FWIW, here is the updated depth chart from Pantherlair:

QB: Sunseri, Bostick
RB: Lewis, Graham
FB: Hynoski, Adams
WR: Baldwin, Street
WR: Cross, Saddler (Shanahan is out with mono)
TE: Cruz, Devlin, DeCicco
OT: Pinkston, Gibbs
OT: Nix, King
OG: Jacobsen, Schliefer
OG: Gaskins, Turnley
C: Karabin, Lippert

DE: Romeus, Hale
DE: Sheard, Lindsey
NT: Caregin, Hargrove
DT: Alexcih, Tkach, Ezell
OL: G Williams, Fleming Roberts
OL: Gruder, M Williams, Trebitz
MLB: Mason, Gordon
CB: Reed, Jackson
CB: Imoru, Wright
S: Holley, Pecora
S: Gilchrist, K Gray (DeCicco & Tags out w/ injury)

Discussions at the Big East Tournament on football had all the football schools leaving for other conferences. Eight super conferences would exist each with 16 members. The Big Ten would add ND, Pitt, Syracuse, Rutgers and Missouri to reach 16 members. ACC would add Conn and So Fla from the Big East. And SEC would add WV, Cinn, and Lou.
All the Big East football teams would be picked up. PAC 10 ,Big 12, ACC etc would raid other conferences. These changes would set up a playoff of the 8 conference winners played in the current bowl games replacing the BCS poll system. This is the reason ND has re-thought their stance about staying independent, if they fail to join a conference their football program will be out of National Championship race.

Marty, I think that we are headed for the 8 Super Conferences wtih 14 or 16 teams each…I don’t think the current bowl games will be used for the playoffs. I think the 8 teams in the playoffs will be seeded with the first two rounds of the playoffs being played at the higher seeded teams home field. This would eliminate the need to ask your fans to travel to what could be three games in far off places. The championship game would then be rotated through the current BCS games. The other BCS games would rotate teams 9/10, 11/12, 13/14, 15/16 each year. Also, I don’t think winning your conference will automatically get you in. I think they will qualify it by saying that you have to win your conference and finish in the Top 15 of the “Championship Playoff Poll (CPP)”. If you win your conference, but don’t finish in the Top 15, then the next highest available team takes your playoff spot. This will prevent the four loss team from getting into the playoffs because they won the sucky ACC (sorry Fla State, I could not resist).

On another topic…Man, if Kentucky only had some elite, future NBA level talent they would have won that game…Calipari has just got to step up his recruiting…They are as good as they are ever going to be and there is no way they could ever reach the final four with this level of talent…Just substitute Pitt for Kentucky, and Dixon for Calipari and you know how stupid some of the comments here and in Pittsburg’s news papers of late sound to me…I’m not comparing our talent to to Kentucky…Just pointing out that its not only about the talent, its also about how you played the last game you played this year…Kentucky lost because they missed too may shots and WVU just played its normal steady game…Now I have to watch those damn Hoopies in the Final Four with a team that, IMHO, does not have the talent that we had last year…So, do you as a Big East fan allow yourself to root for the Hoopies?

Hey, someone should tell WVU not to concentrate on the BE tourney. They should just forget the BE Tourney and concentrate on the Dance if they want to make it to the Final Four. (Ah, too late. Either nobody told them or they did not listen.)

BTW, it was enjoyable watching WVU run real basketball plays, especially the basic cuts around picks – the plays we learned to run in high school. Some classics are timeless. (I guess that is why they are defined as classics.)

How did Cal lose to a team with a one armed guard?

Considering that Kentucky shot 4-32 on 3s and 16-29 on FTs, it is more of a question of how they only lost by 7.

HgbFrank – I have no idea what you are trying to say in your first post above. I’ve read it three times and either it is too early in the morning or I’m missing something.

Of course it isn’t only talent as you point out with your reference to WVU making the Final Four, and since WVU hasn’t played their ‘last game’ yet we don’t know how their season will end up. But we do know how PITT’s did.

Fans may point to this year’s PITT squad and think two things – it either underachieved or it overachieved… very few fans seem to look at the this season’s version and think it was just about where it was destined to be. But, the fact that PITT beat such highly ranked teams at various points in the season gave fans hope that they could do it again in the NCAA tournament. Of course, that didn’t happen as it never seems to.

That is what makes some people look at Jamie Dixon and wonder, mostly to themselves, if he is a complete coach – one that gets the most out his players at the most opportune times. It’s a valid question.

Less than 12 catches a year for the #1 nationally ranked TE coming out of high school isn’t many chances at all. Hell, even our FB Hynoski had five more receptions than Byham this season.

Byham wasn’t the #1 nationally rated TE recruit coming out of HS because of his blocking ability – it was because he had 45 catches for 883 yards (19.6 avg.) and nine touchdowns as a senior – almost unheard of numbers for a HS TE.

He was grossly underutilized as a pass catching TE at PITT and while his strengths developed as a wonderful blocker, Cavanaugh and Cignetti could have, and should have, used him more often in the passing game.

I very much wonder if our current crop of TEs will see the ball more this season when we will be going into it with possibly the best set of WRs we have had at PITT in many years. I don’t see any of the three TEs filling the H-Back role that Dickerson played so I think they ill be used like Byham was and be an extra Offensive Lineman – after all the #1 TE going into camp, Mike Cruz, is 6’3″ and 270 pounds.

Maybe G. Cross can play the D. Dickerson role (H-Back) this season? Aviding injury should be a major goal this spring. Get the RS Fr. & So.’s more reps. Corner back is still a concern, Holley may have to play there in August camp.

Chas, I agree. WVU benefitted from UK missing several wide open 3s, as well as UK making just 16 out of 29 free throws. Pitt fans may remember our 2 pt loss in the Elite 8 last year when Nova made 22 of 23 free throws.

On the football side … the 2 Pgh papers made mention of Mason, Sadler, Alexcih and all 4 RBs (Lewis, Graham, Burns & Douglas) doing well in practice and shortened scrimmage yeaterday.

Hey Fralic, it is only a few practices in spring, but thus far, the JC transfer, Imoru, and Antuan Reed has gotten pretty good marks at cornerback thus far. I read this in a few different articles.

I am wondering that if Taglianetti is able to come back in August healthy and effective, would it possibly make sense to have D DeCicco replae Fields as the hybrid to replace Fields against the spread offenses. What he may lack in natural ability can be made up by his smarts and instincts since he is a 2 year starter and should know the defese inside out.

HbgFrank,

Were you sober when you said our talent is as good as WVU? They have two NBA ready guys. They beat us last year when we had Blair and Young, our two NBA ready guys. DaSean Butler can play point guard, we have no one like him. Plus we are young and not as deep. WVU rescued the rep of the Big East. Hopefully we don’t have to listen to the Big East is overrated crap, thanks to them.

Reed, put me solidly in the overachieved camp. I think it will be tough getting to the final four without one or two NBA ready guys plus a lot of luck. Let’s face it WVU does not beat Kentucky if they make threes and foul shots.

Jamie has put together a team that can beat anyone on a given night, and he does it consistently. However to make a deep run you must be dominant, hot and lucky. IMHO, those that say he won’t be a great coach until he gets to the final four or wins it all are ignorant buffoons.

one more note … FWIW, last year’s WVU team was upset in the very 1st round of the NCAA. This year, WVU wins the BE tourney and is in the Final 4, yet the popular opinion as well as some history show that the BE tourney results have little bearing on the NCAA.

Kansas which has the talent that we wish Pitt could get year in and year out won the title a few years ago. They also were upset in the 1st week as a high seed three times in the last 6 years.

Bottom line … there is ittle rhyme or reason when it comes to the NCAA. It is as much talent as it is the luck of the draw.

gc-I think Frank was judging the overall talent of this season’s WVU team against last year’s Pitt team (with Blair, Young, etc.). Although it’s probably close enough to argue either way, I also think that Pitt team was more talented than this WVU team.

GC:

Blair and Young will be better pros than anybody on WVU’s roster. WVU made no 2-point baskets in the first half. Their first 10 field goals were threes. Conversely Kentucky, who is stacked with three players that will be excellent pros, didn’t make a three until there were 5 minutes left in the game. I call that the luck of the draw. Additionally, Joe Mazzula had a CAREER high of 17 points. WVU got lucky as hell.

Reed you need to stick to analyzing football.

My mistake if Frank was comparing last year’s Pitt to this year’s WVU. However, I think that WVU’s depth is much better than last year’s Pitt. Omar, I agree Blair is the best of the bunch, but I think Butler will be pretty close to Sam. I did say it takes a lot of luck and no doubt WVU got lucky getting Kentucky on an off night.

gc – again, I will respectfully disagree with you. In fact, I think in comparing the two teams, the depth advantage goes to Pitt. On a player-by-player basis, I think your starting five if you mix these teams is Blair, Young, Fields, Butler and either Ebanks or Jones (but not both). Butler’s strength is his versatility – he can play every position on the floor but center. On last year’s Pitt team, he would not have started ahead of Young.

Overall, WVU is a better defensive team than Pitt was, but Pitt was a much better offensive team.

I don’t think either team has/had great depth, but I liked Pitt with Brown, Wanamaker, Gibbs coming off the bench.

Changing the topic – anyone understand what the hell is going on at the Post-Gazette? Zeise has suddenly become a WVU beat reporter, and is using the Pitt blog (Redshirt Diaries) to write puff pieces about how great WVU is. My first reaction is that it is just strange…my second reaction is to stop reading Zeise entirely. He just comes off as a total tool.

Pantherman, I agree on the starting five. Regarding depth, I was thinking that if we lost Fields we had no Mazzula. Also after our big three, scoring was inconsistent to non existent ie. Villanova.

I agree regarding Zeise. I miss Gorman. Pitt Script doing a nice job with the twitter out of camp.

GC, yes I was comparing last seasons Pitt team to this seasons WVU team. Last years Pitt team really was special. Unless something has changed, there are four players from that team making mid to high six figure salaries playing basketball for a living. In the end, Pitt’s team last year fell victim to a statistical freak show by Nova (that being their FT shooting). It would be very interesting to see a stat from all of last season to see how many times a team took more than twenty FT’s and only missed one. I’m betting you could count that number on one hand, and not need all of the fingers! Thus the demise of last years team had nothing to do with Dixon’s coaching, or the lack of the presence of an “elite” NBA ready recruit on the roster. Villanova just had one of those magical tournament games. Our day will come, and Dixon is the coach to get is there.

Reed, I think that College FB is moving towards 8 Super Conferences to set up a college FB playoff system. That system will still include polls and rankings. If a team wins its conference, and finishes high enough in the polls, they are automatically one of the eight teams in. If a conference champion is not ranked high enough to get in, then the next highest available team in the polls makes it into the playoffs. The 8 playoff teams are then seeded 1 through 8. For the first round, 1 would be playing 8 at team 1’s home field. The second round would also be played at the higer seeded teams home field. The National Championship game could then be rotated each year between the Rose, Fiesta, Orange, and Sugar Bowls. In the years that one of these bowls does not have the NC game, they could rotate the next highest available teams. Say for example, the Rose Bowl has the NC game one year. Let’s also assume that the teams that won the eight superconferences also finished the year ranked 1 through 8. In this example, the Orange bowl would get teams 9 and 10, the Fiesta 11 and 12, and the Sugar Bowl would get teams 13 and 14 (go look at the final rankings after the regular season from last year and you will see this would produce some interesting match-ups). Think NFL playoff format, vice NCAA Basketball tournament. The bowls get to keep their significance, we get to argue over the polls, and television gets a three to four week college FB extravaganza!

HbgFrank – I think you are correct with this and I welcome it.

yes WVU benefited from UK missing open threes and such, but I’ve watched UK numerous games and they are a horrendous shooting bunch. It was no luck of the draw, they just can’t shoot. Any team would be smart to pack it in against UK, and I really think it was no surprise that WVU beat UK. They were the better team and better coached bunch, not the luckier team. I hate them, but I have to give them credit. It’s not a coincidence that UK lost to the first team that they can’t out-athlete.

yes WVU benefited from UK missing open threes and such, but I’ve watched UK numerous games and they are a horrendous shooting bunch. It was no luck of the draw, they just can’t shoot. Any team would be smart to pack it in against UK, and I really think it was no surprise that WVU beat UK. They were the better team and better coached bunch, not the luckier team. I hate them, but I have to give them credit. It’s not a coincidence that UK lost to the first team they played in the tourney that they can’t out-athlete.

Ontario:

You conveniently forgot to mention the fact ath WVU didn’t make a two point basket until there were 18 minutes in the game. The first 10 field goals from WVU were threes. 10 threes is a lot for a whole game, let alone the first 22 minutes of the game.

Secondly, Joe Mazzula scored a CAREER high 17 points and hit his first three pointer since December 2008 in this game. That isn’t luck? Do you like seeing Nasir Robinson pull up for three? WVU fans probably think the same thing when Mazzula lets it fly. WVU is an okay team, but they were definitely fortunate on Saturday night.

I tend to be one that favors the Dixon approach of bringing in coachable kids that play a hard nosed defensive/rebounding system– cross-train the heck out of them– and create a tenured group that has the skill set to make a deep run every few years. My only complaint over the years is that we could bring in better FT shooters to help supplement this style.

As opposed to the quick fix, Calipari style of bringing in short term NBA-caliber studs that come and go, and win/lose based on their individual skills beating out the individual skills on the other team.

However, there are few things that we can take from WVU’s run that can feed debate and discussion…

1) Realistically, how much different is Huggie Bears system than Dixons? For the most part, they are similar…although Huggie bear tends to bring in Year 1 talent that (on paper) is higher ranked to JD’s Year 1 talent. Thus, the system of hard nosed D-fense, rebounding, and timely offense, not suprisingly, can get you to the FF. A guy named Izzo has been doing it too at MSU….so it’s not like JD is working with a losing system or a system that is not shown a track history of success.

2) Call it NBA caliber or what not, but how important is it to have a game-changing offensive talent in March? I like to use game changer because it translates more to the individual’s ability than their NBA stock value. Butler is a game changer. Some of those shots were unreal…sickening, actually. One game, in every tourney run, our team is going to require someone to do what Butler did….rescue the team in an offensive funk with game changing offensive. Do we have a guy like that on our team? Maybe, but you saw that from Butler (insert Crawford from Xavier too)… Until we have one that can take over, we are probably going to have a tough time with one of the tourney games that is in the S16/E8 area. Last year, we had those same stretches. Guess who bailed us out? Sam I am and Blair. Hence, there is a bit of truth, IMHO, to needing someone with the ability to be a game changer on the offensive end.

3) Luck. You can say all you want, but this is HUGE in March. Luck for many reasons…shots, matchups, freak offensive stats like FT% or role players shoring outlandishly, lower seeds knocking off higher seeds in their “one shining moment” in the S16…then landing back to reality. I mean come one…have you EVER seen so many double digit seeds advance? I don’t want to take away from Izzo, but I’ve never seen a coach land better S16 & E8 games that are winnable than him. Give him credit, they have to win them…but COME ON! Northern Iowa plays the game of their life against Kansas, and stinks it up against Izzo. Unreal. We have to be lucky, and for the most part, Pitt is unlucky or a wash in this karma category as long as I’ve rooted for them. The best chance we have to making the FF was last year, and we ran into a team that had proven it could beat us on a statistically freakish offensive outing…