The AC in our house went last night. It’s a balmy 84 in the house at the moment. I’d be doing this in just my boxers but the kids have been traumatized enough by my parenting to this point.

In case you have ever forgotten that as much as the Big East is a basketball conference, the ACC is still a basketball first conference. The ACC Sports Journal has been bothered by the overall mediocrity (or worse) of the ACC since they expanded. Yes, the conference can claim 3 national titles (2 for UNC, 1 for Duke) since expansion but the overall depth of the conference has been rather meh.

Even with back-to-back national champions, the ACC’s NCAA tournament winning percentage has fallen to 59.67 percent; the Big East is now essentially even with the ACC in that category, with a 59.34 winning percentage during that time span. The ACC’s average seed has dropped to 5.21, while the Big East’s has risen to 4.6. And the two leagues have gotten teams into the tournament at an identical 46-percent rate.

Furthermore, just three ACC teams have advanced to the Final Four over the last five years, while four Big East teams have turned the trick. True, the ACC holds a 2-0 edge in national championships. But consider this: Only seven ACC teams – and only one (2006 Boston College) not named North Carolina or Duke – have made it as far as the Sweet 16 over the last four seasons. A whopping 16 Big East teams have advanced that far.

In fact, if you take UNC and Duke out of the mix, the ACC’s post-expansion tournament record is an unsightly 12-18. That’s Atlantic 10 or Mountain West territory.

Interestingly, they do not put the blame on the newcomers.

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I admit to being surprised by the new ACC TV deal that has apparently went down.

The back-and-forth bidding, which reached its final stages last week at the league’s spring meetings in Amelia Island, Fla., drove up ESPN’s rights fee from initial projections of about $120 million a year to $155 million, sources said, providing the ACC with more than double the revenue it was receiving from its previous football and basketball contracts.

ESPN’s increase was in response to an unexpectedly strong pursuit by Fox Sports and sources familiar with the negotiations say the bidding was neck-and-neck last week.

The ACC broke from its spring meetings without announcing a new deal, and the conference said a formal contract had not been finalized. But industry sources pegged a pending deal with ESPN at $1.86 billion over 12 years .

That annual figure of $155 million dwarfs the average of $67 million the league was getting from its previous media deals…

I’ve been thinking about it for the last 24 hours because there’s a lot to it.

One of the things I noted is that like the Big East deal with ESPN, it is all encompassing. In other words it appears to give up all rights including digital and mobile platform. That’s a significant difference from the SEC and Big 10 deals with ESPN that allows those conferences greater control over other and future revenue streams.

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It never ends well with pasty white people, tailgating, dancing and a video camera. The good folks at Black Heart, Gold Pants have the Nit fans, um, unironically rocking out to what I think is Miley Cyrus or some other bubblegum pop. The true embarrassment: the flags in the background. A confederate flag? Really?

Our friends at Marquette are celebrating being named the top Catholic party school by Playboy. Suck on that Notre Dame, Boston College and even Duquesne.

And closer to us, the Big East is taking action with unpaid consultant Paul Tagliabue? What?

The official party line is that Tagliabue will help assess the league’s strengths and weaknesses and help in negotiating future TV and other media rights deals.

TNIAMM has a list of possible ideas Tags may float. To which I’ll add the idea of moving WVU to Maryland for a larger TV market.

In a way he is perfect for working with the Big East. A Georgetown grad from the NFL trying to help in a college football issue. How can this not fail?

But there could be some other action. There has been speculation that the Big East is going after Maryland, and there has even been talk that it could send out an olive branch to see if Boston College would come back. Throw in Central Florida as a partner in that state with South Florida, add that to a core Northeast group centered around Rutgers, Pitt, Syracuse, Connecticut, and West Virginia, and you might have something.

Any inclusion of Atlantic Coast Conference schools probably would happen only if a league such as the Southeastern Conference dipped in. If the ACC lost schools such as Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, or Miami, Maryland and BC might be more inclined to look for safe haven in the Northeast.

Yesterday, SEC commissioner Mike Slive said his league would be proactive.

Critics suggest that the Big East is too big as a basketball league at 16 teams. What about 20?

“Who is to say we couldn’t go to 20 teams in basketball, but not have one 20-team league, but a league with pods of four or five teams?’’ said Marinatto. “You have to think strategic alliances — what strategic alliances could we create?

…

“We need a new way of thinking. Strategic thinking. We need to be proactive rather than reactive, and develop our assets. Paul’s theory is, ‘Think long-term, think over the horizon.’ ‘Out-of-the-box thinking,’ Jim is always saying to me, ‘You have to think differently.’

“So hopefully Paul is going to help us think differently.’’

Right. Because after the Big East and ACC would theoretically get raided, teams from the ACC would line-up for an unstable hybrid conference that has gotten less money in TV contracts. The Big East football teams would have no interest in going to the ACC.

/weeps into keyboard.

I’m sure there has been lots of arguing, angsting and general discontent between bowls, schools and conferences. But it sure seems that this yar it is a lot more public.

The Big 12 is trying to help Mizzou which has finished 8-4. Apparently the Tigers don’t have the best reputation for traveling in the conference (gee, that seems familiar). So that means the Tigers appear poised to fall to the Texas Bowl and being skipped by the Independence and Insight Bowls for 6-6 Texas A&M and Iowa State.

“This isn’t over,” Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe said Wednesday afternoon in a telephone interview with The Kansas City Star.

“I know (Missouri athletic director) Mike Alden and the Missouri folks have made a tremendous case to all the bowls they might be selected to,” Beebe said. “I don’t know that Missouri could do a better job than they are doing.”

And, Beebe added, he shares the concern of MU officials that the Tigers might be passed over for the Insight Bowl bid by a 6-6 Iowa State team.

“I am concerned about a bowl that would select a team that has two less wins and was beaten by that team head to head.”

Unfortunately, that is just the scenario Missouri officials have come to fear.

Of course, that is nothing compared to the boiled over frustration between the Gator Bowl and the ACC. We all know that this is the last year for the Gator Bowl and the Big East and ACC. The Gator has been stymied in multiple years at landing Notre Dame. Now they want FSU for Bowden’s last game. This in no small part because FSU went around the ACC offices and contacted the Gator directly about it. The ACC would rather send FSU to Orlando for the Champs Bowl.

Here’s where it gets problematic. Like most conferences the ACC has the pecking order where bowls can’t take a team that is more than 2 wins better than a higher team in the conference records. The Gator gets 3d pick. The Orange Bowl obviously takes the winner of the ACC Championship. The Chik-Fil-A picks next and likely will take Virginia Tech (6-2). So, for the Gator to take FSU (4-4), it would appear that they need GT (7-1) to beat Clemson (6-2) to be able to snag FSU. Otherwise GT would have to be taken.

Except that the Gator Bowl claims they have a different contract that allows them more flexibility to skip taking the loser of the ACC Championship. And since the Gator doesn’t have to play nice any longer they are threatening legal action.

“We have sat back so many times and taken it from the ACC,” [Gator Bowl executive director Rick] Catlett said, ” To have [ACC Commissioner John Swofford] trying to go around a contract is unacceptable.”

Of course, Swofford has to answer to the rest of the ACC and considering how many times he’s bent over in so many positions to take it from FSU for football, the rest of the members are probably not going to let him waive the rules to accommodate the Bowden farewell (and give FSU more money and exposure) at other members’ expenses.

Not sure who I want to fail more. The ACC of course, raided the Big East in no small part to benefit FSU. The ACC commish is a duplicitous dick so seeing him and his schools screwed once more would be nice.

On the other hand, the Gator Bowl people suck. They have acted like being associated with the Big East is a chore from the beginning, and made no secret that they would have screwed the conference this year to take a 7-5 ND team — if the Irish had won 1 of their final 2 games. They seem determined to take WVU regardless of tomorrow’s games. And Pitt could very well end up going to Birmingham.

Add in the sense of entitlement from FSU and Bowden, and it almost tips things in favor of the ACC.

I don’t know. I guess I’m hoping that it ends up in a lawsuit and costs both some extra money, time, and bad publicity.

Offline world interfered yesterday and all morning.

Right now it is time for the first cultural exchange of the 2009 football season. James of Yet Another NC State Sports Blog contacted me about swapping questions. You can find my responses to his questions here. This is what he had to say in response to my queries.

1. Pitt fans and local media are not sure about this Pitt team, given the competition faced. NC State seems even harder to get a sense of where they rank given the — let’s be honest — egg they laid against the Gamecocks to open the season and then smacking around a couple 1-AA patsies. So, what is it about this team that should make Pitt nervous?

The very fact that they’re such an unknown commodity. I do want to address the South Carolina game for a second…I know it wasn’t a pretty game with a lot of offense, but I think folks in Raleigh underestimated how good South Carolina was defensively, and were pleasantly surprised at how well State played defensively. The theme I’ve heard constantly about that game was how poor job both offenses executed…but let’s give a little credit to both defenses for taking away what the opposition hoped to run. And as we saw last night, South Carolina is a capable football team, so I think that SC loss will look better with time, for both teams.

Getting back to your question, I think it’s the return of our starting left tackle, Jake Vermiglio, to the lineup. He left the SC game early on with a calf injury and hasn’t played since, but he was absent on the injury report released yesterday and should play this weekend. His return should give Russell Wilson better protection and allow him a split second more time to let the passing plays develop down field.

2. Is the NC State offense Russell Wilson and 10 other guys? Does the Wolfpack have a guy that can run the ball, or are the O-line injuries wreaking havoc with the running game?

Well, it’s not much more than him. But as I mentioned above, Vermiglio’s return should help improve the line play, meaning Toney Baker may be more effective than he was in the SC game. Baker was playing in his first game in nearly two years following two knee surgeries, and I think he’s knocked off almost all the rust over these last three games. There’s a certain level of trust a player has to regain in their surgically repaired knee before he can regain the form he once had…I think Toney’s on the verge of being there. Establishing the run game against Pitt’s defensive front will be tough but necessary, so the O-line and Baker have to step up if State is going to be effective offensively.

3. The secondary for NC State is young and injured. How does the D-line look and can they generate the pressure to mask the secondary? Or am I doubting the secondary too much?

I think the secondary is young but talented. You never like to trust your last line of defense to a group of freshmen and sophomores, but I think these kids are good enough to compete with just about every team on the schedule. I mentioned getting an o-lineman back from the injured ranks — starting safety Clem Johnson is back off the injury report, as well, giving State some experience and leadership in the defensive backfield they were missing in his absence. I think the secondary will be tested but should play well.

The front four of State is the strong suit of the defense. Willie Young is strong and athletic at one end and Shea McKeen is disruptive at the other end spot. Expect to see a constant rotation at these spots, with Michael Lemon and Audi Augustine getting a lot of snaps. There’s not much drop-off in talent with these two (Lemon once played at Georgia) and O’Brien will try to keep all four fresh throughout the game. The tackles are solid, as well, with Alan-Michael Cash anchoring the group. In looking at Pitt’s offensive line, they look capable of handling State’s front four but don’t be surprised if Mike Archer dials up some zone blitzes to bring added pressure to Stull. He showed several blitz packages against our FCS opponents and should use some against Pitt, as well.

4. When was the last time NC State beat a Big East team? (Keep in mind that UConn was not a BE football team in 2003.) What does the Big East have on NC State?

You would have to make me do some research, wouldn’t you…unless I missed one somewhere, I think our last wins against the Big East came in ’97 and ’98 when we stunned Donovan McNabb’s Syracuse Orangemen two years in a row. (I actually covered that overtime win at the Carrier Dome for the school paper as a sophomore…probably my best memory as a young sports writer.)

The short answer is: I don’t know. We stood a great shot to beat Rutgers last year in the PapaJohns.com bowl and were leading by 11 at the half, but State fans all knew when Russell Wilson left with an injury and we had to rely on our two backup quarterbacks to hang on for dear life, the game was already lost. As close in proximity as our two conferences are, we don’t play a ton of Big East opponents. It seems like a natural fit, and I think Tom O’Brien — based on his comments regarding recruiting in the Pennsylvania area earlier this wekk — would love to play some more Big East opponents.

5. With year 3 of the Tom O’Brien era underway, how would you describe expectations at this point?

I would use a very commonly heard phrase among State fans — “Cautiously Optimistic.” I think some media publications went a little far in their preseason expectations for State based on the solid finish to last season to become bowl eligible. They started picking State to win the Atlantic division, had Russell Wilson in their preseason P.O.Y. discussions and predicted 10 wins. The truth of the matter is that this team is still lacking depth at critical positions and given our injury woes in the last three years, we’re not to the point where we can lose 5-10 starters over the course of a season and not have a drop-off in production.

Before the season I looked at our out-of-conference schedule and predicted a 3-1 mark, and predicted a 5-3 mark in-conference for a total record of 8-4. Losing that South Carolina game hurt our team’s perception nationally, and it stings to hear folks on the outside discount this team, but in the long run it might benefit this team to have lower expectations while O’Brien continues his rebuilding project. He’s not a fly-by-night architect, by any means…he builds teams slowly and methodically. I could see it taking all the way until year five before we get a true read on O’Brien’s potential as a head coach here. He’s got a tough job recruiting in-state against Butch Davis, but he’s beaten him twice since both coaches have taken over and that should help locally.

This is weird. Tom O’Brien’s BC teams are still rather familiar to me. It also creates a sense of confidence because Pitt owned BC in the years leading up to their departure from the Big East. I’m simplifying, but most of the time it was simply that O’Brien’s BC teams were so devoted to stopping the run that they struggled mightily when it came time for Pitt and a strong passing game.

That’s no longer the case for Pitt, which is a run-first team now. O’Brien left BC for NC State and he has not deviated from his approach. Focus on the lines and look to run. So, there will be a lot of similarities to the way both coaches want to have the game go.

What is different for an O’Brien team is the presence of Russell Wilson at QB. An athletic dual-threat QB that can run with the ball. This year, Wilson has run a lot less. Whether it is a conscious effort by Wilson and the coaching staff to keep him from getting hurt or to be a more traditional QB is not clear. Wilson also does not throw interceptions. Something that makes a coach drool.

The NC St. offensive line, though, has had trouble. Trouble staying healthy. The offensive line will go to its 4th different starting group in game four.

Heading into Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh, the status of left tackle Jake Vermiglio (lower leg), safety Clem Johnson (thigh) and corner Rashard Smith, who was on crutches last Saturday with an ankle injury, are still uncertain and expect to be updated in Thursday’s injury report.

“We really haven’t gotten the continuity at the two most important positions on our team, especially the last two weeks,” said O’Brien. “The only thing we have gained is we’ve gotten some young guys in the football game, which is down the road stuff, but for immediately getting better as a football team, with your fourth different offensive line, and your fourth different secondary, that’s not a good situation to be in.”

The left side of the offensive line is where the problems have been. Vermiglio injured his calf in the season opener against South Carolina, and that forced Julian Williams to slide over from guard. Williams, who had the flu last week, is back and is listed as the starter at left guard on the depth chart for Pitt. When Williams caught the flu last week, Andrew Wallace became the third player this season to start at left tackle.

Given how little Pitt likes to rotate players on the O-line, I can’t begin to imagine Coach Wannstedt’s reaction if he was dealing with that.

Additionally, just as they get one WR, Donald Bowens, back from injury, they lose Owen Spencer (concussion). Oh, and Jamelle Eugene their second leading rusher from last year (2008 leading rusher Andre Brown was a senior), has missed the last two games.

On defense, NC State will offer Pitt great temptation to throw. The Wolfpack secondary is both young and injured.

Meanwhile, N.C. State’s secondary is inexperienced and battling injuries. Freshman starting cornerback Rashard Smith left Saturday’s game with a sprained ankle in the first half.

Another freshman, Brandan Bishop, started at free safety because senior Clem Johnson had a thigh injury. N.C. State’s other starting safety, Earl Wolff, is a redshirt freshman.

“We just played Gardner-Webb and we just played Murray State,” Wolff said. “Pittsburgh is a little better team, so we have to practice better and practice harder.”

They did get back another starting cornerback in DeAndre Morgan from an ankle sprain.

Now, both teams are expecting old-school football. The players say the things you expect — even if they seem to be focusing on the wrong guys.

The prospect of meeting a Pittsburgh team that’s expected to try to overpower N.C. State on Saturday brought a twinkle to middle linebacker Ray Michel’s eye.

“Taking on the big, 260-pound fullback (Henry Hynoski) is something I’m looking forward to,” said Michel, who’s tied for the Wolfpack’s team lead with 22 tackles.

Delighting in an opportunity to play “old-school football,” N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien also was revved up during his weekly news conference Monday about Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. game with Pittsburgh at Carter-Finley Stadium.

Michel is about 30 pounds lighter than Hyno. Hey, if you want to knock heads with the guy who’s doing a lot of blocking, great. Hopefully while he’s doing that, Dion Lewis will be scooting right past.

I’m still just trying to picture the stoic and occasionally somnambulistic O’Brien  “revved up.” Last time I saw that, was when he was whining about the treatment of his team by opposing fans when BC was bolting the Big East.

If No. 11 beats No. 2, No. 3 beats No. 11 and UR beats No. 1, what does No. 3 equal?

Down go the Tar Heels!

Pitt was ranked No. 3 going into the week.

No. 2 UConn fell to Georgetown . Than, Pitt knocked off the Hoyas.

Now, just seconds ago, the final variable fell into place.  The team most pundits have already given the National Title, No. 1 North Carolina,  fell at home, to our good friends the BC Eagles, 85-78.

Fan House already has a take on the game.

How they did it was pretty simple: BC was on fire from behind the arc and clamped down the Heels defensively. The Eagles also fought on the offensive glass and kept UNC from getting into their deadly transition game. That fact caused the normally poised Tar Heels to take frustration shots and make frustration fouls which fed the deficit.

I don’t see how anyone can’t pick Pitt to be No. 1.

The Panther’s have never been ranked No. 1 , and it will be interesting to see how the team will handle the bulls eye.

Pitt’s next game is Sunday at home against St. John’s (who beat ND this weekend).  The Red Storm  seem to have a knack for upsetting the Panther’s when they least expect it. You can bet the Pete will be buzzing a week from today.

6:40: Family (huge Duke fans) from North Carolina are here for Christmas and I’ll be watching the game with them tonight. I am prepared to win or lose excessive amounts of money tonight depending on the outcome.

6:50: On PTI today, Tony Korheiser gave Pitt a 4% chance of winning and Michael Wilbon gave us at 25% chance. Jay Bilas says on SportsCenter that Duke is also built more for the postseason. It’s still December…

7:02: The team looked fired up in the pregame.

We have tip-off. Go Pitt.

7:05: The clocks at MSG are performing about as well as the Knicks have this year. Still waiting…

7:08: Finally we’re actually going to play. DeJuan Blair gets an early 2 on a nice move. Already we’re seeing the Duke screen plays at the top of the key lead to a wide open lane. Can’t expect Blair to switch on a pick to cover a quick guard. Duke is picking up the defense at about 3/4 court, much earlier than we’ve seen from any other team this year.

7:11: Maybe Blair should have dished it to Fields for the break, maybe he shouldn’t. Oh well. Four offensive turnovers already — ouch.

7:16: Sam Young with a horrible missed dunk.

I feel like on at least two occasions, Ronald Ramon was maybe going to shoot a 3 but was confused by the NBA three-point line.

Stuart makes a good point in the comments: “Duke seems to have a good plan with making Ramon bring it up – its taking Fields out of the game and causing Ramon to turn it over way too much.”

7:28: Gil Brown has knocked down a jumper and blocked a shot which lead to Blair basically getting tackled. Both teams look sloppy — Pitt more than Duke, though. Duke is up 3 with 9:20 left in the half.

7:35: Even more turnovers. Traveling, stepping out of bounds, offensive fouls, bad ball handling…

Dixon takes his first timeout of the game after Paulus nails a three.

7:41: Duke is just a team of tall white dudes who know how to flop. The refs are starting to lean towards Coach K and we haven’t scored in about 5 minutes. The double teams on Blair are starting to work and he’s getting trapped in the lost post without a place to pass it to. On defense it looks like Pitt has never seen a team use a screen and Duke has all kinds of open shots and drives. The Duke family members have taken over my basement.

13 turnovers and counting.

7:55: So that was a pretty ugly half of basketball. We have no leader on the floor and the entire team needs to collectively calm down. Not at all impressed with Ramon, which makes me realize how much better I felt with Antonio Graves last year. If Ramon isn’t even going to hit his three pointers (0-3) then why does he even play? Sam Young and Mike Cook need to both settle for less jump shots and drive more. Too much of the offense is happening very far from the basket, which is a combination of Duke’s good defense plus Pitt’s offense which is playing like crap. The “help defense” being played on Blair has been working very well for Duke and ‘m sure we’ll see plenty more in the 2nd half. Oh, and hitting some free throws would be nice too.

Halftime: Duke 34 — Pitt 22
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Tomorrow night’s game is the one we expected to see in the second round of last year’s NCAA tournament until VCU stormed the party. Duke easily took care of Albany, but so has everyone else. Likely one of those games Duke scheduled knowing they needed to get back into the swing of things after a break for finals. Thursday at MSG is a good test for both teams though.
Duke’s probably starting five will look something like this:

G — Greg Paulus: Shooting 50% from three point land. In his first two years it began to look like he might have made a mistake by playing basketball instead of football. As a junior, he’s starting to show his worth.

G — Gerald Henderson: Has been hot lately, putting up 10+ points in 8 of last 10 games

G — DeMarcus Nelson: Only senior on whole team and plays the leader role. Season high 23 points on Monday over Albany

F — Kyle Singler: 6-8, 220 lb and one of the best freshmen in the nation; tied for team lead in points per game and has team lead in rebounds per game (6.1)

F — Brian Zoubek: Over 7 feet tall, which is 5+ inches taller than DeJuan Blair who will likely be the defender on him. Should be a great test for Blair on a big time stage.

Similar to Pitt, Duke will only go about three deep from the bench. Both teams are very comfortable with the rotation they’re in at this point regarding how many guys see the court.

In case you hadn’t heard, Dick Vitale will be out of action until at least February. Once, many years ago, before he became a caricature, Vitale was one of the best color analysts for college basketball. I don’t like listening to him any longer, but I still wish him a speedy recovery. That means Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas will have the call that night.

If you were watching ESPN stations ast night and tonight, you know that the game is getting full ESPN promotion. Including the in-game discussion while other games were happening.
Both Pitt and Duke have game notes (PDFs).

I’m not particularly bothered that Pitt isn’t going too deep on the bench right now. I think Wanamaker is struggling a bit to pick up the increased level. It will come in time, and for the past couple of years, a complaint has been that Dixon hasn’t had a good rotation and thrown too many guys out there.

Ray Fittipaldo is right because he agrees with me about the importance of Levance Fields.

…The second thing was Levance Fields picking up his third foul four minutes into the second half. Pitt is a very ordinary team without Fields on the floor. As soon as the lead got trimmed to seven, Jamie Dixon put Fields back in the game, and the Panthers resumed control.

Pitt played without Sam Young for 10 minutes in the first half against Washington and still only trailed by three at halftime. The Panthers have played without DeJuan Blair for long stretches because of foul trouble and still been successful. It became obvious to me Saturday that the player they can least afford to lose is Fields.

Basic rule, when the reporter or columnist agrees with your viewpoint, he is obviously right.

Duke had no problem on Monday with the Great Danes of Albany. They too, seem to be looking forward to the next game.

“This game was good to keep us sharp and give us a little something going into Pitt,” swing-man Gerald Henderson said.

By the way, Duke has won 36 straight games in Decembers. Almost makes me wish the game had been in November when Pitt hasn’t lost under Dixon.

Duke may be without New Jersey Sophomore Forward Lance Thomas who missed the Monday game with a high ankle sprain. The Blue Devils don’t have that much depth in the front court, so that could be a big issue.

DeJuan Blair apparently has a chip on his shoulder about Duke.

Blair is motivated for a couple of reasons. He said the Blue Devils didn’t pursue him at all coming out of Schenley High School. Instead, they focused their efforts at forward on Singler, who was named the ACC Pre-season Rookie of the Year, and 6-6 Taylor King, another McDonald’s All-American.

“They didn’t recruit me at all,” Blair said. “That’s another reason why I’m going hard on them. They have an excellent program. I wish I could have been recruited by them. But they looked the other way and got who they wanted. Pitt got who they wanted.”

I’m going to choose to view this as a competitive player looking to use any perceived slight as extra motivation.

Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski thinks the focus should be on the older players.

Krzyzewski brings his Blue Devils (10-0) to the Garden Thursday for a showdown against Pitt (10-0), and both teams have terrific freshmen in Kyle Singler and Taylor King for Duke and DeJuan Blair for Pitt. But I’ll heed Coach K’s words and keep on an Duke senior DeMarcus Nelson, who’s finally healthy and Pitt’s junior Sam Young.

While the players are clearly juiced for the game (almost as much as we, the fans), and I prefer them to concede the excitement. I just hope they get their emotions reined in for the game itself.
Finally, Dixon gets a puffer by Ron Cook.

This is why college basketball is ignored until after conference play really gets underway. Poor planning. There are a slew of good games worth watching starting tonight through Saturday (except for Friday which is dead). Yet, it is overlooked as minor bowls are starting at the end of the week. A bunch of great games, all while the students are on break and people are scrambling to get ready for Christmas. Or some &*@&@!%#% holiday concert you have to go to for your kid — not that I’m projecting.
For ESPN, Thursday is the big primetime game — though the Georgetown-Memphis game on Saturday at noon is the bigger impact game.

Rivals.com puts this at the top of their 5 games worth watching.

Andy Katz in the ESPN.com Weekly Watch is excited for this game.

[What I'm looking forward to this week...] If Pitt vs. Duke on Thursday night (ESPN, 7 ET) at Madison Square Garden can live up my expectations as one of the best nonconference matchups of the season.

Pitt and Duke remain in the same spots in both polls.

Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News also makes this his game of the week.

Game to watch this week: When Duke and Pitt agreed to the game at Madison Square Garden that will be played Thursday at 7 p.m. EST, it appeared the game would involve two very good, Sweet 16-type teams. One word for that assumption: oops. The Blue Devils and Panthers have yet to lose, which means this should be the first of perhaps three games this week between undefeated teams. Unless Albany takes out the Blue Devils tonight; you never know. Both Pitt and Duke attack defensively and like to shoot from the perimeter. Both are led by freshman frontcourt players who have elevated their teammates: Duke with Kyle Singler, Pitt with DeJuan Blair. Neither team has great size, which eventually could be an obstacle to a national title, but it appears both will have something to say about who does win it all.

He also sings the praises of DeJuan Blair a little later in the post.

Say hello to: Pitt freshman bigman DeJuan Blair, who beat up the Oklahoma State Cowboys so badly it’ll be hard for him to fit into Santa’s “nice” column. Blair pounded OK State with 20 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks and only missed two of his 10 field goal attempts. In early October, my buddy Dave Telep of Scout.com called, and the first words out of his mouth were these: “I’ve got the Big East newcomer of the year for you.” He was pushing Blair, a wide-body with surprising quickness, length and explosion. I’d written extensively about Blair’s importance to this Pitt team during the summer, but never once thought of him for that honor. Shame on me. But where was Telep in August, when I had to make that selection?

To be fair, in a conference that had Jonny Flynn, Donte Green, Chris Wright, Corey Fisher, Corey Stokes and Dar Tucker in the freshman class; overlooking DeJuan Blair wasn’t nearly that obscene in August or even October.

People are noticing now. Everywhere.

Pittsburgh always seems to find players like DeJuan Blair — big, defensive forces who can dominate a game by rebounding. Blair might be the best of them all, with three double-doubles in his last four games and a 20-point, 10-rebound, five-block effort in Saturday afternoon’s victory over Oklahoma State. In a loaded Big East Conference, Blair could lift the Panthers among contenders Georgetown and Marquette for the whole regular season. He’s already survived one key test — with the Washington student section taunting him last week, he overwhelmed the Huskies with 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Coach Jamie Dixon does a Q&A in the NY Sun.

Do you think scheduling highly ranked non-conference opponents early in the season toughens players up for later in the year, and for tournament time?

You’re telling me that a game in November is going to help you in March, when we have 18 league games in play? We have 18 league games to play in January, February and March, those are what will get us ready. Our schedule is going to have us pretty toughened up by the time we’re done with conference play.

…

You’ve got a big matchup with Duke coming up — that’s another team that’s changed its style to something more up-tempo with their big man gone. Do you see this as an emerging trend in the college game, the way it’s been in the NBA with teams like the Suns and Raptors going with smaller guys at the 5 spot and athletes all around them?

Maybe there was a time when there were a lot of quality big men around, but that was before I started coaching. I think the three-point line being more and more used, teams spacing the floor, using quickness to defend more so than size, all of that has become pretty common. On the other hand, nobody’s turning down a big guy if you can get one.

Scheduling good non-con games is as much about getting early TV exposure. Getting the team out there and helping to sell the program to recruits. Most coaches if they could, would go the UConn/Syracuse/Duke route of nearly all the games at home against minor talent mostly, with one tournament and an extra neutral site or good road game for recruiting.

Pitt of course is excited about the game against Duke. Perhaps, nearly as much as we fans. Pitt’s radio color analyst, Dick Groat played b-ball at Duke but professes his partisan bias is with Pitt.

“So many people ask me who I’m going to be rooting for,” Groat said yesterday afternoon. “I’m a Pitt man. I love Jamie Dixon and his coaching staff. I love these kids. I spend so much time with them. My only association with Duke now is with coach [Mike Krzyzewski] and some of his assistants.”

…

Groat began broadcasting Pitt basketball games in 1979. And even though legendary Pitt coach H.C. Carlson did not offer him a scholarship coming out of Swissvale High in 1950, Pitt always has been a special part of his life.

“I’ve been a Pitt man my whole life,” Groat said. “This goes all the way back to when I was 5 years old. I’ll always be indebted to Bill [Hillgrove] for getting me back involved in college basketball. It’s been a godsend for me.”

Can’t wait.

The game on September 29 in Charlottesville is going to be a 7pm start and shown on ESPNU.

I said, I didn’t think A.J. Alexander would be coming to Pitt. So I’m not too disappointed that he made his choice and it wasn’t Pitt.
Some mild surprise, though, that the Altoona kid has opted to go to Florida State.

Verbal commitments are not binding under NCAA rules. Alexander could conceivably change his mind any time between now and whenever he either enrolls or signs a letter-of-intent. Most recruits, though, stick by their choice, and, reached Sunday afternoon, Alexander seemed sure of his decision to go to Florida State over Penn State, Pitt and Georgia.

“I called [Florida State] last night and told them, but I’ve known for a little bit,’’ Alexander said. “The main reason [I chose Florida State] is the people there. These are people I want to be around for the next four or five years.’’

Offensive line coach and West Virginia native Rick Trickett handled Alexander’s recruiting for the Seminoles. A quarterback at Altoona High, Alexander said he was being recruited as a wide receiver, running back and return specialist.

Trickett was hired away from WVU during the offseason. I’m sure this won’t sit particularly well with some Penn State fans that Alexander opted to go play for that other aged coach.

Somewhat uneventful day today, at least in the afternoon games. All of the better seeds won and by pretty large margins. You probably knew that already since most people are like me — get to a TV or computer as often as you can.

Pat Forde gives us the best and worst case scenario for each team. Pitt’s includes the best case of making it all the way to Atlanta while the worst case would be losing to Duke.

PITTSBURGH (3)
Best case: Panthers finally break through the Sweet 16 ceiling, riding their punishing defensive style to a validating Final Four. UCLA cannot handle Aaron Gray in the regional semis, and Pitt outmuscles Kansas in the regional final. Push to Atlanta lessens the Iron City dread of another oncoming Pirates season.

Worst case: Pitt team that lost three of its last six grinds to a halt in the second round against Duke. Gray is outplayed by the more skilled Josh McRoberts, and nobody can hit a key perimeter shot. Media vows to keep Panthers out of the Top 10 until they can prove something in March.

We can’t lose to Duke if they don’t even make it though. They hold a 40-38 lead at the half in what has been basically what we expected…a close one.

In the Western Pennsylvania market we can’t see the Marquette-Michigan State game but so far MU has looked really bad. Took them almost 10 minutes into the first half to put points up. UCLA was challenged by Weber State for about 10 minutes before breaking that one open at the half.

Pitt and Wright State in about an hour and a half. Have fun.

The Pittsburgh Media Recap is here. Now it’s a chance to look over the Virginia perspective of this loss. The setting, as long as you ignored the rains that had been there all day seemed perfect. A cool night, little wind and a semi-national debut on ESPNU.

The curtain rose at 7:06 p.m. Saturday on a new era of Virginia football. The Cavaliers’ offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and quarterback – all making their debut performances.

Virginia’s players lined the sideline, their jerseys neatly tucked, their ankles taped, their chin straps buckled. Place-kicker Chris Gould ran toward the football, kicked it off the tee and watched it tumble through the night sky.

Little else went right for the Cavaliers after that.

The Washington Post has a feature summarizing all the local schools and it seems useful.

Highlight: Well, Coach Al Groh proved to be an apt judge of talent: Through one game, this does appear to be a rebuilding season.

Lowlight: Two Cavaliers quarterbacks threw passes that resulted in touchdowns — for Pittsburgh. Christian Olsen was intercepted by Darrelle Revis, who took it back 19 yards to make it 24-10 midway through the third quarter. Olsen’s replacement, Kevin McCabe, entered late in the fourth quarter and immediately was intercepted by Clint Session, who ran 78 yards for a touchdown.

I have to be honest, there is a part of me that isn’t enjoying this. I read a quote like this.

“I’m disappointed,” Olsen said. “We thought we were going to play a lot better. Never in our wildest imagination did we think that we’d lose by 25 points.”

And all I can think is that it reads a lot like what Pitt players were saying after last season’s opener against ND. The players are confused and shocked and will have to deal with a head coach that put them in an awkward spot.

“If that’s who we are, we’re in for a long season,” cornerback Marcus Hamilton said. “We didn’t get it done, but I don’t believe that’s who we are as a team. If it is, then we’re in trouble.”

That seems to be a response from a question regarding this statement from HC Al Groh regarding the team.

On this game showing the status of the Virginia football team:

“There is no aberration in competition. It is what it is.”

The early answers on questions about Virginia were not ones they wanted.

New quarterback Christian Olsen? He spent much of the night backpedaling, looking in vain for open targets, dumping the ball to receivers who had tacklers waiting. He rushed some throws and overthrew a few others. He completed 17 of 34 passes but none went for longer than 20 yards. He also threw a game-turning interception that was returned for a touchdown midway through the third quarter.

That young offensive line? It didn’t create much daylight for Cavalier runners, nor did it buy much time for Olsen. Virginia rushed for 52 yards.

The rebuilt front seven of Virginia’s 3-4 defense? It was porous against the run and didn’t generate much pass rush. Pittsburgh rolled up 390 total yards.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the night was Virginia’s veteran secondary, which was considered the strength of the defense. The Cavaliers allowed two touchdown passes of more than 70 yards, giving up a 72-yard score in the second quarter and a 78-yarder in the third.

On the bright side their punter/kicker, Chris Gould, showed he can do both jobs and that he will have a very tired leg after each game.

Naturally a lot of attention was on the poor play of Cavalier QB Christian Olsen, there was some defense of him. Pointing out that you can’t expect a great deal from a 5th year senior who was making his first start since he was a high school senior, and not getting much help from anyone, anywhere.

The offensive and defensive lines were terrible; defensive backs misplayed balls and bit on play-action fakes.

Pitt yielded 30 sacks last season, at least one in every game. Yet Virginia rarely pressured Palko, registering one sack, that on an all-out blitz.

No surprise, really. The Cavaliers’ 19 sacks last season ranked next-to-last in the ACC.

Virginia’s defensive highlight certainly had nothing to do with its sorry pass rush. On a three-step drop, Palko threw an out route, but his receiver ran a slant, gift-wrapping an interception for Lyles.

Also kind of puts perspective on Pitt’s pass protection that this may be one of the bad pass rushing teams faced.

Coming out of halftime, receiving the ball to open the 2nd half, lucky to be down only 17-10 the team thought for sure things would change. Whoops.

“Coming out of halftime, we were going to come down the first series and score,” Olsen said. “It just didn’t happen for us.”

In fact, UVa lost two yards on three plays and was forced to punt. The Cavaliers defense, however, held serve, but on the Panthers’ punt, Tony Franklin ran into teammate and punt returner Emmanuel Byers, which allowed Pitt to down the ball at the Virginia 2.

One play later, Olsen delivered a gift that sent many of the 46,758 fans into a wild frenzy. Virginia’s signal-caller took the snap on the first-down play, fired a bullet to the left in the direction of wideout Kevin Ogletree. Unfortunately for Olsen, Darrelle Revis was standing in the way and picked off the pass and raced 19 yards untouched into the end zone.

Groh said, “it was an overall poor play by Virginia,” and pointed out that the play had worked in past situations.

I’m not sure if I would characterize that pass as a bullet. And pointing out that it had worked in the past kind of ignores that he was throwing to a receiver covered by one of the country’s top corners with a safety coming over to help.

Regarding the offense, they still think the tailbacks are good but there is the issue of the O-line.

Virginia’s offensive line simply didn’t get the job done. As Groh has pointed out for five-plus years, all running backs run the same when there’s no hole. And that’s how it was Saturday night.

There were no holes, thusly the Cavaliers rushed 21 times for 52 yards and averaged only 2.5 yards per rush.

“Fifty-two total yards of rushing defense allowed – I know this, that you have no chance if you don’t run the ball and stop the run,” said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt.

With Virginia’s running game shut down, Pitt had a field day in gambling to stop the pass, blitzing and becoming the first team since Duke in 1956 to return two interceptions for touchdowns against the Wahoos.

“Not much worked,” said Groh of Virginia’s running game.

Certainly the Cavs planned to run the ball. They had the backs, they thought they had the line. But do they?

Man, that sure seems familiar.

This kind of loss means everything is up for reevaluation.

The scouting report on Virginia heading into the season was that quarterback Christian Olsen wouldn’t kill the Cavaliers with mistakes and the secondary was the best coach Al Groh has had in his time in Charlottesville.

After one game, some re-evaluation is required.

Olsen threw a back-breaking interception that was returned for a touchdown and the UVa secondary gave up two touchdown passes of more than 70 yards in Virginia’s 38-13 loss to Pittsburgh at Heinz Field on Saturday.

“We’re extremely disappointed and embarrassed in the outcome,” Groh said.

Luckily there is perspective for Virginia, courtesy of history.

Fact: Virginia lost its season opener Saturday night, 38-13 at Pittsburgh.

Shocking truths: It was the Cavaliers’ most lopsided non-conference, regular-season loss since 1988, when they fell 42-14 to Penn State. It was Virginia’s worst season-opening loss since ’84 and a 55-0 defeat against third-ranked Clemson, which went 9-1-1 in ’83. (Pittsburgh went 5-6 last season. Four of those wins came against Division I-A teams that finished a combined 16-29.)

Fact: Pittsburgh returned two interceptions for touchdowns – both on the first play of a drive. Shocking truth: The last team to return two Virginia passes for touchdowns was Duke in 1956.

Fact: Pittsburgh quarterback Tyler Palko threw touchdown passes of 72 and 78 yards – both on the first play of a drive – against a Virginia secondary that was supposed to be its defensive cornerstone.

Shocking truth: A team hadn’t completed a pass that long against Virginia – any pass, not just a touchdown pass – in the Cavaliers’ past 30 games. (Florida State had a 79-yarder in 2003.)

Expect for next season to read about how they circled the rematch shortly after this.