So, yes, at long last, Pitt fell out of the top-25 in both polls. A week of doom to be sure as it’s the first time in 43 consecutive weeks that Pitt wasn’t ranked. Oh, well.

In the Q&As Fittipaldo points out a good reason for struggles in February.

Q: Coach (Jamie) Dixon always talks about continually getting better, yet Pitt seems to hit a wall every February. I was hoping this year would be different because the freshmen would improve, but they seemed to have regressed over the past few weeks. Why does this continue to happen?

FITTIPALDO: Pitt is 2-2 this February. The Panthers were 5-2 last February, 4-3 in February of 2006, 4-4 in February of ’05 and 6-2 in ’04. The only year the Panthers might have regressed at the end of the season was ’05 when they lost four of their final six games and were knocked out in the first round of the Big East and NCAA tournaments.

You might be noticing that Pitt does not win as many games in February as January, but there is a reason for that. The top teams in the Big East are desired by the television networks for marquee games with other top teams. The TV networks begin to televise most of their better games in February and March, when more people are more inclined to tune in. CBS and ESPN do not want to compete with the NFL playoffs. If you noticed, the first half of Pitt’s schedule featured many of the bottom-rung teams in the league. The second half of the schedule features teams competing for NCAA tournament berths. That’s because the networks dictated which games they wanted to televise.

Good point, but it never stops sports writers from talking about how Pitt is struggling at the end of the season.

An article on Jermaine Dixon that is at least somewhat reassuring.

A Baltimore native, Dixon is one of the leading candidates for Player of the Year in the Panhandle Conference, regarded as one of the most competitive Juco conferences in the nation.

“Basically, Jermaine is a big, athletic guard who can go from A to Z very quick,” Tallahassee CC coach Eddie Barnes said. “He’s a good kid. He’s very coachable. He loves to compete. He’s going to compete at the highest level (in the Big East). He’s a dream guard. It’s going to be hard for me to replace him.”

The left-handed Dixon averages 21.0 points and about 7.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game.

His work ethic on the court doesn’t seem to be in question and he is apparently one of those high-motor players. Anyone familiar with what the Dixon boys have overcome should want to root for his success.

There’s more Pitt recruiting stuff here.

Recruiting never ends. What about 2009?

“Compared to last year, it’s going to be off,” Metro Index scouting director Joe Butler said. “You’re not going to have the number of national recruits, but more Mid-American Conference-type recruits, which is still really good football. Last year, we had an unbelievable number of high-end talents. There’s not as much high-end talent, but there are a couple kids that are exceptional.”

That’s no surprise to WPIAL coaches, who realize that ’08 wasn’t your typical recruiting class. Of the 31 Division I-A recruits, 22 signed with BCS programs. Pryor, named national player of the year by PARADE, was one of four WPIAL stars to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Three others also played in national all-star games.

“I don’t know if there will ever be another group like this past group: You’re looking at five kids nationally ranked in the top 100 by some service or another, then having the No. 1 kid,” Gateway coach Terry Smith said. “I think there’s a chance for two or three kids to be in the top 100 this year. It may be as strong a group from A to Z, but not top end.”

It’s only fitting that recruiting analysts believe the top three prospects in the WPIAL are players who were overshadowed this past season by star senior teammates: Gateway linebacker Dorian Bell and receiver Corey Brown and Montour all-purpose back E.J. Banks.

Dorian Bell is a top-20 recruit nationally. Bell and Brown already have offers from Pitt. Looks like Pitt is going to have look harder at the rest of the state and outside Pennsylvania to pull in a recruiting class comparable to this past one. Winning a lot more games would definitely help that process.

I had been unaware that new Linebackers Coach Joe Tumpkin was actually hired by Central Florida in January. Barely a month on the job before he got a better offer and a chance to work with his old boss.

Well, it’s not like Pitt could avoid playing 1-AA teams for too long. New Hampshire will be coming in 2010 for a $300,00 pay out.

Mark Schlabach at ESPN.com has a revised, way-too-early top-25. Pitt clocks in at 22.

After beating West Virginia 13-9 in one of the biggest upsets of 2007, the Panthers finally seemed poised to turn the corner under coach Dave Wannstedt. QB Pat Bostick and tailback LeSean McCoy both played remarkably well as freshmen, and the defense showed some bite at season’s end. If the Panthers can learn to win close games — they lost four games by seven or fewer points last season — they might be one of the country’s biggest surprises.

How about just blowing some teams out, so it becomes a moot point?

On Friday night I made the trek five minute drive to North Allegheny HS for the WPIAL basketball playoff game between McKeesport and Upper St. Clair. Why go? The answer is not too easy to miss on the court — 6′ 11″ center Zeke Marshall. There’s tall people and then there’s tall people; he’s tall. According to Scout.com, Marshall (currently a junior, class of 2009, 3 stars) has an offer from Pitt as well as Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Akron, with interest from a few other schools. If the kid has an offer to play at Pitt and he’s right in my backyard, I figured I’d take a look at him.

Of course, I am in no way a scout. I have, however, enough common sense and seen enough basketball to make a few observations on basic skills. First off, as soon as you see him you’re going to notice a lack of real bulk and muscle. He’s tall but also skinny. Offense and defense are two different worlds for Marshall.

On offense, he has trouble really getting good position and lacks the strength to make a strong move to the basket. With the ball, he looks clumsy and sometimes forgets he’s so much taller than his opponent — where he could hold the ball up high and get an uncontested shot, he brings the ball low and makes himself smaller.

Defensively, he’s solid. He blocks shots well and his timing and coordination seems improved when going for the blocks. He can grab rebounds and has better hands than Aaron Gray but nowhere as good as DeJuan Blair. Again, he doesn’t have enough strength to completely hold off other big players and he’s not quick enough to close out on a shooter, even on short shots from the foul line.

He’s definitely a project for Jamie Dixon if he ends up at Pitt and I’m not sure how well he can stack up with very good big men in the Big East. Not to be harsh on a high school kid, just doing my best as a creepy guy who monitors every move a recruit makes. In reality, isn’t that what high school scouts are?

No denying that Pitt hasn’t had any luck with JUCOs lately. I know, personally, that I would just as soon Pitt not bother any more. JUCOs are so hit or miss given the competition and coaching questions.
That hasn’t stopped Pitt from getting a verbal from Jermaine Dixon. A 6’2″ guard for the Tallahassee Community College Eagles.
If you believe Pitt is due for a JUCO recruit to pan out for the first time since Ontario Lett, then this might be it.

If you believe in bloodlines, then this is a great recruit. Dixon is the younger brother of former Maryland great Juan Dixon — now with the Toronto Raptors. Dixon was also being recruited by K-State and Arkansas.

According to the numbers he’s the leading scorer and rebounder on the team. He’s shooting 48% overall, but only 27% on 3s. He appears to be a good free throw shooter — 78%. To this point, he’s also taken more than twice as many shots as any of his teammates. His assist to turnover numbers are not pretty 89-82. He does have 69 steals, though.
In December he was named co-NJCAA Player of the Week. He’s been the best player on this team.
He’s listed as a point guard, so I thought he was being brought in to provide more depth behind Fields and perhaps serve the transition for the following year. The thing is, he was just moved there this year.

His role has evolved from shooting guard to running the point for the Eagles. Even so, Jermaine often finds a way to demonstrate the kinds of skills that can’t be taught.

It’s not unusual for him to come off a screen to find an opening, often firing up shots that seem to be going nowhere before they suddenly rip through the net.

“That’s what I knew growing up — shoot the ball,” he said. “You just have to stay focused on the rim. If you’re focused on the rim you can get it.”

While Jermaine got better at perfecting the difficult shots with help from his brothers, he wasn’t always considered the best on his high school teams. But he wanted to be and by his senior year at Maine Central Institute he was ranked the sixth-best shooting guard in the state.

For some reason being the 6th best shooting guard in Maine isn’t totally reassuring.

This one is a head scratcher to me. Dixon seems more like a combo or shooting guard. Definitely not a pure point guard which I could better understand. The bright point is that he can shoot well off of screens and appears to be a slasher to the basket.

So anyways, family was in town over the weekend to keep me away from the computer.

Pitt has a new Linebackers Coach and I’m guessing the guy who will be doing recruiting in Florida: Joe Tumpkin.

Tumpkin also coached the linebackers while with the Mustangs (2005-07), serving under then-SMU head coach Phil Bennett, who is now Pitt’s defensive coordinator.

“The addition of Joe to our coaching staff fills three important needs for us,” Wannstedt said. “Number one, Joe is a seasoned linebacker coach. Secondly, he has worked extensively with special teams. Finally, as a Miami native, he is very familiar with the state of Florida and has recruited there the last several years. We’re excited about him joining us.”

Tumpkin, like the now departed, Aubrey Hill, also received a minority NFL fellowship. Tumpkin spent his last summer with the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Apparently Rivals.com — despite putting Pitt at #28 in the national recruiting rankings, which is actually a place higher than right after signing day — likes Pitt’s recruiters. Greg Gattuso was named Big East recruiter of the year and Matt Cavanaugh made the list of top Big East recruiters.

Rivals.com highlighted an assistant coach for their recruiting prowess from seven conferences, including each of the six BCS leagues. Gattuso was lauded by the website for “(pulling) off a huge upset when he reeled in cousins Cameron Saddler and Shayne Hale from Gateway.”

Gattuso “was a huge part of Pitt’s success in Western Pennsylvania,” Rivals added, also mentioning his role in helping to recruit quarterback Tino Sunseri (Central Catholic), linebacker Manny Williams (Clairton), defensive back Antwuan Reed (Greater Johnstown) and tight end Mike Cruz (Bishop McCort).

…

Rivals also lauded Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh on its Big East Top 10 Recruiters list, crediting him with helping the Panthers attract standout wide receivers Jonathan Baldwin (Aliquippa) and Mike Shanahan (Norwin) as well as running back Chris Burns (Wilmington Area).

Rivals.com also produced a Big East signing day dream team (only HS players). Pitt had the most players on the roster with 5: Jared Holley, Shayne Hale, Lucas Nix, Jonathan Baldwin and Cameron Saddler. Louisville and ‘Cuse placed 4 each, WVU and Rutgers with 3 a piece, Cinci and UConn 2 each and USF with 1.

Marcel Pestano — who it was already known that he was leaving Pitt — and Greg Webster have transferred to D-II California (PA) University.

Phil Bennett made SI.com’s Stuart Mandel’s list of impact coordinators hired.

The recently deposed SMU coach made a name for himself under Bill Snyder at Kansas State, where his defenses ranked in the top five nationally all three seasons (1999-2001). At Pittsburgh, he inherits another that ranked fifth in the country last season, trailing only Ohio State, USC, LSU and Virginia Tech.

Led by star LB Scott McKillop, the Panthers return 18 of 22 players on the defensive two-deep that bottled up West Virginia in their memorable season-ending upset. That defense is a major reason many prognosticators (myself included) expect Pitt to make the leap from 5-7 to top-25 contender next season, but it will require a successful transition from Paul Rhoads (now at Auburn) to Bennett.

He, who I would rather not mention, was not on the list.

I think sometimes we — as fans — get so wrapped up in what is or has happened in just a few day period that we lose sight of the full season. Expectations are fluid things. Going into the season, it was unsure. Pitt was ranked, but there were lots of questions. Some expected big things, others saw a transition season and others saw struggles for a very different looking team.
Pitt raised expectations in the non-con by going undefeated through most of December, including a huge win over Duke that only looked bigger further into the season. The cost, though, was the loss of starting small forward Mike Cook.

Cook was averaging over 10 points, was one of Pitt’s most athletic perimeter defenders and best free throw shooters. His loss was immediately felt in the Dayton loss immediately afterwards. Brian Roberts was able to take advantage of Cook’s absence, and torched Pitt. Dayton was also hyped and primed for this home game — from the players to the fans.

In addition, Pitt lost Levance Fields in the second half with a broken foot. Despite losing two starters, Pitt managed to go 8-4 without him (7-5 in the conference). In that period Pitt beat Georgetown and had a bad loss to Rutgers. The team did it with only 8 scholarship players — half of whom were freshmen or redshirt freshmen. by going back to the slow tempo, hard defense approach that was required without Fields and Cook. Pitt also had to be efficient on offense since the possessions will be limited — and a common theme in all the losses is that when Pitt didn’t shoot well and/or turned the ball over they lost. All of their losses had Pitt’s efficiency at 100.5 or lower — Duquesne, Duke and WVU were the only games where Pitt’s efficiency was horrible but Pitt won.

Levance Fields returned for the Marquette game, but he was not near where he was with only two days of regular practice under his belt. The blowout loss wasn’t on him, though, as Pitt just stunk. Yet it was still just one loss — no matter how bad.

Consider that Pitt has 3 “bad” losses. Either because of a poor opponent beating them soundly or being blown out: at Dayton (25 points), Rutgers (13) and at Marquette (18). How about other teams in the top-25?

Marquette (25/24) has 4 “bad” losses: at WVU (15), at Louisville (20), Louisville (24) and at UConn (16).

Notre Dame (21) has 2 bad losses: at Marquette (26) and at Georgetown (19).

Xavier (10/12) has 2: at Arizona State (22) and at Temple (19).

Texas (7) has 2: at Mizzou (13) and at Texas A&M (17).

Texas A&M (22) has 2 (and soon to be 3 after this Texas game right now): at Texas Tech (15) at K-State (21).

Vandy (20/16) has 3: at Tennessee (20), at Florida (22) at Ole’ Miss (16).

Michigan St. (19/17) has 3: at Iowa (7, but only scored 36 points), at Penn St. (9) and at Indiana (19).

Are any of these teams going to make the Final Four? I don’t see it. I do think all of these teams have a damn good chance of making the Sweet 16 and a few even to the Elite 8. If that happens, well then it comes down to match-ups and who has the big games.
Pitt had big questions going into the season about their flaws. Some were shown others not so much. It sucks that if Fields and Cook didn’t get hurt Pitt might have been a Final Four team, but that’s the way things go.

Pitt still has flaws, but so do most of the top-25 teams. Parity is very high right now. The good news, is that Pitt can get better as Levance Fields gets his game legs back.

It’s easier to be pessimistic, because you are rarely wrong.  I’m just not there with this team.

Well, that genuinely sucked.

I’m going to keep this brief.

Poor, poor shooting tonight. The number of misses of open looks and easy baskets  — ugh.

The first half was frustrating, but at least Pitt was playing good defense and keeping it within reach. Then it fell apart in the second half.

The more Pitt missed, the more frustrated they became. That frustration translated into dogging it on the defensive end.  Marquette was getting to every loose ball and Pitt was being outhustled there. The second half also saw Pitt getting out worked for rebounds. No matter which end of the court, when a ball was shot, there were 3 or more white jerseys coming to the basket. Pitt seemed to only have one player inside to fight.

Consider this scary thing. Benjamin had 6 rebounds while Young and Blair each had only 5.

Marquette was killing Pitt all game with the cuts to the basket. Bill Raferty noted that they had watched Pitt practice how to defend that in the walkthrough today. He pretty much nailed it when he said the preparation was there, but the execution was not.

Fields is definitely a step slow right now.  Good thing there’s 6 days before the next game.
This was the lowest offensive output for Pitt this season

The way Marquette was playing, Pitt wasn’t going to win this game. The blowout aspect, though, came from struggling to hit any shot and letting Marquette continually get out front on transition.

There were small things that were good, but the overwhelming craptitude of the overall performance makes it moot.

Friday night. Thought I had things all set to be able to watch right away. Not happening. Back later.

Flash back to last year: Tom Crean called Pitt-Marquette a rivalry. I didn’t think it was last March and I really don’t think so right now either. Maybe he does it to pump up his players…who knows. What makes a rivalry? Location of the teams — sure it’s Big East, but Pittsburgh and Milwaukee aren’t too close. Great games in the past — we’ve surely had some, but not enough. Passionate fan bases — both teams have a solid following, but I don’t think there’s enough hate between the fans.

Next, a quote.

“My rule was I wouldn’t recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house.
That’s not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk.” —Al McGuire

Come on, you know that’s cool. It’s also the basis for the name of the best MU blog out there…Cracked Sidewalks.

They’re not letting Levance’s offseason problems go away.

Fields missed more time for the foot injury than he did for punching an off-duty police officer, allegedly grabbing for the officer’s weapon, and ultimately being tased in an incident outside a strip club last September.

The fans are going to give him a tough time on that tonight — it’s a guarantee. He’s said in the past though that he’s used to it now and it won’t bother him.

Cracked Sidewalks speaks highly of the great rebounding between Blair and Young. Physicality is the answer.

With Fields back in the mix, MU will need to hit the floor with the same toughness and energy we saw in Newark earlier in the week. Marquette summoned up the moxie and energy that was missing for much of the Big East season as they silenced the chippy Pirates. The Golden Eagles dominated the Pirates on the glass, held them to just 38% shooting, and had an impressive 13 assists on just 30 made field goals.

By the way the over/under on the number of times Dominic James hits the floor is being set at 5 ½. He flops to the floor like he’s been shot (Duke Blue Devil style). I’m taking the over.

I’m headed to North Allegheny HS before the MU game to watch Zeke Marshall (6′ 11″ center from McKeesport) tonight. Hopefully I’ll have some type of “scouting report” (notice the quotation marks) since he is a possible Pitt recruit.

Good news. Seth Davis is going with the home team in his pick.

Still, Fields will be far from top shape, and Pitt is playing a road game against a Marquette team that is badly in need of a marquee win. As Dominic James has stumbled through illness and injury (only two double-digit scoring outings in his last eight games), 6-6 sophomore Lazar Hayward has emerged as the Golden Eagles’ go-to scorer.

Big East blog also goes with Marquette, but does a much better job of breaking this down.

Marquette will be challenged by Pittsburgh’s strength inside. DeJuan Blair will look to be physical inside against Ousmane Barro to score around the basket and control the defensive glass. Sam Young and Lazar Hayward might be the key match-up of the night. If Hayward can be similarly production as Young, Marquette’s chances are great. If Young gets to the foul line and Hayward is in foul trouble, it could mean big trouble for MU as they do not likely have another forward on their roster to guard Young.

Keys for Pitt include Blair staying out of foul trouble and getting some perimeter scoring from senior gaurds Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin. Both players have played well in the 12 games since Fields have been injured, as they have persevered through their own ailments. Ramon has a bad shoulder and Benjamin cut his shooting hand a few weeks ago and his perimeter shot has not been the same. If he can regain that touch, and with the return of Fields, the Pitt backcourt suddenly becomes one to fear as well.

I don’t expect Fields to play more than 15 minutes or so.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s beat writer for Marquette focuses on Pitt and DeJuan Blair.

Marquette needs this game badly, because they haven’t done much against upper-tier teams in conference. They are also running out of opportunities in the conference season.

Ranked 20th in the Ratings Percentage Index on Thursday, MU is just 2-6 this season against top-50 RPI teams, a major determining factor for seeding in the post-season, and 1-5 vs. top-50 Big East teams.

MU has just three more games left against such teams, starting tonight with No. 16 Pittsburgh.

Kind of amusing that they view beating a depleted, banged up Seton Hall team by 25 as a statement game. We liked what Pitt did to Providence, but I don’t read about any Pitt player claiming it was a statement of anything other than beating an inferior team.

Of course, beating Marquette at the Bradley Center would be a huge win for Pitt.

“This is a big road game, two ranked teams on a Friday night, at their place, where we haven’t won since they came to the Big East,” Fields said.

…Marquette, like Pitt, has a distinct home-court advantage. The Golden Eagles are 12-1 at the Bradley Center this season. However, Marquette has just one signature Big East victory, a Jan. 12 win against Notre Dame. The only other victory since then against a team with a winning conference record came at Cincinnati.

“They have a lot of returning guys, so we’re very familiar with them,” Dixon said. “They return all five starters. We have none returning. We’re the different team.”

This game is part of Pitt’s roughest stretch of the schedule as games at Notre Dame and then Louisville and I would add the return game with Cinci because Pitt will play those 3 games in a week’s time.

Starkey gives love to Coach Dixon and Dixon’s deeper goal to have Pitt win it all.

The question was, “For all the success you’ve had, do you have to make that tournament run for people to believe Pitt is truly an elite program?”

“We haven’t won a national championship,” Dixon said. “There’s no question that’s a difference-maker. That’s a whole different thing. We want to win a national championship, and I understand the importance of winning one.”

It’s not like we can dictate things, but I think I would be willing to lose to Notre Dame and Louisville in the following two games as long as Pitt takes out Marquette tonight. Why?

This.

Seven members of the 2002-’03 Final Four team will be in attendance for Friday night’s game against Pittsburgh at the Bradley Center.

Travis Diener, Steve Novak, Terry Sanders, Scott Merritt, Andy Freund, Jared Sichting and Tony Gries will be honored at halftime. Dwyane Wade will be playing in the NBA All-Star game in New Orleans and unable to attend. Also missing the ceremony due to prior commitments are Robert Jackson, Todd Townsend, Joe Chapman, Chris Grimm and Karon Bradley.

Grrrr. Nice timing. Please spoil this.

Fields returns.

Fields returns.

“I’m looking forward to playing on Friday as long as the foot feels good,” Fields said last night after Pitt’s light workout at the Petersen Events Center. “Everything is going as planned.”

When asked later about how confident he was in playing, Field said: “I know I’m going to play.”

Fields returns.

Levance Fields wasn’t smiling when he said it, but everyone could tell he was content inside.

“I’m going to play,” he said. “You probably can’t tell by this face, but I’m real energetic. When Friday gets here, I will be extra excited.”

Sensing a theme?

Some things I’ve been forgetting to get to.

Spring practice schedule for the Big East and questions for each.

PITT

Practice starts: March 25
Spring game: April 19

Biggest offensive question: A consistent aerial game is needed to take heat off star RB LeSean McCoy. That means a steady quarterback is needed. Pat Bostick is back after opening the year as the starter. Bill Stull also returns, and he’ll try to reclaim his job after a thumb fracture in the second half of the season-opener ultimately caused him to receive a medical redshirt. Expect athletic JC transfer Greg Cross to make noise and be a factor in Pitt’s “Wildcat” formation.

Biggest defensive question: A veteran defense with seven returning starters needs to replace stud end Joe Clermond, a two-time All-Big East selection. It’s hoped Greg Romeus, a freshman phenom in 2007, steps up. It’s up to new coordinator Phil Bennett to pick up where departed coordinator Paul Rhoads left off in the monumental season-ending upset of WVU.

Yes, I know as well that Bostick didn’t open the year as the starter. Or even start until several games into the season.

At what point does Pitt stop being a “darkhorse” top-25 team and just be a trendy pick? In the mean time, here’s another piece asking “what if” Pitt hadn’t beaten WVU and what it has meant for Pitt.

“My brother-in-law works for Dick’s Sporting Goods,” Wanny said. “They have two (West Virginia) stores — one in Huntington, one in Morgantown. They had all these national championship shirts and hats …”

He didn’t have to finish the sentence.

Paul Zeise had another Q&A and addresses the coaching turnover.

Q: Do we read more into the various assistant coaches leaving this offseason, or is this just the nature of the business. I would have suspected previous years would have generated more offseason movement, but with the sudden positive outlook of the program, what gives with 5 coaches leaving?

ZEISE: There isn’t much you can read into it – these things happen all the time because assistant coaches are generally nomadic and have to be if they want to continue to move up the chain and achieve their goal of becoming a coordinator or head coach. And guys have different reasons for leaving so when it comes to Pitt’s staff. I think each individual situation was different. Paul Dunn was fired because the line struggled so much. Aubrey Hill went to Miami because of a personal family situation — that is where he is from. Paul Rhoads went to Auburn because he knew he needed to make some kind of move if he ever wants to become a head coach. That was obviously a great situation for him – going to the SEC – and the $170,000 raise probably didn’t hurt, either. Once Rhoads left it was only a matter of time before Partridge left to spread his wings as well. Charlie was Rhoads trusted sidekick (in fact, I’d expect Partridge would play a big role on Rhoads first staff if he ever gets a head coaching job). And it was always very clear that Chris Ball was a short-timer when he came in as he had been ready to and trying to make a move up the coaching chain for a long time and that’s what he did. So really, collectively, yes, losing five coaches seems like a big deal but when you break down why each left, it is all just a part of life as assistant.

Okay, love might be too strong a word, but it has been nice to see things starting to click for Bradley Wanamaker. He has responded to getting extra attention at practice before the last couple games.

“I was really riding him (Thursday) in the walkthrough and the shootaround and in the film room, making sure he was ready,” Dixon said. “He’s kind of a quiet kid, so I tried to pump him up … I think I need to try that again.”

The quiet freshman made a quite a statement Thursday.

Of his career high-tying 23 minutes played, 13 of them came in the second half during some of the most pivotal moments of the game. He even created one with a driving lay up, capping an 8-0 run and putting the Panthers ahead 50-45 with 4:30 to play.

Wanamaker’s seven points also tied his career best. He was 3 of 4 from the field and made his only 3-point attempt. He had two assists, two rebounds and a block that was questionably called a foul late in the game.

In the Providence game he played 19 minutes, 3-4 for 6 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 0 turnovers. He has looked more comfortable as he knows he will get a little extra time. It’s a tough thing. Coach Dixon is prone to pull younger players for mistakes. It’s hard to say that is wrong or bad coaching, but clearly some players don’t handle it well. Keith Benjamin and Wanamaker seem to do better with the knowledge that they have some room to screw up.

“We have confidence in him,” Ramon said. “He just hasn’t been believing in himself.”

Ramon said defense is the hardest transition in going from being a prep star to a Big East freshman.

“A lot of players go through it,” he said. “I went through it myself. At the beginning of the year, you don’t feel as comfortable. You want to make sure you do the right things on defense, just so the coach won’t take you off the court. That takes your mind off trying to score and trying to play your game.

“He went through it a little bit, but now he’s feeling more comfortable within the offense and what he has to do in order to play.”

The good game against WVU coupled with running out of players to talk about this late in the season and a few extra days between games meant that Wanamaker got plenty of stories in the local papers.

Dixon said Wanamaker had been going through a typical progression for a freshman. In high school and AAU, star players do not always grasp the little things that it takes to play at the college level. The more games Wanamaker plays, the more he understands.

“He’s seeing it,” Dixon said. “He understands how precise it has to be, how players at this level take advantage of mistakes. The better teams often take advantage of mistakes. What guys can get away with in junior high school and high school is different than what you can get away with now.”

Learning curves. It’s always frustrating when the kids don’t make the impact or grasp the system as quickly as we think they should.

Well, I hope the next coach at Providence proves to be as much a patsy for Pitt as Tim Welsh’s Friars. 10 years, and getting lucky with Ryan Gomes to show for it. Even then, they were one-and-done. A team that has no fundamentals. They just shoot. I can’t even respect them.

That said, I always worry. This team did beat UConn in Hartford because they were incredible from outside in that game. Always a fear. Great work on the liveblog Dennis. I have to say, though, if they had upset Pitt, Dennis would have been banned from basketball liveblogging at the very least in games with supposed patsy teams. No, I’m not blaming him for the Rutgers loss, but that would have been an unsettling trend.

Pitt won 82-63, and it was nice to get an easy win after so many stressful ones.
Not much to say about this game.

Pitt was a little lazy to start the game on the perimeter. Providence made them pay. Right away, though, it was clear how sloppy a team Providence is. They can shoot and run up and down. They have no defense and they don’t even pass real well.

In the first half, that style was clearly tempting the Pitt players. Pitt just wanted to run around as well. It is fun, but it meant Pitt got lazy on defense trying to outscore the Friars.

The good in the first half: Pitt was 18-32 (3-8 on 3s). Only 3 turnovers and 13 assists. Shockingly Blair had 0 rebounds in the first half. This was Young’s kind of game with the running.

Pitt also got Providence to commit 8  turnovers — okay, the Friars helped on several.

The bad in the first half: Providence shot 15-26 (5-11 on 3s). Lazy defensive effort. A bit of gambling on steals — because it was more fun — but gave up easy baskets.

In the second half, clearly the team got the message from Coach Dixon that they can play offense, but not at the expense of poor defensive effort. The Panthers went on a 21-4 run to make a 5 point halftime lead, a 22 point walk to the end.

It also helped that Providence was extremely streaky in their 3-point shooting. They were hot for the first 5 minutes and hot for the final 5 minutes. It was that other 30 minutes that killed them. The Friars finished 9-22 on 3s.

Pitt by contrast shot 5-11 on 3s, with Ramon making all 5 on 7 attempts. Between the poor Providence defense and some confidence by Ramon, he looked fantastic. He finished with 15 points, 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers.

Heck, probably the best thing about this game was that it was a confidence booster for the whole team on offense (well, maybe not Gilbert Brown’s perimeter shooting — but even he had good with 4-4 on free throws).

On the post-game interviews. Naturally Dixon wouldn’t give anything about whether Fields will play on Friday at Marquette: “it’s day-to-day.”

Sam Young’s interview amused the hell out of me. He actually cracked a smile. I really don’t know how easy it is to tell when he is pouting, and when it is his normal expression. He seems to have a naturally dour look. Plus his body language generally pushes a sense of discomfort. He kept hunching forward.

I could probably do a lengthy post on how bad a color analyst Mike Jarvis is, but his post-game interview was even worse. In doing some highlights with Young there, Jarvis actually said to Sam Young that he looks just as happy to make a good pass as he is scoring.

Sam Young just looked confused. Like he couldn’t even believe there was a comparison of the two. He didn’t actually answer with a yes to skip past the inane, softball question. He just kind of moved away from the question. Even Young couldn’t buy into that.