Odds were if you were going to the Pete tonight, it was to see Pitt take on Seton Hall. But as an added bonus, New football Head Coach Todd Graham will be on hand.

Hope Coach Jamie Dixon talks to his team about the Marquette-Louisville game today. Marquette up by 17 with 5:44 left and lost by one. It was an inspired comeback by Louisville at home, and Preston Knowles went off in the final five minutes. But Marquette made it possible. Rather than trying to keep attacking and run their offense, they tried to run a four-corners offense and then chuck up a shot with 2 seconds left. Something that just shouldn’t be done in the shot-clock era — and especially when you don’t have the shooters or poise. I was pissed at Marquette for that stupidity, and I didn’t care who won.

Liveblog tonight as you would expect.

The dominating storylines coming into this game are all about Seton Hall, not Pitt. Jeremy Hazell is back from a broken hand and being shot. A fearless (and occasionally dumb) shooter. He will never stop firing. Pitt is aware, but has shut him down the last couple of times they have faced him.

Pitt finds a way to make Hazell look normal. The No. 7 all-time leading scorer at Seton Hall with 1,884 points, Hazell has reached double figures in 67 of his past 71 games, but half of those single-digit efforts came against Pitt.

• In two games against Pitt last season, he averaged 5.5 points and went 1 for 7 from the field and 0 for 5 from 3-point range, with two points in the Panthers’ 83-58 victory at the Pete.

Hazell’s return has generated some ridiculous hyperbole regarding Seton Hall making noise in Big East. Naturally the only quite to turn to, Rick Pitino.

But with Hazell back, the rest of the league is beginning to think that’s more likely than most imagined as late as the beginning of this week.

Because most of the opposing coaches in the league know how good Seton Hall should have been had Hazell not missed 13 games.

“Right now, Seton Hall would probably be with one or two losses — maybe three max with Hazell,” Pitino said. “He was averaging 24 points a game, shooting 50 percent. He’s a lethal weapon. They go 0-for-17 (from 3-point range) against Syracuse in the first half (last week) and only down one at halftime.

“Put Jeremy Hazell in there, and it’s a different ball game. … They’re going to be a team that can beat anyone on any given night now that he’s back.”

Seton hall is 8-9. I get that Hazell is a big part of the hall’s offense, but Seton Hall already lost a game before he got hurt. Pitino does not seriously believe that Hazell was the difference in 6 or 7 other losses. This is pure spin to excuse the lousy start his best friend’s son and one of his former assistants being in charge of Seton Hall.

Another focus is on Aliquippa’s Herb Pope. The guy is still lucky to be alive. Coach Dixon always recruited the kid and has tried to be there, even when he has gone elsewhere.

“Herb and I go way back,” Dixon said. “We’re very close. I root for him.”

So many times after Maggie’s death, Dixon has been reminded how sudden heart problems can take lives of flourishing young people. He is buoyed when he hears of a success story like Pope’s.

“It just keeps coming up wherever I seem to go as I get older,” Dixon said. “It strikes at any time. We know how quickly things can change. I’m just glad he was there at a practice. They had their medical personnel close by and they were able to get to him quickly. As we all know, that’s so important and key to survival.”

Pope said he has a special relationship with Dixon.

“I have a lot of respect for coach Dixon,” Pope said. “He was one of the first people at the hospital when I was shot, and I called him when his sister died. We have a special bond. We have much respect for each other. When other people wrote me off, he never did. He’s a first-class guy.”

With all the off-the-court distractions, academic issues, and some of Pope’s boorish on-the-court actions (both in HS and college); it has long been believed that Pitt dodged a bullet by never having him suit up for the team. And the question has always been why Dixon has continued to reach out to the kid.

I guess it really is a simple answer. Coach Dixon knows Pope, cares about him and believes in him. I don’t think he would have worked out well for Pitt, based on all the other things, but I wonder if Pope might be better in so many ways if Dixon had been his coach.

In looking at the game, even Seton Hall bloggers aren’t optimistic. One NJ writer sees Seton Hall having a chance if they can make Pitt shoot 3s since Pitt has shot only 39.4% on the season from there, and don’t take a ton of them. Of course, in 3 of the past 4 games, Pitt shot 45% or better. That and part of the reason for a low number of 3s is that Pitt tends to wait until they have a really good look.