Ah, the Big East. I know football season has been, well, a disaster for the conference reputation. And the sooner you can change the subject to basketball, the better.

My understanding of publicity and press releases is that you release the bad news on a late afternoon on Friday. Not the good stuff. And certainly not as Yom Kippur is kicking off. Well, it wouldn’t be the Big East if they weren’t clueless.

So the schedules for the conference are out. Not any time to digest the full picture yet. Here’s Pitt’s schedule.

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Football news has been less than sunshine, rainbows and unicorns this week. How about something from the basketball side?

The Pitt basketball schedule may not be out yet, but ESPN put out it’s Big Monday Schedule and it is highly Pitt-centric. There are 8 Big East Big Monday games, Pitt plays in three of them.

Jan. 17: Villanova at Connecticut, 3:30 ESPN

Jan. 17: Syracuse at Pittsburgh, 7:30 ESPN

Jan. 24: Notre Dame at Pittsburgh, 7:00 ESPN

Jan. 31: Louisville at Georgetown, 7:00 ESPN

Feb. 7: Pittsburgh at West Virginia, 7:00 ESPN

Feb. 14: West Virginia at Syracuse 7:00 ESPN

Feb. 21: Syracuse at Villanova, 7:00 ESPN

Feb. 28: Villanova at Notre Dame, 7:00 ESPN

In addition to those, before “Big Monday” officially kicks off, there will be three other Non-Big Monday, Monday games including UConn-Pitt on December 27 at 7:30. The one downside is that the Oakland Zoo will be on winter break.

Oops. Seems the full schedule for Pitt is out — big hat tip to PittScript for being on this.

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If you were somehow hoping to never see Pitt play another 1-AA opponent, well, you were probably delusional in the first place.

Put the Delaware Blue Hens down for two games. One in 2014 and the other in 2019.

“We always have a competitive schedule,” Keeler said. “Philosophically, we’ve come to terms with, in those 11-game seasons, it really makes sense to try and stay away from a I-A game. The margin for error is already brutal in our conference, and nobody in the country is playing our schedule because we’re playing each other [in the CAA]. We’re fortunate that, with the crowds we have, we can try to schedule that way.

“But to get a regional game like this, against an opponent like Pitt, in a 12-game season, just made a lot of sense. We weren’t interested in going to Florida or Auburn, someplace like that. We wanted a game our fans could get to, like Maryland in 2008.”

The only players among those on Delaware’s team now who will still be here for the Aug. 30, 2014, game are freshmen who could be fifth-year seniors then. The 2019 game is Aug. 31.

A visit to Pittsburgh also has a lucrative benefit, as Delaware is certain to receive a financial guarantee. They are typically in the $400,000 to $500,000 range when a Division I-AA team visits a high-caliber I-A foe. UD did not reveal what payoff it will receive for the visits to Pitt.

In 1-AA most seasons are still 11 games. The years they will play Pitt are 12-game seasons.

Odds are strong there might be a mention of some guy named Flacco.

Just trying to finish as many projects around the house and get family visits finished before the end of August. Once the games begin, well, nothing gets done.

The Ireland trip is finished and Pitt didn’t lose a game — including beating the Melbourne team that included the still hateable Eric Devendorf. Cardiac Hill has a nice recap on things with the scoring averages and some thoughts for the upcoming season.

Over at Pitt Script, there’s a look at Pitt recruiting. Steve Adams is getting good reviews from his play in the States. Khem Birch is looking good and Malcolm Gilbert has Pitt near the top of his board.

In more basketball stuff…

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A couple things of note.

Pitt appears to have only one shot at winning a game in the Big East/SEC Invitational.

The future of the Big East-SEC Invitational is on “life support” and the event is unlikely to continue after this season, a college basketball industry source told FanHouse.

The Big East-SEC Invitational began in 2007. The format has the leagues playing four games each season with a pair of double-headers split between a Big East and SEC venue.

Multiple sources told FanHouse the future of the Big East-SEC Invitational is bleak because the conferences are not committed to making it work and they don’t feel like they gain much by making it a priority.

Well it was a joint effort at stupidity by the Big East and SEC, so I can’t totally blame this on the Big East. Only 4 games on two nights in semi-neutral settings. Guaranteeing little interest and poor turnout. Rather than make it a real series for home and away match-ups, they would rather give-up.

Outside of Kentucky, the rest of the SEC only cares about basketball insofar as their fans have  a sense of entitlement to have good teams because of the money the conference rakes in and something to do between the end of bowl season and spring practices (see also, Longhorns, Texas).

The Big East, though, does deserve a fair amount of blame. The Big East had the ACC challenge going before the Big 10/11/12 got into it. The Big East coaches at the time, though, constantly fought and whined about playing a tough non-con game on the road every other year and worked to end it. That makes it two conference challenges that the Big East will have played and now killed.

It’s not that the ACC-Big Ten challenge is that great, but it is compressed, easily followed and well publicized by both conferences. The Pac-10/Big 12 mess has everyone playing but so spread out that it is more of an agreement for teams to get good non-con games than any sort of challenge.

Over at Rush the Court, they have a (subjective) list of the top-20 Big East players for the upcoming season.  Ashton Gibbs is on the list at #7 and Brad Wanamaker checks in at #13. That’s it for Pitt players.

At first I had the knee-jerk reaction: typical underrating of the individual talent at Pitt even as the squad is expected to compete for the top spot. Except it isn’t. There’s a fair amount of respect for Pitt players.

With 16 teams in the conference, individual talent is spread. The list contains players from 12 of the programs: Georgetown (3), Villanova (3), Syracuse (2), Marquette (2), Seton Hall (2), Pitt (2), ND, UConn, WVU, USF, St. John’s and Cinci.

No Louisville players on the list. Guys like McGhee, Oriakhi (UConn), Siva (Louisville), Jardine (‘Cuse), Famous (USF), and Stokes (‘Nova) couldn’t get there. There may be a bit of guard bias in the list but it gives you an idea of just how deep and tough it is to have a 16-team conference.

Not a lot of stuff out there today. Little things to pass along.

Yes, you know it is a dead period when ESPN.com’s football people are talking about ties. Pitt had a few “notable” ties on this list.

Sporting News football writers, Hayes and Curtis, list their top “game-changing receivers.” Jonathon Baldwin is in the top-5 for both writers.

A casual, early look at the best opening game for college football in the Big East: Pitt-Utah.

The Utes should be strong again in 2010, though they have some work to do in replacing several linebackers and safeties. Leading rusher Eddie Wide returns, along with oft-injured Matt Asiata. Three of the team’s top four receivers are gone, including 1,000-yard man David Reed. Quarterback Jordan Wynn made his college debut eight games into the season and went on to become the Poinsettia Bowl MVP.

Utah also brings back four starters on the offensive line and boasts depth on the defensive front. Whittingham’s team figures to make a lot of preseason Top 25 ballots.

Finally, if you need another list of recruits. Chris Dokish has his list of top-25 Pennsylvania recruits for 2011. Yes, it’s a down year.

7 of the 25 of the players have verballed, with Pitt receiving 3 of them.

Fair and balanced came to mind when I took a look at Pitt’s home-away split and the home-and-homes.

Obviously WVU is one of the home-and-homes. In addition Pitt has a home-and-home with Villanova. Not a surprise since Pitt and ‘Nova are the really early picks to win the conference this coming season. The third is USF. Not a cupcake, but not a complete toss-up either. Dominique Jones is gone, so it will be interesting to see what JUCOs Stan Heath can develop this year.

HOME: Cinci, UConn, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Marquette, Notre Dame

AWAY: Rutgers, Louisville, St. John’s, Georgetown, Providence

HOME-AND-HOME: WVU, Villanova, USF

Eyeballing that, the toughest road games will be Louisville and Georgetown. I think St. John’s could be a lot tougher under their new coach. The Johnnies have a lot of veteran talent going for their final chance.

It’s kind of hard to be exactly sure who got the hardest or easiest schedule at this point. If you assume that Pitt, ‘Nova, Syracuse and Georgetown will be the top teams. Plus WVU, Marquette, UConn, ND and Louisville will all be in the mix, it isn’t easy to really give any team a true cupcake schedule.

A lot will depend on which teams beat expectations and which flop. The wildcard teams (teams that could be surprisingly good or disappointing) appear to be Seton Hall, St. John’s, Cinci and USF.

Based on home-and-homes I would guess USF caught the biggest break. While they have Pitt, they also have Providence and DePaul on the home-and-home.

Georgetown could well end up with the easiest schedule depending on the wildcards. Somehow they ended up with St. John’s and Cinci as home-and-homes — along with Syracuse. Plus they get WVU, Louisville, Marquette and Pitt at home. They do have road games at UConn, ND and ‘Nova

I think Marquette and Louisville seem to have the toughest roads. They have home-and-homes with UConn. Louisville does get Providence twice but also WVU. They also have road games at ND, Georgetown and ‘Nova.

Marquette has UConn along with ND and the possibly dangerous Seton Hall in the home-and-home. Their road schedule has G-town, Louisville, Pitt and ‘Nova.

Syracuse also has a good case for tough schedule. Home-and-homes with Seton Hall, G-town and ‘Nova. They also have to go to UConn, Louisville, Marquette and Pitt. Plus St. John’s and USF are on the road.

Hey, a brief break from expansion babble.

Pitt’s non-con is just about finished. Shame they can’t tell everyone the details.

Pittsburgh needs to add just one more game to its non-conference schedule; then, the waiting game begins.

“For anybody who’s new to our conference, it’s something that’s eye-opening and concerning,” Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said, “but being here 12 years, it’s just something that you’re used to. Patience is the best quality to have.”

Why does it take so much longer for the Big East to arrange its conference schedule?

Consider that the Big East plays 144 league games each season. None of the other five major conferences play more than 100. The Big East also has the most televised games, which throws even more wrenches into the scheduling process.

But the biggest problem may be that a handful of Big East teams share their home arenas with NBA and/or NHL franchises; some share with American Hockey League teams. The Big East has to work around those pro dates, and Odjakjian noted that the NHL usually doesn’t release its schedule until mid-July and the NBA often waits until the beginning of August.

Well, here are a few games with the dates set.

The SEC/Big East Invitational comes to Pittsburgh this year.

Pitt will play Tennessee in the fourth annual 2010 DIRECTV SEC/Big East Basketball Invitational at Pittsburgh’s brand new CONSOL Energy Center, ESPN announced on Wednesday. The game is scheduled for Saturday, December 11 and will be nationally televised on ESPN. The contest is part of a doubleheader at CONSOL Energy Center as Rutgers will play Auburn in the first game on ESPN2. Tipoff times will be announced at a later date.

So ex-RMU coach Mike Rice gets an early visit to Pittsburgh as well. Not a bad plan — even if the game itself with Rutgers and Auburn will be ugly.

The other half of the SEC/Big East Invitational will be held in Louisville — but hosted by Kentucky. Seton Hall-Arkansas and Notre Dame-Kentucky.

Meanwhile the preliminary rounds of the Coaches Vs. Cancer have Pitt hosting games on November 8 and 10.

First it is Rhode Island on the 8th. The 10th has University of Illinois-Chicago. The URI game will actually be a challenge. The Rams have been pretty good — and very good early in the year at scoring upsets.

Here’s the schedule for the first round (PDF).

Minnesota-Xavier tips around 11:25 AM 12:25 PM ET. Oakland-Pitt tips off about 30 minutes after their game ends. That is roughly a 2 PM 3 PM ET start.

Pitt going to Madison Square Garden in November is not much of a surprise any longer. Coach Dixon has stated that he will do almost anything to make sure Pitt plays a non-con game there (or if need be in New Jersey) in the non-con.

Pitt was supposed to play in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic last year, but cooperated with the Gazelle Group to shift to the other CvC in the midwest — with the understanding that in 2010, Pitt would be playing in NYC.

Sure enough…

Coaches vs. Cancer Classic will feature powers Pittsburgh, Texas, Maryland and Illinois.

Those four teams will act as regional hosts for the first two round of the event  from Nov. 8-12.

No matter the results from the regional games, the dynamic foursome will go matchup up at Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 18-19 to determine a champion.

Other teams participating in the 2010 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic are Charleston, Illinois-Chicago, Louisiana Tech, Navy, Rhode Island, Seattle, Toledo, and UC-Irvine. Toledo and UC-Irvine will host the subregional rounds.

Why announce it now?

Because the tickets for MSG, go on sale on Tuesday at noon. The tickets are through Ticketmaster, so be willing to pay service fees.

Well, that takes care of 3 games in the non-con and it is only a week into March.

The Big East put out the full schedule.

Here’s Pitt’s:

2010 Pitt Football Schedule

Good news. No Friday night game (for now). A Thursday nighter at UConn.

5.5 games on national TV at this point.

Usually a late-January or February non-con game takes place because ESPN or CBS wants to carry it. Pitt has had a couple of these in recent years. This year it is Robert Morris. Not sure if this is some sort of placeholder or to replace something that fell through. Whatever the reason, RMU Coach Mike Rice says he won’t do it again. Either schedule in November or December to get all the major conference beatings out of the way at once or not at all.

Robert Morris is on top of the NEC with an 11-1 record and boasts a 9 game winning streak. They have non-con wins over Cleveland State and Ohio and an RPI in the 150s. Of course RMU also lost to Penn State, Duquesne and Kent State.

Pitt, though, has yet to lose to Robert Morris in 27 tries. Still, there is familiarity by the players so intimidation is not going to be in the equation.

Freshman guard Karon Abraham said he believes the Colonials have a better chance of beating Pitt than Syracuse.

“Everybody knows their role now,” Abraham said. “We’re together. We don’t break down anymore. And we’ve played under pressure.”

Freshman guard Velton Jones said he and his teammates relish the opportunity to compete against teams from the Big East, which is considered the best conference in Division I this season.

“Playing a Big East team is pretty big,” Jones said. “I think a lot of people are really looking forward to it.”

RMU opened their season at Syracuse, losing by 40.

The Colonials have had season long distractions of sorts with their coach coming up for many NY-area jobs. Fordham — his alma mater — already fired their head coach, and has been the biggest name at this point. Not sure what his ties truly are to Fordham, but that seems like a graveyard job these days.

Just as a sidenote, Pitt commit for next year (grades willing), J.J. Moore looked very impressive at the National Prep School Invitational, dropping 30 points in a game.

Game tonight is 8pm. There will be a liveblog.

Okay, Pitt has given us dates (and probable times) for the non-con.

Sept. 2 —- Thursday — at Utah ——- TBA — CBS Coll. Sports

Sept. 11 — Saturday — New Hampshire — 1 p.m. — n/a

Sept. 23 —- Thursday —– Miami ——- 7:30 p.m. — ESPN

Oct. 2 —- Saturday —– FIU ———– TBA —– doubtful

Oct. 9 —— Saturday —- at Notre Dame —3:30 p.m. — NBC

Yeah, that season opener at Utah is going to be rough. My impulse with Pitt’s team, a new QB. Several new O-lineman starting. New D-linemen and a new secondary. Well, I’m halfway to assuming a loss. Granted I haven’t looked closely at what Utah is returning, so maybe I’m overreacting.

I like the Thrusday night game in September (the wife will hate it), if for no other reason then at least it will be warm. Plus, the nostalgia for that 1997 Thursday night upset of Miami.

Well a 3d straight night game was probably out of the question.

It will be a noon start which sucks for tailgating. That said, no excuses for the place not to be packed. To decide whether Pitt goes BCS bowling or not.

The good news for those who can’t attend, is that it will be a true national game. ABC and apparently no split map crap.

The Notre Dame-Pitt game on November 14 will be an ABC Primetime game at 8pm.

All excuses for attendance are done.

I don’t care about what happened the last time the two teams met for a primetime Saturday night game on ABC.

Still, how about taking care of business with Syracuse first?