A couple more previews as real basketball is just barely getting underway.

CollegeHoopsNet puts Pitt at #11 in their rankings. Their concerns seem to be the health of Levance Fields, who will be the 2-guard. Seems to be a common theme.

Sports Illustrated pegs Pitt at #7 for this weeks CBB Preview issue. They also have Pitt as one of the regional covers — which are below the rankings.

ESPN.com power rankings spot Pitt at #9.

Over at Sportsline, Gary Parrish ranks the Big East and puts Pitt 4th.

The good: Levance Fields, Sam Young and DeJuan Blair form quite a trio for the college game. They combined to average 41.6 points, 19.3 rebounds and 7.2 assists last season and should easily keep Jamie Dixon’s streak of consecutive 20-win seasons intact. Dixon has never won less than 20 games, never not made the NCAA tournament in five years as a head coach, which is why Pitt is paying him big money and other schools are constantly interested.

The bad: Just when Fields was cleared to practice following a foot injury, Gilbert Brown went down with — you’ll never guess — a foot injury. The sophomore guard who started 15 games last season is expected to miss at least 10 days. That means he’ll miss the Nov. 14 opener against Fairleigh-Dickinson.

The bottom line: This is the fourth Big East team ranked in the top 10 of the preseason Top 25 (and one), which backs my theory that this is going to be the best and most competitive league in the nation. Any of the top four — Louisville, UConn, Notre Dame and Pitt — are capable of winning the conference, advancing to the Final Four and, perhaps, winning a national title if North Carolina somehow screws things up.

Meanwhile Andy Katz for ESPN.com goes one better at #6.

Five points as the season nears, according to head coach Jamie Dixon:

1. Junior Jermaine Dixon will be the starting shooting guard. He had seven assists and five steals in an exhibition win Sunday. Yet he feeds the post well and will be starting alongside Levance Fields, when Fields (who is still nursing a foot injury) is ready to play the point again.

2. Freshman Ashton Gibbs played the point in Fields’ absence and had seven assists and one turnover. He will play the position throughout the year and has given the Panthers another ballhandler to rely on.

3. Not having Fields and sophomore Gilbert Brown (out with a stress fracture in his left foot) has left the Panthers wondering when the team will be complete. Until then, Dixon and his staff are trying to coach with two teams in mind — one with them and one without.

4. Dixon has been impressed with the freshmen’s learning curve. The teaching continues, but the newcomers’ ability to pick up what the Panthers want to do has eased a lot of the concerns here lately.

5. The Panthers are getting good news on senior forward Tyrell Biggs. He made all five of his field goals in the exhibition win over La Roche on Sunday. He hasn’t been discussed as much as Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and of course Fields. But if Biggs can be a factor that certainly helps.

By the end of this week (I hope) FanHouse will be releasing its own top-25 with previews.

That’s it for those kind of previews, but there are a couple more pre-season lists connected with Pitt.

Jay Bilas has his 10 Burning Questions (Insider subs).

7. Can anyone stay down on Young’s shot fake?

Watch Pitt’s Sam Young this season. He is a really good player, and as tough as they come. Young has the most exaggerated shot fake in college basketball, and maybe in all of basketball. Many coaches will teach you to exaggerate your shot fake, knowing that the speed of the game will likely speed up your fake. Well, Young’s fake looks almost cartoonish when you watch it on film, but defenders go for it almost every time. Watch for it. Young has the best and most effective shot fake in college basketball. You will see defenders flying when he uses it.

The question is, will all the whining from coaches last year that Young left his feet (when he didn’t) catch-up and get some bad calls go against Pitt when Young does his shot fake?

Luke Winn at SI.com ranks the preseason tourneys — man, they rank everything.

10. Legends Classic, Nov. 28-29, Newark, N.J. (Akron, Eastern Kentucky, Farleigh Dickinson, Mississippi State, Pittsburgh, Texas Tech, Washington State)

This tourney will go from having Texas and Tennessee — a legitimately huge November duel — in its inaugural title game last year … to having Pittsburgh against either Washington State or Mississippi State this year. Anchoring the Newark event with a highly ranked Big East team was a smart move … but it’s sorely lacking in a real challenger for the Panthers.

Projected winner: Pitt, in a cakewalk.

No pressure.

Finally, NBE Basketball Report ranks the PGs in the Big East and puts Levance Fields at #3.

Typical NYC point guard with toughness and flair. Questions about his foot does temper some of his senior season expectations.

It really does seem like Field’s foot has become Pitt’s version of Beanie Wells’ toe.

Okay, power rankings, polls and such. Stewart Mandel at SI.com starts Pitt out at #23 in his power rankings.

After watching a recent Panthers practice, I’m convinced that this is a bona fide top-25 team, with a superstar tailback (LeSean McCoy), a stud freshman receiver (Jonathan Baldwin) and a dominant D. But the O-line will keep them from rising much higher.

Last year Todd McShay at ESPN/Scouts, Inc. picked Pitt as his sleeper team from the Big East. If at first you don’t succeed…

I’m going back to the well with Pittsburgh. In fact, I like the Panthers so much they’ve become my pick to win the Big East in 2008. Coach Dave Wannstedt and his staff have recruited well the past four seasons, so the talent is in place to make a run.

Junior Bill Stull has been sharp in camp, emerging as an efficient quarterback for the pro-style scheme. As long as Stull protects the ball and makes sound decisions, RB LeSean McCoy will do the rest. McCoy rushed for 1,328 yards and 14 scores as a freshman last season. He should be even more potent with a full season of experience and a full offseason of conditioning under his belt.

MLB Scott McKillop and DE Greg Romeus anchor a defense that should again be one of the Big East’s most dominant units this fall.

The Panthers should be 4-0 heading into their October 2 showdown at South Florida. Playing Rutgers and West Virginia at home should also help them navigate through a difficult schedule down the stretch.

Not a shock that McShay is high on Pitt. He’s a player evaluator. In those terms, Pitt makes sense as his pick.

ESPN.com’s Big East writer, Brian Bennett has burning questions (there’s ointment for that) for Pitt. Three questions to be exact.

The first question is about the overall depth of the team. The final question concerns the coaching. Gee, what could the middle question concern?

2. How will the offensive line hold up?

Pitt replaces three starters from last year’s line, including NFL first-rounder Jeff Otah and fourth-round pick Mike McGlynn. Head coach Dave Wannstedt hasn’t expressed much confidence in new starting right tackle Joe Thomas so far. New offensive line coach Tony Wise, who spent the last 18 years in the NFL, needs to get this group in shape so it can block for LeSean McCoy and keep Stull upright.

Thoughts of the state of the O-line are now bordering on obsession for me. I need this season to start, just so I can see how they look for myself.

Other than there’s plenty of people aware of Pitt’s potential.

While Pitt may not have made it into the preseason Coaches’ or AP Writers Polls, the Panthers did make it into a couple other preseason lists.

Sports Illustrated put Pitt at #19 in their preseason rankings.

Overachievement is a relatively new concept for these Panthers. Indeed, before Pitt stunned No. 2 West Virginia 13-9 in Morgantown last December, thus keeping its bitter rival from playing for the national championship, coach Dave Wannstedt’s record in two-plus seasons at his alma mater stood at 15-19. But so impressive was the defense in the Backyard Brawl — the unit held West Virginia’s high-powered attack to 183 yards and nine first downs — that few in the Steel City cared that the Panthers couldn’t avoid a third straight nonwinning season.

Now optimism is running high because seven starters are back from that aggressive defense, including senior middle linebacker Scott McKillop, an overachiever of the highest order. After two seasons of special teams duty, the 6′ 2″, 240-pound McKillop got his shot in 2007 and led the nation in tackles (12.6 per game) en route to All-America honors. McKillop relies on an encyclopedic command of Pitt’s defensive scheme and a knack for finding the ball.

Only WVU (#14) from the Big East is included in the SI top-20.

ESPN.com has its preseason power rankings and puts Pitt at #24.

Dave Wannstedt looks like he finally has a team which can compete for the Big East title. With home games vs. Rutgers, Louisville and WVU, we agree.

WVU comes in at #8 and USF #18.

Brief interruption to football posting with a few little notes about basketball.

ESPN.com got to the Big East in their offseason “shootaround.” The focus is on the Big East Tournament going to 16 teams and an extra day. I’m torn. On the one hand, how can I be against one more day of the best conference tournament in the country? Who turns down free ice cream (I mean, aside from diabetics and the lactose intolerant)?

On the other, I like the fact that it adds to the Big East regular season. No team wants to mail it in at the end. They want at least a chance to make the trip to MSG. It makes the final week or two exciting even for the bottom feeders. Plus, from a conference money-making/prestige standpoint, there is always the risk of a bad loss by a bubble team to a really bad team. Knocking them out of the NCAA Tournament — less BE teams in the NCAA means less money for the conference/schools for games played. Plus, less bragging rights about how brutal the Big East is with the conventional argument of, “See how many teams we put in the Tournament.”

Here’s the team capsule for Pitt:

It’s hard not to envision the Panthers as a top five team nationally. Overwhelmed by injuries all season, Pittsburgh rolled to an improbable Big East tournament title on the emerging stardom of Sam Young. Unassuming off the court, he was a beast on it and his decision to return to campus should have been greeted with hosannas and hallelujahs. Mix in a healthy Levance Fields, powerful DeJuan Blair and the Panthers’ trademark nasty defense, and you have to give them the slightest of edges to win the league.

Jay Bilas puts Pitt as #3 in the conference behind UConn and Louisville.

St. Benedict’s coach Dan Hurley built one of the top basketball programs in the country. College coaches are always banging on his door looking to get an in with his bluechip talent. So, is it any surprise that when Hurley has a coaches clinic, the big names come willingly to speak?

St. Benedict’s head coach Dan Hurley announced that the Garden State Coaches Clinic will take place between 9-4:30 on Sept. 26 at St. Benedict’s. The event is open to all college, high school and travel coaches and will feature Bill Self, head coach of defending national champion Kansas; Pitt coach Jamie Dixon; West Virginia coach Bob Huggins; Texas coach Rick Barnes; former NBA coach Hubie Brown; and UMass assistant Vance Wahlberg, the creator of the dribble-drive motion offense now used by Memphis head coach John Calipari.

I guarantee you that all of the coaches make their appearance gratis. Heck, some coaches would probably pay just to be able to help. Not only do they “help” Hurley’s clinic, they get out there before some 600 other assorted coaches.

Everyone is still waiting for Mike Cook’s status to be determined by the NCAA. Cook is acting cool about it.

Cook doesn’t sound nervous about the impending decision.

“Actually, I’m not even worried about playing next year,” he said. “I’m focused on getting my knee better. I want to get completely healthy first. I’m not even thinking about the redshirt.”

Cook has yet to be given clearance to play basketball again. Doctors are schedule to make that determination Aug. 25. He has been rehabbing the knee mostly through weightlifting and running.

Cook’s outlook may have to do with the apparent delays in his case. Pitt was expecting a final resolution more than a month ago, then again two weeks ago.

“I never got my hopes up,” Cook said. “I figure the longer the (NCAA) takes, the better. That means they really are thinking about it.”

It could be worse. Cook could be QB Ben Mauk at Cinci. Watching training camp, eating a lot and in complete limbo. Thanks NCAA.

Lists? You want subjective lists to spark debate? Cards Hoops Blog spent the last 3 weeks producing a list of the preseason top-75 Big East players. Sam Young was #2 and DeJuan Blair #9 in the top-10. Levance Fields came in at #19. Gilbert Brown was #59. He included Brad Wanamaker as one who just missed the cut. Noting that his performance didn’t live up to his talent level.

Here are the rest of the rankings: 15-11; 30-21; 35-31; 40-36; 45-41; 50-46; 55-51; 65-61; 70-66; 75-71.

As I noted earlier in the week, with the final draft decisions made, there will be updated rankings for the in advance of college basketball for 2008.

There are 3 things that seem to be consistent. UNC is now #1. There are 3 teams from the Big East in the top-5. Seven Big East teams in the top-20.

Rivals.com has their list updated. Pitt is #3.

The Celtics have the “Big Three” in the NBA. Pitt has its own version in the college ranks with guard Levance Fields, forward Sam Young and center DeJuan Blair. Each ranks among the best at his position. The Panthers could get a boost if guard Mike Cook receives a medical redshirt. Cook was averaging 10.4 points when he tore his ACL in the 11th game last season. But with or without Cook, the Panthers have enough firepower to reach their first Final Four since 1941.

UConn was ranked #2, ND #5, Louisville #8, G-town #11, ‘Nova #17, Marquette #20 and WVU #24.

Gary Parrish at CBS Sportsline puts Pitt outside of the top-5 at #8.

Sam Young and DeJuan Blair up front form a formidable tandem built around size and toughness. So the Panthers will be good even if the NCAA doesn’t grant Mike Cook another year of eligibility.

Louisville was #2, UConn #3, ND #5, Marquette, G-town and ‘Nova nos. 14-16.

ESPN.com has a story on seniors in college basketball with Sam Young as one of the poster boys for a senior class that will be the headliners going into the season. The quote from Young that will have Pitt fans feeling real good about him.

“I decided the best thing for myself would be to go back to school, get my degree and have something to fall back on,” he said. “Become a man. My mom always preached about getting a degree and stuff like that, so I definitely wanted to do that for my mother. Just becoming a Pitt alumni, that’s priceless.”

Couldn’t agree more.

Pitt didn’t have much to worry about yesterday, but it was a busy day regarding the final decisions of lots of underclassmen regarding the NBA Draft. Kept me busy over at FanHouse. Something I’ve learned after yesterday is that the one-and-done rule hardly stemmed the flow of freshmen and sophomores to the NBA as optimistically thought last year. Last year there were 8 freshmen and 5 sophomores in the NBA Draft. This year, it is 14 and 10. A couple late returns to college kept it from being higher. This includes a rather old freshman from Lincoln University — JuJuan Robinson who is 24 and was with Providence back in 2004.

What that means is it triggers the latest in pre-pre-season polls. Just the thing to fill in the blanks. Almost universally, you can expect UNC to be given advanced #1 billing.

Andy Katz got things going with his latest, he keeps Pitt at #2.

he hint of Mike Cook coming back for a sixth year (after tearing his ACL in December) makes the Panthers even more formidable. Sam Young and DeJuan Blair are big-time bigs, and Levance Fields might be as good a floor leader as anyone in the country. This Pitt team could win the national title.

Of course, getting through the Big East will be a big challenge this coming season. Katz has ND and Louisville at Nos. 4 and 5. That’s 3 Big East teams in his top-5. All with legit claims on the top of the Big East. Then there’s UConn, WVU, and even Villanova and Marquette. Syracuse, Georgetown and Cinci will all be tough teams. All told, he put 7 BE teams in the top-20.

That said, with UNC as the top pre-pre-season team and arguably the ACC not losing a lot of underclassmen (like the Big East) there will be plenty of East Coast arguing over which conference is superior in the coming year. Look at just the freshmen and sophomore entry lists. It’s predominantly from the Big 12 (5 players) and Pac-10 (8 players).

Obviously, these are subject to lots of alterations, especially once Terrelle Pryor makes his decision. There are still kids out there who haven’t signed and might still make moves up and down the rankings. Even for Pitt as players like DeVoe Torrence and Dominick Britt are still out there.

Brief aside. Pryor is not going to Pitt. I wish otherwise, but I’m not going to rip on a high school kid simply because he won’t go to my school (until it becomes time for my kids to pick a college). I also think there is no reason for any kid to sign his NLI on the very first day. With a talent like Pryor, why should he sign at all? Think any school would stand on some principle if he told them, “Yes I’m coming but I won’t sign the NLI.” Hell, no. They’d hold the scholarship regardless.

It sounded good when Pryor told everyone at his high school and ESPN-U that he was waiting to take more time. Saying that he just hasn’t had the time to digest everything from all the schools with his HS work, the football and now basketball season. Sounded very mature, and everyone praised the maturity. Dismissing out of hand any thought that he was doing this to keep the attention on him. That said, isn’t it a little remarkable that he didn’t have time for really considering all of the schools, but has had no problem with every interview. Every publicity moment? Every extra appearance? Showing up on TV to say he hadn’t made up his mind? I mean, don’t you have to wonder a little if it isn’t a bit about milking extra attention?

Moving on.

The defections of A.J. Alexander and Zack Stoudt knocked Pitt out of the top-20 recruiting class in the major recruiting rankings.

Rivals.com has Pitt the lowest at #29

Scout.com puts Pitt at #25

ESPN/Scouts, Inc. the highest with #21

Good for Pitt, and bad for the Big East as a whole, though, that Pitt is the highest ranked Big East team in all of the national rankings:

Team —— Scout.com —– Rivals.com

WVU ——— 37 —————- 44
Rutgers ——– 44 ————– 46

USF ———- 46 ————— 56
Louisville —— 54 ————— 55
Syracuse —— 49 ————- 48
Cinci ———- 55 ————– 68
UConn ——– 70 ————– 72

ESPN.com only goes top-25.

USF and Cinci have the widest disparity in the rankings. Louisville is clearly the most disappointing. Arguably, UConn could be considered more disappointing, but recruiting for football in their geographic base is much like Pitt recruiting basketball in Western PA.

Syracuse, all things considered, didn’t do too badly. WVU could be considered a disappointment, given their season, but all the crap that happened after the Backyard Brawl makes it somewhat stunning how well they recovered.

So, how likely is Levance Fields’ targeted return date of mid-February?

Was asking around a bit about Pitt PG Levance Fields’ injury, and was told that coming back six weeks after surgery on a metatarsal is completely plausible, provided that the player has little pain in his foot. That will be the key to Fields’ early return — how bad his foot hurts.

Here’s a bet that he’ll come back just a bit too early and play with tremendous pain, which will limit his minutes. Here’s also a bet that he’ll be 100 percent healthy before the Big East Tournament.

An article stressing how depth may be key this year for the top teams in March. Pitt gets prominent mention of the worst case scenario.

Pitt is still in the ESPN Power Rankings at #13.

Of all the things that make no sense in the Big East, the Panthers might be the biggest enigma. There is no reason Pittsburgh should be in the national picture, not with more suits than unis on the bench to choose from. Yet here they are, losing to Cincinnati on the road by only three and thumping St. John?s. If the patch-worked Panthers can hold it together until Levance Fields returns, they could be the toughest out come March.

Pitt is also still in Luke Winn’s SI.com Power Rankings, and actually moved up another spot to #14.

This just in, Sam Young is hot this season.

Sam Young is riding a scoring streak unmatched by any Pitt player this decade, despite playing a lot of minutes at a new position.

Young, seeing more time at small forward, has scored at least 20 points in four of the Panthers’ past five games. No Pitt player since Ben Howland arrived in 1999-2000 can claim such a consistent, prolonged scoring run.

“I feel everybody has a weakness,” said Young, averaging 21.8 points in the past five games, “and if they do have one, I will exploit it.”

Just, please, stay healthy.
Kind of a strange chat with Ray Fittipaldo. Speculating more on Fields’ return and Pitt’s conference record at that point, a little about Wanamaker, and dissing D.J. Kennedy.

If you had watched College Gamenight on ESPN, you know that they are celebrating the 20th anniversary of  “Send it in Jerome!” Article in the P-G about it.  This part was absolutely fascinating to me.

But the Big East regular-season champions had a disappointing loss to Villanova in a Big East tournament semifinal and a heartbreaking loss to Vanderbilt in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The NCAA game is known in Pittsburgh as “the Barry Goheen game.”

Goheen made a desperation 3-pointer in the final seconds to force overtime, denying Pitt a spot in the Sweet 16. Goheen was the hero, but Lane blames former Pitt coach Paul Evans for the loss.

“We never should have let them shoot a 3,” Lane said, “Why not foul like John Calipari said? John Calipari said that in the huddle, and [Evans] told him to be quiet. Why not let them shoot free throws? We’re up by three, and you’ve got the greatest rebounder in the game under the hoop to get the rebound.”

Here’s why that is so fascinating to me. Sean Miller, of course, was on that squad. Fast forward 19 years and he’s the head coach of Xavier playing Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament. Up by 3 with Ohio State trying to tie in the waning seconds.  Miller didn’t have his players foul before the shot. Ohio State of course tied and then won in OT.

Miller was second guessed a lot after that game for the decision. Never quite dawned on me that he had history repeat itself on him.

Did someone drag Fran Fraschilla to an apartment party in deep South Oakland (Insider subs.)?

If you’ve ever been to Pittsburgh’s campus in the Oakland section of the city, you have to know that the Panthers are not going to lose their toughness even if the janitor has to suit up for Jamie Dixon. No surprise to me that they beat Georgetown.

Grant Wahl did his “Magic Eight-Ball” predictions for teams that will win the national championship in his mailbag.

Are you going to be smart enough to have Pitt in your Magic Eight? The Mike Cook injury hurts and the Levance Fields injury hurts more, but if Fields is back for March then Pitt will be much better for it. Look at the depth that is being created by their absence. Three freshmen (two true, one redshirt) are getting tons of PT because of the injuries. I would just advise you to consider them as the dark horse candidate. When Fields comes back, they are going to go deep into March regardless of seed.
— Josh Grubbs, Gibsonia, Pa.

I couldn’t go far enough to put Pitt in the Magic Eight, but I’m awfully impressed by how Jamie Dixon has handled the injuries to Cook and Fields, and the Georgetown win was particularly striking. Dixon is making his bones as a coach this season, and if he can keep Pitt in the top three of the Big East he’ll be a candidate for Coach of the Year.

So after a week of absence, Pitt is back in the power rankings.

ESPN.com has them at #13.

Jamie Dixon has rallied the troops and the shorthanded Panthers stepped up big time when they knocked off Georgetown. Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin can knock down jumpers with regularity. Dejuan Blair and Sam Young will take care of the glass. So much for getting ready for next season!

Luke Winn at SI.com returns them to #15.

I’ll admit I was expecting the Panthers to fold after losing Mike Cook and Levance Fields — and they did, to a degree, losing big at Dayton and narrowly at Villanova in the following two weeks. But they’ve rebounded nicely to win three straight in the Big East, including a Power-Rankings-worthy victory over Georgetown on Monday. DeJuan Blair, who had 15 points and nine boards in that game, and did yeoman’s work defending Roy Hibbert, remains under-hyped in this freshman class. He well behind Mike Beasley in terms of production, but stacks up against the other power-forward phenoms:

I’d just like to see solid conference road performances at Cinci and St. John’s in the next week. Cinci is a lot better than expected — especially at home — and St. John’s has been an inexplicable nightmare for Pitt. The road in conference is looking like a nightmare this season. Pitt needs to get road wins where ever they can. The road games in February and March will be brutal (UConn, Marquette, ND, Syracuse and WVU). Pitt has continued to dominate at home — and that can’t change.

Let’s see, Gene Collier yesterday in a chat actually fielded a Pitt question.

jimmy_g: The devastating injury losses that the Pitt basketball team has suffered may be too much to overcome. How do you see this affecting their remaining season?

Gene Collier: Negatively and substantially. With Cook and Fields out, 30 percent of the scoring is gone, not to mention their experience. Fields ran the show. Now the show goes on without a front man. Fields could return by March. DuJuan Blair has broad shoulders, but not this broad.

You may sense a theme as Andy Katz at ESPN.com had his own chat (Insider subs.).

Fo Sheezy, Pittsburgh: Andy: Let’s cut to the chase. With the injury bug in full force, what can we expect of Pitt the rest of the regular season? The Panthers looked like a top-10 team after the Duke game, but the Fields injury is an absolute killer. He is the best player on that team, and he plays the most important position. So here is my 2-part question…(1) Where do you see Pitt finishing in the Big East? and (2) What have you heard as far as the time table for a possible return for Levance Fields? Thanks!!

Andy Katz: Is that your real name?

Well, Fo, I can tell you that the world didn’t end at Pitt. Nope, there is no Chicken Little roaming around Petersen. Jamie Dixon is still very optimistic after Ronald Ramon had 10 assists and no turnovers. I totally disagree with Doug Gottlieb, who said Pitt is going to the NIT now. The Panthers will win games, especially at home. The Big East, save Marquette and Georgetown, is even and there are plenty of games to be had. As for Fields, think more Padgett than Cook. The surgery went well and the feeling is that he will be back possibly during the Big East season instead of in the postseason.

Finally there was the Ray Fittipaldo chat today.

7_man_rotation: Do you think Pitt can go .500 in Big East play and how many Big East games do you think they need to win to get into the NCAA tournament?

Ray Fittipaldo: I think if Pitt goes 9-9 in the Big East the Panthers would be giving themselves a chance. That would give them a 21-10 record entering the Big East tournament. If Pitt wins one game in New York I think they would be assured of a spot.

Pitt cannot have any letdowns against teams like Rutgers, Seton Hall and St. John’s this season because beating the upper echelon teams in the league will be difficult with Cook and Fields. I’ll predict they’ll play two games under .500 without Fields. But depending upon when he comes back they could still make a run a berth in the tournament.

needdepth: What are our chances against Nova? Can we match up?

Ray Fittipaldo: Villanova is not a big and strong team. Jay Wright has some nice guards and small forward types, but Sam Young and DeJuan should have a big edge on the inside. I think it will be a matter of whether Pitt can contain Scottie Reynolds. He’s Villanova’s best player and the Panthers will need to keep him in check if they want to have a chance.

The ‘Nova game scares the hell out of me because ‘Nova’s guards are slashers and penetrators. If (when?) they get past Ramon and Benjamin, they can be the ones that will get Blair and Young in foul trouble.

With the loss of players for Pitt, they fell in meaningless power rankings. ESPN.com dropped them to 15.

Like aging, coaching ain’t for sissies. Down two starters, Jamie Dixon is now coaching on the fly just as the Big East schedule dawns with a Sunday date at Villanova. One idea — get the ball in DeJuan Blair’s hands more. The sensational freshman forward took just six shots in a win against Lafayette.

And yet, for whatever reason, they have Dayton behind Pitt at #16.

Luke Winn at SI.com dropped Pitt, but has them at the top of of his “On the Cusp, Tier 1.”

Pittsburgh (11-1): The Panthers’ ugly loss at Dayton normally wouldn’t be enough to knock them out of the rankings. They do, after all, have a win over Duke on their resume. But with Mike Cook and Levance Fields now out of the equation, Pitt no longer resembles the scary team we saw at the Garden before Christmas.

I don’t have a problem with these rankings.

Pitt moved up to #8 in SI.com’s Luke Winn’s Power Rankings, with the focus on the P-G puffer on Levance Fields and the same bit I liked (do I need to revise my view?).

ESPN.com’s Power Poll puts Pitt at #6.

Pitt’s big rally — and the big Fields 3 against Duke showed skill and fortitude. Losing Mike Cook is a downer. Resolution: Get to the free-throw line more. Also, take smiling lessons from DeJuan Blair.

In a less related note, Aaron Gray has moved up in attention among NBA rookies.

This 10th spot seems to be reserved for the one-week wonders. This week it’s the Bulls’ big man out of Pitt. Given three straight games of at least 20 minutes, Gray responded by averaging 10.6 points and 7.3 rebounds. Of course, he came back to earth on Saturday (and Big Ben returned to the lineup), so if the pattern holds up, Gray’s stay in the rankings might be short-lived.

After Kevin Durant, the rookie pool has been a little low on impact so far. That has meant the “role player” rookies are actually doing more.

Among players who weren’t lottery picks but have started to carve out a niche in the league are Miami’s Daequan Cook, New Jersey’s Williams, Detroit’s Arron Afflalo, Boston’s Glen Davis, Utah’s Kyrylo Fesenko and Chicago’s Gray, who looks like the best bargain value of the 2007 crop.

According to Boston’s Doc Rivers, the current draft culture hurt the 7-footer out of Pittsburgh most, because teams started poking holes at his game instead of concentrating on what he could do. What he can do is establish a presence inside, gain position and bang the offensive boards.

Trends are funny things. Oklahoma State hasn’t won a true road game since February 11, 2006. A span of 13 games. At the same time, they have beaten Pitt 3 straight times. Oklahoma State Game notes (PDF).

Pitt is at home and has only lost one home non-con game at the Pete since it opened. Winning 26 straight home non-cons and 54-1 overall at the Pete in non-conference games. Pitt Game notes (PDF).

Interesting how Pitt got the game at home in exchange for playing in Oklahoma City rather than Stillwater last year. Seems a bit of good negotiating, leverage and ESPN helped make it happen.

In previous years, All-College games played in Oklahoma City have been returned in similar venues, like last year’s game against Tennessee in Nashville.

“I think Pittsburgh bargained last year that the All-College needed a quality team and they leveraged ‘Hey, we’ll come play, but we want the game on our court coming back,’” OSU coach Sean Sutton said. “I said, ‘We’ll do that if you start a series with a quality opponent that starts in Gallagher.’”

ESPN, therefore, owes OSU that game next season, Sutton said.

Not Pitt’s problem, though. Really, what could Pitt have offered that would have been equivalent? The closest would have been a tournament with Duquesne at the Civic Arena or something with Penn State up in Erie. Just not seeing it.

There seems to be some confidence that Pitt will win this game over at ESPN.com. This week’s Power 16 has Pitt at #9.

Like Texas, the Panthers are a “Ewing Theory” candidate, as the replacement of Aaron Gray with DeJuan Blair has made this a much more athletic and flexible team. We’ll find out a lot more about the Panthers (and Duke) next Thursday at MSG.

Already skipping ahead to Duke.

Andy Katz in his chat was asked a couple things regarding Pitt (Insider subs.).

Brian (Pittsburgh): Andy, Any thoughts on this weekends Oklahoma State/Pitt matchup?

Andy Katz: Pitt handily.

…

Fosheezy, Pittsburgh: Andy: I love your work. You are the best college basketball mind on ESPN. Does Pitt and Duke go into their matchup next week both undefeated? Pitt has a tough one against Oklahoma State this Saturday. Who do you like in the Pitt-Duke game?

Andy Katz: I didn’t know I had relatives in Pittsburgh. I do think Pitt and Duke will be undefeated going into the game. I’ll stay away from a prediction at this point but I will say that I’m looking forward to seeing how the Blue Devils guad Sam Young and how Pitt defends the Duke 3-point shooters.

There was also the weekly chat with P-G beat writer Ray Fittipaldo. It seems everyone already wants to look ahead to the Duke game. Hopefully the players aren’t. Oklahoma State still offers enough of a challenge.

Everyone likes Power Rankings, yet never before have we seen them completely dedicated to our Pittsburgh Panthers. Every week or so we’ll take a look at the biggest news makers related to Pitt sports — all in Power Ranking form.

5. Aaron Gray, center, Chicago Bulls
Gray’s been signed, and Chas wrote about that a few days ago. I was a bit surprised, however, whenever I clicked on the link to the Bulls website and saw this picture:

Definitely kind of odd to see Gray without a Pitt jersey on. Joakim Noah? Still don’t like him.

4. New Pitt football jerseys
Speaking of jerseys, Pitt’s are supposedly scheduled to be released on August 9. There have been two possible concepts floating around the message boards (home and away) but I won’t believe it until I see it.

3. College Football Live, ESPN
There are plenty of things I don’t really like about ESPN, but their new show College Football Live is a winner. You can see it at weekdays at 3:30 on ESPN and again at 6:30 on ESPN2. And if you were wondering, Mark May is a regular on the show.

2. Jim Delany, Big Ten Commissioner
We’ve talked at length about the possible Big Ten expansion that Delany might be proposing as well as Pitt’s place in the big scheme of things. One problem about the Big Ten adding a team is that they’ll need to change one of the best logos in all of sports. Notice the 11 that is formed around the ‘t’…

1. Football training camp
The countdown to camp is at less than a week and it’s pretty easy to see that the football talk is really heating up. September 1 is the start of a new year…time to start getting excited.

Everyone likes Power Rankings, yet never before have we seen them completely dedicated to our Pittsburgh Panthers. Every week or so we’ll take a look at the biggest news makers related to Pitt sports — all in Power Ranking form.

5. ROC the Panther, Pitt mascot, Member of the Octonion
Some background: “Every June, a secret society of the eight wealthiest mascots in the Northeast convenes at a secret estate in Providence, RI, known as Mike Tranghese’s basement, where chips and mango-peach salsa are served. They control the Northeastern bank money supplies, Fort Dix, ESPN and the Weslyan College student newspaper. They are known as The Octonion.”

One such discussion about bowl games…

Cinci: Well we’ve got a new coach too but we’re hoping to improve on our finish last year and do even better than the International Bowl.

Pitt: The what bowl?

International.

Did you get together with you friends and play a game in your backyard and call it a bowl? Cause there’s no such thing.

Yes there is!

Oh yeah? Where is it played?

Toronto, Canada.

Sure it is. Who did you play?

Western Michigan.

Aha! No such school!

Fine. Who did you play in your bowl game last year?

………f@#& you.

Read it all here and here.

4. Torrie Cox, CB, Tampa Bay Bucs, former Pitt football player
He’s been suspended for 4 games by the NFL for a repeat violation of the substance abuse policy. In this year’s training camp he was expected to compete for a starting job.

3. “Greatest Show Ever” on 92.1 WPTS
Hosted by Pat Mitsch and Jeff Greer on 92.1 and www.wpts.org/live, they cover all kinds of topics from around the sporting world including your Pitt football and basketball teams. A good way to waste time from 10-noon on Tuesday mornings.

2. New Hats on the PittPanthers.com Shop
Ugly now comes in two colors: white and blue.

Wouldn’t mind this hat though.

1. Chicago Bulls, NBA team
If Aaron Gray makes the team, the Bulls have a chance to become my favorite NBA team. They will replace my current favorite: the Pittsburgh Pisces. I’ll always have a strong dislike for Joakim Noah though, and that’ll never change.

Happy Fourth of July!

Everyone likes Power Rankings, yet never before have we seen them completely dedicated to our Pittsburgh Panthers. Every week or so we’ll take a look at the biggest news makers related to Pitt sports — all in Power Ranking form.

5. Kevan Smith, QB
The guy barely gets any publicity but got a story last week in the Post-Gazette. That’s one more newspaper article than guys like Pat Bostick, Bill Stull, LaRod Stevens-Howling, and most of the other guys on the team.

4. Pitt Marching Band
According to people who used to sit near the tunnel where the Panthers come out for homes games, they are being asked to move across the stadium. Why? The Pitt band is moving from behind the closed endzone to near that tunnel. The bad news is that they’re being moved away from the students; the good news is that they won’t be playing towards the open end where the sound can escape. It always seems that the away team’s bands are louder even when I sit closer to Pitt’s band — this could be the solution to that.

3. Clemson University
Our series with Clemson in 2010-2011 is off and then we pulled in one of their verbal commits. Yes, I wish we were keeping the series on with them but it seemed like a mutual thing. Taking one of their verbals…well hah!

2. Joe DelSardo Fan Club, Double-wide headband, writers, Panther Rants
They “took over” Dokish’s site and have turned it into what they call “The Onion of Pitt Sports”. They have had some posts that are simply hilarious including the press release of kickoff times for the 2008 season.

Also released was the start time for the matchup with Syracuse University on Saturday, November 3rd. “Dr. Gross [Syracuse Atheltic Director] and I agreed to start the game at 4:20. We chose this time because we figured you’d have to be high to go to this game. At that point in the season, both teams will be well out of the Conference race and any bowl possibilities. Therefore, we’re hoping a lot of potheads get confused and think it’s a Phish concert. There’s really no way to market this mess.”

1. Dinocat 2.0, new Pitt secondary logo
Two straight weeks of having a not-so-good subject in the #1 spot is a simple showing of which way most people think things are going. To top it all off, they throw out some “sleek” new logo that doesn’t even look like a panther. Panthers have noses like this, dogs like so. BYU, Florida International, and Houston got it right. Us? Not so much. At least we got something to talk about for a few days this offseason.