Pitt won the Big East Conference tournament championship last season and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament despite being a below-average outside-shooting team.

The Panthers shot 33.5 percent from 3-point range last season, which ranked 12th in the 16-team Big East. Now the Panthers are favored to win the conference title again and contend for a spot in the Final Four -- all without a guard who shot better than 28 percent from 3-point range last season.

Pitt's outside-shooting ability is one of the few nagging questions facing the Panthers as they prepare for a season opener against Fairleigh Dickinson that is 15 days away.

Pitt's top two 3-point shooters have graduated. Ronald Ramon made a team-high 67 3-pointers last season and Keith Benjamin was second with 51.

The Panthers' top returning 3-point shooter is a power forward, which is not an ideal circumstance for any team, let alone one with Pitt's aspirations. Senior Sam Young made 44 3-pointers last season and led the team with a 38.3 percentage from behind the arc.

Among Pitt's returning guards, Levance Fields made 27.7 percent of his 3-point attempts, Gilbert Brown 24.4 percent of his and Brad Wanamaker 16.7 percent.

That's not exactly a murderer's row of lethal outside shooters. Fields, however, is not fazed by the apparent lack of shooters.

"I'm not at all concerned," he said. "We'll still be able to knock some 3s down. I'm not one to shy away from shooting, so I'm not going to worry about it. My teammates won't worry about it. We're looking forward to it. We think we're a capable shooting team and we just have to prove it."

Fields, who is out with a foot injury, will play an important role in the 3-point shooting even if he does not have a great shooting percentage. His playmaking ability opens up a lot of shooting lanes for the other players on the team.

A couple of first-year players could be asked to provide some outside-shooting touch to the lineup. Freshman Ashton Gibbs was recruited as a shooter, and he showed why in the Blue-Gold scrimmage yesterday afternoon at the Petersen Events Center.

Gibbs was 2 for 3 from behind the 3-point line and appears to be the best new option for coach Jamie Dixon.

"One of our best 3-point shooters left, in Ronald, and ... what I do is shoots 3s," Gibbs said. "So far I've shot pretty well in practice. If I have an open shot, I'm going to take it."

Junior-college transfer Jermaine Dixon had a team-high three 3-pointers in the scrimmage, although that is not his forte. He is a strong penetrator and decision maker, but as a shooting guard he is going to be asked to make more than his share of outside shots.

"Coach [Brandin] Knight has been working with me everyday on 3-pointers," Dixon said. "When I was in junior college, I shot poorly. But I feel comfortable shooting the 3."

Jamie Dixon acknowledges the lack of proven outside shooters on his roster, but he also believes the 3-point shot will be less of a factor in games than in previous years.

The NCAA moved the 3-point line back one foot to 20 feet, 9 inches.

"It's going to be interesting," Dixon said. "Obviously, we lost some [shooters], but the line goes back a foot. I think it's going to be different. I don't think people are going to make as many 3s. It won't be as much of a factor. It won't be shot as much. It won't be made as much.

"It's going to change a lot of things. It's going to change how people play defense. You're going to see a lot of zone defense. You'll see more teams sagging in the post and helping on drives. It's a harder shot."

NOTES -- The Gold team beat the Blue team, 63-54. ... Sophomore center DeJuan Blair led all scorers with 22 points and 13 rebounds. ... Fields is slowly working his way back from surgery in August on his left foot. He is on a schedule of practicing for two consecutive days with one day off. Jamie Dixon said there is still no timetable for Fields' return. "We're being very conservative," Dixon said. "We were very conservative last year, but we're being very conservative this year as well."