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2008 Pittsburgh Basketball Predictions & Season Preview

Written October 15, 2008 by Jack Jones

For those fans waiting for the Pittsburgh basketball program to break through and get further than just the Sweet 16, this could be your year. Jamie Dixon’s bunch returns seven regulars from a year ago, including the dangerous trio of DeJuan Blair, Sam Young, and Levance Fields. The Panthers are going to be athletic and deep, which means that we think they are going to be better than the teams that went to the Sweet 16 in 2004 and 2007. The NCAA basketball odds makers agree with us and are listing Pittsburgh as a 20-to-1 favorite to win the national title.

After a great season a year ago in which Young was first-team All-Big East and the MVP of the conference tournament many expected him to go pro. However, he decided to work on his game for one more season at Pitt and to refine his outside skills. Blair is a Pittsburgh native who seemed to rise to the occasion in all of the big games while putting up 11.6 points and 9.1 rebounds as a freshman. He needs to let the game come to him a little bit more to take his game to the next level. Gary McGee eats up minutes with his 6′10″ frame at center, Tyrell Biggs will play some power forward, and Gilbert Brown is a slashing wing player who played well in the tournament a year ago.

The season was going great last year until Fields went down with a foot injury, and with him healthy this year Dixon is hoping to keep this team going on all cylinders for the entire season. Fields is confident and cool when the pressure is on while averaging 11.9 points and 5.3 assists per game, but needs to improve on his shooting. The addition of Jermaine Dixon, brother of Juan Dixon, gives the Panthers some depth at the position. Brad Wanamaker developed nicely during this freshman season and should continue to progress. Ashton Gibbs and Travon Woodall both come in as freshamn who have reputations as being sharpshooters.

Final Analysis

This Pittsburgh basketball program is just one Final Four away from being considered one of the nation’s elite programs. They have the fifth best winning percentage over the last seven years, have four Sweet 16’s during that span, and are the only Big East team with seven straight 20 win-10 conference win seasons in a row. Dixon needs to take this team over the hump and in a tough Big East Pitt is a 5-to-1 favorite to win the regular season title.

This year if you get signed up for the expert basketball picks on this site then you will do yourself a big favor towards winning more with your college basketball betting.

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