Slogged our way through the non-con and all it’s patsies — which wasn’t nearly as bad as all the complaining about the patsies.

Now we have our first conference game. Down in Raleigh, NC against North Carolina State in PNC Park Arena.  It’s a nooner.

Unfortunately this is not a national game, and if you don’t live in the Pittsburgh area, finding the game is a little tricky. In Pittsburgh it is airing on WTAE. For everyone else, you have to hope you are in a place where a local ACC Network affiliate is carrying the game. It’s being carried by a fairly broad group of carriers, but I am not so lucky today. The closest affiliate for me is in Youngstown, Ohio.

Thankfully the game is also on ESPN3.com. It is also on the ESPN FullCourt package if you have it. Just to twist the knife, at the start of conference play there is usually a free preview week of FullCourt to suck you in at midseason. But wouldn’t you know it, the preview starts (PDF) on Monday, January 6. Some good news is that it will include the Wake Forest game on Saturday, January 11.

This team is still trying to figure itself out. How good it is. What it’s make-up is. No, not Pitt. That’s what NC State is saying about themselves.

A young, reconfigured Wolfpack (10-3) team will learn more about itself in ACC play, which starts Saturday at home against Pittsburgh, fifth-year senior forward Jordan Vandenberg said.

“We’re getting an identity,” Vandenberg said. “We’re not there yet.”

There’s no doubt the Wolfpack has been better with Vandenberg, who missed the first four games with an ankle injury, in the lineup. Since Vandenberg’s return, the Pack is 8-1 with a four-point loss to Missouri as the sole blemish.

Vandenberg has averaged 7.1 points and 4.9 rebounds in nine games. He also leads the team with 21 blocks.

NC State reminds me a lot of St. John’s under Steve Lavin. There’s plenty of talent on the team but they are not always on the same page and regularly take plays and games off. Tend to play up and down to the level of their opponent. This shouldn’t be a surprise since Mark Gottfried is their coach.

Gottfried and Lavin were both assistants under Jim Harrick UCLA. So much about them is similar. They can recruit like crazy, but they aren’t exactly inspiring as an in-game coach.

Make no mistake, though, despite all the kids that left NC State after last year — C.J. Leslie, Rodney Purvis, Lorenzo Brown, Scott Wood and Richard Howell — there is still a lot of raw talent on this squad. It includes two freshmen forwards that Pitt pursued early (Beejay Anya) and late (Lennard Freeman).

Their front court with Vandenberg and especially T.J. Warren will be a big challenge for Pitt.

One of their key weaknesses, foul shooting. They are only shooting 64.2% as a team. But the three guys who have taken over half their free throws — Warren, Anthony Barber and Desmond Lee are shooting a bit better than 70%

On the Pitt side, there is an eagerness to begin conference play.

Talib Zanna added: “We are really excited about this, it is a new conference and a new beginning and we have to go out and work on what we have prepared for the whole summer. We have a lot of veterans and we are really excited for this.

“There are a lot of good teams with a lot of history behind their names like Duke and North Carolina, but we can’t think about that. We just have to go play the way we play and take the Big East game into the ACC.”

It bears repeating. This is not the football side of things. Pitt is not taking a step up in conference competition compared to last year. This is just stepping into new arenas and new foes (somewhat).

“It’s really the Big East now,” ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas, a Duke alumnus, said of the ACC. “Look at all the Big East teams in the league.”

It’s true that, with Pitt, Notre Dame and Syracuse joining Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech — and Louisville on its way — that half of the ACC’s membership next season will be composed of former Big East schools.

Which is why everyone inside and outside the conference is dismissive of talk that Pitt will have to adapt to an ACC style of play.

“There is no ‘ACC style’ anymore,” Bilas said. “That’s an antiquated notion of how things used to be.”

Even with NC State, Dixon doesn’t see anything too new.

“They’re similar in a lot of things that they do and what we do,” Dixon said.

“Mainly (a) man-to-man defensive team that takes great pride in their execution of their half-court sets. We played against Coach Gottfried when he was at Alabama, and he’s still running those UCLA sets. We’re familiar with it, not at all surprised by what he’s using.”

It will be interesting to see if Durand Johnson can snap out of his slump. And boy has he been slumping. He is 0-4 on 3s in 3 of the last 4 games. 5-27 on 3s in the last 7 games. When he’s attacking the basket he is 13-22 not to mention getting to the free throw line where he is nearly automatic. But he loves shooting from outside. Just as J.J. Moore did.

Which is why seeing Cam Wright elevate his offensive game this year has been both surprising but really important. Obviously, big games are needed from Zanna and Lamar Patterson. Mike Young, hopefully has been working with the coaches about finishing at the basket stronger. His biggest problem on offense has been typical for a freshman. Gathering the ball and making himself smaller and easier to be contested or stuffed when he tries to go back up for a score.