Hey, how about something non-expansion related? Maybe just for a post or so.

Not sure of the veracity of any of this bit since it is unsourced, but according to Bleed Black and Gold, Coach Jamie Dixon was indeed targeting Dave Leitao as the new assistant. Leitao, however, has declined. If so, bummer.

Leitao has kept a relatively low profile since being fired by Virginia. The only times his name has surfaced was as a candidate for the Hofstra job and for a coaching spot in the NBDL.

Jeff Goodman at FoxSports.com updated his way too soon top-25 now that the early entrant period to enter and withdraw has past. Pitt is in at #7.

The Panthers weren’t expected to do much this past season after losing four starters, but Jamie Dixon performed some magic to the tune of 25 wins. Pittsburgh’s only real loss is Jermaine Dixon, but guards Gibbs and Wanamaker have another year under their belts and McGhee made dramatic improvement in the past year. The key could be the progress of Taylor and redshirt freshman Talib Zanna up front.

He has Villanova at #6.

NBE Basketball blog ranks the Big East recruiting classes and puts Pitt at #5.

The Panthers are going to be absolutely loaded on the perimeter next season, with the arrival of three four-star (in our opinion) guards.

Syracuse, UConn, Georgetown, Marquette round out the top-4. Villanova was 6th. WVU was ranked 10th.

While a radio station in KC is being mocked for being the latest to breathlessly report “sources” indicating that the Big Something has made offers to Nebraska (already denied by Nebraska’s chancellor), Rutgers, Mizzou and ND, I’m going to focus on something a little more realistic — preseason prognosticated rankings.

Yes, I’m setting the bar low.

Tony Barnhart is ranking Pitt at #13.

No mystery here. The Panthers will give the ball to sophomore RB Dion Lewis, who ran for 1,799 yards on 325 carries (only Stanford’s Toby Gerhart had more with 345). Lewis is the nation’s leading returning rusher and will get into the mix for the Heisman. There are a lot of starters to replace (six on offense, seven on defense) but I’m picking Pittsburgh to win the Big East.

Dennis Dodd at CBS Sports, updates his top-25 preseason pickings and moves Pitt from 24th to 20th. Yippee.

Preseason mags seem to be stepping back a bit from trying to get their mags out first this year. No early May publications, but Athlon — usually one of the first — is releasing their top-25, one per day, until releasing the mag in June. Pitt clocks in at #18.

The Panthers find themselves among the best of the best once again, underscoring the success of coach Dave Wannstedt’s rebuilding project. No longer is he simply hoping for success. Now, it’s a matter of how much. In 2009, Pitt was within a quarter of a BCS berth. Don’t be surprised if they get there this time.

They also like Lewis for Heisman candidacy.

And since it is never too early to start laying money on games (so I’m told), Covers.com looks at some of the best games to start the college football season.

Pittsburgh at Utah, Thursday, Sept. 2

Dave Wannstedt’s Panthers are the favorites in the Big East. Sophomore Tino Sunseri takes over at quarterback for Bill Stull and has a pair of NFL-caliber weapons at his disposal in running back Dion Lewis and wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin. The offense, however, struggled in the spring.

Utah returns quarterback Jordan Wynn, a sophomore who won the starting job midway through last season. Wynn passed for 338 yards and three touchdowns in the Utes’ bowl win over Cal. The Utes slipped into Sports Illustrated’s preseason rankings at No. 25, one of only two Mountain West teams in top 25.

Pittsburgh will be the higher-ranked team, but traveling across the country for a Thursday night game in what will be a raucous environment won’t be easy.

Projected line: Utah -3

No question, the winner of that game gets a lot of bounce coming out of the first week.

This bit from Brian Bennett has been sitting in a browser tab for nearly three weeks.

Actually, Pittsburgh could have won the last the two Big East titles. The Panthers have arguably had the most overall talent in the league, but they couldn’t beat Cincinnati either year.

The program has steadily climbed under Dave Wannstedt, reaching the Top 10 last November, winning 10 games for the first time in more than a quarter of a century and beating North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl. But the Meineke Car Care Bowl is a long way from the BCS. And with the Bearcats going through a coaching change this season, the timing couldn’t be better for a breakthrough year.

“We’re a team that expects to win the Big East,” quarterback Tino Sunseri said. “We know what it’s like to see Cincinnati celebrating on our field. We understand how close we’ve been and what we need to do to go the extra step.”

There aren’t many excuses for Pitt this year. Lewis, the Big East’s reigning offensive MVP and rookie of the year, returns after running for 1,799 yards and 17 touchdowns as a freshman. Romeus, the Big East’s co-defensive MVP last year, decided to wait on the NFL draft and come back for his senior year. Jonathan Baldwin, a 6-foot-5 athletic freak who had 1,111 yards receiving last year, should challenge for the Biletnikoff Award this season.

“If you look all around the country, you can’t think of too many teams that last year had a receiver go over 1,000 yards and a running back go over 1,700 yards,” Baldwin said. “Teams don’t know what to expect, whether we’re going to pound the ball down your throat or throw it.”

Everyone is saying that Pitt has the most talent — not just concentrated at some skill position, but across the board. The point being, Pitt and Coach Wannstedt are the favorite to win the Big East this year.

1. Pittsburgh: The Panthers have some questions, notably on the interior offensive line. But they’ve also got Dion Lewis, Greg Romeus and Jonathan Baldwin and more answers on both sides of the ball than any other Big East squad.

There is a reason that so far in early top-25s. Pitt is the Big East team ranked the highest.

13. Pittsburgh Panthers With former Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly moving to Notre Dame, Pittsburgh might be the team to beat in the Big East. The Panthers were close to winning the last two Big East championships, but they couldn’t beat the Bearcats. With tailback Dion Lewis and receiver Jonathan Baldwin coming back on offense, and end Greg Romeus returning to harass opposing quarterbacks, Pittsburgh might be poised to clear the last hurdle. Tino Sunseri beat out Pat Bostick for the starting quarterback job during the spring, and he’ll replace departed fifth-year senior Bill Stull. The Panthers play an aggressive nonconference schedule, including a Sept. 2 opener at Utah.

Andy Staples at SI.com, has Pitt at #16. It is a safe bet to see Pitt ranked anywhere from #12 to #25 in the various preseason polls and mags.

Greg Romeus and Jason Pinkston were named to the Rotary Lombardi Award Watchlist for best lineman.

Romeus, Pinkston along with Dion Lewis and Jonathan Baldwin were named to the NationalChamps.net All-American team. More than any other program, period. Not just in the Big East.

Yes, there are questions about the secondary, the middle of the O-line and QB, but unless those spots absolutely fail, that shouldn’t be enough to derail the team.

That puts the pressure on the team to meet expectations. The pressure especially falls on Coach Wannstedt.

We’ve all seen the brain fart games. We’ve seen the games where Pitt took the foot off the gas and go conservative. We’ve seen the failure to adjust.

There was a big step towards Pitt and Coach Wannstedt starting to overcome the perception of underachiever and just not winning the big games. Yet the perceptions remain when you look at the 3 losses last season.

The NC State game showed poor game planning for the QB, the offense letting up after building a lead, and then not able to get it back.

The Backyard Brawl had a disturbing lack of intensity, focus and poor execution.

And the Cinci game. Simply not able to make the key stops.

Yes, these are oversimplifications. I am talking perception, though.

These games fit a narrative of a head coach and Pitt team — regardless of the coach — that don’t get over the hump and spit the bit when they have the chance.

Think of how most view, say Virginia Tech. A team that has talent, a very good coach, great defense and special teams. Yet, they almost inexplicably blow at least a couple games every year.

This becomes one of those seasons that can alter perceptions or confirm them.

Weather turning nice, a 3-year old that shows little interest in being babysat by the TV, and trying to get to the various projects I have put off since September. Whine, whine, whine.

Okay, the NBE blog ran a series of quadrant rankings of the Big East for the offseason. They had the bottom 4 teams (no shocks unless you were high on Cinci). Third tier — surprised to see Louisville this low. Second tier doesn’t seem too stunning except maybe Marquette while losing Hayward and Acker, but seem to be given a boost in perceptions from being much better than expected last season.

Pitt was obviously picked for the First Tier, but also the #1 spot ahead of Villanova, Syracuse and Georgetown (hat tip to wbb). There has not been a question that the expectations would be high and there would be no surprising teams this year.

(more…)

The NCAA Tournament has been over for a couple weeks. As noted, within days of that, college basketball writers start to make their ridiculously early and way too soon predictions for next fall’s pre-season top-25 teams.

The process is fairly simple. So let’s break it down.

(more…)

Tom Herrion was all class as he takes over at Marshall.

“Obviously, I’m forever grateful for coach Dixon,” Herrion said. “I know I am leaving a much, much better coach for having had the opportunity to work for him and be around such a great, successful program.”

One of Herrion’s players next season will be incoming freshman guard Deandre Kane, who was former Pitt star DeJuan Blair’s teammate at Schenley.

Dixon, who’s on the road recruiting and couldn’t be reached for comment, said in a statement: “We have been extremely fortunate to have Tom on our coaching staff for the past three years. … We are happy and excited for Tom and his family. He will do a great job at Marshall.”

You know, I had forgotten about Kane. Kind of disturbing that he still hasn’t reached freshman eligibility in college, though.

With several coaches serving under Coach Dixon now successfully in charge of their own programs the job is more attractive than ever. There won’t be any shortage of interested parties.

Chris Dokish breaks down the names that might be in the running for the top assistant position.

Looking at the list — and it is a pretty comprehensive list — these are my thoughts.

Not great recruiters: Mike Dunlap, Scott Rigot and Pat Duquette.

Duquette was no where near the talent evaluator and recruiter for Skinner that Bill Coen (Northeastern head coach) and Ed Cooley (Fairfield head coach). Besides, the skill of the BC staff under Skinner was finding underrecruited diamonds in the rough. Pitt is looking beyond that at this point.

Dunlap has an excellent basketball mind, but is not a recruiting guy. Lavin wants him at St. John’s for Xs-and-Os. Factual point. Dunlap turned down being the interim coach after Lute Olson’s abrupt resignation. He stayed on staff as an assistant and helped Russ Pennell run things.

I know Kentucky fans can be a little insane, but they do know their stuff. Scott Rigot was not exactly a favored assistant under Tubby Smith there. There was no clamor for Gillispie to keep him and it does say something that Smith didn’t bring him to Minnesota.

None seem like a great choice, and I would be nervous.

Recent head coaches/fine recruiters: Norm Roberts, Dino Gaudio, Dave Leitao.

I would have no problem with any of these choices. Roberts was a very good recruiter for Bill Self at Kansas. Leitao and Gaudio both have reputations primarily for their recruiting chops. Dokish indicates that all three obviously want to be head coaches again, so as likely short-timers Coach Dixon may not want that.

Considering Rice lasted a year and it was almost a shock that Bill Herrion made it 3 years after missing on Holy Cross last year, I don’t know if Coach Dixon would really be that bothered. Especially considering any successful program regularly sees assistants poached.

Any of these three as hires would be a home run. Not sure if Roberts and Gaudio, though, would want to jump right back in as assistants this season.

Chicagoland/Midwest recruiters: Sean Kearney, Tracy Webster, Billy Garrett, Sr., Tracy Dildy.

These are some intriguing choices. Especially for expanding Pitt’s recruiting. If Coach Dixon feels confident about how Brandin Knight can work New York and New Jersey, any of these would be very interesting options. All of these are good recruiters but center in a different geographic base.

Coach Dixon has primarily stuck to hiring assistants who know and recruit the East Coast.  These guys have built their recruiting success in Chicago are and midwest. I’m sure they would also do fine recruiting in NY/NJ, but their roots are not there.

Absolute homeruns, but unlikely: Book Richardson and Jeff Battle.

If Pitt and Coach Dixon can get either of these guys, it is an unqualified great hire.

Book Richardson has been an outstanding recruiter for Sean Miller at Xavier and Arizona. He is still recruiting NY/NJ well even from the other side of the country. Not sure he would leave.

Jeff Battle is also an outstanding recruiter at Wake Forest. Indications are, though, that Wake wants him to stay after they hire Jeff Bzdelik from Colorado. Battle lost his wife to cancer and is raising his son on his own. If Wake and Bzdelik want him to stay, I’d guess he would.

I don’t know enough to have an opinion: Pat Skerry, Pete Strickland, Fred Quartlebaum, Rob Moxley.

I will defer to Dokish on these guys. He seems fairly positive on them.

Really, might as well call this the Dokish post since the other items are authored by him.

He measures Pitt’s post-season success under Coach Dixon and does not see disappointment. He sees more that the team so overachieves in the regular season that what happens in March seems like a letdown.

Finally, from a piece he did last week for NBE Basketball Report on Big East players to watch in 2010. Under established players who should improve:

Brad Wanamaker, Pittsburgh, Sr.- Perhaps no head coach in the league has had as many players improve as Pitt’s Jamie Dixon, and all the proof you need is to look at the Panthers’ dominance in the league’s Most Improved Award. Wanamaker, a 6?4? wing probably won’t win that award since he’s already pretty good, but that doesn’t mean he still may not see a lot of improvement in his last season as a Panther. As a junior, Wanamaker averaged 12.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 4.7 apg, and 1.2 spg, and even though the Panthers’ will have more depth next season, Wanamaker has proven that he’s the most productive all-around player on the team, and his numbers should continue to rise.

Commencing fierce opinions on both sides in 3, 2, 1…

He also touches on a couple of other players who should make significant progress:

Travon Woodall, Pittsburgh, So.- The 5?11? PG was handed the starting job at the beginning of the season, but lost it because of sloppy play. However at the end of the season, the cat quick Woodall showed much better consistency, averaging 5.0 ppg and 3.2 apg, and could regain that starting spot again next season if his outside shooting improves .

Dante Taylor, Pittsburgh, So.- The 6?9? big man disappointed many Panthers fans this year after being the school’s first McDonald’s All-American in a few decades. But Taylor still managed 4.1 ppg and 3.7 rpg in just 14 minutes a game, showing that there is definitely talent present.

Seems about right.

Hey, you knew it was coming. Really silly top-25 predictions for next year. Even before the dust settles on early entries to the NBA draft and a few more key recruits decide.

Pitt seems to be a consensus top-10 pick in the way too early stuff.

Luke Winn at SI.com:

7. PITTSBURGH: The Panthers were Big East contenders a year ahead of schedule, tying for second in the league. Junior guard Ashton Gibbs is one of the nation’s most underrated scorers — he shot 44.4 percent on threes during Big East play in ‘09-10 — and on the verge of becoming a national name.

Marc Millar from Beyond the Arc:

5. Pitt
Panthers finished 25-9 and were a Big East surprise. By returning four starters and three top bench players, they’re good enough to win league.

From FoxSports.com’s Jeff Goodman:

8. PITTSBURGH
Record: 25-9 (second round of the NCAA tournament)
Lose: Jermaine Dixon Possible Early Entry Departures: None
Key Returnees: Ashton Gibbs, Brad Wanamaker, Gilbert Brown, Gary McGhee, Nasir Robinson, Travon Woodall, Dante Taylor
Newcomers: J.J. Moore, Cameron Wright, Isaiah Epps

The Panthers weren’t expected to do much this past season after losing four starters, but Jamie Dixon performed some magic to the tune of 25 wins. Pittsburgh’s lone loss is that of Jermaine Dixon, but guards Gibbs and Wanamaker have another year under their belt and McGhee made dramatic improvement in the past year. The key could be the progress of Taylor up front.

Gary Parrish at CBSSports.com puts Pitt at #6.

Over at SBN:

8) Pitt: Jamie Dixon has proven himself to be among the elite coaches in the country, and he should have one of his better teams in 2010/2011. The Panthers exceeded most expectations with their performance this season, and they return their top three scorers. Ashton Gibbs should be one of the elite guys in the Big East next season, and look for Isaiah Epps to step in and make an immediate impact next year.

Mike DeCourcy also chimes in from the Sporting News:

9. Pitt
The Panthers need to become more versatile on offense, but don’t be surprised if talented big man Dante Taylor makes a significant leap as a sophomore.

And finally from Andy Katz at ESPN.com:

5. Pitt: The Panthers were the surprise of the Big East last season by landing a 2-seed in the Big East tournament and a 3-seed in the NCAA tournament in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. No one should be shocked by Pitt returning this season as the Big East favorite. The whole team returns. Ashton Gibbs is the leader of this group and makes money shots for the Panthers.

So, at this point the lowest ranking is 9th. Highest 5th.

Expect Pitt to have a tough and backloaded Big East schedule for next year.

Have to admit that this has been a weird Saturday. No basketball games or football games all day.  I basically have either been watching or attending games for every Saturday since September.

Today, I’ve been spending time with my family. Beginning work on the ridiculous number of projects around the house.  God, it sucked.

Coach Jamie Dixon did not win the AP Coach of the Year. As expected that went to Jim Boeheim. He did, however, collect the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year.

Named after legendary Mount St. Mary’s head coach Jim Phelan, who won over 800 games and coached in more contests than any in college basketball history, the award is presented annually to the top coach in America by CollegeInsider.com. The honor is voted upon by a distinguished group of coaches, media members and athletic administrators.

Dixon, who has been listed as a finalist for virtually every national coach of the year honor, was also named the CollegeInsider.com Big East Coach of the Year. Other finalists for the Jim Phelan Award were Steve Alford (New Mexico), Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), John Calipari (Kentucky), Steve Donohue (Cornell), Fran Dunphy (Temple), Ben Jacobson (Northern Iowa), mid-season honoree Frank Martin (Kansas State), Chris Mooney (Richmond), Matt Painter (Purdue), Bo Ryan (Wisconsin), Bill Self (Kansas), Brad Stevens (Butler), Mark Turgeon (Texas A&M) and Jay Wright (Villanova).

Previous Jim Phelan Award winners include John Calipari (Memphis, 2009), Bo Ryan (Wisconsin, 2008), Tony Bennett (Washington State, 2007), Ben Howland (UCLA, 2006), Tubby Smith (Kentucky, 2005) Phil Martelli (St. Joseph’s, 2004) and Mark Slonaker (Mercer, 2003).

So, that’s nice.

Marshall is looking for a new head coach. They have been very busy interviewing many. Including Assitant Coach Tom Herrion.

A head coach at the College of Charleston from 2002-06, Herrion was 80-35. He just concluded his second season as Coach Jamie Dixon’s top assistant at Pitt and previously was an assistant to Pete Gillen at Virginia and Providence.

Herrion, 42, was the Pitt coach who was hit in the face by a quarter thrown during a game this season at the WVU Coliseum. A brother, Bill Herrion, is the head coach at New Hampshire – and was the head coach at East Carolina while [Marshall AD Mike] Hamrick was the AD there, before he moved to UNLV.

What makes me nervous is how much sense this could make for Marshall.

Worth noting that Marshall lost their head coach to Central Florida, and the rumor mill down there is that UCF made the move to fire a head coach of 17 years because they are getting serious. Why? Because the belief is the Big East is going to beckon soon.

UCF Athletic Director Keith Tribble and UCF President John Hitt said they never mentioned a move to the Big East during interviews with candidates.

“No, those rumors were incorrect,” Tribble said. “It was never discussed.”

However, new UCF basketball coach Donnie Jones has not been shy talking about the Knights’ Big East potential.

“We have a chance down the road to maybe go to the Big East,” Jones said this week. “… This school has the ability with the students and obviously the commitment and facilities to put ourselves in a situation to make that next step.”

Football and basketball recruits have noted UCF’s Big East potential during interviews discussing their decision to either commit or sign letters of intent to play for the Knights.

Tribble has made it clear he wants UCF to be part of a conference with an automatic qualifying BCS bid, generating more revenue for UCF through shares of BCS game revenue and bigger conference television agreements.

So, maybe the Big East is finally reacting a little.

This year will be the final year for the SEC/Big East skirmish. Pitt is assuredly one of the teams from the Big East that will play. In a format that guarantees obscurity and low attendance, there are only 4 games each year played on two sites that are semi-neutral.

Well, the SEC is in favor of extending, improving and expanding the thing.

The ACC/Big Ten Chal­lenge, created in 1999, has been the biggest success among series of this kind, pairing those leagues for 11 games annually on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. The games usually occur at home arenas rather than neutral sites.

“We know about the ACC/Big Ten format (for the SEC and Big East). Whether that’s the right format, I don’t know,” Slive said. “We may not change it. Those are sort of the extremes, and we’re talking with ESPN to see if we can do something to create more.”

Slive said discussions for an opposing conference “right now” are only with the Big East. All 12 SEC teams have played in the invitational; Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Se­ton Hall have yet to play for the 16-team Big East.

The Pac-10 and Big 12 have their own exchange, but it is spread out over a month, so it is largely ignored. The SEC-Big East is on back-to-back days, but it is so small a group it is also fairly irrelevant.

Let’s face it. The ideal approach is the ACC/Big 11. All the games are on campus courts. It is all over just a few days, so it gets a lot of attention and is easy to follow. Hopefully the 800 pound gorilla that is ESPN (who owns this invitational) will press the Big East to accept an expanded set-up.

Finally a piece on Gil Brown.

“I bided my time and earned my role with the team. It has been a great experience and everything played out for me.”

The potential is there for the Panthers to become a dangerous team next season, and Dixon knows exactly what he wants from Brown.

“He has focused on becoming more physical on drives to the basket,” Dixon said. “He is a better defender, but he can be a great defender. I hope this offseason will be a good one for him.”

Brown realizes what he needs to do in order to take that next step in becoming the all-around player the coaching staff envisions. The ball, sort of speak, is in his court.

“I felt I provided some leadership this season and I felt comfortable with that role,” Brown said. “I have to be more assertive [on the court] and be a better leader to become an elite player.”

And consistent. Definitely would like to see consistent.

I will almost certainly revisit this over the summer, when there is more time to ponder. Not to mention a little more space from the immediacy of the end of the season. And of course, because I’ll need filler material for the blog in the dog days.

It’s hard to get a bearing on how much better Pitt basketball will be in 2010. Certainly, the team will be in all of the preseason rankings and expectations will be there. What does that mean?

As far as the record goes, I could see them struggling to match this season’s totals. For one, they will certainly be looking at a slightly more challenging non-con with the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic and some other games. Another factor will be that as a team with expectations and likely to be picked for the upper 4th of the conference, they will be looking at a harder conference schedule.

In 2008-09, Pitt was in the top-10 all season. They finished with a 15-3 Big East record. This season saw Pitt finish with a 13-5 conference record. Without context, that is a remarkable achievement to finish only 2 off the pace of a tremendous season. But with unbalanced scheduling, not all records are created equal (just ask Virginia Tech’s misleading 10-6 ACC record).

That, however, isn’t really the issue. The issue stems from Bob Smizik’s blog post, which essentially clips Chris Dokish’s blog post. A post in which, the focus had little to do with the next season as a whole, but simply the postseason.

Let’s just jump right to what Dokish concludes.

This program has a lot of excellent supporting parts. The problem is, there was no star. With DeJuan Blair on this team, suddenly Gibbs gets open, Wanamaker doesn’t have to waste energy rebounding over his head, McGhee comes off the bench, etc. But without that star player, everybody was forced to play over their head. Much to their everlasting credit, they did do more than they should have been asked to for much of the season. But you can only stretch so much before you break.

The same will probably happen next season, though as many as five new players enter the mix. And it’s those five that will be the center of this team in two years. If Moore is eligible next season, he has the ability to be a star as a sophomore. Epps and Wright will at least be good as sophs, and maybe even better. Gibbs and Robinson will be seniors, Richardson, Taylor, Woodall, Patterson, and Zanna will be juniors, and John Johnson will arrive as a freshman, along with one or two others yet to be named.

Bottom line, this year was a rebuilding year and almost ended in the Sweet 16. Next year should be better and a Sweet 16 is a good possibility. Not bad for a team with no stars. The good news is, the stars may be on the way.

I hardly think anything he said was that outrageous or down on the team.

What seems to have some annoyed is the suggestion  of player upside:

The problem is that the players with the highest ceilings will still not be ready yet, and the upperclassmen simply don’t have high ceilings.

Those players are Ashton Gibbs, Brad Wanamaker, Gary McGhee, Gilbert Brown and Nasir Robinson.

I’m hard pressed to disagree with his assessment on four of them — strictly on a production standpoint. Gibbs, Wanamaker, McGhee and Brown are not going to produce numbers that much higher than what they had this year. Where you want to see the change in them, is in consistency, efficiency and fewer mistakes. Better shooting percentage, lower turnover numbers and less variation of totals from game to game.

Oddly, Robinson didn’t get mentioned. He’s the one player I actually have hopes to make a more significant jump. Oh, he’s still going to be inconsistent on offense. He doesn’t have a pretty game. I think we all know that. I can see him, though, becoming the defensive specialist. He has the requisite toughness, plus deceptive speed and wiriness to stay on a lot of wing players.

The biggest difference between this past season and the coming season. Higher expectations from the outset.

I don’t see Pitt’s seed changing unless they win the Big East Tournament.  Based on various projections I’ve seen, here is my half-assed, amalgamated projection of the top four lines.

#1 — Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, Duke

#2 — WVU, K-State, Ohio St., New Mexico

#3 — Villanova, Purdue, Pitt, Wisconsin

#4 — Michigan St., Baylor, Tennessee, BYU

Others that could move up the line to #4 or possibly #3 with a big conference tourney: Maryland, Temple, Vandy, Texas A&M and Georgetown.

The top two lines look rather solid in my view. Meanwhile a Hummel-less Purdue and oddly unraveling Nova squad seem more precarious at the #3 seed.

Even if (god forbid) the team goes out in the quarter-finals, Pitt would still be a #3 seed. MSU seems like the most likely to be able to move up a line given the relative openness of the Big 11’s conference tourney as compared to the SEC and Big 12.

I would much prefer to see Pitt keep winning in the BET, but I don’t think Pitt will get much movement from it.

And so does the ranting over it when it goes wrong.

There was a question about Pitt’s seeding if in a hypothetical, Pitt finished 14-4 in the Big East and won the Big East Tournament.

Honestly, I don’t like to worry or think too much about seeding until the end of the regular season. Oh, I look at some of the projections. It’s just that things can change too quickly. Not just for Pitt, but the teams around them.

Really all Pitt can do is take care of business around them. They have one loss that haunts them.

The Hoyas are appearing in brackets as a three-seed, which one could suggest is generous for a team with the Big East’s sixth-best offense and, what do you know, its sixth-best defense. Meanwhile a team like Pitt, two full games ahead of Georgetown in the standings and equal to the Hoyas in per-possession terms, is popping up as a four-seed. Maybe that little “4” next to the Panthers’ name should be replaced with something more honest and direct: “They lost to Indiana!”

More specifically, “They lost to Indiana on national TV!” These are strange days when losing to Northwestern, Miami or *ahem* South Florida would be a better loss.

Honestly, if Pitt runs things, I think they will be no better than a #2 seed. Kentycky and Kansas look like locks. Syracuse would have to really stumble. As would Purdue and a few others. Really #2 or #3 would be amazing regardless.

One game at a time, though.

An extended lay-off after Pitt starts the conference play 3-0. Naturally, the players really don’t mind.

“The consistent practice time we put in, getting up and down the court, scrimmaging each other, just getting to know each other more than we did was important,” said Brown, who scored a career-high 17 points against Cincinnati. “I only played four games and Jermaine seven, so it’s really helped us get together as a team.”

Brown and Dixon have changed the team dramatically. In the four games Brown and Dixon have played together, Pitt is averaging 73.8 points per game, shooting 48.8 percent from the field and 47.1 percent from 3-point range. In the 11 games when they were not in the lineup together, Pitt only averaged 65.6 points, shot 43.9 percent from the field and 33 percent from 3-point range.

Brown and Dixon are two of the better defenders on the team, and there has been a noticeable difference at the defensive end as well. Teams are shooting a lower percentage from the field. And although teams are scoring more, the caliber of competition is much different from what the Panthers faced earlier in the season.

Those statistics figure to improve as they get used to playing together more.

“You can say [the break in the schedule] came at a good time,” junior guard Brad Wanamaker said. “[Brown and Dixon] have been looking good the last couple of games. It gave us more time to get better as a team, getting more comfortable playing with those two guys.”

Not to mention allowing Coach Dixon time to work on the rotation. Figure out playing time and starters. The speculation remains that Gary McGhee and maybe Nasir Robinson’s days as starters are numbered. Of course, that speculation has been there since mid-December.

To say nothing of working on the occasional zone defense to throw teams off and protect the frontcourt.

One of the solid things about having continuity with coaches, not just having the same coach here for 7 years but it being the continuation from an assistant to the head coach, is that the past players really feel the connection to the program and to the present players. At the beginning of the season, the players talked of how the past players emphasized to them how they needed to keep things going at Pitt. One of those things to keep going — defense.

“Jaron told me, ‘You have to be able to stop the other teams from scoring and be tougher than your opponents in order to win in the Big East,’ ” Dixon said. “That’s the same thing Levance Fields talked to me about when I was a freshman, and Carl Krauser was at the game the other day, and even he was talking about taking pride in playing defense and always being tougher than your opponents.

“That’s just who we are at Pitt.”

…

“When you come in as a young guy, you have to learn that everybody here takes pride in being able to defend and nobody is going to take it easy,” Jermaine Dixon said. “This is a physical conference and you must be mentally tough enough to survive in it. But the way we look at it, that starts every day at practice.”

Finally, Chris Dokish takes a look at the possible rotations for the next couple years based on recruiting and development.

Woodall has elite speed and has had some nice moments, but some nice moments is not enough in the Big East. He will have to make major improvement if he wants to continue to see the floor because Epps is a talented player who the staff expects will be at least a solid contributor as a freshman.

At the other guard spot, if Gibbs is not playing the point, he will obviously be positioned here. The fact that he has made such huge strides so quickly is a huge event for the program. Don’t forget that he was almost an afterthought as a recruit, and the staff actually had to get Woodall’s blessing to bring Gibbs in. It was Woodall who they thought was going to be making a major contribution by this point. To Gibbs’ credit he has turned himself into a legitimate all-conference player in just his second season. To say he is a pleasant surprise is an understatement, especially since he has proven that he is more than just a standstill shooter.

I recall last year, the issue with Gibbs to many was his shooting technique. He was effective, but they were not the pretty looking shots expected from a perimeter shooter. More like line-drives that just seemed to find the bottom of the basket. Certainly not the aesthetically pleasing look of Ronald Ramon’s 3s.

I hesitate to make this comparison, because it is not fair to Gibbs, but his development does strike me a bit like Brandin Knight’s. Not particularly heavily recruited from New Jersey, from basketball families, and each with a brother that was/is more highly regarded. Both, though, seem to have that spark to make themselves better players. To minimize their weaknesses and a drive to improve.

I haven’t touched on any football stuff for a while, so time to just see what’s out there.

Pitt ended the season in both polls ranked #15. Best ranking since ’82. First time with 10 wins since ’82. Seems like a trend.

With the season over, that means it is time to project way-too-early-top-25 lists. Pitt gets placed at the same spot by ESPN.com.

15. Pittsburgh Panthers

Pitt finally got over the hump under coach Dave Wannstedt, who led his alma mater to its first 10-win season since 1981. The Panthers will have to replace quarterback Bill Stull and three starting offensive linemen, but they’ll have two of the country’s best playmakers in tailback Dion Lewis and receiver Jonathan Baldwin. At least five starters will have to be replaced on defense, too, including All-Big East defensive tackle Mick Williams, linebacker Adam Gunn, and cornerbacks Aaron Berry and Jovani Chappel. Wannstedt hopes junior defensive end Greg Romeus is coming back for his senior season. Pitt plays an aggressive nonconference schedule, with road contests at Utah and Notre Dame and a home game against Miami. The Panthers will play Big East road games at Connecticut and Cincinnati and will play Rutgers and West Virginia at home.

I expect Pitt will be ranked pre-season anywhere from 13-24 in most of the polls. Pitt will likely be picked to win the conference. I would hesitate to make the early suggestion that Rutgers might be a darkhorse after they failed miserably in the role of sleeper/darkhorse Big East favorite. That said, they have done very well in recruiting and have a very good QB in place with Savage.

Speaking of talented freshman, Dion Lewis earned Freshman All-American status. In Paul Zeise’s ranging and interesting off-season posts on the football team (dare we say Gorman-esque), he touches on Lewis already back at work.

But Lewis is special for so many reasons and here is yet another one – he is reportedly already hitting the winter conditioning program with a vengeance because he understands how hard it is going to be for him to repeat what he did this past season now that he’ll be a marked man. He’s as serious of a player as I’ve ever been around in terms of, being great matters to him and he is more than willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that.

How do you come close to matching a season like that? Few players are lucky enough to have one season like that, and he did it as a freshman. Well, more pressure on the O-line to help match the job done last year.

The issue of DC Phil Bennett’s seemingly imminent departure back to Texas remains oddly minor. We do know he isn’t going to work at Texas A&M.

That doesn’t mean he will necessarily be back – he and Dave Wannstedt are set to sit down face to face tomorrow for the first time since the bowl game and they will no doubt discuss his future. When Phil was hired two years ago it was thought to be a short-term kind of hire so it will be interesting to see how this ultimately plays out. There are still a number of jobs out there and his family is still in Texas with no plans to move here to Pittsburgh, so Bennett could still be moving on as he had told a few people was his plan during the season, but it seems fairly clear that if he is leaving, he isn’t going to Texas A&M as defensive coordinator.

The angst is relatively low because his reasons for leaving are mainly family — so it isn’t personal or job performance related. Also, there is the fact that Greg Gattuso will likely take over in what seems like a no-brainer. Finally, and probably most important, Coach Wannstedt is a defensive coach. The defense has his fingerprints all-over it and so the presumption is the DC is less vital than a good OC. In that respect, it is much like the lack of angst from Cal fans when OC Cignetti left Cal for Pitt last year.

And as I hoped/suspected, the Dave Walker to ‘Cuse rumor looks like bunk.

The David Walker to Syracuse stuff is another thing flying in internet land but in doing some digging, that thing just doesn’t have many legs or much to it. The only way that would happen is if Walker were going to be hired as the offensive coordinator and that isn’t the case. He has been here now since 2005, has made a life here for his family and isn’t likely going to make a lateral move, especially to another Big East school.

Looking at recruiting news, well not so much news as what the kids are doing. The Big 33 roster for Pennsylvania was announced. Six Pitt recruits were on the roster: Aaron Donald, Kevin Weatherspoon, Andrew Carswell, Khaynin Mosley-Smith, Salath Williams and Anthony Gonzalez. Or 6 out of the 10 HS senior Pitt commits from Pennsylvania.

Minor surprise when looking over the verbal commit list. Of the 24 verbals, only 11 (including Todd Thomas) come from Pennsylvania. Yes, there is a lot to do with trying to expand the recruiting base and losing out on some of the best players to Penn State and Ohio State, but it also has something to do with this being something of a down year for Pennsylvania talent.

Mark Meyers, the St. Ignatius (OH) QB commit that seems to have captured more than a few fans’ fancy as to the possibility of competing right away for the starting job, has been named to the USA Football team.

…Myers has been selected to play in USA Football’s Team USA vs. The World game Jan. 30 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

The game, which will be televised live by NFL Network, matches USA Football’s 2010 Junior National team — 45 of the country’s top high school seniors — against a world team composed of 45 of the best players aged 19 and under from eight other countries.

So there is that.

I expected Pitt to be ranked in the preseason somewhere in the 7-11 range. There’s just such a bunching in the Big East in the middle. After the projected top-2 teams of Villanova and WVU, you really can make a case for (but mainly against) the next 8 or 9 teams in what order.

Nine seems to be the popular place to put Pitt. The rationale is a common one and it makes sense.

Jamie Dixon has never won fewer than 20 games, never missed the NCAA tournament in six years as a head coach. But this should be his most challenging season considering Sam Young (19.2 ppg), DeJuan Blair (15.7 ppg), Levance Fields (10.7 ppg and 7.5 apg) and Tyrell Biggs (6.4 ppg) are no longer around to dominate the Big East. Meantime, Jermaine Dixon is recovering from foot surgery. So, at the moment, the Panthers are without all five starters from last season’s 31-win team, and even the greatness of freshman Dante Taylor — the McDonald’s All-American scored 27 points in Pitt’s first exhibition — won’t be enough to ensure a smooth transition.

I get it, but I have to admit. Seeing Pitt anywhere lower than 9 is bothersome. Coach Jamie Dixon is seeing this as good motivation.

Dixon knows what’s being said, and he’s pushing it right back at his players. The stars may be gone, but Dixon is certain this team has depth, developing players and a mindset for playing defense.

“This team can be as good as any team we’ve had,” Dixon said. “I know what everyone’s writing, because you look at it on paper. But we play games on the court. Where we are now isn’t where we’re going to be. That is our belief and our driving motivation.”

He’s been on record as expecting this team to overachieve — at least based on what is being predicted. Why are teams like ND and Syracuse getting pushed ahead of Pitt despite achieving less recently and losing almost as much? Well, ND has a likely All-American in Harangody so talent always gets a little more love. As for Syracuse, well most of that is the love always given to Boeheim in the media and more willing to buy his sales pitch about his team.

Jermaine Dixon is right there with the underdog/disrespect perspective.

“Everyone can’t be picked high,” Jermaine Dixon said. “When you lose four starters and 60 percent of your points, they are going to pick us low.”

“But Pittsburgh has always been the underdog,” he added.

When Dixon gets healthy, I expect a lot from him this season. He seems especially motivated and he is still stung by the way Pitt lost and his role in it.

Big brother Juan of the Washington Wizards was calling to offer his condolences after Villanova beat Pitt to advance to the Final Four.

“He told me, ‘don’t worry about it, it was a good game, you guys fought, you played well, don’t let it get you down,'” Dixon recalled. “Then he told me, ‘You know you messed up.'”

Jermaine, of course, did not need to be reminded. He had just lived through one of the most excruciating experiences that a college athlete could endure. Dixon made not one, but two, critical mistakes that turned the game in Villanova’s favor.

I like that he doesn’t shy away from his mistakes. Instead trying to improve from that spot. Not obsess and go grim over it, or simply laugh it off. It’s there and he knows it.

(more…)

It’s a testament to the success of the program and faith in Coach Dixon that there is a lot of optimism and enthusiasm for the upcoming season. This despite losing 2 NBA level talents along with 2 other seniors now playing overseas. This despite the football team performing well for a second straight season.

Coach Dixon is not afraid to say he expects this squad to measure up to past groups. Not just in a year or two, but this year as well.

“This team can be as good as any team we’ve had,” Dixon said Thursday afternoon at Petersen Events Center. “Where we are now is not going to be where we are in January or February or March. That has to be our belief, because if our freshmen play like freshmen in January, February and March, we won’t be as good as we want to be.”

The Panthers added a senior point guard in Centenary transfer Chase Adams, redshirt freshmen in forward Dwight Miller and point guard Travon Woodall and true freshmen forwards that Dixon calls “the best four guys we’ve ever brought in” as a recruiting class: Dante Taylor, Lamar Patterson, J.J. Richardson and Talib Zanna.

The Panthers lost their starting frontcourt when Blair left early for the NBA, and Young and Tyrell Biggs graduated. Pitt also returns 6-10 junior center Gary McGhee and 6-5 sophomore Nasir Robinson – both of whom appear much leaner – and the 6-8 Miller along with the four freshmen.

“They’re going to play,” Dixon said. “Just look at the numbers. Some freshman is going to play a lot of minutes this year on the front line. It’s a great opportunity.”

Heck Dixon really sounds like he expects things to go much better than it seems possible with such a young team.

The assistant Brandin Knight said: “With some guys, it just clicks. You never know how a guy’s going to be when there’s 12,000, 13,000 in the stands. Some guys come out and it’s like, What do I do? Other guys relish the moment.”

Pittsburgh is the only Big East team to win at least 20 games over all and 10 conference games and play in the N.C.A.A. tournament each of the last eight seasons.

“We always seem to adjust, find guys who surprise and play roles we didn’t anticipate,” Jamie Dixon said. “We’ve got a 3,000-person waiting list for season tickets. We’ve got to keep them happy.”

There seems to be some attempts to try and divine the subtext of what Coach Dixon is doing by being this positive and enthusiastic about the young players. Especially since he has often down-played and shown reluctance to use/rely too heavily on the underclassmen.

Here’s my view. Yes, he is mostly being honest about the talent. More importantly, though, he is sending the players a message. No excuses. They should know that he will help them. He will have their back in the season, but they are not going to be allowed to rely on the excuse of being young and learning. They want the playing time and the chances, then they have to know and be ready to meet the expectations

It’s partially a reflection of how he has grown as a coach. He is more comfortable and confident expressing things in public beyond mere coachspeak. He is actually using the media and public statements to let the players know that he really has meant the things he has told them in meetings and practices.

Dante Taylor is widely expected to have an impact right away in the starting line-up. From high school accolades and recruiting sites, he is Pitt’s biggest recruit since Paul Evans had John Calipari as his assistant in the 80s. It was news to Taylor.

“I wasn’t aware that they hadn’t had a big name in a long time, but I was excited to come here because I like the team and like the coaching staff,” Taylor said. “I like my teammates, the whole environment, I like the city and the school , I didn’t want to go to a school just because of its name.”

Knight likes that Taylor didn’t arrive with the attitude that he’ll be around only until he can turn pro.

“He works hard and he’s trying to learn like everybody else,” Knight said. “He doesn’t carry himself like he’s better than everybody else. His expectation isn’t, ‘I deserve this. I’m going to show up and I’m going to be that guy.'”

In case the other freshmen are somehow unaware, there is one nearly foolproof way to be one of the kids getting lots of minutes and perhaps even start. Play defense.

“That’s the first thing coach Dixon talked to us about,” senior guard Jermaine Dixon said. “We’re going to be better defensively. None of us are high-profile players like Sam [Young], DeJuan [Blair] and Levance [Fields]. We’re definitely going to get ours on the defensive end more.”

…

“They’re buying in,” Jermaine Dixon said of the freshmen. “We’re already having sessions together. We’ll go to my house or Brad [Wanamaker’s] house. We’ll talk over the defense. They’re definitely listening and they’re picking things up.”

And even though the vast majority of the players on the roster only know typical Pitt defense by reputation and not by experience, they are embracing what their coach is preaching.

“This year we’re trying to be at the top of the country in defense and rebounding,” sophomore forward Nasir Robinson said. “Defense brings offense, so we’re out there trying to lock down, play together and play hard. We have size, athleticism, guys who can jump and rebound. I think we’ll go back to that Pitt defense that it used to be.”

That will also mean some stretches of frustrating offensive ineptitude and cringe-inducing shhoting. In other words, the growing pains of a young team.

What is positive, is that the players who were on and playing last year are saying the right things about putting the defensive effort first.