In his first public comments since being arrested and placed in an Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition for his role in an altercation outside a Strip District nightclub last month, Pitt point guard Levance Fields said he has learned a valuable lesson: off-the-court actions have consequences.

"It's a night I wish never happened," Fields said. "I live and learn from it. It hurt me not being able to be around my teammates for so many days due to the school's discipline. I think I grew from it."

Fields must complete the ARD program and serve a nine-month probationary period. If he does not run afoul of the law in that time he will have a clean record. Fields could not participate in any team activities while the case was in the court system. For more than two weeks, Fields had to work out on his own at night without any of his teammates.

"It was definitely tough," Fields said. "I love to play. I love to compete. It was hard for me not to be able to be around my teammates and play with them. That was the most painful thing, not being able to be around my teammates."

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said Fields has grown from the incident. Dixon has kept Fields' discipline internal, but Fields will not miss any games.

"He learned a lot from it," Dixon said. "The process has begun toward a dismissal. He's learned from the experience. Some actions have been taken within the program. It's been tough for him to sit out as much as he has. A lot of people called it excessive. But I think he's learned something from the experience."

Fields also must perform 50 hours of community service. He said yesterday that he would like to spend his service time with children and his church.

Open-minded

Dixon entered his first practice last night with an open competition at center. Junior Tyrell Biggs, junior-college transfer Cassin Diggs and freshmen DeJuan Blair and Gary McGhee will have an opportunity to earn the starting job in the next month.

"I don't want to have the answer now," Dixon said. "I don't think it would be fair to our guys. They're going to have the opportunity to earn the spot, and they're going to be battling. I don't think it will be answered in our first exhibition game, either. Big guys progress at different rates. We've seen guys develop dramatically as the season goes on, as the years go on.

"We don't have to pick a starting team today. Even if we do, there's going to be changes. That's going to be a constant evolvement."

Interchangeale parts

Dixon said his four guards -- Fields, Ronald Ramon, Keith Benjamin and Bradley Wanamaker -- will play point and shooting guard throughout the season.

"With the four guards, the plan right now is to play them interchangeable at the point and shooting guard," Dixon said.