Wow. Basketball practice begins in a little more than 3 weeks. That’s right. Midnight Madness begins Friday, uh, afternoon (more genius from the NCAA) on October 14.

Time for a little catch-up.

Chevon Troutman was drafted in the 3rd round of the Continental Basketball Association draft by the Albany Patroons.

Chevon Troutman, a 6-foot-6, 240-pound forward from the University of Pittsburgh, was taken in the third round. Greg Hotchkiss of the sports information department at Pitt said Wednesday that the last he heard from Troutman, he was playing in Italy.

If Troutman decides to play in the CBA, the Patroons hold his rights for the next 2 years.

The TV contract for Big East Basketball rights doesn’t expire for a couple more years, but there is already speculation as to the size of it since negotiations are expected to begin soon.

It will be interesting to see if the Big East can land ACC-like dollars. It will be interesting to see if the league can jack the current $11 million contract up enough to give all teams, including the five new ones, more than approximately $900,000 per year.

To do that, commish Mike Tranghese and company would have to ink a $16 million or $17 million deal. Is $20 million out of the question?

Maybe the Big East should do what the ACC did in its latest football negotiations: hire IMG’s Barry Frank as a negotiator.

Whatever the case, don’t look for Tranghese to lay an egg in those talks.

There will be a lot riding on this contract. Not just for money for each team — absolutely vital for teams like UConn, Louisville and Syracuse — but also giving the teams exposure on TV — which is very important to recruiting and profile for schools like Providence, DePaul and South Florida. Getting both will go a long way to determining how long the bloated incarnation of the Big East can survive.

SI.com is starting to get ready for b-ball season. They do a slide show of the top-10 Point guards. Carl Krauser is #9.

Then there is Levon Kendall. After his summer playing on both the Canadian Under-21 and full National teams he was the subject of an interesting article last week (you people didn’t think I forgot about or missed it did you?). He spoke openly about wanting to be a leader on the team and assume a more prominent role.

There’s no doubt as a Junior he will have the opportunity early in the season, but there will be a lot of competition for minutes at the forward positions. He will have to play better defense (not get caught in a bad position and commit the foul) and be a much more consistent shooter. His energy and hustle are not in question

The part of the interview that got everyone’s attention, though, was what he said about Krauser.

“He’s definitely going to win some games for us down the stretch,” said Kendall, who likely will be the leading candidate to play small forward this season. “It’ll be interesting to see if he buys into the system and can play with the other guys because I think the group we have right now really plays well together.

“We have a strong group, and I think Carl will realize that if he buys into that, it’s going to make him a lot better player. He’s still going to get his shots. I’ve been telling people that when it comes down to it, he’s going to have the ball in a position to score. He’s still going to be the go-to guy.”

Here’s the thing. I don’t disagree with any of that. I’ve been saying that since Krauser decided not to go pro. It’s the big thing I’ll be watching to see from Coach Jamie Dixon. Keeping Krauser in the team game.

The surprising thing is it came — attributed — from one of his teammates. Essentially calling him out before the practices even start to not make it the “Carl Krauser Show.” How that plays in the locker and between Krauser and Kendall will be an intriguing subplots this year.

Tommie Campbell gets a little puff piece as he is expected to see more playing time at Safety with Mike Phillips out for the year. He will be behind Sam Bryant, but is still going to be out there more. He’s got tremendous speed, but it needs to be controlled in the game so that he doesn’t overrun the play or gets a pass interference penalty for getting there too soon.

A story from the Youngstown Vindicator looking at Pitt. Essentially an overview of the team.

WR Greg Lee is still confident that the passing game will come around soon. What choice does he have?

Yet another story on the struggling offense. Matt Cavanaugh is trying to take most of the blame — which is fine because that is where most people are putting it.

While Cavanaugh continues to temper Palko’s immense potential, he’s contemplating the idea of giving him more freedom to roam the field.

“He feels like he’s capable of more and maybe I need to give him more opportunities to do some things,” Cavanaugh said, adding that “blame goes to everybody, and I’m speaking for the offense, whether it’s a poor play-call on my part or a quarterback not executing, a receiver … dropping a ball.”

Or bad blocking. Mental errors. Penalties.

“Coach Cavanaugh has been calling plays for a long time,” Palko said. “I’m not going to second-guess him or anything he’s done. He’s had a long career playing in the NFL and he’s had a long career being an offensive coordinator.

“I’m in my third year of playing college football and second as a starter. By no means, am I going to question his play-calling. You trust the coaches are going to make the right decisions, and this staff is very experienced at both levels. We just leave that stuff up to them. As players, we’ll continue to stay the course and we’ll be fine.”

Those last quotes from Palko seem very subject to reading between the lines. I can almost picture him saying that through gritted teeth. It reads as if there is a lot of frustration on Palko’s part.

Palko is a coach’s son, though. He’s never going to publicly question his coaches. It is just not something he will do. He will be the good “soldier.” And of course, we don’t know how the question was phrased to him or the complete context.

Something I was thinking about yesterday. Palko is facing a lot more blitzing and pressure this year. I don’t think it’s just that the O-line is not doing its job. I think it is something teams learned from watching the Fiesta Bowl. Utah brought pressure on Palko all night to keep him from getting comfortable and finding any rhythm. That seems to be what other teams are doing now. They’ll take the chance on giving up some running plays to prevent Pitt’s passing game from finding itself.

It’s probably not worth wondering over. It’s probably unfair. Still, a small part of me can’t help wonder what would have happened in the Nebraska game had Kicker Josh Cummings admitted how much the pain was bothering him, or the doctors had taken a closer look at his knee during the week or any other way that Cummings would not have been trying to kick. Now he’s out for at least 1 game, probably 2.

“It was bothering him considerably more after the (Nebraska) game,” Wannstedt said.

Cummings, who had a second MRI earlier this week, has not practiced since having a 46-yard attempt blocked with 1 second left against Nebraska. He has a torn meniscus and a strained medial collateral ligament, the result of an injury suffered several years ago.

“I’ve been kicking in pain for four years; I figured I can kick in pain for another four months. But it caught up with me today,” Cummings said following Saturday’s loss.

That means on Saturday, it will be either David Abdul or Conor Lee.

Wannstedt said he will make a final decision Saturday as to which one will replace Cummings.

“Conor’s never kicked in a major-college game and David is still coming back from his accident,” Wannstedt said. “I’ll evaluate them based on who I think gives us the best chance to be successful.”

Wannstedt said both players have strong legs and their range is comparable to Cummings’ He said pregame warm-ups will help him determine the kicker’s range based on factors such as the wind and the weather conditions.

That’s why it is mostly useless to speculate on what would have happened in the final play or the other attempts if Abdul or Lee had been kicking. Abdul is a huge question mark, not just because of the injuries from the car accident but his mental component after that disastrous 2003 season — on and off the field. Lee is just unknown in the game situations.

Then there is the timing of the kicks. How would the whole kicking unit have done with a new kicker at that point. The issues of timing.

Still…