Pitt Basketball: 2008-09 schedule won't be cakewalk
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The Big East is expected to be the best basketball conference in the country this season, and Pitt is one of several teams that will be ranked in the preseason polls.
Faced with the daunting challenge of playing 18 conference games, including two games each against Connecticut and West Virginia, it would have been easy, perhaps even logical, for coach Jamie Dixon to fill the non-conference schedule with cupcakes.
But the non-conference schedule in November and December is anything but a cakewalk. It is loaded with quality opponents who will make the Panthers battle-tested before the Big East season gets under way.
Pitt will play eight teams that were in the top 100 of the Ratings Percentage Index last season during the non-conference portion of the schedule, including four, and possibly five, teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament.
In total, the Panthers will play 14 contests against teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament last season.
"It's what we've done the past couple of years," Dixon said. "We've got a well-rounded schedule. We play some very good programs, some teams with a lot of experience coming back. And we're playing in the Legends Classic in New Jersey, where we want to recruit. So I think we accomplished what we wanted to accomplish."
Putting the schedule together was not easy, and the Panthers will have to deal with some challenges. One of them is a nine-day layoff between the final non-conference game and the Big East opener.
Pitt plays Dec. 21 at Florida State and won't play again until Dec. 31 at Rutgers. Pitt was told by the Big East that it had to keep Dec. 29, 30 and 31 open for the conference opener, and Dixon did not want to schedule a game the day after Christmas.
"It's not an ideal thing," he said.
Dixon said scheduling home-and-home games against major-conference teams also has become more difficult because of the Big East-SEC challenge. Pitt does not play in the event this season, but Dixon has been hesitant to commit to other marquee non-conference games because of the unknown with that event.
Dixon made up for it by getting the Panthers into the Legends Classic. The Panthers will play four games in that NCAA exempt tournament. The first two are at the Petersen Events Center against Akron and Division II IUP.
The final two games will be played at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., and Pitt will play two of the following three teams: Mississippi State, Texas Tech and Washington State.
Mississippi State was 23-11 and advanced to the NCAA tournament last season. Washington was 26-9 and made it to the Sweet 16.
Pitt will play host to three teams that made the NCAA tournament. Siena, which made it to the second round, returns five starters and visits the Petersen Events Center Dec. 17. Atlantic Sun champion Belmont and America East champion UMBC also visit.
Pitt's visit to Florida State is the only game against a major conference foe on the road.
The Dec. 31 conference opener is the earliest the Panthers have started Big East play in a decade. The first conference game at home is Jan. 11 against St. John's.
Pitt is scheduled to play on national television 11 times, and more national games likely will be added as the season progresses.
First Published September 5, 2008 12:00 am
