I’m not going to spend much time banging on how bad the non-con is this year. I think everyone already knows it. Some of it was out of Pitt’s hands with the non-con tournament squeeze, deal falling through at MSG, and a team dropping out of the Philly Classic. Still the next 3 years of tournaments are already set.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said today Pitt will play in the 2014 Maui Invitational. It’s Pitt’s first trip to Maui since Dixon became head coach.

Pitt will play in the Philly Classic in November. In 2012, the Panthers will play in the preseason NIT in New York. In 2013, they will play in the Legends Classic In Brooklyn.

The preseason NIT is always a big deal, and the Maui Invitational is fantastic because of the ESPN backing and promotion. The Brooklyn game is obviously a new one, but considering that will be in the new NBA arena there, so I expect the promoters to get some really good teams to try and get some attention from MSG.

Add in the fact that Dixon and his wife have a history with Hawaii — where they met and Dixon was an assistant. Not that I think Dixon is going anywhere, but getting to coach his team in Hawaii in a few years has to be another enticing carrot.

Today was Pitt’s Basketball Media Day. If you want to see the Jamie Dixon opening presser, here it is.

College basketball officially gets underway at midnight Friday/Saturday. No midnight madness events for Pitt. As the practices loom, it is time for more preseason rankings and previews. Time to hit the links.

NBC’s Mike Miller puts Pitt at #10 in his preseason rankings. So do Jeff Goodman and Gary Parrish at CBSSports.com. The CBS rankings have 4 Big East teams in the top-10. All four happen to be football schools. Go figure.

Former ND player and their current color guy, Jordan Cornette, does an interview to preview the Big East. Not a lot regarding Pitt, until it comes to the issue of toughest place to play.

Going into the Oakland Zoo at Pittsburgh, their fans are nuts. You’re warming up before a game, and they know your little sister’s name, they know your ex-girlfriend from eight years ago, they know your mother’s maiden name. Those Pittsburgh fans are brutal, but they make it a fun environment. And Pittsburgh plays so much better at home then other teams in the country.

And thanks to Jeff Eisenberg for the link for Twitter.

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For those eager to see what youth (and Talib Zanna) can do at the power forward spot, there will be a small window of opportunity. Nasir Robinson is expected to miss the next 3 to 4 weeks with a knee injury.  Nas will have surgery on his right knee tomorrow — actual injury not yet disclosed. He may be back in time for the season opener against Albany on November 11, but Pitt may be extra cautious with him.

Last year, Nas missed several games when he suffered a tear in the meniscus in his right knee. The same knee he has injured this week. Given that it is the second surgery on the same knee within a 12 month period (albeit, both seem relatively minor), there might be reasons to bring Nas back slowly.

tah is not having an easy time in their first year in the Pac-12. They have gotten off to an 0-3 start in Pac-12 play. They were pounded by Washington (31-14) and Arizona State (35-14) in consecutive games. They are getting the questions about the transition and whether they are really up to the weekly grind at the BCS level. As you would expect, the Utes dismiss such notions.

“We were up 14-13,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said of Saturday’s 35-14 loss to Arizona State in which the Utes committed five turnovers for the second game in a row. “We were going toe to toe and doing some good things. Do we need to keep recruiting and developing the roster? Yes. Everybody does and that has happened and will happen and get upper-echelon players. But it is apparent we can play with the guys in this league. We just have to play smarter and possess the football.”

Nevertheless, the Utes (2-3, 0-3) acknowledge that being out of a conference race before the first frost hits their practice field does feel odd to them.

However, this season’s slide is part of a larger trend. Since starting the 2010 season with an eight-game winning streak, Utah has gone 4-6 in its past 10 outings.

See? It isn’t that the Utes are in over their heads. It’s that they were already trending lower before joining the Pac-12.

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