Making me feel old. Shirley Manson is now a corporate boogeyman in the Sarah Conor Chronicles. I prefer to think of her from this period with Garbage.

I reference this classic from the 90s because of questions this.

Q: Paul, I am amazed with what I read in your Q & A discussions. I mean, there is the constant criticisms of Billy Stull, the offense, the receivers, the coaches, the secondary etc. — so much that I have to remind myself that this team is 9-3, is back in a bowl game, has NFL talent at multiple positions and generally looks like a program on the verge of again being a top ten team with top flight national talent. You would think the questions were coming from Ohio State fans used to 11-1 or 12-0 seasons and not Pitt fans accustomed to another year of maybe we can get 6 wins. These folks need a serious dose of Division I football reality. What are your thoughts?

ZEISE: I agree there appears to be a jaded group his is not happy with success — but that group won’t be happy even if Pitt was 12-0 and in the BCS national title game — so I wouldn’t worry too much about them. The Panthers made a nice stride forward this year now they just need to keep building on it each year and eventually, the hope is that if you knock on the door with 8-4, 9-3, 10-2, type of seasons long enough, you’ll break through and have that big year everyone so desires.

See if you haven’t been following the Q&A, the questions have continued about Bill Stull’s lack of arm strength. The complaints about Matt Cavanaugh as OC. Is Shady really coming back? Then there are the counter points from those wondering why the fans aren’t savoring this.

Couple this with really pertinent questions like where the weak spots on the team are and how/if recruiting is addressing the issues. Or an evaluation of the O-line’s performance.

And you could say that Pitt fans or a sizable contingent of the fanbase are naturally negative. And this is where I will part company. I think that in an interactive format that invites questions, you are going to get a larger percentage of questions that doubt or have concerns about the faults on the team. They may not always be expressed in the most diplomatic — well, they can be downright hostile towards the players or coaches — but they are asking the questions that still nag at them and others.

It’s harder to ask questions that are positive that are the least bit interesting or not complete softballs. And exactly what is the appeal to asking questions that are essentially, “this team rocks, right?”

It’s one thing to be asking the questions and even being a bit negative at times locally. I’m guessing most are defending and even willing to promote Pitt on a more national level.

I haven’t posted much on the Sun Bowl stuff. Simply a matter of prioritizing. All the stuff in the offline world, other responsibilities and the more immediacy of basketball games actually being played. So, to breathlessly post on things relating to football and the Sun Bowl when it only now reaches a week away was difficult.

In that respect Pitt fans are lucky. We have basketball, and it is worth discussing.

But moving back to football. If you are lucky enough to be heading to El Paso, my colleague at FanHouse, Will Brinson, has a short travel guide for your visit. Plus, the Village People are the halftime entertainment.

Going back more than a week, there was the team banquet. Players getting team awards. As the team gets ready for the Sun Bowl they can get advice from Norv Turner’s son.

First-year Pitt graduate assistant Scott Turner worked at Oregon State under Riley during the 2005 season, which was his first year as a coach.

Turner had graduated from UNLV, where he was a three-year varsity letterman in football, earlier that season and Riley offered him his first opportunity to get into coaching in June of that year and Turner worked at Oregon State until the following May.

…

Turner said he doesn’t know how much scouting intelligence or insider information he can give the Panthers’ coaching staff because many of the players have changed since he worked at Oregon State. The Beavers have different stars they scheme for and rely on to make plays.

Again, more importantly was in the notes that redshirting freshman Shayne Hale was being moved from linebacker to defensive end. On its face, that is a little surprising since he was a HS All-American as a linebacker, but tempered with Coach Wannstedt’s love to create speed and mismatches and it was even cited as a good possibility in this ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. evaluation (insider subs). The one concern is that linebacker is an area where Pitt will have a lot of question marks — and need — next year.

Regarding the Beavers, Jacquizz Rodgers is still “very doubtful” so it looks like we have to get to know Ryan McCants.

After going almost the entire regular season without a starter going down, the Beavers are going bowling with a big part of their lineup in street clothes.

Freshman sensation Jacquizz Rodgers has not officially been ruled out of the Dec. 31 game, but Riley hasn’t changed his “very doubtful” prognosis. And really, all of that is just for the Sun Bowl folks to hang onto this Quizz vs. LeSean McCoy angle for a few more days.

Sophomore wide receiver James Rodgers, meanwhile, is out with a broken collarbone sustained in the Civil War game against Oregon.

Of course, Oregon State has had a lot of time to prepare for the Sun Bowl without the Rodgers boys, so there is that.

Scott McKillop gets puffed in an Oregon paper.

“This is real big for the team,” McKillop said. “I was fortunate enough to be here when we played Utah in the Fiesta Bowl (in 2004), and the next three years, we were unsuccessful in getting back to a bowl game. That left a sour taste in our mouths, and in my senior year, I want to go out with a bang.”

He’s already made a splash on the postseason awards circuit.

The one-time wrestler from Kiski Area High School east of Pittsburgh, who accepted the only football scholarship he was offered, is the 2008 Big East defensive player of the year after leading the conference in tackles for the second straight season.

McKillop also earned All-America recognition from The Associated Press and the Football Writers Association of America.

But it hasn’t been a meteoric rise for McKillop.

Figures, it’s always in the notes where the most interesting nuggets are found.

Freshman defensive back Ronald Hobby is the only player who is out for the Sun Bowl. Wannstedt said Hobby’s career is likely over due to his academic issues. … Redshirt freshman walk-on lineman Josh Marks has been dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons. … One player who could still be left behind if he doesn’t continue to toe a fine line is redshirt junior defensive tackle Tommie Duhart. Duhart has been suspended most of the second half of the season with various off-field issues. “As long as Tommie continues to do everything he’s supposed to do, he’ll get an opportunity to play,” Wannstedt said.

Hobby was a 3-star recruit from Maryland. I can’t even conceive of how little effort he must have put into the school portion to be permanently done after one semester. What makes it so poor, is that you just hope it was pure laziness that led to this outcome. Not some sort of personal problem or family issues. No matter what, I hope he can figure things out somewhere else. Hobby even enrolled at Pitt back in January to get an early start on things. Hmm. There might be a clue in that story.

“Half the time, I want to sleep,” Hobby said, “but I can’t sleep because I have so much work to do.”

Uh-huh.

Then there’s Josh Marks. Well, here’s what I wrote back when he first came aboard in August.

The controversy at Penn State was over his conditioning. There is little dispute he was overweight. With a year of only practicing and Buddy Morris working with him, we’ll find out whether it was the something more that was bothering him at Penn State.

I’m cautiously optimistic about this. At the very least, this is a low-risk gamble. Marks was a top OL recruit, that Pitt really wanted. His work ethic had never been questioned before. Again, the reports – even before his departure – were that he had struggled with conditioning from the spring onward.

If it was a short term slump on his part he will get over it and Pitt greatly benefits. If it really is his attitude, then the team will probably figure it out before the end of this year.

Looks like it was his attitude, and Pitt did figure it out before the end of 2008. The only minor concern is worrying if he poisoned the atmosphere with his old HS teammate. Henry Hynoski. Hyno will likely be fine. His work ethic and attitude have never been questioned. Plus the bloodlines are solid.

DeAndre Kane has apparently, perhaps, maybe committed to Seton Hall.

Or maybe he just had a nice time.

“He did say he liked it very much but he said he didn’t commit,” Patterson (NC) SChool coach Chris Chaney just told me by phone.

Seton Hall and Bobby Gonzalez has had a run of this lately. Leaking or someone just plain jumping the gun on a commit. It is making people a little gun-shy.

I’ve also read news of a new Patterson School player’s verbal to the Pirates, but after the reneged/renounced verbals of Cliff Dixon, Chris Turner and Charles Okwandu, I’m going to hold off naming names and making assessments until I get some evidence that this is more solid.

I admit, with other reliable sources saying it, it might be so. And if Kane wants to be assured of early playing time he would be better off at somewhere like Seton Hall that is completely undermanned. To say nothing of  a program definitely having plenty of open scholarships. At the same time, the one thing I haven’t read is any quote attributed to Kane himself saying that he committed.

So, we’ll see.

Sorry, in my mind I had no choice.

A former City League player, Ed Tinker has decided to commit to Pitt. Tinker has spent the year in prep school in North Carolina. As a 2008 recruit he was a 3-star prospect. The evaluations are still from that time (Insider subs).

Tinker is a monster of a physical specimen, and while he is raw and rough around the edges, he has the tools to develop into a very good college wide receiver. He is tall with a thick, sturdy build. He has long arms. He has a wide catch radius and flashes the ability to snatch the ball outside his frame. He does not show blazing speed, but he is a long strider who can get vertical. He shows very good leaping ability to go up to play that ball at its highest point. He has the potential to develop into a very good red-zone target because of his height and arm length.

That’s right a project. And if we go back to the 2008 evaluations, Chris Dokish put him as #30 in the Commonwealth last year and someone who might be of use on the defense.

The top prospect in Pittsburgh’s City League. Solid at 6’1” and 190 pounds. Decent speed and good athleticism. Excellent hands. Can also project at safety or even grow into a linebacker down the road. Strong, fluid runner on offense and a rangy hitter on defense.

Last year, Pitt wasn’t one of his schools. He was looking at WVU, L-ville, MSU and Colorado.

On it’s face, in a year where Pitt only has a limited scholarships and a glut at WR this seemed like a head scratcher. Especially with the gaps especially at safety and linebacker. Thankfully few things truly disappear on the internet and the possibility that Tinker might be on defense at those need positions suddenly makes a bit more sense.

Not to make excuses for a tough win, but a road game just before the holiday break is not the easiest thing for focus and concentration. Thinking about going to see family. Gift giving and receiving. Travel plans. Distractions galore. Marquette and Oklahoma might have similar issues tonight, and Texas traveling to Wisconsin on Wednesday especially seems at risk.

Welcome hyperbole from Andy Katz at ESPN.com about the win.

With a minute left, Florida State was tied 48-48 with Pittsburgh. The Seminoles didn’t score again, as Pitt rolled off the game’s final eight points. The Panthers proved Sunday night that they are one of the nation’s elite teams. Pitt took the game over when it mattered most and shook off a horrible night of shooting, especially from Levance Fields, who was 1-of-10.

In case you hadn’t noticed, it was a defensive struggle.

Florida State entered the game allowing opponents to shoot just 37.2 percent from the floor. The Panthers allowed opponents to shoot just 36.6 percent from the floor.

Either team would have loved to shoot that well Sunday night. Pitt ended the game shooting just 33.3 percent, while FSU shot just 29.8 percent. Neither team shot 30 percent in the first half, and the Seminoles made just four of their first 17 shots.

It was Pitt’s worst shooting night of the season. Coach Dixon gave some of that credit to FSU’s defense. Just as FSU’s Leonard Hamilton credited Pitt’s win.

“That’s what experienced veteran teams, with well-coached talent, will do,” Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. “They finished their plays and we didn’t. I can’t fault our players’ effort; I thought we gave tremendous effort. I think we could still execute a little better.”

Pitt started out strong and ended in similar fashion.

But while the Seminoles (11-2) missed their last seven shots, Pitt (12-0) connected on its last four.

Sam Young helped break their backs in the end.

Pitt stemmed the tide on its next possession with a big play from its best player. Young, who led all scorers with 21 points, flew in down the key and tipped in a missed shot by Levance Fields for a 50-48 lead with 1:52 remaining.

“I got it with these two fingers,” Young said pointing to his middle and ring fingers. “They got a big team. There were a couple of them up there with me and I just got it up over them. I had great timing on it, I guess.”

“I got the bucket, and they put their head down a little bit,” Young said. “They got out of it after that.”

DeJuan Blair got in foul trouble and was limited to 24 minutes, but still notched another double-double. Jermaine Dixon ended up having a successful visit to his old stomping grounds.

On his homecoming, Jermaine Dixon didn’t want to let anyone down.

Dixon, mired in a season-long shooting slump, hit his biggest buckets since arriving at Pitt in a critical second-half stretch, and the No. 3 Panthers rallied to escape Florida State with a 56-48 victory Sunday at Tucker Center.

“(They) told me ‘keep shooting,’ ” Dixon said. “It felt good.”

…

Dixon, who starred at nearby Tallahassee Junior College the past two seasons, hit two 3 pointers in a 61-second span to key the second-half run and Pitt never trailed the rest of the way.

“If he wouldn’t have hit those 3s,” said Young, who also hit a couple of huge second-half buckets, “I don’t think we would have won the game.”

Dixon, the team’s starting shooting guard, had made only five of 30 3-point attempts (16.7 percent) entering Sunday’s game. He missed two more long-range shots in the first half to drop to 3 for 25 from behind the arc in the past month. So, when Florida State opened the second half with a 10-0 run to take a 34-26 lead with 15:31 to play, Dixon figured to be a little gun-shy.

But the younger brother of former Maryland star Juan Dixon figured if you don’t shoot, you can’t even miss.

“We have a lot of confidence in him,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “He’s a big-game player.”

The first Dixon 3-pointer ended Pitt’s second-half drought and cut FSU’s lead to 34-29 with 15:16 to play. After a DeJuan Blair put-back dunk, Dixon hit another 3-pointer to tie the score, 34-34. By the time the run was over, Pitt led 43-34.

“After that first one, I knew I was going to hit the second one,” said Dixon, who finished with 11 points. “I knew it was going down.”

The way the shots weren’t falling in that game, I was never sure what would actually go down.

But Pitt still came away with the 56-48 win. One thing I take away from Pitt’s performance is that I wish they had played at least one more true road game in the non-con. Get that combination of hostile crowds and unfamiliar rims.

I mean, Pitt came out getting baskets. Biggs drilled a nice open 3, Pitt hit 4-7 in the opening minutes. Then proceeded to go 6-29 the rest of the first half. The Pitt defense was solid the entire way, thankfully, and FSU lacked real threat beyond Toney Douglas on offense. None of the other FSU players just matched up with Pitt.

FSU played a tough zone and packed them inside to keep it clogged for Blair and prevent the slashing from Young. Make the team take jump shots. The same strategy employed by UMBC and one that can be expected from any team that has a coach with an ounce of intelligence. In this game, Pitt just was horrific shooting the ball. It was brutal.

All you can do is keep the ball moving around looking for the best open shot or a moment where the defense lapses to get in down. Otherwise, you hope the rebounds are near Blair for him to corral. I’m oversimplifying, I know.

You just hope this was an outlier game on the stat chart regarding the shooting. Like the UMBC probably was the other way. Just throw the numbers out from both of the games and expect something closer to the middle.

So, I’m not going to dwell too much on the offensive numbers. Especially not the guard jump shooting. Jermaine Dixon definitely adds a slashing element to the guards and his defense has been a pleasant surprise all season — so that I don’t freak out at his now standard 3-point shot that he invariably seems to take on the first possession seemingly every game.

10 days off, and the team ends the non-con 12-0. They don’t end it with a sour taste in their mouths and punditry pointing to the final game saying, see they were overrated.

There will be questions, though. That’s going to come with playing only 1 true road game and only 3 games out of 12 against major conference opponents — and none of them ranked.

Tomorrow is the first of three straight road games. Admittedly there is a 10-day gap between the FSU game and Rutgers on the 31st. It also the first true road game of the season and the only one in the non-con. Oh, and it is only the third game against a team from a power conference. I guess, no matter how you slice it, it hasn’t been the most challenging non-con schedule.

The Pitt-FSU game is the FoxSports Net national game at 5:30. Tim Brando and Mike Gminski have the call. The game can be found on FoxSports Pittsburgh, North, South, Rocky Mountain, Arizona, Northwest, West, Detroit and Houston (Alternate); Comcast Chicago, Bay Area; Sunshine Network and MSG Plus.

The ESPN.com power poll holds Pitt steady at #3.

See Sam dunk. See Sam score. With Sam Young playing like an All-American and double-double machine DeJuan Blair down low, playing Pitt is a scary prospect for opposing Big East teams.

Yes, I know Gottlieb had Pitt down at #5. Shocking to be sure. He’s holding to his same talking points from the start of the season (Insider subs.).

After watching an extensive amount of tape on Pitt and calling their Siena game in person Wednesday night, I am left with about the same impression that I had before the season.

Pitt is very strong, long and athletic, and the addition of Jermaine Dixon at the 2-guard spot gives them a lockdown perimeter defender. Sam Young is a steadily improving wing who might be this year’s Joe Alexander. By that I mean Young is a dynamic scorer from 17 feet in, has the ability to post smaller guards, and in transition, he has not lost his incredible bounce. Young is not a true guard in terms of ballhandling or passing skill, and I still think they miss a Mike Cook-type of all-around weapon to make everyone else better. Tyrell Biggs is playing with a ton of confidence, and DeJuan Blair is just a complete beast at the block.

Of course there’s a but…

In terms of their Final Four potential or even Big East potential, it is obvious that the Panthers will win with their defense and inside scoring. To beat Pitt, you must stop them in transition off misses and turnovers, block out and contain Blair at the block. Fields is solid as heck, but they still lack offensive pop from the two guards they have had in the past. My questions linger …

• Can Blair stay out of foul trouble on the road?

• Can Fields’ foot not bother him the entire season?

• Can Jermaine Dixon shoot the ball like he did in exhibition games?

• Can Pitt score from the perimeter against a top-level zone or quality interior defense?

Roughly translated, I see no reason to change my notes cribbed from preseason magazines.

Jermaine Dixon is looking forward to the FSU trip since he played junior college down there. He might be a little too excited to play in front of friends.

“When coach (Jamie) Dixon came down in April to recruit me,” said Jermaine Dixon, who played two seasons at Tallahassee Community College, “he said we’d be coming back down to Tallahassee to play Florida State. I’ve been waiting for this ever since. I’ll get to see some old coaches, teammates and friends.”

Jermaine Dixon, the top shooting guard for No. 3 Pitt (11-0) struggled to contain his excitement Friday at Petersen Events Center before boarding a bus for the airport.

Judging from his level of enthusiasm, it was becoming a chore.

So, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised if Dixon hoists a few shots he shouldn’t early in the game.

Meanwhile in a notebook piece, no shock that Dwight Miller is being redshirted. Interesting that Coach Dixon felt the need to make a “special note” on Miller’s improvements in practice. Perhaps a subtle (or not so) way of letting Miller know he still figures into the plans and is an important part of the team.

Coach Dixon concedes that he is still struggling to give minutes to both Ashton Gibbs and Travon Woodall from game to game.

I love Pitt. I would hope that would be obvious at this point. (Yes there is a “but…” coming.)

I know Coach Wannstedt loves Pitt. Having said that, he’s not at all accurate on this.

“When you see some of the things that are happening [with regards to coaches getting fired] around the country, if our chancellor would have responded like some of these other guys do, I’d either be back coaching the NFL by now or be golfing in Naples,” Wannstedt said with a smile, as he sat, drenched with Gatorade, and discussed the Panthers’ season-ending win at Connecticut in the visiting team interview room Dec. 6.

Wannstedt added, “That’s what separates our chancellor from others. … and that’s what makes [Pitt] special.”

Chancellor Nordenberg has been great for Pitt athletics. He has recognized the value of the major programs having a national presence to the university in terms of exposure and overall donations. He is engaged in the athletic department. Again, not in dispute.

He knows the value of good relationships with the coaches. That is the thing. He has a personal relationship with Wannstedt. Just as he has one with basketball coach Jamie Dixon. That is why Coach Wannstedt got an extension last season without any preconditions.

His relationship with the Chancellor. It also would be a significant factor that Coach Wannstedt has built strong relationships with top boosters and supporters of the program. That was as big a factor. There was no real financial risk to keeping and extending Wannstedt.

Imagine what the relationship would have been with the Chancellors and Athletic Directors in the 90s, if Coach Wannstedt had gotten the job in 1989.

“When we met, I said ‘Ed, what are you looking for in a head coach?’ ” Wannstedt said. “He said ‘Dave, I’m looking for a guy who can be on one side of the tracks and talk to the top CEO of U.S. Steel and walk on the other side of the tracks and relate to the guys working out in the steel mills.

“He told me that’s what he was looking for; that’s what, in his mind, was a ‘Pittsburgh guy’ and that’s what this program needed at that time.”

Wannstedt, the son of a steelworker, had long ago worked in a mill a few summers. He figured he’d be a shoo-in for the job.

Not quite.

“I thought when [Bozik] was talking, he was describing me,” Wannstedt said, then chuckled. “It was a nice visit, but then they called me a few days later and said they were hiring Paul Hackett — a California guy. So I guess you could call it an interview, but I’m not sure what was really going on.”

I’m willing to bet Coach Wannstedt would have been out at Pitt. Maybe not after only 3 years, but it would have been in the 90s. The school and athletic department had no will, drive or direction to make changes. It was being run as small-time and Wannstedt would not have been able to change that back then.

Many  will no doubt be amused that the HC of Iowa St. moves to the head job at Auburn, followed by the DC of Auburn becoming HC of Iowa State, Pitt fans are just celebrating the elimination of any return of Rhoads to Pitt.

Seriously? Five years, $5.75 million plus incentives? For a recently unemployed DC and no other competition for his services as a HC? Hire Rhoads’ agent.

The AD of Iowa State echoed what everyone else has said about Rhoads.

“In my two face-to-face meetings with Paul this week, it was obvious that his enthusiasm, energy and warm personality would be well received by our players, fans and university community,” Pollard said. “He has a presence with a ‘look-you-in-the-eye’ style that makes you feel comfortable.”

And makes you want to overlook all the faults with his actual coaching.

I too am thrilled by this move. Especially since, as suspected, DC Phil Bennett could be on the move.

I wasn’t sure how serious ISU would be over Rhoads. Especially with the Auburn connection. So, I was actually hoping that there was something to the rumor of Mike Stoops of Arizona being interested.

“I have no comment,” Stoops said. “I am getting ready to play a game.” Iowa State has been bombarded with coaching rumors since Gene Chizik accepted on Monday the head coaching position at Auburn.

Not even a denial. Just a no comment.

On its face, moving from Arizona to ISU would seem to be at best a lateral move, but more like a step back. The thing for Mike Stoops is that he was on the second hottest seat in the Pac-10 coming into the season. Getting to a bowl saved his job. He knew it, the AD knew it. Everyone knew it.

If he moved to ISU, the Wildcats would have had to make a new hire in football as well. Likely costing them significantly more money to get someone with a proven track record. Especially given the fact that they had been bowl-free since 1998. The more money they would have to throw at football, at least in theory, would somewhat limit the money they could throw at a head coach in basketball in the spring.

Oh, well. Good luck to Mr. Rhoads. Have at least moderate success so you can be there for quite a while.

Some editor at ESPN really needed to look closer at the graphics component.

PapaJohns.com Bowl Preview

Best/most painful comment underneath:  “Maybe it’s because all of the Rutgers clips were from the Pitt game.”

Not much that still needs to be said about Pitt dealing with Siena. Pitt could turn it on at spurts and like they have most of the season to date, came out in the second half and put the game out of reach. A final hard push by Siena made the score a respectable 13 point loss but it really wasn’t. It could be argued, though, that the good thing about Siena’s final push — it reminds the players that they can’t lay back until the clock is at 0:00.

Pitt started the second half with a 16-3 run to lead by as many 22 points, but Siena battled back and trailed by 10, 71-61, with 1:21 remaining.

“This was good for us because I think we learned something,” said Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, who admitted that the Panthers didn’t play their best game. “We saw a team that just kept battling, battling, battling and fighting and cut down a 22-point lead to 10 at the end, so give them credit.

“It seemed like that last seven minutes was an eternity.”

Still there was the fact that Blair was a completely dominating beast. There was a concerted effort by Pitt to work the ball inside rather than just take the outside shots — like against UMBC. Blair responded with another double-double.

Plus, despite the late Siena run, Pitt had some numbers that as Coach Dixon said, “teams would die to have.”  Only 7 turnovers, 25 assists on 30 field goals, +11 on rebounds.

This was the first ESPN telecast, and featuring Doug Gottlieb as an analyst. Which makes no one happy. I have found that for the most part, I don’t hear him anymore. Just a harmless buzzing. What is amusing, is that a guy who makes his living on ESPN as being the hateable one, is so stock as an analyst.

The 6-7 Blair is commonly portrayed as a round mound of rebound but in truth that’s just part of his arsenal. He shoots often and effectively, making 64 percent of his twos thus far, albeit against uneven competition. Most strikingly, he plays the 5 yet records steals at a higher rate than any of his teammates. Blair stands out, and that’s not easy to do on a team with featured-scorer Sam Young and assist-hoarding point guard Levance Fields. This is an outstanding offense, one that ranked among the top three in the Big East last year and looks just as efficient this year.

So please explain to me why so many people, most especially last night’s announcers, still insist on viewing Pitt as an all-defense no-offense team? (”Sometimes it seems like they expend so much effort on defense they have trouble scoring.”) One of the things about sports that really interests me is the incorrigibly durable power of branding seen within its precincts. Highly-paid MBAs would kill for their companies’ detergents or razors to possess the same kind of talismanic hold on perceptions that college basketball teams exhibit.

Take Pitt. I don’t mean the team I’ve just described, necessarily. I mean “Pitt,” the brand. What comes to mind? Rugged, physical teams, players from NYC, Carl Krauser, grind it out, tough D, annual success in the Big East tournament, etc.

Make no mistake, that perception was earned, not fabricated. As it happens, however, it no longer accords with reality….

Pitt’s defense has been very good this year, make no mistake. But the offense has actually been better.

I’m pretty sure that I can explain it simply. Pitt is a very efficient offensive team. They aren’t, however, a up-and-down the court team. They don’t run it down the court and take it right to the basket. They move the ball and look to get it for an open look or get it inside. They get back on defense and make an opposing team move and pass for the score. There aren’t many quick, one pass and score possessions against Pitt or by Pitt. That helps keep the pace slower. In too many lazy analysts’ minds, a slow-tempo team means defensive minded team that has deficiencies on offense.

Amusing article on Tyrell Biggs being Pitt’s best 3-point shooter by % to date. I’m not sold on a sample size of 8-15 over 11 games. I’m just happy that the sample size is that small. It also gets into the rest of Biggs’ game and his development.

Biggs, a big question mark for the team before the season started, has developed into a solid all-around player. He is the team’s fourth-leading scorer (8.5 points per game) and third in rebounds (5.1 per game).

For someone his size, Biggs always has leaned toward being more of a finesse player than a power player. That was not lost on Dixon, who implored him to focus on improving his rebounding skills and tenacity before the season.

“He’s gotten better at it,” Dixon said.

“His numbers are a little better, but defensively he is a far better player than he was last year. I just think he’s playing with confidence, and he’s giving confidence to other players on the team. I think that’s the biggest thing. His leadership has been tremendous for us.”

The perception of Biggs is rather hardened from his first three years. It will take a while for perception to start to change.

As for Blair, he hasn’t changed the perception that he is a force under the basket. It’s just that he’s even better at it this year. As Pitt moved to #5 in Luke Winn’s power rankings.

Some DeJuan Blair numbers for you to ponder: Pitt’s sophomore big man is rebounding at a superhuman rate thus far, pulling down 25.8 percent of available offensive boards (ranking first in the country) and 29.2 percent of defensive boards (ranking eighth). Offensive rebounding is regarded as more of an “effort” stat that defensive rebounding, and no other major-conference player was even close to Blair through Sunday’s games…

He’s also improved other parts of his game.

That play reminded Dixon of another 6-foot-7 frontcourt force who was known for averaging double-digit rebounds and whipping crisp passes.

“We really talked to him at the start of this year about Wes Unseld, a player he never heard of and what a great outlet passer he was,” Dixon said. “I thought DeJuan could be that.

“I think that’s the biggest improvement he’s made this year, in his outlet passing. He had a tendency to be somewhat not as protective of the ball and didn’t use his passing skills and his strength to get a good outlet to get us going.

“Now, he is.”

Never heard of Wes Unseld. Thanks. I needed to feel older.

The wife came home before 10 am today due to the water main break in downtown Cleveland. It should have freed me up to do plenty of writing. Ha. Instead, she came home and insisted this would allow us to take care of all the other errands that had to be run. Needless to say, my day was shot thanks to her surprise day off.

That’s why I couldn’t get to anything on tonight’s game with Siena.

Siena likes to run and feel that they need to against Pitt.

If the Panthers are guarding the Saints in the half-court on almost every possession, this game won’t be close.

“They have terrific athletes, they have shot blockers, and they play a very high-level of intensity,” McCaffery said. “That’s pretty much all it is. This is nothing complicated. They get after you. When they get over toward the ball, they’re up on the ball. They get in the passing lanes. They pressure it. And if you put it on the deck they contest, and if you drive it to the hole they contest that.”

Opposing teams are shooting just 36.3 percent against Pittsburgh, ranking the Panthers 16th in the country in that statistical category. They allow just 57 points per game.

“They’re going to make you make tough shots,” McCaffery said. “They’re going to make you struggle to make the normal cuts and passes that you like to make. So they’re just going to make it hard for you to score. It’s what we all try to do; they just do it really well.”

Siena has been something of a disappointment early in the season. They returned a veteran team that made the NCAA Tournament and scored an opening round upset.

The Saints’ balanced scoring is led by 6-foot-7 junior Edwin Ubiles at 14.8 ppg. Alex Franklin, a 6-5 junior, is next at 14.1 and 6-3 senior Kenny Hasbrouck adds 13.1. Ryan Rossiter, a 6-9 sophomore, leads the team in rebounding (7.1 rpg).

“They can shoot,” Brown said. “Every player down to the 5-man has the ability to shoot it. That’s what we’ve seen on film. They have no real inside game, except for (Rossiter). They use a lot of screens to kick it out and shoot.”

It will be a strange and considerable challenge for Pitt’s interior defense, including massive center DeJuan Blair, Brown conceded.

“This is going to be a test for DeJuan to play perimeter defense,” he said.

Of course, the Saints have been worse than Pitt at shooting from the perimeter this season. Part of the reason they are only 5-3 so far.

Speaking of 3s, Ashton Gibbs has been hitting his and is trying to get more minutes.

All of the freshmen have seen their minutes scaled back with the return of sophomore guard/forward Gilbert Brown. Dixon said it is up to each of them to earn their minutes in practice.

“The focus with those guys is practice is what decides it,” Dixon said. “That’s where their opportunities are, and they know that. I’ve talked to them. I’ve brought them all in and made it very clear to them what they need to do. They know what will make us successful.”

And that is not necessarily their shooting percentage. It’s the one trait that Pitt is most known for.

“The biggest thing is defense,” Dixon said. “They have to continue to improve defensively. That’s the thing we’ve made very clear to them.”

Should we give a live blog a shot tonight? I think so. The fun will start about 9:30 pm Click Here to participate. A word of advice, give Google’s Chrome browser a shot if you want to play. It performs very well with CIL, nary a crash or seizing up of the computer.

So is everyone else finding the Trib site to be hit or miss as to whether it will actually function lately? Given all the doom and gloom over media business the past few weeks, that can’t be a good sign.

The AP All-American team was announced and they somehow thinks there are six running backs in the country better than LeSean McCoy. Scott McKillop made 2nd team.

Sports Illustrated had McCoy and McKillop as 2nd team All-Americans.

Last week was the Sun Bowl press conference — where the coaches fly down there and talk about how excited they are for the bowl and to play each other. Lots of friendly coachspeak.

Riley and Wannstedt were in town to tour the place they will call home from their arrival — Christmas Day for Oregon State, Dec. 26 for Pitt — through game day on New Year’s Eve.

For Riley, this is a refresher. He and the Beavers beat Missouri two years ago in the Sun Bowl.

“That’s why they are two-touchdown favorites,” Wannstedt joked.

“Three points,” Riley corrected.

Wannstedt, too, is familiar with the Sun Bowl, though his experience is dated. His first professional job was as a graduate assistant at his alma matter Pitt in 1975, when the Panthers beat Kansas, 33-19, in the Sun Bowl. Pitt and star running back Tony Dorsett used that as a springboard to win the national championship the next season.

“I remember the great hospitality,” Wannstedt said of his last trip. “I was young and all wide-eyed. I remember saying, ‘I’m going to like this coaching part.’ It seems like nothing has changed.”

Despite both teams being ranked, and the limited amount of tickets they have to sell, there are concerns because of the economy and other factors.

Pitt Athletic Director Steve Peterson and Oregon State Athletic Director Bob Escaroles both think our troubled economy will be a factor in how many people travel for this year’s game but are optimistic.

“Our ticket manager has mentioned that he thinks we might hit 2,500,” said Decarolis.

“I think we’ll bring a very nice-sized group,” said Peterson. “It would be hard to guess after three days of selling tickets exactly how many we’ll end up bringing.”

Olivas wouldn’t offer any estimates, but knows the bottom line on economic impact is heads in beds and overnight stays.

Time will tell and factors are not encouraging.

Traditionally, Pitt fans have not traveled well and Oregon State fans will have to come to El Paso for the second time in three years. This year, the Sun Bowl was a small consolation prize after the Beavers missed out on a trip to the Rose Bowl with a season-ending loss.

The hotel and restaurant business are going to be the big question marks. More than simply getting people to come for the game, it’s getting people to get out in El Paso and spend money. It’s the same sort of thing that goes into pro-convention center arguments.

I’m sure many of you have received the e-mail from the alumni association trying to gauge interest in a 2-night charter, rather than a 3-night. While it is good to know the 3-day charter is sold out, it is telling that the hotel was already opening up rooms for only 2 night packages rather than keeping them blocked off for 3-night stays.

Back to the non-economic aspects of the Sun Bowl. Have you heard? The coaches claim friendship and history. Another big theme that was cited from the moment the pairing was made: good running backs.

Two of the nation’s best will add their names to that list on the final day of 2008, when Oregon State and Pittsburgh bang bodies.

Pitt will bring LeSean McCoy, a 5-foot-11, 210-pound sophomore who has run for 1,403 yards this season. Oregon State will bring Jaquizz Rodgers, a 5-7, 193-pound freshman who has run for 1,253 yards. Rodgers, who is from Richmond, Texas, recently was named the Pac 10 Offensive Player of the Year — the first time a freshman has ever taken home that honor.

The two talented young backs have almost identical statistics. McCoy averages 4.9 yards a carry and 116.9 yards a game. Rodgers averages 4.8 yards a carry and 113.9 yards a game.

Rodgers, though, is dealing with a shoulder separation, and is still in question for the game. Actually, it might be worse. It seems he has a broken bone in his shoulder blade. That definitely puts his availability into question.

Scott McKillop and LeSean McCoy did a teleconference interview with other media. An Oregon State beat writer blogs it and his impressions. First McKillop.

On the phone, McKillop comes off as thoughtful, articulate, and oozing with a the competitive fire that all great LBs must possess.

McKillop said he likes to take the responsibility of the defense on his shoulders, including the kind of criticism that rained down on the Panthers after their season-opening loss to Bowling Green.

Asked what kind of challenge Pitt faces in stopping Oregon State, he mentioned the Rodgers brothers and said the Panthers know all about Jacquizz Rodgers, the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year.

“They play a lot bigger than what they are,” he said. “They make a lot of people look silly.”

McKillop said he is aware that James Rodgers will miss the game with a broken collarbone, and that Quizz is not 100 percent certain to play yet (so says coach Riley) because of a sore left shoulder.

But Pitt players expect Quizz to play. “He’s a warrior,” said McKillop, making a very good read from long distance. “We’re preparing as if he will be out there.”

Taking pains to say something nice about anything in an OSU jersey, McKillop said that OSU offensive tackle Andy Levitre stands out on film, and QB Lyle Moevao impresses him.

Then McCoy.

But the player who has been nicknamed “Shady” since childhood re-iterated Monday that he’s planning on being a Panther again in 2009, and that hopefully Pitt will win more games, go to a better bowl, and maybe even contend for a national title. … that last time that happened, 1976, Dorsett was Pitt’s star player and a guy named Wannstedt was one of TD’s blockers.

McCoy praised Oregon State’s defense and said he has been watching video of the Beavers in action.

I asked him if he has seen the Oregon game yet, and he said no. “We haven’t broken that one down yet,” he said.

It was suggested that maybe Pitt coaches are keeping that one from McCoy, because if he sees what UO’s Jeremiah Johnson did (219 yards rushing) and what Oregon as a team did (385 rushing) he might get over-confident. .. .McCoy laughed at that. “I didn’t know it was that crazy (nearly 400 yards),” he said.

“I think (OSU) is still a good defense. … every team has their day. I’m sure (OSU) just made some mental errors.

“You can’t go in thinking the same thing is going to happen.”

No. Especially when you know a defense will do all it can do to force Pitt to throw the ball rather than let McCoy run.

Punter Dave Brytus has a unique distinction.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Brytus said. “I’ll probably be the only college football player to start on two different teams and play in the same bowl game, at least since the (NCAA) transfer rules came into effect.”

The 6-foot-4, 230-pound fifth-year senior, a West Allegheny graduate, averaged 48.9 yards on eight punts in a 27-23 loss to Arizona State in the ’04 Sun Bowl. He recalls dropping five inside the 20-yard line, but best remembers the difference of kicking at 3,740 feet above sea level.

“It was a good day all around for punting,” said Brytus, who had a long of 58 yards. “For us kickers, it’s nice because it has high elevation so the ball stays up there longer. You get more hang time, more distance on it.

“It’s a huge difference. At Heinz Field, it gets real windy. It doesn’t go in one direction. It swirls. You can’t tell which way it’s going. The air is real thick. You feel like you kill the ball and it just dies. When you go to Texas, you don’t think about the elevation. I wasn’t even hitting the ball hard and it was just flying off my foot.”

He took home an award for best special teams player at the 2004 Sun Bowl.

Sam Young gets a puff piece from SNY.tv. It covers the usual things — poetry, gymnastics, piano, his brother — but adds a new addition.

One day last summer, Young was just messing around in the school pool when he caught the eye of Julian Krug, Pitt’s assistant head coach for diving.

“Totally unbeknownst to me, he went right up to 7 1/2 meters, went out to the end and stood there for a second,” Krug recalled. “I made sure there was nobody below him. I thought he was going to do a plain old jump.

“But he raised his arms and ended up doing a straight two-and-a half,” Krug said, referring to two flips and a dive. I’m thinking in midair, ‘Oh my God, I just killed a basketball player.’ It only lasted a second, but he went straight up and down in the water. His body was too big, but he could’ve been a diver.

“He got two thumbs up. It’s mind boggling to see somebody that big go up there to 7 1/2 meters. We all clapped like the dickens. It was amazing.”

I think I’m beginning to hate Sam Young.

Worst loss of the weekend? Gonzaga losing to Arizona. Now the AZ folks are seeing flaws in Mark Few, and making Coach Dixon more attractive.

Few’s on-court presence is, shall we say, minimal. He just doesn’t have The Look. Yes, his record speaks louder than his presence, but he doesn’t have a commanding presence. He comes off as a Mystery Guest more than a Court General.

In a face-off, he is a distant third behind Pitt’s Jamie Dixon and anyone else you choose to name.

I try not to think or worry about it, because I don’t want it to ruin what could be a great season and so many other things could happen. Still, it’s hard not to cast an eye that way periodically.

The good thing about the time off for exams, the early injuries are not too much of a problem now.

“It’s good that everyone is getting healthier,” senior forward Sam Young said. “DeJuan [Blair] is getting in shape. Levance is getting in better shape. It’s about that time that we’re getting closer as a unit. We’re starting to get that chemistry that everyone looks for at the end of the year.

“We’re definitely coming to that hill, and we’re moving up at the right time. We’re going to play Siena. After that it will be some really tough teams. We’ll be getting into Big East play and it’ll be a tough matchup every night. We’re progressing as a team.”

Fields and Brown especially looked to benefit from the time between games. Fields, who had been struggling to find his 3-point shot, was 3 for 3 from behind the 3-point line against UMBC. He appeared quicker and had more jump in his legs than previous games.

Jermaine Dixon’s groin is the only thing still hurting (insert cheap joke, here).

Not that it was much of a concern in the decimation of UMBC. If you watched the game, the second half had a small parade of guests including Football Coach Dave Wannstedt. Half-jokingly, the discussion turned to which of the players could be on the football team. DeJuan Blair was mentioned. Looks like someone else listening decided to ask Fittipaldo.

Q: I think DeJuan Blair’s size leaves him a tad too short to be drafted for a power position in the NBA whether playing power forward or especially center, but perhaps ideal for the NFL. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him as a tight end instead, ala Antonio Gates, who played hoops for Kent State. Your thoughts? Does he ever talk about the NFL? Did he play football in high school?

Fittipaldo: Blair did not play football in high school and I can tell you he is 100 percent committed to a basketball career. I asked him once about football and he said he never had the desire to play. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen down the road, but it’s not in his thoughts now. People get excited about the thoughts of basketball players playing in the NFL because of the success of Gates and Sam Clancy, the former Pitt hoops star who went on to a successful career as a defensive end in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts. But those guys are the exceptions. People seemed to think Chevon Troutman, who actually did play a little high school football, had a chance to play in the NFL because of his size and athleticism. The Washington Redskins had him come down for an open tryout, but Troutman did not perform very well and was sent home. For every success story like Gates and Clancy there are probably 10 failures.

Troutman was just trying to get paid somewhere in the states. Rather than focus on basketball first or  get ready for football tryouts, he tried to do both right after the season ended. Antonio Gates took a couple years of trying to play basketball before deciding to give football a chance.