Just  22 days until spring practices commence.

Pitt starts spring practice on March 18 . The Blue-Gold Scrimmage or whatever they are going to do to mark the end is set for April 17. I really wish they would have started at least a week later.

I hate saying anything good about them, but West Virginia is doing it right. Start the spring practice on April 6 — the day after the NCAA Tournament ends. That’s just good planning. Attention fully on the football side. All basketball over.

A little more regarding Pitt’s first commit for 2011 and his visit.

Offensive lineman Cyrus Kouandjio and defensive linemen Darian Cooper and Kendall Patterson went with Collura to Pittsburgh. After touring the campus, they met with position coaches and went to the Panthers’ basketball game that afternoon.

“When we broke off into meetings, their tight ends coach was straightforward what he expects tight ends to do, blocking and running routes,” Collura said. “Right then and there, I had an idea. Coming in, I was thinking Pittsburgh where I wanted to go. That seemed perfect right there.”

On Monday, after reviewing Collura’s game films, the Panthers extended a scholarship offer and it did not take long for him to decide.

“Everything was going crazy in our household, my dad was calling all the family,” Collura said. “Two hours later, after talking with Coach McGregor and my dad, I decided to commit. It seemed like an obvious choice.”

The big name of note in the list of teammates that came with Collura to visit Pitt is Cyrus Kouandijo. Tons of offers for him already (including Pitt, USC and Alabama). A consensus 5-star recruit considered by Rivals.com as the #1 OT in the 2011 class — at a point when most recruiting evaluations are not ready. So that’s something else.

Another visitor from the weekend was Jameel Poteat (apparently the nephew of Pitt standout Hank Poteat — one of the few bright spots from Johnny Majors II) who had a nice time (h/t to Dan).

…Poteat was very impressed with Pitt.  Poteat told Peak that, “It was great.”  Poteat went on to say that he was very comfortable, especially with head coach Dave Wannstedt. Poteat got to also hang with former Bishop McDevitt and Pitt running back LeSean McCoy.

Poteat is rated by Rivals.com as one of the top running backs in the country and an indication of that was that he just picked up offers from USC and Florida. In the past 2 seasons, he’s rushed for close to 3,000 yards and scored 39 rushing touchdowns.

Poteat says that he hopes to come up with a final five by July.

Here’s some very encouraging that Poteat told Pike when talking about the Pitt program. “I had that feeling. It just feels like you’re at home and the coaches and the fans show so much love. My parents love it, too, and that’s a big thing for me. And I love what Coach Wannstedt is doing with the program and how everything seems to be going right.”

Poteat isn’t yet starred by Rivals.com but is listed as a 5-star and the #5 RB nationally by Scout.com. It could not have hurt to have a former BIshop-McDevitt RB, Pitt great and next year’s starting tailback for the Philadelphia Eagles, LeSean McCoy at the game as well.

And the honor goes to Sam Collura, a TE from DeMatha in Hyattsville, Maryland.

Not a high-starred prospect at either recruiting site, but there seemed to be a lot of interest — without offers. He is part of another loaded group at DeMatha.

Pitt’s junior weekend just happened to coincide with a Nike Football Combine in Pittsburgh.

More than 500 prospects from states as far away as Tennessee and Kentucky in addition to Canada came out to compete.

Corey Jones of Penn Hills (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Jermaine Thornton of Erie East (Erie, Pa.) posted the top 40-yard dash time and vertical jump respectively at the event.

A 5-foot-8, 158-pound rising sophomore, Ross Douglas of Avon (Avon, Ohio), was another underclassman that turned heads on Saturday.

There’s a list of the top-7 standouts from the event.

Hopefully Pitt will nab a few more early commits from the weekend.

Odd that Pitt never got around to putting a press release out on the hiring of Bernard Clark as LB coach. I know it isn’t hiring a new coordinator, but it seems standard to put something out even when a position coach is hired. Guess too distracted by signing day, hall of fame and the new schedule — non-con and Big East.

Well his hometown paper in Tampa puts out a story on Clark’s hiring by Pitt. He seems, er, energetic.

“Every now and then, I’ll put on the helmet and the shoulder pads, not to show my players that I’m better than them, but to show how I want things done,” said Clark, the well-traveled coaching veteran, one of the all-time greats at Leto High and the University of Miami. “You can’t ever say I lacked for enthusiasm.”

Now Clark is taking his passion to the University of Pittsburgh, who hired him this week as linebackers coach. Clark will work for Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt, who was his defensive coordinator at Miami in the late 1980s.

“I can’t wait to get started,” said Clark, replacing Joe Tumpkin, who became defensive coordinator at Central Michigan University. “I’ve been to a lot of places the last few years, all over the place, really. I’m excited that it has led to this.

“You won’t find many places with the rich tradition of a place like Pittsburgh. We’ve really got something special to sell. They won 10 games last season and we’re very close to winning the Big East championship (losing in the final seconds against Cincinnati). I’m glad to be part of it.”

Clark was a big part of the famed Miami Hurricane teams of the late 80s, and was apparently featured in the recent ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, “The U.” Now required viewing for the Pitt linebackers to get a sense of their new coach. I have heard excellent things about the documentary. It is on my DVR, but I haven’t had time to sit down and watch.

Clark — obviously — expects to be recruiting in Florida.

A coupleeftovers from last week (and I still have  a few more after this). Go figure, trust is a big deal in recruiting (please stifle your snickers). Pitt commit T.J. Clemmings is quoted talking about how the first impression mattered most to him — good thing Pitt was one of his first visits.

Pitt secondary coach and NJ recruiter Jeff Hafley gets nice love in the piece as it is noted that he has brought 8 players from NJ to Pitt between this year and last.

In the four seasons before that, Pittsburgh had just three commits from New Jersey.

The 30-year-old Hafley started from humble coaching beginnings at the college level, first at Albany before accepting a job as the graduate assistant on Dave Wannestedt’s staff in 2006. He slept on an inflatable mattress for two years in the coaches’ office on campus, dedicating himself to earning his spot.

His ability to connect with recruits almost immediately — especially those from North Jersey — has served Pittsburgh tremendously well.

“From the first time I met Jeff, I just knew he was a genuine guy, and that’s what I was hoping for,” Clemmings said. “What Coach Hafley didn’t do was bash other schools.

“He talked about Pittsburgh and nobody else, and that meant something to me. He really sold me on the reality.”

He was a grad assistant. He was sleeping on an air mattress in the office because he was homeless.

Hafley got a bit more attention again in a generic piece on finding overlooked diamonds-in-the-rough at Pitt, WVU and PSU.

Pitt signed more kids out of Ohio than at any time since the Walt Harris era — at least by my faulty memory.

St. Ignatius teammates TE Brendan Carozzoni and QB Mark Myers signed together on Wednesday.

Playing at the same college never crossed either player’s mind until Carozzoni mentioned his friend to the Panthers’ coaching staff.

“I told them about Mark, then they saw him at their summer camp and they liked him a lot,” said Carozzoni, who resides in Rocky River. “So I guess I’m kind of his agent.”

Myers estimated he hooked up with Carozzoni for “about 4-5 touchdown passes” during their careers as Wildcats but said they don’t have a specific goal at the next level.

“I just want to throw as many TD passes as possible to him while we’re at Pitt,” said Myers.

They plan on maintaining their bond and being able to privately display Browns gear by being roommates.

Carozzoni will have competition in time at the TE spot from another NE Ohio signee, Dan Schneider, who was named AP All-Ohio 1st team.

One of the more significant aspects of his visit to Pittsburgh was a lunch meeting with senior tight end Nate Byham. Byham came into Pitt as one of the top tight end prospects in the country, was named to the All-Big East Team and was able to give valuable insight to life as a Panther.

“It was good to hear from a player,” Schneider said. “Sometimes coaches say things that might not turn out being true, but players will always tell you how things really are.”

While Schneider loved the fit of Pitt right away, he took time to look at a lot of schools.

“It’s been a great process and I feel very fortunate,” said Schneider, who expects to play tight end. “I knew at the beginning of August. It was kind of a perfect storm. I knew it came together after visiting.”

Schneider and his parents, Kevin and Mary Kay, said they spent the summer visiting numerous schools, including Ohio State, Michigan, West Virginia, Illinois, Florida State, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. Even after orally committing to Pittsburgh, there were still some feelers.

“Some Big Ten coaches called and wondered if he would reconsider,” said Kevin Schneider. “I told him once he committed, you don’t look back. You could see the tension leave.”

Finally, WR Andre Givens out of Hubbard liked what Pitt had to offer rather than the ITT School of Criminal Justice.

Givens looked at academics as much as football when making his choice. He wants to study criminal justice.

“I want to be a detective, and they have a lot of hands-on programs with that,” Givens said. “What amazed me the most was that some of the Pitt players are in the secret service now.”

Hopefully none were on the security detail for a White House dinner.

Just a quick thank you to everyone. I’m not sure if there has been a busier day at this site. A lot of people came here yesterday for recruiting and the basketball stuff. That’s very humbling and still surprising even after many years doing this. That so many of you come here for Pitt information, thoughts and discussion; welll, it really does mean a lot to me.

Best quote of the day from Pitt’s 2010 football recruiting class came from Eric Williams.

Eric Williams had announced his intention to head to the University of Pittsburgh earlier in the summer. But that didn’t diminish the sense of pride on Wednesday morning when he faxed his paperwork to the university from the counselor’s office at Pennsbury High School.

“When the fax was done going through, I realized that I was a Pittsburgh Panther,” Williams said. “And I couldn’t begin to tell you how great a feeling that was. It’s something that you dream about and you understand what it means.”

Others were just glad to have the whole process over and done.

Arthur Doakes, a lineman for Lebanon, made his decision to go to Pitt official in the morning. Doakes, a 6-6, 330 offensive guard, signed with his mother, siblings and coaches around him.

“A lot of relief,” Doakes said of the signing. “Now I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

Doakes made his verbal commitment in July. He said that the professional coaching experience of Panther head coach Brian Wannstedt and offensive line coach Tony Wise was one of the factors that helped him choose Pitt.

Yes, I know. “Brian” Wannstedt?

Two of Pitt’s commits played for the national high school champions Don Bosco prep — Brandon Sacco and Bryan Murphy.

Not only is Murphy, who is 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds, one of the most highly recruited prospects at the football factory that is Don Bosco, he’s regarded as one of the best to ever play for the Ironmen.

“Bryan is one of the most dominant players to ever play at Don Bosco, probably the greatest lineman,” Don Bosco coach Greg Toal said. “He’s just a tremendous leader, a tremendous worker. He’s tough and hard-working. Bryan is as high character a guy as we’ve ever had here, and he’s going to make us proud at Pitt.”

Murphy verbally committed to Pitt, which finished 10-3 and ranked 15th in the nation last season, in June. Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt visited Murphy at Don Bosco, an all-boys Catholic school in Ramsey, N.J., and at his Washingtonville home.

“I just felt really comfortable at Pitt,” said Murphy, a two-time all-state selection who had 47 tackles and nine sacks as a senior. “They run the same defensive schemes as Don Bosco, and I just liked the city. To play Division I football is great, to play at one of the top teams is even better. I want to play good enough to at least rotate in.”

At their team signing ceremony they got additional congratulations.

The Jones entourage included former Passaic Tech star Gerald Hayes of the Arizona Cardinals, who came by to support his fellow Paterson native. Hayes also congratulated Bryan Murphy and Brandon Sacco, who’ll be attending his alma mater, Pittsburgh.

Despite the snow in the Maryland-DC area DeMatha was determined to hold their signing day ceremony that included Pitt commits Shane Johnson and Jeff Knox.

Here’s a 1 minute signing day video from St. Joe’s (Montvale, NJ) which includes K’Wuan Williams.

Plenty more later.

Sure it’s not quite Weasel Stomping Day, but it is one of the big days. The days where Rivals.com and Scout.com find out if all those stress tests on their servers were correct.

Here’s where we already stand with signed NLIs, courtesy of the charts from PantherLair.com and PantherDigest.com.

Listed as signed NLI by both sites:

• Saheed Imoru (JUCO already enrolled)
• Brendan Carozzoni
• Mark Myers
• Dan Schneider
• Mark Rotheram
• Arthur Doakes
• Brandon Ifill
• Aaron Donald
• Eric Williams
• Salath Williams
• Bryan Murphy
• Brandon Sacco

9:24 update:

• Andrew Carswell
• K’Wuan Willams

9:30 Update:

• Kevin Weatherspoon

9:37 Update:

• K.K. (or Khaynin Mosely-) Smith

9:47 Update:

• T.J. Clemmings

9:52 Update:

• Derrick Burns
• Todd Thomas (take 2)

10:14 Update:

• Anthony Gonzalez
• Andre Givens

I’ll be updating most of the morning.

UPDATE 10: 53: 21 of 24 commits are listed as signed.

I’m not sure if T.J. Peeler will be actually signing. It isn’t that he is not committed to Pitt, it is that he has an ACL tear in his left knee. It will take nearly a year to rehab. If he doesn’t sign and goes to prep school, he preserves his full scholarship and redshirt options. If he does sign it may be purely symbolic. Of course, he might still opt to attend Pitt  and take it as a  medical redshirt in 2010.

As for Jeff Knox and Shane Johnson, both attend DeMatha which is closed today. That may delay the signing or at least news of them.

UPDATE 11:25: While still waiting to see if the snow-bound recruits can reach a fax machine, there is one minor, potential addition. Pitt apparently has tried to get in late on Taj Alexander out of Exton, PA. He’s a Rutgers verbal but has yet to send in his LOI.

UPDATE 11:52: Okay, courtesy of Zeise at P-G, Johnson and Knox will probably have their LOI’s in around noon. Peeler is also trying to make arrangements to send his in.

I’m just unclear on one thing. Why a fax? Wouldn’t a signed, scanned NLI,  attached to an e-mail in do the job?

UPDATE 1:20: Looks like a 2 of the 3 made their way to a Kinkos or something. This is Rivals.com only right now but listed as signed are:

• T.J. Peeler
• Jeff Knox

That just leaves Shane Johnson and the 2010 class is signed and the angst can begin for 2011.

UPDATE 1:40: Okay, Rivals.com took Knox off the signed list and moved him back to unsigned with Johnson. That kind of makes sense since they are DeMatha teammates and might do this together. Maybe they should call their other teammate, Arie Kouandijo to find where he went to fax his LOI to Alabama.

UPDATE 1:50: According to Zeise, everyone is now signed. 24-24.

• Jeff Knox
• Shane Johnson

Now it’s time to turn attention to that little ole’ basketball game tonight…

As has been the case, nothing new. Very quiet and little drama with NLI day a couple days off.

ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. did a look back on the 2006 top-100  kids in the recruiting class (Insider subs.). Pitt had three players in that list and 0 busts– though LeSean McCoy (#50) ended up in prep school for a year before getting to Pitt. Nate Byham (#68) and Dorin Dickerson (#74) both should be considered successes. Even if Byham’s senior year was disappointing compared to his first few, and it really took until his senior year for Dickerson to become the weapon expected.

Brian Bennett looks at others in the Big East’s 2006 recruiting class, and notes that Pitt really had some good hits in this class with Byham, Dickerson, Pinkston and Romeus were all in this group.

As for recruiting this year, Rivals.com’s Jeremy Crabtree puts Pitt in his list of disappointments.

The Pitt Panthers fall into this category for one big reason - they lost out on the biggest names in Western Pennsylvania. Linebacker Mike Hull, quarterback Paul Jones and offensive linemen Thomas Ricketts and Miles Dieffenbach all bolted the western part of the state. What’s worse is that all four committed to in-state rival Penn State with two of them, Ricketts and Dieffenbach, having family ties to Pitt. Pitt did a nice job on some of the lesser names in their area and helped its cause with some talent in New Jersey, but after some nice success the last few years in their neck of the woods, this year was a disappointment.

Comparatively disappointing, but not devastating. All four are 4-stars, but none are can’t-miss, had-to-have prospects. Losing any top WPa talent is annoying. Especially a couple OLs. Maybe because they all committed early, it does not feel that stinging at this point.

Coach Wannstedt has been using the period after the season ended to check in on kids who have verbaled. Not to mention planning for 2011.

“I was hitting four homes a night,” Wannstedt said. “I like to get in the home of every kid who commits to us.

“All our recruits were excited about Pitt in August, but they are really excited about the opportunity to be a part of the program now. If we had 20 commitments in August, and you win four games, now you’re scrambling to hold on to convince guys why that happened. When you have a good year, it reinforces in the recruit’s mind that it was a great decision.”

The last day of official home visits was Friday. Now, the Pitt coaching staff can only wait for letters of intent to spill through the fax machines.

As he waits, Wannstedt is already looking ahead to next year’s recruiting class.

“This gives us an opportunity to put together our junior list,” he said. “As sick as that sounds, we have a junior recruiting day coming up in February. That’s the nature of the business now. You’re trying to finish strong with this year’s class and make sure you prepared for what’s coming up.”

As NLI day looms, there is no shortage of recruiting stories. And the usual hand-wringing over the state of things. This includes decommits and changing minds. The usual stuff, but this piece is worth noting since Pitt verbal commit T.J. Clemmings is featured.

From the moment Clemmings stepped on campus at Pittsburgh, he was enthralled.

The players seemed like old friends. He found the city exciting. The team was coming off yet another strong season under former NFL coach Dave Wannstedt. Everything he looked for in a school was there.

On his way out of town after the weekend-long visit, the 6-6, 260-pound Clemmings called Wannstedt and told him Pitt was where he wanted to play college football.

“He made a hasty decision without consulting anybody,” Paterson Catholic coach Benjie Wimberly said. “It was almost like love at first sight. You meet your first girl and it’s the best thing in the world — I think that’s what happened with TJ.”

One of the most coveted prospects in the country — he runs a 4.7 second 40-yard dash and was pursued by Notre Dame, Penn State and many others — Clemmings’ parents urged him to carefully weigh his options and visit other schools. This was a life-changing decision, they warned him.

Clemmings took an official visit to Rutgers and unofficial trips to Maryland and Penn State. He wanted to see if those schools could offer him anything that Pitt could not.

In the end, Pittsburgh was still the place for Clemmings.

There was a lot of confusion over Clemmings at first. His verbal was known, then his parents and coaches all said, “not so fast.” This led to the usual overreaction by Pitt fans that the coaches and parents were interfering or trying to steer him to some other school.

Since he still is committed to Pitt, it’s easy to look back with more of an open mind. The truth is, regardless, the adults in Clemmings life actually behaved like adults.

Clemmings had an emotional, impulsive reaction. The sort of thing that high school kids of any type are prone to do. His parents and coach made him look a little more carefully to be sure. The decision was still his (and he chose wisely).

Well, Cameron Wright was elevated into the ESPNU Top-100 recruits.

Also joining the rankings are: No. 77 Allen Crabbe of Price (Los Angeles); No. 85 Stargell Love of Quality Education (Winston-Salem, N.C.); No. 86 Maurice Jones of Arthur Hill (Saginaw, Mich.); No. 90 Geron Johnson of Dunbar (Dayton, Ohio); No. 91 Cameron Wright of Benedictine (Cleveland); and No. 99 Joe Young of Yates (Houston).

Interestingly, one of the players that fell out of their top-100 was Jordan Sibert, an Ohio PG that Ohio State pursued and got — then lost interest in Wright. Sibert got hurt last spring and is still healing. He’s playing and the two actually ended up facing off in Columbus this past weekend.

In turn, Wright committed to Pittsburgh and gave Thad a glimpse of what he may be missing as his team defeated Sibert’s by a score of 55-48.

Sibert’s outside shooting was off Saturday as he shot just 2-7 from 3-point range, but the senior did score 19 points. Although it looked like he is not 100% recovered from a knee injury suffered last spring, Sibert did look strong and Buckeye fans should be excited to have him as part of this class. He did not have as good of a supporting cast as Wright did and despite not playing as well as he liked, he never quit and kept his team in the game.

Wright, on the other hand, must have felt good with his 19 point performance at the venue he once though he would be playing at for the next four years. Unlike Sibert, who likes to make it rain from the outside, Wright is kind of a high-glider who plays really well above the rim and can attack the basket with ease. He is going to be a really good player for Jamie Dixon…

Coach Dixon received a midterm grade of “A” from DeCourcy at the Sporting News.

Useless information that I never knew about college basketballs.

You may not have thought much about this, but there is not a standard ball in NCAA basketball. Each school can decide to use its own brand of basketball (as long as it conforms to specifications), and leagues like the Big East can use up to five or six different basketballs, depending upon the manufacturers each school has deals with. One game, you may be playing with a Nike ball, then a Wilson, then The Rock, then an Adidas ball, then a Molten ball.

Last week, Notre Dame played at Cincinnati and the Fighting Irish players felt that the ball used was smaller than they were used to. Notre Dame, like most teams, has several of every different brand of ball used by teams on its schedule so that the Irish can practice with the same ball they will be playing with next. Basketball is still very much a game of feel, and it is a game of attention to detail.

Weird. I have to believe that the NCAA has an official (read: heavily paid for the rights) basketball for the NCAA Tournament.

Someone tries to get Gary Parrish at CBSSportsline to go negative on Pitt for luck. Parrish won’t bite.

(more…)

A real tough break for one of the top-ranked recruits in Pitt’s soon to be signed class.

Senior forward Anthony Gonzalez will undergo surgery next Wednesday to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee and will likely miss the remainder of the basketball season.

This is not the same knee that was operated on last September during football season.

It’s not major, but it is frustrating.

The injury is not expected to impede his football career.

Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt and assisant Brian Angelichio, who recruited Gonzalez, were in Bethlehem on Wednesday night to see him and are satifisfied that the injury will not jeopardize anything.

“He’s going to be fine; they were not concerned at all,” said Jim Tkach, a Liberty football assistant who is close to the Pitt coaches because his son, Tyler, is a member of the Panthers’ program. “He should be able to recover in time to play in the Big 33 game in June. Anthony’s a great kid. This is a tough thing for him, I’m sure, but he’ll bounce back.”

The cynical side says that this injury at least will keep him from risking any other injuries in basketball. The downside, is that between the injury during football season and now this, that is going to make hit harder to get back into shape. Not that I really expected him to play as a true freshman, but it won’t be any easier having to get into Buddy Morriss’ conditioning regimen after a couple extended layoffs.

While Pitt’s overall recruiting class has not been star-studded, it has been considered very solid and part of a building effort.

The Panthers have the chance to be as successful in the recruiting battles as they were on the gridiron. They were just an eyelash away from a Big East football championship in 2009 and are putting together an excellent class with 24 total commits and 18 are either four- or three-star quality. The Pitt program’s consistency the last few seasons has helped them compete for some of the best Big East talent and they are once again showing some success in-state against the Nittany Lions.

Top prospect: A national top 20 in the athlete category, Anthony Gonzales (Bethlehem, Pa./ Liberty), spearheads the 2010 class. Even though Gonzales missed some action this fall with an injury, he has made his mark as a multi-talented football player. He could end up at quarterback for the Panthers, but he has the toughness and overall skill level to line up at several different positions until his collegiate niche is found.

Don’t be surprised if: The Panthers continue their success on the field due to their recruiting the last couple of years. The 2009 class was solid, but this year’s class is even more impressive. Dave Wannstedt and his staff do a very good job of meeting their position-specific needs.

No liveblog for tonight’s game. I’m on DVR delay with other things that I have to do. I will have a post for an open thread later.

I’m sure everyone saw the Sunday feature on DeJuan Blair. Not a lot to add to it. I didn’t expect him to have any regrets, and he does stand to make even more money with playoff paychecks. Unlike a lot of other rookies on crappy teams.

Slam had a review of some top players from top NE Ohio teams that faced off. This included Pitt commit, Cameron Wright.

Cameron Wright | 6-5 | SG | Cleveland Benedictine | 2010
Killa Cam had a bit of an off night, not really getting too many shots to drop and doing the majority of his damage from the foul line. The athletic wing didn’t get to show off his nasty bounce and wasn’t shooting the ball especially well from the perimeter, but as usual, straight up put the clamps on people defensively. Wright finished with 14 points, in what was a bit of an off night offensively for the Pitt recruit.

He made plays on both ends down the stretch. The defense is what will allow him an opportunity to crack the rotation at Pitt sooner than with just offense.

A mention in Pat Forde’s rundown column at ESPN.com listing teams and people who were not on lists to start the season.

Why we used to care: The Panthers have been models of hard-nosed consistency, winning 25 or more games seven of the past eight seasons.

Why we stopped caring: They lost their leading scorer of the past two seasons (Sam Young). And their leading rebounder of the past two seasons (DeJuan Blair). And their leading assist man of the past two seasons (Levance Fields). Then they lost in December to rebuilding Indiana.

Why we care now: Look who is 5-0 in the Big East, with road victories over Syracuse, Cincinnati and UConn. The Panthers are characteristically among the best in the nation defensively and on the glass, and are sharing the ball beautifully on offense.

While Omar seethes, Gene Collier writes another column on how surprising Pitt is/has been at this point.

For the moment, Pitt seems to revalidate itself every time the lights go on. It has been a short road and somehow an incredible distance from a place where this team was beating Wofford at home by three on Nov. 13. That Pitt has advanced all the way to serious national scrutiny and throbbing local enthusiasm is a wonder, but, further, an unexpected challenge.

“There’s definitely been a lot of support, which is the great thing about Pittsburgh in general and especially from the Oakland Zoo,” Gibbs said. “It’s been great to have that support system. The thing is, you don’t want to get too confident. My parents have always taught me, if you stay humble and work hard, good things will happen. It’s exciting right now; I’m getting a lot more texts, but you can’t lose focus on what we’re trying to do. It’s all about winning games.”

Pitt will lose games (hopefully not tonight), and as I keep repeating, they will stumble. They will even look lost at points. That would happen regardless of whether Pitt was overachieving with a reloaded/rebuilt team or a veteran group. That happens to every team at some point in the season.

SI.com preview of tonght’s game sees the deciding issue being which backcourt plays better.

Jim Calhoun taking a ten day break for medical reasons. No official reason from the school other than to say it is for “temporary medical issues, none of which involve any previous medical conditions.” The unofficial reason is stress related.

Calhoun has previously had bouts with cancer (prostate and skin), heart problems and broken ribs. I realize it is supposed to reassure in recruiting that the more serious issues haven’t re-occurred, but is it that much better to not disclose the reason other than to say, “Hey, he’s got new health issues, but really they are just temporary.”

That said, I hope he gets well and we can get back to hating him.