Women's Basketball Schedule Includes Home Games Vs. UCONN and Duke

The Pitt women's basketball team schedule has been released and it's highlighted by home games against UCONN and Duke. Pitt is also participating in the Las Vegas Hoops Classic and will play two games, facing Texas Tech and Texas Arlington.

You can see the full release and schedule here.

Pitt TV - Bringing You Quality Broadcasts Of Games Vs. Division II Foes

Seriously, despite the sarcastic title, this is good news for Pitt. I've long been a kicker and screamer when it came to not being able to see every Pitt game. And now with the 'Pitt Network', it looks like that problem is solved.

Well, at least if you have Comcast. If you have FIOS like me, you're out of luck.

Other Big East schools have apparently done this as well:

Pederson said other schools in the Big East Conference such as Connecticut and Syracuse have announced similar initiatives, and that it is seemingly the way many athletic departments are headed.

To start, this isn't a full-blown network. From what I understand, it won't be 24/7 coverage like an actual television station. But it will have regular coverage of basketball games and other Pitt stuff.

And by the way, this is really an extension of something Pitt has done in the past.  They've used the channel 188/210 before to televise games that otherwise couldn't be seen. It just wasn't on a regular basis.  It looks like this will cover any non-televised basketball game as well as things like pre- and post-game shows, press conferences, etc.

The ultimate goal of a Big East conference, sounds as if it's a longer-term dream:

“What we’re trying to do is look at where we are right now,” Pederson said. “Things like that, like a (Big East) network, are a number of years away. “We have a great partner in Comcast. We have fans who love content. We’re going to go ahead and push forward as an institution, everything that we can find to put on the air for our fans. This is additive program that we haven’t been able to bring our fans before, and we’re very excited about that."

Stuff like this Pitt network are great for fans, but as far as putting actual dollars into Pitt's pockets, I think it probably does very little. A Big East network, something I've pushed for a great deal, is really what needs to be done if the Big East wants to have a more secure future. And soon.

Good And Bad Of Scheduling

A couple of scheduling notes - if both are true, I consider one good and one bad.

The first is confirmed - Pitt's game against Florida International on October 2nd will take place either at 3:30 p.m. or at 8:00 p.m. That's light years better than having a noon or 1:00 p.m. kickoff, which is what I was anticipating.

The game will be somewhere on ESPN, though it's unlikely (at least to me) that it'd be on ESPN or even ESPN2. I think we'll see this on GamePlan or the dreaded ESPN3.

The second, which is unconfirmed, is not so good. Ray Fittipaldo of the PG (Plus section...you have a few free page views before they ask you to subscribe) says the Pitt/UCONN basketball game could be scheduled for December 27th, while calling it 'not a bad stocking stuffer.'

Um, sure, it might not be so bad if you live in Pittsburgh and are staying home for the holidays. But if you're like me and you'll be out of town, this is terrible news. Plus, students will be on break, so what kind of atmosphere will you even have? Fans and most importantly, Pitt, would be much better served if the game were against a lesser opponent. Pitt won't have the same home court advantage it normally has and could make the game a little tougher.

Let the debate about coming home early from visiting relatives begin. 

Steven Adams Shoots Up. Way Up.

It seems that Pitt 2012 Commit Steven Adams has gotten exponentially more recognized since it was announced he was coming to the Panthers.

He's still not listed in Scout's system from what I could find, but he's starting to show up elsewhere.

It's safe to say I was a little surprised/skeptical to see NBE Basketball put him in their top 50 for 2012.  Not only top 50, but how does #26 sound?  They have him as the fifth-ranked center.

But that wasn't all.

Rivals calls him an astounding top 50 prospect and a four-star recruit (#46)- holy leapfrog, Batman.  They have him as the 8th rated center.  He's listed there as 6'10" and 210 pounds so it probably wouldn't kill him to gain a little weight.  But he's clearly been impressing.

It's still really early at this point and players obviously can fall down the rankings a bit over time (see Isaiah Epps).  But top 50?  If he's really that good and no other schools found out about him then you've got to give Jamie Dixon's staff a lot of credit.

I hadn't seen this out there yet, but Draft Express has some nice video of him from the Adidas camp and he's giving an interview over top of it. Just watching the video, nothing jumps out about him - at least nothing to make me see why he's a top 50 player...so don't expect to see some freakishly athletic kid in it.  But from the little bit of video there is, he looks like Pitt's type of player - rebounder first with some scoring skills.  I was pleasantly surprised by the post moves he displayed and if he can get his shot off against Big East defenders, it looks like he has a consistent shot.

Duquesne Announces Consol Center Games - No Pitt

Duquesne announced it will play three of its men's basketball games at the Consol Energy Center. Surprisingly (at least to me), the Pitt game wasn't one of those.

The Ciy Game against Pitt will take place on December 1st at the Pete. So what's the deal? There's no Pens game and there's nothing else scheduled that night according to the arena's website. I can't imagine that Pitt wouldn't return the favor since Duquesne willingly moved its home date to play one final game in Mellon Arena.

To be honest, I'm sure there's some logical reason, but I don't know what it is offhand.

At any rate, the Dukes' three games at Consol will be against West Virginia, Dayton, and Xavier.

EDIT: So what's the reason the game won't be at the Consol Energy Center? Apparently there isn't any. The Post-Gazette's Duquesne blog has a conflicting report that says the game will indeed be played there. Frankly, this makes a lot more sense so I'll go with that report.

Isaiah Epps On Campus

While incoming freshman point guard Isaiah Epps isn't the key to Pitt's 2010-11 basketball season, it's still a mild relief to know that he has qualified academically.  And even though Epps didn't participate in the famed Greentree Summer League games or in the scrimmages in Ireland, he doesn't feel like he missed all that much:

"I don't feel like I missed out on that much," Epps said. "The coaches will be able to see me play at practice."

Epps might not see it as a big deal, and it really isn't. But I'd beg to differ on his stance that says he didn't miss that much. While Epps was working on his academic situation, fellow incoming freshmen J.J. Moore and Cameron Wright were suiting up against other college and professional players. Both participated in about a dozen games and several practices - probably somewhere around the equivalent of about 1/2 of a full season's worth of games (minus practice time). To say that's not missing much is a little off point.

Will it matter in the long run? Not likely. But the fact that he's been out of the loop for so long could lead to a redshirt, something that was in the article and something I mentioned before as a possibility.  When he first committed, he was so highly touted, that a redshirt would have seemed unlikely.  But the fact is that Pitt can very easily go in that direction. They can either start Gibbs at PG and use Wright as a backup or start Woodall and use Gibbs as a backup. I think the latter is probably more likely. Based on the reports in the scrimmages, it seemed Wright had a good deal of work to do.

Epps could still surprise and do enough to get in the rotation, but it will take a lot of catching up.

Double Bye Will Stay

AOL Fanhouse has the scoop that the Big East's double bye in the basketball tournament will stick around for another year:

"There were a variety of reasons and it was concluded that the timing wasn't right," Big East associate commissioner Dan Gavitt told FanHouse.

There was a lot of complaining, if you remember, from last season. Jim Boeheim was one of those vehemently against it:

"I think the double-bye is awful," the Hall of Fame coach said. "Conventional wisdom says the double-bye teams should fare better, but (two) of the four lost last year. If that doesn't say something, I don't know what does."

The coaches and ADs took to the idea of scratching the double bye format to the Presidents, but ultimately, the idea was shot down.

Funny, but Gavitt's quote above was a complete 180 from what he said earlier:

“We tend to listen to our coaches,’’ associate commissioner Dan Gavitt said. “When they want something to change, it changes. If they think a change would be a better path going into the NCAA tournament, then I’m sure we’ll look at it.’’

I don't know. I think I subscribe to Jamie Dixon's line of thinking on this:

"A double bye had nothing to do with it," Dixon said after No. 2 seed Pitt lost in the quarterfinals for the second year in a row. "It's just a team that's playing well against another team that's playing very well."

I definitely understand where Boeheim is coming from and think there's something to what he's saying.  But to me, the Big East is just a tough conference. Teams with a double bye can get caught looking ahead and you just can't do that in a tournament format when some teams are looking to make a final statement to either improve their NCAA tournament seeding or in some cases, get in at all.

Plus, when you have a double bye, more of the lesser teams are weeded out by time a top four seed might play. While I do think teams without a double bye may be in more of a rhythm, I think it's still a bonus to have to play one fewer game in the tournament.

Speculating, Speculating...

Is it too early to start speculating on who might be leaving the program with the commitment of center Malcolm Gilbert? 

Of course it is.

For one thing, Gilbert, like the other recruits have only made verbal commitments and will need to sign letters of intent before anything becomes official.  For another, there's no telling if all four recruits would even qualify academically.  And for yet another, someone may really want to leave the program voluntarily, opening up another spot.

And I still haven't mentioned perhaps the most likely scenario out of all those things - what if Dante Taylor leaves early for the NBA?

But say all of the aforementioned happens and Taylor sticks around.  Then what?

Well, the two players I see in the most trouble are:

J.J. Richardson - He's probably going to see less time this season with the emergence of Talib Zanna and since Gilbert is a big man, it makes it even more likely that he could go. Mix in 2012 recruit Steven Adams and the frontcourt gets really crowded. Richardson's advantage may be that if he can beat out Gilbert as a Junior next year, he'd likely be the backup center behind Taylor (assuming Taylor stays at center...I know, that's an entirely different debate).

Cameron Wright - I know, I get it.  He hasn't even played a minute for the team yet.  But this is all about speculation and besides, who else do you see that could go instead of him?  Travon Woodall?  Please.  He played really well down the stretch last season and despite not being the best shooter, is probably the team's best true point guard. Plus, with Isaiah Epps and Woodall (who really got better as the season went on last year), ahead of him, he might be struggling to get minutes. And don't forget about incoming 2011 freshman John Johnson who will be at the point or SG.

It's crazy early, but that's how I see it. I can't pick between those two because it largely will depend on how others in their positions fare over the next season. If everyone qualifies, it will be interesting to see how Dixon deals with this situation for a second straight year. From everything I hear, Dixon hates doing this sort of thing. I'm a little puzzled that he'd do it again for a three-star, somewhat-prospect center if he didn't have a good reason for it.  Maybe he thinks Taylor is gone after this season.  Maybe he knows something we don't.  In any event, he's opened the door for a world of speculation over the next year.

Now, We Wait

So Pitt went out and picked up another commitment for 2011 in 6'11" center Malcolm Gilbert. With the commitment of Durand Johnson about a week ago, it looked like Pitt might be done recruiting. After all, they'd reached their anticipated limit of three scholarships for next year.

Not so.

For the second consecutive year, Pitt has gone over their limit and may need to boot someone from the program to balance things out. Yes, the school can 'hope' someone doesn't qualify academically next year, but as this offseason proved, you can hardly count on that.

Not that Pitt couldn't use a center.  They hadn't gotten a true center since Cassin Diggs and Gary McGhee three years ago and it was good to see them get more size. Gilbert is a three-star recruit as rated by both Scout and Rivals.  He also grades out at a 92 according to ESPN's Insider Ratings. 

He reportedly had drawn interest from ten schools including Ohio State, Wake Forest, Villanova, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Notre Dame, and a few others. And at one point, there was apparently some interest from Duke and Georgetown.

The first thing you might notice is that even though he's 6'11", he's reportedly only around 215 pounds. Yikes. Yes he's young, but he'll need to add around 30 pounds to bang in the Big East.

He was set to make a decision in September and with Durand Johnson committing, you have to wonder if Pitt made him speed up his decision-making a bit. As I mentioned, the class was already full and maybe Gilbert figured it was now or never.

While he may have a sound offensive game, it sounds like it's his defense that is the key to his game:

“He’s intriguing because of his upside,” East Coach Elite coach Terrell Myers said in June. “What people don’t understand is, they see 6-11, they look at him as an offensive player. He’s not an offensive player, he’s a defensive player.

And in 2008-2009 as only a sophomore, Gilbert did his best Dikembe Mutombo impersonation:

Q. You averaged a near 12 blocked shots in high school last year. Is the art of altering a shot something you’ve always been good at?

A. Since I can remember, I’ve always been able to block shots. I just always had the hops, I guess you could say.

Holy Mark Eaton, Batman.

Other than deciding who may be gone from Pitt, the other underlying theme of this is that Pitt has to be out of the running for one of the four-star centers, Amir Williams and Desmond Hubert.  Part of me is glad to see Dixon land a center, but the other part is really hoping that Pitt had no shot at either guy.  Both apparently have more of a game than Gilbert.  My confidence is pretty strong in Dixon, though, and I'm guessing that Pitt either felt like they had not shot with either Williams or Hubert or Dixon was determined to get an answer fairly quickly.

Either way, it will be interesting to see what happens next season if all of the incoming recruits qualify.

Parking, Parking, Parking. Oh Yeah, And Priority Points.

The ugly topic of parking has reared its head recently and I've also gotten some feedback from Pitt fans about the issue this year. Due to the amphitheater being built and the hotels, there's less of it to go around - most notably, the premium parking. Particularly, people who previously may have had good locations are being squeezed and many displaced.  My pass has changed this year, but I can't complain because it was for the better. Nevertheless, Paul Zeise of the PG dives into the issue today in both his Q&A and his blog.

He's mostly got this one right, but I think the gripe over Pitt using the priority ranking system is off base. A new donor might be able to get priority by scratching a fat check, but by all indications, Pitt isn't getting hundreds of new donors each year writing five-figure checks. I know. I get the voicemails at home saying how the university, more than ever, needs donations. The priority points system does indeed help long-time donors and ticket buyers by rewarding them with points. Yes, a minute few may get forced further down the totem pole, but for the most part, the system does what it's intended to do - reward continued giving.  To ignore the fact that the system helps a lot of people is off-base.

I will say I'm on board with Paul's point about it being a 'silent auction' of sorts for better parking, basketball tickets, etc.  I understand that the donations change from year to year and it's impossible to tell people in advance how much they'll need to fork over for premium considerations.  But what the university could do is provide the amounts necessary from the previous year to secure things like spots in the lots as long as some sort of a disclaimer mentioning those figures are only be provided as a rough guide to give people an idea of what they might need to spend.

And while I'm on the topic of complaining, let me also say that some of the priority points need to be reexamined.  There's no way that an alumni of the school (heck, let's use ME as an example) that forked over somewhere in the neighborhood of $50K to the University should be given a measly five priority points.  Yes, there are true fans of Pitt that didn't go to the school, but if it were not for the alumni, the school wouldn't exist.  Heck, someone who spends a few hundred dollars on three season's worth of women's basketball tickets earns six points - MORE THAN A GRADUATE OF THE SCHOOL. That not only makes little sense, it just irritates people like myself.

Same thing with the current faculty/students and past letter winners.  10 points total.  Seriously?

All in all, I think Pitt does a pretty good job, but the whole priority system definitely needs tweaked.  Scratch that - the system needs fixed.

Spurs/Cavs NBA Preseason Date Set For Pittsburgh

DeJuan Blair and the San Antonio Spurs will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday, October 14th.  The game will take place at the Pete for the second straight year.

Tickets go on sale to the general public at the end of August, but if you're on Pitt basketball's mailing list, they have a special offer where you can get tickets now.  Sometimes the stars sit out of these games, but short of a broken leg, I expect Blair will play much of the game.

Talib Zanna To Get Starring Role?

No one can deny that on the surface, Talib Zanna looks like he's ready to contribute this season.

First, Zanna nearly led all Pitt players in rebounding in the Greentree Summer League, averaging almost 11. He also added in about 13.5 points per game.

Then came the trip to Ireland where Zanna was again a major factor, averaging eight points and seven rebounds per game.

But it wasn't just in game action where Zanna has impressed. Jamie Dixon says the way he's practiced will likely lead to playing time this year:

In practices prior to the visit to Ireland and in the five games the Panthers played – all victories – Dixon closely monitored the performance of 6-9 redshirt freshman power forward Talib Zanna and became convinced he’ll help Pitt this season.

“I think he’s going to play minutes. I think he’s going to be good,” Dixon said. “I think Zanna is going to give us a different look with his length and his size at the 4. It gives us another option.”

Zanna might not replace Nasir Robinson this year as the starter at the 4, but if he has a good season, he might leapfrog him next year. But even if Dixon's history of playing upperclassmen shines through and Robinson continues to start, at the very least, Zanna should see his fair share of minutes. I'd like to see him play more than Robinson if he can rebound as well as he appears to be more of a scorer.

Durand Johnson To Pitt

Pitt reeled in its third commit for next year's basketball class in SF Durand Johnson.  He was recruited by Brandin Knight.  As mentioned on ZagsBlog a few weeks back, Johnson was down to six schools.

With the departures of Brad Wanamaker, Gary McGhee, and Gilbert Brown, Pitt is expected to only have three openings, so this might be it for the 2011 recruiting class. If it is, Pitt will not have landed a frontcourt player among its three commits - Durand, G-John Johnson, and SF-Jaylen Bond. That would be the second season in which Pitt did not pick up a PF or center. It also could mean that Dante Taylor remains at center if he sticks around next season unless J.J. Richardson can take hold of that position.

As for Johnson, he's a three-star recruit as rated by both Rivals and Scout. Rivals lists him in their top 150 prospects, but ESPN.com does not, instead grading him at 91 (must be an Insider to view).

Johnson cited a familiar reason as to why he selected Pitt:

“It was just a family to me,” Johnson said. “They showed me a lot of love. It’s a great fit all around for me.”

It's interesting that you not only hear this so much during the recruting, but also when the guys actually get to the team. You always hear the players talk about family and I think the recruits pick up on that during visits, from the players, and in reading up quotes in the media by other recruits.

Johnson reportedly had more than twenty offers from schools including Georgetown, Xavier, Louisville, and Maryland, among others.

Back to the point about Pitt potentially finished with recruiting. I'm okay with it. While Pitt could have used frontcourt help, they weren't desperate for it. They still have Taylor, Richardson, Talib Zanna, and Nasir Robinson for 2011-12. If Taylor happens to bolt this season, that would open up another scholarship. Maybe Pitt felt it didn't have a strong enough shot with any of the top big men left in this class. I don't mind them going after the sure thing in Johnson.

The other option is that Pitt goes over the limit again as they did last season and someone transfers. I've heard Dixon doesn't like doing this, so for him to do it two seasons in a row might be a stretch.

Pitt Basketball Finishes 6-0 On Trip To Ireland

Pitt wrapped up the playing portion of its trip to Ireland with two final wins for a perfect 6-0.

Throughout the games, Jamie Dixon used a variety of different lineups. One can only think it was mostly done to feel out the chemistry between players - especially among the new guys. It was good to see Pitt face some adversity in the fifth game where they trailed at halftime. They responded well and came back for a 16-point victory.

So how did the players do at least stats-wise?

Gilbert Brown - 12.8 ppg

Ashton Gibbs - 12.0 ppg / 4 apg

Gary McGhee - 5.0 ppg / 5.3 rpg

J.J. Moore - 10.4 ppg

Aron Nwankwo - 0 ppg

Lamar Patterson - 4.7 ppg / 4.0 rpg

J.J. Richardson - 6.3 ppg / 4.3 rpg

Nick Rivers - .8 ppg

Nasir Robinson - 8.9 ppg / 4 rpg

Dante Taylor - 6.3 ppg / 7.2 rpg

Brad Wanamaker - 9.0 ppg / 5.8 apg / 3.0 rpg

Travon Woodall - 8.5 ppg / 3.8 apg

Cameron Wright - 3.4 ppg / 1 apg

Talib Zanna - 8.0 ppg / 7.0 rpg

Not much can be taken from these numbers but here are a few things I noticed:

- After monster performances in the Greentree Summer League, I was a litle surprised to not see McGhee dominate a bit more...especially considering some teams had smaller rosters (the South Regional All-Stars' tallest player was 6'6"). It will be interesting to see how he responds once the season gets started.  I'd guess somewhere in between these performances and his GSL performances.

- Looks like it will be hard to keep Talib Zanna and J.J. Moore off the court. By all indications, they've now played very well in both the GSL and in these games. Nasir Robinson's numbers haven't been great and I wonder if we'll see a little less of him and more of them. There are also Jermaine Dixon's minutes to account for, so I think they will each see some time this season.

- Despite being highly regarded, I can't help but think how far back Isaiah Epps might be. Unable to play in the GSL and these games will put him behind Moore and maybe even Cameron Wright. I expect Wright to possibly take a redshirt and I'm wondering if Epps will do the same.

- Gilbert Brown shot exactly 50% from the field and really only had one bad game, a 1/6 shooting performance. Here's to hoping his ups and downs will be solved, but I won't be sold until I see it. To be honest, I think anyone that had the kind of swings Gil did last season will still be susceptible to poor games once in a while. But as long as those types of games are limited, Pitt might be okay.

Pitt Faces Mild Test In Fourth Win In Ireland

Pitt faced its stiffest competition on Wednesday vs. the Dart Killester Club Team. The Panthers won the game 88-62, but only led by nine points heading into both the third and fourth quarters.  At one point, Pitt was only up 47-41.  Pitt also trailed early, 14-9 - its largest deficit of the trip.

Dante Taylor had his best game of the trip with 14 points and 10 rebounds.  Gilbert Brown also added 14.  Balance was again the story as nine players ended up with at least six points.

The big difference in these games have been rebounding.  For the second straight game, Pitt doubled up its opponent on the boards, 50-25.  Unless a team is shooting lights out from the field, it's virtually impossible to stay competitive when getting killed on the glass like that.

Pitt's next game will be against the Melbourne (yes, Melbourne of Australia) on Friday.

Pitt Basketball Wins Third Game In Ireland

Pitt won its third game on its Ireland trip, beating the Irish National Team for the second straight time today, 110-61.

The team was again led by freshman J.J. Moore who was 6-12 from the field, scoring 14 points. Moore, J.J. Richardson, Ashton Gibbs, Gilbert Brown, and Nasir Robinson were all in double figures in scoring. Pitt continues to rebound well - so well in fact that their 22 offensive rebounds were more than the Irish National Team's overall rebound total of 20.

Jamie Dixon again used a different starting lineup and he's apparently testing out chemistry issues.

Pitt shot 54% from the field and is averaging more than 50% through their three games thus far. The team's Big East style of play, however, landed them in a bit of foul trouble as Ireland got to the line 31 times.

Next up will be the Dart Killester Club Team on Wednesday.

Darnell Dodson Out At Kentucky?

Former Pitt player/recruit and current Kentucky Wildcat Darnell Dodson could again be off of a team.  While he is academically eligible, according to a Facebook post by coach John Calapari, Dodson is not making a trip to Canada with the rest of the Wildcats.  The article says that he will not play for the team this year.

Here's a site that has the alleged Facebook post.

Not much else is known at this point, but Calapari did leave the door open for him to potentially return and said he could practice with the team.  For now, it appears he may be off the team.

Dodson, if you remember, was enrolled at Pitt but never played for the team as he had academic issues.  He transferred to a junior college before going to Kentucky last season.  He led the team with 50 three-pointers and averaged six points in 14.5 minutes per game off the bench. With the depatures of the five freshman that went in the first round of the NBA Draft last year, he could have seen even more playing time this season.

Pitt Wins Second Game

I'm again taking the easy way out and directing you to my post on SB Nation Pittsburgh for the recap of the second game.

Let The Beatdowns Begin

Pitt basketball began its Ireland trip with a 99-54 drubbing of the Irish national team.

Not sure how big the building was, but only 1,650 attended.  Judging by photos on the website, it looks to be a pretty small gym.  Tickets were fairly cheap at around $9 (7 Euro) for adults.  Gil Brown led Pitt with 22 points including 4-6 from three-point range.  Ashton Gibbs contributed 15 and Brad Wanamaker had 12 points and 10 assists.

At first glance, it would appear that he big men, Gary McGhee and Dante Taylor (combining for 13 points and 12 rebounds) had quiet games.  But one important thing to note is that all 11 players received equal playing time.  Talib Zanna and J.J. Richardson likely saw minutes that McGhee and Taylor would have, so no need to worry about those numbers.

Here's the full box score.

It was mostly good for Pitt, who shot 56% from the field, 50% from three-point range, and forced 22 turnovers.  But the team did turn the ball over 16 times.  Though, in a scrimmage game, in an unfamiliar environment and with lots of travel and hoopla surrounding the trip, that's kind of to be expected.

The freshman, J.J. Moore, Cameron Wright, and Aron Nwankwo, were not eligible to play due to NCAA rules, but should suit up for today's (Sunday's) game. 

I'm mildly confused as the schedule listed on Pitt's website says the game with the National Team was to take place today with the team playing the Southern Regional All-Stars Saturday night.  Maybe the games have been flip-flopped.

Notebook 7/26

Jonathan Baldwin may be the best wideout in the Big East, but are Pitt's receivers the best in the conference:

When the Panthers are not handing off to speedster running back Dion Lewis, they will be passing to the 6-foot-5, 225-pound Jon Baldwin at wide receiver. Baldwin leads a unit that has potential, but lacks real experience. Baldwin is a genuine threat downfield, and defenses doubling him will take some of the pressure off the new guys. Last year Baldwin averaged almost twenty yards per catch. Two new guys on campus are expected to make an immediate impact catching the ball for Pitt. Drew Carswell and Salath Williams should be two of the best freshmen receivers in the nation.

Best freshmen receivers in the nation? I don't know about that. Isn't it a bit much to say two of the nation's best will land on the same team...espeially when we're talking about freshmen? And I was surprised to not see any mention of Todd Thomas who I don't expect to redshirt.

Meanwhile, looking ahead to the season, ESPN.com's Brian Bennett pulls out what he believes is Pitt's key stretch:

Key stretch: at Connecticut (Nov. 11), at South Florida (Nov. 20), West Virginia (Nov. 26), at Cincinnati (Dec. 4). 

Considering that span is more than half of the Big East season, I'll narrow it down a bit.  For Pitt, it will come down to the two final games - vs. West Virginia and at Cincinnati.  The Panthers start off the conference season fairly lightly and even a loss to UCONN or South Florida alone won't be enough to derail their championship hopes.  However, wins against their final two opponents might be needed.

More Big Ten talk?  Eh, I'm not going there.  I will say this, though.  I'm mildly disappointed that there hasn't been more talk about Big East expansion lately.  That's not to say the conference is done discussing the possibility.  I'm sure it's just happening between closed doors.  Still, I hope the Big East is aggressively coming up with options because this expansion thing ain't going away in the long run.

NBE has a pretty short look at the upcoming Big East women's basketball season and doesn't see big things for Pitt.

And I normally don't discuss recruiting misses, but here's a mention on one only because the kid was local.  He chose Virginia over several schools including Pitt.