Aaron Gray is a huge loss. Levon Kendall’s leadership will be missed. Antonio Graves provided consistency in the backcourt. All three are gone, and only Mike Cook and Levance Fields return as starters. Ronald Ramon didn’t start but should be considered a starter with the quality PT he had last season.

Frontcourt - Sam Young (7.2ppg, 3.0rpg) is the leading returner up front. Young showed flashes of brilliance in limited action last year. He should step in to Kendall’s PF position. Young may provide more points than Kendall, but he is nowhere near the pinpoint passer and team leader. Tyrell Biggs (3.2ppg, 1.8rpg) has the biggest shoes to fill. This is where Pitt will be way short of last year. Gray was a bull and great rebounder. The Panthers will be hard pressed to find his replacement. Backing up Young and Biggs are three freshmen. DeJuan Blair will push Young at PF while Gary McGee and Austin Wallace will compete for the starting center position. Junior Cassin Diggs will also see time in the middle. GRADE - C+

Backcourt - The backcourt for the Panthers is in extremely good shape. Although Graves will be missed, leading returning scorer Mike Cook (10.5ppg, 3.4rpg) is solid at the SF position. He needs to shoot more from outside than he did last year. Lavance Fields (9.2ppg, 4.6apg) is at the point. Fields is a gritty, gutsy player whom Pitt fans hope can put his legal problems behind him. Ronald Ramon (8.8ppg, 1.8rpg) can play either guard position. A deadly outside shooter, he was not a starter last year but had quality minutes at crucial times. Keith Benjamin (3.3ppg, 1.5rpg) and frosh Darnell Dodson and Bradley Wanamaker will provide depth here. GRADE - B+

Depth - The Panthers don’t have the experience on the bench that they had last year. Benjamin is the only backup with real BE experience under his belt. Diggs joins from the JUCO ranks. The rest are all talented but only freshmen. GRADE - C-

Outlook - The Panthers have a good backcourt and not much up front. The bench won’t help all that much early in the season. But they do have an excellent coach in Jamie Dixon who will get the most from his troops. If Fields can stay out of trouble they will have a chance to compete with the top 5 in the conference. If not, they will be in the lower middle of the pack. GRADE - C+

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