Courtesy of Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News.
THEY’LL HIT IT BIG IF: Point guard Carl Krauser leads the offense in the right direction. The Panthers won’t be as good defensively, so they’ll need to make better use of post scorer Christ Taft.
BIG-TIME ISSUE: Pitt needs to replace Jaron Brown‘s leadership. Chevon Troutman leads by example but isn’t a talker. Krauser has to get his teammates’ attention in tough moments.
He ranks Syracuse #4, UConn #13, and ND #19. This is part of getting ready for the season. They rank the Big East the #2 conference behind the ACC (of course).
He actually gives some more love to Pitt in circling a couple of the games as big match-ups to watch.
December 7
Jimmy V Classic. Think John Calipari might want to do a little damage to Pittsburgh, the school that once employed him as an assistant but declined to consider hiring him in 2003? And as much fun as Memphis-Pitt will be, that’s only the undercard. The second half of the doubleheader at Madison Square Garden matches Syracuse and Oklahoma State, two of TSN’s top five teams.
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February 26Super Saturday. Warm up the remote, ice down the beverages and keep the pizza delivery number handy. This will be the best day of the conference season, with showdown games in the Big East (Connecticut at Pittsburgh), SEC (Kentucky at Alabama), Conference USA (Louisville at Memphis) and Pac-10 (Arizona at Washington). If you’re able to handle more on Sunday, the Big 12 championship could be decided when Oklahoma State visits Kansas.
No one will be sleeping on Pitt this year, but if Pitt even stumbles once during its cakewalk of a non-con, the doubters will be there.
