Projected Starting Lineup
G – Levance Fields 5-10 Sr. (30.9 MPG, 11.9 PPG, 5.3 APG)
G – Gilbert Brown 6-6 So. (22.0 MPG, 6.5 PPG, 3.1 RPG)
F – Sam Young 6-6 Sr. (32.1 MPG, 18.1 PPG, 6.3 RPG)
F – DeJuan Blair 6-7 So. (26.0 MPG, 11.6 PPG, 9.1 RPG)
F – Tyrell Biggs 6-8 Sr. (20.0 MPG, 5.4 PPG, 4.1 RPG)

Impact Bench Players
G – Travon Woodall 5-11 Fr. (3-Star Prospect)
G – Brad Wanamaker 6-4 So. (11.0 MPG, 2.2 PPG, 1.4 APG)
F – Nasir Robinson 6-5 Fr. (4-Star Prospect)

Guards
Depth looks to be a big area of concern for Pitt headed into the season after losing seniors Ronald Ramon, Keith Benjamin, and Mike Cook. Ramon and Benjamin both logged a lot of time last year, as did Cook until he tore his ACL against Duke and missed the rest of the season. A lot of people think the Cook loss will hurt, but they did win the Big East Tournament without him. Levance Fields will return to run the point in his senior year. Fields is one of the best passers in the country and runs the team well. Gilbert Brown will step up from a part time starter a year ago into a full time one. His natural position is SG, but he didn’t shoot worth a lick from deep as a freshman. It starts to get thin after those two as freshman Travon Woodall will likely be Fields replacement. He’s known as an athletic player who’s a good defender, but he’s not a premiere prospect. Brad Wanamaker will also be expected to play a larger role this season, but that’s probably not a good thing because he struggled in practically every aspect as a freshman.

Forwards
The Panthers will likely switch and start three forwards instead of two this season. Sam Young and DeJuan Blair will return to the starting lineup, and they will be joined by Tyrell Biggs who saw a decent amount of playing time last year. Blair took a lot of the spotlight as the freshman phenom, and he was a beast with his outstanding post play both shooting and rebounding. Young is a great player himself and is probably the most involved guy in the offense. He can step outside and shoot the 3 ball, but also take it to the hoop. Biggs will be the least involved starter of the three, and will be mainly counted on to rebound well. Freshman Nasir Robinson has a lot of fans intrigued since he’s known as a tough, competitive player who will be the main forward off the bench.

Final Thoughts
There’s no question that the losses of Ramon and Benjamin hurt, but this is still a Pitt team that will start three experienced seniors. Not to mention, there’s not a lot of teams that can match up talent wise with Young, Blair, and Fields. That makes the main area of concern to be the defense, which hasn’t been very good with Dixon at the helm. They don’t have any big guys off the bench that will factor in often, and Pitt doesn’t have a starter over 6-8 so they could have matchup problems at times. You also have to consider that the Panthers were not a good three point shooting team last season, and they lost two solid deep shooters. Still, when this team gets hot you have to lookout, as evidenced by them surprisingly winning the Big East tourney last March. If they can improve the defense a bit, you have to consider them a contender to win the Big East.

Links