DURHAM, N.C. - I'm going to continue to try and catch-up in terms of blogging today in-between sitting down with Roy Williams and Tyler Hansbrough and also catching the Midnight Madness festivities for everyone's top-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels tonight.

Should be another terrific day - as long as no one retires.

FIELDS DRY FOR NOW

Pittsburgh point guard Levance Fields is still in limbo.

Fields must have repeated the line, "no timetable" at least 25 times on Wednesday each time he was asked his status following another surgery on his left foot - the same one he broke last season.

``I can't really give you where I'm at," Fields said.

Fields is doing a little shooting, lifting and also strengthening his leg. He's not allowed to do any cutting yet.

``They don't want me doing too much," Fields said. "I've got to be patient."

Fields had surgery in January and missed a dozen games last season. He returned in mid-February and said he didn't have pain. However, when he was working out back home in New York this past summer he felt soreness and ended up having another surgery.

Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said that X-Rays on Monday showed it was healed and Fields came out ready to play.

``He's close to being able to cut, but I don't think he's close to five-on-five," Dixon said. "There has to be a plan in place."

T-WILL OPTIMISTIC

Louisville senior Terrence Williams said his knee was a little sore from the flight to New York for Big East media day, but he's already circled Nov. 22.

``I'll definitely be playing," said the 6-foot-6 senior who had minor knee surgery after suffering a torn medial meniscus in a pick-up game about 10 days ago. ``I want to play. I'm not going to miss any games."

Teammate Andre McGee said he had the exact same surgery and was back in three weeks.

Here are some comments from the always quotable T-Will:

On freshman Samardo Samuels: ``Against us, he's an All-American. The test will be when he plays against the other big teams in the league. He's still learning, but he's a hard-worker and wants to win."

On teammate Earl Clark: ``He's working harder than ever. He's not looking forward to the NBA Draft, he's looking forward to the first preseason game."

On UConn being picked to win the league: ``It doesn't matter. They can pick us 16th. We get to play ball, anyway, and it doesn't matter who the number one team is right now. At the end of the day, it's who holds up the trophy."

On North Carolina being tabbed No. 1: ``You may as well hand it to them because every web site and preseason magazine have already given them the title.