Another team that could hit the 3. Not as simple as that, but this is a frustrated snap reaction. Villanova hit jumpers, they could score quickly. You want to know why Pitt lost to WVU and ‘Nova, but not ND? Penetration. ND couldn’t the other 2 teams could. Pitt is just unable to handle teams that can go inside and out with consistency.

In 2 of Pitt’s 4 losses and the 3-drink minimum to watch game with ND, the issue was the other team dropping 3s. That is what Pitt will be facing with Villanova.

Villanova is a lot like West Virginia and Notre Dame in that the Wildcats use the 3-point shot as a major part of their offense. They shoot 36.7 percent from behind the arc, behind only Pitt (41.0) and Notre Dame (39.5) in the Big East. They average almost 20 3-point shots a game.

“They’re kind of similar to Notre Dame as far as perimeter scoring goes,” Dixon said. “But they do it off the dribble and use penetration to find guys. They let them create.”

Villanova is the highest-scoring team in the Big East, averaging almost 76 points per game in conference play. The Wildcats are led by the high-scoring guard trio of Allan Ray, Randy Foye and Mike Nardi. All three average in double figures for the season. Ray (17.2 points per game) is the top scorer and 3-point shooter (43.1 percent).

That means Pitt’s guards will need to stay on them. Graves and Ramon will get the bulk of the time. Benjamin may only get extended minutes if one of them gets into foul trouble.

Shooting a lot of 3s, especially deep ones, means Pitt will have to contend with long rebounds. Something they are a little inconsistent about doing. Taft and Gray are not particularly adept at moving out quickly to grab rebounds. If Troutman drifts too far out, it can be a risk because then Pitt’s best inside defender is out of position and risks giving up an easy lay-up or inside basket. A lot of pressure on the perimeter defense.

Villanova is tough at home. They are 10-1 — the loss last weekend to Syracuse. This team has been big on potential for a couple years, but now appears to be putting it together. They survived near death earlier in the season when their charter plane suffered instrument failure. Naturally, they all say that only brought them closer together.

Villanova needs this game to help solidify its resume for the NCAA Tournament. They have a big win against Kansas, but need to show a little more. In a rarity for ‘Nova they have some control over whether they make it.

Either way, the ball is in VillanovaÂ’s court. The Wildcats donÂ’t need to make a run in the Big East Tournament or have the rest of the conference tournaments go according to plan to earn an engraved invitation to the “Big Dance.”

“We control our own destiny,” point guard Mike Nardi said. “ItÂ’s a good feeling.”

It sure is, because the Wildcats have not been in this position in this millennium. And that makes it exciting, especially this week with Pittsburgh and Boston College coming to town.

Controlling your destiny is overrated. Generally that’s just code for, “we are still trying to make up ground for blowing some games earlier in the season.”

The Wildcats do not get much love from their local papers. There is no previewing the game. No hype. Nothing. I realize there are a bunch of colleges in Philly playing Div. 1 basketball, but only one is in the top-25; and only one has a big game today.

As far as the NCAA Tournament goes, Joe Bendel speculates that Pitt may be the best hope of the Big East to make a deep run.

Somewhat of a reversing of the field from P-G columnist Ron Cook. A couple weeks ago, ostensibly in the context of questioning the teams effort against WVU, Cook spent most of his column criticizing Krauser. Actually complaining that Krauser wasn’t able to hoist a wild shot as the half came to an end. This piece lauds Krauser for his toughness and willingness to take the last shot. Whatever.

There’s a piece relating to Pitt’s swimming teams’ successes and the hope to improve the facilities via the “Quest for Excellence” fundraising drive.

Another story regards former Pitt head coach (1975-1980), and present Portland Trailblazer assistant, Tim Grgurich. Grgurich was also the top assistant for Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV in the 80s. Turns out he turned down an opportunity to become head coach at Providence after Pitino left.

Grgurich went 69-70 at Pitt, but his team was improving each year. Despite him being from Pittsburgh and having gone to school at Pitt, the story gives a pretty good indication why he was fired.

So listen to Pete Newell, Hall of Fame coach, talk about Grgurich.
…
“I remember Tark telling me one time, ‘You hire Timmy and there’s certain things you’re going to have to accept. He won’t meet with press and he’s not going to meet with the alumni. And when he’s scouting, he wants to go out and scout by himself.’

“That’s Tim.”

That is a career assistant. He now lives in Las Vegas in the offseason. Seems a shame if Pitt couldn’t find a way to tap his knowledge.

Don’t ask me to fully explain the specific geographic set up for each District. Suffice to say that the state of Pennsylvania is located in District 3 for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division I programs. Who cares? Well, in this instance, the announcement of “All-District” teams (PDF). In District 3, Pitt placed Chevon Troutman and Carl Krauser on the First Team, and Chris Taft was placed on the Second Team.

First Team ——————— Second Team
Carl Krauser Pittsburgh ——– Keydren Clark St. Peters
Chevon Troutman Pittsburgh — Steve Smith La Salle
Allan Ray Villanova ———— Pat Carroll St. Joseph’s
Mardy Collins Temple ——— Tim Begley Pennsylvania
Curtis Sumpter Villanova —— Chris Taft Pittsburgh

There are 15 Districts. From the 150 players on the list, it will be pared down further to create the Collegiate All-American honors.

Not a lot of articles today. A player piece on Mark McCarroll with a lot more of his background. McCarroll’s had a bad season by any definition. No one wished for that, unfortunately, it does not appear to be any time left to change things.

Mike Prisuta of the Trib backs the Pitt Athletic Dept‘s “Quest for Excellence” fundraising drive. He makes 3 points. 1) It’s a special time in Pitt sports — there are only a few programs in the country that finished ranked in the AP top 25 in football and are ranked in basketball; 2) the basketball team is really special and seems to be heading to a peak in play at the right time; and 3) the fundraising drive is no different from what other programs all over the country do and are doing.

Final story focuses on improved defense by the team.

“Early in the year we had a lot of young players out there,” said [Jaron] Brown, who stopped by the Petersen Events Center yesterday to visit after practice. “It was going to take time. It took us two or three years to get as good as we were. I knew it would make them look bad because we did such a good job. But this group is starting to get close to reaching some of the goals we set. This team can be as good or better than we were on defense. I’ve been watching the last few games, and they’re starting to come together at the right time.”

Pitt had nowhere to go but up after a three-game stretch in late December and early January when South Carolina, Bucknell and Georgetown all shot 50 percent or better from the field. Bucknell and Georgetown won games played at the Petersen Events Center.

But since then, the Panthers have been making steady improvement. They might have played one of their best defensive games of the season Monday night in Syracuse.

The perimeter defense is still an area of concern. Teams that have more than one legitimate deep scoring threat can give Pitt fits.

Hmm. No coach puffing pieces. Figure there has to be one lauding Coach Jamie Dixon tomorrow. He’s one shy of 50 wins, so I expect something.

Self-serving good: Seth Davis at SI.com makes the following observation about Hakim Warrick in relation to the BC game this weekend:

Syracuse has neither high-quality big men nor a bevy of outside bombers. It has a great player in Hakim Warrick, but he doesn’t like to be pushed away from the goal. On Saturday he’ll be pushed — a lot. (The manner in which this game will be officiated is critical.)

That pretty much jibes with what I saw in the Pitt-Syracuse game.

You look at how Hakim Warrick spent a lot less time in the second game under the basket. In the first game, he attempted 4 layups (made 3) and had a dunk. In the second game, he only attempted 2 layups (made 1) and added another dunk. His jump shots in the first game were overwhelmingly taken in the paint. In the game yesterday, all of his shots were outside of the paint. He just did not want to be in there banging.

The thing is, he shied away from contact in the second game. Not the first. I think he’ll be more aggressive inside against BC — at least initially. Davis is right. If he gets the early calls, he should be able to go off on the Eagles.

As B.B. noted earlier, Davis after picking against Pitt in 3 straight big games (going 0-3), gives a kiss of death by finally going with the Panthers.

Villanova got a lot of mileage out of its rout of Kansas a month ago, but the Wildcats haven’t done much since. They did beat Notre Dame 65-60 in the next game, but in their two toughest tests, at Connecticut and home last weekend against Syracuse, they came up short. The loss to ‘Cuse was especially bad considering it came at home and the Orange, who get out-rebounded by everybody, beat the Cats on the boards 42-34. Unfortunately, Pittsburgh isn’t the right team to be playing if you’re susceptible to inside muscle. The Panthers won the battle of the boards by six when they beat Syracuse on Monday, and with freshman guard Ronald Ramon looking healthy and confident again, I think Pitt is a team on the rise.
Seth’s Pick: Pittsburgh 67, Villanova 62

I feel like Pitt has just been given a kiss of death.

Greg Doyel lists the game as one of the weekend’s best.

Villanova has an awesome NCAA resumé aside from one troubling number: The Wildcats (16-6, 6-5) are seventh in the Big East. With everything else going for it, Villanova can finish seventh in the Big East and still get an NCAA bid — but don’t push your luck, Wildcats. Beating the Panthers (18-4, 8-3) would put a nice bow on things. Watch Villanova’s quartet of guards try to fluster Pitt’s Carl Krauser.

Fine. If they can’t protect the inside, Troutman, Taft, Gray and even Kendall should be able to go off.

The SEC drops the hammer on exuberant Gamecocks fans.

5K ain’t so bad, but offense no. 2 bumps the fine to 25K and the third elevates it to 50K.

I understand that the SEC is wary of things getting outta hand in our post-Artest sports world, but, to quote Jimmy, “Come on!”

Seriously, I’ve spent time in Columbia, S.C., and believe me,there ain’t much to celebrate. Let the kids have their moment.

And let the Big East resist the urge to foist nanny-state “solutions” on problems that don’t really exist.

Pitt has its game notes (PDF) for the Sunday match-up. Calling the game on ABC will be Dan Shulman and Len Elmore. That’s a relief. I was afraid Vitale might be brought in after the Saturday night ESPN game or something.

Individual stats from the game notes. Troutman is 25 points shy of 1200 for his career. Depending on how many games Pitt plays in the Big East and NCAA Tournament, he should have a decent shot of reaching 1300. That would place him 15th on the Pitt scoring list, passing Sean Miller, Bobby Martin and Jerome Lane. Carl Krauser, with 372 assists needs only 7 to pass Curtis Aiken and move up to 7th on the assist list at Pitt. Chris Taft is 2 blocks short of 100 for his career. A Pitt win would give Coach Dixon his 50th victory. He’s 49-9.

In the Connecticut Journal Inquirer, a columnist presents his 2004-2005 Big East All-Indispensable first team. The team includes Ryan Gomes, Providence; Jared Dudley, BC; Jeff Green, Georgetown; Marcus Williams, UConn; and

CHEVY TROUTMAN, Pittsburgh: The Panthers’ blue-collar guy underneath, Troutman uses every bit of his four years of experience to get the most out of his talent. Translated, that means the 6-7 forward knows every trick in the book and it makes him one of the toughest opponents in the league. Teammate Carl Krauser makes plenty of big shots for Pittsburgh, but there have been too many games this season in which Troutman simply took over and won the game for the Panthers – the UConn game for one. In league games, Troutman is Pitt’s leading scorer (16.8) and rebounder (7.9). He does all the dirty work that all good teams have to have done.

The great appeal of Troutman, isn’t just how good he is, it’s that you see maximum effort and skill in his game. It’s why he is so widely regarded. He’s leaving everything out there.

The ‘Nova student paper sees the game like this:

The best way to play against this type of team is to start in zone, but have the defense completely deny any entry passes into the post. The Panthers tend to get streaky from behind the arc, but they are much more of a threat when their interior offense is working well. On defense, Tafts shot blocking and rebounding ability will make it tough for our guards to get layups inside, so it is crucial to hit three pointers and make free throws.

This will no doubt be one of the biggest games thus far for the ‘Cats, and with BC looming next Wednesday, there is no time to relax. This is the time of year when great teams step up and prove how good they are.

We believe in our team, and, with two good games against the best of competition, the rest of the nation will believe as well.

Think the students will be in to this game?

No one story or theme today. You can bid on a game ball from the ND-Pitt game. It’s been signed by Coach Dixon.

An article trying to pump support for Chevon Troutman as Big East Player of the Year. I just don’t see it happening. I think Hakim Warrick of Syracuse will get it. Arguably, Jared Dudley from BC might be the right choice but I think he gets penalized for being on BC and having some votes split by his teammate, Craig Smith. I just want Troutman on the 1st-team All-Big East squad.

Add Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated to the many fans of Troutman.

Staying in the Big East: Pitt’s undersized-but-relentless Chevon Troutman has become one of my favorite players (and could teach a thing or two about consistency to teammate Chris Taft). And it’s nice to see that Boston College didn’t get buried by the pollsters after suffering its only loss of the season last week at Notre Dame. (I figured the Eagles might take a beating.)

Word to ‘Bag pal Pat Forde: Ashley Judd may not be the belle of college basketball after all. Several readers have nominated Kansas team manager Shannon O’Connor, who now has legions of her own fans for reasons that have little to do with hoops.

The link to O’Connor is worth clicking to. That’s one way to help build the team support.

The weekly Pitt basketball Q&A with Ray Fittipaldo, the P-G reporter, is up. Some interesting stuff, and a promise to find out where is Ricardo Greer.

Looking to the future with an article on how the 2005 recruiting class for basketball is doing this year. Makes you feel very optimistic. I like the confidence of the kids that they believe they can get right into things. Some sound so enthusiastic for the physical style of play, it makes me grin. You have to like players that say they want to get in there and bang and play inside.

As for Villanova, they survived a scare at Seton Hall last night. It actually snapped a six game losing streak to the Pirates. ‘Nova was led by Curtis Sumpter who scored 25 points. The Wildcats are still a hot and cold running team. They led the game 43-27 then went 9+ minutes without scoring (0-13) to let Seton Hall back into the game.

Villanova has always given Pitt a hard time. Last year they threw a scare into Pitt, before collapsing in the final 8 minutes. This is an unpredictable team, still. They are fighting to get into the NCAA Tournament. Right now they are a proverbial bubble team.

Bob Smizik is a frequent target of irate Pitt fans, and I have been known to go after some of his columns on occasion. His column today, is worth reading in full. If for no other reason he utters these words.

I goofed.

It is rare for most print columnists to admit when they were wrong or are contradicting what they had previously written. Smizik is probably no better or worse than most. So when he is willing to come out and say this, you take notice.

The column refers to the Pitt Athletic Department’s “Quest for Excellence” fundraising drive. Specifically the plans for mandatory donations to the Panther Club and season ticket seats. I did not pay much attention to the revamping of the basketball season tickets, because I don’t have any. Maybe I should have:

Pitt is attempting to be as fair as possible in what will amount to a total reseating of the Petersen Center. But when the seats are being bid for in what amounts to a silent auction, complete fairness is not possible.

Above all else, Pitt must be fair with its fan.

Pitt has devised a sophisticated and complicated priority list, which, correctly, includes more than the size of a contribution. Seniority also is a factor, as it should be. But the bottom line is this:

No one knows what it will take to keep their seat.
…
Under the new Pitt arrangement, season-ticket holders are contributing blindly. They don’t know what it will take to give them the same seat they currently have or the same caliber of seat. They won’t know where they stand until all contributions are in and all prospective season-ticket holders are ranked.

Furthermore, it’s possible to make a contribution and not get a seat. The contribution, of course, is not refundable.

According to the article, UConn does reseating every year; Maryland every 2; and now Kansas is doing it.

Not to be insulting, but Pitt is not any of those places. Those school have a much larger and more sturdily built fan base and have had longer, more sustained success. In the case of UConn and Kansas, they are also about the only game in town, so to speak.

The brochure for the basketball tickets (PDF) is intentionally vague about what the donor levels are/should/will be.

I know Pitt thinks this is a better way to maximize donations, and can point to a waiting list for season tickets of around 3,000. That’s deceptive. People will get on the list, but when it comes time aren’t necessarily jumping. I have family living in the DC area, who put themselves on the Washington Redskins waiting list for season tickets only a few years ago. The “official waiting list” is supposed to be some 10-20 thousand deep. Within 2 years they were being contacted by the team about getting tickets — they said no and just stayed on the list.

I’m going to blather on a little more about the non-con. Two things that really hurt Pitt in the RPI with their non-con. Playing only one road game, and losing to Bucknell. The RPI formula was tweaked this year. A road win is far more valuable than a home win. Conversely, a road loss is not so bad as a home loss. Neutral site games are in the middle.

I’m going to set out the non-con schedules of 4 teams with significantly higher RPIs than Pitt.

Boston College (RPI = 5)
Average RPI of Opponents = 139.64
Opponent —– RPI
Maine ———– 212
New Hampshire – 249
Clemson ——— 103
Long Island —— 245
@ UCLA ——— 37
Holy Cross ——- 38
Boston U ——— 41
Yale ————- 161
Duquesne ——– 287
Kent St. ———– 39
@ UMass ——— 124

Duke (RPI = 6)
Average RPI of Opponents = 121
Opponent ——– RPI
Tenn.-Martin —— 307
@ Davidson ——– 64
UNC-Greensboro — 180
Mich. St. ———– 17
@ Valpo ———– 185
Toledo ————- 84
Ill.-Chicago ——– 106
@ Oklahoma ——- 21
Princeton ———- 101
Temple ———— 91
St. John’s ———- 175 (Feb. 26)

Syracuse (RPI = 13)
Average RPI of Opponents = 158.14
Opponent ——– RPI
Northern Colo. —– 291 (Neutral Site)
Princeton ———- 101 (Neutral Site)
Miss. St. ———– 24 (Neutral Site)
Memphis ———- 109 (Neutral Site)
@ Siena ———– 292
St. Bonaventure — 323
Colgate ———— 235
Oklahoma St. —— 4 (Loss) (Neutral Site)
Binghampton —— 171
Drexel ————- 72
Cornell ————- 205
Rice —————- 94
Albany ————- 183
Hofstra ————- 110

UConn (RPI = 26)
Average RPI of Opponents = 145.50
Opponent ——– RPI
Buffalo ————- 53
Fla. Int’l ———— 210
Northeastern ——- 78
@ UMass ———– 124 (Loss)
Rice —————– 94
Cent. Conn. ———- 250
Sacred Heart ——– 322
Quinnipiac ———– 295
@ Oklahoma ——— 21 (Loss)
UNC —————– 8 (Loss)

This is what I’m talking about. Some balance. You can schedule a non-con with 1, maybe 2 games against teams in the lower 6th (271-330), but you need to counter with some teams in the top-50. If you are going to play primarily all your games at home, you need to take a reasonable risk and schedule some mid-majors.

For Pitt, this should be easy. Geographically, there are MAC teams nearby that will come to Pittsburgh for the exposure and the money. I accept playing the Duquesne, Robert Morris, even the St. Francis-PA. Everyone plays the nearby patsies. It’s another thing to import Howard, Loyola-MD and Coppin State from the Maryland-DC area.

Look at the RPI teams ahead of Pitt. There are only 7 teams who have Strength of Schedule rankings lower than Pitt’s (as of Feb. 13). All 7, by the way are from the non-power conferences and are hurt by their conference schedule. Pitt, even with the BE play has, at this point, a SOS of 137. There’s weak scheduling, and then there is pathetic scheduling.

You may have heard that the NCAA has recommended the use of instant replay in college football. You may have also heard that the ACC and Mountain West are implementing it. You may be wondering what the Big East is going to do. Well, I was. An official decision won’t come until the BE meetings in May, but it looks likely.

The BIG EAST Conference is very pleased with the announcement by the NCAA Football Rules Committee that allows conferences to utilize instant replay to assist their football officials. The head football coaches in the conference are in unanimous support of using instant replay and our athletic directors are currently discussing all available options.

“We have already done significant research and analysis into the use of instant replay for our Big East Conference football games this coming season,” stated BIG EAST Conference Commissioner Michael Tranghese. “Toward this end, we will be examining the system utilized very effectively by the Big Ten Conference this past season as well as exploring various other systems that are available.”

Staying with football for a moment longer, the BE Football section has put up the logos of the new members and taken BC’s down.

The Big East Tournament this year will not have ConAgra or AT&T or any of the other past corporate sponsors “presenting” it this year. Instead, it will be presented by Aeropostale. So we have a mall clothing store that targets 11-20 year olds as the primary sponsor of the BE Tournament. The BE’s weekly propaganda show is presented by “Nivea for Men.”

When do the games start airing on the Bravo network after “Queer Eye?”

Just a few things of varying interest and worth noting.

The turf at Heinz Field is being replaced, yet again. I know, that for a pro or college football field, the surface gets more use than most. Still, seems like they are really having trouble finding a way to work that field.

Even noted PSU/Paterno apologist, Beano Cook knows (subs. req’d) why there won’t be a Pitt-PSU football game in the near future.

Lenny (Springfield, IL): C’mon Beano answer this question! Will a change to a regular 12-game schedule mean a rebirth of the Penn State – Pitt rivalry?

Beano Cook: No. I don’t think so. It is Joe Paterno’s call and he has no intention of playing Pittsburgh. For the record, unless something affects his health, he will be at Penn State for four more years.

Sigh.

Then on the recruiting news. One of the top recruits from the WPIAL will be Woodland Hills, CB Darin Walls. Ohio State, among others, is keenly interested in him.

Scholarship offers are just now starting to trickle in for one the top prep players in Western Pennsylvania. Darrin Walls of Woodland Hills High School is already being talked about in comparable terms with some of the other great players produced by his school in recent years, including Steve Breaston, Ryan Mundy and Devon Lyons.

“I’ve received scholarship offers from Pitt and Louisville,” Walls said. “And I attended Pitt’s junior day.”
…
“I like Michigan and Virginia for the academics but I also like Pitt because it’s a home town thing,” Walls said. “I think Pitt will be a school that I’ll consider but right now I’m not sure. I want to take a look at Virginia a lot and a couple of our players went to Michigan and they’ve been telling me all about it there. I just like Michigan and Virginia more than the other schools right now.”

One of the many recruiting soap operas we can expect this year.

If you are the Boston College Athletic Department. Their move to the ACC not only has most of the Big East teams pissed. It seems that the basketball program is having some issues scheduling non-con games in the future (subs. req’d).

As Boston College makes its farewell tour of the Big East, the Eagles are inquiring about future opponents once it becomes an ACC member.

The only taker so far is Providence. The Friars supposedly are willing to start a home-and-home series with the Eagles next season, possibly in Conte Forum for the first year.

BC inquired with St. John’s and Seton Hall, but neither school seemed too interested. Connecticut has made it clear it wants nothing to do with the Eagles now that they’re leaving for the ACC. The Eagles wanted a few bus trips before they go to a league in which they will fly to every road game.

Now, I am flabbergasted that Providence College — the place where the Big East began, , where BE Commish Mike Tranghese worked, the city where the home office is based — would even consider this. I would hope that most BE schools would follow the example set by UConn’s Jim Calhoun and simply say FU to BC.

Practically all of their sports (excluding Hockey) are going to have to fly to the majority of their games. That travel budget is going to be deadly. Add in their admission fees to the ACC, and it will be several years in the red.

Good.

In Pitt basketball, a puff piece on Antonio Graves and his renewed confidence. Mainly, it just came down to meeting with the coach one-on-one.

Have to run out the door to do a few things tonight, but a couple items.

1) ESPN.com will have their NCAA Tournament bracket contest, where you can set up your own groups. Is there sufficient interest if I set up a PSB group?

2) We are going to be hitting more news lulls in the next couple of weeks. If there are topics you would like to see posts regarding or thoughts and opinions just e-mail me and I’ll see what I can do.

Part of me thinks I should wait until the end of the regular season for this, but there is some time now. When the season schedule was announced I was very upset with the non-con. I noted the RPI from Pitt’s opponents averaged out to about 184.91. Time to look at how the RPI of the non-con teams looks. This is based on the RPI configured on Feb. 13, and so games (like South Carolina over Kentucky) are not factored into it.

Opponent — 2005 RPI – 2004 RPI
Howard ——- 314 ——– 321
Robt. Morris — 206 ——– 217
Loyola-MD —- 308 ——- 322
St. Francis-PA – 174 ——- 249
Duquesne —— 287 ——- 162
Memphis ——- 109 ——- 32
Penn St. ——– 225 ——- 189
Coppin St. —— 117 ——– 234
Richmond —— 120 ——— 47
S. Carolina —— 76 ———- 45
Bucknell ——– 70 ——— 216
—————————————–
AVG. RPI —- 182.36 —– 184.91

While the Average RPI is slightly better than projected from last year, the overall meaning of the numbers is worse. Unless South Carolina gets exceptionally hot and makes a run in the SEC Tournament, Pitt will have a non-con schedule where they did not face a single top-50 RPI opponent. And barring some upsets in the conference tournaments, Pitt will at best have only South Carolina to point to in the NCAA tournament as a non-con team they played and beat.

You can make the counter argument that no one knew that Memphis and Richmond would tumble so far. Or that PSU or Duquesne would be that much worse, but that just further exposed the problems with this non-con strategy. There was no wiggle room on the schedule for the few “name” opponents to be that bad.

Why go on about it? After all, Pitt is clearly going to the NCAA Tournament, and barring an absolute collapse should finish with no more than 5 conference losses heading into the BE Tournament. It’s the seeding. Pitt will once more take a big hit when the selection committee starts seeding teams. They will look at the non-con schedule and penalize Pitt for it. Unless Pitt wins the BE Tournament, Pitt will be a #4 seed with some luck. More likely, they will end up a #5 or even a #6 seed.

The excuse — “well we had a not of new players to work in” — just doesn’t wash and is self-perpetuating. A good program is always going to have that. Last year, it was replacing Brandon Knight and Ontario Lett. This year, Page and Brown. Next year, it will be Troutman and Taft. Krauser, the year after that, and so on.

Pitt’s RPI is now at #51. It will obviously be heading north when the Syracuse win is factored into it, and hopefully at least 3 more after that. Including the ‘Cuse game, the RPI of Pitt’s last 6 opponents is 29. Very necessary to win the majority of these games. Especially when you consider that the RPI of Pitt’s first 10 BE games averaged out to 93.3.

If AD Jeff Long and Coach Dixon aren’t already working on next year’s non-con schedule and opponents, they should be.