Polls don’t phase me too much. Pitt is the #1 team. A few absurd votes shouldn’t bother me. Unanimous vote seems nice, but I fully expect/expected at least one coach or writer to vote for Memphis or Michigan State. And while I would totally disagree, it would at least have some flawed logic behind it. I can even get that Oklahoma might get a couple #1 votes with the rationalizing about not having Griffin (as some writers did).

Someone voting for UConn as #1, though? After Pitt beat UConn in Hartford? After UConn lost their second-leading scorer for the year?

One of these coaches is responsible:

Mike Adras, Northern Arizona;
Dana Altman, Creighton;
Tommy Amaker, Harvard;
Tevester Anderson, Jackson State;
Ronnie Arrow, South Alabama;
Randy Bennett, Saint Mary’s;
Eddie Biedenbach, North Carolina-Asheville;
Jim Boeheim, Syracuse;
Rick Byrd, Belmont;
Charles Coles, Miami (Ohio);
Steve Fisher, San Diego State;
Tim Floyd, Southern California;
Greg Graham, Boise State;
Tom Green, Fairleigh Dickinson;
Rob Jeter, Wisconsin-Milwaukee;
Jeff Jones, American;
Billy Kennedy, Murray State;
Dan Leibovitz, Hartford;
Fran McCaffery, Siena;
Mike McConathy, Northwestern State;
Bob McKillop, Davidson;
Phil Martelli, Saint Joseph’s;
Ron “Fang” Mitchell, Coppin State;
Matt Painter, Purdue;
Tom Pecora, Hofstra;
John Pelphrey, Arkansas;
Doc Sadler, Nebraska;
Scott Sutton, Oral Roberts;
Bob Williams, UC-Santa Barbara;
Gary Williams, Maryland;
Doug Wojcik, Tulsa.

None of them jump out as me as being the stupid coach. Off the top of my head, I don’t see any of these coaches with direct coaching ties to UConn or Calhoun. Of course, since they don’t have to reveal their votes we may never know.

As for the writers, the stupid ones are known. George Geise voted for UConn. He’s from Montana. Apparently they don’t have ESPN on weekdays.

With Oklahoma at #1 I’m stunned at one of the voters. Seth Davis at SI.com picked Oklahoma. His vote had some oddities. Syracuse at #16? Arizona at #18?

Ron Morris at The State (South Carolina) also went with Oklahoma. I won’t even pretend to make sense of his, other than this guy likes to group his votes by conference/region.

Coach Dixon has continually told this team that they could be the best Pitt team ever. That doesn’t mean that he will not declare what they want to accomplish — win it all.

It realizes it has to get to the Final Four not only to have a chance to be champions, but to make this marvelous season unforgettable.

“Everybody on the team knows it’s going to come down to March for us,” point guard extraordinaire Levance Fields said.

“I love those expectations. I love that pressure. That’s why we came to the University of Pittsburgh. We want to put Pitt where it belongs.”

Everything is in place for it to happen. It’s not just that No. 1 ranking, though that helps. Because Pitt beat then-No. 1 Connecticut in Hartford last week and because No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 North Carolina lost Saturday, Pitt will get a precious No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament as long as it takes care of business in the next two weeks. If it wins the games it is supposed to win — at Providence tomorrow night, at Seton Hall Saturday night and home against Marquette March 4 before the home rematch with Connecticut March 7 — it probably won’t have to win the Big East Conference tournament to get a top seed. Its body of work for the season will be that strong.

“We’ve definitely put ourselves in a great position,” Fields said. “But we know we can still get better. That’s exciting.”

DeJuan Blair’s national emergence (and knocking off UCOnn) has made Pitt a more trendy pick to win it all. Blair, undoubtably will be the Big East player of the week this afternoon. CollegeHoopsNet already made him their national player of the week. Reporters, love writing about him as he is a great quote.

In the first half, Blair had six more rebounds (16) than the entire DePaul team (10). Blair, the top offensive rebounder in the nation, had nine offensive rebounds in the first half alone. He scored 16 points in 14 minutes despite not having plays run for him. Most of the production came off the offensive glass.

“I’ll do everything for my team to win,” Blair said. “Going after the ball. Going and getting the money. That’s what I call the ball. Money. Go get that money and we’re going to win.”

The thing that helps Pitt, is not just a player like Blair, but solid depth. Tyrell Biggs had a good outing against DePaul (who didn’t) as he scored 13 when he got a plenty of time in place of Blair.

“In practice we were talking, and I knew this was going to be his breakout game,” sophomore center DeJuan Blair said. “This is the Biggs I know. I didn’t know the Biggs the last couple of games.

“I knew it was coming. He let the game come to him. In the second half his shots went down, and he started rebounding a little bit. He started playing. He’s going to come around. I wasn’t worried about the way he was playing. He found his game. He came in before practice. He stayed and shot after practice. I wasn’t worried about him.”

Coach Dixon was happy that Biggs was going inside a lot more.

But the starting power forward’s perimeter game is only important to the Panthers when center DeJuan Blair is on the floor. Consider that on Saturday, Biggs had a pair of put backs and a mini-hook underneath. He also kept DePaul defenders off the glass with three offensive rebounds (five total).

While Blair was on the bench — he only played 23 minutes in the rout — Biggs rarely left the lane.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon wants Biggs to improve, but he also wants Biggs’ focus locked in on the interior. In last year’s Big East Tournament semifinals, Biggs was forced into 31 minutes of work, cold off the bench because he wasn’t a starter. He scored six points, had eight rebounds and blocked a shot as Blair sat quietly on the bench in foul trouble.

He didn’t just help the Panthers get to the Big East championship game, he willed them there.

And, in case Blair gets into similar problems with whistles, Dixon wants Biggs to be prepared for that possibility again, and to save the outside shots for the guards.

“What I liked (about Saturday) was when he finished around the basket,” Dixon said, as if Biggs was in the room and heeding his words. “That’s where he’s got to get his points. The threes will come, but we need to get him finishes around the basket.

“He’s making open shots, but that has to be his secondary option.”

That’s always been an issue with Biggs. He has a power forward’s body, but thinks of himself like a shooting guard. Drifting to the perimeter and putting up jumpers more than playing around or powering to the basket.

No one should expect any team other than Pitt to be ranked #1 tomorrow. Over at CBS Sports, Gary Parrish does not want to have any debate on the issue.

That’s the end result of a wild Saturday on which No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 North Carolina both lost (to unranked Texas and unranked Maryland), clearing the way for the Panthers — who beat top-ranked Connecticut last Monday — to rise to the top of the Top 25 (and one) late Sunday night, then the AP and Coaches polls on Monday. It’s the only logical move, so much so that I imagine Pitt will get all 72 first-place votes in the AP poll and all 31 in the Coaches poll. Anything short of that will be proof that somebody with a vote isn’t paying attention, and if such a person presents himself (or herself), that person will be Poll Attacked on Monday afternoon.

Here’s all you need to know:

• Pitt is 25-2 overall.
• Nobody has more wins or fewer losses.
• Pitt has compiled this record against a schedule rated 12th nationally.
• Pitt has six wins against the top 25 of CBSSports.com’s RPI rankings.
• Nobody else has more than four.
• Both of Pitt’s losses came on the road.
• The losses were to the schools ranked seventh (Louisville) and 12th (Villanova) in the latest AP poll.

So to summarize, the Panthers have more good wins (i.e., wins against the top 25 of CBSSports.com’s RPI rankings) than anybody, just as few losses as the other elite teams, and no bad losses (like Oklahoma’s loss to Arkansas, North Carolina’s loss to Boston College, Connecticut’s loss to Georgetown, etc.).

Best I can tell, that makes Jamie Dixon’s team the easy No. 1.

Any other opinion is a faulty opinion.

And a little more love for Blair in ESPN.com’s Weekly Watch.

DeJuan Blair emerged as the new front-runner for Big East player of the year with his dominating performance in the win over Connecticut.

Blair literally tossed Hasheem Thabeet around and wound up with 22 points and 23 boards in the Panthers’ 76-68 win.

Against overmatched DePaul, Blair put up a workman-like 20 points and 18 boards in a 19-point victory.

The first-team All-America spots seem to be getting crowded. Make room for Blair, next to Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin and Thabeet. It would be hard to push any of these three off this perch.

You know, it’s been such a hectic week, that I never even got a post mentioning that incoming  member of the 2009 recruiting class, Dante Taylor was named a hamburger All-American.

Dante Taylor, who will be a freshman at Pitt next season, was named to the 2009 McDonald’s All-American game last night, becoming the first Pitt player in 22 years to garner the honor. He is one of 24 players on the team and one of five who will play in the Big East next season.

Taylor, a 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward from National Christian Academy in Maryland, is Pitt’s first McDonald’s All-American since 1987 when Brian Shorter and Bobby Martin made the team.

Taylor is the fifth player in Pitt’s history to earn the honor. Charles Smith was a McDonald’s All-American in 1984 and Jerome Lane was in ’85.

When Coach Jamie Dixon abruptly showed up in Florida for Pirate training camp. Well, he was in Florida for another reason and went for a side trip.

Jamie Dixon showed up in Florida today to check in on ’09 big man Kyryl Natyazhko. The 6’10” Ukrainian is an offensively skilled post player that Herrion has been watching a lot lately. The fact that Dixon made a point to see him shows that the Panthers interest is very strong. Word is that since Dixon was in Bradenton, he wanted to quietly sneak in and see the Pirates in spring training. But when you have one of the marquee teams in the nation, sneaking is no longer an option, and he was immediately surrounded by cameramen.

Lastly, one name that recently came up with Pitt, since Herrion was spotted watching him play, is 6’11” junior college center Jarrid Famous. But word is, Herrion was checking out local high school players in the area so he took the opportunity to see Famous, too. However, the big man would only be an option if DeJuan Blair left early for the NBA, and by the time Blair’s situation is known, it’s expected that Famous will be out of play.

Natyazhko is a 4-star recruit at the IMG Academy with offers from FSU, Miami, Kentucky, Arizona State and Xavier.

That’s really what the DePaul game felt like — at least for a fan. Yes, DePaul is technically a Big East team and has some talent. They just aren’t that good, and Pitt was at home. I never even thought for a minute that Pitt would do anything but rip through the Blue Demons. This is rare for me. I worry, angst and naturally expect worst case scenarios.  Yet not with this game.

Thankfully, Pitt proved my lack of concern to be justified. I know I’ll be back to worrying and normal for Tuesday night’s road game at Providence. Instead for this game, we had comedy.

In the opening minute of Saturday night’s game with DePaul, Pitt’s DeJuan Blair and center Matija Poscic were fighting for a rebound when the two got tangled.

The 6-foot-10, 245-pound Poscic found himself with one arm locked against Blair’s body.

Blair had the ball. There was no changing that.

As visions of flailing Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet came to mind, Poscic pulled his arm away and let the Pitt sophomore center have his prize.

Blair flashed a wide smile, and the sold-out crowd cheered knowingly at the reminiscent scene.

“That’s why I started laughing,” Blair said. “He got his arm out of there quick. I was snatching the ball. He wasn’t going to go over me and go flying into the (Oakland) Zoo.”

And that moment was also sent out on the AP wire story across the country, to further the legend of  Blair. Blair only had 23 minutes of action, but he dominated as usual.

DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright said a guy like Blair comes around only every so often. He actually pitied Poscic, Kene Obi, Devin Hill and the rest of his backcourt.

“You put them in and ask them to wrestle with a bear for 10 minutes,” Wainwright said. “And, your arms are tied. And we hope you live to fight again.”

Few get out alive. Thabeet, an NBA lottery pick if he chooses to go early, was severely outplayed by Blair. Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody, a few weeks ago, was outplayed by Blair. The anonymous DePaul forward/centers were outplayed by Blair.

He’s leaving a path of big men in his Big East wake.

And inspiring others.

All mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.

Credit to Justin M. for this creation.

The other big thing of the game was seeing Larry Fitzgerald at the Pete.

Fitzgerald, sitting in the seat typically occupied by Steelers kicker Jeff Reed, also received large cheers when he entered the arena a couple of minutes before tip-off.

In the second half, Fitzgerald autographed a rolled-up shirt for the promotional T-shirt toss. The Panther mascot feigned throwing the item into the frenzied masses in the Oakland Zoo but instead gave the shirt to a young boy sitting courtside. The Zoo promptly booed the stunt.

Fitzgerald stuck around after the game, greeting well-wishers and posing for photographs at midcourt for at least 15 minutes.

He chose the right home game to visit. The fans could actually take the time to acknowledge him.

This was inevitable with DeJuan Blair. It started getting beyond speculation and mock drafts after this past Monday’s intimindation and domination over Thabeet. With more NBA scouts in attendance at the DePaul-Pitt game, a couple stories on whether Blair might be gone after this year.

Blair said Pitt’s success in March will play a big role in his decision. He hinted if Pitt wins its first NCAA title, he would almost certainly turn pro.

“Of course,” he said. “You’ve done everything you wanted to do. Of course that would (have an impact).”

Blair, along with Marquette senior guard Jerel McNeal, last year’s winner; junior forward Luke Harangody of Notre Dame; and Thabeet, is considered a leading candidate for the Big East Player of the Year. Blair also could be playing his way onto an All-America team.

“I think he’s one of the top 15 players in the country,” said ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, who called the UConn game and worked with Blair at the Amare Stoudemire’s Big Man camp this summer in Phoenix. “He’s relentless. He’s an energetic player that never stops and that counts for a lot.”

Dom Berardinelli, a regional scout for the Court Report, an NBA scouting service, has mixed emotions. A former Pitt player and regular at all home games, Berardinelli wants to see Blair play for his alma mater for one more season. The scout in him, however, isn’t so optimistic.

Anyone have any problem with that trade? A big run in the NCAA Tournament meaning Blair would go pro? I don’t. I could live with a major rebuilding year with that trade.

Blair isn’t committing to anything one way or another. Coach Dixon has tought him the cliches well.

“That’s something for everyone else to talk about, not us,” Dixon said, making it clear a Blair-to-the-NBA discussion isn’t high on his priority list with Pitt so close to a Big East regular-season championship and No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

“It’s only speculation that’s based on inaccurate and incomplete information at this point. The decisions are made in April, May and June about who’s going to go and where they’re going to be picked. Right now, there probably are 200 guys going to the NBA. There are more guys going in the first round than there are spots. It’s not worth even talking about at this point.”

Dixon is a coach, right?

The last thing any coach wants now is a distraction.

But Dixon is lucky. Blair is more mature and sensible than many college sophomores. He has handled the NBA questions with the same ease he grabs a rebound. Asked about the draft in Connecticut last week, he said, “The NBA is somewhere over there. We’re here.” Asked about it two weeks ago, he said, “Not even thinking about that. I’ll worry about the future when it gets here, whenever that is. All I’m thinking about now is winning the Big East regular-season championship and the national championship.”

I’m with Blair and Dixon. This is something for other people to discuss if they want now. To me, it is not something I even care about at this point. It’s speculation, though, I expect he will turn pro. Especially if Pitt has a deep run. There is nothing like the shine of a big stage and winning to enhance prospects.

What helps Blair is that he already has the mentality of proving people wrong and always improving.

He was always too big or too small or too clumsy or too young.

DeJuan Blair never listened to any of it. That’s one of the reasons he works so hard to prove his doubters wrong.

“Whatever he uses as a personal motivating factor,” former Pitt star Charles Smith said, “it’s working.”

I’m just glad he’s here right now.

Once again, the teams ahead fall and Pitt will get to be #1 on Monday evening.

Amazing how that happened again. Big upsets that no one saw coming. Even on the road, for both UNC and Oklahoma they were expected to win. Heck, UNC had the game cold before Maryland forgot who they were.

Texas, well, there is no figuring the Longhorns. Obviously they benefitted from Getting Griffin in early foul trouble and then the concussion in the second half.  Still they had A.J. Abrams come alive and Damion James big until he fouled out. As has been the case with them all season. After James and Abrams, there isn’t much to Texas.

It’s nice for Pitt to be #1 again, I guess. All that matters, though is a #1 spot in the NCAA Tournament

Now I’m not saying that DePaul has rendered itself invisible in Chicago with its 0-14 start. I’m just noting that the local dailies there aren’t even bothering with stories before taking on a top-5 team. It doesn’t help that Pitt is apparently favored by 27 points. Seriously? Oooh. I’d have to think for a while about that bet. (I mean, if I gambled in any form. Which of course, I don’t. Not at all. Nope. Not me.)

I’m bemused that Jim Calhoun’s complaints continue to get attention. Best thing that could happen. Since most of the attitude seems to be one of hypocrisy and poor form on Calhoun’s part, that can only help push back against any chance of influencing the refs in the season finale.

Technically, this is the soft part of the schedule. Of course, 2-of-3 are on the road at Seton Hall and Providence. Both are still worrisome. Of course, the kids are well schooled in their cliches, so they know what to say going into tonight.

Foreseeing the distractions, Dixon spoke to the team minutes after the victory against the top-ranked Huskies and warned the players of the perils ahead if they believe the hype.

“We addressed things right after the game,” Dixon said. “People are going to tell you how good you are. People tend to overreact to one game. We’re pretty level-headed. One game doesn’t change you. We need to do a lot of things better and they understand that.”

…

Junior guard Jermaine Dixon gave a simple explanation for not overlooking the Blue Demons.

“We’re playing for the No. 1 spot,” he said. “We’re tying to win the Big East. You have to win all of the games in conference. DePaul is a team in our conference, and they’re in our way. So we’re going to be ready for them.”

DePaul Coach Jerry Wainwright summed up what his team faces everynight.

“Everybody comes at us like they would at a first-division team.”

No one in the conference takes a game for granted. No team wants to take the really bad loss.

The game is on soon: ESPN Full Court, FoxSports Pittsburgh, MASN and SNY.

One of the interesting things that came out of Cignetti’s introductory press conference, was that he knows how to sell people. I’ve read some of the comments that were surprised for various reasons by Paul Zeise’s glowing blog post on his initial impressions of Cignetti.

Cignetti, to me, is like a five-star recruit from this standpoint — you don’t know if he can live up to the hype, but you’d like to think so. And more to the point, when you land a five-star recruit, it is always a good thing, even he ultimately turns into a bust, because you at least aimed for the sky.

I don’t know if the guy can coach, but he certainly won the press conference and he certainly won the battle of public perception and he certainly has energized a fan base — and believe me this is the kind of jolt of energy this program needed.

Yesterday was the first day I met Frank Cignetti and here was my immediate impression….

“I’m talking to the next head coach at Pitt”

Oh I know, I am getting way ahead of myself as I don’t expect Dave Wannstedt to step aside or get asked to step aside any time soon, but Cignetti is that impressive and it is easy to see why he was such an attractive hire for Pitt.

In fact, in my discussions with people after the news conference I said “I don’t know what “it” is when talking about what makes an outstanding coach, but that guy has “it” and he’s convinced me that he’ll get the job done.”

He goes on for a bit including a comparison of initial impressions similar to when he met Rich Rodriguez. You know, I don’t have any problem with the post. That is what having a blog for a beat writer should be. Not just material that didn’t get out of the notebook, but sharing a bit more of the opinion and impressions. No one is unbiased. You just want the stories to be relatively straight-forward. A blog post doesn’t have to be.

He’s also dead-on with energizing the fans. Look, I know this was a fairly successful season. 9 wins is a little better than solid, and is a very good step up from the first 3 years. That said, the way this season began and ended took a real toll on the goodwill and emotions of the fans.

Coach Wannstedt needed to make a hire like this. Some can make the argument that it isn’t fair to Wannstedt and the full picture needs to be considered — especially with the season as a whole. I can understand that rationally and intellectually. The emotional part — and that is a huge part of fandom — though, finds the beginning and end games so overwhelmingly maddening and inexcusable. Not for the losses, but the way the losses took place. It just brought back all the stuff that had been piling up and had been excused for the first few years of the Wannstedt reign.

While he gushed more than others, he wasn’t the only one to come away extremely impressed with Cignetti.

2 things that came to mind after listening yesterday to Pitt’s new offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti, 1) the guy is going to make a great recruiter  2) he could eventually be the replacement for Dave Wannstedt.

One other thing that caught my eye was this photo from the presser. It’s a little thing, but still.

Seriously, Coach Wannstedt? Wearing the pullover from the Sun Bowl to the intro for the new OC? I know getting to the bowl was good, and I’m sure the item is quality. Still the actual game was an offensive debacle that helped make the change that brought in Cignetti, and brought back more than a little fan discontent with Wannstedt. Please, never wear it in public events again.

Unless both UNC and Oklahoma lose this weekend, Pitt will not be #1. I have no real problem with this. Teams keep winning, they keep rising. Add in that UNC also has Zeller back, they have added some some additional depth that makes them. Just keep winning.

Well, FoxSports Power Rankings actually moved Pitt to the top spot.

The good: Some might argue that Oklahoma deserves to be in this spot, but after the way the Panthers beat up on Connecticut Monday night in Hartford for their first-ever win over a top-ranked team, it’s too hard not to reward Jamie Dixon’s team with the No. 1 ranking. The bad: While Pitt certainly looks like a favorite to reach the Final Four, it still has another date with UConn in its regular-season finale and a meeting with Marquette prior to that game before the Big East Tournament even gets started.

Luke Winn at SI.com moves Pitt to #2. He was bemused by Gary McGhee’s performance.

ESPN.com’s power poll was more in line with expectations. Pitt at #3.

Two Big East Player of the Year candidates met last week, as well as the No. 1 and No. 4 teams in the nation. One pulled down 22 points and 23 rebounds while flipping the other over his back, as DeJuan Blair and Pitt dropped Hasheem Thabeet and UConn in Hartford.

No one had Pitt lower than #3.  A few had them #2.

And here’s Coach Jamie Dixon’t Five Good Minutes on PTI.

I thought Ray Fittipaldo made a great point when asked about DeJuan Blair’s chances to be the National Player of the Year instead of the de facto choice of Blake Griffin.

If I’m a Pitt fan I pray that Griffin gets national player of the year honors and then has to face Blair in the Elite Eight or Final Four. Chances are, Blair will use that as motivational material and have a monster game against Griffin. He’s done it against every big-name player he has played against this season. Georgetown’s Greg Monroe was getting tons of attention as one of the top freshmen in the country at the time Pitt played Georgetown. Blair went off on Monroe and dominated the game. When Pitt played Notre Dame, Harangody was the reigning Big East player of the year. He used that as motivation and put up 20 and 20 on him. Then he did the same to Thabeet, who had been among the favorites for Big East player of the year and was being promoted by Jim Calhoun for national player of the year.

This is what so many great players do. They look for motivation from any perceived slights and then back it up.

Still at least one writer in Utah is feeling the allure of Blair for POY.

By the way, it seems that whatever Jim Calhoun hoped to accomplish after Pitt beat UConn, plenty in the media have been unimpressed.

I was interested to hear your reaction to Jim Calhoun’s postgame press conference after the UConn-Pitt game. Do you think it was him shamelessly trying to influence how the refs call the game the next time these two teams play? Seems to me it speaks volumes about Calhoun that he’d revert to such a cheap and classless ploy when his team is already one of the most talented in the country.
— Jamie DeFrank, Washington, D.C.

I was standing in the back of the room during Calhoun’s rant, so my primary reaction was to bite my lip to keep from cracking up. I had this vision of me busting out laughing and Calhoun charging me the way John Cheney once charged at John Calipari. It is no secret that Calhoun is, shall we say, not renowned for showing excessive grace in the face of a difficult loss. (His blow-by of Gonzaga coach Mark Few during the postgame handshake following the Zags’ overtime win over UConn in Boston two years ago is a classic.) So I was more amused than surprised to hear Calhoun go off on the officiating the way he did on Monday night.

Still, Calhoun’s tirade was clearly inappropriate and more than a little unfair. Yes, it was a physical game, but it’s hard to argue either team was granted an advantage. After all, Calhoun’s own Huskies have built their success this season around the brute inside muscle provided by Hasheem Thabeet and Jeff Adrien. There’s no doubt the whistle Mike Kitts blew to give Thabeet his fourth foul was a bad call, but Thabeet had been largely ineffective in the game to that point. If that call hadn’t been made, he could have very well committed his fourth soon after. That call was a big play, but it did not decide the game.

It may be granting Calhoun a little too much credit to say he was making a calculated move to influence the way the game would be called next time around. I tend to think he was blowing off steam (and you have to at least give him credit for being honest). But you can be sure there were plenty of follow-up conversations between Calhoun and the league office, just as I’m sure there will be plenty more before the next game between these two teams. I’d caution Calhoun to be careful what he wishes for, however. If the next UConn-Pitt game is called much tighter, more than a few of those calls will go against the Huskies.

Just as long as Jim Burr isn’t officiating the game on March 7. This article while praising Blair, questions Pitt without him. It makes an interesting observation.

Keep in mind, it isn’t a particular kind of player that seems to bother Blair—Louisville has a muscular post presence in Samardo Samuels, while Villanova has more of a versatile center in Dante Cunningham. Rutgers center Hamady Ndiaye is a poor man’s Thabeet. Florida State Center Solomon Alabi has a classic center build: 7-foot-1, 241 pounds.

However, in three of these four games, Jim Burr was one of the officials. It doesn’t seem coincidental—Burr likes to keep close tabs on the inside jockeying for position.

Burr has been one of the worst refs to see when Pitt plays. He favors guard play, and hates banging inside. I didn’t realize that Burr had been reffing 3 of the 4 games. Yeesh.

Sean’s Ramblings has taken it upon himself to create a Pittsburgh sports bloggers bracket. Pitt Blather has no shot at winning it as Mondesi’s House is the #1 seed in the same region. Still, my ego demands that I at least make it out of the first round. So head over and vote.

Just a bunch of Big East stuff, some not directly related to Pitt basketball that are worth linking.

This SI.com feature on following Syracuse for a spell to show how brutal life in the Big East has become, is excellent. What ends up jumping out at you though, is getting a picture of a beaten down Paul Harris.

But now it was three o’clock last Saturday afternoon, and a 98-94 overtime win over Georgetown before 32,000 orange-wearing loyalists at the Carrier Dome was a few minutes old, and Harris was smiling. Sort of. “To be honest with you, having Coach Boeheim on me all the time is hard,” said Harris, whose full-court inbounds pass to junior guard Eric Devendorf all but sealed the game with 18 seconds left in OT after the Orange had blown a 16-point lead in the final eight minutes of regulation. “It doesn’t do any good debating with him, because you can’t win. He gets me thinking too much about mistakes.” Harris paused. “But I’m going to keep going because that’s what you gotta do. This is the Big East, right?”

Copy that, as Jack Bauer says. The victory stopped an unnerving Syracuse skid — six losses in the previous eight games, all to Big East opponents — that showed how hard it is for a good but not great team to gain traction in a conference that offers precious few soft touches. Just ask Georgetown, the only team to have beaten UConn this season. The Hoyas, who were once ranked as high as ninth in the country, were in 12th place in the Big East at week’s end. Playing the nation’s second-toughest schedule, they had lost eight of their last 11 conference games and, at 13-10 overall, will probably need to win at least five of their last six to get an NCAA bid. Georgetown is spinning in what Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun calls “the washer, a cycle of losing with seemingly no way out.”

Over the last three weeks Notre Dame has gotten Maytagged too. Ranked as high as seventh six weeks ago, the Irish (11th- most-difficult schedule) lost six league games in a row, and chances are that its surprising 90-57 rout of then fifth-ranked Louisville last Thursday will not persuade the NCAA selection committee to award the Irish a tournament berth.

“Our bottom teams would be middle to top tier anywhere else in the country, including the ACC,” says Pitt point guard Levance Fields, whose Panthers are ranked fourth behind UConn, Oklahoma and North Carolina in the latest AP poll. “Quality teams like Georgetown and Notre Dame are struggling because of how tough the league is.”

When you stop and think about it — whether with or without sympathy — this season has to have been brutal for players like Kyle McAlarney, Luke Harangody, Jesse Sapp, DaJuan Summers and Paul Harris. Really good players with expectations and seemingly not able to catch their breath.

Continuing the brutal Big East theme, on the Big East Coaches call this week, Jim Calhoun railed against the 18 game conference schedule.

The big news on today’s Big East conference call was that UConn coach Jim Calhoun said the 18-game Big East schedule was unnecessary and could prevent a couple of teams from making the NCAA Tournament. Calhoun, whose team is 24-2 and could get a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance, said the league should return to a 16-game slate.

“I really like the Providence team and I’m sure they’re on the bubble [because of the scheduling],” Calhoun said. “Providence is the third team after Notre Dame and Georgetown who I believe is NCAA quality.”

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi recently said that the first four teams out of the NCAA Tournament included Georgetown, Providence and Cincinnati.

Several of Calhoun’s colleagues, including Rick Pitino of Louisville and Freddie Hill of Rutgers, concurred that a 16-game slate would be preferred.

Rick Pitino took a shot at Memphis in the process.

“I think if you were in Conference USA 18 games would be fine. I’m sure that Memphis enjoys that…But in the Big East 18 games is overpowering. I think every coach would agree with Jim [Calhoun]. They signed a contract with ESPN to play 18 games. It’s all money-driven. It is very difficult on the players and the coaches, all we are is beating up each other.”

One of the other reason for the 18 game schedule is to also to put less pressure on filling out the non-con schedule. Something that teams were struggling a bit as a lot of mid-majors were demanding return games rather than taking the guarantee.

Given the recession and increasing impact on athletic department budgets, I don’t see things changing. Speaking of cheap athletic departments, Seton Hall was actually going to skimp on sending their pep band and cheerleaders to the Big East Tournament. Apparently they felt the cost of chartering a couple buses to take the kids 18 miles was just not worth the money. At least until the negative publicity started.

Dick Weiss has a piece on the Big East being having the most elite, Final Four potential teams in years.

“I personally believe there are four, five, six teams in our league that could make the Final Four,” Calhoun said.

In most years, that might be wishful thinking.

But the Big East this year has been a beast. Maybe not as good as 1985, when Villanova won the national championship and the league put three teams in the Final Four. Maybe not as deep as some coaches – who feel the league deserves nine, even 10 NCAA Tournament bids – believe.

The ACC actually has a higher RPI conference ranking and might even produce more NCAA teams when the dust settles. The Big East, which got eight bids last year, could be limited to seven this time because teams such as Notre Dame and Georgetown – which were both ranked in the AP Top 10 earlier this season – and senior-dominated Providence are in the midst of being devoured in this carnivorous league. All three and surprising Cincinnati could still sneak into the NCAAs, but they could also be playing in first-round games in the expanded Big East Tournament.

This league is that unforgiving.

Having said that, this monstrous 16-team conference has so much quality at the top, the seven best teams – Pitt, UConn, Louisville, Villanova, West Virginia, Marquette and Syracuse – could all wind up with top-six seeds when the NCAA Tournament bids are announced March15. All seven are ranked in the Top 25 by the RPI and Sagarin ratings.

“Ultimately, you’re judged by what you do in postseason,” Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said. “But I clearly think, between Pitt, UConn and Louisville, we could have two No.1s and a No.2.”

Keeping that eye on Arizona for smoke signals on their plan for hiring a coach. The AD there has admitted that while he hasn’t hired a “search consultant” to put out feelers, he has put an intermediary to work.

Q. Where are you at in the hiring process?

“I’ve looked at a lot of people across the country and obviously I won’t be throwing out any names. I’ve had an intermediary talk to and visit with a number of people.

“I’m not down to a final pool, but we’ve got it down to a group of people where they would be a fit for us. As generic as that sounds as of (now), that’s the only place we can be . . . because most of them are coaching.”

…

Q. Are you using a third party to reach out to candidates?

“I’m going through C.M. Newton (former Kentucky athletic director). C.M. has been helpful on a number of fronts. There are a lot of people who want to help. But at this point, the confidentiality is much better with the fewest number of people involved. I trust him. He’s been a member of basketball organizations at a number of different levels. When he leaves a message for somebody, they’ll call back.”

Q. Is your biggest fear having the news be leaked out?

“It’s my only fear. . . . having somebody exposed who would have been a great fit. The best coaches out there can’t afford to have their name linked to this. They can’t afford it in their own community because they are not in good jobs but in great jobs and are being successful.”

We’ll see.

Frank Cignetti, Jr., Pitt’s new offensive coordinator sounded all the right notes on his introductory press conference — loyalty, local ties, family and returning home.

“Anybody that knows me, knows that Pitt is my dream job,” Cignetti Jr. said at a news conference yesterday in which he was introduced as the new offensive coordinator.

“This is home. This is like hitting the lottery, not only professionally but personally, for my family, my wife and our kids. It can’t get any better than this: to be a part of the University of Pittsburgh again, living in this great city and working for a great coach like Dave Wannstedt.”

Cignetti, who was a graduate assistant at Pitt in 1989, was the offensive coordinator at the University of California last season.

“It is great to be back at a place with such great tradition both academically and athletically,” Cignetti said. “Being familiar with the city sparked the initial interest, but the bottom line is, to leave a good job, which I had, you have to take a better job. And there is no doubt in my mind that there is a great future and tradition here.”

And to prove it, he confirmed that he took less money to do it.

Cignetti, who worked under coach Jeff Tedford at Cal, admitted he took a pay cut to come to Pitt. He said his compensation package is “competitive” but it is likely in the $250,000 range, which is about where the Panthers’ coordinators have been in recent years.

Cignetti’s base salary at Cal was $168,000, but his total compensation package was in the $350,000-$400,000 range with a $77,000 assistants bonus built into Tedford’s contract, an $80,000 talent fee, $10,000 from camps and the potential to earn $69,500 in merit bonuses.

“If you just look at the base salary, of course [I took a pay cut],” Cignetti said. “But when you look at the cost of living, that’s where you have to make a decision. And there are so many things that are more important than money. How important it is to live back at home, to have my kids grow up around their grandparents, my wife’s family, their cousins — to me, you can’t put a price tag on that, to me, that is priceless.”

And of course, he wanted to come to a good program.

Cignetti said he talked to Cavanaugh “at length” about the job.

Their philosophies are similarly rooted in the West Coast offense, with an emphasis on minimizing turnovers while employing a power-run game complemented by play-action passes.

“What we would like to do,” Cignetti said, “is be a great, physical, downhill run team.”

Cignetti, who will be the primary play-caller after working for offensive-minded Cal coach Jeff Tedford, said he believes the Panthers have all the ingredients to become a Big East and national championship contender.

“The bottom line is, to leave a good job, you’ve got to take a better job,” Cignetti said. “There’s no doubt that at Pittsburgh there’s a great future, a great tradition. Coach Wannstedt was the right man to work for and get this job done.”

Cal Coach Jeff Tedford released a statement on Cignetti.

“Frank did a good job for us in his one year here,” Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. “His family ties are very strong and this is a great opportunity for him to get back to his hometown and for his kids to grow up with both sets of grandparents.

“He has aimed to get back there for some time and we wish him well.”

As the West Coast paper pointed out, this is arguably a bigger opportunity for Cignetti (even if he denies it).

The Pittsburgh job may also be more of an opportunity for Cignetti to make an impact. Although he was the coordinator at Cal, Tedford was still heavily involved in offensive game planning. Pittsburgh coach Dave

Wannstedt is a defensive-minded coach, meaning Cignetti may be able to make more of an imprint on the program.

But Cignetti said that didn’t play a role in his decision.

“It was no factor,” he said. “Jeff Tedford has been awesome. Working for him the last year has been unbelievable. Just because Jeff was an offensive-minded guy and Dave is a defensive-minded guy — that had nothing to do with this decision. This was just a great opportunity to work at a great institution and do it while being close to my family.”

Given that Tedford is an offensive oriented coach, the concern from Cal fans is not vast nor are they expressing much in the way of relief at his departure. Obviously since he was only there for a year it would be hard to completely gague his impact, and thus reasonable fans to take it in stride. Especially since he made the move as much for family reasons.

I expect that Pitt fans would have had a similar reaction if Pitt lost DC Bennett after one year as some expected. No one would have begrudged Bennett going — since presumably it would have been — back to K-State under Snyder or somewhere in Big 12 country to be closer to his family.

This looks like a solid hire. I don’t care that much about the local ties, having spent time as a grad assistant at Pitt. All of limited importance. It plays well for storylines and selling it to boosters and alumni groups. The fact is, he could be from Hawaii, and all that it comes down to is his abilities as a coach, coordinator and recruiter. In those fronts he has a solid to very good looking record. That’s what makes me think this is a good hire.

For Mike Kitts is an honourable ref...

[More mad props to Rick for the fine work on the photo]

Scene: Jim Calhoun strides out. Looks out into the press conference. Squinting a bit as he looks at the cameras, assembled media, and lights.

“Yes, my name is Jim Calhoun, and I  will now perform the rant, er, I menan soliloquy from Act 3, Scene 2 of Julius Caesar.”

Luke Winn and Andy Katz exchange confused looks. Jeff Jacobs starts to smirk. Dave Solomon dabs a tear from his eye.

Media, Huskies, Connecticutians, lend me your ears.

(more…)

From the Pitt athletic department.

Cignetti joins Wannstedt’s staff after spending the 2008 season as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of California. The Bears averaged nearly 33 points per game en route to a 9-4 record and victory over Miami (Fla.) in the Emerald Bowl. In 2007 Cignetti was the San Francisco 49ers’ quarterbacks coach.

His Pitt appointment marks a return to the place where he landed his first coaching position as a Panthers graduate assistant in 1989.

Cignetti’s family has deep ties to Pitt and Western Pennsylvania football. His father, Frank Sr., was a Pitt assistant from 1966-68 and later the head coach at both West Virginia (1976-79) and Indiana University of Pa. (1986-2005). His brother Curt was also a Pitt assistant (1983-84 and 1993-99) who is now at Alabama.

“Frank Cignetti is quite simply a great football coach from a great football family,” Wannstedt said. “Frank owns tremendous knowledge of the game and is also highly skilled in teaching it. He is going to be a major asset for our players and staff alike.

“Not only is he coming back to Pitt but he is also coming back home. Frank won’t need any road maps to find all the outstanding high school players in this area. He’s lived Western Pennsylvania football his entire life. We are excited for him to get started.”

“It is a great honor to be rejoining the University of Pittsburgh,” Cignetti said. “Pitt’s tradition of excellence, both academically and athletically, is second to none. As great as our history is, I think the future can be even better. I’m excited to be back in my hometown and I can’t wait to start working with Coach Wannstedt and his staff.”

Prior to his 49ers post, Cignetti was the offensive coordinator at North Carolina (2006) and Fresno State (2002-05). In 2004 Fresno State averaged 52.8 points over its final six games and became just the sixth team in NCAA history to score 50 or more points in four consecutive contests.

The Bulldogs twice finished among the nation’s top 10 in scoring and third-down conversions during Cignetti’s tenure.

Now this just feels like a better fit for hiring Pitt’s OC. No, not because of his local ties. Notwithstanding Zeise’s moaning about that, I don’t think that many fans care about the local connections to the area and Pitt.

This is about hiring a guy that recruits, has successfully worked with QBs at the college and pro level. This is about a guy that has done well running balanced offenses. He has helped make running backs and wide receivers at Cal into top-flight NFL players.

His offense is not one that should be too discomforting for Coach Wannstedt.

From the outset, Wannstedt said the Panthers would continue to run a pro-style offense and, like Cavanaugh, Cignetti is expected to direct a West Coast system with an emphasis on the running game.

Cal averaged 186.2 rushing yards per game last season to rank 29th in the NCAA, and boasted the nation’s No. 3 rusher in Jahvid Best and 79th in Shane Vereen.

Perhaps most important, Cignetti also has a reputation for developing quarterbacks and being an energetic recruiter — both areas of concern at Pitt under Cavanaugh, whose signal-callers struggled the past two seasons.

As much as anything, it’s a sense of relief that it won’t be Noel Mazzone. If anything, Cignetti just looks like that much of a better hire because of the heavy flirtation with Mazzone.