• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Pittsburgh opens season with high expectations

Nov 14, 2008 - 9:38 AM Fairleigh Dickinson at (6) Pittsburgh 7:00 p.m. EST

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Jamie Dixon returns a veteran squad that appears poised for a deep run in March, but injury problems have already started to plague the roster again in his sixth season in Pittsburgh.

The sixth-ranked Panthers should have no problem overcoming those injuries when they open the regular season against Northeast Conference foe Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday.

Senior point guard Levance Fields missed 12 games with an injured left foot last season while ranking second on the team with 11.9 points a game. He is already experiencing problems with the foot and probably will not be 100 percent until sometime in early December.

Sophomore swingman Gilbert Brown has a stress fracture in his left foot and that could leave the Panthers shorthanded in the early going.

Last season's Big East Most Improved Player award winner Sam Young and massive sophomore DeJuan Blair combine with Fields to form a dynamic trio. They posted 41.6 points and 19.3 rebounds a game and should put the Panthers in position for a run in the conference and NCAA Tournament.

Fairleigh Dickinson is led by veteran coach Tom Green, who enters his 26th season.

The Knights struggled to an 8-20 mark last season and graduated three of their top four scorers. Sean Baptiste averaged 18.5 points a game and is the league's leading returning scorer.