Pitt going to Madison Square Garden in November is not much of a surprise any longer. Coach Dixon has stated that he will do almost anything to make sure Pitt plays a non-con game there (or if need be in New Jersey) in the non-con.

Pitt was supposed to play in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic last year, but cooperated with the Gazelle Group to shift to the other CvC in the midwest — with the understanding that in 2010, Pitt would be playing in NYC.

Sure enough…

Coaches vs. Cancer Classic will feature powers Pittsburgh, Texas, Maryland and Illinois.

Those four teams will act as regional hosts for the first two round of the event  from Nov. 8-12.

No matter the results from the regional games, the dynamic foursome will go matchup up at Madison Square Garden in New York on Nov. 18-19 to determine a champion.

Other teams participating in the 2010 Coaches vs. Cancer Classic are Charleston, Illinois-Chicago, Louisiana Tech, Navy, Rhode Island, Seattle, Toledo, and UC-Irvine. Toledo and UC-Irvine will host the subregional rounds.

Why announce it now?

Because the tickets for MSG, go on sale on Tuesday at noon. The tickets are through Ticketmaster, so be willing to pay service fees.

Well, that takes care of 3 games in the non-con and it is only a week into March.

That’s kind of what it feels like. Even as a fan, I was feeling a little of the grind of the season. No chance to sit back and look at things. Always having to look for the next bit of news and hint as to what is next.

Now, Pitt with several days off, and really just Big East accolades as the primary storylines. The other teams can start playing and I can just enjoy them for the most part.

Well, that and the status of Jermaine Dixon’s ankle. No news on that yet.

While, as expected, Pitt placed only 1 player in 18 spots for various levels of All-Big East, Pitt is in the running for some individual accolades.

Since the conference instituted the Most Improved Player award in 1997, five Pitt players have won — Sam Young, Aaron Gray, Carl Krauser, Brandin Knight and Ricardo Greer. During that span, only one other school has won the award more than once (Syracuse, three).

It is the postseason award that Dixon and his staff hold most dear.

Gibbs, a Scotch Plains, N.J., native, is averaging a team-best 16.2 points and enhanced his case with a 25-footer at the buzzer to beat Providence, 73-71, on Thursday at Petersen Events Center. Gibbs averaged 4.3 points per game off the bench as a freshman.

Other top candidates for the award are Providence junior Jamine Peterson (19.0 ppg, 10.0 rpg) and Notre Dame sophomore Tim Abromaitis (17.2 ppg), both of whom redshirted last season, along with Marquette’s Jimmy Butler, Georgetown’s Austin Freeman and West Virginia’s Kevin Jones.

Pitt also is in the running for other awards — all based on coaches’ voting — that will be announced today. Senior guard Jermaine Dixon is a possibility for Defensive Player of the Year and the Sportsmanship Award, and junior forward Gilbert Brown is a factor for the Sixth Man of the Year award.

Dixon will have to beat out players such as Rutgers center Hamady Ndiaye (4.5 blocks per game), Andy Rautins of Syracuse and Jerome Dyson of Connecticut to give Pitt its first Defensive Player of the Year trophy since the award began in 1982.

Syracuse sophomore forward Kris Joseph (11.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg) is a heavy favorite for the Sixth Man Award, ahead of Gavin Edwards of Connecticut, Dwight Hardy of St. John’s and Brown.

Well, the news is tweeted. Congrats to Ashton Gibbs.

Pittsburgh’s Ashton Gibbs was named the BIG EAST Most Improved Player.

Keepeing the streak of every other year for MIP going.

I figured Most Improved would be between Gibbs and Abromaitis. Peterson is hurt by how bad the Friars are and the skewing of offensive numbers. The edge for Gibbs is the extra exposure he has gotten. Abromaitis has spent most of the season in the shadow of Harnagody. Also, Gibbs has had to do a lot more in running the team.

Really don’t see Jermaine Dixon and Gilbert Brown winning Defensive Player and Sixth Man awards. Not sure that he will get it with all the games he has missed. As for Brown, well that one is almost certainly going to Joseph of Syracuse.

And yes it did. Also Hamady Ndiaye of Rutgers took defensive player of the year.

Then there is BE Coach of the Year. Again, have to expect Boeheim to take that one. I’m okay with it, but a tie would be nice.

For all of the well-deserved criticism the Big East gets for generally copping out when it comes to league awards — there’s a six-man all-conference first-team and a co-something almost every year — this is one time when co-Coach of the Year may be the only way to go. Boeheim took a Syracuse team tabbed for sixth in the coaches’ pre-season poll and led the Orange to the outright league title and a certain No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But Dixon took a Pitt team ravaged by personnel losses and picked for ninth in the pre-season to a tie for second — and the No. 2 seed in the Big East Tournament. Villanova and West Virginia have lower Big East Tournament seeds but will have higher NCAA Tournament seeds than the Panthers.

Basketball Prospectus breaks down the Big East Tournament in Log5 style to say Pitt is a distant 4th in best chance to win it. Seems about right to me.

Finally, while this has nothing to do with Pitt, recommended read is the NY Times examination of Seton Hall’s Bobby Gonzalez.

“He has a tremendous skill for being able to alienate himself from everyone,” said Emanuel Richardson, an assistant at the University of Arizona who has known Gonzalez since his days as a high school assistant 20 years ago. “He uses that as a mechanism to act the way he does. It’s his gift and curse. When I’d recruit against him he’d tell me, ‘You’re a shark, but I’m a great white.'”

In a side story talking about his time at Manhattan, it sums it up.

…Athletic Director Bob Byrnes told a story about the bus company Manhattan used to travel to games.

“The guy who runs the bus company called me and said something to the effect of: ‘I have 131 drivers that drive for us. But we’re down to one guy that will drive for Bobby Gonzalez,'” Byrnes said.

I still cringe at the thought that Sonny Vaccarro — then at Adidas, the supplier of Pitt gear —  once pushed for him to get the Pitt job after Howland left.

There are mysteries that remain. Such as why Gilbert Brown is literally up-and-down from one game to the next.

There might not be another player in the country that has been as inconsistent as Brown this season. His scoring has fluctuated like the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Since returning from an academic suspension that had him miss the first 11 games of the season, Brown has been Pitt’s leading scorer five times. He also has been held scoreless three times.

Some players get hot for stretches and then go cold for a period. What makes Brown’s inconsistency so strange is that you can set your watch by him. He plays well every other game.

…

It has gone on like that all season. Most recently, Brown was shut out by Providence Thursday night. So, of course, in the regular-season finale against Rutgers, he scored a team-high 19 points.

“I don’t know what it is,” Brown said. “I’ve been trying to figure it out. I swear it’s coincidence, but it’s not. It’s not pressure, me thinking about it, ‘OK I had a good game now I have to put another one together.’ It just happens. We have other players step up and play so well. Like against Providence, Brad [Wanamaker] and Ashton [Gibbs] put the bookbag on and carried the whole team on their backs. [Saturday night against Rutgers] was a different night when everyone got involved.”

With only 5 losses since Brown has come back, it is hard to truly say that how Brown goes, Pitt goes. In two losses (at USF and Georgetown) Brown was the leading scorer. In three losses (at Seton Hall, at WVU, and at Notre Dame) he scored a total of 10 points — including scoreless at WVU.

Don’t jump to the conclusion quite yet about the road being the difference. If you look at Brown’s numbers since he got back — 20 games — it is inconclusive. Using scoring and shooting percentage as the base metrics it is very bland.

I counted 6 good games at home, 4 bad games at home. On the road it was an even split of 4 good and 4 bad games. Two additional games — DePaul and at Syracuse were neither good or bad. Just there.

I wish I had a good answer. Is it simply psychological? I doubt it. It doesn’t appear to be match-up based since he against the three teams Pitt has played twice — WVU, St. John’s and Seton Hall — he has had good and bad games against each.

Anyone with a good theory that could actually be tested, broken down or analyzed?