Not good so far this evening for the Big East with Notre Dame and Marquette falling.

Hopefully that was just a Pac-10 aberration.

9:27: Okay, just ugly shooting so far. Neither team looks particularly comfortable. There’s a good amount of bumping and physical activity. Pitt down 4-2 but Sam Young shooting foul shots after the break.

9:39: Pitt down 13-12, 10:20 until halftime.

Pitt 6-6 on free throws. Shooting struggles continue. Pitt forced a short flurry of turnovers and that resulted in Michigan State starting to hold onto the ball a bit more rather than trying to move the ball more. Right now the Spartans are hitting shots and Pitt is not.

9:47: Right now, the question is whether Pitt can shoot above 25% from the field before halftime. On the stunning side, Pitt is 8-8 on FTs.

9:55: Crap, but Neitzel is shooting well tonight. I guess on the positive side, MSU has been hot while Pitt is cold this half. Yet it is still quite close.

10:08: Fields did nearly everything in that half. That steal was tremendous, and he finished this time. Of course, the rest of the team stood there and watched as Kailan Lucas took it all the way and right to the hoop.

Pitt down 30-28. All told, Pitt should be happy to be down only 2. 9-29 shooting and being outrebounded. MSU shooting fantastic. 12-25 shooting, 4-5 on 3s.

Pitt has stayed close because of getting turnovers and shooting 8-8 from the line.

The team has to shoot better in the second half.

10:35: How can Pitt still be missing these shots? More activity on defense, but no conversions on offense.

11:32: Sorry, Pitt finally went on a run when I backed off any posts, so I went with it.  That didn’t last. Kiddie stuff then interfered with any more posting.
So the season comes to an end. Looked like the legs were finally giving out on the players. So many shots that just seemed to hit the front of the rim.

Michigan State made the tough shots. Have to give the Spartans credit. Neitzel had the hot shooting game, they needed. Kalin Lucas was able to attack off the dribble and was simply faster.
Pitt missed the open looks. Unbelievable number of open looks — especially from the perimeter — that Pitt left short.  Pitt shot 2-17 on 3s, which was somewhat offset by shockingly good FT shooting — 18-19.

DeJuan Blair struggled with too much size inside from Michigan State, and being the only Pitt player inside all too often. When Levance Fields is the second leading rebounder, that never bodes well.
Hate to see Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin go out like this. Neither of them able to do much on offense.

It’s several hours before tip-off and I am already tense. The Spartans Weblog has their take on the game. I appreciate the bias (“MSU should be prepared, having played 20 games in the most physical conference in the land”), and the focus on tempo-free stats. That said there is some fun with myopia. There’s a bit of dismissal of Pitt’s defense as not being as good as the media portrays based on the stats, while downplaying the Spartans own turnover problems reflected in the stats because they have been under control recently. Pitt’s defense, in case they hadn’t noticed, has picked up in the last couple of weeks.

I’m not sure either side is sure what to expect from their teams. Having seen the Spartans several times this season, they do have a tendency to be very, very sloppy with the ball. When that happens, they tend to get frustrated and out of sync. Pitt has been good at forcing turnovers this season. The Spartans have a big advantage in depth. If the game is called tight, Pitt is at a bigger disadvantage.

The major theme for this game has been both teams’ reputation for playing defense. Hard-nosed, physical, brutal, tough, defense. We get it. Oh, and physical practices.

For Michigan State it’s the “war drill.” A ball rolls onto the floor and the players go after it. There are no fouls called. Contact is demanded. Bloody noses and lips are often souvenirs.

“It’s pretty intense,” Spartans guard Drew Neitzel said.For Pittsburgh, it used to be called the “war drill.” Now it’s just the “box-out drill,” but the same anarchic principles apply. Two players trying to prevent two other players from getting a rebound. Until you get two boards in a row, you do not leave the drill. Broken nose or not.

“That can get real brutal,” Panthers guard Sam Young said.

Of course, both coaches have downplayed the whole thing.

Izzo is a hell of a coach. No denying the obvious. Scary how successful he has been in this second round. He’s only lost twice in the round of 32 in 13 tries. Yeah, that makes me nervous even if technically it should have no bearing on this game.
Quickly to the player pieces. A couple on DeJuan Blair — hometown hero and as a vital part of the team as a freshman.

Sam Young gets the puff piece, including his ability for playing the piano — which now seems to be a requirement to be the starting power forward at Pitt.
Levance Fields gets plenty of love as he is hot and healthy. For this week he has drawn Mateen Cleaves and Khalid El-Amin comparisons.

Hopefully no one has had time to read their press clippings the last couple days.

Most of the conversation you’re going to hear when if Pitt loses is “Was it enough?” A lot of people will tell you it’s not enough unless they finally make it past the Sweet Sixteen. This year is a different situation though. The Mike Cook and Levance Fields injuries took this team from Final Four potential to just another average group. We were supposed to be lucky to finish .500 in the conference and nobody could have ever imagined the amazing run at the Big East Tournament. We avoided getting upset by Oral Roberts and now we play a traditional power in the 4-5 match-up of the second round. As the guys on ESPN Radio put it, there won’t be any shame in losing to a good Michigan State led by Tom Izzo, a coach that has had plenty of NCAA Tourney success.

However… this is a different team. Sure they have flashes of Pitt teams from the past eight years, but they also play a faster, quicker, and more athletic brand of basketball. At this point, Fields is looking better than ever, even with the hair flowing a little longer. They are physical enough to match up with Michigan State and yet fast enough to possibly hang with run-and-gun Memphis. Izzo says he would give Jamie Dixon a Coach of the Year vote:

“If I had a vote for national coach of the year, he’d have to be right up there, for surviving what he went through this year in a tough conference,” Izzo said. “With the injuries he’s had … he’s battled that. He’s had 25-point losses and turned it around. I think that’s the mark of a great coach, getting knocked down a few times, yet getting his team back.”

Maybe I’m writing this so I can look at it later and read this instead of saying something stupid with the thoughts of the game fresh in my head: even if we lose tonight, it has been plenty enough to call this a successful season. I’m getting a little worried though.

Also, has this been the most exciting Pitt basketball season in recent memory? Washington’s overturned buzzer-beater, Fields’ trey to beat Duke at MSG, Ramon’s buzzer-beater over West Virginia, the crazy comeback at Syracuse, and then four wins at the Big East Tournament.