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Rick Majerus will make his return to the sideline as a first-year coach at Saint Louis as part of the three-day, season-opening Hispanic College Fund Challenge at Petersen Events Center.

The Panthers play Houston Baptist (1-1) at 7 tonight. Saint Louis opens with North Carolina A&T in the opener at 4:30 p.m.

Pitt plays Saint Louis -- and tries to beat Majerus for the first time -- at 6 p.m. Sunday. In between, the Panthers will meet North Carolina A&T at 4 p.m. Saturday, as they open a season with three games in three days for the first time.

"We've been going hard in practice," senior forward Mike Cook said. "We want to come out and see what we can do."

Majerus stepped down from Utah in the middle of the 2003-04 season for health concerns. He worked as an analyst at ESPN for the past three years before Saint Louis made him the highest-paid coach in the Atlantic 10 with a six-year deal worth $1 million per season.

He's still a bit overweight and lives year-round in a hotel in Milwaukee. He swims a mile every day and is watching a diet that was legendary among restaurants in visiting cities.

"I earned every one of my seven bypasses," he joked with reporters at Atlantic 10 media day last month. "I had fun with every Philly cheesesteak and every ice cream cone I ate. And every beer I drank."

Majerus has never had a losing record in 17 full seasons, sporting a career record of 422-147, the seventh-best winning percentage among active Division I coaches.

He is 2-0 against Pitt, beating the Panthers in the 1989 NCAA Tournament with Ball State and in the 1993 NCAA Tournament with Utah

But health problems cut short three of his 20 seasons and prompted him to pull out of the head coaching job at Southern Cal three days after accepting it in 2004.

"You go there, it changes your life irrevocably for the rest of your life," he said. "You're scared. You're frightened. Subliminally, in the recesses of your mind, you always have a fear or a quandary that it's going to happen again. I think I'm in good health. I've been yelling at my team, and (back in the day), I could get the decibel count up there with about anyone."

Majerus' arrival has raised expectations at Saint Louis higher to any point since hometown hero Larry Hughes signed a decade ago. About 8,000 people attended the Billikens' exhibition with the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Here is a nutshell look at the teams in the round-robin tournament:

• St. Louis, with second-team all-Atlantic 10 guards Tommie Liddell III and Kevin Lisch, is picked to finish fifth in the 14-team Atlantic 10.

• Houston Baptist went 22-7 last season playing in the NAIA Red River Athletic Conference. The Huskies, a transitional Division I program, had an average attendance of 856 at their games.

• North Carolina A&T, led by sharpshooting guard Steven Rush, is predicted to finish in third in the MEAC.

Against Houston Baptist, Pitt will be attempting to win its 11th consecutive season opener. The Panthers are 18-0 in November under fifth-year coach Jamie Dixon.

"Houston Baptist is small, from what I understand," Dixon said. "They shoot 3s and drive you. That's pretty common for teams that we will play in the nonconference."

The Panthers begin the post-Aaron Gray era with freshman DeJuan Blair starting at center, flanked by forwards Sam Young and Cook.

"This is all about us and showing people what we can do," Cook said. "Whether we are playing Houston Baptist or playing Louisville, we have to approach it the same way and have the same focus."

Pitt also lost starters Levon Kendall and Antonio Graves. Half of the roster is either freshmen or first-year players.

"We have a lot guys out here to prove something this year," Cook said. "Proving we can win without Aaron and Levon and Antonio, that's the big question. That's the biggest thing, to go out here and prove everybody wrong.

"Personally, I definitely have something to prove. Going to the Big East media day, a lot of guys really don't respect me. This year I'm really going to come out and be really aggressive from the tip and show people what I can do."

Note: Redshirt freshman swingman Gilbert Brown practiced Thursday and should be available to play today against Houston Baptist.

Houston Baptist (1-1) vs. Pitt (0-0)

When, where: 7 p.m. · Petersen Events Center

TV/Radio: None/WWSW-FM (94.5), WBGG-AM (970)

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