Q: I think we can all agree that the only thing less accurate than Pitt from 3-point land is Bill Stull on the football field. With that in mind, can Pitt expect to see unusually heavy doses of zone, especially against the likes of Louisville, Syracuse, Marquette, Notre Dame, Villanova and West Virginia? These are all potential NCAA tournament teams in the Big East that lack the muscle to battle upfront. Outside of Connecticut, I dont see any Big East team that can battle up front, and I just can't get too excited watching Jermaine Dixon and Levance Fields shoot blanks while Tyrell Biggs and Sam Young make two or three between them every night.

Ryan Ross, Philadelphia

FITTIPALDO: Well, Ryan, Georgetown played a lot of zone against Pitt and it didn't seem to hurt the Panthers all that much. Sure, the outside shooters missed a bunch of 3-pointers, but the key to Pitt's offense is taking good shots so the offensive rebounders can be in position to grab boards for easy put-backs. The key is moving the defense before the shot, get the defenders out of position and then grab the rebound.

The Panthers are great at exposing zone defenses, always have been under Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon. The only teams that will be able have success with zones against the Panthers are the teams that have enough strength to keep them off the boards. Or those that force bad shots. I'm not saying that it's a bad idea to play zone against Pitt, but it's not going to be something that foils this squad in many games. Maybe in a few but it won't be this team's downfall. Players like Blair, Young and Biggs are just too good at giving the Panthers extra shots with their ability to rebound.