Okay, let’s get this out of the way. Durand Johnson’s season long suspension.

“Durand will remain in our program and practice,” [Head Coach Jamie] Dixon said. “However, he will not compete in any games this season. While it is disappointing, we will encourage Durand to make the most of this year personally, academically and athletically.”

There was no nebulous “team rules” citation. This appeared very suddenly, as a week ago Johnson was playing big minutes in the final exhibition game. My instinct in a suspension like this, is that it is academically related. That appears to be the likely reason.

It sucks for Durand Johnson. Everyone raves about him as a person and a teammate. He accepted his role as an energy guy coming off the bench. He worked on his defense. There was a strong expectation that he could make a leap coming back from his ACL injury and with more playing time coming his way.

In the context of Pitt basketball in 2014-15, this is not as big a loss. If there is one spot on the team where Pitt could lose even an experienced player, it is at the 3-spot.

That spot on the floor was already expected to be a crowded place for minutes. Between times when Pitt goes with a three guard lineup — after Cam Wright returns — to the slew of players available. I mean, there is Sheldon Jeter. Jamel Artis can go out there. Chris Jones is a possibility. And possibly the biggest opportunity is for freshman Cameron Johnson who made a very strong debut last night.

Dixon said Cameron Johnson, a freshman from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, will benefit greatly in terms of increased playing time without Durand Johnson. He had 11 points in 19 minutes in his debut.

He said that he knows he has to step into a larger role now, but that the onus is on the whole team.

“I was just trying to feed off the energy of the team,” Cameron Johnson said. “… That’s what’s great about this team is everybody has everybody’s back.”

Dixon is impressed with the freshman’s progress.

“My intention in April when we signed [Cameron] is he would be a good redshirt guy,” Dixon said. “Then we get in the summer, and it became [an option that] he may not be redshirting, and now in the fall [it’s clear] he is too good to redshirt.

“He knows how to play, he is skilled, he just has to grow into his body. It is nice to see a kid with a no star rating being a really good player for us.”

Not even subtle with that dig towards the message board haters on Cam Johnson and his recruiting ranking.

Back to the point of losing Durand Johnson versus players at other positions. Imagine losing one of the frontcourt players, especially Mike Young. But even losing Randall or Uchebo would be a big problem in terms of moving players out of their best position more frequently. Or having James Robinson or Josh Newkirk go down for the year. Not only puts a lot more strain on just one point guard, the ball handling as a whole for the backcourt would be much shakier.

As for the game with Niagara. Yes, it was a cupcake. Nothing wrong with that in the first game. Especially since Pitt needed to show improvement on defense after the effort shown in the exhibitions.

“We did a good job defensively early, and that was key,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.

Niagara shot 20.8 percent in the first half and 12 of 48 overall (25 percent).

“He preached (defense) a lot in practice,” sophomore Jamel Artis, who scored a team-high 14 points in his first college start, said about Dixon. “Every day.”

Unsurprisingly, the defensive effort seemed to flag a bit in the second half as Pitt had a 20+ point lead that was never at risk. But it will give Coach Dixon something to yell at the team about during practice today.