Running quickly through the stories after the loss.

The interception that Michigan State ran back for a TD, the defender doesn’t even remember it.

Safety Travis Key picked off a pass that glanced off the hands of Pitt receiver Oderick Turner and took it back 31 yards to put the Spartans up 14-7 early in the second quarter.

“I just caught the ball and ran with it,” Key said. “I can’t even remember the play to tell you the truth. I just saw the ball, grabbed it and ran it in.”

Late in the game, Michigan State’s pornstar named linebacker kept coming up big. They may call him the “Sack Man,” but when your last name is Saint-Dic there has to be a better name.

It’s not like anyone thought Michigan State was that impressive. Just that Pitt screwed up more than the Spartans.

Three turnovers by Pitt, which hosts Connecticut next Saturday, led to all of the Spartans’ scoring. Caulcrick’s TD was set up by an interception, while Travis Key ran back another pick for a score. A fumble recovery led to a field goal by Brett Swenson.

Michigan State (3-0) shut down the Panthers (2-1) on all 12 of their third-down conversion attempts, often just as Pitt appeared poised to take the lead in the hard-fought game.

“The key to the game obviously was the turnovers, and our play on third downs was pretty good — actually, great,” said Mark Dantonio, the Spartans’ head coach.

Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt said turnovers cost his team the game.

No kidding.

With a national game on ESPN, many college football fans saw it. Sunday Morning Quarterback had some good observations about the game.

As mentioned, Pitt has serious quarterback issues, so much so that, when it got the ball back on its own 31, down 17-13 with 2:54 remaining and no timeouts, I wrote: “Can’t throw well enough to move for a TD.” As it turned out, I was wrong: Smith completed a well-conceived 19-yard pass Darrell Strong and then, improbably, a 26-yard completion to Marcel Pestano on fourth-and-17 as he was falling over two MSU linemen at his feet. Instead, the Panthers couldn’t block – Smith was in 4th-and-17 because Jonal Saint-Dic had abused Pitt’s right tackle on consecutive plays, causing a fumble on second down and forcing Smith into another loss on third.

He also notes that the Pitt pass rushing was much more impressive. He has some questions about the run defense, though (while admitting the numbers disagree with his doubts), because while the rushing total reads 144 that includes QB Hoyer’s 6 sacks for -40 yards.

Former Michigan State HC and Steeler assistant in the 70s, George Perles considers Dave Wannstedt a friend.

MSU Coach Dantonio was bothered by the number of penalties by his team, but he’s not complaining about the win. MSU QB Bobby Hoyer must not be thinking about the two drops by Pitt defenders on his throws when he spoke of how he was more willing to take six sacks than throw an interception.

In the “half-full” view, Pitt went on the road for the first time since the UConn game last year without an experienced QB, no #1 WR, the starting DT out for the season, and playing a team that has traditionally played well in September before fading at some point in October; and still nearly pulled it off despite all of that and going -3 in the turnover battle that led to all of MSU’s points. Of course, you really have to want to see it.

No one is pretending Kevan Smith had anything other than a horrible game. The one good thing to say is that he didn’t hide from it or the media after the game.

“The turnovers did kill us,” Smith said. “In my eyes, I’m seeing that I gave them 14 points.”

Senior Safety Eric Thatcher spoke the obvious.

“We’ve got to start winning some of these games,” Pitt safety Eric Thatcher said. “We’ve got to step up and make the plays at the end to get the Ws.”

Yep.

A little more about Pitt’s “wildcat” set.

I hate using injuries as an excuse for a loss, but Kevin Gorman depresses the hell out of me with the O-line.

Now that McCoy has proven to be the big-time back Wannstedt has wanted, Pitt’s offensive success, or lack thereof, will be determined by the play of its offensive line.

“We’ve got to bring that group along a little bit,” Wannstedt said. “They’re getting better, they are. I don’t know what the numbers were but I thought our offensive line has improved week after week – not to the point where we’re happy about it and getting excited. That’s, unfortunately, the last group to get together.”

…

Pinkston appears to have a separated shoulder and was replaced for a few plays by redshirt sophomore John Bachman, but later returned to play the final series.

“Jason Pinkston, his shoulder slipped out of the socket,” Wannstedt said. “He goes back in and tries to play with one arm at the end. They’ve got a couple guys that are good players. We got into some mismatch problems. They pressured us a lot and we got into some pressure problems, which we anticipated.”

Now, Pitt has to determine what to do about its line. It could leave Vangas at center, but he was overmatched against Michigan State and could have trouble handling Big East play. It could move McGlynn to center and return Joe Thomas to the starting lineup at right guard, but McGlynn might have to play right tackle if Pinkston is unable to play. The other options are Bachman and Chase Clowser.

It gets scarier when you read more about the injuries on the D-line.

Gene Collier, seemed to think part of the problem for Kevan Smith was that the O-line was still part of the problem.

In a star-crossed football season in which Pitt has already lost three starters to injury, the much-anticipated arrival of the freshman from Harrisburg would be a majestic highlight were it not timed concurrently with the fitful progress, a term used advisedly, of the Panthers’ offensive line. Coach Dave Wannstedt finally has the kind of running back around which a coherent ground-based offense can be built, but he doesn’t have the road-pavers.

“We have to bring that group along a little bit,” Wannstedt said. “They are getting better. Our offensive line has improved week by week, but not to the point that we are happy or excited about it.”

The coach pointed out that Jason Pinkston had his shoulder yanked out and was playing with one arm, and that part of the reason Michigan State sacked freshman quarterback Kevan Smith six times was breakdowns by the fullback and tight ends, but Pitt’s primary blockers are the reason this team will remain less than the sum of its parts for awhile.

Joe Starkey is all but begging Pitt to explore some variation of the spread-option offense.

Wannstedt said the offense could be expanded in future weeks. Question is, could it be used full-time, or close to it?

“Well, no,” he said, “because we have to throw the ball at some point.”

OK, but less is better. And if shifty tailback LaRod Stephens-Howling, who missed yesterday’s game with a rib injury, is ready this week, Pitt should think hard about matching him with McCoy and even speedster Maurice Williams — a former high school quarterback — in a spread-option package. Any one of them could take direct snaps.

Pitt has athletes. They might as well use them. Speedy receiver T.J. Porter took some inside handoffs from McCoy — the kind West Virginia’s Pat White often gives to Steve Slaton — and gained 36 yards on three attempts (he also had a costly fourth-quarter fumble).

McCoy likes the possibilities of a run-and-Shady offense.

“We have an offense where me and (Stephens-Howling) are in there together,” he said. “I don’t want to give up too much information, but it’s most likely we’d both be in the offense, with the spread, and the running back at the quarterback position.”

These kinds of packages usually are best-utilized as a change of pace, but Pitt is plain desperate. Plus, McCoy insists he and Stephens-Howling are capable of throwing a decent pass.

I don’t think that Wannstedt and Cavanaugh are wired to go that way. I think their brain pans would go “sproing.”

As I said, I don’t have a clue who the next AD will be. I’m not buying that Wannstedt will be looking to fill the role now or in the near future. Old names from the last search are brought up again.

Potential candidates could include Pitt’s last interim athletic director, Marc Boehm, now an executive associate athletic director at Nebraska, as well as three athletic directors who interviewed in ’03: Cincinnati’s Mike Thomas, Central Florida’s Keith Tribble and Florida Atlantic’s Craig Angelos.

Another notable name that has surfaced is Tom Donahoe, a former Steelers director of football operations and president/general manager of the Buffalo Bills. Donahoe received a personal guided tour by Wannstedt during a visit to Pitt’s Duratz Athletic Complex last month.

Not quite following why Donahoe would take a pay cut and prestige drop from the NFL, but let the rumors fly. As for Marc Boehm, returning if offered. I think that would be awkward.

Boehm is well-acquainted with Pitt, having been Steve Pederson’s right-hand man for six years before Pederson left for the athletic director’s job at Nebraska in late 2002. Boehm served as Pitt’s interim athletic director for 4¹/₂ months and was the top candidate to replace Pederson.

But with Nordenberg and the rest of the university administration preoccupied with the search for men’s and women’s basketball coaches — a process Boehm helped facilitate — Boehm grew weary of waiting for Nordenberg to hire him full-time and followed Pederson to Nebraska in May 2002 to accept a position Pederson created specifically for him.

Unbeknownst to Boehm until late in the process, the eight-person search committee had unanimously voted to name him as the successor to Pederson. Nordenberg asked Boehm to reconsider, but the chancellor never offered him a contract. That led to a hasty search by the committee that ended two weeks later when Nordenberg appointed Long as Pederson’s replacement.

Chancellor Nordenberg really does dawdle over these contracts for ADs, doesn’t he? I realize money and time can heal a lot of wounds, but Boehm coming back would seem uncomfortable. How much would he really feel he could trust Nordenberg to back him and not, ultimately, undermine him.

I also don’t by the revisionism that the school was “preoccupied” by the men’s and women’s coaching job vacancies to deal with the AD issue. The coaching vacancies came well after the AD vacancy.  In fact, part of why you have an AD is to lead the search for new coaches. The more I read that bit, the less sense it makes. Pitt’s men’s basketball coaching search had Skip Prosser at the top of the list and part of why he didn’t take it was that Pitt had no full-time AD and Nordenberg didn’t even assure Prosser that Boehm would be the guy.

That said, revisionism, doesn’t just apply to the time with Boehm. Long gets ripped on his way out the door.

Long’s biggest failure was his inability to maintain the season-ticket base for what should be the school’s flagship athletic program — football.

Pederson’s marketing initiatives led to the sale of 42,544 non-club season-tickets in 2003, a school record, and the establishment of a waiting list to buy season tickets for 2004.

Today, one literally cannot give away Pitt football tickets.

Puh-lease. At least rip on Long for things he actually did wrong. Heading into 2003, what had the season tickets sold-out was not any marketing initiatives, it was that Pitt was a preseason top-20 team that had the label of “darkhorse” Big East champion. A team that finished 2002 so strong, and looked poised to go farther. Instead, the season went to crap, the recruiting class was trashed and the head coach lost the majority of fan support.

Winning puts people in the stands, not “marketing initiatives.” Those only get their attention and might attract some first-timers.

Pitt is struggling with home attendance because the team isn’t that good and the home schedule is worse this year. Some of that is the weirdness of the Big East putting Louisville and West Virginia (and now Rutgers) all on the same home/away pace for Pitt so the Big East portion of the schedule is pitiful. The non-con  is distinctly bad as a consequence of balancing the road games to Michigan State and Virginia. That part you can pin on Long.
Smizik also goes after Long, for being a caretaker rather than dynamic.

His two most notable undertakings were the hiring of Dave Wannstedt as football coach and a fundraising campaign tied to season-ticket purchases for men’s basketball. Wannstedt, who also was enthusiastically endorsed by Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, remains a work in progress. He has been a disappointment thus far, but it’s too early to make any kind of final judgment. The fundraising program was a success but not before it enraged some fans and forced a lawsuit that, in effect, was won by the plaintiffs.

Under Long, the men’s basketball program continued to flourish and he was able to fend off schools, notably Arizona State, trying to hire coach Jamie Dixon. The women’s program grew significantly under coach Agnus Berenato, who, like Dixon, was at Pitt before Long. Pitt’s hosting of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament first- and second-round games last season was a major step for the program and that success came on Long’s watch.

Let’s be somewhat realistic. The football and basketball programs had already been revised and dragged into the modern world of college athletics. There was success occurring in those sports. Exactly how was the AD supposed to do more with those parts, other than just try to make sure they keep moving in the right direction and keep the money moving? You really want an AD to tinker with what was going in the right direction? Jeff Long had been focusing on the rest of the  athletic department that needed updated facilities, money and direction — which meant taking the hit for the fundraising by reseating for the Quest for Excellence.

College baseball is getting more attention each year. Pitt is finally on the way to having a modest ball field. Not to mention on-site facilities for the other sports to have practices and games — rather than going out into the burbs to high school fields.

Again, if you want to rip Long for being somewhat aloof, tin eared and actual sins committed that’s fine.  To essentially make crap up, bothers me.

“Pittsburgh Live” and now “Post-Gazette NOW.” Oy.

At least the Trib, finally figured out that no one cared or particularly like the whole “Live” thing. They’ve stuck with the URL, but “LIVE” longer appears anywhere on the site or in the web banner.

The whole “NOW” thing is just as stupid and should be dropped. It’s one of those moronic things where the marketing department sat around looking at the redesign thinking about how they can stress the newness and updates. One of them looks up from his box lunch at the conference table and says, “NOW!”

The new design isn’t bad. It’s clean, easy enough to read and the navigation seems simple enough. A little generic, but I’ll take generic and easy to use over visually stimulating and confusing. It is loading quite slow, however, and maybe that’s just an early glitch.

I don’t know, maybe I’m just not getting enough sleep. It’s hard to be a sportswriter in the late summer when the baseball team sucks and there’s no training camp. So I’m willing to pardon a little stupidity.

While I had been a bit distracted, last week Bob Smizik wrote a piece ripping into Pitt’s home football schedule this year. To some degree, everyone has. Pitt fans and ticket-holders (including myself) have been mocking a lousy, uninteresting home schedule where the marquee game is against Navy. And that was moved to Wednesday night to make it a real pain. It’s such an easy target, no one can resist trashing it and pitying the fans who actually get season tickets.

Since it was Smizik, though, he did it in a way that ensured pissing off Pitt fans. He started by imagining an ultimatum from Penn State for a 3-for-2 deal. It was a lazy column, that didn’t involve much work. Frankly, typical Smizik effort, but hey there are only so many ways to complain about the Pirates by the end of July.

A good amount of the irritation, though, seemed to be from being reminded of it — by Smizik. The overall schedule is fine, but there is nothing about the home slate that makes anyone think they need to circle the dates. Not really sure why the Big East has put Pitt with such an unbalanced Big East schedule with Louisville and WVU (and to a lesser extent with Rutgers) as both being either home or away in the same year. It could be argued that it gives Pitt a better chance at the Big East title in even numbered years, but that presupposes a lot of foresight by the Big East and that Pitt will be in a position to challenge in those years.

Then Paul Zeise got in trouble for comments he made regarding Michael Vick, dog fighting allegations and suggesting that Vick would have been better off committing rape rather than doing dog fighting. Rape was apparently the wrong crime to compare. Everything else is acceptable.

Plus, Vick could have been accused of murdering a stripper, blowing up a shopping mall or funneling his Nike money to Al Qaeda, and people wouldn’t have been even 1% as outraged as they are about the dogfighting allegations. You can get away with just about anything these days; just don’t tick off dog lovers.

Suggesting rape or pedophilia seem to be about the only comparisons not allowed.

The funny thing is that Zeise probably wasn’t wrong. Anyone else remember when Sebastian Janikowski was arrested for possessing the date rape drug, GHB? What was he planning to do with that? He never suffered major repercussions for that, professionally.

Sorry about the sporadic posting. Lots of little things in the real world, including hitting the road tomorrow and more travel plans for next week. There are days when being a one-man global content provider can be a bit tricky.

You know, as bad as Pitt had been in the 90s, at least the local papers knew enough to send someone to cover the Media Days.  Cinci gets to a bowl, has their team selected by the media for 5th in the Big East this season (Pitt, 6th), has season ticket sales actually getting a noticeable bump, and they still can’t  get the local media to care to even spare the cash to send a beat writer to the event. — really pissing off new coach Brian Kelly.
Hell, the Altoona Daily Mirror actually sent a reporter to do a piece on Derek Kinder and Pitt along with a more general Big East overview.
Discussion with Pitt is muted, unless you consider getting tips on how to eat lobster from Dave Wannstedt vital news. This bit is worth chewing over (sorry).

When asked how many freshman players would be contributors for the Panthers this season, Wannstedt replied, “Seven guys will play for us right away.”

Hmm. Maybe McCoy, Jacobson,  DeCicco, Hargrove, Caragein, Jones… and who else?

In the last GrayWatch post, I noted that Aaron Gray went out to Vegas for a specific conditioning program and 1-on-1 service. The intense (and expensive) program really made a noticeable difference. Reducing his body fat and making him look more defined. Joe Starkey did a column on Gray’s draft status and condition that takes a slight shot at Gray being in great condition.

Pitt was hoping Gray would whip himself into that kind of shape for his senior year, after eschewing the 2006 NBA Draft. It didn’t happen.

See, he didn’t directly say he expected Gray to be in this kind of condition for the past season. Nor did he make a direct allegation that Gray was out of shape. Just that others had hoped that Gray would be able to get to this kind of condition, and maybe implying that because Gray wasn’t in NBA draft shape he wasn’t in shape. He’s merely taking note of what others hoped.

For example, the rest of the article is simply a rehashing from other stories on Gray’s draft status, the Orlando camp, and quotes from other papers and web sites. At that point I could say something like, “a more paranoid blogger would think Starkey merely skimmed the links and quotes from prior posts to do his own article.” That way I’m not actually saying I think he did it. Merely making an observation, and making it appear like a slimy action of stealing my work.

In all honesty, I think Starkey probably did. And that’s good. There’s nothing wrong with that. That means he’s reading (considering the daily referrer logs contain hits from Trib computers I already knew some were reading) and taking advantage of one of the things I do with this blog — aggregating the information.

Plus Starkey added some quotes from Gray’s agent doing a bit of spinning on Gray’s conditioning.

“He’s finally healthy,” Zanik said. “Nagging injuries didn’t allow him to condition properly. Also, he can concentrate on basketball every day now. It’s not anything Pitt didn’t do, it’s just having more time to focus on conditioning. I’m excited to see what he’s going to look like six months from now.”

Pretty much what you would expect the agent to say.

Paul Zeise revealed something very interesting in his Q&A this past week.

Q: Last year a lot of fans wondered about why Pitt didn’t blitz more and we read that Paul Rhoads and Dave Wannstedt didn’t want to. Now I read that the Panthers are adding the safety blitz. I’m just wondering, if it was so obvious to me and so many other fans last year that the Panthers needed to blitz more, why didn’t Wannstedt and Rhoads make the adjustment during the season, why did they wait until now?

Chris Tabay, Hamilton, N.J.

ZEISE: Oh no, not this again. I knew that as soon as Wannstedt talked about doing some blitzes with the safeties this spring all of the second-guessers who think the blitz is a cure-all would come out of the woodwork again.

Give me a break with this, please.

I’ll give you the short version one more time as to why Pitt didn’t — and couldn’t — blitz very much.

Pitt’s safeties STUNK last year. Period. They weren’t good enough to make the plays, they weren’t fast enough to get to the point of attack and the evidence was that just about every time the Panthers tried to blitz, they got burned.

They didn’t blitz because they weren’t good enough and they didn’t have much faith in about nine of the 11 guys on the field, particularly by midseason when they were hit with some injuries.

And it was worse when they’d blitz a linebacker because not only were Pitt’s safeties not quick enough to get to a point where they could make a play on the ball, the linebackers who blitzed — the outside ones — didn’t usually make the play either, which was a double disaster.

Further, the defensive line didn’t dominate anyone and there wasn’t one lineman who the other team had to worry about double-teaming, which meant the other team always had plenty of free blockers to pick up the blitzers.

That’s a fact. I asked Dave Wannstedt about blitzing several times because I wondered some of the same things that some fans were wondering but rather than get defensive — like many coaches would — he took me into the film room late in the season and showed me on film what happened on the plays that Pitt did blitz — and it wasn’t usually a very good outcome. The film does not lie.

Pitt did not have enough good players at the right positions to take many chances or to be very successful stopping anyone. Their defense needed better players, not better schemes.

And to compare that situation, to the situation right now when the Panthers appear to have much better players at safety, when it looks like Gus Mustakas and Joe Clermond have progressed to the point where teams will have to focus on stopping them, is trying to compare apples to oranges.

Eric Thatcher is healthy now. Mike Phillips is healthy now. Elijah Fields has more upside and athletic ability than anyone they’ve had in a long, long time. When they blitz, they made things happen.

Coaches feel far more comfortable taking a few chances with this group than they did last year. Good coaches know their personnel and also know their limitations and try to put them in the best position to make plays.

Rutgers, Louisville, West Virginia — they all had the right personnel, the right kind of athletes and the one or two studs up front to pull off a lot of blitzes that the Panthers couldn’t even have dreamed of trying. They all had at least one and in the case of Rutgers and Louisville, two, defensive linemen that required double teaming, which helped create mismatches for the extra attacker be it a safety or a linebacker.

You must put in a system that fits your personnel and Pitt’s coaches finally feel like they are starting to get the right kind of personnel to take a few chances. Last year, they didn’t.

I haven’t always agreed with Paul Rhoads philosophy on defense and there are times I think he could be a little more creative and times when I think criticism of him was fair. On this one, this whole blitzing thing, however, I have no problem at all with how they approached it last year given what they had to work with.

[Emphasis added.]

That would have been very interesting to learn — last year!!!

Here you have the Pitt beat writer getting really interesting stuff about why Pitt wasn’t capable of blitzing. Knowledge gained thanks to the access to the Head Coach and being part of the media. Something many of the fans were dying to know/understand.

When do we read about it? In an online Q&A? In April? Why?

There are only two reasonable explanations. The first is that Coach Wannstedt didn’t want to make it known — even late in the year — that the team was incapable of  pulling off a safety blitz. I could almost excuse that, except he gave the information and even broke it down for a beat writer.

The other reason is that Zeise didn’t want to humiliate some of the players like Sam Bryant. After all, if he made it known that players on the team simply couldn’t get the job done, Bryant and other safeties might be a little ticked. Then other members of the team might rally to them and some of the precious access to the players could be diminished.

Which of course begs the question of what is the purpose of the access? Zeise can feel good about knowing the reason, but  what was the point of holding onto to the info past it’s useful point? He admits he was wondering about the lack of blitzing before talking to Wannstedt. Apparently it wasn’t as obvious as he contends until he sat down with Wannstedt and had game tape broken down for him.

Look, I think Zeise is a good beat writer. I like reading him. His biggest problem, though, is protecting his access to the detriment of actually reporting.

You know, if you want to recycle the same theme, at least do everyone the courtesy of waiting at least 6 months. Joe Starkey barely makes it 4 months with out the recycling of defending Paul Rhoads. I don’t pretend to be unbiased about this. My ego is such, that I will even assume that posts here and ongoing snark to Rhoads have caught Starkey’s attention — along with plenty on the message boards — to recycle his defense of Rhoads. At least this time he gets Rhoads to go on the record with him. At least Starkey is willing to concede part of reality.

For the record, Pitt’s rushing defense under Rhoads has gone from 17th in the country in 2000 to 26th in 2001 to 24th, 87th, 48th, 94th and 107th.

That kind of a dip will produce a lot of unhappy people. Rhoads knows dealing with harsh criticism is part of the job description for every coach and always has been.

Rhoads, however, is allowed to lie without penalty.

This year’s defense reminds Rhoads of the 2000 unit, which wasn’t overly talented but fought like crazy and finished with a No. 29 overall ranking.

Pardon?

Compared to the roster the last couple years it sure was talented — Bryan Knight, Ramon Walker, Gerald Hayes, Torrie Cox, Shawntee Spencer and Mark Ponko were all starters for that defense. Maybe in time, the players Pitt has on the defense this year will match that. Still, those were all kids that were brought in before Rhoads. What does he have to show on the defensive side besides Darrelle Revis in his tenure?
I mean, this is just a total recycle of his themes from his late November defense of Rhoads (that I fisked).

To repeat:

• Dip in talent on the defense and not recruiting well on that side, not Rhoads’ fault. Check.
• Rhoads has to be judged based on the Wannstedt timetable of 2008 and 4 years, not his own entire tenure despite the fact that the defense has dropped each year now going on year 8. Check.
• If Wannstedt wants him, then all deference to the head coach (at least on this issue). Check.
• Ignoring the issues of poor fundamentals and the repetition of the same mistakes every year. Check.

Oh, but he adds a new one. Rhoads is enthusiastic and fired-up kind of coach. Yeah, that makes a difference.

Look, I get that Paul Rhoads is a very personable guy. He is enthusiastic, and people like him and want him to succeed. Clearly he’s got some charms on a personal level to keep the job this long with the results he’s generated.

That doesn’t change the fact that there is nothing about his actual job performance says he should stay.

Starkey is already excusing what happens this year by saying he can’t be judged until 2008. That’s great. I will repeat my question. How does the Defensive Coordinator get more time to fail then the head coach? 

Right after the UCLA loss, Coach Jamie Dixon was about as down as he gets about losing. His quote

“It feels like a loss, and a bad one, a disappointing end-of-year loss,” Dixon said after a 64-55 defeat Thursday to Howland-coached UCLA in the West Regional. “I’m trying to remember the 29 wins. I only seem to be remembering this loss.”

And if you saw the press conference, you could see how hard it was on him to lose that game.

So, now a week later Mike Prisuta takes his run at the team losing in the Sweet 16. He seems particularly bothered that Pitt and especially Coach Dixon would mention the good side to this team.

The impression left by coach Jamie Dixon is that Pitt desperately wants to win more than two games a tournament and experience firsthand what all the real fuss is about every March. The trouble is, Dixon has a tendency to rationalize Pitt’s continued inability to get knee deep in the Madness, as he did on a recent appearance on Fox Sports Radio 970’s “Bendel and Benz” show.

“Schools would die to have the success we’ve had, even though that doesn’t diminish the disappointment we had,” Dixon said.

Then, why bring it up?

As for Pitt’s “success,” Dixon went over the top in assessing that when asked whether this year’s Sweet 16 exit was the most disappointing of the four in the past six years.

So, Coach Dixon goes on a radio show and defends his team and the program? That he won’t rip his players? That’s the problem? That he didn’t rend his shirt on the air and scream, “why? Oh, why can’t we win?”
I’m not sure that Dixon could win this no matter what. He said he was disappointed. He wants to win. Everyone was disappointed by the outcome. That he put anything positive on the season apparently bothered Prisuta to no end.

That’s crap. Part of Dixon’s job is to go out in the public, the fans, the alumni, the boosters and the media and sell the school and the team. Part of that is not just to talk about what you want to accomplish, but to also discuss what has been accomplished. To put it in a positive light.

This isn’t settling for some above average mediocrity. It’s selling the good in the program to date.

The games have gotten underway. A couple hours or so until tip. I’m not ready to start the open thread, but here are just a few more stories — quick hitter — to read if you need to pass the time.

Seth Davis at SI.com went with UCLA. I’m not shocked. Look, Pitt hasn’t won in this round. It’s a generally safe bet to go with that trend. Add in that it’s against UCLA, and there is no reason for most pundits to pick Pitt.

The whole getting past the Sweet 16 issue.

UCLA will try to get Aaron Afflalo going early. He’s struggled lately, but isn’t concerned. Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News, however, is.

Oh, you bet it’s missing. It’s missing almost three-fourths of the time lately. A 39.5 percent 3-point shooter heading into the final weekend of the regular season, he is at 27.6 percent over the past five games. He does not look as confident in his shot, and this has had a devastating effect on the Bruins’ offense. They had a 3-2 record in that stretch, and, perhaps even more foreboding, averaged 59.4 points.

The Bruins’ attack depends on Afflalo being a force. The Bruins are not making it out of California if he struggles in these next two games. Presuming there are two more games. It’ll be hard for UCLA to beat Pittsburgh without a significant Afflalo contribution.

It would be nice to keep him down and struggling.

Some are disappointed with the second year output of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.
Washington Post story on Dixon-Howland.

Nebraska (and former Pitt) AD Steve Pederson will be pulling for Pitt and recalls the recruiting of Jamie Dixon to come on as an assistant.

Former Stanford and Golden State Warrior HC Mike Montgomery picks UCLA for the game (shocking, I know).

The question is, can you get it all worked out in four days of preparation? If people don’t have the skills to make those kinds of plays against a defense as intense as UCLA’s, you’re not going to learn it in a week.

Now, I would guess that same game plan is also what Pitt runs. I think the key for UCLA is Collison. He creates off the dribble. If Pitt controls Collison, and Afflalo and Shipp don’t have good games, then UCLA is in trouble. They’re not going to score enough points to win.

But I’m going to pick UCLA because, if nothing else, they might do what they do better. Also, the Bruins are at home, so to speak. Every UCLA alum I know is trying to get tickets.

No kidding. It’s in the state and under 350 miles from LA.

There’s no way the media can stay away from the Dixon-Howland storyline. It’s just too juicy and sits there waiting for them. Tempting them. We’ll be seeing this storyline all the way through Friday (yes, I know the game is on Thursday, but there is still post-game stuff).

UCLA Coach Ben Howland says he’s happy that Pitt and Dixon has advanced even if he never wants to coach against his friend.

“It’s business,” Howland said of the matchup against Dixon and Pitt. “And, really, in reality, I’m happy because that means that they won two and we won two. Obviously, I want to win the game. That’s first and foremost. (But) if I had to lose to anyone in the world it would be Jamie Dixon and the Pitt Panthers.

“But we’re not going in thinking like that. We expect to win.”

So the choice for most writers, get it out there now or wait until later in the week.

Howland and Dixon, who remain close friends and speak on a regular basis, said the only way they would play each other is in the NCAA tournament. Dixon downplayed the opportunity to play his mentor after Pitt beat Virginia Commonwealth, 84-79, in overtime Saturday night, but his players know he is looking forward to getting the chance to play Howland and the Bruins.

“I think coach Dixon is looking forward to it,” Pitt junior Mike Cook said. “He may seem like he’s cool about it, but he’s excited.”

…

In an interview a month ago with the Post-Gazette, Dixon revealed that one of the reasons Howland left Pitt was because he didn’t feel like he could sustain the success he had attained during his four seasons as coach. He felt like he had taken the program as far as it could go.

Dixon made it known that he thought there were greater heights for the program to achieve.

“To be honest, Ben didn’t think we could sustain it,” Dixon said during an interview in his office Feb. 21. “He took less money to go to another job, what most people would consider a better job. I’ve always seen more in [Pitt] than other people did. I have higher expectations than anybody for this job. I know no one thought we could do what we are doing.”

It was a candid moment for Dixon, who had just won his 100th game as Pitt’s coach a night earlier. It was a unique view into the world of Dixon. If that milestone victory did not get him out from under Howland’s shadow, the victory Saturday night surely did.

Gray said he and his teammates are aware that Howland did not believe Pitt could be a successful program in the long run, and said it will serve as some small motivation Thursday.

If you are looking for the original article where that appeared it was here. It isn’t highlighted or sensationalized in the original piece. I have to admit that was not a shock to me. By taking the job at UCLA, wasn’t that what Howland was saying? Simply compare the two programs in terms of natural recruiting areas, population and growth, and history and by comparison it is far easier to sustain a successful program at UCLA than Pitt. There’s also a lot more pressure and expectations — but give Pitt fans a little more time on the latter.

One of the reasons in the last year plus I’ve committed fully to the “Jamie Dixon is the best coach for Pitt” camp is the stuff he’s been doing beyond coaching and recruiting — both of which have improved each year. The stuff that is vital for the success now, but let’s be honest the infrastructure in the ‘Burgh is all football. Dixon has worked to help in the organization and formation of summer basketball leagues that have the local college players along with alumni participating — is one of the most tangible examples. It’s even close to Philly or NYC summer basketball leagues right now, but there was no excuse for Pittsburgh not to have one except the lack of support from Pitt coaches and organization. What he is doing outside of the coaching and recruiting is long-term planning and building that can help Pitt basketball more and more in the future.

Dixon, thankfully, has begun to develop some outward personality in public rather than simply speak in monotone and cliche when he first started. He has continually gone out in the community and done the things coaches today have to do. I am really optimistic for Pitt’s future and present with Dixon.
Mike DeCourcy puts Pitt 12th among the Sweet 16.

The one thing lacking in Pitt’s history and the more recent history is a 3d win in the NCAA Tournament. Like we weren’t all bitterly aware of that point.

Howland’s early plan is to not double Aaron Gray.

“We’re going to be left one-on-one with Aaron Gray a lot because he passes so well,” Howland said. “If you double him, he’s so big he passes out of it. That’s going to be the hardest part, trying to take Aaron Gary one-on-one. He’s an NBA player, first-round draft pick. He’s a big-time player.”

Aesthetics were nowhere to be found when the Bruins and Hoosiers played. Both are strong defensive teams, but participants from each team said they missed plenty of open shots.

The Bruins shot 36.2percent from the field, and Indiana checked in at 32.7 percent.

Given UCLA holds its opponents to 42.8 percent from the field, and Pittsburgh limits its opponents to 40.7percent…

According to Pomeroy, Pitt’s Adjusted Offense and Defense are ranked 13th and 26th. UCLA is 24th and 3d.

Let’s go national for a minute. There isn’t a lot since the storyline desired by many didn’t happen. Luke Winn at SI.com has some on the game, and likes what he saw from the team this time as opposed to last year.

Whereas last year’s Panthers, who lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament to Bradley, might have bowed out in the face of adversity, this veteran team rallied around it. The first situation arose for Pitt late Thursday night, when the 7-foot Gray, their primary size advantage over the Rams, came down with an illness and couldn’t practice on Friday. “Last night, I felt terrible,” Gray said after Saturday’s game. “I don’t know if it was food poisoning or a stomach virus, but I got maybe an hour and half of sleep.”

As Pitt’s Big Queasy recounted the more unpleasant details of his symptoms in the locker room, he was so exhausted that the only way he could stand was with his hands on his knees. He had been limited to 26 minutes and looked delirious at times, but still managed to score 14 points (his season average) and dish out a team-high five assists. Gray was less impressed with his perseverance, though, than he was how many of his teammates had stepped up while he was nauseous. Cook had scored seven early points to help build a first-half lead, Sam Young poured in a team-high 15, and seven different Panthers finished with at least eight points.

Winn actually writes like he believes Pitt has a chance against UCLA. Something that I suspect will be the minority position.

The Sporting News‘ Mike DeCourcy compliments an excellent comeback.

No, we’re not talking about Virginia Commonwealth’s recovery from a 19-point deficit to tie Pittsburgh and force overtime. We’re talking about Panthers guard Levance Fields, who missed two free throws that could have sealed his team’s victory with 2 seconds left in regulation but returned to play a flawless overtime period, which included a 3-pointer that gave Pitt a four-point lead.

Fields’ OT redemption was a popular storyline.

There have been doubts in the season about Mike Cook and how much he is about himself or the team.  I hope after he was limping in the second half but still argued to get in there, the issue is over.

Dixon inserted Cook into the game in overtime, and Cook made two free throws with 19 seconds left to give Pitt a three-point lead.

“I was happy with it,” Cook said. “I trust my teammates. Obviously, I was limping. As a player you want to stay out there. But it was up to coach. At the end of the game he put me out there to make fouls shots. He had trust in me, so I wanted to come through.”

I can’t believe how many media outlets are focused on the idea of the trap and press of VCU getting Pitt. They keep missing the underlying issue. VCU shot 31% in the first half, and until they started hitting shots, they couldn’t set up their press. This is nothing to take away from the Rams, but their vaunted press doesn’t work unless they make their shots and have a chance to set it up. They had very little of it for the first 28 minutes when the shots weren’t going and Pitt could move up-court off of rebounds.
Now as for the VCU position. Their view is that they would have won — or at least kept playing — if they had more time.

“I’m not one for close calls or moral victories,” coach Anthony Grant said. “You win or lose, and we weren’t able to win today. Like I told the guys, to me, the clock ran out. But the heart, the courage and the character these guys showed, like all year long – like all year long – I’m proud to be their coach.”

And last I checked the clock was part of the game. Good to know that they, uh, know they — what? Lost or just ran out of time? The Rams didn’t show total class at the end with their comments.

“I think it was just us,” Walker said of the big deficit. “In the first half, we weren’t taking very good shots and that led to them getting some easy baskets. You play a team as good as Pittsburgh, you can’t give them easy baskets because they’ll make you pay.”

Apparently Pitt’s defense wasn’t the issue.

Don’t worry VCU, you’ll always have Duke.

So, let me get this straight. A columnist in New Jersey — with Rutgers and Seton Hall — wants to talk about the angst of Pitt basketball fans?

Maryland and Washington State blew it. UCLA, Pitt, UNC and Ohio State all nearly blew it. Safe to say that it’s better to be in the “almost lost” rather then the “lost” category. So, admittedly, I’m hard pressed to be very negative. It’s single elimination and it doesn’t matter how you won, just that you did.

I mentioned it yesterday after the game and in my AOL post. VCU, for 3 straight games, mounted tremendous late second half runs to get back into games — and in two of them got the win. The part that still impressed me so much about Pitt was that they didn’t quit in the OT. They had lost a 19 point lead. Levance Fields had missed a couple FTs with 2.1 seconds left that could have ended it there. Every intangible and externality was against Pitt. But in the OT — and this was a huge difference from say Xavier — the Pitt players didn’t panic, slump down or give up. They gathered themselves and came out and finished the game.

Now to what everyone else is saying.

Gene Collier’s headline seemed negative about the game, but ultimately the column was about Levance Fields finding redemption in the OT.

For full disclosure, I wouldn’t have given a Buffalo nickel for Pitt’s chances in that overtime. The Panthers were either sick or exhausted or acutely disappointed, if not all three. VCU’s astounding confidence appeared to be climaxing.

“I’m proud of these guys,” Jamie Dixon would find himself saying at the end of that five minutes. “Once we got into overtime, I think we showed our true character and they really had their spirit come out in the OT. I’m proud of them, but I’m not at all surprised.”

That’s one of us.

Pitt started the extra period the way it started the game, pounding the ball low to virus-wracked Aaron Gray, and quickly established a three-point lead that Pellot-Rosa sliced to one with two free throws.

Were Pitt to begin losing oxygen again, it would probably be now, with the VCU press all set. But the Panthers pushed the ball past the time line with maybe a second to spare, and got it into the hands of Fields, who was ready with the second big THUMP!

Fields stepped back from the 3-point line at the left wing (oh you wouldn’t) and fired a signature back-arching 3 over Pellot-Rosa that was about as bashful as the Brooklyn night.

That unlikely shot and all its audacity — the shooter had just missed twice from 15 feet with no one near him — shook VCU for the last time. On the next possession, Fields found Ramon on the right wing for another 3 that made the score 78-71 with 2:11 left, a lead big enough even for a choking victim.

Fields and Kendall both attributed the VCU run to letting up a little soon. I have to say, maybe. It’s good that they take responsibility for nearly losing, but it also detracts from what VCU did. VCU went from 31% shooting in the first half to 50% shooting in the second. Pitt never stopped shooting well in both halves. VCU, when they began hitting those shots — and they weren’t exactly doing lay-ups in that run — then had time to set up their press. Go figure, when they started getting time to get into position, their defensive intensity was able to pick-up.

Of course after the game, Coach Dixon spoke as if it was never a question.

The Panthers will live to see the second weekend of this NCAA tournament. They advance to San Jose to play in the West Regional, but they’ll spend most of the time between now and then trying to catch their collective breath after this superb 84-79 overtime classic, and they’ll wonder how in the world they ever needed five extra minutes to get that done.

“I don’t think there was any doubt in our minds that we’d win the game, even after they made their run,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “It was a group effort picking us back up. Guys really believed in what we were doing.”

The players, naturally reflected that same, “oh, yeah, we knew we’d win,” claim afterwards.

“That’s what this tournament is about,” senior guard Antonio Graves said. “They weren’t going to give up. We never let our guard down. And that showed in overtime. We showed the true character of our team.”
Joe Starkey agrees that the team showed something special in the OT.

Cook came off the bench cold and hit two big foul shots with 19.1 seconds left in overtime to stretch the lead to 82-79. Sam Young (team-high 15 points, six rebounds, two blocks) made two more with 6.6 seconds left to account for the final score – and make it impossible for the scrappy Rams to tie it with a 3.

Pitt led, 58-42, with 8:50 left in regulation, but withered under the Rams’ full-court press and actually trailed, 69-67, with 55 seconds left before Fields whipped a pass to Young for a layup. After B.A. Walker missed a 3-pointer, Fields came back and drew a foul and went to the line.

“The true test of a team, the true character, shows when you (hit) adversity like we did,” said center Aaron Gray, who had 14 points, eight rebounds and a team-high five assists.

After the game, we learned that Gray had been battling food poisoning, didn’t practice on Friday and barely slept. Still he was highly efficient in his time on the Court. Mike Cook suffered a bruised knee near the end of the first half, and was noticeably hobbled in limited action in the second half. And arguably the VCU run may not have happened if Graves hadn’t had to be pulled with his 4th foul.

Maynor shot 2 of 6 for six points in the first half, as the Panthers bolted to a 41-26 lead. Most of Maynor’s points came after Graves picked up his fourth foul with 10 minutes to play in regulation.

Antonio Graves has almost jumped another level in his defensive effort in the post-season. It’s been great to see.

Sorry, didn’t mean to take this long to come back. So I’ll hit this quickly.
Kind of a strange comparison. There was this brief article that criticized Dixon for pulling Gray when he had two fouls early in the first half.

But more importantly, Gray’s elongated absence allowed Louisville to take control of the game. Soon after Gray went out, Dixon put now-center Levon Kendall on the bench for an early rest. At the time, Pitt had a 13-7 lead. When Kendall returned, Louisville center David Padgett had scored six points and Louisville had a cut the Pitt lead to one and was in the midst of a 12-1 run.

Pitt was also outrebounded 25-12 in the first half, and Louisville had 10 offensive rebounds.

Gray needed to play more in that first half, particular after Padgett and Derek Caracter picked up their second fouls. The Panthers wouldn’t have needed that 20-2 run to start the second half just to get back into the game.

Then there was this NY Post article lauding Dixon’s gamble on leaving Gray in the game in the second half when he picked up his 3d foul.

Diamond Jaime Dixon played the role of the gambling man. He rolled the dice. He put all of his chips in the middle of the table and doubled down.

He wasn’t removing his star center, Aaron Gray, who had just picked up a third foul early in the second half.

“I think most people generally go with the two-foul rule, but I’ve gotten away from [that],” said Dixon. “Everywhere I’ve been it was kind of that thinking, even with Ben. You know it’s the experience of the player. It’s the situation. Its just a feel.”

Diamond Jaime has the feel.

Just two minutes into the second half, Gray, who played just four minutes in the first, was whistled for a third foul. The Pittsburgh players turned to the bench, but Dixon just signaled the next play like a poker player saying, “Check.”

There’s a reason why coaches and players don’t like to listen to what pundits and writers are saying.

The NY Times credits all the “supporting” players on Pitt for the win.

This just in, Gray didn’t play well. But Kendall expects him to do quite well tonight.

‘He’s always been strong,” said Kendall, who had nine points and five rebounds. ”He often has his best games after a tough one. He’s mentally strong. He understand that if the bounces didn’t go his way, he didn’t get some calls, that that’s just how the game went. He’ll be ready to go, and it will be a good matchup between him and Hibbert.”

I’m sure his dad will have plenty of notes for him after last night’s game.

Although it should be noted that Mike has always felt that his son could be more aggressive. And that the Pitt coaches don’t disagree.

”They kind of yelled at me, because I’ve been a little too passive the last few games, especially in our losses,” Aaron said after the Marquette game.

Call it a hunch, but after the 0 rebound result from last night, I don’t see Gray getting 15 rebounds against G-town and Hibbert to break the Big East Tournament record for rebounds.

Kendall gets lauded for his intangibles.

Meanwhile Graves gets lauded for his second-half performance.

And of course the P-G and Trib recaps.

This is just an abbreviated early start. I have some morning offline duties before basketball all day. Back later.

Mike Ruth at the Card Chronicle has an excellent rundown — he doesn’t like Higgins and Burr either, so it isn’t just grumpy Pitt fans.

The sense from Louisville is that this was the Cards in the second half reverted to the way they had been playing before they showed up in Pittsburgh a month ago.

From the first dribble in the second half, this looked like the U of L basketball team we saw before it got the religion about sharing and protecting the basketball.

This looked like a perfect video for U of L coach Rick Pitino to show to his players for the rest of the weekend to prove to them that even though they won seven games in a row, they don’t have it all figured out.

Not when they kicked away an 11-point halftime lead against Pittsburgh in the Big East Tournament semifinals in Madison Square Garden last night. Not when they started the second half by missing six of their first seven shots with five turnovers.

One thing all Louisville partisans agree is that this was a jarring reminder to the Cardinal players not to believe their press-clippings.

Well, Pitt is now in the Big East Championship game for the 6th time in seven years.

Some are blase about it: “It is the day before Selection Sunday and that can mean only one thing: Pittsburgh must be playing for the Big East championship at the Garden. It’s practically a rite of spring.”

Others snarky, ” The perennial bridesmaids and preseason No. 1 pick to win the conference, Pittsburgh will be playing for the conference title for the sixth time in seven years after it outlasted Louisville last night in the second semifinal at Madison Square Garden, 65-59.”