The game is ESPN3.com only as far as watching it goes at 7pm. Which of course blows. Since I don’t trust the stream to go cleanly, no liveblog. Feel free to comment below. Try to keep some level of control.
I will be Tweeting during the game if you care to follow.
Apparently the media meeting had Coach Graham focusing on the expectations of the players off-the-field.
“I guarantee you guys that don’t meet the standard for the Pitt way, they will not cross that white line. I don’t care how good they are. I don’t care if it’s (starting running back) Ray Graham. I don’t care if it’s (starting quarterback) Tino Sunseri.”
Graham said “the Pitt way is not negotiable.”
“We want to win in the classroom. We want to win off the field. We want to win in the community. If any of those areas are sub-standard, I believe it affects your play on the field.”
Graham said winning the national championship is one of five goals he set for his players, but at the top of the list is to “develop championship fathers and husbands and citizens.”
Graham said he will expect players to look him in the eye during meetings, come prepared to take notes, sit without slouching, wear hats properly, tuck in their shirts and take off their earrings and bandanas inside the practice facility.
Graham said he wore an earring in college, but his ban represents “a physical symbol that this isn’t about you, it’s about team.”
The earrings and bandanas stuff has always struck me as a cosmetic (no pun intended) thing of little consequence, but at least the restriction only applies to going to the practice facility and stadium. I just don’t see much harm in those personal appearance options. So, I’m kind of meh on that. (Yes, I wore an earring in college and up into my early 30s.) (more…)
Simply because the home-and-home games with the Bulls left on the schedule are the easiest. This team hasn’t missed on that all season, and they can’t afford to now. The other four games on the road at St. John’s and Louisville and at home against WVU and ‘Nova are all toss-ups in my mind. Pitt may be favored in them, but those are all going to be tough games.
The Tournament is getting closer and Pitt is looking better and better for a #1 seed (possibly even the overall No. 1).
The Panthers know how important a No. 1 seed is for NCAA tournament success. They advanced to the Elite Eight two years ago when seeded No. 1 in the East Region and came tantalizingly close to the Final Four before losing to Villanova.
“I think it’s very important,” senior forward Gilbert Brown said. “Having that No. 1 seed brings a confidence and swagger, but it also makes you more focused because everyone is out to get you. Everyone is coming for us and bringing their best game. If we can maintain the way we’re playing we’ll get it, and it will definitely benefit us in the long run.”
Pitt has some tough remaining games on the schedule, but if the Panthers can finish the regular season 4-2 or better they will likely earn a No. 1 seed. The Big East regular-season champion has earned one of the four No. 1 seeds the past two seasons and in three of the past five.
I really don’t see the team that wins the Big East regular season being snubbed for a No. 1 seed. It’s been the toughest conference all season, so it would be hard for the selection committee to say that the best team in the best conference is unworthy of a No. 1 seed.
It still holds up, for violent fun.
Spring football practice kicks off in about a month. Coach Todd Graham is starting the media rounds anew. As Mendy Nestor in the Pitt Athletic department was kind enough to let us know this morning.
Coach Graham is meeting with the media today. Every time I listen to him talk I get fired up.
She also attached a camera-phone shot of the meeting.
So, we know a rash of stories on Coach Graham and Pitt football will be in the pipeline.
It’s an argument we have heard since the Big East expanded to 18 teams: Is the conference too big and too hard? When you see the rankings and the Big East has 7 teams in the top 17 spots in the AP poll, you know the conference is really good. So why is it a bad thing for the Big East to be the most challenging and providing great games, night in and night out?
Answer: The NCAA Tournament. As is the unfortunate side-effect of the NCAA Tournament’s popularity and casual fans not paying attention until about now, what the Big East does in the NCAA Tournament is at issue.
There’s a rhythm to certain things. Especially in the media and debating polls. After the Number One team loses.
In a situation like this weekend where Ohio State lost a close one at Wisconsin — where no road team wins. You get the arguments that the No. 1 team, maybe shouldn’t fall just because they lost. Especially when you look at where and how they lost. You have the debate about the 2 and 3 teams. Maybe the No. 4 team, but that seems too far a reach. Especially since it would mean dropping the No. 1 team all the way to No. 4.
In particular with Pitt, and the initial reaction to the win on Saturday. Everyone acknowledges that it was a great win for Pitt. A tough road win, against a top-10 team in the toughest conference. Done without Pitt’s leading scorer. But the debate kind of leaves Pitt out of the discussion, for vague reasons. Whether it is tired, inaccurate claim that Pitt lacks sufficient offense, or another team is just playing so much better than everyone else right now (Texas), or another is has the most NBA-potential talent and depth (Kansas), or that the other has the best NBA prospect (Ohio State).
Woke up this morning feeling good. This, despite staying up way too long trying to let the alcohol work its way out of my system and trying to come down from the game. Big wins do that. They carry over and just make things better.
I was thinking about how Villanova out rebounded Pitt. The key was not that Nova was so good inside — outside of Yarou. It was that the inside guys for Nova, weren’t trying to corral it right away. They were playing tip-drill. Bounce it around, keep it out of Pitt’s hands, and get it outside where there was space.
Aside from the rebounding, Pitt just did a little more a little better than Villanova. Pitt shot a little better than Villanova overall. They got to the free throw line more than Nova. They turned the ball over less. They passed the ball better.
Part of me wants to put this loss on some karmic payback for Nova douchebaggary and the whole stupidity over Pitt alumni in Philly having a pregame event and watching the game in a “Villanova bar.”
That, however, is unfair to the Pitt players and the effort they put forth to knock off the Wildcats 57-54. And thus endeth a distorted winning streak at one of two spots where Villanova plays home games
It wasn’t always there, but Pitt was the better team. More complete. More confident. More composed. Definitely more mature. It was one of those games where all those frustrating, hard to define, unquantifiable intangibles
And no one had more of it tonight than Nasir Robinson.
This is what we’ve been waiting all week, and all day to see. Some unexpected extra hate towards Villanova with some naivete, foolishness and plain stupidity over where Pitt alum in Philly should watch the game.
Nova has put the game in the Pavilion. No doubt, it will be repeated ad nauseum that Pitt is winless there in the last six visits dating back to 1993. I guess it’s worth noting that before that, Pitt was 4-3 there.
Ashton Gibbs is still out for the game, at last check. Corey Stokes for Villanova is also reportedly out, as his turf toe has not gotten any better.
So just getting things done most of the morning, to give the day over to basketball. All leading up to tonight. And of course, there will be a liveblog tonight.
It is hard to see it from the way they are presenting this game, but Pitt is the underdog in this game. It’s 2.5 to 3 points, but it makes sense. Nova at home. Despite the loss at Rutgers, they are the #9 team. Pitt has Ashton Gibbs out. Corey Stokes is likely out for the Wildcats.
The really good news. Despite this being the College GameDay game of the night, no Dick Vitale. It will be Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas (Bill Raftery is doing the Ky-Vandy game on CBS).
Okay, there’s a bunch of stuff I haven’t linked to from yesterday and today. Still waiting for something else. It’s been a strange few days in the offline world.
Villanova wants to increase the energy at the Pavilion by retiring Randy Foye’s jersey on Saturday morning during the Gameday telecast. There’s an Allan Ray eyeball joke rolling around, but I’m not going near it.
Coach Dixon received his Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year award earlier in the week. He genuflected nonsensically towards the popular pro teams.
A Pirates fan since he was a child, Dixon credited the Steelers and Penguins with helping inspire him as a coach.
“I thank the Rooneys, I thank [Penguins president] David Morehouse and the Penguins for giving us a great example for what to be like as we try to build our program to be champions like the Steelers and the Penguins,” Dixon said.
Uh, sure.
In case you somehow missed it, Khem Birch, part of Pitt’s 2011 recruiting class was named a McDonald’s All-American. The Canadian native who plays in Massachusetts was placed on the West squad.
From ESPN.com’s evaluation of each player:
Biancardi’s breakdown: He is a terrific, young athlete and tremendous shot-blocker. Defensively, Birch can cover a lot of ground and is one of the few prospects who can influence the game without leaving the paint.
Telep’s take: The 2010 LeBron James Academy was the setting, and Derrick Favors comparisons were ringing out from the crowd. Months later, Birch would switch from the class of 2012 back into the 2011 class. He played beat the buzzer, then inked with Pittsburgh giving Jamie Dixon his highest-rated recruit ever as Panthers head coach.
If Coach Dixon can get a few more in the next few years, there is a 20% chance that pundits will stop talking about how Pitt doesn’t recruit big name, top recruits.
In a follow-up to the post earlier today regarding the booting of Pitt’s Philly chapter from the original pre-game and gamewatch site, we have a comment from the President of the Greater Philadelphia Pitt Club.
I am reprinting it here, because it deserves a full post on its own, so it can’t be missed.
I am awaiting word from one of the Philly alumni organizers about what happened/their side of things, so if you know Chad Heffner or what happened shoot me an e-mail to update.
As it stands, now, the event was forced to scramble at the last minute and is at a Fox & Hound in King of Prussia. Sorry guys.
In the meantime, let’s review based on what we do know.
Pitt’s Philly Alumni group wanted to have a pre-game party for the Pitt-Nova game this Saturday night. The usual approach is to try and have it relatively near the location so those with tickets can go to the game and the rest end up staying for watching the game with fellow Pitt grads. If you look at the form the Philly alumni group (PDF) offered, it was clear that there was primarily a pre-game event with what would have been an impromptu gamewatch for those without tickets. There was no drink special for the group beyond the voucher (as part of the cost of the pre-game buffet). The event was listed as only running until 9pm.
This is why bars do this. They get more people staying during the game drinking.
That’s right spring practice begins in mid-March. March 17 to be exact, and culminates with the Blue-Gold Scrimmage on April 16. As usual, I will bitch about how I wish they would be like some of the other schools and not start the practices until the end of March, and have the Spring game late in April. I really will bitch, if the weather is anything approaching the misery of last spring’s scrimmage.
More in a moment, the bigger news is that Coach Todd Graham (I may not get used to typing that until the end of spring, at the earliest) has made his final hire on the staff.
Powered by WordPress © PittBlather.com
