I see in some comments, a little bit of concern that Pitt struggled in the exhibition game against IUP. Some perspective, please. I know it’s a young team, with lots of new players and, yes, it was IUP, so there should be no excuse. Just consider this: last year, Pitt was actually losing to Carnegie Mellon at the half during an exhibition game.

I’m curious about one thing. The articles talked about lots of turnovers by Pitt. It didn’t say whether any were from calls by the refs for palming the ball. This is something the refs apparently will be calling more of this year (Insider Subs.).

Wake Forest guard Justin Gray was called for palming the ball — one of the officials’ new points of emphasis — four times during Friday night’s overtime win over George Mason in the second round of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. Gray had 10 turnovers total (out of Wake Forest’s 20). Gray, who is replacing Chris Paul at the point, had two turnovers in the first game of the tournament against Mississippi Valley State.

In the George Mason game, Gray was pressed. But four palming calls?

“That might be a record,” Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said. “That number is accurate, but it does distort the (overall) turnover number.”

Prosser, who is on the rules committee, said officials are looking to see if the player holds the ball in his hand and then turns it over, giving him an advantage in freezing the defender.

“We’ve played four games (two exhibitions and the two regular-season games) and there has been at least one palming call in each one before the palming explosion (Friday night),” Prosser said.

If anyone knows the answer, let me know.