FanHouse NCAA Hoops BlogPoll: No. 8, Pittsburgh Panthers

This week, FanHouse is taking a look at the top teams heading into 2008 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. To help with the team capsules, we've brought in some of the top fan bloggers around the internets to give us insights on their teams.

For the Pitt Panthers, Josh Verlin of the Oakland Zoo blog. Not only is this blog about Pitt basketball, it is also the blog of the Pitt student section for which the blog is named -- The Oakland Zoo.

In Coach Jamie Dixon's fifth year as the Pittsburgh Panthers head coach, a team hurt by injuries and inexperience all year broke through when it counted and won the Big East Tournament Championship. They became only the second team in the history of the tournament to win four games in four straight days. They did it by beating ranked teams in Louisville, Marquette, and Georgetown in in the run. Unfortunately, the Panthers season came to an abrupt end in Denver in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Despite the hard end to last season, there is plenty of optimism for 2008. The Panthers are running and gunning like one of the top programs in the country. T is team is positioned for a run into another tournament in March -- the NCAA championships.

After forward Sam Young decided to forgo the NBA draft and return to the Oakland section of Pittsburgh for his senior season, hopes skyrocketed between Forbes and Fifth Avenues. With a rock-steady point guard in Levance Fields, one of the country's top sophs in DeJuan Blair, and the athletic ability of Sam Young, the Panthers boast one of the country's strongest trios. Add in senior forward Tyrell Biggs and a host of young but talented players -- Gilbert Brown, Gary McGhee, Travon Woodall, Ashton Gibbs, and Brad Wanamaker, amongst others -- this is a Pitt squad that could challenge for a Final Four berth, if not Pitt's first national championship since 1930. Not that we are counting.

This is a Panthers team that isn't afraid to run the court, but also displays Jamie Dixon's trademark toughness and defense, shown by every player wearing the blue and gold displayed so prominently in Pittsburgh's Peterson Events Center. With the backing of one of the country's loudest and proudest student sections in the Oakland Zoo, the Panthers want to prove they belong in the upper echelons of programs, not just teams, in this country, joining Kansas, Memphis, Duke, and few others as a program that will be ranked in the top-15 year in and year out. The Big East, they hope, runs through Pittsburgh.

Why They Should Be Ranked Here:
Though losing in the second round of the NCAA tournament, the Panthers return the core of that Big East Championship team in Fields, Young and Blair. In addition, Gilbert Brown likely steps into the starting line-up this year, and Tyrell Biggs becomes the first man off the bench. Former backcourt starters Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin may have graduated, so while the experience has been lost, there is more talent in their place. Newcomers Ashton Gibbs, Travon Woodall and Jermaine Dixon are ready to step in along with sophomore Brad Wanamaker. The new players are likely more talented, but lack the experience

The Panthers are nearly impossible to beat at home (98-10 in the Pete). This year they host Notre Dame and UConn, two of the teams that will challenge the Panthers for the Big East title.

Why They Should Be Ranked Higher:
This is a team that gains some great talent in their freshman class, with the addition of sharpshooters Ashton Gibbs and Travon Woodall to back up Levance at the point and JUCO All-American Jermaine Dixon, younger brother of 2002 Final Four MVP Juan Dixon, who has displayed some great talent in Pitt's two exhibition games. Add in the maturity of sophomores DeJuan Blair and Gary McGhee in the middle, and the Panthers are deep all over the court. Never count out a Jamie Dixon-coached team, and this is certainly a national championship contender, especially with their incredibly strong frontcourt of Young, Biggs, and Blair.

Why They Should Be Ranked Lower:
With only three starters returning from last season, there are concerns about experience and depth. Levance Fields will be starting the season on the bench with a recurring foot injury -- something that just hasn't fully healed. Add in Gilbert Brown being out for the start of the season with his own ankle injury and this team is going to have to juggle the line-up and not ease in the younger players. While the non-con lacks many marquee names, it includes a trip to Florida State and strong mid-majors that made the NCAA Tournament in Siena, Belmont, UMBC, Vermont, and Washington State.

Depth is a problem if any of the starters go down -- it's not certain that the Panthers have a quality scorer like wing Sam Young anywhere on the roster, nor as good a big man as they have down low in DeJuan Blair. If Levance Fields can return early from injury and not be too affected, then that will help this team greatly, but experience is lacking for now and it's not certain how far Fields, Young, and Blair can carry this team.

Some fine work from Josh. Be sure to hit the Oakland Zoo all season long to read Josh and the rest of Zoo's writings on Pitt basketball.