<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">It's not uncommon for NBA scouts to line a table on press row to watch the Pitt basketball team. There have been many prospects to observe during the Panthers' current run of success that began soon after former coach Ben Howland arrived in 1999. At 16-1, heading into Saturday's home game against Marquette, there surely is someone on the Panthers team worth watching this season. "They've got more potential pros than they've had in a long time," said Cleve Edwards, the Pittsburgh native who formerly served as a scout for the Phoenix Suns. Most of the buzz surrounds 7-foot junior center Aaron Gray, who is expected to stay at Pitt through his senior year, and senior guard Carl Krauser, who nearly left early after last season to enter the NBA draft. Gray leads the Big East in double-doubles (nine) and has rebounded in double figures 11 times this season. NBA scouts are excited about the potential that Gray has shown this season -- his first as a starter. "There are a lot of people who like Gray. He has turned around so much," said Edwards, a former Fifth Avenue (Brashear) High School and Pitt player who later served as an assistant at Pitt, Robert Morris and Nevada-Las Vegas. "He's doing things now that (Chris) Taft couldn't do," Edwards said. "Taft was a more explosive jumper, but this kid is a smarter basketball player." Taft left Pitt last season after his sophomore year and was a second-round pick of the Golden State Warriors. "If I was Jamie (Pitt coach Jamie Dixon) last year, I would have sat down Taft when he got that NBA look in his eye and I would have played Gray more. He wasn't getting any better sitting on the bench." Gray has improved his game dramatically, with the help of a weight-training program that began before his sophomore season. The big center, who is averaging 13.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, has dropped 35 pounds -- down from 305 -- since signing with the Panthers out of Emmaus High School in Eastern Pennsylvania. </div> Source
