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Ray Fittipaldo: Welcome to the Pitt basketball chat. We'll be starting in a few moments. In the interim, post any questions you have about Pitt or tomorrow's City Game against the Dukes.

Trey-von: Ray, who is the guy that sits in a floor seat at center court for the games? He is stocky, with black framed glasses and salt and pepper colored hair.

Ray Fittipaldo: I believe the person you are referencing is fan Sammy D'Agostino. He is a big Pitt supporter and often travels to away games. Sammy also helps run the summer league up in Green Tree.

holymolypitt: Ray- Who are the top recruits on Pitt's radar screen?

Ray Fittipaldo: Well, Dixon just signed three players for next year's class -- point guard Isiah Epps, shooting guard Cameron Wright and small forward J.J. Moore. In the spring signing period you might see center Maurice Walker sign, although that might depend upon whether Moore is eligible and if any of the current players decide to leave.

citygame: So should tomorrow night's tilt actually be competitive?

Ray Fittipaldo: I think it will be. Pitt has struggled with some of its lower tier competition, including Youngstown State on Saturday. That game was tied with about 12 minutes to go. It is clear that Jamie Dixon is still trying to figure out how to get the most out of his rotation while he awaits the return of Jermaine Dixon and Gilbert Brown, two of his best players. The Dukes might have been favored in the game had Melquan Bolding not been injured a few weeks back. He'll miss the game. I'm thinking this game will be decided in the final three or four minutes.

holymolypitt: How about current high school juniors on Pitt's radar screen? How many scholarships would they have remaining for that class?

Ray Fittipaldo: Dixon already got a verbal commitment from John Johnson, who will not be eligible to sign until next November at the earliest. That class would replace the current junior class of Brad Wanamaker, Gilbert Brown and Gary McGhee, so there are potentially two more spots available.

RichP: Has Levon Kendall helped us recruit Walker at all?

Ray Fittipaldo: I have not heard that. Kendall was from the Vancouver area and Walker is from Toronto. From what I hear, Walker really wants to come to Pitt, but no spots are currently available. Maybe there will be some attrition between now and the spring signing period and a space on the roster becomes available. We'll have to wait and see.

citygame: It's so early to really get a feel about this team yet, but what do you see that you like, and what do you see that you don't?

Ray Fittipaldo: As I wrote in today's paper, Gary McGhee has been a pleasant surprise. He and Dante Taylor are giving Jamie Dixon about the same amount of production that DeJuan Blair and McGhee provided last season. The rebounding has been solid for the past few games since some early deficiencies were exposed in the first few games. As far as some weaknesses, there have been way too many turnovers. This team -- without Jermaine Dixon and Gil Brown -- is not good enough to win many games against good teams turning the ball over as much as they are. And guys like Travon Woodall, Nasir Robinson and Brad Wanamaker have been too inconsistent in my estimation. It's to be expected with such an inexperienced team and the injury situation, but they have a couple of more games to play without Dixon and five or six more without Brown, so they need to solidify some things if they want to go into the Big East schedule with only one loss.

RichP: Walker is the #8th ranked center and top 100. I think we could find room for him.

Ray Fittipaldo: That's what a lot of people seem to think. I would caution, however, that Jamie Dixon has not asked many players to leave over the years. I can remember Cassin Diggs as the most recent. Maybe one or two others, but it does not happen all that often.

Memory_of_Terrelle: While Pitt has had some excellent guards lately, I think that the best two guards that they've had at one time were Kirk Bruce & Keith Starr. They were 6'4" and 6'5" respectively. Would you agree or do you have a nomination for a better tandem?

Ray Fittipaldo: I would have to defer to those who watched Bruce and Starr. I was but a toddler during their playing days. Recently, Bradin Knight and Julius Page was a pretty good tandem for a couple of years. And you had Sean Miller and Jason Matthews in the 1980s. I don't know if Pitt has ever had two better shooters playing together. They were both very good 3-point shooters.

Ray Fittipaldo: Thanks for taking part in this week's chat. We'll do it again next week before Pitt's game against Indiana at Madison Square Garden.

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