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Q: In Big East games against upper echelon teams (Connecticut for instance), Carl Krauser needs to revert to his street ball, playground antics. Granted, he gives the Panthers a go-to guy, but wouldn't Pitt be better off with someone like Sam Young or even Aaron Gray having the ball with the game on the line?

Paul Prox of Bethel Park

Fittipaldo: Krauser struggled again Tuesday night, but he remains Pitt's best clutch player. Young is too young and inexperienced to be a go-to guy and it's hard for a center to be the go-to-guy. Pitt drew up a play for Gray when the Panthers were down by one with less than a minute left against Connecticut. He was denied the ball in the post, so the guards had to look elsewhere. You need a guard who can create in that situation, and Pitt did not have that because Krauser had fouled out with 2:58 remaining. Pitt might win that game if Krauser has the ball in his hands.

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Q: Do you think Pitt will finish among the top four in the Big East and get a bye in the Big East tournament? I believe West Virginia, Villanova and Connecticut will be among the top three. It's between Pitt and Georgetown for fourth place.

Joe Jamesburg of Cranberry

Fittipaldo: There are eight games remaining and so much can happen, but the Panthers are certainly in the running. Sunday's game at Georgetown is important for tiebreaker purposes. I would throw Marquette into the mix as well. The Golden Eagles are 6-3 in conference play and get another shot at Pitt on their home floor in a couple of weeks.

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Q: My observation is that, on the whole, Antonio Graves is playing horrible. He had one good game against Marquette but other than that he has done nothing. And yet, down the stretch in the Connecticut game, he was still on the floor and missed several huge 3-point shots. If Pitt plans to advance in either the Big East or NCAA tournament Dixon should keep Graves on the bench. Your thoughts?

Dan McLaughlin of Jupiter, Fla.

Fittipaldo: Pitt had lots of foul trouble against Connecticut, which forced Dixon to use his bench more than he probably wanted to. Plus, if you're going to look to Graves you're going to look to him three days after the best game of his career. I don't have a problem with Graves as much as others seem to. He made that stupid play at the end of the first half when he overthrew Sam Young on the alley-oop attempt and he has had some other bad miscues. But he remains one of the few players on the team who can consistently create his own shot. If he starts making some, he could add another dimension to this team.

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Q: Are conference tournaments really a distraction for teams headed to the NCAA tournament? For example, how many national champs have lost conference tournament games, rested, and roared through the NCAA games?

Dave DeBlasio of Houston, Texas

Fittipaldo: This is an interesting subject, Dave. I know some very high profile coaches in the Big East have differing opinions on how important conference tournaments are. Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun places great importance on the Big East tournament. He firmly believes the Big East tournament prepares his team for the NCAA tournament. Then there's Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, who could not care less about the conference tournament. After Syracuse won the Big East tournament last season, Boeheim sat before a microphone and said it really didn't mean anything. I tend to be in Calhoun's corner on this one. I think you like to go into the NCAA tournament with momentum. While the Big East tournament can take a lot out of a team, there is at least four days and sometimes five days to recuperate before the NCAA tournament commences.

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Q: Is it possible that Jamie Dixon leaving is not a doomsday scenario considering that recruiting phenom Barry Rohrssen is a player favorite and the heart of the NYC connection? My understanding is that Barry is so highly regarded in the Big East that he will take a major college head coaching position at the end of this year or next.

Todd from Pittsburgh

Fittipaldo: I believe Pitt would like to do everything it can to keep Dixon as its head coach. Rohrssen is an integral part of the success at Pitt, but he has not been a candidate for a head coaching job to my knowledge. So to suggest that he could land a job as a head coach at a major university is jumping the gun a little bit. Rohrssen is a great coach and recruiter. He already turned down the chance to go home to work at St. John's as an associate head coach. Pitt gave him that title and a nice raise to stay with the Panthers. If Dixon did leave, Rohrssen would be a candidate to replace him, but the administration would likely interview coaches with previous head coaching experience in addition to Rohrssen.

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Q: Why do the guards have so much difficulty against the opponents' 3-point attempts? The thought of West Virginia and, perhaps Villanova in the tournament, is frightening. What can Dixon do?

Stan Schweiger of Longmeadow, Mass.

Fittipaldo: One problem is Pitt's lack of height at the guard position. Carl Krauser is 6 feet 2; Ronald Ramon is 6-1; and Levance Fields 5-10. Opposing shooters don't have to worry about their vision being disrupted by those players for the most part. Another reason is that Pitt does such a good job of playing help defense that sometimes the player who helps on penetration leaves his man on the outside. Defending the 3-point shot has been a problem going back to last season. As much as teams are having success from 3-point range against Pitt, it has not cost the Panthers a game yet. St. John's was 3 for 9 from 3-point range. Connecticut was 2 for 13. What lost those two games for Pitt was rebounding. St. John's outrebounded Pitt, 36-32; Connecticut outrebounded Pitt, 40-29. I'm thinking rebounding the ball is more important than defending the 3-point shot.

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Q: With Terrelle Pryor committing to Pitt, are Herb Pope and the two Schenley kids next in line? Despite all of the success that the Panthers have had with recruits from New York City and such, it would be that much sweeter to field a winner with homegrown talent. Your thoughts?

Ben Raible of North Huntingdon, Pa.

Fittipaldo: With recruiting, so many things change from year to year that it's hard for me to get excited about a high school sophomore making a verbal commitment. It really won't mean anything until he signs on the dotted line. Pitt knows this from experience. Pope gave the Pitt coaches a verbal commitment, but then he supposedly de-committed in the fall. A lot can happen in the next two years. I've said before that it's going to be difficult for Pitt to land all of the local players you mentioned simply because of the number of scholarships available and Pitt's needs. Pitt wants Pope, but he has a lot of outside influences trying to sway his decision. I think most Pitt basketball fans root for the team no matter who are in the uniforms, but from a coach's perspective, it is much easier to maintain a program if you have home-grown talent to stock your roster. The lack of a solid recruiting base had been one of the reasons Pitt had not been a premiere job in the past. That certainly is beginning to change with the number of high level Division I prospects playing in the area.

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Q: How do you see Pitt matching up with WVU?

Joe Butera from Charleroi

Fittipaldo: West Virginia returns most of the players who had a hand in sweeping Pitt last season. Pitt has a little bit of a different look with the 10-man rotation and the three freshmen playing prominent roles. But I would suspect similar games to last season. West Virginia is going to try and win the game from behind the 3-point line and when Pitt begins to cheat on defending the arc, they'll back-door cut to the hoop. The Mountaineers are a very tough team to defend because they have so many players who can shoot. Plus, they play so smart. It's a tough matchup for Pitt, but if you remember those two games from last season, the Panthers were in position to win both games. If they're in the same position Wednesday they'll have to do a better job of finishing.

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Q: Pitt's last home game is on a Friday night. Why? I have never seen or even heard of the Big East playing games on Friday night.

Doug from South Park

Fittipaldo: According to Greg Hotchkiss, Pitt's sports information director for men's basketball, there is no reason for the Friday night game. But it does have some advantages. Playing the last game of the regular season on a Friday night instead of a Saturday gives the Panthers an extra day rest before the Big East tournament, which starts March 8 in New York. And other Big East teams do play on Friday nights. Seton Hall played a home game last month on a Friday because that was the only time the Big East could get Continental Airlines Arena, where the Pirates play their home games. For a lot of schools that play in bigger multi-purpose arenas they have to play games whenever the arena is available.