Home >  Sports >  U. of Pittsburgh

Panthers have every reason to look forward to 2002-03

Sunday, March 24, 2002

By Phil Axelrod, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

From now until Pitt plays another basketball game in eight months, the expectations for the Panthers will rise to such dizzying heights that the 2002-03 season will be the most anticipated in the history of the school's program.

It will all come together in November, when Pitt moves into the $68 million, 12,500-seat Petersen Events Center on campus. The Panthers will do so returning all the starters and nine of the 10 players who compiled a 29-6 record and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament for the first time in 28 years. Ben Howland has won a number of national coach of the year awards, and Brandin Knight was co-player of the year in the Big East Conference.

What can Pitt do to top that?

The Top 10? The Final Four? The national championship?

"We want to build on what we accomplished this year," said Howland, who plans to sign a long-term extension to his contract this week. The new deal is expected to push him closer to the top of the Big East Conference salary list.

Howland, who took over a program in turmoil three years ago, has a 61-35 record that includes an appearance in the National Invitation Tournament last year and Pitt's first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1992-93.

"You couldn't write a script any better for the basketball program at the University of Pittsburgh," Howland said. "Everything's going in the right direction."

Howland and his Panthers will receive the respect next season they felt eluded them this year. When the preseason magazines and polls come out, Pitt's name will be near the top alongside the glamour programs of college basketball.

That will be a huge change from this year when the Panthers were picked to finish sixth in the seven-team West Division of the Big East.

Howland, unhappy because only Knight was on the Big East's three all-league teams selected by the coaches, should be in a better mood this fall when Knight could be the preseason player of the year and Julius Page is named to the second or third team. Knight's status will continue to grow because Connecticut sophomore swingman Caron Butler, co-player of the year, and Boston College junior guard Troy Bell are expected to leave for the NBA.

Including Butler and Bell, nine of the 18 players on the Big East's three all-league teams will be gone.

While many of the top teams in the league will be facing rebuilding tasks, the veteran, tournament-tested Panthers will be revving up for what promises to be a scintillating season. The senior leadership will be provided by Knight, 6-foot-8 forward Donatas Zavackas and 6-6 center Ontario Lett.

"We're already getting ready for next season," Knight said. "You do that by working harder than you worked the year before."

That means the players will have to hit the weights and continue to follow the intense training programs devised by strength and conditioning coach Tim Beltz. They also will spend countless hours on the court. Knight will spend countless hours shooting 3-pointers and free throws. Page will work on his ballhandling and one-on-one moves. Lett and Toree Morris will run drills designed to improve their footwork. Jaron Brown will try to improve his shooting touch from beyond 10 feet. Zavackas will launch thousands of jumpers with a quicker release.

The player who has the potential to improve the most over the summer and come back with a more complete game next season is Chevon Troutman, a 6-7 redshirt freshman who became an integral part of Howland's rotation midway through the season. Once Howland scrapped the experiment of using Troutman at shooting forward and switched him to center and power forward, he blossomed. A turning point in Pitt's season came when Howland started Troutman in the second half against Georgetown at the MCI Center Jan. 9. Troutman, who hadn't played in the previous four games, sparked Pitt's 68-67 upset victory to snap a two-game losing streak.

Troutman started the final two games of the season, replacing Morris in the pivot. Unless Morris improves his quickness and mobility, Troutman and Lett will share the center spot.

When Howland shortened his rotation to seven players for the Big East and NCAA tournaments, the playing time of 6-10 redshirt freshman Mark McCarroll and Morris was slashed considerably. If McCarroll doesn't get stronger and more physical, he might find himself out of the mix. The basketball futures of McCarroll and Yuri Demetris, a seldom-used redshirt freshman guard from Shaler, are uncertain.

It's certain that Carl Krauser, a 6-2 freshman guard who sat out this season as a partial academic qualifier, will make an impact next season. He will be counted on to give Knight a much-needed rest at the point and fill in for Page and Brown at the other guard spots.

Tony Tate, a freshman guard who didn't play this season after surgery to repair a torn ACL in the right knee, isn't expected to be available at the start of the season. He was hurt during an individual workout in September.

Because Pitt returns so many experienced players up front, in-coming freshmen Levon Kendall, 6-9 1/2, of Kitsilano High School in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Ed Turner, 6-6, of Buffalo's Turner Carroll High School will be candidates to be redshirted. Both could use a year build up their bodies.

The roster appears to be set for next season because Howland doesn't have any scholarships to offer.

Pitt's schedule next season isn't set, but the Panthers will play their first game at Petersen Center against crosstown rival Duquesne in late November. Ohio State also will make a visit. The Panthers aren't in a tournament and will enjoy a string of non-league games at home against teams from low to mid-level conferences. The schedule could be beefed up by a couple made-for-television games that would match Pitt against other high-profile teams.

The 2002-03 basketball season can't come soon enough for the Panthers.