Beginning Monday, June 21st, 2004 CHN began unveiling 144 Team previews in 144 Days. CHN ranked the nations top 144 teams, and is unveiling one per day leading up until the opening day of the 2004-05 Season.

Bookmark the 144 Teams in 144 Days home page, and check back each day to see which team is previewed next.

#15 Pittsburgh Panthers

Big East

2003-04: 31-5, 13-3, 1^st

2003-04 postseason: NCAA Sweet Sixteen

By Joel Welser

Head coach Jamie Dixon led the Panthers to the Sweet Sixteen his first season at Pitt.  Is a Final Four next?  That’s what Pittsburgh fans are hoping for after three straight Sweet Sixteen appearances.  Point guard Carl Krauser and forwards Christ Taft and Chevon Troutman are great players, but after that trio there are quite a few question marks.  The next returning leading scorer is Mark McCarroll with just 5.5 points per game, followed by Antonio Graves with 2.1 points per contest a year ago. 

Who’s Out: Starters Jaron Brown and Julius Page leave a huge gap in the wings.  Brown averaged 11.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists his senior season.  Page put up a solid 11.0 points per outing and 2.9 boards.  Roleplayer Toree Morris has also run out of eligibility.  The 6-10 center averaged 1.9 points and 1.8 boards last year.

Who’s In: Newcomers Keith Benjamin, Ronald Ramon and John DeGroat will compete with McCarroll, Graves and Yuri Demetris for playing time on the wings.  Benjamin is enormously athletic.  He’ll have quite a few fascinating dunks before his career at Pitt is done.  Bronx native Ramon is a great long range threat, a skill that the team is lacking.  Ramon could be starting sooner then later.  DeGroat, a junior college transfer from Northeastern Colorado Junior College, has size and athleticism.  At 6-6 and 220 pounds, DeGroat could fill in at the small forward spot.  Redshirt freshman Dante Milligan could see some minutes as a small forward as well.  The 6-8, 200 pound New York native averaged 16.0 points and 8.7 rebounds as a senior in high school two years ago.

Who to Watch: Carl Krauser is a well rounded point guard.  The 6-2, Bronx native averaged 15.4 points, 4.9 boards and 4.5 assists as a sophomore last year.  Krauser can beat people off the dribble or pull up for the mid-range jumper.  His long range shot is solid and he may have to shoot more 3’s this year.  Krauser is the only returning player with any success from long range (48 for 144).  In order to spread opposing defenses out, he’ll have to put up more from behind the arc, if nobody else can step into that role.  The only knock on Krauser is that he can try too hard.  He needs to find the scoring options on his team first, and shoot second, in order to utilize the talented frontcourt.

Projected Conference Rank: It will be interesting to see who squeezes into the Pitt starting lineup.  Coach Dixon could put sophomore Aaron Gray in at center and, along with Taft and Troutman, go with a big lineup.  That might be the only option if two wing players can’t step up and prove they should be starting.  With so many options, something will be working for Pitt by the time they need it.  The usual soft schedule will give plenty of time for Coach Dixon to sort everything out before the Big East schedule begins.  Pitt doesn’t look like a better team then they were a year ago, so a 3^rd place finish is likely, but if a few players can surprise, then the Panthers will be extremely dangerous come March.

Projected Post-season Tournament: NCAA

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Email Joel Welser: jwelser_chn@ameritech.net

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