NEW YORK -- Pitt senior guard Jermaine Dixon, who is rehabilitating after September surgery to repair a fractured bone in his right foot, said he will be cautious this time in deciding when he will return to the court.

Dixon, who fractured the bone for a second time after the original injury in July, is doing exercises on a stationary bike and the pool, but he has yet to practice with the team. He is scheduled to get X-rays this weekend and will learn more about the timetable for his return after those results are read.

"I definitely would love to be back [for the first game]," Dixon said yesterday at Big East media day at Madison Square Garden. "I wouldn't say I rushed it the first time, but I wanted to be back. I wanted to get out there. As soon as I got cleared to play, I went out and played. I think I should have waited a little longer. I'm not going to rush it. If I can be back by the first game, I will definitely come back. But I still might sit out longer than that."

For the time being the only basketball activities Dixon can do are some limited shooting and ballhandling drills. He shoots from the seated position in a chair because he's not allowed to jump.

"It works," Dixon said. "I do it just so I can get my rhythm down and get my form on my shot."

The season opener is Nov. 13 against Wofford.

Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds, who broke Pitt's heart with his last-second shot to eliminate the Panthers from the NCAA tournament last season, said he thought for a moment the Panthers were going to the Final Four after he made his length of the court drive.

Levance Fields heaved a desperation shot from beyond half court that hit the backboard.

"When the ball left Levance's hands I saw it was right on line," Reynolds said. "I thought it was in. Who knows what could have happened? Looking back we could have been on the other end of the stick. We have tremendous respect for those guys. It was a heck of a game."

The Big East announced yesterday that the conference tournament will continue to be played at Madison Square Garden through 2016. This will be the second consecutive year that all 16 teams in the league will participate in the tournament. The games on the first day of the tournament will be televised by the ESPN family of networks for the first time. The first session on Tuesday will be broadcast by ESPN2 and the second session will be on ESPNU. The rest of the tournament will be on ESPN. ... The preseason player of the year is Notre Dame senior Luke Harangody, who becomes the second player in Big East history to be named preseason player of the year twice. The other was Patrick Ewing, who was honored three times from 1982-85. ... Lance Stephenson from Cincinnati is the rookie of the year. ... In a media poll conducted by the Syracuse Post-Standard, Pitt's Dante Taylor was the rookie of the year. ... The five-member preseason all-Big East team is: Greg Monroe of Georgetown, Lazar Hayward of Marquette, Da'Sean Butler of West Virginia, Deonta Vaughn of Cincinnati and Scottie Reynolds of Villanova.

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