Apparently North Carolina jumped the gun on the ACC Men’s Basketball schedule. Not the exact dates yet, but the home and aways, and cross-overs.

Pitt has its two annual home-and-homes of Syracuse and Louisville. This year the other two are Clemson and NC State.

The schedule with home-and-aways, dare I say is actually rather good for Pitt. Among the top half of teams in the ACC, Duke, UNC, FSU and ND all have to play at the Pete. The only truly tough ACC road games are Virginia and Miami.

Couple this with the wise move to re-price — downward — the seats at the Pete.

The University of Pittsburgh will restructure ticket pricing at the Petersen Events Center for the 2018-19 season following a multi-year study of college basketball ticket pricing and attendance across the NCAA.

“We are continuously looking for ways to provide a better fan experience at the Petersen Events Center,” said Assistant Athletic Director of Ticket Operations and Sales Ben Smith. “Given the national trend of declining attendance, we felt it necessary to undergo a full evaluation of our pricing and policies. As a result of this process, we have developed a pricing structure that will enable more fans and families the opportunity to come out to support the team. Our goal is to once again make the Petersen Events Center one of the toughest venues for our visiting opponents to play in.”

Pitt will reduce membership costs related to ticket sales in response to recent federal tax legislation. Effective Jan. 1, 2018, payments made to fulfill priority seating and parking opportunities are no longer tax deductible.  While no longer tax deductible, these scholarship-seating payments will continue to be utilized to support the academic and athletic needs of our student-athletes and Panther Club members will continue to receive other great benefits.

The resulting changes to the membership fee and ticket cost will create reduced pricing in nearly every location of the Petersen Events Center.

Getting the Pete packed again, is a good idea in the opening season of Jeff Capel. The players that are coming back deserve to get a sense of what the Pete is like when things are rolling. And it is  definitely something to help with recruiting when the place is loud.

Speaking of players coming back…

[Terrell] Brown joins teammates Shamiel Stevenson, Jared Wilson-Frame and Kham Davis in changing their minds and coming back to Pitt.

He wrote on Instagram, “After careful consideration, I have decided to continue my college career at the University of Pittsburgh. I trust coach Capel and his vision for the program. This will be a big offseason for my individual growth and the development of our team.”

For those following at home, that is 4 of 5 players who have made a decision and chosen to stay at Pitt and play for Jeff Capel.

Capel also awaits final stay-or-go decisions from point guard Marcus Carr, St. John’s transfer Malik Ellison and junior-college transfer Kene Chukwuka.

Ryan Luther is still a question mark as he could be a graduate transfer and play right away. Peace Ilegomah and Samson George did not ask for their releases.