You look for trends, history and all those things that can help you in predicting an outcome. Utah has a very interesting little factoid might make you nervous.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham doesn’t use a wand or pull rabbits out of his hat.

Whittingham does, however, have a practice model in place to prepare the Utes for games with extra preparation time. Since October of 2007, they’ve won 13 straight contests when given more than a week to size up the opposition. The streak includes three bowl victories and a pair of season openers.

“I don’t believe it’s any magic in the practice plan,” he said. “I think it’s the way our players go about it.”

Of course, after pausing to think about the 13-0 mark, that is a little skewed, to not count the season opening loss to Oregon State and another loss to Air Force with more than a week to prepare that followed. That 13-0 mark also includes a game played 8 days later — technically more than a week, but barely seems to count in my view.

(more…)

Okay. Conference expansion/realignment was an incredible timesuck. I’m having a hard time at the moment getting myself mentally up for a final round-up of the post-mortem.

In the meantime, a few things with basketball that I have not made time to post.

If you have heard the Tom Izzo to the Cleveland Cavaliers rumors, then you know that means that Michigan State may be a very late jump on the coaching carousel. You know what else that means…

Yes, they put Coach Jamie Dixon on the list. Along with Tom Crean, Brian Gregory, Jim Boylen and other assistants present and past of Izzo. Dixon and Mark Few are the only ones on the list not to be former Michigan State assistants.

In most circumstances, no coach would dream of jumping to a program in June or even July. It is too chaotic. It really is abandoning your own program late in the process. It is incredibly messy. Not to mention it usually speaks to a program in disarray.

Michigan State, though, is well-stocked. Coming off two straight Final Four appearances, and looking like they have the talent to do it again.

I don’t think Coach Dixon would really go at this point. Pitt is also looking very good for the coming year. I also think that if Izzo leaves the next coach is screwed. They have to match Izzo’s success. It wouldn’t quite be as bad as following Krzyzewski at Duke, but close.

Now back to the the SEC/Big East Invitational stuff from last week. How does Tennessee Coach Bruce Pearl feel about the game?

“The bottom line is the SEC had a contractual obligation and somebody had to play Pitt at Pitt, and the (SEC) commissioner felt we would be a good choice for that,’’ Pearl said. “Even though we’re not getting a game back, it’s something that will help our strength of schedule and something that sends a strong message to the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.

“I’m also sending my team a message that I believe in them by taking this game. I’m putting them in harm’s way.’’

Not exactly a rousing statement of excitement. More like, we have no choice so after a dig at the SEC, I’ll try to give the positive spin.

This story on the game also included a quote from Coach Dixon that bothered me.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said the schools have yet to settle on a contract for a City Game site but that talks were progressing toward an agreement to play the game annually at Consol Energy Center.

Since 2002, the teams had been alternating home sites until last season, when Duquesne agreed to give up its home date at Palumbo Center to play Pitt in the final college game at Mellon Arena. The Panthers rallied from a 16-point second-half deficit to beat the Dukes in overtime, 67-58, on Dec. 1, Pitt’s ninth consecutive victory in the series.

“It’s a real possibility for that game to be played (at Consol Energy Center),” Dixon said. “We’re going to try to play there as much as possible.”

Pitt is expected to relinquish its home date this season if the schools can agree to shift the series site to Consol Energy Center.

I understand that the City Game being played there annually makes some sense. I suppose. I am, however, not wild about Pitt seeking to pull a Villanova and play extra games there. The difference is that the Pavilion on ‘Nova’s campus holds only 6500 people. So playing in the Wachovia Center at more than triple capacity (over 20,000) is a big source of more revenue.

The Consol has a capacity of 19,100 for basketball. That’s less than 7,000 more than the Pete holds. I’m not after you factor in the cost of rent to use and loss of concession revenues for those games are really significant. I really doubt that the amount of increased revenue would be worth the loss of a valuable home court advantage.

I admit to being biased from my experiences as a student at Pitt and the move of games to the Civic Arena that killed all homecourt advantage (yes, I know I’ve written this before). In the short term — with the novelty of a new facility — the energy and size of the crowds might be good. Long term, though, it is a bad idea.

Meanwhile, if you are looking for an excuse to go to a Pirates game, DeJuan Blair will throw out the first pitch on Wednesday night.

Blair, a star on the court at both Schenley High School and the University of Pittsburgh, will take the mound before the Pirates-White Sox game at 7:05 p.m.

“I have been a fan of the Pirates for as long as I can remember and I am thankful for this opportunity,” Blair said in a statement. “I am looking forward to getting out on the mound in front of my hometown crowd and taking part in such a cool Pittsburgh tradition.”

On the recruiting front, Pitt is targeting centers to finish the 2011 class. One of them is Desmond Hubert.

As for Pitt, Hubert said Panthers head coach Jamie Dixon “is a great guy.”

“I can sit down and talk with him. He makes me feel real comfortable when I talk to him. That’s a big plus for me. And then just they had a lot of good bigs lately [Sam Young, DeJuan Blair, Tyrell Biggs].”

The No. 7 center in the Class of 2011, Hubert, a rising senior at New Egypt (N.J.) High School said he also holds offers from UConn, Maryland, Wake Forest, Ohio State, Notre Dame,  Virginia Tech, Virginia, Rutgers and Seton Hall.

“I’m still pretty much wide open right now,” Hubert said. “Hopefully, after the live period I’ll be able to make my list.”

Hubert’s two front-runners right now are Pitt and Villanova. Should be an interesting battle for the 6-9  player.

Jaylen Bond, a 2011 verbal to Pitt, fought through injuries at “Rumble in the Bronx.”

Jaylen Bond, a 6-7, 220-pound combo forward from Plymouth Whitemarsh who committed to Pitt over West Virginia and Temple, battled an ankle injury but was still impressive in asserting himself. Bond said he wants to improve his handle and perimeter game going forward and imagines himself as a “Sam Young-type player.” “I think you’ll see a lot more to come of him,” Myers said. “He’s getting better and better.”

Feeling a little guilty of thinking about what Pitt can do the whole way through the Tournament? Trying to convince yourself that you should only be focused on Oakland and not to the next round? Concerned you are jinxing Pitt or bringing in bad karma by looking ahead?

Don’t be. Xavier is doing plenty of it.

So, when a possibly second round matchup popped up against three-seeded Pitt in the second round, well, it brought a little extra spice to the draw.

“We know they are in our bracket, our main goal is to focus on Minnesota, nothing is guaranteed,” Jamel McLean said. “Minnesota is our prime objective. Hopefully we see Pittsburgh and we will take that game from where we left off last year.”

So, yeah, they are trying to focus on Minnesota, but their fans can’t stop looking ahead.

I am loving Xavier’s chances of making it into the second weekend of the tournament.  Jordan Crawford is the kind of player that a team can hitch their wagon to.  Minnesota will have a great defense set up to slow him down but I think Crawford is ready to shine on the big stage.  Terrell Holloway has been very strong recently and Mark Lyons has been a weapon off the bench.  I like our bigs against the Golden Gophers bigs.  Xavier can get scoring from a variety of spots on the floor and can be tough defensively.  IF we can get a second round matchup against Pitt I see Xavier exacting revenge from last season.  IF we get a second round matchup against Oakland Friday night is going to be one hell of a good time.

The Musketeers are yet another team that benefited immensely from the dark lord, Kelvin Sampson. He who resulted in Scottie Reynolds at ‘Nova and Devin Ebanks to West Virginia. Well, Xavier has post-Sampson, Indiana transfer Jordan Crawford and another Indiana decommit in Terrell Holloway. This, more than anything else worries me about facing Xavier in the second round.

Not that Minnesota, that barely made the Tourney, lacks its fantasy goggles.

But the Musketeers, who finished 14-2 in the Atlantic 10 to tie Temple for the regular-season championship, aren’t an overwhelmingly talented team like Texas was last year.

And that gives the Gophers a shot.

“We’re excited again to make it to the big stage,” senior Lawrence Westbrook said. “And I feel like we can make a run in the tournament. We have to play like we did in the first three games of this (Big Ten) tournament, then we will be good.”

If they can make it to the second round, Minnesota has one of the easiest paths to the Sweet 16 of any lower-seeded team. The Gophers definitely have more talent than Oakland if the Grizzlies pull off an upset. Pittsburgh’s physicality could pose a problem, but the Panthers lost twice this year to Notre Dame. They also suffered a 10-point loss to Indiana in December.

I guess pre-Tournament is like spring training and it seems any sport in preseason. Everyone thinks they have a shot, and can visualize how it can happen.

Oakland may not be dreaming Final Four, but they are believing in a Sweet Sixteen run.

At Oakland, no one is lugging any extra weight. Kampe has done an excellent job with two senior leaders — guard Johnathon Jones and forward Derick Nelson. And 6-11 junior center Keith Benson is an overlooked star.

From the crushing disappointment of a year ago, when the Golden Grizzlies blew an NCAA bid by blowing a 13-point lead in the final seven minutes of a loss, something strong grew. Kampe handed out T-shirts with the phrase “Can You Finish,” and Oakland proved it could, even as it starts anew.

Oakland has won 20 of its last 21 games, and although it got hammered early by top teams — including an 88-57 loss at Michigan State — it’s a classically dangerous 14 seed.

“We were a Cinderella last time — now I think we’re just a really good team,” Kampe said. “Millions of people are gonna look at our name and have to decide, ‘Is Oakland gonna be the team that ruins my bracket?’?”

Kampe smiled broadly in his cluttered office, amid signs of what’s unfolding. He held up a yellow brick, something each player is required to carry around, symbolizing the long road in the “Wizard of Oz.” Stray from the path, bad things happen. Stay on the path, who knows what’s possible.

The numbers may not make them that much of a “dangerous” team, Pitt still has to beat them.

I’m sure if I actually went back and reviewed some past liveblogs, I could find one that had less complaints and was more distracted by peripheral items than the actual game. But, I can’t remember one.

Pit never was threatened in this game. Other than a brief 5-3 RU lead, this one was never in doubt. From7 minutes into the game, Pitt held a double-digit lead. 33 of the 40 minutes.  As dominate as Pitt was, Rutgers completely rolled over.

The game ended. The regular season over, Coach Dixon got properly effusive about the team’s accomplishments — and that it isn’t over yet.

“It says a lot about this group and the character they have to finish in second place,” coach Jamie Dixon said.

“They weren’t picked second by anybody. But they’re a good group of kids, and I’m proud of them. This team has improved all year, and I don’t think we want to stop improving now. This team has improved more than any team in the country, more than any team, probably, ever has from November to March.

“Why stop now?”

Why, indeed?

Jermaine Dixon echoed those thoughts.

“I’m really proud,” senior guard Jermaine Dixon, the team’s lone returning starter. “I knew we could do it. We accomplished a lot this year, but we’re not done.”

Dixon hurt his ankle, but everyone seems to suggest that it was precautionary that he was kept out and he will be fine. Hope so. We have seen this year, how different Pitt is without him. Even without being able to have him practice with the team.

Now, with a few days before the BET begins, the usual argument will reign as to whether Pitt should put as much emphasis on the Big East Tournament. Whether it will risk leaving them drained or worse, injured for the NCAA Tournament.

My thought is simply that with a team like Pitt, they have to play hard and with the goal of winning the BET. They are not mature enough to be able to “turn it on or off.” Coach Dixon has to emphasize the goal of winning each and every game. If they fall at some point in the BET, then you can revise and say things like the NCAA is what matters. But right now, the team has to think about winning at Madison Square Garden.

For the record, I am totally in agreement with Gil Brown.

Pitt could play one of three different teams in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals — Notre Dame, Seton Hall or Providence — but Gilbert Brown wants another shot at the Fighting Irish.

Pitt lost to Notre Dame, 68-53, in South Bend two weeks ago. It’s the Panthers’ only loss in their past nine games.

“It would be good to play Notre Dame again, seeing how they handled us pretty well at their place,” Brown said. “It would be a great rematch at the Garden, and I’m really looking forward to it.”

The way the bracket is set, those are the three teams Pitt could possibly face. My feeling is Pitt under Coach Dixon just knows how to adjust when they get in a rematch with teams — Villanova last year being the exception. So as good as ND has been playing, I want to see Pitt with another shot at MSG.

Meanwhile Dante Taylor is looking and feeling a lot better these days.

“It felt real good,” Taylor said. “I got some confidence back, and I was trying to be aggressive.”

Taylor said he lost some confidence after going scoreless in four consecutive games in mid-season and totaling two points in a six-game span from Jan. 24-Feb. 8.

“I tried to not let it get to me,” he said. “I still came out and played hard.”

He finished with 11 ponts and 7 rebounds and definitely looked more comfortable out there. Granted it was against Rutgers, but to use Herm Edwards’ lesser used quotes: We can build on this.

The Big East announced its All-Big East teams. The good news, the 11 player All-Big East teams are done. That does mean that only Ashton Gibbs made it  as a 2d team All-Big East player. No one else in the 3 teams or even honorable mention. Actually, though, that doesn’t surprise me.

It’s a reflection of how good Pitt has been as a team — and how shockingly well they have played. Realistically, the only players you could consider besides Gibbs on the All-Big East would have been Wanamaker and Jermaine Dixon. Dixon, though, missed most of the non-con with his injuries to make his stats smaller.

Thanks again to Luke for running the liveblog. I scored significant brownie points with the wife for letting her go out with friends while I took care of the kids and delayed my watching. I’m cashing in those points to force the whole family to take a day trip to Pittsburgh in April for the Blue-Gold scrimmage/fanfest/whatever they are calling it. The indoctrination program for my kids must be reinforced.

So, on the gamewinner by Gibbs was a big story.

Ashton Gibbs stood for one fleeting moment in silence, his arm still raised in the same position it was when he took the shot.

Frozen time thawed soon after, as Gibbs’ Pitt teammates performed a collective embrace that pushed Gibbs from one end of the court to the other. The Petersen Events Center was again teeming, just like it had against Louisville, just like it had against West Virginia.

It’s been one of those seasons. Pitt has had things go its way more often than not. The question still has to be asked as to how Providence could give Gibbs such a clear line for a shot.

Player trying to keep rolling: Why anybody would let a guy who shoots 40 percent from 3-point range catch the ball, fly uninterrupted up the court and get off a 3-pointer in the final seconds is beyond me, but that’s precisely what the Providence Friars did Thursday night, and it cost them because Ashton Gibbs drained a long jumper at the buzzer to lift Pittsburgh to a 73-71 victory. The sophomore guard was 9 of 13 from the field and 6 of 9 from 3-point range. It’s doubtful he’ll need an effort like that Saturday to get Pitt past Rutgers. But it wouldn’t hurt, and I’m sure Jamie Dixon would welcome it.

Gibbs seemed nonplussed — not simply at the shot going — the defense.

“They backed off a little bit, but that’s what you expect,” Gibbs said of the final play. “I just wanted to be aggressive with it. It felt good as soon as I let it go.”

Which was Providence Coach, Keno Davis’ explanation.

Providence coach Keno Davis said the plan was to keep two defenders close to Gibbs but not to foul one of the nation’s best free-throw shooters.

“You don’t want any body contact,” Davis said. “The last thing you want is him going to the free throw line. You need to make him make a tough shot and we did — and he made it.”

Yes, but I found this bit of twittering from Andy Katz instructive.

Pitt’s Ashton Gibbs with the game winner. Adrian Branch here at the U made a great point on the difference between MSU-PSU and Pitt-PC.

MSU made PSU’s Talor Battle change direction, Providence didn’t do that for Pitt’s Ashton Gibbs. Gibbs made shot, Battle did not.

Gibbs was able to go straight into his shot, squared away to shoot. The shot may not have been right at the 3-point line, and there was  a Providence defender trying to distract by flying at him. But they never altered his line. It’s a subtle difference.

Providence didn’t play great defense, but they were more aggressive at trying to force turnovers. As expected, all the piling on for their lack of defense played a roll.

Coach Keno Davis said he felt his team has taken some unfair criticism from the media over his team’s defense in recent days, and despite Pitt hitting 53 percent from the field, he was happy with an effort that made the Panthers work hard and also forced 15 turnovers.

“We’ve gotten some unwarranted publicity about our team and our defense,” said Davis. “When you’re playing top eight teams every night, they can exploit you. We’re learning how to play defense and we’re getting better. Some of our young guys are going to have big, breakout years next year.”

Asked about PC’s defense on the winning shot, Davis said, “if I had to do it over, I’d do the same thing. You want two guys on the best player but you don’t want any body contact. You need him to make a tough shot and he did. You tip your hat to him.”

The guy who Pitt may see in nightmares was Jamine Peterson who exploded especially in the second half. In the first half, he scored 7 points of the Friars first 9 points but did grab 6 boards. The second half he had 17 points and 12 boards. He had a double-double in one half.

“He hurt us, no question,” coach Dixon said. “He’s very good. He hurts everybody.”

Then there was Jermaine Dixon having a big night on offense. Finally driving to the basket once more.

“Coach Dixon told me he wanted to see me drive more to the basket,” said the guard, who had 24 points on 11-of-18 shooting. “I haven’t been doing much offensively, but if I could get in and get a lay up or find somebody else open, it would help.”
…
“You can just see Jermaine is just starting to get more comfortable driving, slashing and finishing around the basket,” said Jamie Dixon.

All but saying that, yes, Dixon’s ankle and/or foot had been an issue lately.

Side things. Pitt was 20th in the ESPN.com power poll and 14th for SI.com — done before yesterday night’s game.

I’m going to go ahead and assume Luke did a fine job with the liveblog. As you can tell from the timestamp, I did not start watching until very late. So, I haven’t looked things over at this point.

Last year, it was a bit simplistic — but not necessarily incorrect to say Pitt was a 3-man team. And that they could win games that way. This year… not so much.

Yet, tonight they pulled it off. Dixon, Wanamaker and Gibbs were essentially the team.

This is one of those games where the box score doesn’t lie.

McGhee had a hideous night. In fact, somehow he manage to get a break by only being dinged with 2 turnovers. I counted 3 by him in the first 3 minutes. He really struggled with the ball tonight. Not squeezing rebounds and getting caught out of position too often.

Gilbert Brown had yet another alternating night and this was the bad one. I want to curse, but find myself laughing at how disturbingly symmetrical he is with one game on, one game off. Scoreless. Minimal rebounding.

Nasir Robinson and Dante Taylor were about what was expected, but that comes off as damning with faint praise. Not sure how Woodall gets credit for 1 assist and 0 turnovers, but he did not handle this game well.

No way in hell, though, am I complaining too hard about Gibbs hitting the gamewinning 3 and Pitt coming away with a 73-71 win after this game.

It bears repeating. This was a 3-man game.

Player      FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF  TP  A TO BLK S MIN
Gibbs....... 9-13   6-9     1-1    2  2  4  2  25  3  1  0  0  37
Wanamaker....4-9    2-3     0-1    1  4  5  3  10 13  2  2  1  35
Dixon...... 11-18   0-3     2-5    2 10 12  4  24  4  5  0  2  35

59 of Pitt’s 73 points. 20 of 24 assists. all 3 of a pathetic FT shooting night. All 3 steals and all 8 3s made. Even 21 of the 36 rebounds.

Survived a potentially embarrassing game. Clinched the double bye. Regroup and beat the hell out of Rutgers on Saturday.

Looks like no liveblog tonight. Wife has some things late, so I’m with the kids until an undetermined time. So, despite the 9pm start time, I probably won’t be able to start watching until at least 9:30 so I’m just going DVR delay and will set up an open thread then some post-game comments after I watch.

I’m increasingly working my way into a crazy fantasy that the berating of how Providence can’t/won’t/are unable to comprehend the concept of defense has been so batted around that Providence will actually put an effort into it and completely stun Pitt because no one saw it coming.

What they’re saying is true, of course. PC is allowing 85.7 points through 16 Big East games. Unless something changes quickly, that will be the worst defensive showing in conference history, eclipsing the 83.5 given up by the Friars’ 1990 team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament in Rick Barnes’ first season as coach.

In all games, PC’s defense ranks 332nd among 334 Division I teams, at 81.2 ppg.

The evolution of the defensive woes stems from when Keno Davis was hired from Drake in April of 2008. The newly minted national coach of the year came to town with a run-and-gun style that relied heavily on the 3-point shot and firing many more attempts than the opponent. But it’s not as if Drake played no defense in its run to the Missouri Valley championship. That team allowed just 62.1 points a game.

Davis says he’s far from a proponent of run-and-gun, Loyola-Marymount-type basketball. It’s just that mixing his new recruits with the leftovers from the Tim Welsh regime hasn’t worked, at least on defense.

Last year’s team allowed a hefty 76.7 points a game. This year’s is averaging 82 points a game, second in the Big East and in the top 10 in the country. But defense is another matter.

As you would expect with a team like this, they like to push the tempo and run. They do a surprisingly good job at getting offensive rebounds — but do a horrible job at the defensive end with rebounding — allowing a lot of offensive rebounds and second chance points. Which isn’t surprising with their defense in general. Half the team seems to be sprinting the other way even before a rebound is secured when having to play defense.

Players like Ashton Gibbs are saying the right things about remembering being smacked in the mouth by the Friars last year, and the team is talking about having to play defense.

“We just have to play our game,” Pitt senior Jermaine Dixon said. “They’re a good team, even though they have struggled. They have stayed in there with some of the big-name teams. They get up for the competition. We’re at the top of the Big East, so they’ll have their A game. We have to control their 3-point shooting and rebound.”

Providence attempts almost 25 3-pointers per game, the most of any team in the conference. The Friars make 33 percent of those and lead the conference in 3-point field goals made per game (8.2).

The top 3-point shooter is senior guard Sharaud Curry, who has made 42.2 percent of his 3-point attempts in conference play.

“They really shoot the ball from 3,” Jamie Dixon said. “That’s the thing you have to be concerned about. They seem to be in every game. They seem to go through runs where they give up points, but, sometimes, they score in bunches, too.

The major force on the Friars is redshirt sophomore forward Jamine “Greedy” Peterson.

Peterson has come out of relative obscurity to average a team-high 19.3 points and 9.9 rebounds. The 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward has notched a Big East-leading 14 double-doubles this season — four more than Pitt has as a team — as well as a bunch of highlight-reel dunks.

“He’s a tough matchup,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “He’s strong enough to play inside and versatile enough to play on the outside.”

But that hasn’t been enough lately. Providence went 0-for-February and has dropped eight in a row since beating Connecticut, 81-66, on Jan. 27. With a win, Pitt will assure itself of a top-four finish in the Big East and earn a double-bye at next week’s Big East Tournament.

Peterson, who averaged 4.7 points and 2.9 rebounds as a freshman in 2007-08 and redshirted last season for the senior-heavy Friars, won a starting job and made an immediate impact this season. He grabbed 22 rebounds against Mercer in his third career start and posted 27 points and 14 rebounds against Alabama five days later.

He owns the only 20-20 game by a Big East player this season (29 points, 20 rebounds against Rutgers). He has 48 3-pointers and averages a Big East-leading 4.2 offensive rebounds per game.

The story says they call him “Greedy” for the way he grabs offensive rebounds. Providence fans, quietly acknowledge that Greedy also fits his offensive game in that he has 444 shot attempts and is not much for ball sharing — only 31 assists to 47 turnovers.

So if he grabs a board, odds are he’s going back up with it. How Pitt contends with that will be interesting. Can Nasir Robinson handle him inside? McGhee will be contending with their forward-center Bilal Dixon (6-8) and a leaper like Greedy would get McGhee in foul trouble.

The Friars are not a particularly big team so there are no big match-up probles for Pitt, but as we saw last week against ND teams that can drive and shoot from outside can be more of a problem for Pitt. Regardless of their overall size.

Sometimes I think gimmee games make me more nervous than the big, tough ones. I am finding myself getting increasingly edgy the more I think about Pitt playing Providence. You would think that Pitt players would want revenge and  still have the memories stuck in their heads from last year at the Dunk.

“We’re just going to move the ball,” Panthers guard Ashton Gibbs said. “We’ll continue to be unselfish and penetrate and dish and look for open teammates. That’s what we’ve been doing, and we’re going to continue to do it.”

Twenty-nine players have scored at least 20 points against the Friars this season.

South Florida’s Dominique Jones scored 46 points against Providence — the second-highest point total in Big East history — and Georgetown’s Greg Monroe became the first Big East center to record at least 10 assists in a game when he had 12 against Providence.

The Friars can turn ho-hum players into high-scoring stars.

DePaul’s Mike Stovall, who averages 6.6 points, scored 30 against Providence. Cincinnati’s Cashmere Wright, averaging 5.7 points per game, netted 24.

Still, Pitt can’t take the Friars lightly. The No. 1 Panthers started out “lackadaisical” at Providence last season and lost, 81-73.

“We came out really lazy, and they took advantage of it,” Gibbs said. “Before you knew it, we were down 20.”

What has me worried is that Providence plays such bad defense. Expending all its energy on scoring. It is a hard temptation for players to resist the urge to just try and match the scoring and slip on the defensive end.

Consider this: Marquette Providence is riding an eight game losing streak. In four of the games they had a halftime lead (USF, G-town, Syracuse and Marquette). One game was tied (Cinci), and in three games where they trailed at the half (WVU, Nova, Cuse) two of them had the Friars within 5 points. Only WVU blew them out of the water in the first half and shut down their offense.

It took for most of these teams a halftime of their coach getting in their faces to remember to play defense and not let Providence dictate the tempo. Considering the offensive funks Pitt can fall into, it does have me a bit concerned.

You add in just the level of public humiliation Providence is taking over their defense. Plus second year coach Keno Davis seems to be losing his honeymoon grace period with the play.

But they aren’t, and there are no repercussions coming from Keno.

“There’s a point where guys make mistakes,” he said the other day, “and as a coach you can sit them, but are you ruining your chances of winning a game?”

Last time I looked, the Friars had lost eight straight conference games, and 10 of their last 11.

Because Keno is soft on his players, they play soft defense.

Can you picture Jim Calhoun or Jim Boeheim, Jay Wright or Jamie Dixon, Bob Huggins or John Thompson III, putting up with efforts they felt were insufficient and unacceptable?

Keno Davis’ quote came from his discussion of lack of depth on the squad that benching the guys won’t help the team win. It’s a tough line. Will the players actually respond to the benching? Just quit?

I know the broader point being that they were going to lose anyways so at least do so witha  message. As I pointed out with their first half, they were actually leading or still very close. Only one game was a blowout from the start. That’s what has to make it so hard. For at least a half, they were in these games.

Well, at least we know Jermaine Dixon will do what he can on defense and to keep the team in line. He has a goal.

Dixon, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound guard who came to Pitt from Tallahassee Community College last year, can complete his two-year career at Pitt with a 36-1 home record if the Panthers can win their final two games Thursday against Providence and Saturday against Rutgers.

“That would be big,” Dixon said Tuesday after practice. “I told them I never wanted to lose in the Pete. But we took one loss this year. Not losing [another] game in this building would be great. It’s something I want to do.”

The team from a year ago became the fourth in school history to complete a season with a perfect home record. The current team can join select company by finishing the season with only one loss at home.

Since the Petersen Events Center opened in 2002, four teams finished undefeated or with one loss. The 2008-09 and the 2002-03 teams did not lose at home. Coach Jaime Dixon’s first team in 2003-04 and the 2005-06 group finished with one loss.

Not that he’s actually seen the court much — and now the presumed odd guy out to make room on the next recruiting class — Dwight Miller has reinjured his heel that was the official reason for his redshirt last year.

In other stuff, Gary Parrish lists his top-eight candidates for National Coach of the year. Tough group.

In a dubious distinction for Coach Dixon, he gets mentioned as the “best coach never to make the Final Four.”

Coach Dixon has been doing the media rounds and on the Dan Patrick show he engaged in hyper-conference partisanship.

“I think we’ve got like 11 teams that are NCAA tournament teams,” Dixon told Tony Bruno, a fill-in host for Patrick.

“I think this conference is actually stronger this year from top to bottom, I really do,” Dixon said. “I don’t think we’re as top heavy this year, but top to bottom there is just better teams.”

But Dixon acknowledged that the league likely won’t actually get that many bids to the Big Dance.

“Now I know that many aren’t going to get in. It’s just pure numbers, plus beating each other up,” he said.

Dixon also remained lukewarm on conference expansion.

Pitt never quite put St. John’s so far down in the second half that there was no chance that they could not come back. At the same time time, Pitt never really let St. John’s close the gap enough to make it probable. Pico put it right.

Watching the game, it seemed like a deeper cut, a more thorough beating. But on the scoreboard and in the box score, it wasn’t.

It also did not hurt just how badly coached St. John’s is. I mean, I have never like St. John’s. Yet, I found myself ticked off at how badly these players have been coached and wasted. Anthony Mason, Jr. is an unfortunate victim of injuries that took away some great skill and ability. But the others, Kennedy, Burrell, Boothe, Hardy and some others. I could picture any and all of them thriving at Pitt. None being particularly huge recruits, but you can see that they have talent, work hard, want to improve and will play defense.

Unfortunately for them, Norm Roberts has shown no clue at how to be a head coach and actually make a team. It is no wonder the papers in NYC barely pay attention to them except to note the frustration and say that Norm Roberts time should be finished.

Here’s a story that has been written by so many, many times over this millennium: Pitt winning without stars.

Sam Young isn’t surprised one bit.The former Pittsburgh standout and current Memphis Grizzlies rookie isn’t shocked one bit at the success the Panthers are enjoying.

“Not at all. Even though they lost some great guys in the program, still this is a program. It’s a system and the system works,” Young said at halftime of No. 12 Pitt’s 71-64 victory over St. John’s (15-13, 5-11 Big East) at Madison Square Garden.

Young addressed the current players at the half. He was in town because the Grizzlies faced the Knicks Saturday night as part of a split college/NBA doubleheader at the Garden.

Despite losing four players who combined for 286 career starts — Young, DeJuan Blair, Levance Fields and Tyrell Biggs — the Panthers are now 22-7, 11-5 in the Big East and headed to the NCAA tournament for the ninth consecutive season, seven straight under head coach Jamie Dixon.

Pitts doesn’t have a single player who is likely to be named to the All-Big East First Team.

Aside from the interesting note that Young addressed the team, it would be that Coach Dixon seems to be pushing Gibbs for Most Improved Player.

After helping the Jamie Dixon-coached USA Under-19 team win the gold medal last summer at the FIBA World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand, Gibbs has 10 games of 20 points or more. “I haven’t really looked at it but the numbers kind of speak for itself,” Jamie Dixon said when asked if Gibbs deserved Most Improved Player honors.

In the last 11 years, five Pitt players have already won the award – Ricardo Greer, Brandin Knight, Carl Krauser, Aaron Gray and Young.

“[Gibbs] stepped up in a big way because last year he was just a role player but that’s what we needed him to be,” Young said. “He’s a very hard worker. Even last year when he first got in he was a hard worker and it’s paying off.”

As for the game itself, there isn’t a lot to say. The struggle to rebound has now reached multiple games and appears problematic.

The rebounding and fouls were what kept St. John’s in the game. Pitt executed its offense so much better. They hit open shots and got more going inside. Gilbert Brown continues to alternate solid offensive games with disappearing acts. This was one of the good games, and he said the right thing about coming off the bench.

Brown, the team’s third-leading scorer at 10.6 points per game, has embraced his role coming off the bench. The 6-foot-6 redshirt junior forward is a candidate for Big East Sixth Man of the Year, an award started last season.

“I really want to be on a winning team, regardless of whether I’m starting or I’m a sixth or seventh man,” Brown said. “Our success as a team is the most important thing.”

I have to wonder if Jermaine Dixon has reaggravated his ankle or his foot hurting. It wasn’t just that Dixon has been pulling up for jumpers a lot more and not penetrating to the basket. He took only a few shots — all jumpers. He had 0 rebounds. He only had one against Notre Dame. And despite Gibbs having more significant foul troubles that limited him, Dixon only played 22 minutes. His one-on-one defense was solid but he seemed to stay outside on both ends.

Nasir Robinson had a very solid game. Scoring on putbacks and finishing inside (5-7) — and at the free throw line (3-3). He was one rebound shy of a double-double with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Dante Taylor gave Pitt some good minutes and looked solid at the offensive end. Overall, Pitt’s efficiency on offense was impressive in a slow paced game.

Still, a road win is always a good win, and Pitt has managed to go 5-4 on the road in the Big East this season. That means Pitt finishes the season with two home games. Not that Pitt should or wants to lose either, but they only need one to clinch a minimum of 4th place in the Big East and the double-bye for the Big East Tournament. Pitt could end tied at 4th with Louisville and Marquette but holds the tiebreaker over both for the double bye.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on the ND loss. Mainly because Pitt has to quickly put it behind them and head to NYC for a Saturday Nooner at St. John’s. But also because I expressed most of my thoughts afterwards and little seems to have changed in my  view.

Coach Dixon was irritated about the 3-point defense.

Instead, Notre Dame finished 10 for 18 (56 percent) on 3-pointers.”I didn’t think our defense was good enough but, at the same time, to their credit they made shots,” Dixon said. “We talked at the start of the game and really for the last three days we talked about stopping the 3s, that shooting the 3-pointer was what they would need to do to win the game and, sure enough, they came out and hit a 3-pointer on the first play of the game and was 6 for 8 on 3-pointers for the first half.

“That really set the tone, and then [with the lead in the second half] they obviously ran clock and held the ball and the times we did get a stop, it didn’t seem like we finished it off with the rebound. We need to play much better than we did.”

The players acknowledged their performance bit.

“We didn’t play good defense, we didn’t play average defense, we played bad defense tonight,” said Pitt senior Jermaine Dixon. “We let them get open looks at the 3-pointer and then when they did miss it, they got the offensive rebound, so it is disappointing. They outworked us, and that definitely hurt us.

“They run it down to the end of the clock, and coach Dixon told us to make sure they don’t rebound their misses, and that is something they did. That’s big because you don’t have a lot of time on the other end to play offense and then, when they make the shot after they get an [offensive rebound], that is demoralizing.”

Heck Coach Dixon was irritated at most of what Pitt did in the game.

“We got beat in pretty much every aspect,” Jamie Dixon said. “It’s one loss. It feels right now like a number of losses.”

And again the players couldn’t disagree.

“We didn’t have our stuff going today,” Pitt center Gary McGhee said. “We had a lot of mishaps on defense. We didn’t rebound as well as we wanted to. When those combinations go together, it’s usually a loss.”

Notre Dame feels a lot better about itself, believing it can now play defense. Sure it took all season, but they did it.

Onto MSG where Pitt will look to snap a 2-game losing streak — at the place not to St. Johns.

That was not pretty. It was not a good night — to be kind. The way Pitt was being blown out in the second half, losing 68-53 was disturbingly cosmetic.

It was a bad effort from Pitt. They were a step slow a lot of the game and way too many jump shots on offense. No patience or effort to work the ball inside. Nothing sums it up like Gilbert Brown’s night. 3 points, going only 1-3 at the FT line and 1-7 shooting. Most problematic, he took (and missed) 5 3s. He wasn’t trying to penetrate and attack the rim. He and Jermaine Dixon spent most of the night taking jumpers.

Pitt did not attack the basket. They did not work it inside. Consequently they did not get fouled and did not get free throw attempts. Pitt went 4-18 on 3s. Gibbs made 3(-6) and Wanamaker had 1(-1).

Fatigue and a letdown probably played a role. Not an excuse, but Pitt came off two games that were very significant and emotional. At Marquette on Thursday where they had never succeeded. Then beating #5 Villanova on Sunday on CBS.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame played last Wednesday and had plenty of time to prepare and rest. They were at home.  To say nothing of how much they needed this game to have any hope of making the NCAA. They played like it.

They were hitting their 3s. It made it that much harder to defend when Pitt had to keep extending the defense and Notre Dame was effectively moving the ball and penetrating. I mean, Carleton Scott has gone 6-29 on 3s all season goes 2-3 tonight from outside. That just added to the misery.

You just hope that this game serves more as a lesson and reminder for the team.

It all seems to be building to that sort of incident. Team without its star player for another game. A Notre Dame squad that will be undersized inside that should let Gary McGhee go wild.

Notre Dame will likely continue to use the lineup it had against Louisville with Harangody out. Forward Carleton Scott made his first collegiate start against the Cardinals, finishing with nine points, five rebounds and three blocks.

The Irish will also likely continue to work in freshman forwards Jack Cooley and Mike Broghammer.

Scott is 6-7 and Cooley and Broghammer are in that 6-8, 6-9 size. The danger is that ND while not having a real big man, has size all over. Abromaitis is 6-8. Nash is 6-8

A team that already shoots tons of 3s,  forced to rely on it even more.

The Irish shot 24 3-pointers in their most recent loss, a 91-89 setback in double overtime against Louisville. In the other game without Harangody, a 69-68 loss at St. John’s, the Irish took 20 3-pointers.

The Irish were competitive in both games because they were making a lot of those 3-point attempts. They were 10 for 20 against St. John’s and 10 for 24 against Louisville.

It was not a two-game spurt. Notre Dame remains a dangerous team against Pitt because it is shooting 41 percent from 3-point range for the season.

Junior forward Tim Abromaitis is shooting 49.5 percent and senior guard Ben Hansbrough 45 percent.

Now Pitt is one of the best teams at defending the three, but when a team is on that doesn’t always matter. The Irish have enough shooters that they can spread the field. Guys like Tory Jackson can penetrate to help create space and draw in defenders.  Plus the Irish are at home.

As if those on-the-court things weren’t enough to make you nervous of a trap game, consider that there is starting to be a bit more of passive media snipes being taken at ND Coach Mike Brey.

The Panthers routinely win at least 20 games overall and 10 league games each winter. Look up the word “program” in the college basketball dictionary and the reference likely says, “See, Panthers, Pittsburgh.”

All the Panthers lost off last season’s team that raced to a 31-5 record were four starters, including staples Levance Fields and Sam Young. All coach Jamie Dixon did was plug in four new faces, albeit veterans, give a little tweak here and there and before many around the country noticed, Pittsburgh put itself in position for a first-round league tournament bye – and may challenge for the regular-season league title.

“They’ve been the best program in my 10 years,” Brey said. “They’ve been there every year. This year is no different.

“They just have a system that is good.”

Players too. Fields and Young and DeJuan Blair step out, and Gilbert Brown, Ashton Gibbs, Gary McGhee and Nasir Robinson step in. The names on the backs of the jerseys may change, but the M.O. seldom has, dating back to the days of Ben Howland and Fitzgerald Field House.

“They’ve got guys who just go out there and play and work,” Jackson said. “They figure out ways to get it done.”

As for Notre Dame, the search continues.

And just for bad karma, talk of how Pitt is among the elite.

Before last season, Dixon was widely criticized for not getting a team past the NCAA tournament’s round of 16. He’ll always be criticized by some until he gets Pitt to a Final Four.

“I don’t care about Final Fours. I care about national championships,” Dixon said. “People don’t remember who made it to the Final Four. They only remember who won the national championship. A national championship is what separates you. We don’t have that yet.”

Notice the man said “yet.”

“I’m going to work as hard as I can to make it happen,” Dixon said.

Pitt is one of the best and most consistent programs in the country. It takes more, though, to be considered one of the elite, top programs. Putting it simply you have to go to Final Fours. You have to win in March and April.

It isn’t a criticism or even suggesting that I have any problems with the program, and especially not at Coach Dixon. I don’t. The fact that he dismisses talk of Pitt as an elite team right now shows how much he gets it. He is proud of what the program has and is doing, but it isn’t good enough. Yet, he is not taking shortcuts to try and get there. I love the path the program and even this present team is taking. I want Coach Dixon here for a long, long time. I want the slower growth, not the flash in the pan.

Just one game at a time, and this one is starting to give me an uneasy feeling.

In some ways that is Notre Dame at this point. Luke Harangody really does appear to be very unlikely to play on Wednesday.

Feeling better after missing two games to let a bone bruise in his right knee heal, Notre Dame power forward Luke Harangody planned to participate in all 90 minutes of Monday’s basketball practice.

He barely made it through 15 before lingering pain forced him out of a simple halfcourt drill. After consultation with team medical personnel and coach Mike Brey, Harangody has been ruled out for Wednesday’s home game against No. 12 Pittsburgh.

“He kind of stepped out for a few minutes and wanted to come back in,” said Brey, whose team never got to a planned scrimmage with Harangody. “I said, ‘No, that’s it. We’re not going to play games with it.’ “

Well, as they showed in taking Lousiville to OT at Freedom Hall, the Irish can still play. Even more so at the Joyce Center. The Irish really enjoy a big homecourt advantage there — even with a stunning loss to St. John’s. In fact that makes it a little scarier. Only once in the past 4 years has ND dropped two straight at home.

(more…)

Okay, remaining stuff to get out before turning attention to Wednesday’s game — now with less Harangody (for now).

Harangody’s first full day of practice since suffering a bone bruise on Feb. 11 didn’t go as planned. With more persistent pain than expected, Harangody has been ruled out for the immediate future.

Irish coach Mike Brey, speaking on his weekly radio show, said he didn’t know when the All-American would return.

“There was pain there today that we aren’t going to play around with,” Brey told listeners. “I said, ‘Luke, I’m not going to let you play.’”

Of course if he practices with less or no pain on Tuesday, things can change.

Ray Mernagh at NBE Basketball continues to be impressed with Pitt.

At some point soon I’m going to write 800 words on how impressive Nasir Robinson is in what he does for this team as he battles in the paint defensively and fights for rebounds, deflections etc.

A few weeks ago some were wondering if Pittsburgh, after a fast start, was in danger of missing the NCAA’s for the first time in nine years. Now I’m still amazed at the number of new wrinkles getting put in offensively — cuts you haven’t seen before, Dixon and Woodall finding people for layups. Woodall springting to the line and sinking pressure free throws down the stretch.

Post-Gazette beat writer Ray Fittipaldo responds to some grief now given for stating that it had appeared that Woodall was a recruiting error. It’s a tad defensive, but it is fair to point out that most looking in on the program were seeing this as conventional wisdom up until a couple weeks ago.

When Nova loses, they foul even more than usual. The tempo Pitt imposed on Nova seemed to be a jarring thing for the Wildcat faithful.

You want to take something more away from the game than just a win? Covered.

Chris Peak at PantherLair suggests notice has been served.

First there was the 82-72 win at Syracuse on January 2nd. Next came the triple-overtime 98-95 win against West Virginia 10 days ago. And then on Sunday Pitt mounted a toppling of the No. 3-ranked Wildcats.

Consider it an overthrow of the Big East’s trilateral leadership.

Of course, Pitt’s not making any proclamations on the throne – “We’re just one step closer to winning the Big East regular season. We’re just trying to do our part,” was the most senior guard Jermaine Dixon would offer after the Villanova game – but no other team in the conference can claim a set of wins against the Orange, the Wildcats, and the Mountaineers this season.

In fact, outside of Pitt, no team in the conference has won more than one game against that trio of teams; with two weeks left in the season, the other 12 teams have combined for a 4-28 record against Syracuse, Villanova, and West Virginia.

Well, UConn can now claim wins over Nova and WVU — plus a really tough loss to Syracuse. So, take from that what you will.

Kevin Gorman wants everyone to know that it is the players not the place.

It wasn’t so much the intimidation of the Oakland Zoo and a standing-room-only attendance of 12,920 – the largest on-campus crowd in Pitt basketball history – that made it a miserable afternoon for Villanova.

“The toughest thing,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said, “is their team.”

To say Pitt is tough to beat at the Pete is an understatement. The Panthers are 130-11 all-time there. But it’s not because of the Pete. It’s because of Pitt.

Eric Hall seems to have given up trying to figure out the secret to this team. He just wants to enjoy it.

Brandin Knight was still dressed in a dapper black pin-striped suit as he walked through the halls of the Petersen Events Center hours after Pitt’s latest shocker, a 70-65 win over No. 3 Villanova Sunday, his ear-to-ear smile completely his impeccable wardrobe.

The Pitt assistant has seen his share of success in this building. He helped open the place in a season that begat a second straight Sweet 16. His retired number whistles in the rafters every time the fans cheer. His rise from video coordinator to Jamie Dixon’s coaching staff coincided with an Elite Eight season last year.

But he even couldn’t explain this team and its uncanny knack of doing the unexpected.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged.

Enjoy.

Jermaine Dixon may have gotten a trans-Atlantic peptalk at 3 am, but that lack of sleep might have had something to do with 3-15 shooting.

Dixon still draws a lot of his motivation from Fields, who is currently playing in Russia. The two speak regularly on the computer. Dixon, in fact, called Fields at 3 a.m. yesterday morning to get some last-minute inspiration.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Dixon said. “And it’s the middle of the morning over there. I asked him how he was going over there and he told me make sure we get the victory and make sure we play hard and our goal should be to win the Big East.”

Isn’t Skype great? On a personal level for Jermaine Dixon, it was a measure of revenge. He doesn’t pretend otherwise.

“This one feels pretty good,” Dixon said with just about the biggest grin you’ll ever see on a college kid’s face.

Dixon enjoyed frustrating Scottie Reynolds for most of the game. Reynolds for his part was frustrated that he couldn’t penetrate with ease.

Brace yourself for this, but Doug Gottlieb had a good breakdown of what Pitt did to stop Reynolds in the game in College GameDay Final Sunday night/Monday morning. He showed how Pitt made sure someone always stayed between Reynolds and the basket to force him to give it up or pass out rather than go to the hoop and/or draw the foul on a big guy inside. Even when Pitt switched up on the perimeter a Pitt player would actually slide in front and risk leaving a ‘Nova player open in the corners to keep Reynolds from the basket.

(more…)