I’ve had a little time to digest the schedule and have some more thoughts on it (big shock). Before I get to it, a little round-up to some of the reactions of BE teams.

The Big East Basketball Blog is promising a ranking of the schedules for tomorrow.

Marquette Hoops doesn’t actually have an opinion yet. I’m sure they will soon. Marquette is a lot like Pitt this coming year, with some key losses from their team from last year, but lots of good incoming talent. They seem to have a fair and balanced conference schedule.

You know your team’s been down, and you aren’t feeling good about them when you write, “Highlights: no UConn or WVU, Louisville and Nova at home, and home-and-homes with Seton, St. John’s and South Fla.”

Blue-Gray Sky concedes that ND got a decent to light schedule. Their road games are much more difficult than the home meetings. The Big East seems to have made an effort to give them the Catholic connections for at least for the 1st year with home-and-homes with Marquette, DePaul and Providence.

As for Pitt. This is a fair schedule, especially given the turnover of the team. Not absurdly difficult, and not a cakewalk. My first reaction is to think that Pitt could easily be in the 10-6 to 6-10 record in the Big East in 2005-06, based on the schedule and it being only July.

Pitt will always have a home-and-home with WVU as they are Pitt’s natural rival. Marquette is a lot like Pitt this year, with some key losses from their team from last year, but lots of good incoming talent. I’m really surprised Providence was matched-up with Pitt for the home-and-home. That strikes me, more as just one of the only exchanges they had left. Not a natural fit or good storyline (Cinci and Huggins vs. his alma mater, WVU).

Lots of scheduling news today. How about the future non-con.

Pitt athletic director Jeff Long announced today future non-conference games with Iowa, Miami (Fla.), NC State, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

“Our future non-conference schedules reflect our efforts to compete against some of the nation’s finest programs,” Long said. “It also reflects the importance of constructing a balanced non-conference schedule that provides quality opponents and prepares us for our Big East schedule. It is particularly exciting for our fans who will be able to see national-caliber intersectional games at Heinz Field.”

In addition to these future non-conference games, Pitt announced last November an eight-year, home-and-home deal with Notre Dame that runs from 2008-15.

Pitt and Iowa have signed a four-year, home-and-home agreement. The Panthers and Hawkeyes will meet in 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2016. The Panthers will host the ’08 and ’16 games.

Iowa is one of two Big 10 teams to appear on Pitt’s future non-conference schedules. Under a previously signed agreement, the Panthers will play Michigan State in 2006 (at Pittsburgh) and 2007 (away). Pitt last played a Big 10 foe in 2000 when it shut out Penn State, 12-0.

Never miss a chance to mention that shutout. The last time Pitt played Iowa was in 1952 (Pitt won).

As for the other teams and years:

Virginia: 2006 (Heinz Field) and 2007 (Charlottesville)
NC State: 2009 (Raleigh) and 2013 (Heinz Field)
Miami: 2010 (Heinz Field)
VT: 2012 (Heniz Field) and 2013 (Blacksburg)

I rip Pitt basketball’s non-con pretty hard, and get bent when I see teams like YSU on the football team’s schedule. So it’s time to give some props to what Pitt is doing with it’s football non-con. It is scheduling some quality teams, as it should, to give itself some real credibility.

Next year Pitt’s non-con (pdf, pg. 20) will be UVA, Mich. St., Bowling Green, Toledo and @ Navy.

Well done.

Okay, I was off on my expected home-and-home pairings for Pitt. Rather than ND or UConn for the 3rd team, it is Providence? Clearly, the powers decided that Pitt would be middle of the pack at best for 2005-06 (no offense Friar fans). Here’s how it looks:

HOME GAMES (8)

Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, Seton Hall, Syracuse, West Virginia

AWAY GAMES (8)

Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, West Virginia

TEAMS NOT ON THE SCHEDULE (2)

South Florida, Villanova

There is also a breakdown for each team (PDF).

Quick glance suggests that Villanova is looking at the most brutal conference schedule. Home-and-homes with UConn, Syracuse and Louisville. Not facing Pitt and Providence. WVU has a fairly hard schedule, but gets most of the most difficult single games at home (UConn, Louisville, Marquette and ND)

Easiest schedule is Rutgers. Home-and-home with USF, Seton Hall and St. John’s while missing UConn and WVU.

The Big East will announce the conference opponents for each team today (via Before I Get Old).

Each team will play a 16-game conference schedule, meeting 10 opponents once and three opponents twice.
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The BIG EAST office compiles the conference schedule. Each school will announce its full schedule, when it is completed, at its discretion.

Note, that this isn’t the actual TV schedule — though it will be a good indicator with regards to some of the marquee teams that end up facing each other twice to meet the wishes of CBS and ESPN.

It will be interesting for Pitt. There is still no word yet on whether Krauser is coming back. That effects the attractiveness of Pitt for TV and the set up for the schedule. If they planned with the belief that he won’t return, then Pitt will have an (expected to be) easier schedule but less TV exposure.

Some of Pitt’s new verbal commits get nice pieces.

Greg Webster talks about his hopes to make the NFL and pursue his degree in education at Pitt.

Albeit they played for former Pitt coach Walt Harris and not Dave Wannstedt, who now coaches the Panthers, Webster is drawing inspiration from a few guys who know exactly what it’s like to wear the Woodland Hills Wolverines jersey in high school and then switch into a Pitt uniform for college football.

Dallas Cowboys running back Lousaka Polite and San Francisco 49ers defensive back Shawntae Spencer — both Woodland Hills products who went to Pitt — were concrete examples of where Webster has been, will go and hopes to be, all in one fell swoop.

“You look at Lousaka and Shawntae and they’re living a dream of playing pro ball right now,” Webster said. “They are from the same place I am from and they came from here and went to Pitt. I want to be a guy from Woodland Hills to continue that tradition [of playing in the NFL] and choosing Pitt and playing for coach Wannstedt gives me the best chance to do that.”
Then Jason Pinkston and Justin Hargrove started an impromptu Pitt rally when they announced.

Last week at the South Hills Country Club in Whitehall, a banquet room full of Baldwin football boosters who had just walked off the course after participating in the Dave Wannstedt Golf Outing settled into their seats for dinner, drinks and the customary prize-awarding sessions.

But soon after, a pep rally broke out, complete with chants of “Let’s Go Pitt,” which resonated through the normally serene club situated between Route 51 and Brownsville Road.

The response was the result of a pair of Baldwin seniors-to-be, Jason Pinkston and Justin Hargrove, stepping to the podium, ripping off their Highlanders jerseys and announcing, both audibly and with Pitt shirts now visible, that they’d selected the University of Pittsburgh.

Under 60 days to the first game.

Well, the various AAU and shoe camps are getting underway for the summer. First up, the ABCD camp sponsored by Reebok.

Everywhere you looked, there was greatness, coaches and players alike.

Florida coach Billy Donovan was seen standing near an entrance to the gymnasium, with Seton Hall’s Louis Orr, Louisville’s Rick Pitino and Bill Self of Kansas also in clear view. Later on came Thad Matta of Ohio State and Paul Hewitt of Georgia Tech, among others.

There were head coaches, assistant coaches and volunteer coaches.

And there were many, many college prospects just waiting to show what they could do.

Meanwhile, Rohrssen, the Pitt assistant who has been a recruiting machine in recent years for the Panthers, waited patiently for a chance to watch the list of Pitt recruits on hand, including Aliquippa High School star Herb Pope, who will enter next season as one of the top juniors in the country.

Pope already had given Pitt a verbal commitment near the conclusion of his sophomore season, and it only stood to reason that Rohrssen was doing his best babysitting routine, all the while being careful not to come in contact with any player.

The NCAA would have something to say about that.
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Things are different, perhaps for the worse, where coaches are concerned. The NCAA in recent years has made changes which include prohibiting coaches from having contact with high school recruits for all but a very short period of time. Long gone are the days of attending a player’s high school game.

“This is a major evaluation time of the year,” Orr said. “You spend more time on the go now than during the rest of the year. It’s definitely not a vacation.”

The work continues this week, and the coaches will be shuttling between the Reebok event and Nike- and addidas-sponsored camps in Indianapolis and Suwanee, Ga., doing their best impersonation of a babysitter.

The whole thing is such a farce. Coaches aren’t allowed to talk to or discuss the kids or their coaches. They can, though, sit in the stands and be seen. Not sure if miming is permitted.

Herb Pope isn’t the only reason for Associate Head Coach Barry Rohrssen to be at the ABCD Camp.

Among the other campers included on Pitt’s recruiting wish list are are 6-9 Mike Davis , from Notre Dame Academy in Brooklyn, N.Y.; 6-10, 285-pound Casiem Drummond , from Bloomfield Tech in West Orange, N.J.; 6-5, 225-pound Paul Harris , from Niagara Falls (N.Y.); 6-0, 160-pound Eugene Harvey , from St. Benedict’s Prep School in Brooklyn; 6-4, 190-pound DJ Kennedy , from Schenley; 6-3, 190-pound Brian McKenzie, from Xaverian in Brooklyn; and 6-6, 220-pound Rob Thomas , from South Kent in New York.

Former Panther, now Golden State Warrior, Chris Taft will be playing in the Reebok Vegas Summer League in Las Vegas. Play begins on Friday.

Jay Bilas, gets a little defensive about his own performance on ESPN’s draft night coverage (Insider Subs.).

After reading Bill Simmons, I must have used the term “long” too much. Well, I like that term. It really is a great descriptive basketball term, and it really means something in the evaluation of a player.

I really don’t care how tall a player is — it is how tall the player plays. What difference does it make how long a guy’s neck is? Unless he blocks shots with his ears, it is much better to be “long” than tall. Guys who play long can cover more ground with their wingspans and cause more problems.

Sadly for you readers, Bill Simmons is not particularly “long” as a writer. He’ll never be a first-round pick without length, but does have upside potential. By the way, does he still live with his dad, or do they just get together to bust my chops during the draft?

Kind of sad. Here’s the problem with Bilas and “long.” It was too vague and meaningless. Of course, Bilas was also ranking the “intangibles” of prospects on a scale of 1-5. Think about it.

The term, “long” started getting tossed around a little last summer when Tayshaun Prince emerged for Detroit in the playoffs. Everyone started describing his defense and shot-blocking in terms of the length of his arms — hence “long.” In that respect it was a decent descriptor of Prince’s unique physical characteristic — his disturbingly long arms — that allowed him to keep a shooter in front of him while still making it hard to get a shock. It is a unique characteristic — that Prince utilizes effectively. Therefore, continually calling nearly every draftee “long” devalues it.

I actually think Bilas is a solid college basketball analyst and color guy. He sucked, though, on draft night.

Returning to Bilas’s strange defensiveness over his draft night performance, he now hedges on Villanueva — writing that he merely thought Toronto drafting him at #7 was “too high.” Uh, yeah. He also addresses the way he killed Chris Taft.

I like Chris Taft, the “should-be rising junior” from Pittsburgh. Taft is a fine athlete with good potential (and he’s really “long”), but he never was a first-round pick.

If Taft wanted to leave school to be a pro, irrespective of whether he would be drafted, and made his decision with his eyes open and with complete information, I support his decision. If he left because of the promise of being a first-round pick, he was misled and misinformed and took an unnecessary risk with his career.

Taft is a good prospect, but he is unskilled and immature as a player. He needs time and focused work on his game to be a productive NBA pro. That does not mean he cannot make it in the league — far from it.

The draft is not about whether a player can play in the NBA. A lot of guys are good enough to stick in the league, whether drafted or not. The draft is about whether a player will be selected to play in the NBA and whether a team will make a commitment to that player.

Taft, Matt Walsh, Anthony Roberson, Randolph Morris, Louis Williams, Monta Ellis, Amir Johnson, Andray Blatche and many others made major miscalculations in thinking they were first-round picks. All might make it anyway, but they paid a high price by throwing in early. What a mess.

Dude, you need a thicker skin.

I mentioned, yesterday, the issue of Pitt playing some Friday night away games this season and the conflict with the tradition of the Friday night high school game. Today, an article about the topic.

The Panthers will play four weekday games this fall, including two under Friday night lights. Neither of those Friday games will be played at Heinz Field.

“We are holding firm against playing Friday night home games, out of respect for the high schools,” [Pitt Athletic Director Jeff] Long said.

“I appreciate him feeling that way,” said WPIAL executive director Larry Hanley. “But I don’t know how long Pitt can maintain that when those TV dollars are being thrown at them.”

AD Long can “Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” but a time will come. It’s not the dollars as much as it will be the dictates of the contract and pressure brought from ESPN and the Big East. Never, say never.

Among Division I-A schools, only Toledo (five) will play more weekday games than Pitt this season. Three other teams — West Virginia, Ohio and Miami (Ohio) — also have four weekday games.

Long said the Big East will resist playing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but he expects the league will continue with games on Thursdays and Fridays.

This year, the Big East has slated 13 weekday games, including eight conference matchups. Pitt and Rutgers are the only teams in the league with two Friday games.

Of the major conferences, the Big East and Western Athletic (four games each) will be busiest on Friday nights.

The Big 12, Mid-American and Conference USA each has three Friday games. The Big Ten and Pacific-10 each have two, and the Southeastern Conference has one Friday game scheduled.

The Atlantic Coast Conference has the second-most weekday games (eight), but none are on Fridays.

No conference is immune from weekday games. The Mid-American has the most (17, including nine conference games) and the Big Ten has the fewest (three, all non-conference matchups).

At the bottom of the page is a chart showing conferences and the number of weekday games played. Notice that Mountain West, has only 4 weekday games. That’s a direct result of their moving their TV deal to CSTV from ESPN.

The WPIAL Director is also right that a Friday night home game for Pitt would hurt Pitt as well. Not just in the obvious issue of attendance. There is also recruiting.

One of the classic recruiting tools is hosting the high schoolers at the game. Give them a feel for the atmosphere and an idea of what could be. Losing a possible day to host the kids is huge when you only have 5 or 6 in a season and the competition from other schools trying to do the same.