Apparently, in lieu of actually talking about the final regular season game of the season, the beat writers want to wax nostalgic and talk of historic achievements. The P-G writes of a Pitt win meaning 3 straight Big East regular season championships. UConn also accomplished this.

The Trib focuses on the most successful group of Seniors in Pitt basketball history — Julius Page, Jaron Brown and Torree Morris. In their 4 years at Pitt, the team has gone 102-28. With all the talk of Pittsburgh’s great pipeline from NYC, these three came from Buffalo, NY; Kentucky and Tennessee. I’ve taken shots at each of them this season for their poor shooting games (Page), bad free throw shooting (Brown), and generally soft play (Morris); but they will hold a special place in every Pitt fan’s memory as part of one of the most successful periods of Pitt basketball.

That said, there is still a game today and there is no information about it. The Philly papers are ignoring it still. There are no real scouting reports on the game. I don’t know whether ‘Nova plays man or zone defense. They are disappointing after some thought ‘Nova might make a move in the Big East this year. They have lost 4 straight, but the 4 teams they lost to are Miami (who Pitt needed OT to beat); UConn by one and a last second block by Okafor; Syracuse by only 5 (I think we all know what Pitt did against ‘Cuse last week); and Seton Hall by 2 (and we lost to the Hall).

Villanova has been a team that has been unable to close out games, but otherwise plays well. One of those classic “better than their record suggests” teams. They have been obliterated from consciousness in Philly because of St. Joe’s and even their own women’s team. Their coach is probably in danger of losing his job after this season. It really bothers me how lightly this game appears to be treated.

Hello. There is a game tomorrow. Nationally televised on the entire East Coast. Philadelphia is so enamored with St. Joe’s, that Villanova barely gets mentioned. They haven’t put a story up since the Wildcats blew a lead against Miami on Tuesday. Not that the Pittsburgh papers care much. They ran puff pieces yesterday on Taft and Krauser. Today both beat writers do pieces on the Coach Dixon’s love for the seniors on the team.

At least the athletic sites have something. Here’s Pitt’s press release and game notes. Villanova’s game notes are here. Nova needs this game if it wants to have a realistic shot at the NIT. They are 14-14. If they lose to Pitt, they would need to win two games in the Big East Tournament — likely against Seton Hall and UConn — to finish with a .500 record.

Villanova will be desperate. Their head coach, Jay Wright, may be looking at trying to save his job. The team has gotten worse under him, and they’re off the map in Philly. You can talk about the fall of St. John’s but there hasn’t been anything at ‘Nova since Kerry Kittles. Of course, they are 0-7 on national games this year, but Pitt can’t take them lightly.

Pitt has 3 losses. A win on Saturday against ‘Nova would give them the Big East Regular Season Championship and the #1 seed in the Big East Tournament. At the risk of peeking ahead, the Tourney could create an interesting road for Pitt. A Syracuse fan lays out the likely scenario of how the conference will shake out and the seedings. Looking at the seedings, it looks like Pitt could end up playing the only teams to beat it all season in the tournament. Like this.

Pitt would get a first round bye. They would face the winner of the 8/9 game which would appear to be Seton Hall vs. WVU. Seton Hall beat Pitt on February 10.

If Pitt won that game, they would face the winner of Syracuse vs. the 5/12 team. Syracuse also beat Pitt — in case you had somehow forgotten.

If Pitt made it to the Championship game, it could end up facing a third game against UConn — the third and only other team Pitt lost to.

I can’t imagine that would happen too often.

UPDATE: Projections changed. Rutgers blew a game on Wednesday to VT, and now even if they beat Seton Hall on Sunday, Seton Hall will be the #7 seed.

According to Chevy Troutman, “This was a bounce-back game.” A 88-61 blow-out of a Top 15 team, was more like a statement game. Cook sees it as a message not to be so quick to jump off the Pitt bandwagon at the first bump. My argument has been that Pitt got too content by the Syracuse game. They believed they could win just by showing up and being physical — they bought into their own clippings. Syracuse may have been the best message they could receive heading into postseason play.

In Providence, they got the message.

The reigning Big East champion isn’t ready to give up its crown.

The Pittsburgh Panthers listened to all sorts of doom and gloom predictions after a painful home loss to Syracuse on Sunday. But instead of melting, the Panthers bounced back and inflicted plenty of pain on the Providence Friars last night, posting an impressive 88-61 win at a sold-out Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

Pitt and UConn remain tied for first place in the Big East race with 12-3 records. PC falls a game back at 11-4.

While the No. 6 Panthers answered the bell, the 12th-ranked Friars barely showed up. Pitt clamped its patented man-to-man defense on PC and never let go, holding the Friars to 35 percent shooting. The Panthers beat the Friars in all of the toughness categories, winning the battle of the boards (31-22) and dominating the paint with center Chris Taft (24 points) and forward Chevon Troutman (24) leading the way. Shifty guard Carl Krauser added 22 points with the help of 13-of-15 free-throw shooting. Pitt improved to 26-3.

“I can’t say enough about how our guys responded and stood up,” said first-year Pitt coach Jaime Dixon. “Our guys were very focused.”

Chevy Troutman gave a big wink to the crowd before he sank one of his free throws at the game — both Pittsburgh beat reporters noted it, but it was not in any other papers.

With 6:35 remaining in the game at Providence last night, Chevon Troutman stood on the blocks awaiting a Providence free-throw attempt. The rowdy Providence student section was taunting him while the Panthers held a 16-point lead.

Troutman turned to the crowd, winked and smiled.

Pitt totally controlled the inside game. Providence Coach Welsh became so desperate as Pitt began to build on its lead in the second half, that he switched from the zone to man-to-man. This made things worse.

The second bad omen came in the latter stages of the first half when the game started to turn into a Pittsburgh game plan, the Panthers starting to pound the ball through the Friars’ zone, starting to put their imprint on this game.

But the worst omen?

The absolute worst?

The one when you knew the Friars were in big trouble?

When PC coach Tim Welsh decided to come out of the zone and play man-to-man. It was a a decision he made about five minutes into the second half. The Friars were down eight, the game starting to feel as it was going to slip away from them.

“I didn’t like the way we were playing our zone at all,” Welsh said. “Every time they came down in the second half they were getting good looks.”

No doubt.

But the decision backfired.

Backfired big-time.

After that, the second half became a clinic on how to run a halfcourt offense, Pitt slicing and dicing the Friars almost at will, layup after layup, until it all began to seem like a pregame layup drill. Want to know why Welsh jettisoned the Friars man-to-man defense a year ago and started playing zone? Last night’s second half said it all.

All year long the Friars defense has given teams fits, most teams looking at the Friars’ zone as though they were trying to solve a big mystery without a whole lot of clues. Certainly Pitt began the game that way. But midway through the first half the inside strength of freshman star Chris Taft and Chevy Troutman began to assert itself. One of the strengths of the Friars’ zone all year has been their ability to keep opponents from getting inside it.

Pitt got inside it.

In what could be the big difference between this game and Syracuse. Pitt never abandoned the inside game. They kept pounding, and not settling for outside shots.

Welsh was a little bothered about how physical the game was. Depending on your interpretation, you could see this as some whining.

“They beat you up inside, and if you don’t get the fouls called, you get frustrated,” Welsh said. “They grab, they hold, they put a knee in your back, and the ref’s not going to call it.”

Asked to expand on Pitt’s physical style, Welsh deferred the question to an NFL coach.

“You’d probably have to ask (Bill) Belichik — what’s it like playing against Cowher and the Steelers defense?” Welsh said. “You complain about this and that, but at some moment, you have to play. They’re going to play that way and it’s not going to be called.

“Look through your files — Calhoun, Boeheim, Skinner — they all say the same thing, ‘Playing against Pitt is like playing against the Steel Curtain.”

Coach Dixon really didn’t have a lot of complaints about the performance.

Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said he may find something on the videotape of last night’s game that will tell him his sixth-ranked Panthers weren’t perfect. But watching with the naked eye, even Dixon couldn’t think of anything wrong.

“I can’t say enough about how our guys responded and stepped up,” Dixon said after Pitt, coming off a loss to Syracuse that snapped the Panthers’ 40-game home winning streak, blew No. 12 Providence out of the sold-out and steamy Dunkin’ Donuts Center, 88-61, to all but wrap up the Big East’s regular-season title.

Think this win wasn’t noticed by another team in New England?

Catching the SportsCenter highlights this morning was odd, to keep seeing home-run passes from Krauser to Taft and Troutman. I mean, not just one, but several. How bizarre.

The fast-break hoops ended any PC comeback hopes and the Panthers cruised to a 88-61 win.

“They weren’t keeping track of the big men,” said Troutman, who scored 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting. “It just kind of developed that way, but we got plenty of run-outs for easy baskets.”

The breakdown on defensive transition left PC coach Tim Welsh stunned.

“What was going through my mind was these guys were playing like sophomores, not seniors,” he said. “I don’t have any explanation for that. Maybe we were in a semi-shock because we were getting beat up too much.”

Marcus Douthit, Ryan Gomes and Tuukka Kotti were all beaten for layups.

“I think it was our frustration on offense,” said Gomes. “Those home-run passes, they really got us down.”

Pitt scored a whopping 48 points in the paint and outrebounded the Friars, 31-22. Welsh also noted that his team failed to block one shot all night.

Providence, though, has reason for optimism. They seem to be able to keep their coach from bolting, they are still a top 20 team looking for a #3 seed in the NCAA, and even with Gomes graduating they have good players.

The game was only shown locally, so I didn’t catch it. Talking with Pat after the game, his impressions were that Pitt just controlled and dominated the inside completely. Taft and Troutman were monsters in the game. The box score backs this assertion up.

Troutman had 23 points (9-13 shooting), didn’t miss from the free throw line (5-5), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, a block and even 2 steals. A stellar game.

Taft, though, may have been more impressive and may have put the cherry on his freshman season.

There are several reasons why Pittsburgh forward Chris Taft is the leading candidate to receive Big East Rookie of the Year honors. And there are many reasons why Taft, a true freshman, also is a solid candidate to not only be named to the Freshman All-American Team, but receive the National Freshman of the Year Award, as well.

To put it simply, Taft is just that good.

Providence College found that out last night. His numbers tell it all. Taft bullied his way to 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the field, and he pulled down six rebounds in helping sixth-ranked Pittsburgh beat 13th-ranked Providence, 88-61, in front of 12,993 fans at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

He did all of that in only 30 minutes of action. He was also perfect from the free throw line (4-4).

Krauser had a good game with 22 points (only 4-10 shooting but 13-15 from the free throw line), 8 assists, 2 turnovers, a steal, but only 1 personal foul. Page didn’t do much last night. He only took 3 shots, making 2, but apparently he passed up on a couple open looks. Considering Pitt’s inside dominance, he could afford to go slow to rebuild his shooting confidence.

Dixon really emptied the bench — not in terms of minutes since the starters still played 161 minutes. McCarroll got 12, and Graves led the bench with 18 minutes. Pitt actually had 7 guys coming off the bench, but for some reason Torree Morris was not one of them. Is he in the doghouse with Dixon? Has McCarroll gotten all of his minutes?

Pitt can win the Big East regular season outright with a win against Villanova at home on Saturday at 1:30. The game will be shown on ABC (regional map). The game will be on in Cleveland and the entire East coast. The West coast gets Stanford-Washington, and the rest have Iowa St.-Texas Tech. Villanova has remained a tough out for Pitt. Last year, they nearly beat Pitt despite a raft of suspensions.

In a related note, ESPN Classic will be showing the Pitt-Villanova first round match-up from the 1998 Big East Tournament at 1 pm on Friday. Pitt lost the game in double overtime 96-93. This was the game that pushed Vonteego Cummings from a 2nd round pick to late 1st round bust in the NBA. He played all 50 minutes and scored 37 points. It was otherwise forgettable season from the Ralph Willard error.

Error on my part regarding winning the Big East Regular Season and first round byes in the Big East Tournament. The top 4 teams get a bye, not 2. Pitt, Providence and UConn already have byes. As for winning the Big East Regular Season, well Providence wins it outright if they beat Pitt and BC. They only had to play UConn once, and won the game. If Pitt beats Providence and Villanova, it wins the Big East Regular Season outright because of the tiebreakers. Head to head is a wash, since Pitt and UConn split. The next tiebreaker is the record against the next best opponent — Providence.

Starting far away, the LA Times runs a puff piece on Coach Jamie Dixon. Actually some information on his past that I didn’t know — his European playing career was ended by a ruptured pancreas. A ruptured pancreas was the same condition that happened to Julius Page’s 3-year old son.

Up in Providence, they are ready for what they admit is their biggest game of the year.

That’s why tonight’s showdown against No. 6 Pittsburgh is the biggest Big East home game in PC’s 25-year history in the conference. The stakes can’t be any higher. Win, and the Friars will take a giant step toward the school’s first-ever conference title, a neighborhood the Panthers have owned the last two seasons.

“We’ve pointed to this opportunity for a long time,” said Welsh. “Winning the Big East is a big deal, for sure. Whoever wins it, it means you’re one of the best teams in the country, and that’s where we want our program to be.”

This game is expected to be another defensive slugfest for Pitt. “The Friars and Panthers are the two best defensive teams in the Big East, and chances are the first team to 60 points will win.” Providence plays the 2-3 zone, and you can bet after the Syracuse game they will be packing the lanes and be in almost a 1-4 type zone.

In the Pittsburgh media, the P-G beat writer takes up the Big East Regular Season champion theme, but unlike the Providence Journal, doesn’t use the quotes of Boeheim and Calhoun to point to different feelings on whether it matters. He does, though, move on to the fact that Pitt has absolutely struggled with the zone defense.

In three of its past four halves, Pitt has failed to score more than 22 points — all against predominantly zone defense teams. Against Georgetown, the Panthers scored 20 points in the first half of a 68-58 victory. They stormed back in the second half, scoring 48 points to pull out the win.
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Page, Carl Krauser and Jaron Brown will be the most important players for Pitt tonight. None of the three played particularly well against Syracuse. Krauser was 3 for 12 from the field and fouled out of the game with 63 seconds left in regulation. Brown and Page were 3 for 10 from the field.

In the past two games, the trio [Krauser, Page and Brown] is a combined 19 for 58 from the field (32.7 percent) and 6 for 28 from 3-point range (21.4 percent). Page is 1 for 10 and Brown 0 for 4 from behind the arc the past two games.

The Trib beat report looks more at the hot streak Providence has been on. They’ve won 6 in a row, and have been scoring a lot of points.

In the columns, Smizik doesn’t care about the Big East regular season. All that really matters is the NCAA starting March 18. He is arguing the game tonight matters for other reasons

This game is important because the Panthers must regain their footing. They’ve been slipping and sliding lately, barely looking like the team that once was a contender to advance to the Final Four.

It started Feb. 9 with a loss at Seton Hall. It wasn’t the loss — Seton Hall is a quality team, particularly on its home court — it was the style of play. Point guard Carl Krauser scored 23 points, but he also had three assists and eight turnovers. The poor shooting season of Julius Page continued. He made one of six shots.

A home win against Connecticut put the Seton Hall loss out of mind, but the next three games brought it back.

Of course Smizik along with the rest of the media in Pittsburgh didn’t notice the problems until the loss to Syracuse. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. So is immediate revisionism.

Still, Smizik actually makes some decent points.

In these past five games, Pitt’s guards — starters Krauser and Page and top reserve Yuri Demetris — are shooting 34 percent, an unacceptable number. Over that same span, Krauser’s assist-to-turnover ratio is 21/24, which is equally unacceptable.

There’s no accounting for Page’s slump. He’s 12 for 39 (31 percent) in the past five games. It’s not like he’s pouting over Krauser’s ascendancy. A freshman substitute last year, Krauser has taken the mantle of leadership and go-to tag from Page, who is a four-year starter. Page’s defensive play on Syracuse’s Gerry McNamara Sunday was masterful and ample testimony that he’s working hard.

His confidence, though, appears to be nearly ruined and it will be difficult, but not impossible, to regain it at this point in the season. Krauser’s turnaround is a more plausible scenario.

You know within the first 5 minutes of the game if Page will be on or not. If he misses his first 2 shots, he is done right there. His confidence goes right out the window. That’s been apparent all season, even to me.

Page shoots an airball for his first shot at 17:50, never a good sign. Page needs to get the baskets falling early. His game, offensively, is dictated early by how he shoots. If the shots fall, he’s good. If they don’t, it just gets worse.

Krauser’s turnovers in large part can be attributed to the zones completely choking off the passes he makes inside, and trying to do too much outside because Page has been useless on offense.

There are other problems. The bench once lauded as deep is down to seven men and Demetris is not offering a lot. He has less confidence in his shot than Page. Since he rarely even thinks of shooting, defenses don’t have to contend with him, allowing them to exert more pressure on Pitt’s four other players.

Exactly what has happened to freshman guard Antonio Graves, who started and played well in four games when Krauser was hurt early in the season, is hard to figure. He looks to be a better shooting and ballhandling option than Demetris. But he has been all but exiled, having played only seven minutes in the past five games and one minute in the past three.

Demetrius is in there over Graves because Graves is not very good on defense. Demetrius at least stays with his guy and won’t be deterred or taken out by picks. Pitt is a defense first team. Demetrius’s offense is nothing, and it’s been that way all year. It’s why he lost a starting position and is now the second or third player off the bench behind McCarroll and Morris.

The other column feels that this is the game where Pitt needs to redeem itself. Ross points out that Pitt doesn’t express much angst, but the fans and media are the ones starting to freak.

Understand that fans of the Pittsburgh sports condition — the city, not just the university — have developed a Cubs-like sense of impending doom regarding their sporting teams. How will the Steelers blow a home AFC title game next? How will Pitt fail in its next big football game?

More recently, it’s been what malady will rise up and short-circuit a Pitt NCAA Tournament run?

These fans want to embrace success without reserve, to enjoy the giddy ride on the bandwagon, but they can’t seem to forget the pain from when they fell off the last time.

The Pitt NCAA Tournament angst, Ross came up with on his own, so he’s going to push it for the next month. Ross does offer some perspective

Early in the year, when the transition from Ben Howland to Dixon was just beginning, another Sweet 16 trip seemed like an admirable goal. As the season progressed, and Pitt’s win total swelled, Elite Eight and Final Four entered the expectation horizon.

Those remain operative — tentatively — as the standards by which some will judge this season’s success, or disappointment. The Syracuse loss has hinted of the need for a re-examination. A loss to Providence would be further evidence of the need for a re-think.

Yeah, but a win puts us right back to Final Four dreamin’. Looks like a long evening in front of the computer, reloading updates.

I have some thoughts on the Big East staying in the BCS and a 5th bowl to be added, but I won’t get to them until after the Providence game, or more likely the season finale with Villanova.

Just wanted to pass along the other news that Pitt hired a receivers coach, Pete Carmichael.

Carmichael joins the Panthers after serving as an offensive assistant with the Chicago Bears from 2001-03. Prior to Chicago, he was the Cleveland Browns’ offensive coordinator (2000) and the Jacksonville Jaguars’ receivers coach (1994-99).
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Before his NFL tenure, Carmichael spent 13 seasons at Boston College (1981-93), including the last three as receivers coach under Tom Coughlin. The Eagles earned New Year’s Day bowl berths in 1992 and 1993 as All-Big East quarterback Glenn Foley led a potent passing attack. From 1981-90, Carmichael tutored the defensive backs at Boston College.

Carmichael began his coaching career in 1963 at Watchung Hills (N.J.) High School and coached at Clark (N.J.) High in 1964. In 1965, he spent a year at Virginia Military Institute and then went to Madisonboro (N.J.) High. That was followed by stints at New Hampshire (1967), Columbia (1974-77) and an initial tour at Boston College (1968-72). He was head coach at Trenton State College in 1973. After three years as an assistant at Columbia, he earned his second head coaching assignment from 1977-80 at the Merchant Marine Academy.

He is apparently in his early 60s. I have no information as to whether this was a good hire. The only thing to say is that his last two jobs would have been thankless tasks for anybody — so he is used to seeing things go wrong on offense.

The Pitt-Providence game will likely decide at least the co-Big East regular season champion. Providence can win it out-right if it sweeps its remaining games and UConn loses to either Seton Hall or Syracuse. Pitt needs to beat both Providence and Villanova to and a UConn loss. The top two teams receive a first round bye in the Big East Tournament.

Providence is led by Ryan Gomes who was named Big East Player of the Week today — the 4th time he’s earned that. On the other side Chris Taft won Big East Rookie of the Week for the 5th time this season. The winner of the game will likely earn Big East Coach of the Year honors for the coach.

Providence is already juiced for the game.

Enough with the preliminaries. It’s time for the Providence Friars to face a true Big East heavyweight.

After dismantling the sorry Red Storm of St. John’s yesterday at Madison Square Garden, 103-78, the Friars’ thoughts quickly turned to their biggest test of the season tomorrow night. Ready or not, the third-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers come to town with first place in the Big East on the line.

PC’s players are very aware that this will be the most important home game in the school’s 25 seasons of Big East basketball. The Friars have never won a Big East regular season title and have never faced a top-5 opponent at home while ranked in the top 15.

“It’s for first place and the Big East regular season title,” said PC star Ryan Gomes. “It’ll be hard to take it as just another game because we’ve worked hard since October to get to this point. It’s a big game for the fans and for us. ”

PC played Pitt twice last season, but hasn’t hosted the Panthers since 2001. The Friars lost at Pitt last Feb. 4, 68-61. The Panthers also won a rematch in the Big East Tournament, 67-59.

“It’s a special time for our program,” said Friars coach Tim Welsh. “We had it marked down a couple weeks ago that if we could get through this stretch of four out of five one the road, we’d have two [games] coming home. I’ve turned off my phone. I have no tickets.”

Pitt fell to #6 in both of the polls and Providence is at #12 in the AP Writers and #13 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll.

Here are Pitt’s and Providence’s game notes (both in PDF).

The media in Pittsburgh, after all but declaring the game decided before it started, suddenly had to rewrite their copy. The story now was Pitt’s first loss at the Pete. The first time in quite a while when no one seemed able to step up in the game. The numbers said it all.

It was Pitt’s worst offensive performance in more than 22 years. The 46 points scored represented the fewest scored in a game since a 52-46 double-overtime loss at Penn State in 1982.

The Panthers shot a season-low 30.9 percent from the field. They were 17 for 55, 3 for 16 from 3-point range and 9 for 17 from the free-throw line. They were 1 for 9 from behind the arc and 7 for 13 from the free-throw line after halftime, when they scored 24 points in the final 25 minutes.

This time, Syracuse couldn’t merely be shoved around and cowed. They met Pitt’s physical play and fought threw it.

So the columnists at the game can either take what happened and try to keep some perspective.

Before panic breaks out in the wake of such a revelation, consider:

Pitt was about as bad as it could have been and still came within a free throw of winning in regulation.

Chevy Troutman, Chris Taft and Jaron Brown repeatedly missed on easy attempts from underneath in the game’s opening minutes.

Julius Page didn’t make a three-pointer until just 46 seconds remained in the second half, and the Panthers finished a horrific 3 for 16 from beyond the arc.

Troutman, Taft and to a lesser extent Mark McCarroll were abused by Syracuse forward Hakim Warrick.

Carl Krauser fouled out.

And Pitt was a not-good-enough 9 for 17 from the foul line.

And still it took a missed free throw by Troutman with three seconds left for Syracuse to survive in overtime.

That makes Pitt mortal, but not necessarily more vulnerable than anyone else.

Even in defeat, the defense and rebounding showed up for the most part, and that’s what Pitt depends upon night in and night out.

The Panthers’ best hope in the upcoming tournaments is that defense and rebounding continue to be staples of their game.

Taking their chances with the rest and living with the results has put them in a position to contend with anyone.

On the other hand, you can start to panic

March isn’t always about the highest seeds. It’s about the teams that are playing their best.

That’s what you should be worried about.

It’s hard to imagine Pitt playing worse than it did at Georgetown Tuesday night when it committed 23 turnovers and made just 4 of 15 3-point shots. It won by 10 points but only because the Hoyas were the opponent. They lost to St. John’s, for goodness sake, just six days earlier.

But Pitt was worse in a 49-46 overtime loss to Syracuse. It protected the ball better, but its shooting was worse. Syracuse dared it to shoot outside by playing a collapsing 2-3 zone defense, but the Pitt players weren’t up to the challenge. Its three guards — Carl Krauser, Julius Page and Jaron Brown — combined to shoot 9 for 34. As a team, it was 3 of 16 shooting 3s.

That was much more troubling than the end of Pitt’s remarkable 34-game run at the Petersen Events Center.

This isn’t the time of the year to struggle. Not with the NCAA tournament barely two weeks away.

There really isn’t any time to linger over this loss. Pitt played a horrible week of basketball and came away 1-1. They are still in position for a #1 seed if they win the last two and make it to the Big East Championship game. The important thing for Pitt is to get ready for Providence. Pitt shouldn’t necessarily forget this game. They need to use it as motivation. To remind themselves that they aren’t going to win any games just by showing up. They have to play and play smart.

Maybe I didn’t see the same game. Maybe the sportswriters at the game let themselves get too caught up in the drama of the last few minutes of regulation and the subsequent overtime. I saw no mention in an of the columns and reports of the game about Pitt not pushing against Hakim Warrick when he got in early foul trouble. Nowhere is there mention of how he played the final 13 minutes of the first half with 2 fouls — not picking up a 3rd nor coming out of the game. There is also no mention of him having 4 fouls at 6 minutes left in regulation — and again not getting a 5th. Instead Warrick played the entire 45 minutes. The fact that Pitt didn’t try and go at him more seems to be a key issue in the game and the sort of question you have for the coaches. As in, “Coach Dixon, why didn’t you try to go at Warrick more when he was playing with 2 fouls in the first half, or later in the second half when he had 4?” Or even for Boeheim, “Coach, did you even consider taking Warrick out for any spell to avoid picking up the 3rd foul in the first half or after he picked up that 4th foul with 6 minutes left?”

The decision not to take out Warrick was risky but arguably necessary by Boeheim, since McNamara was having a nightmare game, and Warrick is their best player. I still want to know how and why Dixon didn’t instruct Taft, Troutman, McCarroll and even Morris not to got at Warrick more on the offensive end.

On to the media review. To the victors go the spoils, so Syracuse papers go first. The Post-Standard beat reporter gets a little too cute right off the bat.

The Syracuse Orangemen handed Pittsburgh its first loss in the history of the Petersen Events Center here Sunday, 49-46 in overtime, and yet no one thought to utter the phrase, “The Petersen Events Center is officially open.”

Where is John Thompson when you need him?

The report is more a collection of quotes about how this was a payback game for Syracuse, and that they now know they can play and beat the best in the country. According to Boeheim, the goal was to really, really slow the game down. More than even Pitt likes the pace. Not even Syracuse students could say this was a pretty game. Their not complaining about the win, though.

After Hakim Warrick chucked the ball halfway to the Petersen Events Center’s roof – and James Naismith stopped doing 180s in his grave – the spindly forward walked defiantly off the court, head high and chest out.
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For the first time in a while, the Syracuse men’s basketball team had reason to be that proud. It had just become the first visitor to send fans at the Pete home unhappy, beaten a No. 3 Pittsburgh team that some called the best in the nation and did so with a toughness that screamed, “Ready for March.”

For all the hand-wringing SU’s struggles and Billy Edelin’s absence have brought this season, the Orangemen gave reason to shove that in the background. They’ve punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament and did so on national television, where they’d previously done nothing but fall on their face.
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If Syracuse can beat Pitt on its home floor, it can beat any team in the country anywhere.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it will. Maybe yesterday’s game was an aberration – that much we don’t know. What we know now, though, is that when we all counted Syracuse out, it was a little too early.

That would include a lot of Pitt fans and pundits.

Another article focuses on McNamara as the “go-to-guy” no matter how bad a game he was having. It conveniently ignores the fact that Syracuse didn’t have much of a choice. Even Warrick couldn’t do it all by himself. The Daily Orange has a better take on what McNamara’s 3 meant — it simply erased everything he had done in the game up until that point.

I give the Daily Orange student reporters a lot of credit. They are brutally honest in their coverage. They seemed to be the only ones admitting that the refs sucked in the game.

It was as exhilarating as it was nauseating, captivating as it was disgusting. The Syracuse men’s basketball team’s 49-46 overtime victory over Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon was a Picasso covered in mud.
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With Syracuse (19-6, 9-5 Big East) leading 40-38, a pair of questionable calls helped force the game into overtime. McNamara was bumped by Krauser – who picked up his fifth foul before racing down the court, and yanking his shirt over his head – and knocked down a pair of free throws.

On the ensuing possession, Page hit his only 3-pointer of the game. After a Syracuse miss, center Craig Forth fouled out on another questionable call trying to knock away a pass to Pittsburgh forward Chevon Troutman. Forth stood in disbelief before jogging to the bench with three seconds left.

Troutman, meanwhile, strode to the foul line, made his first free throw and had an opportunity to win the game. His second circled around the rim and bounced out.

“The referees were doing the best they could,” Warrick said. “Any game with Pittsburgh is going to be hard on them because they like to be so physical.”

That doesn’t excuse the bad refereeing. Especially under the basket. It seemed that they were afraid to call anything inside, so they’d only do make-up calls just outside.

The New York Times wonders if Pitt could be losing its composure and poise.

In losing to Syracuse in overtime on Sunday, 49-46, Pittsburgh suffered more than its third defeat and the end of a 40-game home winning streak, which began before the Petersen Events Center opened last season.

The Panthers fell into a three-way tie with Connecticut and Providence for first place in the Big East Conference and will probably lose their No. 3 national ranking. Moreover, the Panthers may be losing their poise and confidence a week before the conference tournament and two weeks before the N.C.A.A. tournament.
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One person not talking afterward was Carl Krauser of Pittsburgh, the sophomore point guard from the Bronx, who had plenty to say to the officials while drawing three fouls in 3 minutes 12 seconds; he fouled out with 1:03 left in regulation.

After his final foul, on a steal attempt, Krauser ran down the floor and showed his anger by pulling his jersey over his head and wringing it tightly with his hands.

It was not the only display of Panthers pique.

Midway through the second half, when Craig Forth of Syracuse blocked a shot by Page, Jamie Dixon, Pittsburgh’s first-year coach, was whistled for a technical foul. The score was tied. McNamara made the two free throws, and Pittsburgh never regained the lead.

“I didn’t get an explanation,” Dixon said. “I don’t know what I did.”
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Perhaps it is a lesson for Dixon, the new coach, and Krauser, the young guard. Lose your cool at the wrong time and you may lose your shirt.

It may be overstated in the article, but he has a point. Pitt seemed to let itself get deeper in the funk and frustrated deeper into the game.

I’ll get to the Pitt side a little later. The kid is up and tearing into the office.

The BCS is adding a 5th Bowl game and two more at-large teams, while the Big East retains its automatic bid to the BCS.
That is quite a relief, considering how the football conference will likely suck ass in the near future.

This also means Pitt will have a legitimate shot at a BCS bowl every year, and won’t have to rely on Miami or VaTech having an off season to make the big time – and the big money.
The uncertainty of the BCS’s relationship to the Big East no doubt contributed to the defection of two of Pitt’s top football recruits, Anthony Morelli to Penn State and Andrew Johnson to PSU (a third defected to USF, a new Big East football member).

This likely prevents any current Big East football member from seeking BigTen membership.

It also elevates new in-conference foe USF significantly, which could hurt Pitt’s recruiting in Florida (I guess Cincinnati and Louiville benefit as well, but they never had as much to gain as USF). That’s still worth it, in my opinion.
Why does USF gain? Because they went from a nothing conference to a BCS conference. They now can look down their noses at UCF up in Orlando since they are still in a nothing conference. They can also say to in-state recruits that Miami, FSU and Florida are all in the same system they are (the BCS) – and the kids actually have an easier path to the dance by coming to USF.

Pitt, Syracuse, WVU (and Rutgers and UConn, I guess) all hang on to BCS status. This allows them to stop the bleeding caused by the loss of VaTech, Miami and BC. And it means the best basketball conference in the nation, the Big East, stays together for the forseeable future. Rock on!