As I wrote earlier. I’m on DVR delay. Kid has karate tonight and I’m stuck taking her.

Trying to keep the home winning streak alive. Georgetown has really looked like it is getting better further into the season. They were beaten by a ‘Nova team that is playing well and Scottie ‘effing Reynolds has been insane for the last couple games.

Should be a very good one. I’ll post thoughts later tonight after watching it.

I just have been plain lax on the football side. What with the minimalist drama of this offseason. No one leaving early for the pros. No arrests. Recruiting at this point is pure maintenance, not some late snag.

There is some coaching stuff. I’ll start with the newest. Pitt needs a linebacker coach.

Central Michigan filled the defensive coordinator position on Monday, by hiring Joe Tumpkin to fill the defensive coordinator position at CMU.

Tumpkin spent the last two seasons as the linebackers coach for the University of Pittsburgh. He held the same position for three years at Southern Methodist before taking the position at Pitt.

Congrats to Tumpkin on a big opportunity. While very low profile at Pitt, he has done a very good job with the linebackers. Considering the importance in Wannstedt’s defense of the LBs, Tumpkin gets high marks for developing the LBs this past season.

Losing Tumpkin was somewhat expected. Albeit, becuase, everyone assumed that DC Bennett was gone to somewhere in Texas and he would bring Tumpkin with him.

Bennett at this point, still appears to be staying for another year. He hasn’t landed the gigs closer to Texas, so it appears Pitt has him for another year. I’ll defer to Coach Wannstedt on this one, but it seems that maybe it might have been better to let Bennett go.

Bennett clearly — and understandibly — wants to be closer to his family back in Texas. At some point there are going to be questions of whether he is too distracted or how effective he can be with one foot seemingly perpetually out the door.

In a move where the timing could have been better, graduate assistant Scott Turner was promoted to WR Coach. So on the same weekend that dad, Norv, gets bounced once more in the NFL Playoffs, the son is promoted to a full gig by the close friend in charge.

I don’t have really strong feelings one way or another on this one. If he can do the job and develop the WRs (and probably more importantly) show he can recruit then it’s a good move.

I shed no tears for the departure of Bryan Bossard — who wasn’t bad, but certainly did not seem like an impact position coach. Add in his less than outstanding recruiting ability and well, buh-bye.

There are some position changes and minor transfers (Shariff Harris heading to somewhere in 1-AA). The interesting one is redshirt freshman Kolby Gray going from QB to Safety.

Gray hurt his shoulder early. He was a dual-threat, athletic QB. I think everyone is aware of the likelihood he was going to get out there in that capacity. As a safety, it makes sense. I remember Tyler Palko was actually recruited by some schools (like Ohio State) with the idea of moving him to safety. It is not the most unusual conversion in football with a particularly strong and athletic QB. Eric Crouch, the Nebraska QB and 2001 Heisman and Davey O’Brien winner was converted to WR and safety in the NFL.

No liveblog for tonight’s game. I’m on DVR delay with other things that I have to do. I will have a post for an open thread later.

I’m sure everyone saw the Sunday feature on DeJuan Blair. Not a lot to add to it. I didn’t expect him to have any regrets, and he does stand to make even more money with playoff paychecks. Unlike a lot of other rookies on crappy teams.

Slam had a review of some top players from top NE Ohio teams that faced off. This included Pitt commit, Cameron Wright.

Cameron Wright | 6-5 | SG | Cleveland Benedictine | 2010
Killa Cam had a bit of an off night, not really getting too many shots to drop and doing the majority of his damage from the foul line. The athletic wing didn’t get to show off his nasty bounce and wasn’t shooting the ball especially well from the perimeter, but as usual, straight up put the clamps on people defensively. Wright finished with 14 points, in what was a bit of an off night offensively for the Pitt recruit.

He made plays on both ends down the stretch. The defense is what will allow him an opportunity to crack the rotation at Pitt sooner than with just offense.

A mention in Pat Forde’s rundown column at ESPN.com listing teams and people who were not on lists to start the season.

Why we used to care: The Panthers have been models of hard-nosed consistency, winning 25 or more games seven of the past eight seasons.

Why we stopped caring: They lost their leading scorer of the past two seasons (Sam Young). And their leading rebounder of the past two seasons (DeJuan Blair). And their leading assist man of the past two seasons (Levance Fields). Then they lost in December to rebuilding Indiana.

Why we care now: Look who is 5-0 in the Big East, with road victories over Syracuse, Cincinnati and UConn. The Panthers are characteristically among the best in the nation defensively and on the glass, and are sharing the ball beautifully on offense.

While Omar seethes, Gene Collier writes another column on how surprising Pitt is/has been at this point.

For the moment, Pitt seems to revalidate itself every time the lights go on. It has been a short road and somehow an incredible distance from a place where this team was beating Wofford at home by three on Nov. 13. That Pitt has advanced all the way to serious national scrutiny and throbbing local enthusiasm is a wonder, but, further, an unexpected challenge.

“There’s definitely been a lot of support, which is the great thing about Pittsburgh in general and especially from the Oakland Zoo,” Gibbs said. “It’s been great to have that support system. The thing is, you don’t want to get too confident. My parents have always taught me, if you stay humble and work hard, good things will happen. It’s exciting right now; I’m getting a lot more texts, but you can’t lose focus on what we’re trying to do. It’s all about winning games.”

Pitt will lose games (hopefully not tonight), and as I keep repeating, they will stumble. They will even look lost at points. That would happen regardless of whether Pitt was overachieving with a reloaded/rebuilt team or a veteran group. That happens to every team at some point in the season.

SI.com preview of tonght’s game sees the deciding issue being which backcourt plays better.

Jim Calhoun taking a ten day break for medical reasons. No official reason from the school other than to say it is for “temporary medical issues, none of which involve any previous medical conditions.” The unofficial reason is stress related.

Calhoun has previously had bouts with cancer (prostate and skin), heart problems and broken ribs. I realize it is supposed to reassure in recruiting that the more serious issues haven’t re-occurred, but is it that much better to not disclose the reason other than to say, “Hey, he’s got new health issues, but really they are just temporary.”

That said, I hope he gets well and we can get back to hating him.

In case you missed it, dealing with and stopping Greg Monroe will be the big task for Pitt.

“Different players, completely different,” Dixon said. “Monroe is playing more on the perimeter and [Julian] Vaughn is their inside guy. We were going to leave Samuels isolated and contain the 3-pointers. We could have done a better job defensively. But he made some tough shots looking back on it. A number of those he made we felt comfortable with him taking at the time. He just made them. He’s a very good player, one of the best low-post guys.

“But Monroe is a different matchup. He’ll play two different spots for them, but mostly he’s a face-up guy with an unbelievable skill set for a guy his size.”

Normally, the tallest player, especially at 6’11” would be playing center and draw Gary McGhee as the defensive match-up. Pitt, though, as already said that it won’t just be McGhee given how Monroe plays as much at the power forward spot, and does not play exclusively inside.

McGhee won’t be asked to chase Monroe all over the floor. Pitt will switch to forwards Nasir Robinson (6-5) and Gilbert Brown (6-6). But McGhee is ready for the task.

“We will probably switch it up, depending on what the situation it is,” McGhee said. “I am going to have to defend him well at the perimeter.”

Given Monroe’s size and skill set, there is always speculation as to whether he goes pro after this season (heck, there was speculation last year as well). He’s not saying, and while he has been a beast in some games  — especially Sunday’s loss to ‘Nova — he can look a little too passive and unassertive.

As for his on-court skills, Monroe shares the assessment of Coach John Thompson III, who believes his center is “far, far away” from reaching his potential.

Says Monroe, who’s averaging 14.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game: “I definitely think I’ve made strides on the court and off, but I think I can get a lot better still. There are a lot of things I have to work on, physically and [in terms of] learning more about the game. I don’t think I’m close to being as good as I can be.”

…

Monroe carries 247 pounds on his 6-11 frame. For a big man, he’s agile racing up and down the court. And with his length (Monroe boasts an 86-inch wingspan), he can be an effective shot-blocker.

What intrigues NBA scouts most, insiders say, is the talent he possesses at such a relatively young age: his skill as a passer and his overall basketball smarts.

Monroe is also developing greater range as a shooter under Thompson’s system, which is predicated on movement.

Monroe isn’t going to light it up from beyond the arc (he’s taken 15 shots in 16 games and made only 4). Monroe, as Casual Hoya noted for the entire G-town team, does seem to play up or down to the competition. So I’m expecting Monroe to be a force tonight.

The guy who gets missed in Georgetown with all the attention on Monroe is Austin Freeman. The latest wing player that is thriving in Georgetown’s offense. Freeman has become more assertive this year and has been the go-to guy on offense.

Senior guard Jermaine Dixon will be the next Big East defender who tries to slow down Austin Freeman of Georgetown. Freeman, a 6-foot-3 junior guard, is averaging 20.5 points in Big East play, highlighted by his 28-point, second-half outburst in the comeback win over Connecticut on Jan. 9.

“Freeman is playing about as well as anybody in the conference,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “He has gotten better off the dribble and without the ball. He’s always been an unbelievable shooter.”

Freeman is shooting 57.7 percent from 3-point range in the Big East, but is only 4 for 15 from behind the arc in three career games against Pitt.

Freeman has only been held to single digit scoring in 2 games this season.

The guy that G-town will be looking to stop will be the same guy everyone in the Big East has been trying to keep from getting clean looks from the perimeter — Ashton Gibbs.

It’s not like he won’t be out there — almost the entire time.

After each game Pitt’s coaches will study the box score and look at the number of minutes that each of the players logged. It is becoming a running joke among the coaches about the unusually high number of minutes that sophomore guard Ashton Gibbs has been playing.

“A couple of times I’ll look and say he played 39 minutes,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “And I’ll say, ‘I didn’t hear any of you guys tell me to take him out.’ ”

Translation: Gibbs is playing too well for the coaching staff to want to take him out of a game.

Gibbs, who is averaging 17.5 points per game in his breakout season, has not played fewer than 35 minutes in any of the first five Big East Conference games. He played all but one minute of a thrilling 82-77 overtime victory Saturday against Louisville.

Gibbs has been too important to take out of the game — especially on offense. His presence means that the defense has to stay after him and make sure there is no collapsing inside to clog and make penetration from the other guards and wing players. Plus, he has become more than a set shooter. He can come off of screens and curls and even drive and pull-up.  The final factor is that Gibbs is one of the most players least likely to turn the ball over.

It has meant that Travon Woodall and Chase Adams are having a hard time getting on the court. Arguably, both are as good if not — in the case of Woodall — a little better on defense than Gibbs. But neither can match the offense and taking care of the ball.

With Gibbs’s defense, substantially improved from last year he isn’t a liability at that end. It’s one of the things he has worked hard at from last year to this.

Along the way, Gibbs improved his defense — “He was a bad defender last year,” Dixon said — and his rebounding (he had eight at Syracuse) and off-the-ball movement.

“You talk about the work,” Dixon said. “Some people will work on the same things over and over again and not work on their weaknesses. Ashton has addressed things that we’ve talked with him about.”

…

“Ashton is one of those guys that likes to be by himself and shoot,” Dixon said. “That’s a comfort zone for him. Some guys need a guy to work out with them. He doesn’t. That’s the type of guy he is.”

Dixon said Gibbs’ work ethic compares to Sam Young’s, the legendary gym rat who is Pitt’s No. 4 all-time scorer and a rookie forward with the Memphis Grizzlies.

“(Gibbs) works just as hard as Sam,” Dixon said. “He came with it. With Sam, it developed.”

That work ethic and willingness to do whatever is needed to help a team is arguably part of what has made him a vocal team leader. Coach Dixon spoke of how Gibbs became a team leader on the U-19 team over the summer because he knew what Dixon wanted and no one else on the team was speaking up. That has carried over to the Pitt team.

The folks at Casual Hoya reached out to do a good old blogger Q&A. You can get an idea of how out of touch with present pop culture and local happenings by clicking over to read my answers (offered after a busy Saturday of watching basketball and drinking). Here, Andrew provides answers to some of my burning questions (asked before the Villanova game on Sunday).

1. Seriously. What the hell happened last year?

Ever hear of Murphy’s Law? No, its not the same thing as this TV show? Yeah, well last year was a perfect example of Murphy’s Law. By the end of January, everything that could go wrong, went wrong. Some blame it on team chemistry – which was apparently disrupted when Chris Wright and Jesse Sapp got in a fight during the Duke game. Some blame it on leadership, or lack thereof, as both DaJuan Summers and Sapp didn’t show a glimpse of passion or care as the season ended.

I blame it on youth. While the previous two reasons certainly had a role, Georgetown really played only three players (Summers, Sapp and Austin Freeman) who had any substantial experience running the offense. Combined with an incredibly tough schedule, quite possibly the most competitive conference ever, a demanding offense requiring reads and cuts, and a horribly weak bench – Georgetown should have played more like the team that ended the season, not the one that started it.

Losing three key players (Roy Hibbert, Jon Wallace, and Patrick Ewing Jr.) is a lot to make up for. But obviously Pitt had to ruin that excuse by doing so damn well this season. F-ckers.

2. While Pitt and Georgetown do not have the same systems, both teams are relatively slow-tempo offense and defense first. Each possession on offense, therefore is valuable. Do you worry about scoring enough?

No doubt scoring has been a problem for The Situation, err, Georgetown. It’s less an issue with the system that the Hoyas run as it is with the players they’ve got, with the starting 5 having to bring it every night with little help from the bench (to be addressed in the next question).

The upshot is that there are 3 players who can lead the team in scoring on any night: Chris Wright, the occasionally out of control point guard who is the most aggressive player going to the basket and looking for his shot; Austin Freeman, the steady 2-3 who is averaging over 20 a game in Big East play; and Greg Monroe, Gtown’s best post player and pro prospect and almost always the player with the most ability on the floor. Rounding out the 5 are Julian Vaughn, a bruiser who has been surprisingly effective both on offense and defense and Jason Clark, a sophomore who has had some great games while fading in others.

Thus far, the team seems to play to the level of the competition and with as well as Pitt’s been playing, they should be focused on offense and scoring.

3. Talk about the rotation for Georgetown. There are 4 Hoyas playing over 32 minutes/game. While the players don’t commit a lot of fouls do you worry about the players being gassed by the end of February?

We worry about the main players being gassed by the middle of January. Clearly the glaring weakness for Gtown has been the bench where a lot was expected of Henry Sims (a sophomore big) and Hollis Thompson (a freshman swing man). While Thompson has been playing consistently (but not putting up great numbers), Sims has been a big disappointment and his minutes are quickly being gobbled by freshman, Jerelle Benimon. Put simply, when the starters are on and can establish a lead, going to the bench isn’t terrifying but when they aren’t on, the Hoyas can go on long scoreless stretches due to weak bench play.

4. Will Georgetown ever consider elevating football? How do you see things playing out with rumors of Big 11 expansion?

Considering that the Georgetown football program has won 1 game in the last two years – the answer to that question is a resounding “Hell No”. This has been a tough decade for Georgetown football, who moved up to Division 1-AA from Division III in 1992. The Hoyas competed in the top half of the MAAC, until moving to the Patriot League in 2000. After that – it was all downhill.

Georgetown does not have the scholarships and facilities to move up to Division 1 football right now – there is no where to build a stadium (the current brand new facility stands uncompleted on campus due to lack of funding), and no money to dedicate to the team. I think the hope it to be competitive within the Patriot League at some point, and not get embarrassed by the likes of Lehigh and Bucknell every year. Georgetown is a decent athletic school: basketball, track, soccer, lax, crew and sailing all have received recognition in the past fews. But it is a long way away from being good in football. Mainly because people don’t care – I can count the number of full Georgetown football games I have sat through on zero hands.

(Anyone else think that Georgetown is another Esherick-esque hire and a heartbeat away from becoming Fordham in athletics from that explanation?)

Big 11 expansion is interesting. The Big East is the only power conference to include non D1-A football schools. I have no doubt in my mind that many of the big football schools would love to kick out non-football contributors, and the recent successes of the Villanova, Georgetown and Marquette programs is the only thing holding it together.

People make the excuse that the Big East will never be broken up because of its history of being a basketball conference, but look what Boston College did earlier this decade. The founding member of the Big East jumped at the first chance of more money – too bad it was a terrible move because Big East football improved while ACC football sucked after the treason.

I hope the Big 10 goes after Missouri and Nebraska and leaves the Big East alone. If they take a Rutgers, West Virginia or Pitt – I see the Big East brining in Memphis or Temple (again) in order to preserve the D1 football vs. non D1-A football split. Alternatively, some want Nova to elevate football – but I think that will eventually lead to the dismembering of the Big East as we know it. Unfortunately, money counts – and Georgetown brings nothing to the table.

Thanks to Andrew for the sharing.

While a lot of individual players got focused pieces after the Louisville game, there were also a few others that got stories. They’ve been in the tabs waiting to be put in the right place.

From last week, Gilbert Brown comes about as close as he can to talking about his suspension.

“I had to own up to it,” Brown said. “The big thing was that I was known as a good student, but this gave it a negative perception that I was a bad student. I made some bad decisions, and it was a tough process.”

It is the consequence. All achievements are questioned. Fairly or not.

The piece also discusses the position switch and importance/difficulty in Pitt’s system.

Brown’s new position is famously the toughest in Pitt’s rotation to learn and embrace. It combines strong inside and outside play. It demands equal parts penetration and perimeter prowess. It asks the player to get offensive rebounds, but at the same time stretch defenses so teammates can get opportunities.

The four is such a position that Young, who led the Panthers in scoring the past two seasons, was dragged screaming into learning it.

But in advance of filling that spot, in addition to keenly watching Robinson in this year’s games, Brown viewed game films of Young, who finally embraced his role and eventually flourished in it.

“I fully understand what he had to go through,” Brown said of Young.

And with Pitt’s success, it would seem the cries to mess with the rotation are dying. Though it seems hard to let go of the impulse to cry, “move Taylor to the Four now.”

Filed under questionable timing (and questionable factually) is a small feature on Travon Woodall from the New York Post (I’m sure for many, there is another joke here).

Woodall, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound redshirt freshman, leads the Panthers in assists (4.4). And, after being forced to sit out last season with a knee injury, the Brooklyn native has developed an identity on the team.

He has started 10 games. He is averaging 24.4 minutes. And he is distributing the ball, well, like the guards of Panthers past.

“Last year, it was frustrating to watch. But I had the chance to see some great players,” Woodall said. “I wanted to be out there. But I learned that I needed to use that to my advantage. Take those feelings and let that improve your play. I believe, in the end, that it’s added to my game now.”

His coach concurs.

“Another thing that I’m very pleased about Travon is his rebounding,” Dixon said. “We typically have guards who have excelled at rebounding: Brandin Knight, Carl Krauser and Levance Fields. His rebounding has been outstanding.”

Of course, Woodall’s stats have been plummeting. He has averaged 12.3 min/game since Big East play started. He has 13 assists and 9 turnovers in those 6 games.  The Louisville game, which was big for many had Woodall play a season low 8 minutes and commit 3 turnovers.

Woodall’s minutes have taken a big hit with Dixon and Brown’s return. He is, simply put, being outplayed by them and it is keeping him from getting out there. When he does get out there, it is very clear that he is pressing. Trying to play too fast.

I would call it the  “early Keith Benjamin phase.” In his first couple of years, Benjamin would come out with so much energy, so eager to prove how good he was, and that he belonged out there. He would end up more than negating the energy he brought by jacking up shots and trying to make ridiculous passes. More often than not, it just accelerated how quickly he would get yanked out of the game, because he wasn’t playing the same game as the other four.

Gary McGhee got big love, not just for the Louisville game, but just for the way he was playing.

McGhee is hardly a star, but Pitt would not be 15-2 and knocking on the door of the top 10 without him. He had the difficult challenge this season of taking over in the post for All-American DeJuan Blair, who, you might have heard, is showing off his game quite nicely in the NBA. He hasn’t backed down from it, giving Pitt a big body and a better-than-expected physical presence inside as a defender and rebounder. He has come a long way from the guy who picked up three fouls in one second at Connecticut last season and promptly became known to his playful teammates as “Guinness Book Of World Records.” He was huge — literally and figuratively — with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocked shots in Pitt’s stunning 67-57 victory in its return trip to Connecticut Wednesday night.

“It didn’t intimidate me replacing DeJuan because I played against him every day in practice and I knew my game was right up there,” McGhee said after Pitt’s throbbing 82-77 overtime victory Saturday against Louisville. “He was one of the best rebounders in college basketball history and I held my own with him. I knew if I could rebound against him, I could rebound against anyone in the country. I knew I was ready to play in the Big East.”

McGhee’s game is hardly pretty. He has much work to do to become even a competent offensive force. “I’m trying to finish better when the ball’s dumped off to me,” he said. Blair’s hands are so much better than his, although McGhee had no trouble grabbing a rebound after a missed shot by Wanamaker in overtime Saturday and laying it in the basket to give Pitt a 76-72 lead.

Those two critical points were nice, but that’s not what Pitt counts on getting from McGhee. Clearly, he knows his role. “Defense and rebounding are what win championships,” he said. “Getting a stop for me on defense is just as good as a dunk.”

McGhee isn’t just trying to follow Blair. He is following Gray, Taft and guys like Lett who holds dear places in Pitt fans hearts for helping to launch this golden age of Pitt basketball. (And while it is increasingly looking like McGhee will end up as good as Lett (9.1 pts and 4.8 rbds/game), I wonder how many will look as kindly on him considering the players McGhee followed and the present expectations.

When Pitt was at Cinci a couple weeks ago, at one point Bill Raftery exclaimed, “I’ll tell you what Jay [Bilas], this kid McGhee is a very serviceable center!” It was a backhanded compliment that made me laugh, in part because while Rafs said it with such genuine surprise, it was never intended as an insult. It was also accurate. Through the coaches and his own work McGhee has become an integral and solid player. He has worked himself into so much better shape. He is not a star, but he is doing the job at that position.

Then there is McGhee’s teammate Brad Wanamaker. After a solid game, Wanamaker went from potential goat to hero in the final minutes of regulation. A couple of turnovers late (shocking factoid, he only had one up until that point) that kept Pitt from trimming the lead, followed by a perfect 3 in the corner on the inbound play and sinking clutch free throws to send the game to OT.

“We had many conversations, many talks,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said, 30 minutes after the Panthers’ stunning, back-from-the-dead 82-77 overtime win against Louisville, the delirious noise still ringing in his ears from a Petersen Events Center crowd that couldn’t quite believe what it was watching and Wanamaker’s starring role in it.

You think Dixon is a pretty terrific game coach? You have no idea how good he is at what he does when the gym is empty. Great coaching is about so much more than just designing a play or orchestrating the defense.

“People make a big deal when a kid isn’t happy with his playing time,” Dixon said. “I think it’s good. I want that kind of player on our team. I never want a kid to lose that desire. But, at the same time, I don’t want his disappointment to get in the way of his development. [Wanamaker] and I talked about it a lot. He never stopped working to get better. He cares so much.”

Wanamaker is second on the team in scoring, third in rebounding, second in assists, second in minutes played, second in free throw % (but first in FTA and FTM), first in steals, and yes first in turnovers. He can frustrate at times, but is there should be no question Pitt isn’t where they are right now without him.

Kids sick, life sucks.

Lots of tabs accumulated and things to touch upon. One thing that has continued, the fact that Pitt is a team, much stronger as a unit than if you looked at the individual players. And they are coming out from the shadows of last year’s accomplishments.

How are they achieving improbability after impossibility? Tenacity, toughness, great defense and rebounding. Pitt outrebounded Louisville by 14 Saturday, three days after beating Connecticut by nine on the boards. And while Louisville shot well Saturday, they were only 2 of 5 down the final 4:30 stretch of regulation, and 2 of 5 with two turnovers in overtime.

“I’ve told these guys,” said Pitt coach Jamie Dixon, “that it’s up to us to decide how good we’re going to be.”

But finding an identity, despite the early success, hasn’t been easy. DeJuan Blair and Sam Young and Levance Fields still haunt these halls. In past years, the Brandin Knights, Juliuis Pages, Carl Krausers and Aaron Grays would leave, some would wonder if the Panthers could rebound and by December, no one remembered their names.

But last year’s No. 1 ranking, a No. 1 seed and Elite Eight appearance added up to an impossible act to follow, particularly with a little-known cast of mostly underclass reserves who couldn’t get a slice of last year’s senior-dominated playing time.

How about the fact that Rick Pitino effectively helped Pitt with poor work on game management? Pitt was out of timeouts with 4 minutes left in the game. Pitt trying to stage the comeback still trailed by 5 with 20 seconds or so left — and Pitino called the timeout to let Pitt set up their inbound play.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said late Saturday he was hoping Louisville coach Rick Pitino would call a timeout in the final 20 seconds so he could set up a shot for Brad Wanamaker. Pitino did call the timeout and Wanamaker was open in the corner off the inbounds for the 3-pointer that essentially sent the game into overtime.

An interesting observation from a Louisville beat writer before the game.

*I think the key to the game will be if the Cards can stop Ashton Gibbs from penetrating and getting shots in the lane. U of L has been hurt in losses by big play from slashing guards. (Scottie Reynolds, anyone?)

He was right about players slashing to the basket hurting the Cards. Just the wrong guy. It was Wanamaker and even Nasir Robinson from the forward position attacking the basket.

Coach Dixon got very emotional about Nasir Robinson having such a big game (I hesitate to say “breakthrough” because that is only applicable in hindsight — if it keeps going), but also about the team as a whole working so hard to get better.

“I love that kid,” Dixon said. “When we recruited him I remember watching him. … You can find things wrong with him, but he plays so hard that my belief was if you play that hard and you care that much you’ll become a good player. He’s a perfect example of that.

“He brings so much energy. He is so positive and works so hard. He’s finding his role. He’s such a good kid. I’m proud of him. It was good to see.”

…

Jamie Dixon said Robinson personifies this team’s work ethic.

“The strength of this team is they want to get better,” Dixon said. “They’re willing to be coached. They understand they’re not as good as they can be. That’s a talent. That’s a gift. Some guys think they’re good enough and can’t get better.

“Our guys are working on their weaknesses. Nasir is in there working on his free throws over and over again. Then you see him hit four out of six. And they were big free throws. That’s the strength of this team.”

We spent a lot of time early in the season complaining about these kids as far as their talent level. Robinson, Wanamaker, Gibbs, Woodall, McGhee. Their work ethic, willingness to listen to the coaching, and how quickly it seems they have improved is not just a credit to them and the coaching staff. It’s also vindication for the staff that helped recruit them. Making former assistants Orlando Antigua and Mike Rice  look a little better as far as why they wanted these kids.

To those who just peek at the team, it becomes yet another year where Pitt is just plugging in players to a machine.

For Pitt it was a stirring comeback that absolutely (for a couple days) crushed the Cards as brutally as anything they experienced.

“Outside of Duke and Christian Laettner, this was the worst loss I ever had to experience,” Pitino said after Pitt’s 82-77 overtime victory.

Christian Laettner made one of the most famous buzzer-beaters in NCAA tournament history to deny Pitino’s Kentucky Wildcats a berth in the Final Four in 1992.

Much less was at stake yesterday, but Pitt’s comeback victory was tough for the Cardinals to swallow. They were up by five points with 54 seconds remaining and committed a series of gaffes that opened the door for the Panthers, who gleefully barged through to claim a most unlikely victory.

Pitt took advantage of the fact that this Louisville team is just not a team that can close.

“We know when we’re at our best how good we can be,” guard Preston Knowles said. “It’s just sometimes we get unfocused and don’t keep the right train of thought for 40 minutes. It can’t be 35. It has to be 40 minutes.”

Coach Rick Pitino said defensive mistakes have been to blame for the late losses. They’ve tried both zones and man-to-man, but it hasn’t made a difference.

In the last five minutes of their six losses, the Cards have allowed teams to shoot 51.2percent from the field (21of41) and 63.6percent from three-point range (7of11). For the season UofL opponents are shooting just 42.2percent from the field and 34.5percent from three-point range.

Cards are 0-3 against ranked teams. What seems stunning is that in those final minutes, the vaunted pressing defense by Louisville is non-existent. Some of it is that it isn’t as good in years past. The other reason is — at least with ranked teams — the teams are able to handle it.

The Panthers, overcoming 10 turnovers and three charging fouls in the first half, negated the Cardinals’ press, largely because most everyone on the floor can handle the ball with care even when Louisville turned up the heat.

“Ashton is a poised point guard, and things don’t get to him too much,” said guard Jermaine Dixon who had nine points and six assists in the second half. “We’re more versatile this year, especially because Gilbert (Brown) and Nasir (Robinson) are able to handle the ball.

“I can see why (Pitino) didn’t press and decided to stay in the matchup zone. But I was surprised they didn’t press us because they had a lot of success with it last year. I think they felt they could press Levance because they wanted to wear him down because we ran a lot of our sets through him.”

Last year, there was no one else Pitt trusted to bring the ball up against the press. Not Jermaine Dixon. Certainly not Young and Blair. Another nice side effect of Pitt being a more guard and smaller team.

One thing that has been glossed over — because Pitt won — was how badly the officials missed the foul on Ashton Gibbs’ attempted 3-pt shot with under 8 seconds left. Missing everything and after a moment of weirdness ruled that Pitt still had the ball because it was a block. If they had made the correct call it would have been Gibbs going to the line to shoot 3 FTs with around 6 seconds left and Pitt down 2.

Instead the refs were bailed out by a bad foul on Wanamaker with 1.9 seconds left and Wanamaker hitting them both to send the game to OT.

In an alternate reality if they had made that call, how scary would those final seconds have been — assuming Gibbs made all 3 or even 2 of 3. With Louisville trying to get down the court to win. Pitt fans would have been having a collective flashback to the Elite Eight ‘Nova game.

The officiating in that game was horrid. The only good thing that can be said about it, is that it was equally horrendous for both teams. So it ended up balancing out by the end. Well, I can say that now, because Pitt won.

The meme grows. There was the extended praise from Andy Katz at ESPN.com for Wisconsin’s Bo Ryan and Coach Dixon.

A memo to the Big Ten and the Big East from this point forward: Do not pick a Bo Ryan or Jamie Dixon-coached team ninth again.

Resist the temptation. Forget about what has occurred on the roster. Finishing in the lower level of a conference for these two coaches from two different generations is not an option.

…

But what you can’t teach is the toughness that both teams play with throughout the season. Pitt showed no issues in going to Syracuse, Cincinnati and Connecticut to win three-straight road games for a 4-0 Big East start heading into a game against Louisville on Saturday.

The Badgers aren’t the most talented team in the Big Ten. Pitt doesn’t have that honor in the Big East. Yet, by mid-January, they are both virtual locks for the NCAA tournament, barring a collapse and serious threats to win their respective conferences.

Coincidentally, both coaches were the head coaches last summer for USA Basketball’s junior national teams. Ryan coached the World University Games team that won bronze in Serbia. Dixon coached the gold-medal winning U.S. team at the Under-19 World Championships in New Zealand — the first time the U.S. won gold in the event since 1991.

Their successes in coaching this summer shouldn’t be tossed aside as a coincidence. Players coached by them are also having significant seasons. Ryan coached Clemson’s Trevor Booker, Mississippi State’s Jarvis Varnado, West Virginia’s Da’Sean Butler and Purdue’s Robbie Hummel on the older squad, while Dixon coached Pitt point guard Ashton Gibbs, Butler’s Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack, Ole Miss’ Terrico White and Kansas’ Tyshawn Taylor. I’m not handing the successful seasons of these players to the coaching staffs. But I’m just simply adding that Ryan and Dixon have been on a good run of late.

Both coaches have shown poise, patience and the ability to tinker with their respective teams to accommodate injuries or attrition. Dixon had to find ways for his team to score without Brown and Jermaine Dixon, and it showed at times in close, agonizing wins over New Hampshire and Duquesne. But the Panthers still won the games as Dixon’s controlled intensity rubbed off on his crew.

Tom Lucci at the New Jersy Star Ledger.

Q. Isn’t it about time that Pitt’s Jamie Dixon was recognized as one of the country’s best coaches?

The Panthers lost four starters who combined for 4,714 points from a team that was a Scottie Reynolds buzzer-beater away from making the Final Four a year ago. Picked ninth in the coaches’ pre-season poll, you can make the case that Pitt — 15-2 overall, 5-0 Big East — is the league’s best team right now. Since guard Jermaine Dixon (foot) and swingman Gilbert Brown (academic suspension) returned, the Panthers are 6-0 — with wins at Syracuse, at Cincinnati and at UConn.

And the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

And how about those Pitt Panthers? Makes you realize why one of the first coaches called every spring for just about any major-conference coaching opening is to Jamie Dixon.

And the meme keeps rolling.

In a good way, for once.

One of those things that has eaten at Pitt fans over the years has been the free throw shooting of Pitt. Coach Dixon, much like every coach of a team that has not shot them well dismissed the concerns publicly. Usually with a, “we make them when we have to” type comment.

Oddly enough Pitt’s free throw shooting has been about the same. At half way through the season and a little less than 1/3 through the Big East schedule Pitt is shooting FTs at about the same rate as last year. Except that the past couple weeks have been driving up the numbers.

“I really don’t know,” said guard Jermaine Dixon. “We practice free throws every practice, before during and after. We did that last year, too. It’s just more of them are going in.”

Last year, Pitt was 67.6 percent from the line. This year, it was 67.4 entering the game. But a further inspection shows that the Panthers were 17 of 20 in a road win at Connecticut last Wednesday, 20 of 27 in a win at Cincinnati and 26 of 36 in a win at Syracuse. Including Saturday, that’s 73.6 percent in an impressive block of four wins and 41 of 50 (82 percent) in their last two games.

Saturday, Pitt shot 24-30 (80%) at the line. And oh my, yes, Pitt made them when they counted.

Wanamaker got advice from a good source before making two game-tying free throws with 1.9 seconds to play. The junior guard talked to Gibbs, who is among the nation’s top free-throw shooters at 92.6 percent.

“Ashton told me to take it like it was practice and nobody around,” he said.

Wanamaker went 11 for 12 from the line against Louisville. Since shooting 48 percent as a freshman, Wanamaker has made 73.1 percent from the line.

And then there is the other side.

But even Pitino had to acknowledge the obvious: Despite its mistakes, UofL did enough to win in a tough Big East Conference venue, had it only made those free throws.

“If you make those free throws, the game’s over,” he said. “It’s mathematically impossible, unless you turn it over, for them to win.”

Sosa’s first big miss came with 1:37 left and the Cards up five. It was the front end of a one-and-one, and Jared Swopshire missed another one of those with the Cards still up five with 42 seconds left. The Cards were up four when Sosa missed a pair with 28.4 seconds left.

You can’t keep missing them without paying, and you can’t make up for missing them by taking the entire game into your hands.

And consequently ignoring Samardo Samuels in the OT to compound things.

So as usual on a Sunday after marathon college sports watching on Saturday, I spend Sunday with the kids. Easing back into things.

Going into the weekend, Pitt was rising in the eyes of most media.

ESPN.com’s power rankings put Pitt at #10.

Luke Winn at SI.com was really high on Pitt, shooting them up to #6.

Here’s the reason why I’m way more bullish on Pitt than AP poll voters have been:

Quality road wins* by AP top 25 teams not named Pitt: Eight

Quality road wins by Pitt: Three

(* I’m defining a quality road win as one against a top-60 team in the Pomeroy Ratings, in that team’s home gym.)

The value of road wins, like the ones the Panthers have pulled off in January against Syracuse, Cincinnati and UConn, cannot be understated. The other 24 teams in the AP poll have just eight between them, which means Pitt has 10 times the road clout of your average ranked team. Jamie Dixon‘s team needs to be considered a real contender for the Big East title.

Of course that was before the Louisville game (and UConn has decided to unravel completely). Garry Parrish at CBSSports ranks Pitt #8 after the weekend and Jeff Goodman at FoxSports.com says Pitt is #7.

UConn is unsurprisingly unranked after being unable to handle Michigan. UNC is barely there.

Quote sheet from the game. Strangely nothing from Louisville right now.

Quoting Pitt Head Coach Jamie Dixon, On Nasir Robinson:

“I love that kid. I remember recruiting him. You find things wrong with him but he plays so hard and just keeps getting better. He brings energy, is positive, and works hard. He played well against UConn. His numbers weren’t big, but his energy and his positive attitude were. He’s finding his role on the team. He’s a good kid and I’m proud of him.”
…
On the atmosphere:

“It was tremendous. I always say don’t take crowds for granted. It’s easy to root for an unselfish team like ours. They are tremendous and always are. We have a special place at the Peterson Events Center.
…
Quoting Pitt’s Nasir Robinson, On his play:

“Once I got my first bucket, I got into a grove and just kept rolling. I’ve been working on my free throws and I was able to concentrate more and make more of them.”

Quoting Pitt’s Brad Wanamaker, On his final free throws of regulation:

“By far, those were the hardest free throws I’ve had to make. The guys just told me to relax and imagine it was practice and there was no one around. I did and I hit both of them.”

On his key three point shot:

“Coach designed a play during the time out and it worked. They thought Ashton was the shooter and they followed him and left me open. Jermaine got me the ball and I made the shot.”

31 straight at home.

At the start of conference play, most of us hoped Pitt could go 3-3 over the first 6 games. Now, when the time comes that Pitt loses it will feel like a disappointment. Awesome.

Wheee.

Edgar Sosa:

Sosa heads straight off court, skips postgame handshakes.

And the role model…

Pitino practically ignored Dixon too.

You stay classy, Louisville.

The liveblog may start a couple minutes late. I have the morning shuttle duties for my daughter’s activities. Her soccer practice ends at 11:45. It will be close. I already told the wife that I will quite literally run in the house and straight to the basement (pausing ever so briefly to grab a beer) for the game.

As usual if you need to break it out from the site, you can Click Here.

Otherwise it is below and kicks off noonish.

Apparently on the Big East Coaches teleconference, much of the talk was about Pitt.

“The DNA in that program is, “We do whatever it takes to win.’ The kids that sign on there sign on for that,” Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said. “When Jamie gets in their face in practice and says, “We don’t turn the ball over, we defend people, that’s our formula for success,’ that’s not questioned. The names change, but the winning doesn’t because they have that formula.”

Part of the formula is role players taking the next step. Playing time is earned over time there, perhaps more than at any other place in the league. Scotch Plains native Ashton Gibbs is this year’s posted boy.

The sophomore guard, who averaged 4.3 points in spot duty last winter, is averaging 17.6 points and 2.5 assists while connecting on 41.9 percent of his 3-point attempts.

“People didn’t know how good Gibbs was. Gibbs is as good as any player in the league in the backcourt,” Boeheim said. “I liked (Levance) Fields. I thought Fields was a really good player, but I’d rather play against him than Gibbs because Gibbs can make six 3s against you.”

Since Coach Dixon has very publicly said that expectations remained high, naturally he did not bite on whether he was surprised. Instead it was about watching the team improve.

Dixon said yesterday he is not surprised by his team’s fast start in conference play, but he said he was pleased at how the Panthers have shown steady improvement.

“I get satisfaction out of coaching any team,” Dixon said. “This team has been interesting in that it has improved so much from the start of the year. Some guys have gotten better. Others are getting healthy. As any coach, you want to see your team improve. Anyone who saw us at the start of the year and now can speak to our constant improvement throughout. That has been gratifying. But we didn’t lower our expectations so I’m not surprised. Our demands were the same. Our players and staff understood that. We made that very clear from the beginning.”

Part of the new-found respect for Pitt and especially Coach Dixon comes from looking over the past decade and realized how well the team has continually adjusted.

We all know how this team looks different from last year’s team. Sam Young, DeJuan Blair, Levance Fields and Tyrell Biggs have all departed and with them the core of last season’s Elite Eight and No. 1-seeded team.

The one thing Jamie Dixon’s teams have always done is adjust to personnel losses. Chevron Troutman, Chris Taft, Carl Krauser, Aaron Gray, Levon Kendall, Ron Ramon, Antonio Graves and Mike Cook come and go, and Pitt continues to win. But with the early-season poor performances in wins against Wofford and Duquesne and losses to Texas and Indiana, it looked like this would be the year when the Panthers would finally fall to the Big East’s second division. Pittsburgh wasn’t shooting well, was turning the ball over and lacked the dominance on the offensive glass, something one might expect from a team that had suffered such heavy losses.

To be fair, the team that lost to Indiana wasn’t the team that defeated Syracuse on Jan. 2 and Connecticut Wednesday night. That was Jermaine Dixon’s first game back from a foot injury. Moreover, Gilbert Brown was still not academically eligible. On Wednesday, Dixon and Brown played 63 minutes, and while the numbers won’t jump out at you — 17 points on 7-of-21 shooting — the two veterans are soaking up minutes that had went to more inexperienced players, who were more likely to fumble away their opportunities than to make a productive play.

Or maybe the surprise comes from the fact that this is the first time Pitt has replaced talent that was not underrated.

The only reason people are more amazed at Pitt’s unbeaten start in Big East play than in previous seasons since the Panthers began their reign as a conference power is they finally had some elite talent to replace.

There is nothing else different. Whether the program is replacing future NBAers DeJuan Blair and Sam Young or Jaron Brown and Julius Page, though, it still has to have capable players willing to execute what coach Jamie Dixon designs.

The development of C Gary McGhee from practice body to integral starter is the same course followed previously by Tyrell Biggs and Keith Benjamin, among others. In other programs, such players generally transfer out if they haven’t made an impact as freshmen or sophomores. At Pitt, they wait their turn.

Not much of a chance to bask in the win over UConn. Tomorrow is a nooner with Louisville. Even if it is finally back at the Pete, Louisville is a terrifying game. As well as Pitt has been playing. As fantastic as these road wins have been. As sluggish as Louisville has played most of the season.

This game has me worried. Louisville presses all the time. They have length all over the court and quickness. They have depth. They are the kind of team that could absolutely disrupt Pitt.

On Saturday, they’ll face a Louisville team (12-5, 3-1) that is 2-0 at the Petersen Event Center, where the Panthers have won 30 straight since the Cardinals dealt them a 75-73 defeat on Feb. 24, 2008.

“They (Cardinals) have had our number because they do a good job of pressuring us, which makes it difficult to get into our offense,” said center Gary McGhee, who in 28 minutes tallied eight points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots against Connecticut. “We pride ourselves on protecting the home court, so this is a very big game for us.”

Part of the reason — at least according to Cards Coach Pitino — for the team struggling is that the team is not sharing which is leading to bad shots.

The Cards face the Big East’s top scoring defense on the heels of their worst shooting performance of the season. UofL, which has eclipsed 40 percent shooting just once in its past four games, shot 31.7 percent and squandered a 17-point lead in a loss to Villanova.

Against Kentucky, 5-of-29 shooting in the first half dragged their field-goal percentage down to 32.2 percent. But against Villanova they stayed around the same mark the entire game.

Pitino said he has pointed out during tape sessions and at practices where the Cards could have made extra passes to get better shots.

“We were an average-to-good passing team (two years ago); we became a great passing team last year,” he said. “I think young teams need to keep working on it and develop that mentality.”

Louisville has averaged under 12 assists/game over the past 5. Down from around 16. Of course, when a team is shooting around 32%, the assists are going to be lower because the team simply isn’t making a lot of shots. It is a bit of a chicken-egg thing.