I love the response from Ronald Ramon regarding being ranked #25 in the Coaches Poll:

“It feels good to get ranked in the top 25,” sophomore point guard Ronald Ramon said. “We want to go out there and show people we can play. But it’s nothing new. It’s like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re ranked, but we’re just going to go out and play.’ “

Pitt has not played a demanding non-conference schedule, but the Panthers have beaten Penn State and Auburn by 37 points apiece, which grabbed the attention of the voters. Ramon said he and his teammates had been out to prove they were worthy of being ranked.

“We’re a school that everyone has their doubts about,” he said. “Is Pitt as good as everyone thinks? We take that personal, and we go out there and try to play as hard as we can.”

Coach Jamie Dixon said he did not promote the polls with his players and did not expect it to be a distraction for his team.

All they can do is to keep on winning.

The ND-Pitt game scheduled for January 4 at the Pete has been moved from an 8pm to 7pm start. Apparently to avoid too much conflict. Seems there’s this thing called the Rose Bowl between Texas and USC that night. It’s possible some people might be interested in watching that.

Tomorrow night, Coppin State. Pitt game notes here (PDF). Seems one of the notes is that Coach Dixon has yet to lose in December (I would prefer March and/or April).