Really, they are D-II. Of course Pitt beat the crud out of them. That’s part of why it took until today to even get to mentioning the game from Saturday.

The nice story, of course, was Maurice Polen playing at IUP with his last year of eligibility.

Polen wasn’t just any walk-on at Pitt. He made an impact on everyone in the program, including coach Jamie Dixon, who said awarding Polen a scholarship last year was one of the most rewarding moments of his coaching career.

Polen, who hails from Philadelphia, almost didn’t go to Pitt. Had it not been for a $5,000 donation from a woman at his father’s church he probably wouldn’t have had enough money to go to school across the state.

“Maurice is one of the best human beings I’ve ever been around,” Dixon said. “It’s been a pleasure and honor to coach him. [IUP coach] Joe Lombardi needed a big guy and a great person and great kid. It would be selfish of me if I was the only one who got to coach him. Everyone should get the opportunity to coach Maurice Polen because he is a great individual.”

Polen, a few credits shy from graduating from Pitt in the spring, is finishing up his undergraduate work at IUP this semester. Dixon and associate athletic director Donna Sanft worked it out so Polen will have a degree from Pitt when it’s all said and done.

This year’s walk-on, Sean Brown, got his own piece from his local area paper.

“I’m real good friends with Tyrell Biggs and some of the other guys on the team. I’ve been playing pick-up games with them for years,” said Brown, whose father, Darrell Brown, was part of Maryland’s 1972 NIT championship team alongside Len Elmore. “Everything just sort of fell into place.”

…

As Greg Hotchkiss, Pitt’s director of media relations for men’s basketball, puts it, every one knows Brown because he’s been around the team for years.

That and he shares an apartment off-campus with Biggs, so that probably didn’t hurt. Along with being around the players and the program for a couple years.

With Levance Fields forceful return to the lineup after an offseason of wondering whether he’d be ready for the season, it’s been noticed.

4. Levance Fields, Sr., G, Pitt: Fields’ play has been exceptional at the point. He dished out 12 assists in the win over Akron earlier in the week. He’s showing no signs that he missed most of the preseason with an injured left foot.

Fields also got a great story from Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News.

With his thick torso and short appendages, Fields does not look like many, or any, of the great point guards, but he has added a different element to Pitt’s astounding run of success at the position this decade. Brandin Knight, the school’s career assists leader, was coolly cerebral. Carl Krauser was unpredictably, sometimes wildly creative. Fields provides a contagious brand of leadership derived from sheer force of will.

In a sense, Fields is the personification of the Pitt basketball renaissance. As generally has been the case with the Panthers since coaches Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon began rescuing the program in 1999, Fields is not blessed with the sort of aesthetically pleasing athleticism that appeals to the most prestigious college programs or NBA teams. As the Panthers generally have been, he is committed to team goals and blessed with astonishing competitive drive.

Finally, there is a chance Gilbert Brown might be cleared to play tonight.