Rivals.com offers its own revised really early advanced pre-season top-25 basketball rankings.

The voters all faced one big question: Just how much of a difference can one player choosing to stay in school make on a team? If the player is Aaron Gray and the school is Pittsburgh the answer is a tremendous one.

Thanks to Gray’s decision to pull out of the draft on deadline day the Panthers jumped from No. 16 to No. 7. Gray emerged as one of the best big men in the Big East and many felt he was the piece that could lead the Panthers on a deep postseason run.

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7. Pittsburgh (90) 25-8
Could Aaron Gray mean the difference between contending for a league title and an NCAA title? We think so. The 7-foot center who averaged a double-double last season announced he was taking his name out of the draft just minutes before the withdrawl deadline. The decision led every voter to place the Panthers in his top 10. The Panthers lose star guard Carl Krauser, but three other starters are back and promising power forward Sam Young is poised for a breakout year.

Pre-season top-10 is looking like a lock going into the season. Coach Dixon is going to have to be working hard to keep the kids from reading too much of their own clippings it would seem.