From the Pittsburgh Tribune Review:
Pittsburgh
• Coach Jamie Dixon treated his three seniors -- Keith Benjamin, Mike Cook and Ronald Ramon -- to dinner in Manhattan on Tuesday night, and they had a special guest.
Former Pitt assistant Barry Rohrssen, in his second season as the head coach at Manhattan College, joined them.
It was a homecoming of sorts for Ramon and Benjamin, who grew up in the New York City area. Both players were able to spend some time with visiting parents and siblings Tuesday night.
West Virginia
• West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said the Jan. 30 game against his old school, Cincinnati, will be like any other game in Morgantown. Huggins went 399-127 in 16 seasons at Cincinnati. But new Bearcats coach Mick Cronin, a former Huggins assistant, said it won't be a typical game.
"The guy is the winningest coach in the history of Cincinnati basketball," Cronin said. "How many coaches own that distinction at a certain school and then go coach against that school? How many times could that have happened? ... Make no mistake about it. The majority of our fans love him and appreciate him, and I'm one of those people."
Louisville
• Rick Pitino was on the soapbox again. The Louisville coach never misses a chance to rip the Big East schedule-makers, and he didn't waste time Wednesday. Pitino is a vocal critic of the unbalanced schedule, in which good teams play other good teams for attractive TV match-ups. The Cardinals this season play Georgetown and Marquette twice.
"I don't think they did a very good job with the schedule," Pitino said. "I've let my feelings known. I love those guys. I love the conference, but you cannot let TV tell you who wins the conference. It's not the way it should work. It should be fair for everyone."
DePaul
• DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright is one of the most well-liked coaches in the Big East, and it's easy to see why. For at least 10 minutes after every other coach and player left the interview room for lunch at the adjacent buffet, Wainwright spoke with lingering media. This was after spending the previous one hour and 15 minutes answering questions. One subject he touched on was the earlier play date (Pitt opens its season on Nov. 9), but no additional practice time.
"We play earlier, but we don't practice earlier," he said. "Watch and look at all the injuries early in the year. They talk about bad basketball. Lucky wins. Upsets. That's right. Anybody who is experienced at the beginning of the year has an edge."
Marquette
• Marquette coach Tom Crean, who returns one of the nation's best backcourts, said Georgetown and Louisville are clearly the teams to beat.
"The rest of us," he said, "are trying to catch up and get into that realm."
