Maybe I didn’t see the same game. Maybe the sportswriters at the game let themselves get too caught up in the drama of the last few minutes of regulation and the subsequent overtime. I saw no mention in an of the columns and reports of the game about Pitt not pushing against Hakim Warrick when he got in early foul trouble. Nowhere is there mention of how he played the final 13 minutes of the first half with 2 fouls — not picking up a 3rd nor coming out of the game. There is also no mention of him having 4 fouls at 6 minutes left in regulation — and again not getting a 5th. Instead Warrick played the entire 45 minutes. The fact that Pitt didn’t try and go at him more seems to be a key issue in the game and the sort of question you have for the coaches. As in, “Coach Dixon, why didn’t you try to go at Warrick more when he was playing with 2 fouls in the first half, or later in the second half when he had 4?” Or even for Boeheim, “Coach, did you even consider taking Warrick out for any spell to avoid picking up the 3rd foul in the first half or after he picked up that 4th foul with 6 minutes left?”

The decision not to take out Warrick was risky but arguably necessary by Boeheim, since McNamara was having a nightmare game, and Warrick is their best player. I still want to know how and why Dixon didn’t instruct Taft, Troutman, McCarroll and even Morris not to got at Warrick more on the offensive end.

On to the media review. To the victors go the spoils, so Syracuse papers go first. The Post-Standard beat reporter gets a little too cute right off the bat.

The Syracuse Orangemen handed Pittsburgh its first loss in the history of the Petersen Events Center here Sunday, 49-46 in overtime, and yet no one thought to utter the phrase, “The Petersen Events Center is officially open.”

Where is John Thompson when you need him?

The report is more a collection of quotes about how this was a payback game for Syracuse, and that they now know they can play and beat the best in the country. According to Boeheim, the goal was to really, really slow the game down. More than even Pitt likes the pace. Not even Syracuse students could say this was a pretty game. Their not complaining about the win, though.

After Hakim Warrick chucked the ball halfway to the Petersen Events Center’s roof – and James Naismith stopped doing 180s in his grave – the spindly forward walked defiantly off the court, head high and chest out.
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For the first time in a while, the Syracuse men’s basketball team had reason to be that proud. It had just become the first visitor to send fans at the Pete home unhappy, beaten a No. 3 Pittsburgh team that some called the best in the nation and did so with a toughness that screamed, “Ready for March.”

For all the hand-wringing SU’s struggles and Billy Edelin’s absence have brought this season, the Orangemen gave reason to shove that in the background. They’ve punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament and did so on national television, where they’d previously done nothing but fall on their face.
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If Syracuse can beat Pitt on its home floor, it can beat any team in the country anywhere.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it will. Maybe yesterday’s game was an aberration – that much we don’t know. What we know now, though, is that when we all counted Syracuse out, it was a little too early.

That would include a lot of Pitt fans and pundits.

Another article focuses on McNamara as the “go-to-guy” no matter how bad a game he was having. It conveniently ignores the fact that Syracuse didn’t have much of a choice. Even Warrick couldn’t do it all by himself. The Daily Orange has a better take on what McNamara’s 3 meant — it simply erased everything he had done in the game up until that point.

I give the Daily Orange student reporters a lot of credit. They are brutally honest in their coverage. They seemed to be the only ones admitting that the refs sucked in the game.

It was as exhilarating as it was nauseating, captivating as it was disgusting. The Syracuse men’s basketball team’s 49-46 overtime victory over Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon was a Picasso covered in mud.
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With Syracuse (19-6, 9-5 Big East) leading 40-38, a pair of questionable calls helped force the game into overtime. McNamara was bumped by Krauser – who picked up his fifth foul before racing down the court, and yanking his shirt over his head – and knocked down a pair of free throws.

On the ensuing possession, Page hit his only 3-pointer of the game. After a Syracuse miss, center Craig Forth fouled out on another questionable call trying to knock away a pass to Pittsburgh forward Chevon Troutman. Forth stood in disbelief before jogging to the bench with three seconds left.

Troutman, meanwhile, strode to the foul line, made his first free throw and had an opportunity to win the game. His second circled around the rim and bounced out.

“The referees were doing the best they could,” Warrick said. “Any game with Pittsburgh is going to be hard on them because they like to be so physical.”

That doesn’t excuse the bad refereeing. Especially under the basket. It seemed that they were afraid to call anything inside, so they’d only do make-up calls just outside.

The New York Times wonders if Pitt could be losing its composure and poise.

In losing to Syracuse in overtime on Sunday, 49-46, Pittsburgh suffered more than its third defeat and the end of a 40-game home winning streak, which began before the Petersen Events Center opened last season.

The Panthers fell into a three-way tie with Connecticut and Providence for first place in the Big East Conference and will probably lose their No. 3 national ranking. Moreover, the Panthers may be losing their poise and confidence a week before the conference tournament and two weeks before the N.C.A.A. tournament.
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One person not talking afterward was Carl Krauser of Pittsburgh, the sophomore point guard from the Bronx, who had plenty to say to the officials while drawing three fouls in 3 minutes 12 seconds; he fouled out with 1:03 left in regulation.

After his final foul, on a steal attempt, Krauser ran down the floor and showed his anger by pulling his jersey over his head and wringing it tightly with his hands.

It was not the only display of Panthers pique.

Midway through the second half, when Craig Forth of Syracuse blocked a shot by Page, Jamie Dixon, Pittsburgh’s first-year coach, was whistled for a technical foul. The score was tied. McNamara made the two free throws, and Pittsburgh never regained the lead.

“I didn’t get an explanation,” Dixon said. “I don’t know what I did.”
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Perhaps it is a lesson for Dixon, the new coach, and Krauser, the young guard. Lose your cool at the wrong time and you may lose your shirt.

It may be overstated in the article, but he has a point. Pitt seemed to let itself get deeper in the funk and frustrated deeper into the game.

I’ll get to the Pitt side a little later. The kid is up and tearing into the office.