As expected, the stories about Pitt started trickling out again today. Not on the opponent, just on Pitt’s upcoming schedule.
Pitt is in a situation in which it must hold serve at home against the Blue Demons because of a quirk in the Big East schedule that has the Panthers playing four games in nine days, three of which are on the road after DePaul.
After the DePaul game, Pitt plays Sunday at Louisville, Wednesday at Rutgers, Jan. 21 at St. John’s and then at home Jan. 23 against Syracuse.
Pitt is the only team in the Big East this season that has to play four games in a nine-day period. Syracuse plays three games in six days next month, but all three are at home. A few other teams play four games in 11 days, but no team must face the gauntlet the Panthers must in the coming weeks.
Big East associate commissioner John Paquette said yesterday that the unusual schedule was a result of television. Television executives dictate when games are played. The DePaul game usually would be scheduled on Wednesday, but the league had the chance to get the game on national television on ESPN, so the game was moved.
That forced the Louisville game to be moved to Sunday, which is a regionally syndicated TV game. And, under usual circumstances, the home game against Syracuse would be played on a Wednesday, but ESPN wanted the game for its Big Monday national television game, so that game was moved as well.
That regionally syndicated game against Louisville will be airing against the Steelers-Colts Playoff game. Nice. (As a personal aside, I have to visit my family this weekend and learned that the UPN affiliate in Lebanon or Harrisburg will be carrying the game so I can catch it.)
Of course, with the layoff, the team has stressed that it has enabled it to get healthy and all that good stuff.
For the Panthers, though, the time off seems beneficial; they last played an exhausting double-overtime affair Jan. 4, outlasting visiting Notre Dame, 100-97.
“We’ve done pretty well,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “It was a concern early on. I wondered how we were going to handle the eight days when we first looked at the schedule. But we’ve had some injuries, so the timing was good for a layoff.”
Kendall, who has battled back spasms, agreed.
“It’s been good,” he said. “A couple of guys, including myself, have had a chance to heal some minor injuries, refocus and get back together as a group. We’ve had a couple of really good practices the past few days. It’s been a chance to kind of get our legs back under us and get ready for this tough stretch coming up.”
The fact that Pitt is one of three remaining unbeatens, but still outside the top-10 is not lost on others.
That’s right. The 12-0 Panthers haven’t broken the Top 10. But Pitt will have time to prove it belongs. The Panthers have yet to face their beefiest Big East foes, including Louisville, Connecticut, Syracuse and West Virginia.
Pitt is celebrating its basketball centennial this winter. It looks as if the 100th season could be memorable.
“Before the season, coach (Jamie Dixon) asked me, ‘Do you believe this team can be one of the best Pitt teams ever?’ ” guard Carl Krauser told reporters after last week’s 100-97 double-overtime win over Notre Dame. “And I said yes. When I said yes, I thought of all the young guys and all the talent we have on this team. We have a deep bench and guys who are ready to play.”
With that extended layoff serving as almost the dividing line, and Pitt’s national TV debut tomorrow, the DePaul game is essentially the start of the second-half. The move from obscurity and doubts of the 1st half to being noticed and expectations to prove it. Not many have seen Pitt play to this point, and it will be up to the team to demonstrate why they belong in the top-10.
