Just noticed that Pitt dropped a notch to #23 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll — Marquette leapfrogged Pitt because they actually played and won a meaningful game — despite a 6-0 start. Meanwhile, the AP Writers Poll has Pitt moving up to #20.

The polls are meaningless, and as I have said, no one really has an idea about whether this Pitt team will be as good, better or worse until the conference play begins. The only thing that does have me worried about the Coaches Poll, is that there isn’t much Big East representation this year. Something that doesn’t help in getting votes, because there won’t be much attention paid to Pitt.

The Board of Coaches is made up of 30 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The 2001-02 voters: Dana Altman, Creighton; Eddie Biedenbach, UNC-Asheville; Jim Boeheim, Syracuse; Rickey Broussard, Nicholls St.; Barry Collier, Nebraska; Dick Davey, Santa Clara; Fran Dunphy, Pennsylvania; Jessie Evans, Louisiana-Lafayette; Rob Evans, Arizona State; Steve Fisher, San Diego State; Patrick Flannery, Bucknell; Tom Green, Fairleigh Dickinson; Dan Hipsher, Akron; Bob Huggins, Cincinnati; Gene Keady, Purdue; Jim Kerwin, Western Illinois; Mack McCarthy, Virginia Commonwealth; Bobby McKillop, Davidson; Joe Mihalich, Niagara; Ron Mitchell, Coppin State, Dave Odom, South Carolina; Oliver Purnell, Dayton; Rick Samuels, Eastern Illinois; Joel Sobotka, Portland State; Kirk Speraw, Central Florida; Bob Thomason, Pacific; Perry Watson, Detroit Mercy; Davey Whitney, Alcorn State; Gary Williams, Maryland; Willis Wilson, Rice; Dennis Wolff, Boston University.

Emphasis and Italics added. Cincinnati joins the Big East in 2005.

If Pitt stumbles in the non-conference, they could easily fall out of the polls and have a more difficult time climbing back into it. Just my paranoid thought for the day.