You know, this business of being No. 1 would be old hat for the Pitt basketball team if a certain assistant coach for the Panthers had a quicker release. Brandin Knight, Pitt's senior point guard at the time, had a chance to win a Feb. 1, 2003 game at Syracuse and catapult Pitt to the No. 1 ranking in the country after top-ranked Arizona lost two days earlier.

But Knight's desperation, 35-foot 3-point attempt, after a long review by officials at the Carrier Dome, was ruled to have come after the buzzer, and the Panthers lost a heartbreaker, 67-65.

That was the second of two occasions when Pitt had the opportunity to seize the top spot in the polls that season. Four weeks earlier on New Year's Eve, the Panthers had a chance after No. 1 Alabama lost, but the Panthers were 79-67 losers at Georgia.

"We came close a couple of times," Knight said. "We just couldn't seem to put it together."

Knight, now one of Jamie Dixon's assistants, had a front-row seat Monday when the Panthers were tabbed No. 1 for the first time.

As one of Pitt's recruiters, along with assistant Tom Herrion, Knight said the national accolades will benefit Pitt in the recruiting process.

"Kids follow along," Knight said. "I don't think it's something we have to say, 'Hey, check us out, we're No. 1.' I just think it's one of those things that recruits pay attention to.

"I think it's good for recruiting. I think it's good that we'll be getting that national recognition, but, at the same time, we have a tough opponent coming off a Top-10 win. We have to stay focused and do what we've been doing."

When Knight first came to Pitt, the Panthers were one of the most downtrodden teams in the conference. Under Ralph Willard, the coach who recruited Knight to Pitt, the Panthers could only manage one winning season during his five-year tenure.

During four seasons under Ben Howland, Knight helped lead the Pitt basketball renaissance. He was the leader of the first two teams that reached the Sweet 16 in 2002 and '03. In his first season as an assistant last season, Knight helped Pitt win its second Big East tournament championship.

In the decade since Knight first set foot on campus, the Panthers have gone from Big East also-ran to No. 1 team in the country, something that had to be unfathomable in 1999.

"I don't want to say it was something I couldn't imagine," Knight said. "When you have guys who compete and believe, these [types of things] are the results. Every program would like to be where we are now. This is the result. Now we're starting to reap some of those benefits."

The 2001-02 Pitt team Knight played on won 29 games. The 2002-03 squad won 28. Knight said it's unfair to make comparisons between his teams and this team, especially since these Panthers will ultimately be judged on their ranking at the end of the year, not the one they achieved this week.

"To try to rank this team with the other ones ... I say the same thing every year," Knight said. "Let these guys be them. It's not 2002, 2003 or 2004. This is a new era. This is Levance Fields, Sam Young, DeJuan Blair. This is their era. Let them shine as they may.

"We make comparisons in the locker room, and it's fun to joke around. But, at the same time, I don't talk about it with Levance. People always say talk about what you used to do. I say for what? I'm not playing anymore. I want them to do greater things than we did.

"Right now, it's not something we can judge, is this team better? The [No. 1 ranking] doesn't make this team great or better than ours. What makes them great is that they continue to compete and play well throughout the season."

• Game: Pitt (14-0, 2-0 Big East) vs. St. John's (10-4, 1-1).

• When: Noon, Sunday.

• TV: FSN Pittsburgh.