Okay, gametime nearing. Let’s see if Pitt can help put the seeding issue into further chaos.

9:00: No shock that the studio crew went Georgetown across the board. History, rankings, seeding, fresher legs, etc. all favor Georgetown.

9:05: Oh, we have the full intros tonight. Did the players get to choose their own music?

9:10: Burr, Cahill and Donato the refs.

9:12: Okay, not exactly the same start as last night. 2 turnovers, a foul by Blair, and a missed shot. Pitt down 6-0 with 18:02 to go in the half. Dixon calls a necessary timeout. Have to settle the team.

9:17: Better. Ball movement on offense. Staying tight on defense. Biggs all over Hibbert (yeah, I’m shocked to be writing that too). 6-5 G-town with 15:44.

9:21: If Pitt can’t knock down any 3s (only 1 so far) they won’t have any room to work inside. G-town is really clogging the lanes.

Can’t believe Fields missed both FTs and Wallace hit that ridiculous 3. Those are the sort of things that can demoralize the team early. Make them think that it won’t be their night.

9:26: Pitt has the lead as Brown comes up with big scores off the bench. Even when things work for G-town, the pace will keep this game close — at least in the first half. Pitt has to remain patient.

Biggs playing solid. Guess he is really up for playing for friends and family.

9:32: In the first meeting this year, the Hoyas only made 3 3s all game. They have 4 already.

9:35: Pitt down 22-21 with 7:01 left.

Have to hope that the Hoyas cool on the 3-point shooting in the second half. That is where they are living right now. Pitt has hit enough 3s now to stay with them and open things inside. They are swarming over Blair inside, though. Good ball movement by Pitt. Defense isn’t bad, G-town is setting some great screens for the 3s and they are knocking them down from a longer range.

9:42: Pitt is incredibly active on the glass. Really attacking the glass. After letting Marquette dominate last night, I guess they redoubled the effort.

Hibbert has 2 fouls.

Pitt up 29-26 with 3:32.

9:53: Pitt’s defense really, really tightened up further into the half. They completely disrupted their final possession.

Pitt leads 31-28 at the half.

Jamie Dixon flashes a little sense of humor to Doris Burke at the halftime interview. The crowd noise drowned her out and he told her so, gave stock coach talk, and then added that he was sure her observations were spot on. At least he isn’t tight for this game.

Pitt definitely came out a little tight, while G-town was loose. By the end of the half, it seemed that the roles switched. Pitt looked looser and faster. The Hoyas seemed a little more frustrated that Pitt wasn’t rolling over for them.

Ewing, Jr. is just a good ball-player. Such a break for the Hoyas that he quit at Indiana and came to them. He’s not a starter, because he isn’t good at helping to set the pace and flow. Once the game is going, though, he jumps right in there and keeps things moving.

In an ideal world, this week is when things finally go off for Biggs mentally. An understanding of all that he has to do in the little things. I don’t know. It finally happened for Benjamin in his senior year. Maybe Biggs is starting to get the message.

Ramon has been so consistently good for Pitt in the BET. He is showing some real fire in his final games as a Panther.

10:13: The floor mic just caught Jesse Sapp saying “Get that s**t out of here” as he fouled Young.

Young then missed both FTs. That’s just killing every Pitt fan with the misses from the charity stripe.

10:19: Pitt still leading 39-35. Blair heading to the line after the commercial break. I’m not optimistic they will increase their lead.

I’m loving what I’m seeing from Ronald Ramon. This is the end of his career and he is just going to leave it all out there. Injuries, fatigue and being undersized be damned.

10:29: DaJuan Summers has his 4th foul with over 12 minutes left. Huge. They are talking about his defense on Young. But he is also the guy that can attack from a wing on offense. Again, Ewing, Jr. tried to take the “credit” for the foul in place of Summers. Just smart.

10:32: How was that a travel on Brown when Hibbert grabbed him on the perimeter?

10:41: It is weird. The Hoya fouls are looking more and more like frustration fouls. Please make some.

Wow. Hibbert picks up 2 quick fouls in a few seconds. Now the Hoyas have Summers, Rivers and Hibbert with 4 fouls.

10:44: Outrebounding, outhustling and taking care of the ball along with the defense. That’s how Pitt is overcoming one of the worst displays of foul shooting ever. Bob Huggins and John Calipari are bothered by this level.

Only theory I have is that the tired legs kick in when they have a chance to stop and try and take their time to shoot. Adrenalin and the game flow are keeping them going in the game itself. I mean, Fields going 1-6?

10:47: DaJuan Summers fouled out with 7:25 left. Pitt up 53-42, Hibbert has to come back in.

10:55: Blair commits a dumb foul after Hibbert already beat him. That’s his 4th. Still 4:45 to go. 56-49.

10:56:Ramon Nails the open 3 on a broken play. Huge. Back up to 10 points.

11:02: Time to prove Pitt can make them when it counts. It’s going to be a procession to the FT line now.

11:04: Rivers fouls out grabbing Ramon on an inbound.

11:15: Another huge block for Young late!!!!

Ramon knocks down 4 straight FTs.

Young will be the Tourney MVP — deservedly so — but damn if Ramon isn’t a close second for the way he has stepped up in this BET.

11:20: YYYEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11:21: There’s a lot of dust in my house as I watch Pitt celebrate.

This is more for posterity. The win is over. Time to focus on the next game.
I guess Tim Higgins can take solace in the fact that fans of every Big East team hate him. He probably feels that means he is doing his job well and fairly. That’s the interesting thing from the Marquette perspective. Jerel McNeal was nearly run by Higgins.

This time, it appeared as though he ejected McNeal from the game as McNeal was seated on the bench. Higgins stopped play, walked over to the scorer’s table, then walked down the sideline and stopped in front of McNeal and twice gestured with his arm as though he was kicking him out.

McNeal and Crean appeared stunned. Then Higgins, perhaps realizing the storm of controversy that doubtless would have surrounded such a move, appeared to change his mind and allowed McNeal to stay, instead warning the bench area to keep quiet.

(Rosiak questioned some of the fouls called on McNeal, including a little bump on Young as he drove. Conveniently ignoring that they called similar fouls on Pitt. Not wild about the officiating, but it was bad both ways.) That was where McNeal seemed to lose his mind on the bench. It does seem that McNeal was going a little beyond emotional at that point.

Tim Higgins went over to the Golden Eagles’ bench and gave a stern verbal warning to McNeal, who had been jumping up and down and screaming profanity in protest of a call. It appeared as if Higgins ejected McNeal, as he pointed to the locker room, but McNeal returned to the game a few minutes later.

As has happened so many times recently in the Big East tournament semifinals, Pittsburgh left an opponent frustrated and on the wrong side of the scoreboard.

As another paper put it, McNeal spent much of the game chewing his fingernails from the bench.

Sure enough, the moral victory stuff I mentioned at the end of last night was a theme for Marquette after the game. I understand and they should go with that. Heck if it had been Pitt in that situation, we know Dixon would have spun it that way, but it is a touch predictable.

In a game that had a lot in it, it’s a bit of a shame that Tyrell Biggs got shorted in the local papers for his contributions. Biggs gave Pitt 31 minutes for a foul-plagued DeJuan Blair. He provided 6 points on 50% shooting and 8 rebounds. He had a block and only 1 turnover. He stepped up for Pitt in the game. I suppose it makes some sense. Both recaps were essentially game recaps. As newspapers, they had deadlines and the lateness of the game meant the newspaper beat writers were up against it — which also explains the minimal amount of quotes in the stories. Even the post-game pressers had to be limited in what they could use.

Eric Hall at the Beaver County Times, though, did work Biggs into his recap.

Consider where these Panthers (25-9) stood after a punishing loss at West Virginia two weeks ago. The Panthers just wrapped up their fourth loss in six games. Hope was disappearing. The players appeared disconnected. They weren’t playing together.

Consider that the hero of Thursday’s win was Gilbert Brown, the redshirt freshman with the unusual shooting stroke and some questionable decisions. He played 36 minutes against Louisville, many more than his career high.

Consider that the hero of Friday’s game was Tyrell Biggs, an inconsistent player who has never delivered on potential that had him on Duke’s wish list. But Biggs played in foul-ridden DeJuan Blair’s stead, 31 minutes worth of rebounding (he had eight) and good defense.

Consider that only once in the history of this event had a team won the night after winning a game in overtime. But the Panthers broke out to a 16-4 lead and never trailed.

Consider that Sam Young, the volatile member of this team, evolved into a leader and has scored at least 21 points in all three games this week. On Friday, he had a game-best 22.

“There’s something about the Garden,” said point guard Levance Fields, who reclaimed his leadership role after a tenuous return from an ankle injury. “Special things happen.”

Revenge always feels good.

“Oh man, we really wanted to get back at them after that,” said Pitt swingman Gilbert Brown. “We came out flat that game. They took a big lead early in the second half and started celebrating. I mean, (Marquette guard David) Cubillan was actually dancing to the crowd.

“We kept that mind.”

Last year was a revenge tour for Pitt with Marquette and Louisville. So was this year. Now it’s time — hopefully — for revenge on G-town for last year.

Because the Panthers will remember:

A 26.2 percent shooting night (16-61) to set a tournament record for fewest points in a 65-42 loss.

The Hoyas celebrating their first Big East tournament championship in 18 years.

John Thompson III clearing his bench with 11/2 minutes left.

Patrick Ewing Jr. giving his old man a hug and handing him a Big East championship cap.

Roy Hibbert scoring 14 of his 18 points (with 11 rebounds) in the first half and dominating shell-shocked Pitt center Aaron Gray.

There’s fatigue factor with Pitt’s short bench, but you can’t argue with the results.

There’s a lot of focus on Levance Fields now returned and fully integrated within the team again.

It’s no coincidence that Pitt is making this surge at the same time he’s rounding into the form that made him the team’s best player before his injury.

“A lot of people thought it was going to be easy to come back and be ready to go right away,” Dixon said. “Even Levance probably thought it was going to be easier than it was …

“I thought it would take us two weeks for him to get into it, us getting used to him and him just getting his legs and getting knocked down a few times. So I think I just kept encouraging him. I think there was some frustration at times with Levance, but he got through it and our guys have confidence in him.

“We’re where we wanted to be right now.”

Fields still isn’t shooting well. He made 3 of 10 shots last night and is an abysmal 8 for 31 in the tournament.

Still, there’s no one on the Pitt team that you want to have the ball in his hands late in a game more than Fields. It’s his confidence that his next shot is going in.

Mandel at SI.com likes what he has seen as Pitt has gotten healthy with Fields back.

Suddenly, they’re one more win from doing it again — and they’re almost certainly headed for a higher seed in the NCAA tournament (No. 5?) than they had in their own conference tourney.

“I don’t think anybody really knew what to make of our team with all the injuries,” said Dixon. “This is a team that had to change in midstream three, four times.”

One of the biggest, if unnoticed impact of the injuries came not in games, but in practices, where for much of the season Pittsburgh has flat-out lacked the bodies to go full-throttle. Dixon said that Fields only began practicing again the week leading up to their regular-season finale against DePaul.

As they’ve begun to return to their more customary, “rugged” practice style, there’s been a noticeable improvement in their defensive performances. The last time the Panthers faced the Cardinals, a 75-73 home loss on Feb. 24, Louisville shot 57 percent; on Thursday night, they hit just 37 percent.

“Practice is where it starts,” said guard Ronald Ramon. “We weren’t able to go after each other, do the ‘aggressive drills,’ as we call them. But now that guys are healthy, we’re able to go five-on-five, get after it. Now when we go on the court and play games, the chemistry’s there.”

Even Luke Winn is giving Pitt a shot.

If Pitt can knock off Georgetown tonight — a scenario that seems entirely plausible — the Panthers have a legitimate case for a No. 5 seed. They were considered an 8 or a 9 heading into this week, but they’re making a push based on these facts:

• Momentum. Winning seven of its final eight regular-season games, with two of those victories coming over Louisville and Georgetown, would make Pitt look rather attractive in the eyes of the selection committee.

• The Negative Momentum of Current Fives. Vanderbilt (with its opening-round loss to Arkansas in the SEC tournament) and Indiana (which lost a stunner to Minnesota on Saturday) are slumping into the dance, and neither team has much of a non-conference resume. Whereas Pitt has a win over Duke.

• The Levance Fields Argument. The Panthers only have two bad losses on their resume — at Cincinnati on Jan. 19 and against Rutgers on Jan. 26. Both of those happened while Fields was hurt. There’s no doubt the selection committee will take this into consideration.

Everyone has been focused on the chaos of the bubble. Arguably, seeding will be a bigger mess. Seeds for lines 3 through 7 are incredibly unclear to me. That’s going to be the big talk coming out of selection Sunday. Not the bubble teams that got screwed, considering how badly so many of them did at the end to hardly make the case. The stories will be about what the selection committee was thinking when they seeded the teams.

To recap, Pitt loves playing at MSG. While it is unprecedented in Big East history for one team to play in the BET Championship game 7 times in 8 seasons, the fact that Pitt has only won it once is still an issue.

Given the way that Pittsburgh wins at the Garden every March, it’s understandable that people say the Panthers own the Big East Tournament. But really, it’s more like a lease. Pitt is always giving it back on the final night.

Georgetown has looked very good, but it turns out John Thompson III is a superstitious one.

Sure I just stole a line from Dick Vitale that I just heard during the ACC semifinal, but last night was just awesome. I told my friends that against Louisville, we’d lose. Uh, way to go there Dennis. Then I told them we’d lose to Marquette just to keep the karma going strong. So I’ll say it again — Georgetown will beat us tonight. (wink, wink)

Levance Fields, who should have Madison Square Garden named after him, had to come through on something said before the game.

Levance Fields had his own end of the bargain to hold.

When top-seeded Georgetown went into its locker room at Madison Square Garden up 33-21 on West Virginia before Pitt’s semifinal game against Marquette last night, Hoyas guard Jessie Sapp, Fields’ friend, saw the Brooklyn-native point guard in the stands as he ran off.

“He gave me a high five and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Fields said.

Fields played a great. So did Ramon. So did Sam Young, Keith Benjamin, Tyrell Biggs, and Gil Brown. How many Marquette players played a great game? You could say Jerel McNeal, who led his team in points and steals, but he was in foul trouble for much of the game and turned the ball over so many times that his good numbers are outweighed by the bad. A leader is no good on the bench or handing the ball over to the other team.

“Obviously, [McNeal]’s a great player,” Dixon said. “I liked the way that we got him. We took some charges, and that was something that we emphasized going into this game, and that was big.”

The 16-4 run to start the game really set the tone from the beginning. Our starters played well and Marquette’s didn’t even bother to show up until the second half. Sam Young has pleasantly surprised me with his play during the BET. His head seems to always be in the game and he’s playing offense and defense.

I think coming into New York City we were somewhere around the 8/9 seed. The last two wins have probably shot us into the 6/7 range and a win over Georgetown tonight could get us as high as a fifth seed. The committee likes to look at how a team has played in recent games leading up to the tournament, and a win tonight would put us under a great light in the committee’s eyes.