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 (Sorry, my computer won’t let me embed the vid in this post — blame my somewhat outdated Dell.)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.

Two basketball posts in one day right in the middle of a football week — get over it. The full 31 game schedule was released today, including that headliner against Duke at MSG.

Wednesday, Oct. 31 PITT-JOHNSTOWN (Exh.)
Sunday, Nov. 4 INDIANA (PA.) (Exh.)
Friday, Nov. 9 HOUSTON BAPTIST
Saturday, Nov. 10 NORTH CAROLINA A&T
Sunday, Nov. 11 SAINT LOUIS
Thursday, Nov. 15 MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE
Friday, Nov. 23, BUFFALO
Tuesday, Nov. 27, BOSTON U.
Saturday, Dec. 1 TOLEDO
Wednesday, Dec. 5 at Duquesne (ESPN-U)
Saturday, Dec. 8 at Washington (FSN)
Saturday, Dec. 15 OKLAHOMA STATE (ESPN)
Thursday, Dec. 20 vs. Duke (ESPN) Madison Square Garden
Saturday, Dec. 29: at Dayton (ESPN2)
Wednesday, Jan. 2: LAFAYETTE (ESPN-U)
Sunday, Jan. 6: at Villanova
Wednesday, Jan. 9: at South Florida (ESPN2)
Saturday, Jan. 12: SETON HALL
Monday, Jan. 14: GEORGETOWN (ESPN)
Saturday, Jan. 19: at Cincinnati
Wednesday, Jan. 23: at St. John’s
Saturday, Jan. 26: RUTGERS
Wednesday, Jan. 30: VILLANOVA (ESPN2)
Saturday, Feb. 2: at Connecticut (CBS)
Thursday, Feb. 7: WEST VIRGINIA (ESPN2)
Tuesday, Feb. 12: PROVIDENCE
Friday, Feb. 15: at Marquette (ESPN)
Thursday, Feb. 21: at Notre Dame
Sunday, Feb. 24: LOUISVILLE
Wednesday, Feb. 27: CINCINNATI
Saturday, March 1: at Syracuse (ESPN)
Monday, March 3: at West Virginia (ESPN)
Sunday, March 9: DePAUL (WTAE)

The Big East announced the 18 game conference schedule. Every team in the conference plays each other once, and 3 home-and-homes. How do they decide those?

The conference said that the opponents a school plays twice were based on “natural interest, geography, rivalries and television contractual obligations.”

Well,  for Pitt obviously WVU is one of them. In basketball, Marquette-Pitt has been well on its way to being a “rivalry” as the games have been heated and tough in every meeting. So, naturally Marquette and Pitt only meet once. These are Pitt’s 3 home-and-homes.

Pittsburgh: Cincinnati, Villanova, West Virginia

WVU and ‘Nova make sense. But Cinci? WVU should have the home-and-home with Cinci but they end up with Providence and St. John’s as their other two? Huh? Yes, there’s things that make sense. Private, small, East Coast schools are a natural fit to play WVU.

As for the the other 12 conference games for Pitt.

• Away: UConn, Marquette, Notre Dame, St. John’s, USF, Syracuse
• Home: DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall

I’m still trying to accept playing Cinci twice.

The unbalanced schedule throws team’s conference strength of schedule of of whack but we might be done with that starting with the 2006-07 season. I heard this mentioned by one of the play-by-play guys during Big East tournament coverage yesterday, but wasn’t sure if it was a done deal or just an idea. Well, some random newspaper from the middle of nowhere confirms the story.

A major change will boost the number of conference games from 16 to 18. Two years of an unbalanced schedule, where all schools did not play one another, generated many complaints.

“It’s not the best situation,” Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. “It’s not a league, it’s a corporation. It’s really two leagues.”

Marquette coach Tom Crean said the new schedule is going to be tougher, with more league games replacing breathers against the bottom tier of Division I schools.

So you play the other 15 Big East teams once plus an extra game against three of them which I have no problem with. We didn’t get to play Notre Dame this season and instead played a Florida A&M type team to fill out the schedule.

…and we’ll play two very tough games and one moderately tough game to finish out the Big East regular season.

Here’s what we’re looking at before the Big East Tournament:

Date — Opponent
2/24 — Georgetown
2/27 — West Virginia
3/3 — at Marquette

So let’s take a look at what’s on the schedule. The beginning of the end starts with a Georgetown team that is streaking and knocked Pitt off from the top of the B.E. Power Poll for the first time all year. The winner of Saturday’s game will not only be atop the power poll but will also likely be the #1 seed in the Big East Tournament.

To be honest, I don’t want Pitt to be the top seed because it means a noon tipoff up in NYC. In order for that to happen, we’d need to lose another game though; not a big fan of that option. A lose-lose situation — damn.

Back to this game though. A loss to Georgetown would make a ton of people uneasy. Actually, a sloppy game that we win will still make people a bit shifty. We need a solid game from every single player soon enough so that we can all calm down a bit. I’m not freaking out, just a little uneasy.

Then we host the Mountaineers and will avoid seeing this guy. Losing to them would be a big downer for a few reasons. First off, it’s WVU. West F#%&in Virginia. I hate losing to them and I’m sure you feel the same way. Losing to a team with an RPI below 50 doesn’t look too great and right now they sit at 53 according to ESPN but that could/will certainly change by next Tuesday. By the way, they aren’t a great team at home and the Zoo should have some fun with them.

Oh yeah, did I mention we really don’t want to lose just because they’re WVU?

To close out the regular season are the Marquette Dominic James’. They live and die by his shot which means depending on how the 2 1/2 weeks leading up to the game work out will determine this game’s importance. By that time we might have already wrapped up the reg. season title…or we could be fighting for the 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th spot. Either way, both teams will want to go into the conference tournament on a good note.

It should be a fun stretch before the greatest time of the year (gotta love filling out your brackets, don’t ya?). If I had to predict, I’d say we beat WVU and split with Georgetown/Marquette. After watching this Pitt team though it would be no surprise to see us run the table or go 1-2 (because we’re not losing to West Virginia).

Hey there, lots going on today. Spam commenting exploded for whatever reason today. Seems like I spent half the morning dealing with that. Cinci football may still be building itself to BCS level, but good news, they can be accused of sex, recruiting and possible videotape scandals like the big boys.

Pitt is unbeaten in conference road games so far this year. I’m torn about how good that should feel. Part of me was ready to denigrate it because it included Cinci, Seton Hall and DePaul. But when you consider that DePaul has knocked off ND, Marquette and Kansas at home, that win looks pretty good. Even in a down year, beating Syracuse on the road is pretty good. Villanova was a nice win, and doing the Hoopies at the concrete toadstool always is a strong statement.

In a season where no one seems to win on the road very much, no matter what conference, this is impressive. Or as fellow fanhouse bloogger MJD (who is also the weekend editor at Deadspin) put it, “I don’t care who you are, in what conference … that is manly. It speaks to Pitt’s veteran leadership, and their ability to play a number of different styles.”

Of course, all that positive feelings about how Pitt did on the road can go right out the window if Pitt doesn’t at least get a  split in the final 2 road games.

Georgetown has a road game tonight at Cinci, so there isn’t much hype yet for the Saturday, 2pm CBS game. One thing is certain, Pitt will see more of DaJuan Summers then they did back in January.

Georgetown has been on a roll since Summers picked up on some of the Princeton-influenced nuances in the half-court offense and bought in to the urging of coach John Thompson III that he could be a defensive stopper.

Summers played a total of 44 minutes in Georgetown’s first three games. In Saturday’s win at Villanova, he was on the floor for 35. Nearly a 40 percent shooter from three-point range until he missed all four of his long-distance attempts in Philadelphia, Summers was nonetheless clutch at the free-throw line, where he made seven of eight, and he blocked a career-high four shots.

…

In Big East games, Summers is averaging 10.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and nearly 30 minutes. He defends bigs and smalls – see the clamps he put on Towson’s Gary Neal in December, and the possessions during which he checked 6-2 Scottie Reynolds at Villanova.

Summers may not have the numbers to crack the Big East All-Rookie team in this season of the freshman, but if Kevin Durant, Greg Oden, Brandan Wright and Chase Budinger all take the money and run, he would be among the best sophomores in the nation next season.

In the G-town-Pitt game last month (PDF), Summers only played 21 minutes and scored only 4 points (1-5) and had 1 rebound.

I realize Pitt has played plenty of easy teams in the non-con in recent years. And that getting 20+ wins is no longer as hard as it used to be. Still, congratulations are in order for Coach Dixon in getting 100 wins and only 26 losses in just 4 seasons.

I know there is still a good amount of mixed feelings about Dixon, but there is a reason that he is considered one of the best young coaches out there right now. The only recruits left on this team that could be considered “Howland recruits” are Gray and Kendall, but they never played for him.

I agree Dixon is still learning some things — particularly with late game situations and putting a team away, but I also don’t see anyone doing a better job with this team over the past 4 years.

Dixon has been building this program as he keeps improving the recruiting. He has worked to improve the profile of the program in the community. The work he has been doing to develop and grow local basketball through the summer league and things like that. I don’t think that can be underestimated. It is the sort of thing that will pay dividends for years later for Pitt.  It’s a longview approach to helping Pitt improve the local basketball and recruiting base.

The four teams directly behind us in the Big East standings (Marquette, Georgetown, WVU, and Louisville) are going to be gunning for us in the next few weeks in order to knock us off from the top of the standings.

If Pitt is going to win the Big East Conference regular-season championship for the second time in four seasons, the Panthers are going to have to travel the most difficult road of any other team in the conference.

No. 7 Pitt breezed through the first half of the conference schedule, with the only hiccup coming at home against Marquette. The Panthers have seven Big East games remaining, including five games against the four teams directly behind them in the Big East standings.

Every team we will play during the rest of the regular season (and don’t forget that non-con game against Washington) has a record of better than .500 and the team knows they are going to always be set up playing the top teams twice. Because of TV deals and Pitt’s great record over the past few years, we’re always going to be playing great teams and the Big East, even in a down year, is still an above average conference.

“It’s a fair trade,” Dixon said. “I really believe that. Our conference is built on television. One thing I like about our conference is we admit it. We’re very free to admit that. I think that’s why our conference has been the best conference over the years. Without question, the exposure has been great for our team, our program but most importantly our school.”

By the way, this is Rivalry Week for the WWL and the Pitt-West Virginia match up fits in nicely to that. With WVU graduating their entire team last year and a somewhat down year for them, ESPN has the game slotted on ESPN FullCourt which means FSN Pittsburgh for people in the ‘Burgh.

I’m still trying to make the judgment as to whether the Big East made the right call on releasing the schedules this week. Or should they have waited until after NLI Day on Wednesday. I realize some schools are now taking orders and send out renewals immediately. Still, for Pitt, at least it might have been a little better to wait until after signing day when there would be a more tangible sense of optimism to let the fans know what the schedule is.

Instead, it’s a bit of spin from AD Jeff Long.

“We understand that and we know that where we are in terms of televised appearances is reflective of how our season went and what expectations are of our team. At the same time, there are going to be other windows to negotiate to get certain games on television and so we anticipate things will change. Certainly the fact that we were picked to play West Virginia on championship Saturday speaks volumes about how we are perceived nationally.”

That unless Pitt is playing a team that has national recognition and achievement at the moment, there is little interest in Pitt outside of the fanbase?

On the positive side, they still haven’t raised ticket prices and seem genuinely desirous of getting as many bodies in the stands as possible.

Pitt is offering two new ticket promotions this season: “First and 10,” which provides fans the chance to buy one season ticket at full price and get a second for $10; and “7 in ’07,” which allows groups of four or more to reserve season tickets for a $77 deposit as part of a payment plan through August that allows for a minimum savings of $289.

Current season-ticket holders who renew online will receive a $10 discount. Single-game tickets, if available, won’t go on sale until August.

The WPIAL is happy about the way Pitt’s schedule looks. West Virginia high schools may not be so thrilled.

Arch rival Pitt has been moved back to the final game of the regular season.

The 100th edition of the Backyard Brawl will be played Dec. 1 in Morgantown.

It’s the latest date ever for a WVU-Pitt game and also conflicts with the Super Six high school football championships in Wheeling that weekend.

Amusing to note that the MAC had to redo two season openers with WVU and Pitt. Pitt was supposed to face Bowling Green, but they needed to be swapped out because they were overbooked. That’s why Pitt will face Eastern Michigan. Bowling Green will now be on the schedule in 2008.

WVU was supposed to start with Ball State, but they too were overbooked so the Mountaineers get Western Michigan.

Paul Zeise has another Q&A. My, linebacking seems bleak.

Q: Is there any reason to have hope given the Panthers’ situation at both defensive end and linebacker?

ZEISE: There is always hope — every one starts the season 0-0. I think you are correct, linebacker to me — not quarterback — is the biggest issue for this team. The Panthers need to do some serious reloading here and unless there are some athlete/running back types in this recruiting class headed for linebacker I’m not sure I see much help. You’d hope Tommie Campbell can take the next step as a player but the other positions are way up in the air. I think defensive end is going to be OK. It won’t obviously be like the Florida Gators defensive end situation, but it will be pretty good. I think between Doug Fulmer, Joe Clermond, Greg Romeus, Chris McKillop and, perhaps, a guy like Tommie Duhart, the position will be in good shape.

Don’t worry, Paul Rhoads will handle it. Ah, there’s a reason why the door in my home office has a well worn dent the size of my head.

Now as for the subject of getting season tickets this year. I’m renewing, as much to be able to gather with my friends as much as anything else. It’s really the only chance we get during a year to coordinate and meet at the same time given where we live, our schedules and family responsibilities.

I also understand why other don’t want to renew whether it’s the retention of Paul Rhoads — and the dedication to excuse making. Or if it’s simply not wanting to hear the excuses. The last two years it has been all Walt Harris’ fault for not leaving the cupboard well stocked. This year it will be youth.

2008 will be the end of excuses. No one will accept them at that point. Pitt’s football department from the AD to the coaches to the interns. They are putting everything to that year, so they better be right. My sense is 2007 is kind of a “hold on, until next year” sales job.

The Pitt schedule was released today. Specifically, the actual dates of the games were released.

The opponents — home and away were known for some time. So, I’m not particularly taken aback at the fact that the home schedule is weak and will not be one that excites walk-up ticket sales unless Pitt gets out to 5-0 start — it might take an 8-0 run.

It is interesting and a sign of how Pitt has definitely fallen from the interest of the media as they are presently slated with all Saturday games. Given the Big East football’s place on ESPN — for Wednesday, Friday and even Sunday night games — this is mildly disappointing. Not unexpected, unfortunately. Pitt has done little to justify marquee status.

Pitt may win the offseason recruiting rankings in the conference, but their performance hardy matches. They’re turning into the Washington Redskins it seems.

It will be interesting to see how many of the Pitt games even make it to televised — gameplan status. It is likely the road games will all be that way, but not many of the homegames look like they could make it.

I’m mildly surprised Pitt didn’t make either poll. Not a big deal, but with the total domination on a game that everyone saw — no competition is the bright side to the Friday night game — with all the upsets. It was more surprising that Georgia and Iowa stayed in the polls with 2nd straight losses to teams that don’t exactly have football heavyweight reputations. Just more incentive for the team to take care of business against Rutgers on Saturday.

It is confirmed, that the game will be played at 5:45 and shown on ESPN2. Rutgers is ranked, so this will be big. Imagine that, a homecoming with big implications. Those class reunion dinners will be cancelled or changed to brunch.

Pitt swept the Big East weekly honors this week. LaRod Stephens-Howling named Offensive Player of the Week. Chris McKillop took Defensive POW.

In light of the season ending injury to redshirt sophomore, safety Eric Thatcher, Coach Wannstedt’s messge was to remind many players in practice that they could be expected to step in and perform as a starter. Obviously that message was one Chris McKillop heeded a while ago.

“I went out there every day and, even though I wasn’t a starter, I played like I was,” McKillop said. “I practiced hard and let the chips fall where they may. It was unfortunate we lost Doug, because he’s a great player, but it gave me an opportunity. I can’t let the window of opportunity close. I seized the opportunity.”

McKillop’s inspired play has been paramount to the Panthers’ improvement on the defensive line. After getting manhandled in his first season at defensive end, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound converted middle linebacker spent the offseason adding 15 pounds of muscle to his frame.

McKillop lost the starting job at left end to Joe Clermond in training camp, but he was ready when called upon after Fulmer was injured against The Citadel.

“That was a tough situation,” Pitt defensive line coach Greg Gattuso said. “That’s a hard thing to do, lose a starting job and to keep working as hard as he worked. It should send a message to not only our defensive line but, hopefully, all our team that you never know when your number is going to get called again and it’s important to be ready.”

Assuming that Pitt beats UCF on Friday and Rutgers beats Navy on Saturday (netither, especially the latter, is a given), the Homecoming game (Oct. 21) with Rutgers should be a very big game in the Big East and for the top-25 rankings. If so, it will likely end up on ESPN2 and move the gametime to 5:45 pm from noon. Apparently ESPN2 is going to show a BE game in that slot. The other choice would be Louisville-Syracuse.

It’s all about making the most of the chances being given.

In case you had any doubts about how much Pitt is the presumed “Big Dog” in the Big East this season, the game at ‘Nova will not be played in their cozy, on-campus court. Instead it will be at the Wachovia Center.

Villanova announced yesterday that its men’s basketball team will host Pittsburgh on Jan. 29 at the Wachovia Center.

The Wildcats will play five regular-season games at the arena, including games against Texas on Jan. 20, Louisville on Feb. 3, Georgetown on Feb. 17, and Syracuse on March 3.

That’s the Big Monday, 7pm  game on ESPN.

No, brackets aren’t available yet – although I am sure Joe Lunardi is on his fourth edition of his braketology by now – but yesterday, Pitt released the 2006-2007 basketball schedule. Much of this had already been reported, but this put a bit of a final stamp on it.

The University of Pittsburgh released its entire 31-game 2006-07 men’s basketball schedule on Thursday. Pitt will play a school record 15 national television games and host 18 contests at the Petersen Events Center.

Overall, Pitt will play 12 games against opponents who advanced to NCAA Tournament play in 2005-06, 18 contests against teams advancing to either the NCAA Tournament or NIT last year, 14 games against teams that won 20-plus games in 2005-06 and 17 games against opponents that won at least 18-plus games last year.

The 15 national games are awesome for me – since I’m in Maine – and enough to make me stop thinking about buying a CBB package from my cable company. Thanks again for coming back Aaron Gray. The national exposure can’t hurt recruiting either.

As we already knew, Pitt’s schedule is much tougher this season, thus creating a nightmare for guys like Doug Gottlieb who will need to find something new to write about the Panthers.

Pitt opens the season at West Point Nov. 12 against Western Michigan, which is sure to be both amazing and heart wrenching at the same time. I am going to look into buying tickets to that game, but I am sure they will be next to impossible to get.

Here’s my little schedule breakdown, highlighting some of the big games (this is not an entire schedule):

Dec. 3 @ Auburn – First semi-tough road game (way earlier than the last few years)

Dec. 16 @ Wisconsin (ESPN) – First big test (comes a bit earlier this year).

Dec. 21 @ Okalahoma St. (ESPN2) – This is Pitt first huge test. State will have already been tested earlier in December in the Jimmy V. classic, where they open play against Syracuse, plus it’s on the road. Note: I had this as home at first. My mistake.

Jan 4 @ Syracuse (ESPN) – A little revenge perhaps.

Then there are three HUGE home games in eight days:

Jan 13 vs. Georgetown (ESPN College Gameday) – Big East regular season game of the year.

Jan 16 vs. UConn (ESPN2) – A down year for UConn? I’ll believe it when I see it.

Jan 21 vs. Marquette (CBS) – A budding rivalry continues.

After playing Louisville (ESPN), which I am not labeling as a big game because it is at home, making it a game Pitt really should win, Pitt has a bit of an anomaly:

Feb. 16 vs. Washington (ESPN) – I love this game. It boosts the non-con a bit later in the season, and get some the team some exposure to non-Big East basketball before heading into the NCAA Tournament. Pitt always gets caught off guard by officials and style of play once the Big East season ends and NCAA Tournament play begins, this game will help prevent that.

The end of the schedule is road heavy – three of the last four are on the road with the lone home game coming against Div. IAA West Virginia. I like having the road heavy bit come late, better then early in my eyes. I also like that Pitt faces tough teams like Georgetown and Marquette at home before having to face them on the road. Here are the final three road games:

Feb. 19 @ Seton Hall – Down year for the Pirates, but a possible trap game on the road. New coach Bobby Gonzalez will have them playing tough by this point in the season, and Seton Hall may be fighting for a post season spot, giving them a lot to play for.

Feb. 24 @ Georgetown (CBS) – Could decide the Big East regular season title and who gets the No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament.

March 3 @ Marquette (ESPN) – A possible trap game to finish the regular season.

Oh, and the Final Four is scheduled for March 31-April 2. Mark your calendar.