A couple more articles with quotes from high school sophomore Herb Pope giving a verbal commit to Pitt. Judging by his comments, it’s a tangible example of what some sustained success can do in generating interest and affection for a program.

I haven’t talked about any dance teams in a while. Some part of me has been wrestling with the karmic payback for continuing to drool over them, as I am in my mid-thirties and now have my own daughter. I feel better now. Sportsline.com has Dennis Dodd covering a couple of the basketball tournaments. In addition, he has a blog going for March. Under his March 10 entry time stamped 9:33 pm “Tigers by the Tale” (no permalinks) he writes:

My eyes are blogged over from watching the Memphis and Charlotte dance squads at halftime. Can I say, “Daddy like” without seeming creepy? There was a time as a young senior writer that I actually picked my regional based on where the Memphis dance team would appear. Really. For a while, the NCAA was importing them to dance at halftime of Final Four games. They’re that good. I digress …

Dodd is pushing 50.

Sadly, Memphis has no pictures of their dance or cheerleading squads. Louisville, more specifically, it would appear some of the members did it have sites for the dance team and cheerleaders. While the Big East has taken a hit in terms of lost quality of visiting dance teams from Miami; Louisville is a definite upgrade when compared to BC and Va. Tech. Actually, with Cinci’s cheerleaders and dance team, not to mention USF’s “Sun Dolls,” you could argue the overall quality has improved.

Just trying to go into the weekend with a positive thought.

With all apologies to Bill Simmons for appropriating his line. “The lesson as always: I’m an idiot.”

My predictions on the Big East Tournament have been laughably inaccurate. Even when I had it right — like Georgetown losing to UConn — I haven’t even come close in how the games would go.

Not that it will stop me next year, or in doing the NCAA Bracket, it’s just a little bit of accountability and coming clean when I was dead off.

Speaking of NCAA Tournament Bracket. Still plenty of time to sign up for the PSB Group. If the direct link doesn’t work, go here and look for the group “Pitt Sports Blather.”

Pitt is facing a legal challenge to their plan to re-seat at the Pete.

Stember is basing his suit on what he considers a promise Pitt made in 2000 in a brochure the university produced about purchasing tickets. In a list of frequently asked question in the brochure, one of the question reads:

“Do I have to maintain my Team Pittsburgh membership every year and buy season tickets every year, in order to keep my same seats?”

The answer reads:

“Yes. By maintaining or increasing your level of annual support to Team Pittsburgh and purchasing season tickets each year, you will guarantee your right to the same seats.”

Stember maintains he has lived up to those requirements. He said, “That language is clear as a bell. If Jeff Long or anyone else can show us we’re wrong, we’d be happy to listen.”

Contacted at Madison Square Garden, where Pitt lost to Villanova in the Big East Tournament yesterday, Long issued this statement:

“It is disappointing that a season-ticket holder has obviously misinterpreted our expanded donor-based seating program in the Petersen Events Center and is misrepresenting the information in a 2000 fund-raising brochure. We’re confident that our new system fulfills the commitments made in prior campaigns and will allow the university to continue to field strong and competitive athletic programs.”

Long did not expand.

I’m guessing that Pitt reserved the right to change the terms at any time. It would be hard to believe that a brochure would be sufficient to form a long-term guaranteed contract.

In recruiting news, Pitt has gotten a verbal from a top high school sophomore.

Aliquippa’s Herb Pope, a 6-foot-9 forward considered one of the nation’s top sophomores, has made a verbal commitment to Pitt.

Whether he ever plays for the Panthers is debatable.

For one, verbal commitments are non-binding. And if Pope continues to progress over the next two years, he could potentially jump straight from high school to the NBA.

Pitt was the first school to offer a scholarship to Pope, the No. 28 prospect in the Class of 2007 by the recruiting service HoopScoop. Pope also is ranked 18th nationally by Scout.com and 33rd by Rivals.com in the sophomore class.
…
According to HoopScoop, Pope would become the nation’s fifth sophomore to make a college commitment, joining top-10 prospects Michael Beasley of Upper Marlboro, Md. (Charlotte) and Taylor King of Santa Ana, Calif. (UCLA), as well as Emeka Iweka of Seattle (Oregon State) and Jon Diebler of Upper Sandusky, Ohio (Valparaiso).

King, a 6-7 shooting guard from Mater Dei High, committed to UCLA as an eighth-grader, shortly after Ben Howland left Pitt to become the Bruins coach.

I know all coaches are “reaching out” and contacting kids way before their senior year of high school, staying in contact, trying to build a relationship for a later commitment.. And I realize an actual offer is becoming increasingly common, but I had an instinctive cringe when I read this.

That’s the meme for this loss. That maybe, the Wildcats are the more physical and tougher team in the Big East right now.

“They just seemed to be all over the place defensively,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “They did a great job. They’re playing very good basketball, obviously, lately.”

In some ways, it had to look a little familiar to Dixon. First with Ben Howland prowling the sideline and in the past 2 years with Dixon, Pittsburgh has built its reputation and foundation on defense. The Panthers love to make teams play ugly, forcing bad shots and lots of turnovers, and allowing a game with all the fluidity of a spilled cup of mud.

It’s the sort of game only a coach could love, and Wright long has looked at Pitt and seen art where others have gasped ewwww. He wanted a team with the tenacity and toughness of Pitt, a group that didn’t need to be pretty to win.

Wright wasn’t about to say the torch has been passed. Pitt, after all, has appeared in the last four conference tourney title games, and Villanova hasn’t been to the finals since 1997.

But he couldn’t help but acknowledge that the ‘Cats are closer. A lot closer.

The reality is, until they knock off UConn, they aren’t the toughest team. Still, in Philly, there is a lot of talk of how tough this team has become. Pittsburgh residents aren’t the only ones who prize tough teams.

This time, it’s the Villanova players being lauded for their toughness. It’s the Villanova coach talking about “blood-bath” and defensive intensity. It was ‘Nova who could withstand the late run. Have the right to trash talk.

It’s a bit of a bitter pill. Villanova is now 6-1 against Pitt in the Big East Tournament.

On the other side of the coin, a lot of it was that Pitt just provided no offense. Not to take away from ‘Nova’s defense which was stifling and provided very few chances for the guards to have clear looks — unless they moved inside the 3-point line — and were great at defending the passing lanes to get the ball inside, but Pitt got next to nothing from the guards to help open anything up inside.

Troutman, Pitt’s best interior scorer, didn’t get any help from the guards. The Panthers made just 3 of 17 shots from behind the 3-point arc for a season-low 17 percent.

“We felt like we had to make some shots from the perimeter to hurt them,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “And we didn’t come through in that regard.”

Pitt’s offense was particularly bad — or was Villanova’s defense that good? — in the first half. The Panthers made just 5 of their 25 shots from the floor. They also committed 10 turnovers as they were unable to solve the Wildcats’ trapping defense and full-court pressure.

The team is going to be back in the ‘Burgh today. Getting ready for a likely 6 (5 if ‘Nova wins the BET and the committee gets generous) seed.

The big shock was that Troutman could not put one of his shots in the basket. He got totally frustrated, and did something un-Troutman like — whined about how the game was called.

Troutman contended the officials were calling the game too closely.

“They didn’t give me a break,” he said. “We tried (to be physical), but they were calling ticky-tacky stuff, so it was kind of frustrating because that’s the kind of ball we play. When they’d bump us, we wouldn’t get the call. But when we bumped them, they’d get the call.”

The Panthers physically dominated Boston College and Notre Dame in easy wins the previous two games, but they discovered yesterday that they can’t always impose their will on the opposition. Troutman and center Chris Taft combined for 18 points and 16 boards against Villanova, a game after combining for 48 and 20 vs. Notre Dame.

“We didn’t adjust to the way the refs were calling the game,” Troutman said. “That’s been a problem in our losses.”

I’m guessing not a lot of Big East teams are feeling much sympathy for that complaint.

Pitt was definitely outplayed in this game.

Joe Starkey feels that the talent gap was too much in this game. I have to disagree. Yes, ‘Nova has some big blue-chippers who finally are matching their hype. They may have had some better one-on-one playmakers. The difference was they played a much more disciplined game. They shifted defenses, helped out each other at both ends of the floor and kept their emotions in check.

Keeping the emotions in check is something Pitt needs to do a better job. That the only technical called on the team was by Taft for reaching across to slap the ball on an inbound play was stunning. The ESPN play calling crew couldn’t believe Krauser, Troutman or Dixon didn’t end up with a tech.