First, barring any shocks tomorrow, Pitt will be #2 and it won’t be in dispute. Pitt is off until the 11th.

The acceleration of news cycle. Bloggers and such, means that sports news orgs are now getting instant opinion stuff out on big games. There was little competition when Pitt-Georgetown was on other than Ohio St.-Minnesota or the International Bowl.

That meant quick love for Pitt.

So it’s time to cement Pitt as the Big East favorite and biggest threat to North Carolina this side of Tyler Hansbrough jumping off a house, breaking his leg and ending his career prematurely, because the Panthers were fantastic at Georgetown, grabbing nearly as many offensive rebounds (18) as the Hoyas did total rebounds (20) thanks to a 20-point, 17-board effort from sophomore DaJuan Blair.

That’s strong.

That’s convincing.

That’s why the Panthers should be the unanimous No. 2 team in the country.

And just so we’re clear, it’s not that I ever doubted Pitt, because it’s always been clear that the Panthers have a great coach (Jamie Dixon), some great experienced talent (Sam Young and Levance Fields) and a developed habit of winning. It’s just that I have trouble pushing teams to the top of the rankings when they haven’t beaten anybody of note (that, by the way, is the reason I have UCLA ranked lower than the Bruins are in both the AP and Coaches poll), and entering this weekend the Panthers were 13-0 with their best win coming by single digits over a Florida State team that had previously lost by double digits to Northwestern.

Meantime: No. 1 North Carolina had wins over Michigan State, Notre Dame and Kentucky; No. 2 Connecticut had wins over Wisconsin, Miami and Gonzaga; No. 4 Oklahoma had wins over Davidson, Purdue and Southern California; and No. 5 Duke had wins over Michigan, Purdue and Xavier.

In other words, Pitt’s resume was less impressive than the other four teams in the top five of the latest AP poll.

Before anyone starts complaining, even before the game Gary Parrish said Pitt was the #2 team in the country.

The game returned a lot of attention to Blair in the context of Pitt making a statement.

The Pittsburgh players termed their game against Georgetown a statement game, a chance to disprove those who believed the Panthers’ No. 3 ranking was built on nothing more concrete than a cloud of underachieving opponents.

The Hoyas were the perfect foil. Just five days earlier, they went into Connecticut and stomped the second-ranked Huskies. Now they were gunning for No. 3 in a building where they hadn’t lost since January 2007, a stretch of 29 consecutive games.

The Panthers got their statement, a 70-54 victory that now stands as John Thompson III’s worst home loss since the first game of his Georgetown career.

Blair provided the exclamation point. The sophomore almost single-handedly outrebounded the Hoyas, pulling down 17 boards to Georgetown’s 21, and chipped in 20 points to cement the double-double.

“Of course that inspires me,” Blair said of the lovefest that encompasses Thabeet and Monroe but never him. “I always have to show people more. It’s been that way my whole life, so I don’t really care about what people say about them. I’d rather just prove what I’m all about.”

…

“We know people were saying, ‘Yeah but who did Pitt play?'” Blair said.

When the Panthers gathered in the huddle, they actually said “statement game.”

“Yeah I heard that,” Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. “We didn’t bring a banner or anything along to practice but I heard them say that. We’re getting better. To me, that’s our statement.”

Of course, that also means welcoming having the target on the backs. Pitt is at the top of the Big East food chain at the moment.

After months of playing second-fiddle to Big East powers UConn and Louisville, the Panthers weren’t ready to let the Hoyas become the new talk of the town after their surprising defeat of the Huskies on Monday. Instead, Blair and his frontcourt partner and roommate Tyrell Biggs dominated the game inside, leaving the Hoyas struggling for any chance at the boards. The two combined for 34 points in the paint while Blair pulled down a Hoya-heartbreaking 18 boards.

“That’s my roommate. We’re best friends,” Blair said after deferring some of the credit to Biggs. “We’re trying to be the best frontcourt in the nation.”

And as big of a statement game for Pitt as this win was, it was also a coming out party for Blair. The sophomore said he had been concentrating on proving that along with his team being the best, he, in fact, was the premiere center in the Big East — not Uconn’s Hasheem Thabeet or Monroe, whom he had played with at the Amare Stoudemaire Skills Camp in June.

At the end of the game, it was very clearly heard the contingent of Pitt fans in the Verizon Center. In the comments, the size was put as significant. The Hoya fans were aware of it as well.

(11:54 am) There are a whole lot of Pittsburgh fans here. A bunch scattered in the lower bowl, and then practically all of the upper deck. So far, they’re louder than the Hoya fans.

…

(1:52 pm) Summers gets his season high today with those free throws. Hoyas are still down by 18, though, and the Pitt fans are getting a bit obnoxious.

Only “a bit?”