I know. His power rankings in the season always seem to suggest a slightly dour view to Pitt. Maybe there’s bias. Maybe Pitt is a team he simply won’t give as much credit towards until it has a bigger March impact. It’s also possible.

That said, he’s also been there with praise after the Big East Tournament. His pre-pre-power rankings for the upcoming year starts Pitt at #6. I happen to like Winn, since he is one of the few basketball sports writers willing to look deeper at numbers and statistical information.

So, yes, I saw his story talking about potential effects of moving the 3-point line back 1 foot for the upcoming season. In his final section it looked like Pitt got singled out as being at risk.

But the most interesting case study will be at Pittsburgh, which was seventh-worst on that list. Last season, defenses were kept honest by the shooting of junior Sam Young (38.3 percent, 44 threes) and seniors Ronald Ramon (37.2 percent, 67 threes) and Keith Benjamin (37.0 percent, 51 threes). The Panthers’ overall percentage was dragged down by the abysmal aim of point guard Levance Fields (27.7 percent, 28 threes) and Gilbert Brown (24.4 percent, 19 threes) — both of whom will likely be in the starting lineup now that Ramon and Benjamin are gone.

If defenses sag down against Fields’ penetration, and use help to double super-sophomore DeJuan Blair in the post, can Pitt make them pay? The Panthers are finding their way into plenty of preseason top 10s, but they won’t be a contender without being able to pose some semblance of a threat from beyond 20-9.

The point, though, was he was looking at numbers from NCAA Tournament teams. In that final section — those  Tourney teams that had the lowest shooting % on 3s — Pitt was not just the only preseason top-10 team for this coming season, but the only consensus pre-season top-25 team. That makes Pitt the team with that question mark. On a national level, who cares if UNLV or Georgia is going to struggle with the transition if it isn’t even a sure thing if they’ll even be in the rankings? I take it as a bit of respect and a note on the expectations that Pitt merited the discussion.

Really, even in if the line wasn’t moving back a foot, it would still be the big question mark on  the team going into the season — and a concern for Pitt fans. A literal change of guards. With Ramon and Benjamin gone. Especially Ramon. For all his struggles through injuries last season, Ramon was still the guy expected to take and be consistent on 3s. This is why there is some thought as to Ashton Gibbs coming in right away to help Pitt with that, and why the signing of Jermaine Dixon seems a little curious considering he isn’t exactly a 3-point marksman.

Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn.

Here’s the Cliff’s notes summary of what happened in that second half/final 12 minutes.

• Notre Dame was 2-12 on 3s in the first half, and 6-12 in the second.
• Pitt 5-13 on 3s in the first, 2-12 in the second.
• Pitt let up on defense to allow ND to really get out in transition to allow quick scores
• Free throw differential — specifically Harangody 7-8 vs. Blair 2-7
• Tory frickin’ Jackson.
• Guard scoring. Pitt got 17 points in the first half from Benjamin, Fields and Wanamaker; 9 points in the second half
• ND guards had 11 in the first and 28 in the second half.
• 2nd chance points — ND 17, Pitt 9

Now to the notes.

1st half

Early in the game, Rob Kurz had 7 of the first 11 points for ND. Sam Young didn’t exactly come out fired up to play defense.

An excellent job by Pitt to keep Notre Dame from getting out on transition. To the Irish’s credit, they showed a fair amount of patience and moving the ball around to get a good shot. Especially working it inside.

ND’s 3s not falling in the first half, but they were good about attacking the basket. Or at least Tory Jackson was.

DeJuan Blair will probably be the biggest beneficiary of Levance Fields getting healthy. It’s been a struggle to get the ball to Blair with consistency since Fields went down. There are already glimpses as the ball is coming inside to him better — on the money and less fumbling for it.

Fields looked a little bit sharper than in the Marquette game — thankfully. Still has some rust, but showing a little more confidence.

The missed 3s by ND in the first half were huge. eFG% by Pitt was 50% while ND was only 38.2%.

2nd half

Early in the second half: “Ramon can’t buy a bucket, but McAlarney struggling cancels it out — for now.”

At about the 13:50 mark: “Pitt goes up by 11, but slips on defense allowing ND one of their few quick scores out of transition”

When Blair missed those two free throws at the 11:40 mark, Pitt gave up another quick score and promptly turned the ball over and ND capitalized. That sequence made it a 4 point game and brought the crowd back into it. It had the effect home court should have. The Irish picked up their intensity on both ends.

Even then, Pitt still was in the game. But then McAlarney and ND hit their groove on the 3s when they nailed 4 of 5 in a 3 minute stretch to tie and take the game away from Pitt. Pitt turned the ball over on back to back possessions — on the ND end.

Even as Pitt might have had a chance to keep it from getting away, Pitt blew the opportunity. Blair made a great rebound and fed a wide open Young who just plain blew a wide open dunk that would have brought the game back to within 3. Instead ND got it and scored again. That blown dunk will haunt Pitt fans for a while.
It is worth noting that Harangody — despite being a beast inside — is a hell of a whiner when he doesn’t get a call. His own coach had to yell at him as he came within a hair of being T’d up for what he was saying to the ref.

I hate revisionism. The play of Sam Young and now Keith Benjamin have people second-guessing their usage in 2006-07.

Q: In light of the current play by last year’s bench players, doesn’t it make you wonder what could have been if coach Dixon would have let these guys (Benjamin & Young) play more last year? The outside game they bring is exactly what we were missing in the NCAA tournament. I think he had more loyalty to Levon Kendall than he to developing the younger players.

Mike Nixon, Libertyville, Ill.

FITTIPALDO: You might have a point, Mike, but you have to remember that Young was not completely healthy last season. He had problems with both knees that prevented him from being the player he is now. If Young had been healthy all season, I believe he would have received more playing time.

Benjamin is someone who is thriving with more playing time. This is the first time he has ever been in position to play 30-plus minutes per game. I guess you can say Benjamin deserved more minutes last season, but at whose expense? Ramon? Graves? They both played vital roles on a team that advanced to the Sweet 16.

Dixon is going to have an interesting dilemma on his hands when Fields is healthy enough to return to the lineup. Does he send Benjamin back to the bench? Or does he have Fields come off the bench? I suppose these types of problems are nice to have. It means you have players who are playing well and deserving of playing time.

For whatever reason, the other obvious possibility is having Ramon coming off the bench. As he was before the injuries. Several other points.

Even while Young was struggling to get healthy, Pitt was trying to get him more time. The early 2006 experiment was to play Young at the small forward. That would have gotten him on the court more as spelling both Kendall at PF and Cook at SF. We now know he was hobbling, but he wasn’t comfortable at the small forward. Struggling, especially, on the defensive end. Ultimately, if he wants to make the NBA, he has to look to that position. With his range showing this year, he has a chance.

Prior to this season, Bejamin never showed the shooting touch, patience, or restraint. He also struggled in defensive assignments, because he was more eager to work the offensive end. I know the contra argument is that he was only getting limited minutes, and was looking to make them count and show what he could do. The problem with that, is it only got him yanked faster when he’d rush down the court and hoist a shot. It finally seemed to get through to him this year. Even before he got into the starting line-up with injuries, he was just playing within the team. So much better.

Finally, both Young and Benjamin are better and like playing much more up-tempo. The team’s configuration last year with Aaron Gray just wouldn’t work that way. In that respect, Levon Kendall was a much better compliment inside.

Look at the numbers last year. Young shot .458 from the field and .310 on 3s. I know, I howled “NO!” when Young hoisted from outside last year. Benjamin was even more brutal — .420 from the field and .255 on 3s, not to mention below 50% on free throws.

Keep perspective.

Okay, late watching on this. So, three years to the day, Pitt suffered its only non-con loss at the Pete since it opened. Yes, the Bucknell game. What were the odds that Pitt would play another Patriot League team on the same day?

Watching in the first half, the thing that immediately occurred to me was that the offense looks fine, but the defense will be a big issue. Benjamin especially. He continually cheats to the basket either to try and help or be in position to get a rebound. He was the biggest issue to me in leaving his man open on the perimeter for Lafayette to get open threes. Either he didn’t take it seriously or he had a little too much confidence in his own ability to recover and getting back. It wasn’t happening.

Interestingly, while Ramon may have been the de facto point guard, he wasn’t bringing the ball up everytime. It seemed that Pitt was trying to get others to do it. May not be a bad idea since Ramon struggles bringing it up and is susceptible to traps and the press.

The only thing I can figure as to why Pitt played so far off the players on the perimeter was that they were preparing for Villanova. It’s not like Lafayette has guards who could take Pitt off the dribble. Villanova with Reynolds and Fisher, however…

That said, Lafayette was taking and making some hellaciously deep threes. Pitt really struggles with the screens. Sam Young does not like to rotate out on them.

Think the Pitt coaches worked over Biggs on taking shots a lot closer to the basket? No threes attempted by him this time, and the deepest shot he took was maybe a 10 foot baseline jumper. That said, it was hard to judge his game considering the lack of size by Lafayette. It allowed him a lot of chances for easy put backs.

There were 13 turnovers by Pitt. Not terribly surprising in the first game without Fields. That Young had 5 (all in the first half) and Ramon had 0 is something of a surprise.

Ramon also had 10 assists along with some excellent shooting — 11 points on 3-4 (all 3s) shooting.

Hopefully the game will also serve as a bit of a confidence builder for Wanamaker. Shot 2-3 for 5 points. He had lots of 2s. Assists, rebounds and turnovers. And 1 steal. Big concern he might be a bit wound for going home to Philly this Saturday.

It was a record number of 3s made against Pitt, but despite that Pitt got the win.

Near the end of the game, Bob Sanders actually clarified the football player stuff. It isn’t necessarily to play them like Cinci was forced to do. It was to have a few extra bodies for practice. That actually makes a lot more sense.

The most noticeable thing at the end of the game. No Gary McGhee. I’m guessing that Coach Dixon has determined that he must redshirt him.

Hard to judge a lot from this game, other than the fact that the team needed a regrouping/patsy game to get used to playing without Fields as well as Cook. That said, it was nice at the end when it was a complete laugher to see the players smiling and being highly amused at Cassin Diggs picking up a charging foul in the final couple minutes.

Pitt’s second half shooting was astoundingly accurate. Pitt shot well in the first half at 15-27, but was an amazing 20-25 (8-9 on threes) in the second half. Putting it this way, Pitt’s effective FG % in the second half was an astounding 96%.

Overall, Pitt looked, played and the numbers reflected a much better effort and team in the second half.

Still don’t know what it means for this Saturday and the rest of the Big East slate.

Nice that Cliff Stoudt has given a verbal to Pitt. Looks like there will be some increased depth at the QB spot in the future.

The euphoria over the final game of the season is reasonable, but it also guarantees little change to the coaching staff despite a crying need.

I’d like to believe that Paul Rhoads has finally learned the value of aggreassive, attacking defenses and that things will be different. The problem for me — beyond a rather calcified and hardened position/bias on this issue — is seeing one-half of a season of that hardly erases the previous 7 1/2. I’d also note that aside from Scott McKillop completely exploding on the scene this season, there was not a whole lot from the linebacker position Rhoads was coaching. Little development and growth there.

In my ideal dream scenario, Rhoads bolts for another DC job or a minor head coaching gig while ostensibly hot. Greg Gattuso gets promoted to DC and still works with the defensive line. Gattuso has really impressed me since coming to Pitt from Duquesne. The D-line has been the strength of the team this season, his development of Romeus and keeping the line strong even after Mustakas went down was impressive.

Paul Dunn still needs to go as O-line coach. It was nice to see the Pitt offensive line really blow the Mountaineers off the line last week, but again, one game does not change the ineptitude and poor play from the rest of the season and prior seasons.

Special teams. Ugh. That’s Charlie Partridge, who is a good recruiter but hasn’t exactly distinguished himself with his coaching. Oh, and he also works with the linebackers.

I’m probably in the minority, but even before the final game, I was and still am fine with Matt Cavanaugh coming back next season as OC. Just too many key injuries and a bad O-line performance to put all the blame on him. I also thought he showed the previous season that he could get more out of the offense. I do think he needs to add more elements of the spread into the offense, and stop trying to instill a completely pure West Coast Offense. He would benefit from visiting some other schools and coaches to pick some brains – Florida, Tulsa, Cal and Arizona State would be on my short list of places to visit.

Here’s something very interesting, via Troy Nunes IAAM, a basic breakdown of recruiting ranking versus performance for college football. Pitt was second biggest underachiever in the Big East behind only Syracuse. This is a blunt instrument, not a fine tool. Nonetheless, it is still instructive and interesting.

These are the D-1A teams Pitt has faced to date. I’m not even going to discuss Grambling since 1-AA shouldn’t be in the conversation.
Team ———— Tot. Off (rank) — Rush O — Pass O

Eastern Michigan — 320.60 (104th) — 139.5 — 181.1

Michigan State — 427.40 (32nd) — 210.9 — 216.5

UConn ———- 367.33 (78th) — 174.78 — 192.56

Virginia ——– 329.1 (101st) — 128.70 — 200.40

Navy ———— 438.00 (24th) — 333.33 — 104.67

Cinci ———— 429.44 (31st) — 167.67 — 261.78

Louisville ——- 510.44 (6th) — 149.56 — 360.89

Syracuse ——- 282.67 (114th) — 68.67 —- 214.00

Here’s what Pitt’s D did in those games

Team ———– Total O — Rushing O — Passing O

E. Michigan —– 145 ——— 39 ——— 106

Michigan St. —- 327 ——— 144 ——– 183

UConn ——— 289 ——— 115 ——– 174

Virginia ——– 342 ——— 173 ——— 169

Navy ———- 497 ——— 331 ——— 166

Cinci ———- 358 ——— 121 ——— 237

Louisville —— 356 ——– 120 ——— 236

Syracuse —– 265 ——– 30 ———– 235

By the numbers and having watched all of these games there are 3 games where the defense played well (Michigan State, Cinci and Louisville); 3 games where the defense was poor (UConn, Virginia and Navy) and 2 games where the defense was average (Eastern Michigan and Syracuse). Yes, I will credit the defense with a good effort in the Louisville game, despite the late breakdown that allowed the TD.

In traditional run defense, there is improvement. Notice, though, that in the 3 games where the defense was “poor” the common factor was a mobile QB and teams that at least used elements of the spread. All three had QBs who had at least 12 rushes. Some things have remained constant.

Two of Pitt’s remaining three games are against teams with mobile QBs (Matt Grothe, USF and Pat White, WVU). The other game features one of the top RBs in the country (Ray Rice, Rutgers). Rutgers has used back-up QB Jabu Lovelace (probably the best name in the Big East, even ahead of WVU’s John Holmes) in option situations. How much Pitt sees of him will also depend on the health of Mike Teel who has been banged up.

In half of Pitt’s D-1A games, they have played teams in the bottom third of offensive production nationally. Three who are in the 100 level.

It’s hard not to think a little of last year’s 5-1 start with media talk of the defensive improvement. Even as Pitt had only faced one team (and lost) with a potent offense.

Misleading stats cut both ways. We’ve read how Coach Wannstedt talked up Pitt’s pass defense as being one of the tops in the country statistically, while then excusing the lack of turnovers as because teams have big leads and didn’t have any pressure to do much other than run the ball. At the same time, he talks of how the run defense has improved and excuses the Navy game as an aberration (or “not reflective”).

Obviously reality gets examined this weekend. Pitt will play a team with prolific passing, but a struggling running game.

The Cardinals (4-4, 1-2 Big East Conference) still rank fifth in the Football Bowl Subdivision in total offense at 529 yards per game, but they have been held below 100 rushing yards in four of their past five games.

…

Pittsburgh (3-4, 1-1) will enter Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium tomorrow ranked

Nationally, that puts Pitt’s run defense at 54th in the country. Louisville’s longest run from scrimmage this season has been 20 yards. Of course with one of the best QBs and probably the best pair of receivers in the country, the running game hasn’t been the problem. It’s been the Louisville Defense.

The running game leads into a topic of Coach Wannstedt in the papers today: Time of Possession.

If Wannstedt has it his way, though, standout Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm will be doing a whole lot more standing and watching than actually playing.

“[Controlling the clock] would be our objective every week,” Wannstedt said. “That is one of those things that shows up on the stat sheets that people don’t talk about usually. They talk about the obvious — touchdowns, interceptions, sacks — but possession time is a key and there are so many benefits to that, particularly when you are playing a high-scoring team and you want to minimize the number of possessions they have.

“If you are a running team and you can control the clock and you have a controlled passing game — and we’re that way now — I think the theme is, don’t stop ourselves. It is amazing how, even in last week’s game, we’re at the 9-yard line going in and we have a holding call and we settle for a field goal.”

Wannstedt said that even if the Panthers do control the clock on offense and even if they don’t turn the ball over, they still will have their hands full trying to figure out how to stop the Cardinals.

Unless there is a huge disparity, time of possession is a relatively minor stat for a game and the season. Louisville ranks 5th in the country in ToP

So, while the running game for the Cardinals hasn’t been much, they still use plenty of clock moving the ball with the pass.

Pitt comes in at 47th at 30:24. The difference between being 23 in the country is just under a minute (Toledo, 31:21). The difference of being 70th is the nearly the same (Oklahoma, 29:25).

Zeise probably nailed the issue at the end of the article.

Although time of possession is one key statistic from the win against the Bearcats the Panthers would love to duplicate tomorrow, it will only be possible if they duplicate another — turnovers.

The Panthers forced three of them and turned the ball over only once, a big difference from the first six games of the year when they had 16 turnovers and forced only six.

More possessions leads to a larger ToP. To do that against Louisville, it is going to have to come predominantly from interceptions. Brohm has only 6 interceptions in 8 games. Pitt coaches are essentially talking scared about blitzing.

“He makes you pay for (blitzing),” Rhoads said. “First of all, they’ll ‘max-protect’ in a heartbeat. If they sense any pressure, they’ll keep seven players in to block and protect him. Now, it doesn’t matter how great the scheme or what you bring. Your chances of getting there are certainly slimmed up.”

…

Even if blitzing isn’t the answer, the Panthers are planning to pressure Brohm in some way, shape or form.

“You always got to get to him and touch him some how, some way,” Phillips said. “You let him sit back there, of course he’s going to pick you apart because he’s a great quarterback. You’ve got to get in his face, get after him and make him hurry some decisions.”

If not, Pitt’s secondary could be in for a long day.

“It’s a big challenge,” Phillips said. “We’re really going to see where our defense is at.”

Scary thought.

So, the P-G is changing the online Q&A format to try and get more daily eyeballs to their site. Pitt football beat writer Paul Zeise will have smaller, daily weekday Q&As rather than once a week Q&As along with a weekly chat. Considering that the Trib has their Pitt football beat writer doing a blog, they needed to do something in response. Zeise’s Q&A have been one of his stronger features

[Brief tangent -- Really, blogging isn't necessarily for everyone -- especially reporters. The Trib's Kevin Gorman gets it, as a beat writer. He doesn't need to do linking and posts, per say. He can just use it as carryover of more information from stories published and emptying out his notebook of things that don't make it into the regular article. It's extra information fans want and he isn't really doing that much extra work -- aside from just putting it in the computer.]

Back to the Q&A, his first was this past Friday.

Q: Do you think there will be any freshman starters for this upcoming football season and if so, who?

Zeise: Dave Wannstedt has begun to build enough depth in the program that relying on freshman to start is likely going to be a thing of the past. Pat Bostick could win the starting quarterback job and LeSean McCoy could emerge as the starter at tailback but they have a lot of work to do in a short period of time and I just don’t see it happening. I could see a situation where both are starters by midseason, but I’d be surprised if either is the starter on opening day. Tommie Duhart isn’t a freshman but he is a newcomer (JC transfer) and he should win a starting job at either defensive end or tackle. The other newcomer I expect to make an impact - at least as a returner - is Aundre Wright, who is said to be the team’s fastest player, while Dom DeCicco will likely have a chance at some early playing time at safety as well. The Panthers are also thin at linebacker so one or two of the freshman linebackers will likely be forced into action.

Essentially he’s projecting 3-5 players from the 2007 recruiting class (not necessarily freshmen) to make the early impact.

Actually I have to disagree with his opening assumption. That there is enough depth that freshmen starting won’t be a common occurrence. First, I thought part of Coach Wannstedt’s pitch was that the best player will start. Next, there is only solid depth at just a few positions — WR, RB and CB. And at RB, everyone expects McCoy to at least jump to the number 2 back.
Both lines may be mostly set as far as who the starters are, but there is little depth after that. Injuries have to be expected, and that will be when the freshmen will really be needed. Even with two recruiting classes, I don’t really feel great about the lines. The drop-off seems steep, and I’m not sold on how good the starting units are.
The linebacking corp is a complete toss-up. I have no idea what the actual depth chart will look like. I am sure, though, that it won’t be very different by week 7. (Tommie Campbell, by the way, appears to be transferring to Edinboro.)
Safety, Elijah Fields out for the season really hurts. Mike Phillips, who could have lost the starting job to Fields, even knows that.

“We need every guy we’ve got. When you lose anyone, it’s a big blow,” said Phillips, a fifth-year senior who started five games last season. “He can really do some things. Just his athleticism and speed, he can really have advantages over other players that we can use. It’s going to be a big loss.”

Phillips is going to be needed to be as healthy and mentally ready as he says he is. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lowell Robinson get another shot at playing time at Safety.

Ugly game last night. Chalk it up to Georgetown simply being better than us or it “just wasn’t our night” or whatever you want. I’m not here to tell you what to believe in that respect and I don’t want this to turn into a game that makes us hang our heads and completely forget about beating Marquette and Louisville.

The offense wasn’t there on many different levels.

The 42 points were the fewest points scored in a Big East championship game and were the fewest for a Pitt team since the Panthers scored 30 against Temple on Jan. 15, 1969. The 23-point margin of defeat was the most since Pitt lost to St. John’s by 24 in 2000.

The most notable was Gray, however.

Here’s all you need to know about the Big East championship game Saturday night:

Roy Hibbert had more dunks than Aaron Gray had points.

Kind of hard to place the entirety of blame on him though. It’s also too bad this was one of the games where Roy Hibbert came to play. He’s been a nonfactor more times than Hoya fans would have liked this year but last night he came to play.

Life goes on though towards the NCAA Tournament. When it comes to seeding, to me it’s always been match ups and location over actual seed number. We obviously will want to play our first round games in either Buffalo or Columbus (I’ve heard the athletic department wants to go to Buffalo rather than Columbus). We also want to play against teams who our strengths match up well against — once again, if it means we drop a seed line to play teams we can beat easier in the first and second rounds then I’m all for it.

If you like to listen to Joe Lunardi, he has Pitt at a #3 seed (in Buffalo). There’s no way we’ll move any higher and I can’t see us moving lower unless the Committee takes the Pitt hate to an extreme level.

I don’t know if you’ve watched the SportsCenter Highlights or the same thing on College Gamenight. It’s kind of funny to see the analysis of the game essentially be that Pitt did a better job of defending the 3 in the second half than in the first; and that was the difference defensively.

To support the claim, they showed Ramon and Benjamin late getting out on a shooter in a couple made 3s in the first half. Then they showed Pitt getting a hand in the face of shooters in the second half. Now, try and forget that cherry-picking some plays as illustration does not prove anything. It’s the boxscore that points out the silliness. WVU shot 4-12 on 3s in the first half and 7-21 in the second half. The exact same shooting percentage from outside.

That wasn’t the area they played significantly better defense. They played a little better on defending outside, but the big shift was denying the lanes to try and go in off the dribble and not allowing cuts to get easier baskets. Yes, as a general rule, the Mountaineers live and die on 3s, but they weren’t particularly far from their normal shooting on 3s. What killed them, was that Pitt stopped letting them find space for other shots (only 2-10 from the rest of the floor in the second half versus 9-12 in the first). That’s where they win a lot more games, by shooting at least 50% from spots inside the arc. They are going to have more games shooting in the 30-40% range from outside then they are shooting better than that.

I’m very glad we swept the Hoopies this year. Not just because it’s always a good thing and we can also enjoy the idea that Pitt probably knocked their hopes of making the NCAA out cold. The other reason is that WVU is going to be very good next year, so get some licks in now. Considering how much they lost from last year’s team — Herber, Gansey, Pittsnogle — that they are this good already is kind of scary.

I have noticed several comments about getting the ball to Gray more — a constant complaint all season — that he is getting open and they just aren’t passing to him. For this particular game, I’m not so sure that would be the best thing. WVU’s defense is very good at jumping the lanes and getting a hand on the ball where it looks like an easy pass. It’s part of the nature of the 1-3-1.

Generally, this is the area of the game where Carl Krauser is really missed. Say what you want about his game and everything else (and I know everyone has), but Krauser was one of the best inside passers. It was his biggest strength that he could get the ball inside with such ease and consistency. He did it with Troutman and Taft. Then he did last year with Gray. All players that don’t exactly move a lot once they get/got into the post area, so it’s not like they could lose their man. Part of that was because Krauser was always a threat to drive the lane and penetrate. It created space for him to pass.

Fields is getting better, but he is nowhere near as good as Krauser was with that part of the game. Considering Pitt can’t afford to give away too many possessions, it’s arguably good that he doesn’t force that too many times a game.

Mike Cook is a talker and a woofer. I know it bothers a lot of people but I think it gets made into something that it isn’t. It’s part of how he gets himself going, and motivated. He gets a little hyper and emotional. I also think Dixon, the coaches and even the other players know that, and generally let it go. Pitt has been on TV all season. They have had national coverage and media attention. It’s been a non-story. Now, maybe everyone is missing this story — and if it was just the local media I might be more inclined to agree. I’m just more of the opinion he’s kind of like Brett Hull was. Always talking, and his teammates and coaches just ignore it. The only way I can put it is this, until he’s sitting on the floor with his shoes off or undone that’s not going to be a big issue for me