Pitt moved up to #8 in SI.com’s Luke Winn’s Power Rankings, with the focus on the P-G puffer on Levance Fields and the same bit I liked (do I need to revise my view?).

ESPN.com’s Power Poll puts Pitt at #6.

Pitt’s big rally — and the big Fields 3 against Duke showed skill and fortitude. Losing Mike Cook is a downer. Resolution: Get to the free-throw line more. Also, take smiling lessons from DeJuan Blair.

In a less related note, Aaron Gray has moved up in attention among NBA rookies.

This 10th spot seems to be reserved for the one-week wonders. This week it’s the Bulls’ big man out of Pitt. Given three straight games of at least 20 minutes, Gray responded by averaging 10.6 points and 7.3 rebounds. Of course, he came back to earth on Saturday (and Big Ben returned to the lineup), so if the pattern holds up, Gray’s stay in the rankings might be short-lived.

After Kevin Durant, the rookie pool has been a little low on impact so far. That has meant the “role player” rookies are actually doing more.

Among players who weren’t lottery picks but have started to carve out a niche in the league are Miami’s Daequan Cook, New Jersey’s Williams, Detroit’s Arron Afflalo, Boston’s Glen Davis, Utah’s Kyrylo Fesenko and Chicago’s Gray, who looks like the best bargain value of the 2007 crop.

According to Boston’s Doc Rivers, the current draft culture hurt the 7-footer out of Pittsburgh most, because teams started poking holes at his game instead of concentrating on what he could do. What he can do is establish a presence inside, gain position and bang the offensive boards.

ESPN is doing some sort of top highlights of all time.

Jerome Lane’s backboard breaking dunk is on the list. Since they list by date — Jan 25, 1988 — it is somewhere in the middle of the list.

Vote early and often.

Pittsburgh’s favorite pro hoops team, the one and only Pittsburgh Xplosion, have signed former Pitt star Carl Krauser. Krauser played over in Germany last year but will now experience “The X”, of which I wrote about at Mondesi’s House back in January.

Much of the story on the team’s website talks about Krauser’s accomplishments and how excited they are to have him.

“We are very happy and excited to have a guy of his caliber on our team,” head coach Carlos Knox said. “We are very excited to have him contribute both in the community and on the court.”

Krauser became the first Panther in school history to surpass 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, and 500 assists. For his career, Krauser finished ninth on the school’s all-time scoring list (1,642 points), fourth in assists (568), and eighth in steals (190). He averaged 13 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 126 games.

The Xplosion picked Krauser in the sixth round of the 2006 CBA College Draft. Teams own the CBA rights of their draft choices for two seasons.

Other former Panthers on the roster include Antonio Graves and John DeGroat. The season opener is Friday night at the Petersen Events Center. Be ready for Krauser mania — or maybe not.

Got an e-mail from Don over at Mondesi’s House about a post of his featuring this photo of Dan Marino and his linemen. In beautiful Pitt Stadium, Marino poses flanked by his linemen dressed as hitmen. If this isn’t as solid a picture as you’ve ever seen then I don’t know what is.

Also via Mondesi’s House is this interview with DJ Gallo of Sports Pickle fame.

What is your favorite animal mascot?

The Pitt Panther. No matter how many points Paul Rhoads’ defense gives up, his expression never changes. I admire that.

The bye week got Paul Zeise to bite on picking an all-time Pitt squad.

OFFENSE

• Quarterback: Dan Marino
• Running Backs: Tony Dorsett, Marshall Goldberg
• Wide Receivers: Larry Fitzgerald, Antonio Bryant
• Offensive Lineman: Mark May, Jimbo Covert, Bill Fralic, Rueben Brown, Mark Stepnoski
• Tight End: Mike Ditka
• Kicker: Josh Cummings

DEFENSE

• Defensive Lineman: Hugh Green, Rickey Jackson, Bill Maas, Randy Holloway
• Linebackers: Joe Schmidt, Jerry Olsavsky, Tony Woods
• Defensive Backs: Darrelle Revis, Tim Lewis, Tom Flynn, Ramon Walker
• Punter: Andy Lee

Plenty of feedback and other suggestions followed, as you would expect.

On a related note, Ruben Brown is out for the rest of the season with the Bears due to a shoulder injury. It is very likely that Brown’s career could be over. He’s been in the NFL for 13 years.

The season opener is tomorrow, and given the upset of Kentucky along with struggles by UConn (and by the way they are in another, uh, dogfight with Buffalo as I write this) and Memphis, I take nothing for granted.

Looks like Pitt might start the season a little thin at small forward with Gilbert Brown banged up.

Brown injured his right (shooting) shoulder in Sunday’s exhibition game against IUP but played through the pain. He has not practiced since.

Brown, a redshirt freshman who was plagued by illness and injuries last season, did some shooting drills yesterday. Coach Jamie Dixon was holding out hope that he would be able to practice today.

“Someone came down on his shoulder as he was lifting it up,” Dixon said yesterday. “There’s going to be some pain. I’m a little concerned that it could be around for a little bit. It could be around for a while. He’s played very well. I’m really happy with his progress, so this is a step back for him being out for a couple of days. We’ll see how he responds [today]. Since he shot today and did some running, I think he’ll be able to go live.”

Dixon declined to say specifically what type of injury Brown has, but he is holding out hope that it is not serious because of Brown’s progress the past few days.

I’d rather hold him out for another week. Brown is going to be needed this year.

Joe Lunardi puts Pitt at #35 in his early Bracketology report.

35. PITTSBURGH. Pitt’s five-year RPI average is 13.6, which is fourth-best in the country after Duke (7.0), Kansas (12.6) and Kentucky (13.4). Certainly Jamie Dixon hasn’t gotten enough credit for an amazing job with the Panthers.

Meanwhile ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. looked at the Big East recruiting for 2008, and observes this about Pitt (INsider subs.).

Jamie Dixon and the Panthers finished last season 28-9 (12-4 Big East), though their frontline was hard hit by the graduation of Aaron Gray and Jason Kendall.

The 2007-08 team will be talented, deep and experienced. It may or may not be good enough to make the NCAA tournament. Their ability to have a good season and make the tournament will probably be based on the ability to replace Gray and Kendall and get production from their newcomers.

The Panthers have had a very good recruiting year getting three talented players: Ashton Gibbs (West Orange, N.J.), Travon Woodall (Jersey City, N.J.) and Nasir Robinson (Chester, Pa.), all who are ranked in the ESPN 150. These three will continue to give Dixon the type of players he loves to have in his program since they are all versatile, tough and can defend.

Clyde Vaughan is still trying to rebuild his reputation after a very abrupt fall from grace at UConn.

After his playing career at Pitt, Vaughan became a rising star in the coaching ranks as an assistant coach for Seth Greenberg at South Florida and then under Jim Calhoun at the University of Connecticut. But in August 2004, his career was derailed when he was arrested for patronizing a prostitute and interfering with police officers during a Hartford, Conn., prostitution sting. Vaughan resigned and has been out of coaching since.

Vaughan is currently working toward a master’s degree at Waubonsie College in Aurora, Ill., while running his All-American Basketball Academy.

His dream and long-term goal is to come back and coach in college again at Pitt. Vaughan said he had discussions with Pitt coach Jamie Dixon in April 2006 after Barry Rohrssen left Pitt to become the head coach at Manhattan. But when it came time to hire a new assistant, Dixon hired Mike Rice.

“I talked to Jamie, and he said the people who make the decisions wouldn’t go for it,” Vaughan said. “It was mostly Jeff Long. Bill [Baierl] fought to get me here.”

I’m not sure Vaughan fully gets that he did it to himself.

“Yeah, I made a mistake,” Vaughan said. “I put myself in a bad situation, and I paid for it. But everyone deserves a second chance, especially at your alma mater. I was really hurt when Pitt didn’t hire me. Other than getting married and having my son, these were the best four years of my life.

“I can get the job done here. I’m not politicking, but I can get you the All-Americans. Pitt is a hard-working town used to getting players like me, guys who overachieved. But I can get you the All-Americans. If you don’t believe me, ask Jim Calhoun or Seth Greenberg. Coach Calhoun called Pitt for me. He told them I was the best recruiter he ever had even though I was only there for two years.”

The self-confidence is still not lacking, but it was such an embarrassing act that he hasn’t been hired since. Despite his self-professed recruiting acumen.

It doesn’t seem that Austin Wallace will be much of a factor this year.

Q: I hear so many things about Pitt’s freshmen, namely DeJuan Blair, Bradley Wannamaker and Gilbert Brown. Whatever happened to Austin Wallace? I hear nothing about him this season. Has he not progressed as the coaches would like?

FITTIPALDO: It does not appear Wallace will have a big role on the team this season. He played only a few minutes in the two exhibition games. Austin was a project when Pitt signed him. He was 17 when he arrived and they redshirted him last season. He just does not appear to have the skill set that the other power forwards and centers on the team have. It’s almost like he’s a tweener — not quite big enough to be a quality center and not quite athletic enough to be an effective power forward.

Hopefully he will continue to develop and in another year be ready for the rotation.

P-G Beat writer Ray Fittipaldo also had his first chat of the season.

99fcpanther: Do you think Diggs and McGhee will get minutes this sesaon as backups to Blair or is McGhee a candidate for a redshirt?

Ray Fittipaldo: Originally, the plan was to try to redshirt McGhee, but I’m not sure if they’ll be able to do that. I know it was only two exhibition games, but I thought McGhee outplayed Diggs. I think they’ll go with Diggs as Blair’s backup in hopes that he can fill that role, but if he does not play up to par, McGhee could find himself playing a role on the team this season. We’ll see how that develops over the first few weeks.

Last year, Pitt had a big luxury in being able to redshirt the freshmen. This year, that isn’t likely. It isn’t necessarily that bad a thing as it does reflect greater talent being recruited and the coaches doing more than paying lip-service to the idea that that the best players play.

Still trying to dig things out like the articles for Pitt basketball right after Media Day last week. Starting with the tradition from Coach Dixon to bring the seniors to Media Day, that has special meaning this year amongst the four seniors in tow.

Four years ago, Ramon and Benjamin, New York City natives, were the first two recruits to give Dixon verbal commitments, weeks before he coached his first game at Pitt.

Dixon has always brought his seniors to Big East media day in New York. But yesterday was the first time he brought a class of players that he recruited, signed and brought to Pitt as the head coach.

…

“It’s a reward for the seniors who have been through it,” Dixon said of bringing his seniors to this event. “They came to a program that wasn’t quite established when they arrived, and they’ve established it. They’re part of a team that’s had the best record in the conference by far over the past six years. And they’ve been a big part of that.”

The article also notes that they had a dinner with Manhattan head coach, and former top Pitt assistant Barry Rohrssen. Rohrssen will be one of many to attend the Sunday, November 4, exhibition game. Not to see Pitt have its way with IUP in a tune-up, but for the Bill Baierl Alumni game in between the men’s and women’s exhibitions.

A former basketball letterman and 1951 Pitt honors graduate, Baierl was a kind, caring, generous, highly accomplished and dedicated long-time supporter of the Pitt athletics program. As a student-athlete at Pitt, Baierl was a basketball player under legendary Pitt coach H.C. “Doc” Carlson. Following graduation, Baierl always remained close to his alma mater and became one of Pitt’s most highly respected and widely beloved graduates. Baierl was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni Fellow and was formally welcomed into the Cathedral of Learning Society, a recognition group for lifetime donors of more than $1 million to the University. He provided the lead gift for the construction of the Petersen Events Center’s 43,000-square foot Baierl Student Recreation Center and Baierl Basketball Center which houses Pitt’s lockerrooms, team meeting rooms, training and practice facilities. He passed away in April, 2007.

The game was put together by former Pitt great Charles Smith, who was very close to Baierl. Quite a list of participants.

Smith and Pitt coach Jamie Dixon are the co-hosts for the game. And they pulled out all the stops to make it a star-studded event. Among the former players expected to attend are Don Hennon, Jerome Lane, Clyde Vaughn and Curtis Aiken.

Many prominent coaches with Pitt connections are taking time out of their schedules to be there as well, including Memphis coach John Calipari, Xavier coach Sean Miller and Manhattan coach Barry Rohrssen.

The goal is to make this an annual event.  Something that is so blatantly a good idea that I have nothing snarky to say about it. The only thing I will sadly note is that former coach and player Tim Grgurich is not listed in the release as expected to attend. I keep hoping he will reconnect with Pitt at some point. He could be such a resource for Pitt in teaching and helping develop players. One of the great teachers of basketball (IMO), even just to get him in for a day or two each year could be so valuable.

As for the team itself, the consistency and achievements of the program has earned it a place now as a perennial top-25 team. Even with the changes, those outside of the program expect Pitt to continue to do well regardless of the personnel and change in style.

“Will Pitt be different because they don’t have Aaron Gray?” Thompson III said. “I think history has shown that they have made adjustments. They will be fine.”

…

“We’re obviously a different group and they understand it and they push the ball,” Dixon said. “We have six guys out there who can all handle the ball and handle the ball in transition. I think that’s going to lead (to up-tempo play) more than anything. It’s just going to mean opportunities. If Gilbert or Mike comes up with a loose ball, they can take the ball in transition. We always haven’t had that.”

The change in styles and the loss of three starters didn’t lower expectations at Pitt. The Panthers last week were picked to finish fourth in the Big East pre-season coaches poll, and 20th in the nation in the USA Today/ESPN poll.

“Personally, I don’t look at them as rebuilding,” Thompson III said. “They lost some very good players, but they have very good players that are there. I don’t think it’s a case of rebuilding. I think Jamie is too good of a coach and the players they have back there are too talented.”

That is the hope. Of course, stranger things have happened. Just look at UConn.

Many of you have e-mailed me a couple articles about Aaron Gray making a big impression with the fans, coaches and possibly starting for the Bulls. Just haven’t had a chance to get to it.

Gray has endeared himself to both by being productive in the exhibitions preseason, but also humble and very self-critical.

“I know I still have a lot to work on. I hear about it every day. If he didn’t care about you, he probably wouldn’t say anything. The important thing is, I’m learning a lot.'’

Not that Gray’s head had swelled from that double-double against the Mavericks.

‘’Maybe my stats [were] OK,'’ he said immediately after the game, ‘’but I’m making so many mistakes out there. I have a lot to learn yet, especially defensively. My rotations are so slow.'’

That might help explain why Gray fouled out Tuesday — his six personals matching his six points in 16 minutes — in a victory against the Washington Wizards.

Skiles said Thursday he wasn’t surprised that Gray’s self-analysis emphasized the negatives over the positives.

‘’Those are the guys we like,'’ Skiles said. ‘’If not all, most of the guys in the gym are like that.

‘’For a young guy like him who is big and has a skill set, he’s a quick learner. You can tell that he wants to learn, so we’ll keep teaching him. He may end up being a bigger factor for us than we realize right now. Who knows?'’

His production and presence on the court has Bulls Coach Scott Skiles considering Gray to be the fifth starter, forming a twin towers situation with Ben Wallace.

“We liked what happened at the beginning of the game the other night,” Skiles said. “We thought Ben Wallace and Aaron played well together. Ben is a good passer. And he found Aaron once the other night. Ben also knows our offense well.

“We have to decide, balancing both units, do we want a couple of defensive players in the starting lineup or do we want more offense. Aaron has shown—and I think he will in the regular season—that he can score. Do we want to use that to start a game? It’s something we have to think about.

…

The rookie from Pittsburgh has impressed many with his fundamentally sound play and steady development.

Despite fouling out against the Pacers, most infractions coming from poor or slow defensive rotations, he’s averaging 10.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.8 fouls in 18 minutes per exhibition. He’s also shooting 61.3 percent in five games.

“The mobility issue, in my mind, is much less a factor even than it was in the summer,” Skiles said. “He’s definitely picked up how we want him to move and where we want him to move to. And because his hands are so good and he’s got a soft touch and his size, it makes up for those issues.”

Gray has become very intriguing to a lot of fans, even as some are reserving judgment and think this as much to do with lighting a fire under some other players.

Matty Rosenberg of Only the Bulls blog sought my thoughts/scouting report on Gray when he was with Pitt. On his site, I also came across this video of Mr. Gray showing his musical stylings.

[Editor Note: For whatever reason, the embed keeps failing. Code is being stripped out after I insert it. It then screws up the rest of the blog, so I just pulled it.]
Okay.

The title suggests plenty to cover, so let’s go.

During the last year or two, Pitt fans have been a bit upset at the Big East for making our conference home schedules so uneven. One year we’ll have the loaded side with Louisville, WVU, and Rutgers. Before this season we thought that the opposite year’s BE home games would be bad — not anymore (or at least this year).

We knew South Florida was going to be good, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted them to be “Top 5 good”. Cincinnati has seemingly come out of nowhere to become a ranked team with a great coach who knows how to get his players to play well. With this rotation we also get to see UConn, who might not be amazing but a team we seem to make into a National Championship caliber squad. Add in Syracuse, a team that we should be happy to play just because it might allow us to actually see a win at home, and it’s not all that bad. Now we just need to get that non-con schedule improved just a bit (or a lot)…

Speaking of the Pitt-Cinci game on October 20, kickoff is set for noon. TV coverage will be on ESPN Regional (WTAE locally) as the Big East Game of the Week.

This week’s game against Navy allowed Chas to talk with Adam from Pitch Right. The questions deal with Pitt’s numerous injuries, Pat Bostick and the offense’s troubles, our inability to do much of anything on first down, and a prediction. Good stuff.

Some fun from hoops alum Aaron Gray: at Chicago Bulls fan night, the rookies sang to the fans. A clip of Aaron’s performance can be found on OnlyTheBulls.com. (Sorry, my computer won’t let me embed the vid in this post — blame my somewhat outdated Dell.)

While perusing the Pitt online store, I came across this.

The description:

New for this season, our alternate home Vegas Replica Football Jersey by adidas

Expect to see them on the field some time this year (hopefully not Wednesday on national TV).

Update: Left in the comments by Tony in Harrisburg…

Solid stuff right there.

No Pitt game today. The present is bleak. The future nebulous. Time to take not of past Pitt greats.

As most are aware, Curtis Martin will be honored by Pitt at the Navy game on Wednesday.

Also attending the game will be two former teammates who will be rooting for different teams that night.

Navy’s last win over Pitt came in 1985 during the senior season of tailback Napoleon McCallum, a two-time honorable mention All-American who would play in the National Football League.

Navy and Pitt were once regular opponents, playing 19 consecutive games between 1961-1979 and seven straight times from 1983-89. The Panthers hold a 20-13-3 lead in the series, which dates back to 1912.

Two of the finest players to participate in the rivalry - former Pittsburgh tailback Tony Dorsett and ex-Navy quarterback Roger Staubach - will be in attendance at Heinz Field on Wednesday. Dorsett and Staubach were longtime teammates with the Dallas Cowboys, playing in two Super Bowls together.

The article added another tidbit that made me go, “What, 1, 2, 3, 4… crap.”

However, the once-proud program has never been quite the same since head coach Jackie Sherrill left after leading Pitt to an 11-1 record and Sugar Bowl victory in 1981. Longtime assistant Serafino “Foge” Fazio took over and mediocrity soon set in. The Panthers have suffered 14 losing or non-winning seasons since and gone through six head coaches.

Urp.