When 7-foot center Aaron Gray and 6-10 forward Levon Kendall exhausted their eligibility in the spring it signaled the end of an era for the Panthers. With 6-10 Chris Taft preceding Gray as Pitt's center for the previous two seasons, the Panthers spent four seasons with tall and skilled post players who could dominate a game.

It became obvious that Pitt would be playing smaller this season because of the wealth of guards and lack of true centers in the program. But five games into the season it is looking more and more as if the Panthers will be playing even smaller than anticipated.

It looks like Pitt will play most of its games without a player taller than 6-8 in the regular rotation.

Coach Jamie Dixon recruited 6-10 junior-college transfer Cassin Diggs and 6-10 freshman Gary McGhee to play center, but they do not appear ready to take on significant minutes. Diggs is averaging 9.2 minutes per game, but most of his minutes recently have come in the second halves of blowout victories. He played one minute against Saint Louis, the one game that was close in the second half. McGhee has played even more sparingly.

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Scouting report

• Matchup: No. 14 Pitt (5-0) vs. Boston University (1-4), 7:30 p.m. today, Petersen Events Center.
• TV, Radio, Internet: FSN Pittsburgh, WWSW-FM (94.5), WBGG-AM (970), www.pittsburghpanthers.com.
• Pitt: Coming off 92-45 victory against Buffalo ... Junior F Sam Young (19.0 ppg, 9.4 rpg) scored 20 points against the Bulls. ... Senior G Keith Benjamin (8.6 ppg, 1.6 rpg) scored a career-high 17. ... A win would give Pitt its sixth consecutive 6-0 start to a season. ... This is the first meeting against Boston University. ... Pitt is 5-0 all time against teams from the America East Conference.
• Boston University: Has lost four consecutive games after winning season opener. ... Losses came against George Washington, Saint Joseph's, Northeastern and Marshall with the lone win coming against St. Bonaventure. ... Enters today's game at less than full force. Leading scorer G Corey Lowe (14.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg) did not make the trip for personal reasons and starting point guard Tyler Morris has a foot injury and is unlikely to play. ... Coach Dennis Wolff is in his 14th season as head coach. He has a 217-171 record.
• Hidden Stat: Boston University has not beaten a ranked team in 48 years. The previous time the Terriers defeated a ranked foe was in the 1959 NCAA tournament when they beat Army.

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Dixon is playing 6-7 freshman DeJuan Blair and 6-8 junior Tyrell Biggs at center. As a result, the Panthers are playing at a fast tempo on offense and defense that has the players relishing their new roles.

"It's fun to go up and down," said senior guard Mike Cook. "We share the ball. We create off the dribble. Last year the middle was clogged up because of Aaron. And that was a good thing. He was a great player. But this year the middle will be a lot more open. We have guys who will penetrate and score. It's a good opportunity to showcase ourselves."

When Pitt beat Buffalo, 92-45, Friday night the Panthers unveiled a new trapping defense that confused the Bulls and forced 25 turnovers. Once careful and patient defenders, the Panthers were taking chances by stepping into passing lanes for steals and easy transition baskets. It is not a defense that can work well with taller and more plodding players on the floor.

"It's exciting to play this way -- the alley-oops, the up-tempo, the quicker shots in possessions," junior point guard Levance Fields said. "We're playing better on defense, doing different things with traps and things like that. In previous years we had Aaron and Levon and we won a lot of games, so there was no need to change our style or play smaller. But it's a good situation for us now. We're a little quicker this season, so it was better to change it up. Everyone has been responding to it."

Pitt has played with small lineups in the recent past, but not until this season did the style change. The Panthers played with 6-7 Ontario Lett at center in 2003 and the Panthers advanced to the Sweet 16. But that team also had 6-9 Donatas Zavackas at power forward and 6-5 Jaron Brown at small forward -- rugged players known for their tenacity more than their athleticism.

Biggs is Pitt's tallest player in the regular rotation and he does not play all that big. His game is more finesse.

"We're not as big as last year," Dixon said. "If you're not going to be as big, you better not be any slower. We're quicker. That's obvious."

Dixon left the door open for more minutes for Diggs and McGhee if they prove they are ready to handle the additional workload. But he also said playing smaller is not something that should be viewed as a detriment, especially in an era when skilled 7-foot centers are rare.

"I look at the other teams we'll be playing against, even in conference, and they're the same size as us," Dixon said. "It's always been the case. People remember the 7-footer. Big guys tend to stick out more for whatever reason. I don't think it's any different. When I played we had a couple of big guys, but we seemed to be a little quicker and better when we had smaller guys, experienced guys in there. The last two years we've been bigger than anybody. A lot has been made of us being smaller, but we couldn't have gotten any bigger."

NOTE -- Pitt has agreed to play in two exempt tournaments in the next two years. The Panthers have agreed to play in the Legends Classic in Newark, N.J., next season and at the Guardians Classic in Kansas City, Mo., in 2009. Dixon favors those two tournaments over the Maui Invitational and the Old Spice Classic (Orlando, Fla.) because they come with two home games and then two games at the city sites if you win at home. The Legends and Guardian tournaments will provide stiffer competition than the exempt tournaments Pitt has played host to in recent years. ... The Panthers moved up to No. 14 in The Associated Press Top 25 and are 11th in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll. A week ago they were 17th in both polls.