POINT – Is this the year the Panthers make it past the Sweet 16?

This is the year.

Thanks to a terrific interior presence in junior center Aaron Gray and the… This is the year.

Thanks to a terrific interior presence in junior center Aaron Gray and the best perimeter shooting they’ve had in years, Pitt will finally advance past the Sweet 16.

The Panthers should have little trouble dispensing of the hapless Kent State Golden Flashes in the first round. Although the Flashes finished with an impressive 25-8 record, including 15-3 in the Mid-American Conference, they failed to beat another team that qualified for the tournament and lost to the likes of Bowling Green (5-13 MAC) and Toledo.

Plus, you can bet Pitt’s outspoken leader, senior guard Carl Krauser, will be looking for revenge after Kent State knocked out the Panthers in the Sweet 16 back in 2002.

After their first-round triumph, Pitt will then face the winner of the Bradley vs. Kansas contest. Assuming the Jayhawks (25-7 overall, 14-3 Big 12) do their part and steamroll the puny Braves, the Panthers will be looking at a difficult, but not impossible, matchup against a higher-seeded Kansas squad.

I like how Pitt matches up against the Jayhawks on paper. Kansas will have a difficult time stopping Aaron Gray underneath the basket with their much smaller and much less experienced centers. In fact, inexperience will be a huge factor for the entire Jayhawk team.

Kansas starts three freshmen and two sophomores. Although the team has come into their own after losing to Kansas State (6-10 Big 12) and Missouri (5-12 Big 12), and even managed to win the Big 12 title by knocking off a much more seasoned Texas squad, the lights and attention surrounding the Big Dance should prove to be a bit much for the very green Jayhawks.

Now for that fateful Sweet 16 showdown. Most likely, Pitt will be paired up with the top-seeded Memphis Tigers. The Tigers (30-3, 13-1 C-USA) have been hanging around in the top five of both polls all season long. With their unmatched athleticism and a fantastic coach in John Calipari, the Tigers will prove to be Pitt’s most difficult challenge in finally overcoming the Sweet 16 barrier.

Memphis does have several issues that favor Pitt.

First, while Pitt has been battle-tested by competing in the toughest conference in the nation for the past two months, Memphis has been cruising through a renovated Conference USA that has only one other top-25 team (No. 25 UAB). Their early wins against UCLA and Gonzaga are impressive, but it’s been a long time since they’ve been tested by a team of Pitt’s caliber.

Second, uber-talented sophomore guard Darius Washington Jr., who leads the team in assists, has a short fuse and has been known to pout if he plays poorly early in games. It’s likely that Krauser, who was recently voted the biggest trash-talker in the Big East by fellow players in a Sports Illustrated poll, will be matched up with the young guard. If he can get in Washington’s head early, Memphis won’t get the kind of production they’re accustomed to from the point guard position. Like a football team without its star quarterback, the Tigers could suffer.

Finally, although Memphis starts uncommonly tall guards, their tallest starting forward is a mere 6 feet 9 inches. Gray, at 7 feet, should once again be able to use his size to bully the scrawnier opposition around in the post all game long.

Should Pitt have to play the 8th-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks instead, they will have a much easier time advancing to the Elite Eight. Before a five-game winning streak to close their regular season, the Razorbacks struggled through the early part of their conference schedule, dropping decisions to Mississippi State (5-11 SEC) and Ole Miss (4-12 SEC) among others.

Plus, none of the players on Arkansas’ roster have any tournament experience. And one can also calculate for the revenge factor. Razorback coach Stan Heath is the same coach who led Kent State over the Panthers in 2002.