The non-con SOS and RPI got a big boost with Wisconsin knocking off Ohio State (not to mention making life a little easier for anyone not an OSU fan living in the Buckeye State). Penn State also provided a big boost with the upset of the drain-circling Hoosiers. Everybody say thank you to Penn State for helping Pitt.

Even the Rutgers loss to St. John’s was good. St. John’s has been in a tailspin, and the loss to them has been a drag on the RPI. This will help a little.

The only way it would have been a better night, would have been if Auburn could have actually shown up in the first half against Tennessee.

Oh, and just to bring a smile, Cinci bounced back to trounce Syracuse.

Nearly forgot. Sorry, a little crazy on the politics scene in Ohio the last couple of days.

Comment before, during and after.

My updates may be a little more frequent since I’ll be listening from the computer tonight @#$%@ no Full Court.

11:40 1st Half: Crap. Came out missing and McGrath from Providence not missing. Groat and Hillgrove sounded incensed when Young whistled for offensive foul. Really, really pissed about not being able to see this one.

3:38, 1st Half: Pitt losing 31-23

Stop me if you heard this before. Pitt goes on the road and struggle. Can’t hit a 3 for spit. Krauser having a horrible game with 3 fouls already.

The team seems tenative on offense, settling for jumpers and not getting it inside. And of course, plenty of turnovers.

HALFTIME UPDATE: Pitt down 37-33.

Both teams shooting 13-28. The difference Pitt 3-10 on 3s while Providence is 5-9.

Providence also has 2 more FTMs (6-8 Prov., 4-4 Pitt). Pitt not getting to the line either. Again, it seems to be a familiar storyline on the road. Not holding onto the ball, missing from outside, and not being aggressive to the basket so not getting to the line.

15:14, 2nd Half: Pitt up 49-44.

Pushing and getting the ball inside to Gray. It isn’t simply getting it to Gray, it’s creating space so he can get the pass, and open the lanes. Pitt is penetrating and driving. It makes a difference. Nice adjustment so far.

11:50, 2nd Half: Pitt 57-50.

Gray can’t stay perfect for the entire game. There needs to be someone else scoring. Still too many turnovers. Starting to force Providence to foul more, but not getting to the line yet.

7:52, 2nd Half: Pitt 64-55.

McGrath is carrying the entire Providence team. He is also using the screens extremely well.

3:19, 2nd Half: Pitt 76-63.

Benjamin is doing his damndest to show that the game against Cinci wasn’t a fluke.

FINAL UPDATE: Pitt wins 85-77.

5th straight year of 20+ wins and above-.500 in the Big East. First time for both.

A little troubled by some missed free throws down the stretch, not to mention some brainlock fouls by Pitt in the final minute or so.

The road struggles versus dominance at home is a sign of a young team, which it is easy to forget, Pitt is. It is still a serious issue, though, for the post-season.

More later.

Do columnists assume everyone has been paying attention or ignoring the same things they have? I guess so. Gene Collier, much like the rest of the Pittsburgh media, is finally done talking about the Steelers (at least for a few days). So he turns to Pitt and the Big East to discover *gasp* there are a lot of teams in the conference.

This was in the dark ages of, oh, 1990, when, then as now, Big East basketball meant some of the best teams in the land and most of the best teams in the land between the North Atlantic and the West End Bridge. In that era, you could lurch away from six months of NFL immersion and easily wrap your sports brain around college basketball, at least as it impacted Pitt and the aligned powers.

Tried this approach yesterday by searching out the Big East standings.

First impression: The Big East standings are about an inch too thick.

They’re practically a poll unto themselves.

The storied conference once made up of seven schools now includes 12 states and the District of Columbia. The basketball map that once represented a highly manageable little v-chip of the Northeast — Syracuse to D.C. to Boston — is today not merely the Big East, but the Enormous East. A similar triangulation in 2006 requires a round trip of nearly 4,000 miles, from Milwaukee to Tampa to Providence and back to Point A.

And when there were 7 schools, Pitt wasn’t included. With breathtaking shock, he reports that South Florida isn’t even 50 years old. That Pitt and Villanova don’t play this year, in fact the Big East teams don’t play all the same conference opponents.

And get this. There is size disparity between a school like Providence and Cinci. He neglects to mention or notice that the size disparity is about the same between Pitt and Providence.

I think this article can be safely filed under “filler.”

Aaron Gray gets a puff piece, and reveals that he will probably go through the NBA Camps this spring.

Gray indicated he is leaning toward going through the NBA pre-draft workouts to see where he might get drafted, the same process Taft and Krauser went through last season.

“It’s a possibility,” he said. “They have a great rule in place where you can go through all the camps and everything without an agent. It’s definitely a big decision I’m going to have to make. Right now, I’m just content here with this team for this season.”

Dixon knows many scouts and personnel people in the NBA and will be able to help Gray make his decision, but he said the only thing he and Gray are concerned with is winning games.

“That’s an after-the-season thing,” Dixon said. “We’ve talked in generalities before. There’s no point in talking about it now. The information is not available to him or to any of our other 12 players.”

There is absolutely no reason for Gray not to take advantage of it, and he should.

Last week I noted how sick I was of Dixon being stuck with Howland comparisons.

I realize Dixon was Howland’s assistant and is his close friend. Still, there has to come a time when the credit for the way this team is now has to stay with Coach Dixon. This is his team. Howland has been gone for 3 years. It’s not like Coach Dixon changed or subordinated his own philosophy and views on how to run the team to fit the system.
…
I guess it bothers me because it seems to be denigrating the job by Coach Dixon to this point. The first year, it seemed like many acted like he was Phil Jackson with Michael Jordan and the Bulls, rolling out the ball and letting them do it themselves. Last year was a disappointment, and the fingers were pointed at Dixon — especially from me — and the questions about whether he could really handle being the head coach. This year, he’s showing everyone what kind of job he is capable of, and the comparisons go right back to Howland.

Looks like at least one writer is getting the message, sort of.

But the most credit is reserved for the guy who believed in this team all season. Finally, Dixon has stepped away from the shadow of his predecessor, Ben Howland, by doing his best coaching job with these Panthers.

How good has Dixon been this year? This guy was 31-5 and won the 2004 Big East coach of the year award in 2003-04, his first season as a head coach.

That’s tough to beat.

That Panthers team, however, featured Howland’s players, from starters to bench. Dixon ran the Howland game plan, which was already in place. It was Howland’s offense, Howland’s defense and despite him being a couple thousand miles away at UCLA, Howland’s team.

That’s not to say that Dixon just could have rolled the balls out for practice and left to get a latte – because he did prove a lot that first season – but he didn’t change much for the sake of consistency and was branded for being merely a babysitter.

This year’s Panthers are all Dixon’s own. Krauser was the only Panther to play for Howland. Levon Kendall, Antonio Graves and Gray were recruited during the Howland watch, but probably don’t even remember that he’s bald.

And Dixon isn’t running with Howland’s offenses and defense. Certainly, there are some similarities, but all artists have inspiration. Dixon has morphed his game as his team morphed into a faster, better shooting and more athletic one. They run transition. They look for the 3-pointer. They play a better one-on-one defense.

Of course the “emerging from shadow” cliche started in the first season, and periodically makes an appearance.

Apparently some in Rhode Island trace the woes of the club back to Pitt.

A little more than two years ago — on March 2, 2004, to be exact — the Friars were riding a wave of historical proportions. PC had won 20 of its first 25 games and soared to No. 12 in the polls, the school’s highest perch since 1978. Led by All-American Ryan Gomes, the Friars had an 11-3 Big East record and dreams of winning the conference’s crown.

But then the Pittsburgh Panthers came to town. Led by big men Chris Taft and Chevy Troutman (24 points apiece), the sixth-ranked Panthers pulled the Friars back to earth in a stunningly easy 88-61 win. Almost as shocking as the margin was how the team suddenly deteriorated. In fact, PC never won another game that season, losing its regular-season finale and in the first round of the Big East and NCAA tournaments.

You could make a case that the Friars never really have recovered from that mysterious Pitt loss. After the March meltdown, PC came back last year with a disappointing 14-17 (4-12 Big East) finish marked by a multitude of frustrating, close defeats.

Offseason turmoil over the last two years cost the Friars a slew of players, most notably Rob Sanders and Dwight Brewington. In fact, Donnie McGrath is the only current PC player who saw time in that game. The Friar coaching staff has scrambled to re-tool the roster, but it’s clear that Providence basketball is more about rebuilding than reloading.

That leads us to tonight and Pittsburgh’s first visit to town since 2004. The Friar team that will tangle with the No. 9-rated Panthers is flush with new faces. Three freshmen start for coach Tim Welsh and four see extensive minutes. McGrath is the only senior. But the Big East’s youngest team has won four of 10 conference games, equaling last season’s total. While PC can only dream about regaining a national ranking, a sense of promise envelops the program.

Of course, part of it was simply that Providence in 2004 was totally gassed by the end of the regular season. They haven’t been a particularly deep team and it caught up to them.

This story treats Providence like they are unknowns because they don’t get TV time.

Providence (11-10, 4-6) is the only Big East team that is not scheduled to appear on either

ESPN or ESPN2 telecasts this year. Unless you have attended a Friars game, chances are you’ll need a program to identify their players.

But Dixon claims he’ll have his team ready come tipoff time. No. 9 Pitt (19-3, 8-3) is shooting for its fifth consecutive 20-win season.

“We’re very familiar with their players,” he said, trying to convince a listener. “They’re a little bit younger than the teams we’ve been playing of late, but they’re freshmen are very good players.”

Providence starts three freshmen, including 5-foot-10 point guard Sharaud Curry, who is averaging 11.4 points per game and has 77 assists and 23 steals. Curry scored nearly 1,900 career points during a high school career at Gainesville (Ga.) Wheeler High School.

Only one upperclassmen — leading scorer Donnie McGrath (14.8 ppg.), a 6-4 guard — is among the Providence starting lineup.

Sophomore Randall Hanke, a 6-11 center, is the Friars’ second-leading scorer (13.3 ppg.) and is tied for second on the team in rebounding (4.7 rpg.).

Curry is joined in the lineup by fellow freshmen Weyinmi Efejuku, a 6-5 guard who is averaging 8.0 ppg., and Geoff McDermott, a 6-7 swingman who is averaging 9.6 points and a team-leading 8.1 rebounds per game.

Hanke is considered the legit challenger to Gray for Big East’s Most Improved Player. Sharaud Curry has a good shot at making the BE all-rookie team — among freshmen he’s in the top 5 in scoring and assists.

This should be a sloppy game. Pitt has not looked particularly good on the road — at anypoint this season. Providence should be a little rusty with an 8-day layoff. The Friars are 8-5 at home and Pitt is only a 5.5 point favorite.