From Mel Kiper, Jr.’s observations on the Senior Bowl practices so far

Pittsburgh TE Kris Wilson catches the ball and is athletic, but he’s not very tall. Somebody will find a place for him on a roster. He will probably get drafted, but not until sometime during the second day.

I find this kind of surprising considering how good a player Wilson is. While wondering how much I overvalue Wilson because I saw him for the last few years, and I prefer for TE’s to have a big roll in the offense (especially for the underneath passes). Still, I suppose it makes some sense. Teams don’t exactly stockpile TE’s or place a huge value on them, unless they are totally dominant like Winslow, Heap or Shockey. So, even the 3rd or 4th best TE might not go until the 4th round.

The “moral victory” theme was used in the Smizik column in the Post-Gazette today. Whatever

Bendel in the Tribune-Review goes with the idea that UConn-Pitt is now the Big East rivalry. Umm. No. Let’s hold off on making this the thing that Georgetown-Syracuse was for so many years until Pitt shows they can maintain the level of achievement. Right now, it is merely the hot game in the Big East.

The three NYC dailies all had stories on the game. The Post; Daily News and Times. All spoke well of Pitt. The Daily News had also run a story on the NYC pipeline running to Pitt — essentially attributing it to the problems at St. John’s.

The Hartford Courant didn’t do a lot of crowing about the home team. Just a sense of relief that they won.

I would apologize for digressing from this site’s heady discussion on the close loss to UConn and the subsequent Panther basketball media hype. But if you’ve ever met any of the authors of PSB, you’d know that conversational digressions are pretty much ubiquitous around here.

(And yes, once again, I’m pretending that somebody besides the authors actually reads this site.)

But for those of us who get wrapped up in football recruiting enough to be actually concerned about Ohio State, Penn State, and (to a far lesser extent) UCLA courting Pitt blue chip verbal commitments QB Anthony Morelli and RB Andrew Johnson, ESPN’s recruiting analyst Tom Lemming offers some reassuring words in his latest chat. And before we get any critical comments on Buckeye Fan’s ability to spell, remember some of the spelling difficulties that we’ve had on this site (and we have a spellchecker, fer chrissakes).

John (C’bus): Tom – any chance that OSU can land the Penny. trio of Morelly, Johson and Bryant?

Tom Lemming: I think you mean Anthony Morelli, Andrew Johnson and James Bryant — don’t do this to me again, I’m not that bright to begin with and when you mis-spell everyone’s name, it causes me a lot of trouble. I think Pitt has the best shot at landing this trio, but if any else has a legit shot of pulling them out of western PA it would be the Buckeyes of Ohio State.

Although I generally don’t hyphenate the word “misspell,” I tend to agree with Lemming. This is more than likely a tempest in a teacup. Morelli and Johnson probably know that they would be better off at Pitt (especially Morelli), both are surrounded by Pitt alumni, plus Ohio State rarely ever raids another school’s verbals (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Still, it’s a situation worth keeping an eye on.

Is it just me, or is Queer Eye for the Straight Guy starting to get old? You can only use the same slob jokes so many times. It’s a shame, really. I liked that show when it first came out, plus now I have nothing to watch on Tuesdays.

Hail to some freakin’ snowmelt already.

I wonder how much people must have been undervaluing Pitt, prior to the UConn game. It seems in a Pitt loss, the team has gotten more respect and recognition.

Losing to Connecticut 68-65 in the final possession shouldn’t mar any of the accomplishments. This team, this program and this coach are as tough as they’ve ever been in the Steel City, maybe even tougher.

How do we know?

Listen to the respect that the Huskies heap on the Panthers. And this isn’t coachspeak or a few courtesy comments from a team that will play them again in the regular season. The Huskies genuinely respect Pittsburgh and call them easily their toughest rival in the Big East. Playing them in back-to-back Big East tournament title games (they’ve split the last two) earned the Panthers the right to move ahead of Syracuse as Connecticut’s latest nemesis.

“Tonight’s game wasn’t for everyone,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said of the demands the game would make on his players. “Their system is tough. They screen you so much and hit you so much. I’m sure there is an awful lot of contact at their practices. … Jamie is demanding nothing but the best from them. They’re the best I’ve seen at getting you out of position before the ball comes to you. You catch the ball and all of a sudden you’re not where you’re supposed to be.”

ESPN moved Pitt into the #7 position in their “Power 16.” Now maybe I’m just not used to the positive vibes going to Pitt. Or maybe the Pitt football team has scarred me even deeper than I realized, but this is getting a little silly. Yes, Pitt is a very good team. Very likely will be battling for the Big East title and another Sweet 16 run. Beyond that, I just don’t know yet. This all seems a little excessive, and a little too predicated on a couple games on ESPN in the last week plus (Self-question: doesn’t that just reflect the importance and value of getting into the national rotation for games on ESPN? Doesn’t that help make it self perpetuating? Yes and it can but plenty have fallen off the perch — UMass, Seton Hall, NC St., LSU, Utah, the list can go on. The point was that the whole thing now is skewed the other direction in how the media feels about Pitt.) A little perspective, please.

As Shawn said to me the other night, if Pitt can split the games this week then we know how legitimate they are. Pitt has another big road game Saturday night against Syracuse — the defending National Champs. Pitt needs a win on the road against a ranked opponent to prove they are near as good as people are now saying they are. As good as Pitt played Monday night, it was still a loss. That was their one “moral” victory for the year. There are no more of those. The game looks even tougher following the ‘Cuse’s loss to Seton Hall this past night — even if Syracuse sophomore guard Gerry McNamara is questionable with a groin injury.

Finally, can people stop declaring that Jamie Dixon was clearly the right choice as if there is nothing to debate. That won’t be known for sure for a couple years. Anyone remember the job by Bruiser Flint in following John Calipari at UMass? Looked good for the first year, but then things fell apart. I like the job Dixon has done so far, and the team is definitely listening (free throw shooting, excepted); but it is time to tone things down.

Doing Game Notes for a basketball game is a lot more difficult than football. Football allows plenty of time to write and note what is and is not working. Basketball is in continual motion, and you can’t look away for long stretches to make a note. Still, I find that I want to take them. It seems I’ve crossed into something of geeky territory, because I have found that I actually like taking the notes. I pay more attention to the game and I am actually seeing the offense and defense running their plays or zones.

Going into this game I was a bit worried because of UConn’s tough loss on Saturday at North Carolina. Ideally, I wanted UConn to have won that game with very physical play by both sides and still be number 1. They lost and slipped to #4, and would obviously be looking to bounce back. Their coach, Jim Calhoun, is too good to let them lose 2 in a row with the talent they have.

Before the game, I saw that Pitt got a huge bump in both the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll to #9 (from #15) and in the AP Writers poll to #8 (from #13). I was very surprised by the level of the bump and it struck me as a little much. Pitt may have been underrated in the polls by a couple notches, but seeing them jump Kansas and Georgia Tech (both of whom didn’t lose last week) was a bit much. I’m guessing Pitt’s first national game (last Monday against Notre Dame) was viewed by more of the voters.

The first 10 minutes do not go well for Pitt. They play completely off their style. Krauser, especially, tries to match UConn’s uptempo style to push the ball up and down the court. This is a big mistake. Pitt has strong physical players who are tough and difficult to move on defense. By playing uptempo, UConn, which has faster, more athletic players can use their speed to get around the Pitt defense. Since they are playing uptempo, the Pitt defenders are reacting a little late and keep getting whistled for ticky-tack fouls — reach-ins, hand checks and the like — because they are being beat on the dribble. Pitt needs to slow the game down and keep UConn from moving the ball so much.

Page and Krause both pick up 2 two fouls early. At the 12 minute mark, Pitt calls a time-out. Coach Dixon is visibly hot. Pitt is down 18-10. He is pissed at the refs for the cheap calls, and is being pushed back to the bench by a couple assistants. I get why he is pissed at the refs. The cheap calls are all against Pitt right now, but that is because Pitt is completely off their game. The players look visibly flustered and worried about the refs; they are playing UConn’s style; and that is leading them to take bad shots. They are running and gunning, but misfiring.

Pitt goes down 20-10 at about the 11 minute mark, and Pitt uses another time out. This time, Dixon is focused on his players rather than the officials. This marked the turnaround in the game for Pitt. It quickly became obvious that Dixon really got on the team — and they actually listened — about not playing UConn’s game. About playing the half-court game that they can win. Not the up and down the court, frenetic pace that is killing them.

And the message gets through. Pitt goes on a 7-0 run over the next 3-4 minutes. The game slows to a half-court game where Pitt controls the tempo. Pitt, does, though miss some big opportunities to score more.

There has been a lot of talk about the difference in the team from last year with Brendin Knight at point versus this year with Carl Krauser. Knight was the more traditional PG looking for passes, setting up the offense, and having great court vision. Krauser is more the scoring PG. He looks around the court, as much to get his own shot as he does for finding the open pass.

I was struck by just how much Krauser can hurt the team at times during the 7-0 run when he forgets about his teammates. Pitt was cleaning the boards on rebounds, both on offense and defense, leading to the run, but there were plenty of missed chances. The problem was Krauser was more interested in slashing and driving more than he was in passing. He would stand out beyond the key looking things over, trying to get a lane cleared for him to drive. Or he would pass the ball on the perimeter where it would clearly have to go back to him. Since everyone knew he was looking to take the ball himself, the Pitt players were not moving as much. They were not cutting and moving away and without the ball. To some degree they had to stay where they were. They weren’t sure which way Krauser was going with the ball, and the most they can do is try and get their defender to move out of the lanes.

Of course, UConn came out of the drought, and you could see just how much talent is on the team. They have excellent shooters. Their size inside is something to envy with Emaka Okafor, Josh Boone and Charlie Villanueva. Then add in their excellent shooters with Ben Gordon and Denham Brown. Jeez. If they could make free throws (gee, that sounds familiar), they would be unbeatable.

By halftime, UConn reasserted themselves and had a 39-32 lead.

Think Pitt would like to have the first 9 minutes or so back for a do over? The bright side, it only took them 9 minutes to start playing their game. In the last week or so, it has taken Pitt at least 15 minutes to an entire half, before they settle down and play the game at their tempo. This is something that Dixon has to get control of immediately. Getting Pitt to play their style from the opening tip-off. Not getting caught up in trying to push the ball or play too fast.

Playing up-tempo led to more turnovers — Pitt had 9 in the first half; and poor shooting — only 39%.

The second half is completely Pitt’s style from the opening. Pitt has the tempo at their pace. There’s some frustration by UConn that they haven’t been able to put Pitt away. Pitt, on the other hand, hasn’t really been able to close because UConn keeps responding to any surge by Pitt.

At about 13:40, Pitt ties the game at 47. Then takes the lead 49-47 at the 13 minute mark. UConn has been held to only 8 points in the first 7 minutes of the second half.

UConn ties then takes the lead. And for the next 10 minutes I have no notes because the game keeps going back and forth. Neither side getting any separation. The lead changing. This is an edge of the seat game. UConn never getting more than 4 points ahead of Pitt; Pitt never being more than 2 points ahead.

At 2:47, Krauser gives Pitt a 63-62 lead. But UConn retakes the lead at 1:45. Then extends the lead to 3. UConn’s big men really work the glass, and UConn shows how good they can be at killing the clock when they need to.

Pitt gets back within one point, 66-65 with 34 seconds left, and they have to foul. Oddly enough, since the refs kept their whistles in their pocket most of the second half, Pitt had to foul 3 times before they got to the one-and-one free throw time. UConn is just as bad as Pitt at the line. Unfortunately, Denham Brown made his free throws to give UConn a 68-65 lead with 25.8 seconds left.

Krauser takes the ball and drove right to the basket. Unfortunately, for Pitt, UConn was not biting. They knew Krauser was going to take it all the way himself. That he wouldn’t pass the ball or kick it out. He ended up being stuffed and UConn got the ball with 14.4 left. Krauser and Pitt were completely predictable. It cost them against a talented and well coached team.

By the time Pitt fouled, 6 more seconds had run. UConn missed the first of the one-and-one. Pitt got it and called time out. 5.5 seconds left. Still a chance to send it to OT.

On the inbound, Ben Gordon gambled on the steal for the inbound to Krauser and whiffed. Krauser drove to the 3 point line and passed to the open Adam Graves, the freshman point guard. Graves had an open look but it hit the front of the rim. Damn.

Final score UConn 68-65.

It’s still hard to be that upset over this loss. UConn is one of the best teams in the country, and Pitt almost beat them in Hartford. Just a little short. If Pitt could have had the first 9 minutes back… Oh, well. There is a rematch this year, and Syracuse is coming up on Saturday.

Post-game. Caught Digger Phelps’ comments like Lee It was still nice to see Phelps finally concede how good Pitt is, after his dismissal of them last week after the Notre Dame game.

When did Chevy Troutman start playing so far away from the basket? He has been too far away all season. He can’t get rebounds or points when he is that far out (7 boards, 5 points) and he is not the kind of player to be out there. He needs to be down low more. I know that with Chris Taft, that he is playing outside more, but he needs to be closer. Way too often he was up at the free throw line or further.

Box score. Despite only getting to the line 7 times, Pitt went 6-7 (it helps when Jaron Brown doesn’t get to the line). Pitt shot a tolerable 7-20 from 3-point land, but shot only 41.3% (26-63) overall. Julius Page shot only 4-11 with 14 points. He has not shot well all year now, with his shooting % for the year at 41.1%.

Just a quick note on football recruiting while I’m gearing up for the Pitt-UConn basketball game tonight (yes, I’m mostly a football fan… but basketball helps me get through the winter)… Since my last update on Friday, there hasn’t been any change in the Superprep.com (powered by TheInsiders.com Recruiting Network) ranking of the 2004 football recruiting classes. However, the Official College Sports Network rankings by ESPN.com’s Bill Hodge has changed slightly. USC has edged out LSU at the top, and both Georgia and Maryland have surged past Penn State — FINALLY knocking the Nittany Lions out of the #8 spot. However, Ohio State is still at #4, Boston College is still at #24, and most importantly, Pitt is still at #22. Here’s the whole list.

No. 1 Southern California (Top JCs)
No. 2 LSU
No. 3 Michigan
No. 4 Ohio State
No. 5 Oklahoma
No. 6 Texas
No. 7 Miami-Florida
No. 8 Georgia
No. 9 Maryland
No. 10 Penn State
No. 11 Alabama
No. 12 Florida
No. 13 Texas A&M
No. 14 Washington
No. 15 UCLA (Top JCs)
No. 16 Tennessee
No. 17 Michigan State
No. 18 Florida State
No. 19 Oregon
No. 20 Missouri
No. 21 Kansas State (Top JCs)
No. 22 Pittsburgh
No. 23 Texas Tech (Top JCs)
No. 24 Boston College
No. 25 Purdue
Tie No. 25 Iowa

These rankings will start being updated more regularly as we approach national signing day (February 4). I’ll try to keep everyone up to date.

Hail to Pitt’s upsetting UConn. Good luck, guys. You’ll need it.

UCONN 68, PITTSBURGH 65: LEE’S POST-GAME COMMENTS
I’ve never posted on basketball before for a very good reason. As much as I genuinely enjoy the game, I simply don’t understand it at anywhere near the same level as I understand football. That being said, I was kind of impressed by our Panthers’s showing in Hartford tonight. Heck, even Digger Phelps admitted on ESPN’s post-game show that he expected Pitt to get blown out by the very physical Huskies. But to the complete surprise of Digger and I, Pitt was able to slow down and flat out out-physical UConn for major stretches of the second half. Really, UConn should feel lucky to have escaped the upset at home (or close enough to home, anyways). I’m already looking forward to the rematch in our house.

Next up, the Panthers go to #19 Syracuse: next Saturday night at 8:00 PM on ESPN2 (so Chas can watch it in Cleveland)

Looks like we only got 2 seasons to watch Larry Fitzgerald play for Pitt. It appears that the NFL will let him in early.

Two seasons into what already has been a standout college career, Pittsburgh receiver Larry Fitzgerald early this week will be declared eligible for the 2004 NFL draft, league sources have told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.

Because he is a true sophomore, Fitzgerald is not eligible for the draft based on the NFL rule that prevents players from entering the draft until three NFL seasons have “elapsed” — language that has evolved into a league policy stating that players must be three years out of high school.

However, the NFL is verifying that Fitzgerald indeed earned enough credits at a military school he transferred to during his senior year of high school, sources have told Mortensen. In that case, Fitzgerald would meet the league requirement of being three years removed from his prep graduating class, and thus be eligible to enter the draft.

Well, it would have been nice if he could have stayed, but I can’t argue with him going pro. There will be new QB under center, a new WR coach (should be a new offensive coordinator, but Walt doesn’t see that as necessary), loss of the starting RB and TE. Just a lot of changes. Add in, of course, the fact that he is a projected Top 5 pick, and there is absolutely no reason to stay.

I can only wish him well in the pros, and hope the Eagles trade up for him. That would be sweet.

Here in hoopieland, the biggest news in recent weeks is the not-entirely-understood dismissal of WVU’s top scorer, Drew Schifino. Until a couple weeks ago, all seemed well with Schifino — he’d received the usual glowing articles in the local paper; everyone testified about what a great kid he was. Then, suddenly, he was off the team, a couple days after making some give-me-the-damn-ball type comments to the media. The Morgantown Dominion-Post seemed to lean toward Schifino in their coverage, hinting that Coach John Beilein had perhaps prematurely terminated Schifino because he was a hold-over from the previous coach’s era. Whatever the case, the Mountaineers have since dropped two in a row, to Virginia Tech and Providence.

I, of course, immediately wondered if Schifino, a Pittsburgh guy, would transfer to Pitt. And would Pitt want a kid who was kicked off another team, a kid they didn’t recruit? On the other hand, Schifino was averaging 20.1 points per game this season and had scored in the double digits in a NCAA-record 48 consecutive games before his streak came to an end in a loss to Notre Dame earlier this month. (That was when he told reporters that he wasn’t getting the ball enough under Beilein.)

Last week, Schifino told the Post-Gazette that he has “always wanted to play for Pitt.” The Dominion-Post is not clear on whether or not such a transfer would be easy, according to NCAA rules.

Back in August, Pitt released an incoming freshman basketball player from his scholarship to Pitt. As Pat said at the time, Pitt had depth at the position, the freed-up scholarship could be used to sign a much needed back-up point guard, and the recruit (Walt Waters) had yet to academically qualify. Well Pitt did use the scholarship to get a good young point guard.

The player Pitt lost accepted an offer at Cleveland State. My local paper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer was very excited about this recruiting “coup,” and glossed over the whole academic qualifications thing at the time.

Guess who has been declared ineligible for the rest of the season for academic problems?

College Football’s second season is nearly finished. National signing day is only 19 days away (February 4). Although there are still plenty of blue chippers out there uncommitted, everybody’s rankings of the 2004 recruiting classes are starting to firm up. However, there have been a few changes in the Official College Sports Network rankings by ESPN.com’s Bill Hodge since my last update. Because Pitt didn’t pull in as many recruits as some other schools did, we have fallen from the 18th ranked class on January 4 to the 22nd ranked class today (in mid-December, we had been ranked as high as #14). Losing either Anthony Morelli or Andrew Johnson to Ohio State, Penn State, or UCLA would surely knock us out of the rankings altogether.

Since my last update on the aforementioned OCSN/Bill Hodge rankings, Ohio State has climbed up two more spots to #4, Michigan has fallen behind LSU and USC to #3, Penn State has remained stuck at #8 (the Lions seem to been at #8 forever now), Maryland has remained at #10, Boston College has fallen a spot to #24, and the Panthers remain the only loyal Big East team ranked at all. Here’s the whole list.

No. 1 LSU
Tie No. 1 Southern California (Top JCs)
No. 3 Michigan
No. 4 Ohio State
No. 5 Oklahoma
No. 6 Texas
No. 7 Miami-Florida
No. 8 Penn State
No. 9 Georgia
No. 10 Maryland
No. 11 Alabama
No. 12 Texas A&M
No. 13 Missouri
No. 14 Florida
No. 15 UCLA (Top JCs)
No. 16 Tennessee
No. 17 Washington
No. 18 Florida State
No. 19 Oregon
No. 20 Michigan State
No. 21 Kansas State (Top JCs)
No. 22 PITTSBURGH
No. 23 Texas Tech (Top JCs)
No. 24 Boston College
No. 25 Iowa
Tie No. 25 Purdue

Superprep.com (powered by TheInsiders.com Recruiting Network) has its own ranking of the 2004 college football recruiting classes thus far. Pitt falls out of the Superprep ranking entirely. However, Michigan is at #3, Ohio State is at #6, Penn State is STILL at #8, Maryland is at #9, Virginia Tech (unranked in Hodge’s list) comes in at #22, and Boston College (like Pitt) is unranked.

There’s your latest roundup. I look at these rankings on a fairly regular basis, so I’ll update everybody if something changes (especially if we lose one of our big boys).

Hail to PennDOT’s finding some way to de-ice the roads that doesn’t involve cinders which chip up the paint on my freakin’ car.

Maybe it’s nothing, maybe it’s everything. Either way, this story sent a chill down my spine with regards to Pitt football recruiting.

Penn Hills quarterback Anthony Morelli, Pitt’s marquee recruit from the Class of 2004, has told Panthers coaches he is going to talk to other schools because of their silence over his snub by a national all-star game.
…
Morelli, who gave Pitt a verbal commitment in August, has received overtures from Ohio State, Penn State and UCLA, among others, since December.

He would be Pitt’s second high-profile WPIAL recruit to re-open the recruiting process. North Hills tailback Andrew Johnson has scheduled an official visit to Ohio State this weekend. Verbal commitments are non-binding. The national letter of intent signing period begins Feb. 4.

According to the story, Morelli is bent because he wasn’t selected to play in a national high school all-star game. The head coach of the squad he would have played for is the father of Tyler Palko — a redshirt sophmore, who will be competing for the starting position with Morelli in the next couple of years. Morelli claims that the Palkos punked him out of the all star game — the coach Palko claims he had nothing to do with it, that he doesn’t have a say in who is selected for the squads.

Pitt coach Walt Harris is in Florida (presumably recruiting) but will be returning to talk to the Morellis.

This thing stinks. I have trouble buying that Morelli is going to consider other schools just weeks before the national letter of intent day due to being snubbed. It sounds like a crock, that Morelli was just looking for an excuse to reconsider his options after getting plenty of whispers about the future of Pitt football and the Big East. If he just admitted that, I would have a hard time getting annoyed with the news because it is what we feared when the ACC staged its raid.

I’m back to praying for the Big 11 miracle.

I wish I had noticed this article last week. It talks about various top-25 teams as whether you should buy or sell their rank based on what they had accomplished in the non-conference portion of their schedule.

PITTSBURGH — SELL: Of all the soft non-conference schedules that have been played this season, this is the one that disappoints me most. Pitt doesn’t have the luxury of being an established commodity like Syracuse, and a couple of big-time games on national TV would do wonders for elevating the program. Not only have the Panthers not played a single ranked team, they have also played exactly one road game. They’re a good team, but not nearly as good as their 14-0 record and No. 15 ranking would indicate. And that schedule will really hurt their NCAA seeding.

This makes a really good point. Pitt isn’t a household name in college basketball. 3 straight years playing in the Big East Championship game (winning it last year) and 2 straight Sweet 16 appearances does not erase the decade or so of anonymity that was Pitt basketball.

I want to thank Pat for the valuable summary of the game from the stands. Pat points out that his favorite cheerleader was out of action for another game. Unfortunately, there is no Pitt Dance/Cheerleading site. This makes no sense, given the number of Google searches for the Pitt dance and cheerleading team that have come to this blog in its 5 month history. This is the only page Pitt provides for the Pitt spirit squads. Please note, that it is also out of date. It hasn’t been updated for 2003-04. Sad. Once again, PSB must call on the people running Pitt’s dance and cheer squads to make some effort to set up a separate site. Surely there are many computer geeks at Pitt who would be happy to assist in this worthy endeavor.

Pat also reminded me of some thing I noticed about the Pitt dance team — which, by the way, was looking a little more toned than they did through the first half of the football season — the Pitt dance team has to be the most modestly dressed dance team in the BCS. Come on, girls. You are indoors now. There is no excuse for pants, and top with a body stocking cover to the neck and arms. No mid rifs. No shorts. Hell, not even an elbow exposed.

You can do better.

Now, before Pat and the others jump on me to point out that the cheerleaders look hotter than the dance team this year — let me just say that I agree with that assessment. I am merely commenting on the dance team’s outfit since they received more time on the ESPN cameras than the cheerleaders.

It’s just a good thing my wife doesn’t even bother to read this site.

I hit The Pete last night for the game (Steve swapped his two nosebleed seats for two 100 level seats behind the ND bench – nice). To my great pleasure, not too many ND fans were in attendance, even though Jerome Bettis was sitting one section over – he was badly out numbered.

First, I must mention that my favorite cheerleader (whose name I don’t know, so we’ll call her “Bambii”) was not in the squad for the third straight game (that I attended). She is the taller blonde one, who has becomed quite toned this year.

Anyway, I spotted Bambii in the Student Section in street clothes during the Georgia game (looking quite hot in a pink sweater and low-rider jeans). The cameraman, probably one of the same guys that covers all the games, zoomed for a close up that was put on the big screen – she appeared to know the cameraman based on her reaction. At first I wrote it off as a christmas break breather – let the underclass girls get some quality time during non-conference games, etc.

Then, to my dismay, Bambii was not in the cast for the ND game – arguably one of the biggest home games of the year, with a national tv audience. What’s up with that, I asked?
Is she off the squad for the semester? Academically ineligible? Has she used up all of her eligiblitiy, perhaps having joined the squad in the spring of her freshman year? Is she injured? If so, is she suffering from a deep thigh bruise – requiring lots of massage therapy and time in the whirlpool/hot-tub? My mind was racing….

Back to the game. Pitt looked good. The crowd was great, and the students were crazy – all made for a great atmosphere.
I was worried we would be out-rebounded for the second straight game, but we turned it on in the paint in the second half. ND just couldn’t miss from beyond the arc late in the game – that was real annoying. But Pitt held on, and good teams find a way to win even when their opponents have two hot shooters.

Other observations:
Page seems a little off. Not just his shooting, but Thomas had him running and jumping all over the court. AND he was missing foul shots! Hopefully he will get out of this funk that he is in now.
Taft is the man. It’s just that simple. We’ll be lucky to get two years out of this kid before he turns pro.
Dixon can coach – once Jones got his fourth foul, Pitt went after him. Brown had at least four layups when he got the ball down low, backed his way into the paint, and Jones just let him do it. Jones just refused to play tough D when he was in foul trouble, and Pitt exploited that fact.
Krauser has an ugly three point shot. He seems to force it, but often they go in anyway. I just hope he keeps it up.
Troutman is not the player he was last year. He’s good, but he isn’t shooting as well.
McCarroll has stepped up A LOT. He had been a bust the past two seasons, in spite of being a highly touted recruit. His emergence has really helped Pitt.

Hey, we’re 17-0. How many teams can claim that? We are favored at home against Rutgers this weekend, but then we go away to UConn and Syracuse within 5 days. If we can win one (or both) of those away games, then I will be convinced this team is for real. I am almost convinced right now.

Where to start. Pitt won 74-71. Pitt did not play a particularly inspiring game, but they weren’t lucky to win or such. The box score actually tells most of the story. Still, I took notes

This was the 7pm game on ESPN’s “Big Monday,” but it wasn’t the big game. Apparently the hype was going to the Syracuse/Missouri game. ESPN-HD was showing that one (for all 5 people that actually have it), and more importantly, that meant that would be where Dick Vitale would be calling the game. I really wish I could recall where I read it recently, but someone was writing about watching a college game from the mid-80s on ESPN Classic where the color guy was smart, insightful and didn’t overpower the game. Then realized it was Dick Vitale before he became a caricature of himself.

For the ND-Pitt match-up, it would be a 3-man crew of Sean McDonough, Bill Raftery and Jay Bilas. None of these guys really annoy me, and I found no reason to consider plunging an ice pick into my ears.

Pitt had a lot of trouble staying patient on offense. There were noticeable spells where Pitt was just hoisting shots and giving up the easy board. At the 11:40 mark in the first half, Pitt took a time out and when play resumed you could tell that Coach Dixon must have said something. The team really took some time setting up the half-court offense and looking for the open man. This would be something that happened throughout the game, even the commentating crew noticed a couple times. I think it was Bilas (with around 2:15 left in the first half) who said that Pitt’s lack of patience on the offense was “bailing Notre Dame out.” By halftime it was Notre Dame by one, 31-30.

Chris Thomas was smoking in the first half, and it continued for him in the second half. He finished the night with 29 points on 11-22 shooting (7-13 from 3-point) and 9 assists.

Pitt was outrebounded in the first half. Chris Taft was doing great work underneath, blocking shots and disrupting drives to the basket, but Chevy Troutman was not playing inside. He was often out beyond the free throw line guarding someone. ND was much more active in the first half to get after the loose board.

The first 5 minutes of the second half was very sloppy from both sides. The teams struggled to score, and shot poorly. Notre Dame, which does not have much depth, started committing more fouls. Of course, this is Pitt’s weakness. Pitt could not seem to make free throws for a while. By the 6:07 mark in the second half, they flashed a stat showing Pitt going 4-11 from the line.

Notre Dame held on to their lead for almost the first 11 minutes of the second half, but Pitt started to dominate physically after a while. Pitt started to slowly take a lead and extend it. With 3 minutes to go, Pitt had a 63-54 lead.

At that point, the Irish began raining down the 3 pointers. They made 4 straight 3-pointers, went 5-6 from the 3-point line in the last 2.5 minutes. Pitt made some easy buckets and then had to earn their points from the free throw line.

Julius Page, usually one of the better FT shooters for Pitt, went 2-5 in the final minutes; but was bailed out because Taft and Troutman made their two FTs each. Jaron Brown — who has an ugly FT shot — added 1-2.

Pitt held on. ND went 12-26 from the 3-point line, which was what kept them in the game. Pitt went only 5-16.

Free throw shooting made this game closer than it should have. Pitt went 11-22 from the line. That is pathetic. At home. No screaming fans trying to distract. The team shot nearly that same percentage with contested shots — 29-60. Jay Bilas talked to Dixon after the game and asked him about the lousy free throw shooting. Dixon, taking a page from his mentor, Ben Howland, dismissed the concerns. He pointed out that Pitt made the free throws when they needed them. Of course, if they made some of them earlier, they wouldn’t have had to worry about making them later. Free throws will cost Pitt at least one victory this season.

Good balance in the scoring again. Jaron Brown led with 19 points, then Julius Page with 18, Krauser had 15 and Troutman and Taft each had 10. Chris Taft also had 9 rebounds and 4 blocks. He is playing amazingly well as a freshman. Yuri Demitrius will keep playing fewer minutes for a reason. He can’t contribute. He only played 6 minutes, missed the front end of a one-and-one, and didn’t provide any defense.

Pitt needs to remember to be patient on offense. Krauser still gets a little too excited at times, and tries to score without looking to see if someone might have a better shot. There are times when Krauser and Page just don’t seem to be in the same sync that Page had with Knight. Otherwise, Pitt looked good.