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Thursday, October 24, 2002

By Phil Axelrod, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

The Big East Conference threw a Garden party in New York City yesterday, and the honored guest was Pitt's basketball team, Brandin Knight in particular.

	Big East Conference The Picks

The media buzzed around Knight, a 6-foot senior point guard who was voted the league's preseason player of the year by the coaches. The Panthers, with all the starters back from a 29-6 team that set a school record for victories and reached the NCAA tournament Sweet 16, were a near-unanimous choice to repeat as the West Division champion.

Pitt received 12 of the 14 votes, with the other two going to third-place Syracuse.

Knight, the league's most improved player and co-player of the year last season, averaged 15.6 points and 7.2 assists per game last season.

"Brandin's very committed, very dedicated and very talented," Pitt Coach Ben Howland said. "Being a point guard is like being a quarterback. You have to have good people around, and he had enough around him last year to really blossom.

"You have to have good players in order to win, in order to get recognition."

The Big East coaches placed only Knight on the first or second team. Junior guard Julius Page, who is Pitt's most tenacious defender and the team's most creative offensive player, wasn't among the league's top 12 vote-getters.

Howland was unhappy last season when the coaches snubbed Page, leaving him off the first three teams.

Joining Knight on the six-player first team were Boston College's 6-1 Troy Bell, Connecticut's 6-9 Emeka Okafor, Georgetown's 6-8 Mike Sweetney, Miami's 6-10 Darius Rice and St. John's 6-1 Marcus Hatten.

Syracuse 6-8 freshman forward Carmelo Anthony is rookie of the year.

In addition to Knight and Howland, senior forward Donatas Zavackas and senior center Ontario Lett made the trip to New York.

"That was the right thing to do, to take the seniors," Howland said. "There's a lot of interest in Pitt basketball, obviously."

That wasn't the case last year when Pitt was picked to finish sixth in the West, Knight was ignored by all except a couple hometown papers, and Howland was still a relative unknown.

"They didn't expect a lot out of us and everybody was motivated by that," Howland said. "Being picked high gives us a different kind of motivation. But you've seen so many teams in those roles that didn't live up to expectations. But none of that matters. You have to do it on the court.

"We have to continue to build on what we started a year and a half ago and continue to improve the things we do well. Team chemistry is critical. It's nice to have people interested in the program. That's great, but I don't care about the attention."

Howland does care that the Big East should be one of the elite conferences in the country this season.

"There are 10 teams, maybe 12, that could be in the NCAA tournament," he said. "They'll probably be vying for six spots. Hopefully we'll get six again. Just look in the West. Syracuse, Georgetown and Notre Dame all are very good. Whoever is picked fourth is a joke. That's how strong our league is."

NOTES -- Pitt redshirt freshman guard Carl Krauser has missed several days of practice with a hip flexor and senior forward Donatas Zavackas has yet to practice because of a high ankle sprain. ... Knight is a little ahead of schedule after having knee surgery in July and is working out with the team. ... Knight is one of five players from the Big East nominated for the Naismith Award given to the 2002-03 NCAA Division I college player of the year. ... West Virginia's John Beilein is the only new coach in the Big East. ... The Big East led the country last season in Division I non-conference victories with a 138-55 record. The Southeastern Conference was runner-up with 127.