Even the Pitt women’s basketball team is getting in the Big East championship… Even the Pitt women’s basketball team is getting in the Big East championship spirit.

Originally scheduled to play Western Michigan University tomorrow at 2 p.m. in the Petersen Events Center, the Pitt womenwill now play their game at noon, thanks to some nifty changes in scheduling.

This is to accommodate Pitt football’s matchup against Cincinnati being played at the same time, coach Agnus Berenato said.

“We know a lot of people probably have tickets to the men’s game, and we tried to accommodate that,” Berenato said. “People could still watch the second half of the game — it’s on national television ­— rather than not watching any of it.

“For us, to win the Big East championship, that’s not just a football win, that’s the whole Pitt win. We wish coach Dave Wannstedt the best of luck.”

However, these aren’t the only expected changes Pitt will implement for the Western Michigan game.

The Broncos run a four-guard, one-forward system and will look to utilize smaller, quicker players in the game. Pitt’s philosophy relies on big post players, which it might have to pull in favor of quicker defenders.

The hope for the Broncos is that the more shooters they have on the court, the better.

“They have a couple really good shooters, they just spot up, and we’re going to have to be really aware of that,” Berenato said. “They play a lot of guards.”

Countering that is Pitt’s size.

Players such as Shawnice “Pepper” Wilson, who led Pitt with 13 points in its 89-37 win over Youngstown State on Wednesday and stands 6 foot 6 inches tall, must dominate the paint again. Beranato also said that Kate Popovec, who led Pitt with 12 rebounds and chipped in 11 points in the win, must have a similar effort against the Broncos. Pitt out-rebounded Youngstown State 56-26.

“I think that’s the key for us, get the rebound and run — one pass, two pass and score,” Berenato said.

But one thing Pitt won’t do is change its starting lineup.

Berenato stated clearly that Western Michigan will have to beat Pitt’s normal starting lineup before she even thinks about switching to a smaller lineup.

“We don’t want to change our stuff, we want to make them conform to us,” Berenato said. “We’ll have a game plan to try and get them out of their rhythym and play really tight defense. I feel like that we’re versatile enough to go against [switching to a smaller lineup].”

But Berenato said the Panthers are still thinking about putting in a lineup that would move junior Shayla Scott to the power forward position, redshirt senior Sophronia Sallard to the small forward spot. Junior Taneisha Harrison or redshirt junior Brittaney Thomas would slide into the vacant shooting guard spot.

“We would be able to cover a lot of territory with those guards,” Berenato said. “But again, we have to put them into effect on the court.”

Pitt is building on its perfect start so far.It has started the season 6-0 for just the second time in the last seven years.

“We feel like 6-0 is what we should be. As a ranked team, it’s different, because we’re the ones with targets on our back,” Berenato said. “We’ve never been ranked this early, No. 19 in the AP and No. 20 in the coaches’ poll. Everybody wants to beat us because we’re a Top 25 team. That’s what’s different.”

Berenato said expectations are higher to win convincingly as a ranked team.

“We have to continue to get better and take care of our business,” Berenato said. “We won convincingly last game, and that’s what we have to do. We can’t win games by 10, we have to work at every possession if we want to continue to be ready to play the Top 25 teams when, come January, we have a lot of them coming up.”

The Panthers defeated the Broncos last year 88-60 behind Wilson’s 15 points and six rebounds.

“We went to their place last year and beat them on their own court, and I think they were kind of surprised by that,” Berenato said. “They’re going to be coming here and wanting to get revenge for that. They’re a good team. They’re the type of team you have to watch out for.”