Mar 16, 2006 3 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Carl Krauser says he and his Pittsburgh teammates aren’t looking past their first-round NCAA tournament game. But the expectations of the fifth-year senior guard are obvious.

“I’ve got six games left,” Krauser said when asked how many college games he has left as he and his teammates boarded a bus for a plane ride to Michigan Wednesday afternoon. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. I’m trying to make it the most memorable, best last six games played at Pitt.”

The only way Krauser has six games left for the Panthers, of course, is if Pitt advances to the national championship game April 3 in Indianapolis.

That’s a long way off for the team seeded fifth in the tournament’s Oakland Regional. The first step for Pitt (24-7) is to get past No. 12-seeded Kent State (25-8) on Friday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Mich.

The 16th-ranked Panthers have been fortunate to avoid injuries all season . Levon Kendall is the only player to miss a game due to injury, and that was in the Big East quarterfinals.

But various maladies have struck Pitt this week at the worst possible time. Center Aaron Gray, a first-team all-Big East selection, missed practice Monday and Tuesday with the flu. He returned for Wednesday’s practice – a workout in which reserve forward Tyrell Biggs strained his calf muscle.

Gray and Biggs, however, are virtually assured of playing Friday. The same can’t be said yet about guard Keith Benjamin, who earned a starting spot at the Big East tournament last week.

Benjamin came down with an unspecified illness Tuesday and did not practice Wednesday. He was checked into a hospital for treatment and did not travel with the team Wednesday.

“He had some health problems, so he’s getting checked up,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “I think he will be on a flight tomorrow. He practiced yesterday, but got very ill last night … He was throwing up last night and did not feel well. He was violently sick last night.”

Dixon declined to say who would start in Benjamin’s place if the sophomore couldn’t play. Dixon, assistant Barry Rohrssen and Krauser aren’t fighting any illnesses, but they are the only links remaining to the Panthers’ last game against Kent State – a memory that just might make them sick. The 10th-seeded Golden Flash upset Pitt in the 2002 NCAA tournament regional semifinals.

Dixon and Rohrssen were assistants under now-UCLA coach Ben Howland for that game. Krauser was a freshman taking his redshirt year.

Armed with that experience and as the oldest player on the team, Krauser acts as a mentor to the remaining players – a group that has just one tournament start between them.

“It’s just another game, but it’s not just another game,” freshman point guard Levance Fields said of the advice dispensed by Krauser. “(Because) now if we lose, we’re out. We just have to play our games and play hard and everything else will take care of itself.”