While the return of Tray Woodall to the line-up would not be the pure cure-all, it would definitely help. Well, it seems as if Woodall will be doing all he can to be out on the court for Saturday night’s game with Louisville.

Woodall, who has missed 10 of the past 11 games with an abdominal injury, said Thursday he is close to returning to game action.

“I definitely feel like I’m ready to play,” he said after going through a full practice for the first time since a game Dec. 27 at Notre Dame. “I’m not going to beat around the bush. I’m going to go through two more days of practice, see how I’m feeling. Whenever I’m ready to go, I’m ready to go.”

Not exactly definitive, but the general buzz seems to be that Woodall expects to be out there on Saturday.

One of the unknowns, though, has been why Woodall hasn’t played. Coach Dixon has seemed frustrated that Woodall hasn’t been out there, saying it was up to Woodall. Woodall, however, disputes that.

“That’s the thing,” said Woodall, who spoke with reporters for the first time since the Notre Dame game. “Everyone has been saying I’ve been cleared to play. I heard it on the ESPN game when I watched it again. I never had the word that I was cleared to play. If I had the word, I probably would have tried to play. When I’m ready, I’m going to get on the court because I want to help my team.”

Woodall said he feels much better now than he did in late December after the game against the Fighting Irish. In retrospect, Woodall said it was the wrong decision to convince team trainer Tony Salesi to allow him to play that game.

“I’m a lot more improved,” Woodall said. “The Notre Dame game was my decision. I fought Tony on it. I came back way too fast. I wasn’t ready. It was frustrating for me to see a lot of things on the court I could probably help with offensively.

“I know I wasn’t ready defensively. I take full responsibility for that. I shouldn’t have come back that early.”

I have no idea. This disconnect between player and coach over an injury status, is yet one more piece to the worst season in Coach Dixon’s tenure.

This transcript of the Woodall interview is interesting insofar as it is a little more detail.

On the freshmen who have been taking his place: “I think they’ve played well. They kind of played tentatively. They’re eyounger guys. They don’t want to make mistakes. Coach Dixon emphasized that mistakes do happen. You have to try to play solid. It hasn’t been working out for us as a team. But they’ve tried to play solid.”

Does he want to come back because the team is struggling: “I’ve seen a lot of things the younger guys haven’t seen because I’ve been here for a number of years now. I’ve seen some things defenses were giving us. That definitely made me want to come back sooner.”

Will he play Saturday? “Yeah. I definitely feel like I’m ready to play. I’m not going to beat around the bush.”

Asked the same question again: “I’m going to go through two more days of practice, see how I’m feeling. Whenever I’m ready to go, I’m ready to go.”

When will he make the decision? “Tomorrow. I’m going to talk to coach Dixon and let him know how I feel. I just want to be able to know for sure I can help the team.”

On the injury: “I worked with some of the Steelers doctors. They said it’s an unusual injury. They don’t know how I got it. They think I might have torn my ab before I tore my abductor. We’re still trying to figure it out.”

When no one is quite sure how the injury was actually sustained, that just can’t be good.

Woodall also said something very interesting regarding defense when he gets back out there. Something that makes me wonder how close to 100% he really is.

Will it help if the Panthers play zone: “I heard some of the coaches talking about that, too. When I’m in the game we’ll probably play a lot more zone. If I’m back I’m going to be 100 percent. I’m going to play man. If I’m back I’m going to be 90-100 percent.”

Pitt already has been playing more zone in the past few games, so I suppose it shouldn’t be too surprising. It may be simply trying to protect Woodall — who has a great knack for taking charges.

The fact is, that after missing more than six weeks Woodall is not going to be able to come out and light it up like he had prior to the injury. He’s admitted that his conditioning is off, and there simply has to be rust on his shot. Still the threat of Woodall taking a shot, in addition to running the point would be a huge help.