It’s hard to believe Panther fans, but it’s already basketball season again. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that we were watching our Panthers move onto the Elite Eight and only to have our hearts broken by Villanova. Last year was a fun year for Panther fans: first time being ranked #1, first time receiving a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, breaking the Sweet Sixteen ceiling, and seeing two of our players drafted in the NBA.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like this season will be quite as fun. This year, Pitt is a relatively young team compared to last year. The Panthers lost 4 starters in Sam Young (NBA), DeJuan Blair (NBA), Levance Fields (graduated), and Terrell Biggs (graduated). The only returning starter is Jermaine Dixon, and he might be out to start the season due to his broken foot.

Luckily, the Panthers have some younger players with experience. Gary McGee will need to step up this year. Many of you may remember his 3 fouls in 40 seconds against UConn last year. Brad Wanamaker, Gilbert Brown, and Ashton Gibbs look poised to help lead this team this year. Also, look for some help from the incoming freshman, Dante Taylor. While this team is young, you can never discredit a Pitt team with Jamie Dixon as the head coach.

The Panthers start with a relatively weak non-conference schedule with a game against Iowa or Texas, and a game against Indiana. Pitt should be able to walk out of the non-conference schedule with 1 or 2 losses. Once again, the Panthers will play everyone from the Big East once and will play St. Johns, Seton Hall, and WVU twice. St. Johns and Seton Hall finished towards the bottom of the Big East last year. St. Johns could be dangerous this year as they returned all 5 starters and are the only team that can claim such a thing in the Big East. WVU is a preseason darling to the media as they are ranked in the top 10 in both polls. Pitt will struggle a little bit in the Big East. They are predicted to finish 9th. That seems awfully low. Hopefully Dixon and his Panthers will prove the prediction wrong by the end of the year.

I can still see the Panthers making the NCAA tournament, probably as a 7-10 seed, unless they really shatter their preseason predictions.

This year will be a learning year for the Panthers. Stick with them though. Give this team time and they could really be shocking people towards the end of the year.

Season Record Prediction: 23-8