More link clearance time. This one on the football side of things.

More Zach Brown stuff. Nice thing for media on transfers. Everyone can talk right away about it. Coaches can talk freely.

“I’m excited about having him,” Pitt co-offensive coordinator Calvin Magee said. “I’m excited about the experience he is going to bring. He’s been in big games. He’s a big, punishing running back. Now, we have two veterans (backs) who have been in the game and understand what we want.”

Brown, who was twice voted his high school team’s most unselfish player, epitomizes what Pitt is seeking, Magee said.

“He brings a great work ethic and so much character. This is what we are preaching.”

Brown, who is from Florida, was down to Pitt or Wisconsin when he was in high school. Glad to see he gets a do-over, even if the coaches are different.

“It’s a great opportunity to play there and showcase my talents,” he said. “Plus it’s a great school academic-wise.” Brown has a degree in history.

Brown, who likely would have started the season no higher than third on Wisconsin’s depth chart, said the ability to play right away at Pitt appealed to him.

I’m sure the academics are a nice plus, but let’s be honest. It’s knowing he comes to Pitt and immediately has the #2 spot on the depth chart going into camp.

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The Big East schedule is sort of known — at least home and away part. The non-con is mostly complete with the Philly challenge the usual City Game, the Big East/SEC game at Tennessee.

Heck, now we even know that one of the exhibition games will be with Kentucky… Wesleyan College.

In addition, Pittsburgh Coach Jamie Dixon (a California Native) and KWC Coach Todd Lee (a former assistant at UC-Irvine) have worked out a deal to have the Pitt Panthers square off against the KWC Panthers.

It will be Panther on Panther action. KWC is a D-2 school and apparently thinking about dropping to D-3.

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I suppose it is possible that the Big East might one day re-invite Temple to join the Big East. Maybe even as a full member. One day. Possibly. After the formation of four 16-team mega conferences and the Big East is just trying to put enough programs together to say, “at least there is basketball.” It could happen.

So, yes, I’ve been aware of the stories floating about Temple recruits saying that Temple is heading to the Big East for the past week.They’ve amused me. But not taken seriously. Still, there’s nearly two months left before the start of the season, and a month or so before camps open. So I guess I can take a little time on this one.

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I have yet to convince the wife that I should be allowed to take a Wednesday afternoon to drive to Pittsburgh. Sit in a crowded gym and watch exhibition basketball, then come back that night. For some reason she still does not see the value of me spending almost $50 on gas and tolls for this while she’s stuck with the kids.

The next best thing has been following the tweets of Pitt writers, fans and bloggers who are at Greentree. Always entertaining and definitely gets one ready for the following season.

The complaint — and really it has been the complaint since the summer league started — is that Greentree is just too damn small. It seats only 400, and with free admission the place is packed.  The issue is that the same NCAA rules that prevent the coaches of Pitt, WVU, Duquesne and Robert Morris from organizing, paying for, or running the summer league also prohibit use of the school facilities. This means the Pete or Palumbo are not options. And you know the Con won’t do it for free.

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With the exception of a few non-cons that are already set, the Pitt basketball schedule is still an amorphous blob. We know a lot of the teams Pitt will play. We just don’t know when — and up until yesterday: where.

That is no longer the case with the Big East announcing the match-ups for all the teams.

Thanks to the NCAA-record 11 BIG EAST teams that played in the 2011 NCAA Championship, this year’s schedule includes an unprecedented 131 games — or 91 percent of the conference ledger — that will feature at least one NCAA tournament team from last year. Sixty-seven games — 47 percent of the schedule – will be between two of the conference’ s NCAA tournament teams.

Each of the 16 BIG EAST teams will play either 12 or 13 conference games against NCAA tournament teams.

The conference schedule will once again include 144 regular-season games as each of the BIG EAST’s 16 teams plays 18 conference games. Each team will face 12 opponents once and three opponents twice. All 144 regular-season conference games will again be televised, either by CBS Sports, the ESPN family of networks or ESPN Regional Television.

The decisions regarding repeat opponents are based on natural interest, geography, rivalries, television contractual obligations and competitive balance.

And here’s what Pitt has to look forward to in 2011-12:

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Welcome to Pitt Basketball Summer School. A look at individual Panther players and what they need to do to get better — and by extension make Pitt a better team for the 2011-12 season. Brought to you by SilverPanther in NYC.

In case you missed previous threads, here are Travon Woodall and Ashton Gibbs.

Intro:
Next up is the senior 2-year starting power forward Nasir Robinson, who no doubt more than any other Panther, is looking forward to the start of the 2011-12 season.

What he gave us last year:
Let’s put aside the final moments of Nasir Robinson’s junior season and look at everything that happened up until that fateful point in time. He started off on the DL with a torn meniscus and missed the first three games of the year, made his first appearance in the Maryland game, and then continued to come off the bench for another month before starting the UConn game in late December. By that time though, he was playing starter minutes over Talib Zanna and was contributing consistent, though not particularly impressive, offensive numbers. His season averages came to just under 10 points and 5 rebounds per game. He actually averaged more rebounds in his sophomore campaign (just under 6 per game). So what to make of this undersized power forward on one of the (statistically) top rebounding teams in the country?

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