That was not pretty. It was not a good night — to be kind. The way Pitt was being blown out in the second half, losing 68-53 was disturbingly cosmetic.

It was a bad effort from Pitt. They were a step slow a lot of the game and way too many jump shots on offense. No patience or effort to work the ball inside. Nothing sums it up like Gilbert Brown’s night. 3 points, going only 1-3 at the FT line and 1-7 shooting. Most problematic, he took (and missed) 5 3s. He wasn’t trying to penetrate and attack the rim. He and Jermaine Dixon spent most of the night taking jumpers.

Pitt did not attack the basket. They did not work it inside. Consequently they did not get fouled and did not get free throw attempts. Pitt went 4-18 on 3s. Gibbs made 3(-6) and Wanamaker had 1(-1).

Fatigue and a letdown probably played a role. Not an excuse, but Pitt came off two games that were very significant and emotional. At Marquette on Thursday where they had never succeeded. Then beating #5 Villanova on Sunday on CBS.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame played last Wednesday and had plenty of time to prepare and rest. They were at home.  To say nothing of how much they needed this game to have any hope of making the NCAA. They played like it.

They were hitting their 3s. It made it that much harder to defend when Pitt had to keep extending the defense and Notre Dame was effectively moving the ball and penetrating. I mean, Carleton Scott has gone 6-29 on 3s all season goes 2-3 tonight from outside. That just added to the misery.

You just hope that this game serves more as a lesson and reminder for the team.

7 PM on ESPN2 and ESPN360. John Saunders and Fran Fraschilla with the call.

Well, at least I feel good about the telecast. HD. Very good analyst and solid play-by-play. Plus Saunders is Canadian so you know he’ll be on the Olympic Hockey updates.

Usual things. If you need to break the liveblog out of the site,  Click Here.

Otherwise, right below.

Just  22 days until spring practices commence.

Pitt starts spring practice on March 18 . The Blue-Gold Scrimmage or whatever they are going to do to mark the end is set for April 17. I really wish they would have started at least a week later.

I hate saying anything good about them, but West Virginia is doing it right. Start the spring practice on April 6 — the day after the NCAA Tournament ends. That’s just good planning. Attention fully on the football side. All basketball over.

A little more regarding Pitt’s first commit for 2011 and his visit.

Offensive lineman Cyrus Kouandjio and defensive linemen Darian Cooper and Kendall Patterson went with Collura to Pittsburgh. After touring the campus, they met with position coaches and went to the Panthers’ basketball game that afternoon.

“When we broke off into meetings, their tight ends coach was straightforward what he expects tight ends to do, blocking and running routes,” Collura said. “Right then and there, I had an idea. Coming in, I was thinking Pittsburgh where I wanted to go. That seemed perfect right there.”

On Monday, after reviewing Collura’s game films, the Panthers extended a scholarship offer and it did not take long for him to decide.

“Everything was going crazy in our household, my dad was calling all the family,” Collura said. “Two hours later, after talking with Coach McGregor and my dad, I decided to commit. It seemed like an obvious choice.”

The big name of note in the list of teammates that came with Collura to visit Pitt is Cyrus Kouandijo. Tons of offers for him already (including Pitt, USC and Alabama). A consensus 5-star recruit considered by Rivals.com as the #1 OT in the 2011 class — at a point when most recruiting evaluations are not ready. So that’s something else.

Another visitor from the weekend was Jameel Poteat (apparently the nephew of Pitt standout Hank Poteat — one of the few bright spots from Johnny Majors II) who had a nice time (h/t to Dan).

…Poteat was very impressed with Pitt.  Poteat told Peak that, “It was great.”  Poteat went on to say that he was very comfortable, especially with head coach Dave Wannstedt. Poteat got to also hang with former Bishop McDevitt and Pitt running back LeSean McCoy.

Poteat is rated by Rivals.com as one of the top running backs in the country and an indication of that was that he just picked up offers from USC and Florida. In the past 2 seasons, he’s rushed for close to 3,000 yards and scored 39 rushing touchdowns.

Poteat says that he hopes to come up with a final five by July.

Here’s some very encouraging that Poteat told Pike when talking about the Pitt program. “I had that feeling. It just feels like you’re at home and the coaches and the fans show so much love. My parents love it, too, and that’s a big thing for me. And I love what Coach Wannstedt is doing with the program and how everything seems to be going right.”

Poteat isn’t yet starred by Rivals.com but is listed as a 5-star and the #5 RB nationally by Scout.com. It could not have hurt to have a former BIshop-McDevitt RB, Pitt great and next year’s starting tailback for the Philadelphia Eagles, LeSean McCoy at the game as well.

It all seems to be building to that sort of incident. Team without its star player for another game. A Notre Dame squad that will be undersized inside that should let Gary McGhee go wild.

Notre Dame will likely continue to use the lineup it had against Louisville with Harangody out. Forward Carleton Scott made his first collegiate start against the Cardinals, finishing with nine points, five rebounds and three blocks.

The Irish will also likely continue to work in freshman forwards Jack Cooley and Mike Broghammer.

Scott is 6-7 and Cooley and Broghammer are in that 6-8, 6-9 size. The danger is that ND while not having a real big man, has size all over. Abromaitis is 6-8. Nash is 6-8

A team that already shoots tons of 3s,  forced to rely on it even more.

The Irish shot 24 3-pointers in their most recent loss, a 91-89 setback in double overtime against Louisville. In the other game without Harangody, a 69-68 loss at St. John’s, the Irish took 20 3-pointers.

The Irish were competitive in both games because they were making a lot of those 3-point attempts. They were 10 for 20 against St. John’s and 10 for 24 against Louisville.

It was not a two-game spurt. Notre Dame remains a dangerous team against Pitt because it is shooting 41 percent from 3-point range for the season.

Junior forward Tim Abromaitis is shooting 49.5 percent and senior guard Ben Hansbrough 45 percent.

Now Pitt is one of the best teams at defending the three, but when a team is on that doesn’t always matter. The Irish have enough shooters that they can spread the field. Guys like Tory Jackson can penetrate to help create space and draw in defenders.  Plus the Irish are at home.

As if those on-the-court things weren’t enough to make you nervous of a trap game, consider that there is starting to be a bit more of passive media snipes being taken at ND Coach Mike Brey.

The Panthers routinely win at least 20 games overall and 10 league games each winter. Look up the word “program” in the college basketball dictionary and the reference likely says, “See, Panthers, Pittsburgh.”

All the Panthers lost off last season’s team that raced to a 31-5 record were four starters, including staples Levance Fields and Sam Young. All coach Jamie Dixon did was plug in four new faces, albeit veterans, give a little tweak here and there and before many around the country noticed, Pittsburgh put itself in position for a first-round league tournament bye – and may challenge for the regular-season league title.

“They’ve been the best program in my 10 years,” Brey said. “They’ve been there every year. This year is no different.

“They just have a system that is good.”

Players too. Fields and Young and DeJuan Blair step out, and Gilbert Brown, Ashton Gibbs, Gary McGhee and Nasir Robinson step in. The names on the backs of the jerseys may change, but the M.O. seldom has, dating back to the days of Ben Howland and Fitzgerald Field House.

“They’ve got guys who just go out there and play and work,” Jackson said. “They figure out ways to get it done.”

As for Notre Dame, the search continues.

And just for bad karma, talk of how Pitt is among the elite.

Before last season, Dixon was widely criticized for not getting a team past the NCAA tournament’s round of 16. He’ll always be criticized by some until he gets Pitt to a Final Four.

“I don’t care about Final Fours. I care about national championships,” Dixon said. “People don’t remember who made it to the Final Four. They only remember who won the national championship. A national championship is what separates you. We don’t have that yet.”

Notice the man said “yet.”

“I’m going to work as hard as I can to make it happen,” Dixon said.

Pitt is one of the best and most consistent programs in the country. It takes more, though, to be considered one of the elite, top programs. Putting it simply you have to go to Final Fours. You have to win in March and April.

It isn’t a criticism or even suggesting that I have any problems with the program, and especially not at Coach Dixon. I don’t. The fact that he dismisses talk of Pitt as an elite team right now shows how much he gets it. He is proud of what the program has and is doing, but it isn’t good enough. Yet, he is not taking shortcuts to try and get there. I love the path the program and even this present team is taking. I want Coach Dixon here for a long, long time. I want the slower growth, not the flash in the pan.

Just one game at a time, and this one is starting to give me an uneasy feeling.