2009–10 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball team

The 2009-10 Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball
Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball
Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball is the NCAA Division I intercollegiate men's basketball program of the University of Pittsburgh, often referred to as "Pitt", located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pitt men's basketball team competes in the Big East Conference and plays their home games in...

team represented the University of Pittsburgh

University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

in the 2009-10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Their Head Coach was Jamie Dixon

Jamie Dixon

Jamie Dixon is an American basketball head coach. He has served as the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh men's basketball team since 2003. In 2009 he was the head coach for the FIBA Under-19 2009 gold-medal winning United States national basketball team for which he was named the 2009 USA...

, who was in his 7th year as head coach at Pittsburgh and 11th overall at the University. The team played its home games in the Petersen Events Center

Petersen Events Center

Not to be confused with Petersen Sports Complex.The John M. and Gertrude E. Petersen Events Center is a 12,508-seat multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It hosts the men's and women's Pitt Panthers basketball teams...

in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

and are members of the Big East Conference

Big East Conference

The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...

. They finished the season 25–9, 13–5 in Big East play and lost in the quartefinals of the 2010 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

2010 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

-Championship Game:-See also:*2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season*Big East Men's Basketball Tournament*2009–10 Big East Conference men's basketball season*2010 Big East Women's Basketball Tournament- External links :*...

. They received an at–large bid to the 2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

The first and second round games were played at the following sites:*March 18 / 20*March 25 / 27*March 26 / 28Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four, held on April 3 and 5 in Indianapolis, Indiana at Lucas Oil Stadium, hosted by the Horizon League and Butler University, as per the NCAA's...

, earning a 3 seed in the West Region. They defeated 14 seed Oakland

2009–10 Oakland Golden Grizzlies men's basketball team

The 2009–10 Oakland Golden Grizzlies men's basketball team were a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college basketball team representing Oakland University. Oakland finished the season 26–9 overall, 17–1 in The Summit League and were the league's regular season and conference...

in the first round before losing to 6 seed and AP No. 25 Xavier

2009–10 Xavier Musketeers men's basketball team

The 2009–10 Xavier Musketeers men's basketball team representsed Xavier University in the 2009–10 college basketball season. This was head coach Chris Mack's first season at Xavier. The Musketeers compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference and played their home games at the Cintas Center...

in the second round.

Outlook

The Pittsburgh Panthers

Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball

Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball is the NCAA Division I intercollegiate men's basketball program of the University of Pittsburgh, often referred to as "Pitt", located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Pitt men's basketball team competes in the Big East Conference and plays their home games in...

advanced to last season's NCAA Elite Eight

2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

The first and second round games were played at the following sites:First and Second Rounds: Thursday and Saturday, March 19 and 21, 2009-Qualifying teams:-Brackets:Results to date * – Denotes overtime periodAll times in U.S. EDT....

. The team lost four starters, including NBA draft

2009 NBA Draft

The 2009 NBA Draft was held on June 25, 2009, the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. In this draft, National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur U.S...

selections Sam Young and DeJuan Blair

DeJuan Blair

DeJuan Lamont Blair is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association . Before turning pro Blair played center for the University of Pittsburgh men's basketball team from 2007 to 2009...

, along with point guard Levance Fields

Levance Fields

Levance E. Fields is an American basketball player. He played college basketball at the University of Pittsburgh.-Early life and high school career:...

and forward/center Tyrell Biggs. Guard Jermaine Dixon was the only returning starter from last season's squad while projected starter Gilbert Brown was suspended for the fall semester for academic reasons, although he reenrolled and returned to the team in December. Four freshman joined the Panthers, including McDonald's High School All-American Dante Taylor. Also new to the team was senior guard Chase Adams, a transfer from Centenary College of Louisiana

Centenary College of Louisiana

Centenary College of Louisiana is a primarily undergraduate, liberal arts and sciences college in Shreveport, Louisiana. The college is one of the founding members of the Associated Colleges of the South, a pedagogical organization consisting of sixteen Southern liberal arts colleges...

. The Panthers' roster was the most inexperienced in the Big East, with six freshmen, two sophomores and only two seniors, and when Dixon went down with a foot injury in the offseason, ruling him out until well into December, the remaining roster had a total of one career start.

The Panthers were selected to finish 9th in the Big East by the Big East coaches during their conference media day.

Coaching staff

Name	Position	Year at Pittsburgh	Alma Mater Alma mater Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:... (Year)
Jamie Dixon Jamie Dixon Jamie Dixon is an American basketball head coach. He has served as the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh men's basketball team since 2003. In 2009 he was the head coach for the FIBA Under-19 2009 gold-medal winning United States national basketball team for which he was named the 2009 USA...	Head coach	11th (7th as Head Coach)	TCU Texas Christian University Texas Christian University is a private, coeducational university located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States and founded in 1873. TCU is affiliated with, but not governed by, the Disciples of Christ... (1987)
Tom Herrion Tom Herrion Tom Herrion is an American college basketball coach and the current head coach for the Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team...	Associate head coach	3rd	Merrimack Merrimack College Merrimack College is an independent college in the Roman Catholic, Augustinian tradition located in North Andover, Massachusetts, north of Boston, Massachusetts. It offers undergraduate degrees in business, education, science, engineering, and the liberal arts... (1989)
Pat Sandle	Assistant coach	7th	San Francisco State San Francisco State University San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges... (1987)
Brandin Knight Brandin Knight Brandin Adar Knight is a former American professional basketball player. He is the brother of Brevin Knight....	Assistant coach	4th	University of Pittsburgh University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of... (2005)
Brian Regan	Director of Operations	3rd	Saint Vincent Saint Vincent College Saint Vincent College is a four-year, coeducational, Roman Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts college in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, located about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. It was founded in 1846 by Boniface Wimmer, a monk from Bavaria, Germany. It was the first Benedictine monastery in the... (1988)
Rasheen Davis	Video Coordinator	2nd	St. Thomas Aquinas St. Thomas Aquinas College St. Thomas Aquinas College is a private four-year liberal arts college in Rockland County, New York that occupies a forty-eight acre campus. Located at 125 Route 340 in Sparkill, New York, the college is named after the medieval philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas... (2005)

Recruiting

Roster

Name	#	Position	Weight (lb. Pound (mass) The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the Imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement... )	Year	Hometown	Previous School
	3	Guard	190	2Senior	Baltimore Baltimore Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore... , MD Maryland Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...	Centenary Centenary College of Louisiana Centenary College of Louisiana is a primarily undergraduate, liberal arts and sciences college in Shreveport, Louisiana. The college is one of the founding members of the Associated Colleges of the South, a pedagogical organization consisting of sixteen Southern liberal arts colleges... /Mount Saint Joseph HS Mount Saint Joseph College Mount Saint Joseph High School, is a private, Catholic high school located in Baltimore, Maryland in the community of Irvington. The campus consists of four academic buildings, an athletic field house, and housing for the school's chaplains. It was founded by the Xaverian Brothers in November 1876...
*	5	Guard/Forward	200	2Junior (RS Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt is a term used in American college athletics that refers to a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen his or her period of eligibility... )	Harrisburg Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania... , PA	South Kent School South Kent School South Kent School is a private boarding school for boys in South Kent, Connecticut, United States. The school is located on a campus in the hills of Litchfield County. It was founded in 1923 as a joint venture between Reverend Frederick Herbert Sill, headmaster of Kent School, and two of his...
	24	Guard	200	3Senior, Transfer	Baltimore, MD	Tallahassee CC Tallahassee Community College Tallahassee Community College is a community college, located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. The institution was founded in 1966 by the Florida Legislature. The college is a member of the Florida College System.... /Maine Central Inst Maine Central Institute The Maine Central Institute , is an independent high school, founded in 1866, located in Pittsfield, Maine, in the United States. The school enrolls approximately 500 students. MCI is a nonsectarian institution. The school has both boarding students and day students.-History:The Maine Central... /Blake HS James Hubert Blake High School James Hubert Blake High School is a secondary school located in Silver Spring, an unincorporated section of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States....
	44	Guard	205	2Junior	Mars Mars, Pennsylvania Mars is a borough in Butler County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 1,746 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Mars is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of , all of it land.... , PA	Mars Area HS Mars Area High School Mars Area High School is a high school located in Mars, Pennsylvania.Mars High offers a full program of courses that includes more than 120 selections plus a wide variety of extracurricular activities and interscholastic sports...
	12	Guard	190	1Sophomore	Scotch Plains Scotch Plains, New Jersey Scotch Plains is a township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the township population increased to a record high of 23,510.-History:... , NJ New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...	Seton Hall Prep Seton Hall Preparatory School Seton Hall Preparatory School, generally called Seton Hall Prep, is a Roman Catholic boys' high school located in the suburban community of West Orange in Essex County, New Jersey, operating under the supervision of the Archdiocese of Newark...
	52	Center	250	2Junior	Anderson Anderson, Indiana Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Indiana, United States. It is the principal city of the Anderson, Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses Madison county. Anderson is the headquarters of the Church of God and home of Anderson University, which is... , IN Indiana Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...	Highland HS Highland High School (Anderson, Indiana) Highland High school will become Highland Junior High school after the year of 09-10. Grades 7-9 will attend. Registration starts August 16, and classes start August 23....
	25	Forward	240	1Freshman (RS)	Nassau Nassau, Bahamas Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas... , Bahamas The Bahamas The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...	St. Pius X HS St. Pius X High School (Houston, Texas) St. Pius X High School is a Dominican Catholic coeducational secondary school located in Houston, Texas, United States. St. Pius X, which serves grades 9 through 12, is administered by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston....
	21	Guard/Forward	220	1Freshman	Lancaster Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities... , PA	St. Benedict's Prep Saint Benedict's Preparatory School Saint Benedict's Preparatory School is a college preparatory school in Newark, New Jersey, United States. It is an all-boys, secondary school located on a urban campus serving students in the seventh through twelfth grades... /J.P. McCaskey H.S.
	55	Forward	235	1Freshman	Missouri City Missouri City, Texas Missouri City is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County with a small portion within Harris County. As of the 2000 U.S... , TX Texas Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...	Fort Bend Hightower HS Hightower High School L.V. Hightower High School is a secondary school located at 3333 Hurricane Lane, Missouri City, Texas, United States.Hightower is administered by Fort Bend Independent School District and its mascot is Poseidon, but they are known as the Hightower Hurricanes.Hightower serves parts of Missouri City...
	14	Guard	180	1Junior	Phoenix Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data... , AZ Arizona Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...	Brophy College Prep Brophy College Preparatory Brophy College Preparatory is a Jesuit high school located in Phoenix, Arizona. The school is currently limited to all-male enrollment of approximately 1,200 students. It is operated independently of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix...
	35	Forward	220	1Sophomore	Chester Chester, Pennsylvania Chester is a city in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a population of 33,972 at the 2010 census. Chester is situated on the Delaware River, between the cities of Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware.- History :... , PA	Chester HS
	11	Forward	240	1Freshman	Greenburgh Greenburgh, New York Greenburgh is a town in the western part of Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 88,400 at the 2010 census. Paul J. Feiner has been the Town Supervisor since 1991.-History:... , NY New York New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...	National Christian Academy (MD)
	22	Guard	210	2Junior	Philadelphia, PA	Roman Catholic HS Roman Catholic High School for Boys The Roman Catholic High School of Philadelphia opened in 1890 as an all-male high school located at the intersection of Broad and Vine Streets in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.-History:...
	1	Guard	190	1Freshman (RS)	Brooklyn Brooklyn Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated... , NY	St. Anthony HS St. Anthony High School (New Jersey) St. Anthony High School is a four-year co-educational Roman Catholic high school located in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States, operating under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark...
	42	Forward	225	1Freshman	Kaduna Kaduna Kaduna is the state capital of Kaduna State in north-central Nigeria. The city, located on the Kaduna River, is a trade center and a major transportation hub for the surrounding agricultural areas with its rail and road junction. The population of Kaduna is at 760,084 as of the 2006 Nigerian census... , Nigeria Nigeria Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...	Bishop McNamara HS (MD) Bishop McNamara High School Bishop McNamara High School, a college preparatory school in the Holy Cross tradition, is in Forestville, Maryland. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.-History:...

*Suspended for the fall semester for academic reasons, but re-enrolled and returned to the team in December.

Schedule

2010 Big East Men's Basketball Tournament

|-
!colspan=9| NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship

2010 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

Rankings

Ranking Movement
**Legend:** ██ Improvement in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. ██ Not ranked the previous week. rv=Others receiving votes.
Poll	Pre	Wk 1	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	WK 17	Wk 18	Final
AP	rv	rv	rv	rv	rv	rv	rv	--	23	16	9	17	22	25	19	12	17	16	18	n/a
Coaches	rv	rv	rv	rv	--	--	--	--	rv	20	11	17	21	23	21	16	18	16	16	20

Accomplishments

Pitt achieved a school record ninth straight 20-win season and a school record ninth straight season with 10 wins in the Big East Conference.
Sophomore guard Ashton Gibbs was named Second-Team All-Big East.
Ashton Gibbs was named the Big East's most improved player.
Ninth straight NCAA Tournament appearance.