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2008 Pittsburgh Basketball Picks & Predictions

Written by Luke Knight

Head coach Jamie Dixon led his team to a 27-10 overall record and 10-8 in the Big East last season, then saw his team win the Big East tournament title, receive a bid to the NCAA, and defeat Oral Roberts 82-63 before losing to Michigan State in the second round. Much of Pittsburgh’s success last season can be attributed to their returning forward-guard-center combination of Sam Young, Levance Field, and DeJuan Blair. Some are even saying that this could be the year the Pittsburgh Panthers win it all. Read on with our NCAA basketball predictions to find out if we think that Pittsburgh is going to once again win the Big East and compete for a national title. Check out BetUS where the Panthers are 5-to-1 odds to win the Big East Conference this season.

Sam Young was named first-team All-Big East last season and captured MVP honors in the Big East tournament so naturally, he considered foregoing his senior season and going to the NBA, but he instead decided to return to Pitt where he can hone his skills, such as adding a pull-up jumper and a long-range game, and earn his degree. DeJuan Blair is quick and powerful and is expected to build on his freshman season where he had double-doubles against the likes of Oklahoma State, Duke, and Louisville. Blair does get overzealous at times, which led to foul trouble and too much time on the bench, and he needs to work on that, but it just means he has plenty of room to grow. The frontcourt will also feature swingman Gilbert Brown, power forward Tyrell Biggs, and center Gary McGhee, all of whom should be very intriguing. Brown attacks the rim with ferocity and played well in the postseason. Biggs began to play up to the hype that saw him choose Pitt over Duke and UConn. McGhee gives Pitt much needed height in the frontcourt at 6’10”.

Levance Fields is a prototypical New York City point guard, and he lived up to his nickname, “The General,” in the postseason. Fields is brash, confident, and ice cold under pressure. He did miss 12 games with a foot fracture last season, but it was Fields that hit the game-winning 3-pointer to defeat Duke in overtime last season. The rest of the backcourt is young. Brad Wanamaker is still developing, plus the Panthers bring in newcomers featuring juco transfer Jermaine Dixon, Juan Dixon of Maryland’s brother, along with Ashton Gibbs and Travon Woodall. Gibbs and Woodall look to give Pitt a 3-point threat to replace Ronald Ramon. The key will be to find a guard to mesh with the high energy Fields.

Final Analysis

The Pittsburgh Panthers have posted a 189-51 record over the last seven seasons, which ranks 5th-best nationally in that span. The only real knock is that in the last five seasons the Panthers haven’t gotten past the Sweet 16, which means to truly become an elite team in the nation they must get over the hump and make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. This very well may be the season Jamie Dixon’s team makes the leap into the truly upper echelon of college basketball. With Young, Fields, and Blair the Panthers should compete with the top teams of the Big East, which should assure Pitt an NCAA tournament bid. We have the Panthers competing with the top teams in the Big East, and they could very well win the conference tournament for the second season in a row. With our NCAA basketball picks we see this team has the talent to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament, and we could see them going as far as the Elite Eight. BetUS has Pitt at +2000 odds to win the NCAA Championship this season.

Win more with your basketball betting this season by signing up for the picks offered by our experts. They spend the time breaking down the NCAA basketball odds each night so you only get the best predictions available.

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