At The Mike
Pitt Basketball Overdue For Schedule Upgrade
By Mike Prisuta

At last it's January, which means at last Pitt can go about the business of playing some major college basketball.

The schedule says the Panthers have been doing so since Nov. 23 when Duquesne helped christen the Petersen Events Center. But ever since then the schedule has been much more of a joke than representative of one that should be played by a team with legitimate Final Four aspirations.

With January comes the opening of the Big East Conference portion of Pitt's Final Four preliminaries, which means the Panthers will have to play Notre Dame (twice), Connecticut (once), Georgetown (twice), West Virginia (twice) and Syracuse (twice).

Major college basketball, in other words.

If Ben Howland really wants to make this a basketball town, if he really wants his program to achieve elite status and annually rub elbows with the likes of Indiana, Duke, Arizona and Michigan State, to name a few, he needs to play them.

And he needs to stop playing Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Norfolk State, Southeast Louisiana and other such bottom-feeders.

Save that for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The non-conference schedule for a program such as Pitt should be about flexing muscles, accepting challenges, staging entertaining games and preparing for March.

Understandably, at one time it was about trying to collect as many wins as possible in an effort to survive a .500 or less conference record and still sneak into the Madness through the backdoor. Pitt was in just such a position prior to last season. But last year's run to the Sweet 16, the preponderance of experienced and accomplished players returning from that team, the influx of new talent and the legitimate expectations almost universally bestowed upon this year's squad, changed everything.

At least it should have.

The Panthers knew when they reported for practice in October that they were going to make it to the round of 64/65. They knew a loss or three in the "preseason" wouldn't be enough to derail them.

It's quite likely that based on the strength of the program Howland has created, they'll be in a similar position next October.

Which means the games against the Norfolk States of the world must go.

Granted, it isn't Pitt's fault that Ohio State, Rhode Island and Georgia aren't this year what they've been in the recent past. Still, a failsafe against winding up with a non-conference schedule consisting of enough trips to Cupcake City to make even Dick Vitale sick is to make certain to include a few longstanding members of college basketball's royal family.

Michigan played a game at Duke; why couldn't Pitt?

How about a game at Rupp Arena against the home team rather than Kent State?

How about trying to host a Kansas or a Maryland, especially with a sparkling new arena providing enticement?

The fans would love it. The media would love it. The players would love it. And such games would be no-lose propositions, even if Pitt were to lose a few.

Such games bring exposure, which is critical to recruiting. Such games bolster reputations. And such games prepare a team for the battles that must ultimately be fought to get to the top in March the way nothing else can.

They dial up the intensity in practice. They heighten concentration and focus. They're invaluable as teaching tools for the coaches and reference points for the players long after they've been played.

So why not play a few of them?

Why shouldn't Pitt get itself into a tournament in New York or Puerto Rico or Hawaii or Alaska?

Why shouldn't Pitt take on any and all comers, within reason, as often as possible?

The alternative is to continue playing "preseason" games before a half-empty/sold-out new arena, or to continue to waste everyone's time by taking part in controlled scrimmages such as the one that was held on Dec. 7 at Penn State. As satisfying an experience as that must have been for the Panthers, Pitt should never again play at Penn State until the Nittany Lions agree to play ball as far as football is concerned.

Drop the Nits and add a brand name.

It may take some creative scheduling, but Pitt will be the better for it.

And the better Pitt gets, the easier finding takers for such games will become.

And maybe the season can start when it's supposed to one of these years.

Mike Prisuta is a columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and the sports director of WDVE-FM.