Last year's record: 31-5, 15-3 Big East

2009-10's toughest games: Louisville, Georgetown, at West Virginia, Villanova

Primary attraction: Jamie Dixon goes back to work.

Three items of undeniable interest:

1. Because they went to the NBA, you see. So much of college hoops previewing is based on a simple formula: How many players did Team X lose? How good were those players? How good are the players that played behind them? And which recruits will help close the gap? The whole point of this feature is to do something a little bit less cookie cutter than that ... but, on the other hand, sometimes the most interesting thing about a team is players lost vs. players found. In 2009-10, few teams in the nation will experience that formula more acutely than the Pittsburgh Panthers.

Jamie Dixon's team lost its three best players, three players that took the Panthers to a 31-5 season and a No. 1 seed and a run to the Elite Eight. Those players are DeJuan Blair (famously passed over until the second round of the NBA draft; NBA GMs are so dumb sometimes); Sam Young, and Levance Fields, who graduated and is now playing in Europe. Blair was a monster rebounder, while Young set the single-season school record in points and Fields did the same for assists.

This was Pitt's team in 2008-09, and it's all gone. But elite programs manage to deal with this kind of attrition year after year. North Carolina will be doing it this year, and the Tar Heels are still a top-five team. Is Jamie Dixon's program strong enough to withstand the loss of talent? Has he built an elite squad yet? Or are the Panthers doomed to slide into (understandable) mediocrity as they recover from the personnel losses?

2. Dante Taylor is the new Blair. OK, not quite. Dante Taylor will figure heavily for the Panthers this year. Who is Dante Taylor? He's the No. 14 overall recruit in the class of 2009, a 6-foot-9, 235 pound McDonald's All-American who Pitt hopes will be able to recreate some of Blair's dominance in the post. Memo to Pitt: This is setting the bar way, way too high. Blair was a legendary offensive rebounder, one of the best the college game has seen in recent years, and his production is not something any freshman is bound to easily recreate. It's a bit like asking a freshman: "Hey, kid, can you score like Blake Griffin this year? Thanks." Probably not going to happen.

3. Still, Dixon remains. Here's one thing Panthers fans can take solace in, even if this year's team doesn't come anywhere close to last year's championship-caliber squad: Jamie Dixon isn't going anywhere. Dixon ended last season on the short list of any athletic director with an elite position to fill. Dixon's best players were leaving; if he was ever going to leave, last year would have been the time. Instead, he's still at Pitt, and he'll have plenty of time to rebuild what was lost in 2008-09.

Ohh! Send it in, Jerome!

Bill Raftery, in a career of hilarious, over-the-top basketball broadcasting moments, gives us his finest work ever:

This line is now popular enough that I can quote it in front of a group of college basketball fans and no one even thinks twice about why. It's Bill Raftery. Duh. A little lingerie on the deck ... early! Ooooh!

Related: Big East Basketball, The Hunt