Unless it is absolutely explosive, this will hopefully be the only mention of this on the blog.

Mark Wogenrich, one of our Penn State football beat writers, tells us that ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” investigative TV show is pursuing a story about the legal issues involving the Lions’ football team since April 2007.

It’s such an easy target, it almost seems surprising that they hadn’t done the piece yet.

That said, they hardly seem worse than so many other teams. But like other schools/fans that play the self-righteous, higher standard card any chance they get, they really can’t turn around and claim they are no worse than any other school.

You can’t have it both ways. Either you are no better/different from other schools and their fans, or you are on a higher standard and have to deal with extra scrutiny when those standards aren’t met and even ignored.

As ESPN.com’s Bruce Feldman noted, mixed-martial arts is making plenty of mainstream news in the last couple of weeks. So, he does a Q&A with Pitt punter and MMA practitioner Dave Brytus (subs. only).

Q: Who on your team do you think could be a good MMA fighter if he worked at it and why?

A: Scott McKillop could be a great fighter! He was one of the best wrestlers in the state of Pennsylvania in high school. He also has good size and speed. If he worked on Jui-Jitsu and learned how to strike, he could be a force in MMA.

Dorin Dickerson could also be good in this sport I think. He is the most athletic guy on our team and is also one of the strongest. He could cut down to the 205-pound division and wreck people if he learned how to strike and use submissions. Anyone who is that athletic and has the kind of power he does at his weight class is dangerous.

Feldman, generally, is bullish on Pitt this season.

From Dan in NYC: Give me a sleeper team and sleeper Heisman pick for 2008.

Feldman: I’ll double up. I think LeSean McCoy would be my sleeper. I don’t think he’ll win it, but I could see him getting to New York, and Pittsburgh will be better than most people think. The Panthers lost a lot of key guys to injury for most or all of 2007 (QB Bill Stull, WR Derek Kinder, OT Jason Pinkston and DT Gus Mustakas) and now they’re back and McCoy will be the engine of a much-improved offense. Plus I think the Big East is really up for grabs.

Feldman has been one of the few mainstream writers from the start that liked Pitt hiring Wannstedt, and never jumped off that bandwagon. He had his doubts after year 2, but I think everyone did.

Any doubt ESPN may have had for signing Bob Knight to whatever amount they paid, has to be gone. While we keep watching, hoping, that he at least goes on a blue streak that gets a sustained bleep as if he were off camera — this and this are positively brilliant — people remain riveted to what he is saying.

He goes off and picks Pitt to win the NCAA Tournament on the ESPN Selection show and everyone notices. Even the players and coach. I think Knight got a bit caught up with Pitt. He made his debut on ESPN and had to primarily focus on the Big East Tournament. Just a bit of myopia.

He’s sticking with Pitt, though.

“They really, really impressed me because they won that game with Georgetown in a way where they didn’t have to make a miracle shot, they didn’t have to come from behind to do it,” he said.

“Pittsburgh just manhandled ‘em. Played them off the court, really. I’m still high on Georgetown. One game changes the tournament committee’s opinion, never mine, but I’ll get to the tournament committee in a minute.

“Pitt with [Levance] Fields, and [DeJuan] Blair and [Sam] Young inside are just tougher than hell, and [Jamie] Dixon is a tough coach that really works them hard and stays on them.”

He is impressed, too, with UCLA’s Ben Howland, Dixon’s former boss at Pittsburgh. And don’t tell Knight that some people are going to say Howland can’t win the big one if UCLA doesn’t win the title after consecutive trips to the Final Four.

“That’s bull . . .,” he said. “Just getting there is such a difficult proposition. You’ve got to win big ones to get there. Jesus, I wish people would spare me that.”

As for why Knight was doing an interview in the first place.

“Obviously, I’m getting paid to do this,” he said nicely.

Knight was in L.A. for a one-day whirlwind tour as a spokesman to promote DirecTV’s Mega March Madness package.

I love that package.

But Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News, disagrees.

Hall of Fame coach Bob Knight anointed Pitt as his choice to win the NCAA title. That statement proves coaching basketball can be easier for some than analyzing it.

If Pitt were to win the title, it would be one of the shortest modern teams to do so. The Panthers start a 6-7 center (DeJuan Blair) and 6-6 power forward (Sam Young). They typically use one reserve big man who stands 6-8 (Tyrell Biggs).

Knight’s prediction writes a check Pitt’s team can’t cash. Pitt fans who’ve wondered why their team can’t get past the Sweet 16 — generally, it has been because the other teams were better — will point to Knight’s prediction and claim the Panthers underachieved.

Nope — it’s Knight who underachieved. His analysis has dropped to the level of his wardrobe.

Gee, and I just assumed the sweaters with the ESPN logo was because ESPN wouldn’t let Knight sell the ad-space to O’Reilly Auto parts.

I rarely bother with something like this, but Jay Bilas ticked me off enough on College Gameday with his statements that Young fouled Harris. It seemed that he was trying to make some broader point about Big East officiating and went back to the ‘Nova-G-town game. It was a completely scattershot in whatever his point was (and let’s just abstain from the whole “Bilas hates Pitt” stuff — he doesn’t). The replay showed that Harris had lost control of the ball and that he and Young were both going for it. Young got there first and then the contact.

Paul Harris made no excuses.

“I basically let them take the ball from me,” Harris said. “That’s all it was. They didn’t foul me or nothing.”

‘Cuse fans aren’t saying he was fouled.

It’s also very clear that Orange fans are more than a little frustrated with a team of talented 5-star players. This will be the first time since the 1980-81 and 81-82 season that a Syracuse team doesn’t go to the NCAA Tournament for 2 consecutive years.

On another note, I don’t think we need to recruit so many 5 star, shoe camp All-Stars. Let’s get one or two and surround them with solid, gutsy, hard-working, intelligent ballers (ie: Pace, O. Hill, Moten, E Thomas, L. Sims, Warrick, etc). Enough loading the team up with slack-ass, idiotic playmaking, no-desire-having, all-talk-no-action, waste-of-talent, looking-for-scouts-in-the-stands type of players.

Talent or not, it’s a team sport.

Probably a little over the top in reaction, but there is a point. Chemistry and playing as a team means almost as much as talent. There are no steadying influences on the court for Syracuse. They have no players on the floor who can tell them what to expect in the situations. At this point in the season. UConn went through it last year as well, despite all of their talent.
Interesting thing when Dixon called the second last timeout with 3:37 left.

As he gathered his team around him, he told them that they might not win Saturday’s game, but that he would not permit them to quit.

“It wasn’t called to chew nobody out. It wasn’t called to be negative,” said Pitt guard Keith Benjamin. “It was just called to let us know the bench was fighting for us. And we gotta keep playing.”

Dixon ordered the press, something he’s rarely done this season. The defense, said Pitt guard Ronald Ramon, energized the Panthers.

I don’t think Pitt can do a press for very long, but in short spurts it has it’s place.

ESPN.com has a list of the top-10 most underrated basketball programs. Pitt makes the list at #7.

Maybe several of these programs are more “underappreciated” than underrated, but all 10 stay true to one central theme: Regardless of size, budget, league or absolute performance, all of them have delivered on the court in a fashion that surpasses the general perception of the programs.

…

Jay Bilas’ description of the Panthers is fairly apt — they are one of college hoops’ equivalents to the “best golfer never to win a major.” Under Ben Howland and now Jamie Dixon, though, this program has had a lot of recent success in a very tough and deep conference. This season marked Pitt’s sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance, during which the Panthers made the Sweet 16 four different times (2002-04, 2007). The Panthers also claimed at least a piece of three Big East titles from 2002-04 and won the Big East Tournament title in 2004.

The individual ballots are here.

It’s fair to say that, despite the large number of wins, tournament appearances and runs in the Big East Tournament, Pitt is still not going to be a name at the top of most people’s list when it comes to top programs in the country. That’s fine for now.

You don’t change that general perception in one year or even just one decade. Especially when you consider the number of years (decades?) Pitt basketball has been a virtual non-entity. Even when Pitt eventually breaks through to the Elite Eight and Final Four, that still doesn’t make change the perception. It takes sustained success, achievement — and more people burned in their brackets for believing Pitt will go deep, not be the early upset victim.

The general rule when you have to give bad news to the public and media, it is best to do so on a Friday afternoon, when less people are paying attention. If you can time it for a holiday weekend, even better.

Safe to say, the Pitt Athletic Department knew that the news of moving the Navy-Pitt game to mid-week would be poorly received. They didn’t break the news until late afternoon on Friday. Not just a normal Friday. Good Friday of Easter weekend. A good time to get out some bad news as it can slip past a lot of people a lot easier. No chance for any additional comment on the news from Pitt’s AD or Coach Wannstedt except the notes in the media release. No matter how they spin it as a good thing, they knew it wouldn’t be received as such by the fans. The timing of the release is the giveaway.

Kevin Gorman in his blog wonders if Pitt agreed to the Wednesday night game because the only other choice from the Mouse Monopoly would be on Friday night — something Pitt and AD Long stressed they would never agree to do. Interesting point, and totally believable. You have to remember, Pitt only has a little bit of leeway when it comes to when the games get played. The Big East and ESPN have a lot more say considering they are the rights holder.

I don’t know. I do know that this is why for all the attention and exposure the Big East and Pitt gets from ESPN in basketball, the football side is treated as programming filler. It’s why I’m not particularly wild about Pitt and the Big East’s TV contract.

ESPN has moved the Navy-Pitt game from a Saturday nooner on September October 13, to a September Octobaer 10, Wednesday night prime-time game at 8pm (hat tip to Chris).

“We are pleased and excited that ESPN has provided us with the opportunity to renew the Pitt-Navy series in front of a national television audience,” said Pitt Athletic Director Jeff Long. “Playing the national college football showcase game on Wednesday night allows us to take advantage of an opportunity for national exposure without compromising our desire to not play on Friday nights out of respect for the traditions of Western Pennsylvania high school football.”

“This is a real win-win for us,” Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt said. “We’re getting a nationally televised game, which is always great for our program and recruiting. The date change also gives us a week-and-a-half to prepare for two consecutive opponents in October (Navy and Cincinnati) which we hope to use to our advantage.”

The Panthers’ remaining six home games will all be played on Saturdays. Additional television games are expected to be announced in the future.

Obviously this is a huge pain in the ass to those who want to attend, but at least it is early in the season when it is still warm.

Really, I wanted to rip it more, since I have a 2 1/2 hour drive and a mid-week game plays havoc with scheduling and planning. Then I thought about the original date and realized I would have missed it as the game would have fallen right on Rosh Hashana. This actually will break a streak with the moving of the game. It’s the first time at least since I’ve been holding season tickets that a Pitt home game won’t fall on Rosh Hashana or Yom Kippur.

Still not sure I’ll make this game, but it’s hard to be as pissed when I definitely would have missed it on it’s originally scheduled day.

Might as well pass along this bit of general weirdness as porn star Joanna Angel talks about being the most observant Jew in the porn industry. I’m really not sure there needs to be a punchline to this.

UPDATE: Strike that, I am pissed since I looked at the date wrong and saw September not October.  Yom Kippur falls on the home game with UConn. The streak continues.

By most metrics, this is expected to be a close game. The most accurate metric tends to be the betting line which has Marquette as a 1, maybe 1.5 point favorite. Might as well be a pick-em — which if you look at the “wagerline consensus” you see it as nearly split. Yeah, this is a game I wouldn’t want to wager on.

On the emotional side Marquette will be honoring not just their seniors, you have ESPN College GameDay pumping things up, and if that’s not enough the Golden Eagles will be honoring the 1977 Marquette Warriors team.

For Pitt, on the emotional side, it’s a chance to at least be co-Big East Regular Season Champ.

“Everyone is excited,” sophomore forward Tyrell Biggs said. “We just have to go out and take it.”

Pitt and Georgetown are tied atop the Big East standings with 12-3 records. Georgetown plays Connecticut at noon today, so the Panthers will know well in advance of their game whether they are playing for a share of the title or an undisputed championship.

I have to admit worrying a little if they let themselves slip a little emotionally assuming Georgetown wins and they know they can only be co-winner versus winning outright.

Emotion, though, can only matter so much. There’s a hell of a lot more to do with the actual way the teams play. Pitt wants to take better care of the ball.

Every Pitt player who played six weeks ago in the 77-74 overtime loss to Marquette had at least one thing in common.

And it’s something they don’t want to share again.

All nine who saw action turned the ball over at least one time. In no other game this season — or last season, for that matter — were the Panthers so unanimous in their generosity.

Some more consistent shooting would also be nice.

Of course, as myopic as any fan is concerning their own team, the Golden Eagles have been struggling.

A little more than three weeks ago, it seemed a virtual certainty that tonight’s game would determine the Big East champion. That’s probably a big reason why Dick Vitale, Jay Bilas, Digger Phelps, Hubert Davis and the rest of the ESPN Gameday crew will be at tonight’s game.

Pitt has held up its end of the bargain. A win against Marquette tonight would secure a tie with Georgetown for the Big East title. If Georgetown loses to Connecticut, the Panthers can win the conference outright.

Marquette, however, has lost four of its last five, and needs both Syracuse and Notre Dame to lose to even have a chance to have a bye in the first round of the Big East Tournament. While Marquette’s NCAA Tournament hopes are almost certainly safe, a win over Pittsburgh tonight would do a lot to bolster the Golden Eagles seed as they ready themselves for the postseason.

“We really need to shore some things up,” Marquette coach Tom Crean said earlier this week. “We have a lot of things to work on to get where we need to be.”

The inconsistency of the Golden Eagles seems to be why Seth Davis at SI.com is going with Pitt.

I’m sure Marquette will be pumped up in front of its home crowd, but I still think Pitt is the better team.

They have also had a week to prepare.

It also comes as no surprise that, with an entire week to prepare, MU enters the game not only fully apprised of the ramifications but also eager to enter the Big East Tournament on an upswing.

“They’ve got a championship at stake so we know we’re going to have to take their best shot. But we’re playing for something, too,” said sophomore guard Dominic James, who has factored prominently in each of the Golden Eagles’ previous three games with the Panthers.

“We’re playing for momentum going into the tournament; it’s our last home game, ‘College GameDay.’ But right now we should want it just because we lost our last game. We desperately need a win for this team to get that momentum and that confidence that we need going into the tournament.”

Especially since Dominic James isn’t exactly committing to returning to Marquette for his junior year at the moment. Of course it’s not a distraction. Nope, never.

I swear, this time for sure. The final thing (I hope) regarding the Marquette game and the officiating. The one thing that hasn’t been resolved is why the hell Coach Jamie Dixon got a technical foul (Insider subs.)?

What’s up with the inconsistencies in calling technical fouls on coaches? Pitt’s Jamie Dixon was given a T after Tim Higgins, according to Dixon, didn’t like the look on his face. Huh? And then did you see Mick Cronin’s reaction to a no-call at the end of regulation of the Cincinnati-West Virginia? It was akin to when Mike Davis went mad during an Indiana-Kentucky game in Louisville.

Cronin went running wildly down the baseline and had to be restrained by his assistants. No call was made. Once again, calling a T on a coach shouldn’t be a subjective move by an official. Yet, that appears to be the case more often than not, depending on the mood of the official.

Glad, there was a good reason at least. Oh, what the hell. A little more from the same.

So what was Marquette’s Dominic James thinking when he went for a drive with seven seconds left in overtime against Pitt on Sunday? Well, James said he actually was reacting to what the officials told him. James said Monday that the officials who called a foul on him at the end of regulation said that he hit Ronald Ramon’s hand. So, James took that advice, knowing that the officials were going to call it tight, and went right at the Panthers. He was right. He got hit and he got the call with under a second remaining in the game.

Can’t fault James for being smart enough to know what to do with the way the game was getting called.

Speaking about the Big East race, Andy Katz got that question in a chat.

Andrew (Milwaukee): After these last four games for Marquette (at UConn, dismantling West Virginia, at Louisville, and then the HUGE win at Pitt) what do you think their chances are for taking the Big East? They only have 3 more road games (Georgetown, DePaul, Notre Dame), and they get Pitt again in front of a CRAZY Bradley Center crowd.

Andy Katz: As well as Marquette is playing those three road games you mentioned could all be losses. Georgetown could pose plenty of problems with its size and Notre Dame will be up for the Eagles and is fully capable of winning. DePaul is the wackiest team in the Big East this season. Ultimately I say Pitt wins the Big East by a game over Marquette.

We’ll see. Not sure why Georgetown (and even Villanova) seem to be being dismissed when there is still plenty of time left in the season and the standings very close.

Finally, Pat Forde likes what Pitt will and can do on the road in the Big East.

Pittsburgh (17) — Big East road record: 2-0, with victories over Syracuse (RPI 47) and DePaul (63). Road ahead: Tough. Cincinnati (140), Villanova (21), West Virginia (54), Seton Hall (105), Georgetown (36), Marquette (26). Count on at least a couple of losses in there.

I’d settle for just a couple losses in that mix.

Hey, let’s start this a little early since the College Gamenight will be at the Pete.

I’d be live-blogging, but I’m visiting my folks and my computer just won’t go on their wireless for whatever reason. Plus, I’m banished to another room while everyone watches the Eagles-Saints game. I’ll still be popping out to read comments and post some thoughts when I can.

9:18: Pitt has withstood a hot shooting start from the Hoyas. Green is shooting really, really well. Nice to see the Pitt big men really going inside. Could someone tell Dick Vitale to stop bringing up the Florida Gators BCS championship with Erin Andrews.

Honestly, surprising to see this much offense. I like the chances for Pitt in that kind of game — if it keeps up. 17-16 Pitt under 11 minutes.

9:27: Interesting to see Biggs playing PF with Gray. A mew wrinkle and Biggs seems to be responding well to it. Cook has been quiet so far.

9:36: Did I say Cooks was being quiet? So much for that. Loved the woofing with Summers as well.

Pitt’s keeping the pressure on Georgetown and running a lot more than expected.

35-29 Pitt, 4:19 ’til the half.

9:45: Cook and Young on consecutive possessions missed 7-foot open jumpers. Always unnerving.
Young and Biggs already have 3 fouls. More pressure on Kendall to step up this game.

Gray with a slam on the feed from Fields who came in on the drive to end the half.

41-32 Pitt at the half.

Pitt had 15 assists on 17 16 assists on 18 baskets.

Dixon at the half time interview heading in the locker was only a little concerned about overcommitting on some somethings.

A solid first half. Gray really looks happy when Hibbert is the only one on him. I expect the Hoyas to zone and go smaller in the second half. The only problem with that for G-town is Hibbert is a bigger part of their offense, and they do need to score points.

We’ll see.

10:08: Nice start by Pitt. 47-34 in the first two minutes and still more passing. Heck, the bucket they gave up came from maybe too much passing.

10:10: Pitt with 49 points still doesn’t have anyone in double digits.

10:23: Georgetown won’t go away. This is an intense game. Pitt up 55-45, Ramon going to the line to shoot 3, with under 12 minutes. I get the feeling that if Green or Wallace for G-town get hot, this game can change. Pitt is playing very, very well but so are the Hoyas. Don’t think I can emphasize that enough.

10:35: Georgetown has gone smaller against Pitt and is making the comeback. Hibbert is sitting during this run by the Hoyas. Pitt lead now only 60-53, 7:38 left.

10:40: Vitale with another good point regarding Pitt’s penetration by the guards. Georgetown is not doing a very good job against it. I think a lot of that has to do with having to respect the 3s from Pitt. Pitt hasn’t had many open looks at the 3 and that’s why they have only taken 8 so far. They are getting the space to go inside.

10:58: Pitt wins 74-69 as Sapp hit a meaningless 3 at the buzzer.

Gray in post game with Erin Andrews. About the unselfish play, it is all about the players wanting to win first.

Patrick Ewing, Jr. came off the bench and nearly sparked the full comeback for G-town. Because of the tremendously accurate shooting from both teams, there weren’t nearly the rebounding opportunities. Gray, Cook and Kendall tied the lead for Pitt with 4 boards each out of some 20+. G-town managed something less than 20 (official stats not out yet, so I don’t trust the accuracy levels).

The rematch on February 24 should be something.

Cook led Pitt with 18 points (7-11). Gray and Graves each had 11 and Ramon had 10.