Okay, latest polls are out. Pitt is treated very well. The Panthers are #9 in the AP and #10 in the Coaches. The Coaches poll continues to baffle as they stubbornly keep Florida in at #9. I am starting to harden on my theory about many voters wanting to keep the #1 team from each BCS conference ahead of the #3 team in another no matter what.

If there is a team that can complain about being disrespected, it is Marquette. Not only did they not make the top 25s, the Writers put them at about #28 while the Coaches buried them at #32. A very good record, back-to-back wins against top-25 teams in 48 hours, and tied for 5th in the Big East. My feeling is that Marquette got screwed in a numbers game of not wanting more than 5 teams from the Big East in the top-25.

On top of that insult, in the latest Big East Power Poll, the voters inexplicably put them 5th — barely ahead of Georgetown but easily behind Pitt. Aside from Villanova, no team had a better week than Marquette. Again, I call on the other voters to make your vote known. Only fellow Pitt blogger, Keith Wehmeyer does this — despite his fundamental character flaw of being a BoSox fan.

Anyhow, this is my ballot.

1. Villanova — Beat #1, become #1. Keep winning to stay #1.
2. UConn — Still think they are the best team, though.
3. WVU — I nearly dropped them lower, but they did bounce back well against G-town. UConn was just too good.
4. Marquette — They do need Novak to be “on” in games against top teams to win. If he’s off, they can lose to anyone.
5. Pitt — Can’t put them ahead of the team they lost to in the past week.
6. Georgetown — Need to stop the slide soon.
7. Cinci — Andy Kennedy deserves so much credit. I admire this team.
8. Seton Hall — I can’t help it, the phrase “smoke and mirrors” is the only thought whenever I read about another Pirate victory.
9. Syracuse — There’s some amusement in watching Syracuse games, just to hear announcers puzzling over what’s wrong with this team.
10. ND — Finally beating the soft-underbelly opponents.
11. Louisville — Never thought I’d see a team coached by Pitino just look like they want to give-up.
12. Rutgers — Douby do, but no one else does.
13. Providence — Their players probably improve the graduation rates for the Big East.
14. St. John’s — Just so tired. No depth. Playing tough, physical defense every game has them wiped at this point.
15. DePaul — Not even one year in and there are already whispers that DePaul doesn’t have the commitment to compete in a major conference.
16. USF — Looking to become the first BE team to go 0 for the conference since Miami went 0-18 for the 1993-94 season.

I’m glad Pitt isn’t playing USF this season. The pressure for any team facing them has to be huge. Who wants to be the one to give them their first win in conference?

Just because I had to dig a little on whether a team had gone 0 for the conference, I’ll share a little more. The only other time it happened was in the BE’s first season when each team only played once. Providence went 0-6. Seven times a team has only won a single game in conference: WVU (01-02), St. John’s (03-04), BC (89-90 and 90-91), Seton Hall (82-83 and 84-85) , and Miami (91-92).

Apparently the coach and players weren’t happy after losing.

Instead, as hard as they tried, these resilient Panthers were not accepting defeat well after they nearly overcame a 10-point second-half deficit. Pitt’s Aaron Gray missed two free throws, and Marquette’s Steve Novak made two in the final 24.7 seconds to determine the outcome.

Afterwards, Dixon appeared distraught, as did Gray, Pitt’s budding superstar center who was forced to sit on the sidelines for nearly half the game with foul difficulties.

If there is any consolation, though, Pitt can realize the final decison went down to the end, as do so many similar Big East matchups.

“It felt like a rivalry game out there. It was a great atmosphere,” Pitt guard Antonio Graves said.

And unlike a previous loss at St. John’s — the Panthers’ first defeat after 15 victories to open the season — it was not a lethargic performance for Pitt, which was facing a Marquette team full of hostility three weeks after being handed a bitter six-point setback by the Panthers at Petersen Events Center.

In this instance, Dixon said “there is such a fine line between a win and a loss.”

I’m glad they weren’t being philosophical after the game. I’m glad they were upset, frustrated and bothered. It was a tough, close game and they lost. As hard as they worked to comeback at the end, they just didn’t finish. They had chances especially down the stretch. Even before the Gray missed free throws.

When Pitt was coming back from its 10 point deficit and Young missed 3 straight free throws. Or with 1:18 remaining and Pitt trailing by one, failing to grab the rebound off of a Marquette missed shot. Allowing the Golden Eagles to run off more than 30 seconds.

On the issue of fouls, Pitt really is limited in its complaints in my view. Gray and Kendall both committed some dumb fouls — especially a couple over the backs — that you can’t blame on the way the game was called. Only that strange technical on Gray made no sense.

“There’s no question it changed the game,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “It changed what we wanted to do. But those things are going to happen. You have to deal with it. We’ve done it before.”

It’s not the first time this season — and probably not the last time — Gray was in foul trouble. He was in foul trouble against Wisconsin, Louisville and Rutgers, but Pitt managed to win those games without Gray’s usual presence.

“I don’t know if they were bad fouls on my part or not, but I have to be smarter,” Gray said. “I have to pick my spots on when to be aggressive. It was my fault. The other guys who came in did a great job of keeping us in the game.”

The Panthers have been able to overcome the foul trouble because they have a deep bench. Pitt’s bench outscored Marquette’s bench, 36-22. Freshman guard Levance Fields had 14 points and freshman forward Sam Young and junior guard Antonio Graves added nine points apiece.

The loss of Gray and Kendall was felt more on rebounding and allowing second chance points. Marquette went just as deep as Pitt, and actually committed more fouls — just spreading them out much more. Pitt even had more free throw attempts — even with the intentional fouling at the end. Pitt just didn’t make them (13-22, 59.1%). Pitt had its worst road free throw shooting game since Louisville (14-24, 58.3%).

Coach Wannstedt is hitting it hard right now and probably up until Spring practices. These are just the ones that got announced in papers. I suspect there are plenty of others.

On Thursday he is the keynote speaker at the annual dinner for The Traffic and Transportation Association of Pittsburgh (??) at the Sheraton Station Square.

Next weekend, he will be in Allentown.

This year’s clinic will be held on Thursday, March 2, Friday, March 3, and Saturday, March 4. It will be held at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Allentown. This year’s feature speakers will be Larry Coker of Miami, Joe Tiller of Purdue, Dave Wannstedt of Pittsburgh, Randy Edsall of Connecticut and Chan Gailey of Georgia Tech.

I’m a little stunned abou this since Pitt is an Adidas school, but also because the Scout.com Combine is that same weekend — albeit on Saturday, so there will be time for Coach Wannstedt to get back. I would guess that part of the reason Coach Wannstedt is going is as a favor to the Clinic Director, Jim Tkach. The father of Tyler Tkach who is part of the 2006 Pitt recruiting class.

That would explain why Pitt’s Junior Day is this weekend.

In mid-March Coach Wannstedt will be in Wilkes-Barre.

Tom Karam, former president of Southern Union Co., and attorney Murray Ufberg will be honored March 16 at Genetti Hotel and Convention Center at the 23rd annual Friends of Scouting Dinner.

The event recognizes community servants and spotlights Scouting programs in the six counties of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Scouting service area. University of Pittsburgh football coach Dave Wannstedt will be the event’s keynote speaker.

Proceeds from this dinner go to the Northeastern Pennsylvania Council Boy Scouts of America.

Coach Wannstedt is definitely not limiting himself to Western Pennsylvania this year.