With only Coach Jamie Dixon and senior Jermaine Dixon at the Big East basketball media day, there won’t be a lot of stories making the national rounds regarding Pitt coming out of today.

In most preseason publications, Pitt has been picked to finish anywhere from sixth to 11th in the Big East.

As for individual awards, it’s doubtful there will be any Pitt players on the All-Big East preseason team. While forward Dante Taylor is a candidate for Top Newcomer, Cincinnati’s Lance Stephenson is the frontrunner.

Pitt certainly could develop into an NCAA tournament team for the ninth consecutive season, but the one-player, one-coach interview table at Madison Square Garden indicates how young and inexperienced the Panthers will be — at least for now. Virtually every Big East school brings two or three players to media day.

Now there will be some stories. Mostly focused on Coach Dixon and the U-21 gold medal team he coached. Frankly, even that will be minimal when you look at the coaching personalities and storylines. Calhoun, his health and new contract. Pitino and his sex and lies. Boeheim is a national media darling. Huggins and the return of Thuggins style players on- and off-the-court.

As for Pitt in the Preseason Big East Coaches Poll, Pitt gets to be underestimated just a bit. The Panthers get placed 9th.

2009-10 BIG EAST Preseason Coaches’ Poll

	Pts.
1. Villanova (10)	218
2. West Virginia (5)	215
3. Connecticut (1)	185
4. Louisville	179
5. Georgetown	161
6. Syracuse	152
7. Cincinnati	135
8. Notre Dame	132
9. Pittsburgh	119
10. Seton Hall	110
11. St. John’s	82
12. Marquette	78
13. Providence	52
14. USF	44
15. Rutgers	43
16. DePaul	15

*First-place votes in parentheses

I’m a bit surprised Notre Dame still got picked ahead of Pitt considering they already suffered a key injury.

Seton Hall is the dark horse darling in the Big East by most estimations with their potential transfer talent. It’s a reflection of how disliked Bobby Gonzalez is, that the Pirates were picked 10th by the coaches.

Not surprised by the top-3. I would have had G-town ahead of L-ville.

Still trying to figure out how DePaul only got 15 points. Not that they shouldn’t have been dead last in every coaches’ ballot, but there are 16 ballots and so they should have gotten at a minimum 16 points. Or am I not understanding how points are tabulated?

I know that there have been various countdown clocks to the start of college football season and specifically Pitt. Must admit that I have had a hard time getting too jazzed up when the first opponent is 1-AA Youngstown. Even a MAC bottom feeder would be better since they are ostensibly 1-A. And let’s face it YSU hasn’t been the same since they lost Tressel.

Starting tomorrow are the depth charts, the start of specific opponent practices and press conferences addressing those things. So, this final football-free weekend is the local media’s chance for one more look ahead on the season and a bit of a recap of training camp stories.

Paul Zeise started it off yesterday with his 5 nagging questions. Surprise, the QB issue is the lead. Who could have seen that coming? I’ll skip that since we have discussed angsted debated suffered endured beat this into the ground and go to one other on the list.

Will the offensive line be as good as advertised? The answer is incomplete. Right tackle Lucas Nix missed about six days with a leg infection. That was the worst development for the line because, of the slated starters, Nix was the one who least could afford to miss one day. Nix needs to play better than he did early in camp and should improve with experience, but missing that much time has put him behind schedule. Left guard also appears to be unsettled as neither Joe Thomas nor Chris Jacobson did enough to make a case for why they should be the starter over the other. One positive development is that center Robb Houser appeared to have no lingering issues despite the fact that he was coming off a lost season because of a broken leg.

I remain more concerned about Houser and the center more than any other player and position. He cannot get hurt this year, and somehow, someway Pitt needs to work on figuring out who will be the center next year. There is no true center on the roster. As Pablo noted in his breakdown of the O-line, there is no reall plan B other than moving Malecki over. That still leaves a mess for the future.

Other concerns include whether Gunn can handle middle linebacker, who will emerge as the feature back and whether Pitt will avoid any stupid off-the-field problems.

Joe Starkey comes in a timely fashion to repeat what everyone has been saying since the end of last season: the Big East needs a team to step up this year and do better than the projected mass of mediocrity. I’d almost skip this regurgitation entirely if not for one final point he makes.

Speaking of Pitt, it is an original Big East member that has mostly been a drag on the reformed conference. It’s about time the Panthers did some heavy lifting.

We can debate the problems of the early days, the missed opportunities and much else, but the truth remains. Pitt has done very, very little and had just about as much success in the Big East in all permutations.

Zeise also rants on Big East scheduling and that it needs to improve. When compared to the rest of the BCS programs, it isn’t so bad. The problem is the conference and perception kind of demands a more aggressive non-con scheduling to offset.

Of course no matter how you look at Pitt the questions may be on the offense, but the answers are all on defensive front.

Now, Pitt’s front four of Mustakas, tackle Mick Williams and ends Greg Romeus and Jabaal Sheard is the catalyst of a defense that is expected to be the best in the Big East Conference and one of the top 10 nationally.

That’s the goal, anyway, for the Panthers.

“We want to be the best d-line in the country,” Mustakas said. “We want to lead the nation in sacks and (tackles for loss). We want to be looked upon when there needs to be a big play. We want to lead this team as far as we can take us, a Big East championship, a national championship.

“We like the pressure.”

No question they have it on them.

Browser tabs starting to pile up, so it is time to get some of the material out there.

Sporting News has general Big East preview stuff. A list of the “best.” No idea what their parameters were for picking the best blog, though I’m guessing they only looked mainstream media. That they picked Tampa Bay Online rather than Troy Nunes or any of the other excellent Big East team blogs out there. Here’s the “best” stuff related to Pitt.

Personality: Greg Romeus, DE, Pitt
Offensive coordinator: Frank Cignetti, Pitt
In man-to-man coverage: Aaron Berry, Pitt
Defensive line: Pitt
Bet to be a head coach soon: David Walker, running backs coach, Pitt
Backup QB: Pat Bostick, Pitt
Chance for a turnaround: Bill Stull, QB, Pitt

Think the Pitt QB issue doesn’t have everyone a little hesitant about picking them?

WE SAY: Pitt will win its first outright conference championship in school history.

Former Pitt All-American BILL FRALIC says: “My perspective, candidly, is there is no clear-cut favorite in the Big East. But here’s why Pitt can do it: The conference may be down a hair overall, and we have a great defense. The critical part of the equation is quarterback play. I’m cautiously optimistic that whoever plays—Billy Stull or Pat Bostick—there’s going to be a bigger impact at that position than in the past.”

The rest of us are cautiously terrified.

Sticking with previews, predictions and scenarios, Brian Bennett at ESPN.com hits Pitt’s best and worst cases.

Paul Zeise blogs a lot of Pitt player lists: MVPs, Best, Best Athletes, Best NFL Prospects, Best young players. Lists. Fodder to pass the time.

Scrimmage was canceled for today. All the contact drills from the day before apparently rendered it moot. It seems cheap tickets and a catiously optimistic fanbase result in a better season ticket sales.

Pitt season tickets are selling at a pace that would equal the second-most sold in the program’s history. Chris Ferris, the associate athletic director for marketing and promotions, said the Panthers will surpass last year’s 42,000 season-ticket sales. The record for season-ticket sales was more than 57,000 in 2003 when the Larry Fitzgerald-led Panthers were a preseason top 20 team and played a home schedule that included Virginia Tech, Notre Dame and Miami.

You know what would really help ticket sales for the rest of the season? Not stumbling out of the gate in September.

Here’s what Coach Wannstedt says about the upcoming year.

Q: What can fans look forward to during the 2009 Pitt football season?

A: I think that we’re going to have great leadership. I think our defense is going to be as good as we’ve been in a while. And I think we’re going to see more big plays in the passing game than we have in the past few years. I think our quarterbacks are better, I think our skilled guys are all improved, and I look for some big years out of those guys. We’re excited to get this year going.

Wins. Looking for wins in things to look forward to.

Gene Collier wonders how Pitt got picked to be first in the Big East. Didn’t we cover this last week? It’s because every contender has huge, gaping flaws.

This has the feel of a forced column to tie-in to the start of practices. That or it was held from last week, when it might have been a touch more timely.

It does, however, allow a little recap of some other things. I avoided making an actual pick in my brief Big East preview for FanHouse. Instead, just looking at the pros/cons/scheduling of the top five teams.

Paul Zeise did something similar (except the schedule factor), as he looked at why teams would or wouldn’t win the conference. He also admits that he did not pick Pitt in the media poll, because of Pitt’s flaws.

Kevin Gorman did pick Pitt to win the conference, as he thinks Pitt can fill in most of the losses of players well and not have much of a drop-off. I don’t know. He rattles off so many questions and battles for spots that it just seems that he is presuming too many things work themselves out in a good way.

It’s the questions that make it tough for me to confidentally pick Pitt to win the Big East. Whether it is QB, the offensive line (especially center), kicking and punting, running back, and coaching.

Honestly, if I wasn’t taking into account the teams and their history I would go with either USF or Rutgers to win the Big East.

USF has the talent, but they have some cold-weather games (at Rutgers and at UConn) to contend and of course have faded in the second half perpetually.

As for Rutgers, have you seen their schedule? It’s not just the paper thin non-con. They get all of the other contending teams at home this year — Cinci, Pitt, USF and WVU. It is set up for them to win this year if they can find a QB and receivers.

The Big East Preseason Media Poll just blew my mind. They picked the team losing their top offensive and defensive player to win the conference. A team with questions regarding the O-line and a QB position that could be considered wide-open at best.

Yes, that’s right, they picked Pitt.

BIG EAST Projections: Pts

1. PITT (8) 161
2. West Virginia (5) 151
3. Cincinnati (8) 144
4. USF (3) 130
5. Rutgers 126
6. Connecticut 74
7. Louisville 51
8. Syracuse 27

First place votes in parentheses

I really don’t know what to say. I had to double check and see that this wasn’t a mistake.

Obviously, the fact that 4 teams received 1st place votes says how wide-open everyone views the conference. What stands out is that it means that more often than not, Pitt was seen as one of the top-3 teams in the conference. It’s really the only explanation as to how they garnered that many points.

I don’t know. Every contending team in the Big East has so many questions and impact players to replace that it is defensible. Still, this is a stunner.

A few things to get out of the browser tabs.

Tom Herrion is definitely in the mix for the Holy Cross job. He is interested, but so is his brother,  Bill, the head coach at New Hampshire. That just seems awkward.

Jamie Dixon speaks. Just in relative fluff. He is the first guest on ESPNU’s college basketball podcast with Andy Katz so there’s no wading through the other coaches being interviewed. He talks about Blair and Young, along with the U-19 tryouts. Nothing too earthshattering. Plenty of coach speak. He does admit that Dante Taylor is already penciled in as the starting power forward. And of course, not even a question about the USC job.

Andy Katz doesn’t get specific but he liked what he saw from Taylor at the tryouts.

Pitt should be pleased with the size and strength of incoming freshman Dante Taylor. The 6-9, 235-pound Taylor will be a load for the Panthers once he’s in shape.

While on the U-19 games, the Gibbs brothers are both involved in USA Basketball. Ashton is on the U-19 team, while his younger brother Sterling is on the U-16.

Draft Express was at the tryouts, and based on the talent of the U-19 team does not like the US’ chances. They did like the way things were run, though.

While it may sound cliché, the emphasis here is clearly on “playing the right away.” The coaches are for the most part all from programs known for being extremely organized and disciplined in their approach to the game, and much of the instructions they give the players from the sidelines revolve around concepts such as playing strong defense, moving the ball around unselfishly, correct spacing and not settling for bad shots. While there are referees on the court, they are forcing the players to adjust to the physicality of international basketball by calling the games very loosely, which makes things far more educational in our eyes.

With that in mind, it should be said that the USA Basketball people have not had the easiest time filling out the rosters with the best talent available to them. While they would never publicly state as much, word trickled down from the NBA-types that as many as 19 players declined their invites to attend these tryouts, just from the Under-19 group. There are many reasons for that, mostly revolving around the fact that the schools and college coaches want their players on campus in the summer to attend summer school and get a head start on staying eligible, and thus maintaining their APR (Academic Progress Rate), which is essential for not losing future scholarships. As Jerry Colangelo told us in a wide-ranging interview that will be published in the next day or two, “they have their own agendas.”

Some players, such as Kemba Walker, decided they would rather attend Nike’s Lebron Camp instead of representing their country in international competition, which is a real shame. Ignoring the patriotic element for a moment—which is a much stronger pull in seemingly every other country in the world outside of the US– it’s tough not to feel like these players are missing out on a wonderful experience. Colangelo vowed to pay special attention to this issue and stressed the success they’ve had getting the younger and older NBA players to make sacrifices and commit to USA Basketball. He feels like it’s only a matter of time until the U-19 group is the same way.

To be fair to Kemba Walker, he was on the U-18 team last year. The LeBron Camp is an important camp especially for those players eying an NBA future possibly as early as next year.

Big East Basketball blog takes a look at the recruiting targets for Pitt and WVU. Isiah Epps is either heading to Hargrave or National Christian for a year of prep.

Chris Dokish takes a shot at picking the Big East. He puts Pitt at #7. Key quote.

Bottom line- With such an inexperienced team, it’s unlikely that even Jamie Dixon’s wizardry could make the Panthers a major contender. But anybody completely dismissing a Jamie Dixon team, though, would be foolish.

Making even premature pre-pre-season predictions of basketball top-25s are no more than rough drafts,  until after the deadline for withdrawing from the NBA draft. At which time, they at least have some basis.

Most exclude Pitt at this point. Not surprising given what Pitt has lost from the starting line-up. As Andy Katz summerized:

The hardest teams to figure out were Pitt and Connecticut. The Panthers will be good, but losing seniors Levance Fields, Sam Young, Tyrell Biggs and now DeJuan Blair makes it hard to predict how good the Panthers will be early in the season. The recruiting was strong, and the rebuilding will begin in earnest. The Huskies are expected to lose Hasheem Thabeet to go along with the departure of seniors A.J. Price, Jeff Adrien and Craig Austrie. Stanley Robinson could declare, too, and stay in the draft. That would leave Kemba Walker and the return of a healthy Jerome Dyson on the perimeter as the most productive returning players. The gaping hole inside made it hard to be sold on the Huskies — yet.

That is not absurd thinking. Putting Pitt in a pre-season top-25 would be highly speculative. Any team that loses its top 3 scorers and minutes played, leading rebounder, leading assist guy would be expected to be on the outside. Pitt has a top-25 recruiting class coming in, but objectively looking at the players remaining as well makes it very speculative as to what kind of jump each will make.

So, I was stunned when I actually saw Pitt in the top-25 of any rankings.

11. Pitt. DeJuan Blair is gone. But the Panthers’ frontcourt remains imposing with Dante Taylor.

That seems a bit high. Just a sign of what kind of respect Pitt and Coach Jamie Dixon has earned with the sustained performance over this decade regardless of the players.

Dan Patrick did a radio interview with Coach Jamie Dixon (this should be the direct link to the mp3). Nothing about the coaching carousel. Just about the final game of the year — which Dixon said he still is not over.

The second guessing was a big thing in the Q&As the prior couple of days both with the final play and what happened to the rest of the players beyond Fields, Young and Blair.

Speaking of second guessing a guy from the Providence Journal questioned whether Coach Dixon was too amped up and it made his players too tense.

From the opening minute, intensity seemed to run off Pitt coach Jamie Dixon like sweat off the players. He was all but bouncing up and down before the game started, and every time out he would come into the huddle, his face clenched, the emotion everywhere. It never stopped, 40 minutes of frenzy, with Dixon yelling, the assistants yelling, everyone yelling, non-stop emotion. Marines running up San Juan Hill couldn’t be any more intense.

He spends the next several paragraphs conceding that all of this could mean nothing. That it may simply be the way Coach Dixon is, and that there is plenty of evidence suggesting that there is no one right way to be as a coach. Then, basically he admits he doesn’t believe it.

But I can’t help but think Pitt could have been even more successful if it had all been turned down a notch.

Er. No. Sorry not buying it. The same coach that was in charge so the team got a #1 seed. Advanced to the Elite 8. And then to say, maybe the coach should have eased back. A team that accomplished a boatload of firsts.

The main questions seem to be about the immediate future. That will be a topic that will continually come up all off-season I image. Briefly, it will be tough for Pitt to be in the top-25 to start the season. Pitt will be there in the upper 9 teams of the Big East, but next season is definitely a rebuilding/reloading season.

You just do not lose the number of senior starters and a key reserve and likely an All-American sophomore, without losing some ground. How much ground is the question.

Shh. Make sure Pitt players don’t read this. They don’t need to feel too cocky.

How can ETSU score on Pittsburgh if it can’t even score on itself?

I just sat through the ETSU practice, where the Bucs ran up and down the court in a series of 4-on-3, 3-on-2, and even 2-on-1 scoring opportunities. And the Bucs couldn’t score. Almost ever.

Don’t get the wrong idea. ETSU doesn’t appear to have a great defense. The Bucs simply couldn’t make a shot. Mike Smith, their No. 2 scorer at 15.5 ppg, was particularly atrocious. Granted, this was practice. And maybe the Bucs are nervous. But the arena is empty and the television cameras are turned off and the players on defense are teammates, not killers from Pittsburgh.

If ETSU is nervous now … ETSU is in big trouble on Friday.

Basketball Prospectus has their log5 probability chart as to who comes out of the East. Take it for whatever it’s worth. In the same breath, they do capsules of each team.

Hopefully Pitt coaches and players are taking it one game at a time. Everyone else is already looking longer at Pitt as a storyline.

Pittsburgh: DeJuan Blair raises them from an OK defensive team to a good one, so any time he goes to the bench with foul trouble, bad things can happen. That’s the biggest reason to worry about their chances, because they need Blair to avoid foul trouble for six straight games to win the title. Their ridiculously efficient offense is also keyed by Blair, who recovers nearly one in four of their missed shots. All the Sam Young in the world won’t save them in the game Blair plays 19 minutes.

They also hit on Oklahoma State and give them a “punchers chance” against Pitt should they meet.

Not that Pitt is likely to play zone to protect Blair.

4. Can Pitt finally get past the Sweet 16?

During this decade, Pittsburgh has elbowed its way to the top of the college basketball hierarchy, only to tumble down the mountain — often earlier than expected — in the tournament. Since 2002, the Panthers have been seeded third, second, third, ninth, fifth, third and fourth, yet they have never advanced past the Sweet 16. Five times they’ve been eliminated by a lower-seeded team, most notably in 2006 when 13th-seed Bradley beat No. 4 Pitt in the second round.

This year should be different. The Panthers received a No. 1 seed for the first time, giving them the most favorable draw they’ve ever had. More significant, the Panthers rank second nationally in rebound differential and 10th in field-goal percentage. Don’t expect a Pitt stop anywhere short of the Elite Eight.

It’s the same theme here and  here.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon doesn’t shy away from the obvious: For the Panthers to be taken seriously as one of the premier programs nationally, getting to a Final Four usually helps promote the premise.

Assuming Dixon stays at Pitt, and there’s no reason why he won’t, the Panthers will have other opportunities to advance. But during Dixon’s career he has never had the pieces in place the way he does this March.

…

Pitt won’t be considered a lesser program if it bows out early, but this is Pitt’s best shot to alter its image to the mainstream fan. A major difference this season is the Panthers are a No. 1 seed. That provides them the better opportunity to at least get to the Sweet 16. Beating Oklahoma State or Tennessee won’t be a walk since both are capable of running past the Panthers. But Pitt should be favored to get at least through the second round, where it could have a rematch with Florida State, a team the Panthers already beat earlier this season. The Panthers haven’t been to the Elite Eight since 1974.

No pressure or anything.

While I’m not sure Pitt or any team should feel good about the idea of having a No. 1 next their name — whether it is ranking or seeding  — this year, I still think Pitt will get a #1 seed. Of course, I can’t help but think if Pitt somehow got bumped to #2, that would put a huge chip on their shoulder that would really help.

Right now, best guess: UNC, Pitt, Louisville and Memphis/Duke.

Obviously that would change if Louisville loses tonight and/or Duke loses its semi or the ACC Championship game.

Oklahoma is done for the #1 seed. They have struggled down the stretch with and without Blake Griffin. They and plenty of other teams stumbling in the conference tournaments works really well for Pitt in that it further minimizes their importance.

Michigan State probably had the best case and played like crap against Ohio St. in the semi to cost them. Live by the argument that the way they were rolling and going through a conference tournament, die that way, Mr. Izzo.

Pitt is ranked #2. They still holds the #1 RPI. Their SOS is #8 and Pitt holds a 8-3 record against RPI top-50 competition.

Best guess, Pitt will still be going to Dayton for the first round of action. After that…

North Carolina will be in the South Region, but the Panthers could end up in the Midwest (Indianapolis), West (Phoenix) or East (Boston) regional.

Sophomore center DeJuan Blair isn’t much concerned with where and when Pitt will play in the NCAA tournament. He said Pitt’s seed in the NCAA tournament is secondary to fixing some of the problems the team faces in the next few days before its first NCAA game.

“We can’t worry about where they put us or worry about anything else,” Blair said. “We just have to worry about us. The sky is still the limit for this team. We had a little bit of a letdown, but everything is going to be all right for us.

“We’ll just keep playing, and Coach will keep motivating us. We can’t worry about anybody else, where they put us or our head won’t be on the game. … We’ll be all right.”

Hopefully.

Technically, it is underway, but since the Big East Tournament is a pure TV event if it isn’t being aired anywhere but over the internet I’m not so sure that it has really started.

Anyways, just for quick scanning, here’s a sampling of some of the Big East Tournament previews.

Philly paper, no surprise, is pulling for a run from ‘Nova.

This one is just capsules on each team. Grouping by favorites to teams likely to be gone before the favorites even arrive.

Capsule summaries are popular things. Especially with 16 teams to have to preview.

This preview piece thinks Pitt won’t make it the championship game, because this year Pitt should be going deeper in the NCAA. At least that seems to be what it is saying.

Still, Pitt has to be considered the favorite, both because of what they keep doing in the BET and the way they are playing.

In Mike DeCourcy’s preview, he doubts that Pitt will be looking to do anything but try to win the whole thing.

Following Pitt’s victory Saturday over the Huskies, coach Jamie Dixon was asked how the Panthers would approach this tournament. They won it a year ago and spent so much energy they hadn’t much left for the NCAAs. And with a shot at a top seed and the kind of NBA-type talent they’ve lacked in the past, this could be their best chance in years at NCAA Tournament success.

Dixon said the Panthers would go to New York looking to improve. He figures they’ll have to keep getting better to excel in the NCAAs, and he doesn’t see how that’ll happen if they don’t deliver the best possible effort at Madison Square Garden.

Of course, the mantra this year is that Pitt wants more than just the BET.

“We’re looking at the Big East,” senior forward Sam Young said Saturday afternoon after Pitt defeated Connecticut in the regular-season finale at the Petersen Events Center. “We know it’s here, and we’re focused on it. But at the same time we’ve got our eyes on the prize. Pitt has had trouble getting past the Sweet 16, and we feel like we’re the team that can finally do it. The sky is the limit for us.”

Oh, yeah.

It’s a nice goal to have. You don’t exactly want the players not believing they will lose games. Much rather have them believing they can and even will win every game. Still, after watching the Georgetown-UConn game, I can say with great confidence that a perfect season is just not going to happen for Pitt.

“We’ve talked about being undefeated,” Young said. “This is the best team we’ve been a part of. Coach [Jamie] Dixon said it’s the best team he’s ever had. We’re talking about the possibility that we can be undefeated and continue this winning streak. If we keep growing as a team anything is possible. The sky is the limit for us. I’m really trying to stay humble, but it’s hard not to look to the future with the team we have.”

…

But his remarks speak to this team’s expectations. After a disappointing loss in the second round of the NCAA tournament in March, Young and the Panthers have their sights set on making the Final Four for the first time in 67 years.

It may very well be the best team of Dixon’s tenure, but he’s not thinking undefeated in the Big East.

The consensus is that getting through this league unblemished isn’t possible. As well as Connecticut and Pittsburgh are playing, no one in either camp, as well as the rest of the league, truly believes either team could run the table.

“I’ve said all along that we’re going to lose a No. 1 or 2 seed because we’re all going to lose games,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “This conference is too good and we play 18 games. We’ve got too many good teams and we’re going to have losses. It’s a given.”

No one is safe from getting beat, at home or on the road, according to Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim.

Oh, yeah. No house is safe this year. Not the Pete. Not the Bradley Center. Not the Joyce Center. It will be tough in the Big East on every game.

That’s not to say that the team shouldn’t be shooting for winning the conference as well. If you want to flash back to the last game, from over a week ago, the reassuring thing was that they still won even as I am sure their minds were elsewhere.

“I can’t cancel Christmas,” he said. “We’re going to go ahead and let them get with their families. I don’t want to be the Grinch.”

Many of the Pitt players started their break after the team’s first road game of the season, leaving from Tallahassee to spend the holiday at their homes.

The good news for Pitt, is that even if the offense isn’t there on a particular night, they still do the other things.

The Panthers’ recipe for success — defense and rebounding — remains the same as they stay undefeated in a season holding as many high expectations as any in the program’s history.

“That’s what we do,” said Pitt center DeJuan Blair, second in the nation with 13.0 rebounds per game. “If the shots go down, they are going to follow. If they don’t, we have a good rebounding team. If we keep doing that, we are going to win a lot of games.”

Still rather avoid many of those nights.

Now, after years of complaints that Pitt lacks a dominant player. One player who definitely can and will take over the game when needed, rather than always trying to have purely balanced scoring. Well… you knew it was coming.

…so why in the world does 70% of the offense go through Sam Young? It seems that Dixon does not give any of his players except Young an opportuntity [sp] to find there shooting groove which I think will come to haunt them late in the season. Dixon leans on Young too much and he will be beat up tournament time…

You just have to laugh. Really, that’s all you can do.

This is where the bowl structure works against Pitt and several other schools. It’s about who puts seats in the stands. Not wins and losses or rankings.

No one should be counting on the Big East heading to the Gator Bowl, period. With ND out of that, the Gator still has the right to take a Big 12 team. That means, assuming Nebraska wins this week, they and their well traveling horde will get the nod.

The Sun Bowl may have to invite a BE team, provided Rutgers gets to 7 wins. If the Scarlet Knights gag against L-ville then the Sun Bowl can and will grab a 6-6 ND team.

That leaves the Meineke Bowl, PapaJohns.com Bowl, International Bowl and St. Petersburg Bowl. There will be at least 4 teams (excluding Cinci) with 7 wins or more — but no more than 9. With the non-BCS bowls as long as the teams are within a couple wins of a team there is flexibility in who a bowl picks.

Meineke is the biggest and gets the first choice.

Meineke: The folks in Charlotte are going to take West Virginia unless the Mountaineers get routed by Pittsburgh and fall to Louisville and USF. In a bad economy, the ticket allure is just too big. The backup plan is Rutgers, but that might be difficult politically.

Papajohns.com: Rutgers or Pittsburgh. One of these teams may have to play outside the Big East tie-ins. See below.

International: UConn. Book it.

Now in other stories, it is also factored that if Meineke gets UNC from the ACC rather than Virginia Tech or BC, then Pitt would stand an excellent chance of getting picked for it.

USF is a lock for the St. Pete’s bowl after last night.

Frankly, I’m sure I’ve made a mistake somewhere along the line because this crap is so convoluted and subject to changes and much more, so this could be completely wrong.

Rutgers is the only team still trying to clinch an absolute lock bowl bid.

The point is, as long as Pitt wins there is less of this crap to be concerned.

One of the things that has kept me busy for the past week or so has been the start of college basketball season and my duties to it at FanHouse. We’ve been running a slightly delayed top-25 preview series where the profiles (mostly) come from the bloggers that know their teams best.

Josh (Merlin) Verlin of the Oakland Zoo was kind enough to help out  and drop his knowledge on #8 Pitt. Go over and check it out.

After you are done with that, head over to the Oakland Zoo to see his conversation about the Akron Zips with an Akron student and the ABJ beat writer. Great stuff.

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.