When we last saw Jamie Dixon and the Pitt Men’s basketball team, the were putting the finishing touches on a disappointing 2011-12 season by defeating Washington State to win the CBI Tournament.
While the 2011-12 season didn’t go exactly the way Dixon and company may have planned, the Panthers are hoping for a rebound season this year. As they prepare for the 2012-13, Dixon and the Panthers can really get to work as their schedule has been released for the upcoming campaign.
The Panthers will open the regualar season on Friday November 9 against Mount St. Mary’s and also have other non-confernce games scheduled against Oakland, Howard, Detroit, North Florida, Bethune-Cookman, Delaware State and Kennesaw State, which amounts to a very soft out of conference schedule.
In addition, Pitt will once again play the City Game against Duquesne on December 5.
Another highlight of the 2012-13 schedule is that Pitt will be in the Preseason NIT Tournament and will host the first two rounds of the tournament on November 12 and 13 (opponents TBD). If the Panthers win their first two games, they will head onto Madison Square garden for the rest of the tournament.
Two glaring ommissions from the Pitt schedule are West Virginia and Robert Morris.
The Panthers won’t play the Mountaineers this season because West Virginia moved into the Big 12 Conference this season, and the two schools could not come to an agreement to play a non-conference game. They had played every year since 1916-17.
As for Robert Morris, there’s a chance the two teams could meet in the Preseason NIT, but it’s not guarantted, as the other three teams to play at the Petersen Events Center are the Colonials, Fordham and Lehigh. Lehigh advanced to the NCAA tournament last season and upset Duke in the first round.
Looking at the Big East schedule, Pitt will open up their final Big East season with Cincinatti at home on New Year’s Eve. Pitt will play the Bearcats, Marquette, DePaul and Villanova each twice and also get Connecticut, Syracuse, Seton Hall, Notre Dame and South Florida at home
The Big East Tournament is schedule for March 12-16 with the NCAA Tournament beginning March 18.
Here’s a look at the complete Pitt 2012-13 schedule (home games in bold):
Friday, Oct. 26 INDIANA, Pa. (Exh.) Petersen Events Center TBA
Friday, Nov. 2 HAWAII-HILO (Exh.) Petersen Events Center TBA
Friday, Nov. 9 MOUNT ST. MARY’S Petersen Events Center TBA
Preseason NIT (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
*Monday, Nov. 12 TBA Petersen Events Center TBA
*Tuesday, Nov. 13 TBA Petersen Events Center TBA
Saturday, Nov. 17 OAKLAND Petersen Events Center TBA
Preseason NIT (New York, N.Y.)
*Wednesday, Nov. 21 Semifinal (ESPN2/ESPNU) TBA-Madison Square Garden TBA
*Friday, Nov. 23 Championship/Consolation (ESPN) TBA-Madison Square Garden TBA
Tuesday, Nov. 27 HOWARD Petersen Events Center TBA
Saturday, Dec. 1 DETROIT Petersen Events Center TBA
City Game (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Wednesday, Dec. 5 vs. Duquesne Consol Energy Center TBA
Saturday, Dec. 8 NORTH FLORIDA Petersen Events Center TBA
Saturday, Dec. 15 BETHUNE-COOKMAN Petersen Events Center TBA
Wednesday, Dec. 19 DELAWARE STATE Petersen Events Center TBA
Sunday, Dec. 23 KENNESAW STATE Petersen Events Center TBA
Monday, Dec. 31 *CINCINNATI (ESPN2) Petersen Events Center Noon
Saturday, Jan. 5 at *Rutgers (ESPN2) Piscataway, N.J./RAC 11 a.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 8 at *Georgetown (ESPNU) Washington, D.C./Verizon Center 9 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 12 *MARQUETTE (ESPNU) Petersen Events Center Noon
Wednesday, Jan. 16 at *Villanova (ESPNU) TBA 7 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 19 *CONNECTICUT (ESPN2) Petersen Events Center Noon
Tuesday, Jan. 22 at *Providence (ESPN2) Providence, R.I./Dunkin Donuts Center 7 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 26 *DEPAUL Petersen Events Center TBA
Monday, Jan. 28 at *Louisville (ESPN) Louisville, Ky./KFC Yum! Center 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 2 *SYRACUSE (ESPN) Petersen Events Center Noon
Monday, Feb. 4 *SETON HALL (ESPNU) Petersen Events Center 9 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 9 at *Cincinnati (ESPN/ESPN2) Cincinnati, Ohio/Fifth Third Arena TBA
Saturday, Feb. 16 at *Marquette (CBS) Milwaukee, Wis./Bradley Center 1 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 18 *NOTRE DAME (ESPN) Petersen Events Center 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 24 at *St. John’s New York, N.Y./Madison Square Garden TBA
Wednesday, Feb. 27 *SOUTH FLORIDA Petersen Events Center TBA
Sunday, March 3 *VILLANOVA Petersen Events Center TBA
Saturday, March 9 at *DePaul Rosemont, Ill./AllState Arena TBA
Tue.-Sat., March 12-16 at Big East Championship (ESPN) New York, N.Y./MSG TBA
March 21-24 NCAA Second & Third Rounds (CBS-plus) TBA
March 28-31 NCAA Regionals (CBS-plus) TBA
April 6 and 8 NCAA Final Four (CBS-plus) Atlanta, Ga./Georgia Dome TBA
Photo Credit: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
