Pitt is off for the week. Taking those darn finals. Something about responsibility, education and schooling. I don’t know, seems odd.

In a previous post, I mentioned how the RPI and SOS numbers for Pitt’s non-con were rather bad. That plays a role in Pitt not being ranked. The other part of why Pitt isn’t getting ranked. Not only didn’t Pitt start the season ranked, last year happened (Insider subs.).

That being said, I can’t help feeling that Pitt, as so often happens with early-season rankings, is to some extent paying for the mistakes that we the voters committed all by ourselves in the preseason. Coming off a 5-13 season in the Big East, the Panthers were nowhere to be found in any of the various preseason top 25s for 2012-13. Throw in the fact that Dixon’s team has played only one ranked opponent to this point — they lost to Michigan 67-62 in Madison Square Garden on Thanksgiving eve — and you have a situation where our preconceived preseason notions with regard to Pitt have been more or less frozen in place.

I believe that’s a mistake. The Panthers are better than most observers expected in the preseason, and data point No. 1 here is losing by only five on a neutral floor to a team as good as the Wolverines.

That’s John Gasaway, most known for his work with Ken Pomeroy on the Basketball Prospectus. He’s very good with advanced basketball stats.

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So it appears that the Big East may go out in one giant clusterf**k.

The presidents of the Big East’s seven Catholic, non-Football Bowl Subdivision schools are expected to decide on their future in the Big East in the coming days, and it “would be an upset” if they remained in the league, sources told ESPN.

The seven schools — DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova — are “close to a consensus on what they want to do next,” a source said Wednesday.

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Sources said Wednesday it’s becoming “more likely” the basketball schools will break away from the league’s football members.

It’s unknown whether they would attempt to dissolve the league or leave the league as a group. The league can be dissolved in a vote of the league members by a two-thirds majority, according to Big East bylaws. With all of the Big East’s recent defections, there are only 10 members (the seven non-FBS schools, plus Cincinnati, UConn and South Florida) that can vote on the league dissolving.

A source told ESPN on Wednesday that Temple, as a football-only member, has voting rights but can’t vote on dissolution of the league. With Temple unable to vote, that gives the seven basketball schools enough votes to dissolve the league.

Sources said there are multiple legal entanglements that make the voting situation “complex.”

And if they vote to dissolve the lawsuits that follow will be epic. Most likely including ones from Pitt and Syracuse over exit fees already paid and to be paid.

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