh, the 6-foot-10 McGhee had to bide his time on the bench with DeJuan Blair firmly entrenched in the post for the Panthers. After Blair left school early for the NBA, McGhee made his way into the starting lineup.

Entering his senior season, McGhee was selected as Pitt’s team captain in a vote among his teammates and was the Panthers’ representative for Big East media day in New York.

“It means a lot (that my team named me captain),” McGhee said in a phone interview. “I take it seriously. It’s a lot of hard work, proving yourself from freshman to senior year.”

Nothing like seeing local kids develop and succeed. The good thing for this team, is McGhee doesn’t necessarily have to be great every game. Just better.

Finally a piece on Coach Dixon, recruiting and hiring assistants. Well worth reading all of it. Some of it has been mentioned before, but a good piece.

When former Pitt assistant Tom Herrion left to be head coach at Marshall, Dixon probably had 500 calls inquiring about the job. Assistants calling to promote themselves, head coaches calling to promote assistants, you name it.

He also was prepared. Dixon has long kept a list of 10-20 names within reach at all times. He adds and subtract names from it continuall, and he’s constantly on the lookout for impressive young assistants should he need to fill a spot down the line.

Dixon knew Providence’s Pat Skerry had great relationships in the NEPSAC, with both players and coaches. The NEPSAC alone has five of the top-25 kids from the class of 2012 as well as five of the top-25 from 2013 currently playing in it. Birch was thought to be close to committing to Providence early before Dixon hired Skerry away from the Friars. Birch visited, liked Pitt, the players and most importantly Dixon, and committed.

Jason Smith coaches Brewster Academy in the NEPSAC and has 10 future D-1 players on his roster, including 2011 Pitt commit Durand Johnson.

“The hiring of coach Skerry combined with the success that Dixon has had will make Pitt very appealing to any kid in this league,” says Smith. “All of us have known Pat Skerry for years and have great relationships with him. It was a great hire by Jamie.”

That Pitt success, along with the recent pros to come out of the program, makes scout Antonio Curro, who runs NY2LA Sports and his own scouting service, think it’s simply a natural progression that Dixon is now getting kids like Birch.

Which is something I’ve always believed with Coach Dixon. He builds long-term. His reputation. His success. It is all carefully controlled growth. Not flashy. Not right away with everything, but just getting things going and building on what came last.