Pitt was the overwhelming choice by coaches to win the Big East at the conference's annual basketball media day on Wednesday.
↵The Panthers received 12 of 16 first-place votes by Big East coaches. Syracuse collected two and Villanova and St. John's each received one. West Virginia finished fifth in the voting. Pitt returns 4/5 of its starting lineup, losing only SG Jermaine Dixon.
↵Pitt's Ashton Gibbs and West Virginia's Kevin Jones both were named to the All-Conference First Team. Pittsburgh native D.J. Kennedy of St. John's was named to the Second Team.
Austin Freeman of Georgetown and Fab Melo of Syracuse were the preseason picks for Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, respectively.