Error on my part regarding winning the Big East Regular Season and first round byes in the Big East Tournament. The top 4 teams get a bye, not 2. Pitt, Providence and UConn already have byes. As for winning the Big East Regular Season, well Providence wins it outright if they beat Pitt and BC. They only had to play UConn once, and won the game. If Pitt beats Providence and Villanova, it wins the Big East Regular Season outright because of the tiebreakers. Head to head is a wash, since Pitt and UConn split. The next tiebreaker is the record against the next best opponent — Providence.

Starting far away, the LA Times runs a puff piece on Coach Jamie Dixon. Actually some information on his past that I didn’t know — his European playing career was ended by a ruptured pancreas. A ruptured pancreas was the same condition that happened to Julius Page’s 3-year old son.

Up in Providence, they are ready for what they admit is their biggest game of the year.

That’s why tonight’s showdown against No. 6 Pittsburgh is the biggest Big East home game in PC’s 25-year history in the conference. The stakes can’t be any higher. Win, and the Friars will take a giant step toward the school’s first-ever conference title, a neighborhood the Panthers have owned the last two seasons.

“We’ve pointed to this opportunity for a long time,” said Welsh. “Winning the Big East is a big deal, for sure. Whoever wins it, it means you’re one of the best teams in the country, and that’s where we want our program to be.”

This game is expected to be another defensive slugfest for Pitt. “The Friars and Panthers are the two best defensive teams in the Big East, and chances are the first team to 60 points will win.” Providence plays the 2-3 zone, and you can bet after the Syracuse game they will be packing the lanes and be in almost a 1-4 type zone.

In the Pittsburgh media, the P-G beat writer takes up the Big East Regular Season champion theme, but unlike the Providence Journal, doesn’t use the quotes of Boeheim and Calhoun to point to different feelings on whether it matters. He does, though, move on to the fact that Pitt has absolutely struggled with the zone defense.

In three of its past four halves, Pitt has failed to score more than 22 points — all against predominantly zone defense teams. Against Georgetown, the Panthers scored 20 points in the first half of a 68-58 victory. They stormed back in the second half, scoring 48 points to pull out the win.
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Page, Carl Krauser and Jaron Brown will be the most important players for Pitt tonight. None of the three played particularly well against Syracuse. Krauser was 3 for 12 from the field and fouled out of the game with 63 seconds left in regulation. Brown and Page were 3 for 10 from the field.

In the past two games, the trio [Krauser, Page and Brown] is a combined 19 for 58 from the field (32.7 percent) and 6 for 28 from 3-point range (21.4 percent). Page is 1 for 10 and Brown 0 for 4 from behind the arc the past two games.

The Trib beat report looks more at the hot streak Providence has been on. They’ve won 6 in a row, and have been scoring a lot of points.

In the columns, Smizik doesn’t care about the Big East regular season. All that really matters is the NCAA starting March 18. He is arguing the game tonight matters for other reasons

This game is important because the Panthers must regain their footing. They’ve been slipping and sliding lately, barely looking like the team that once was a contender to advance to the Final Four.

It started Feb. 9 with a loss at Seton Hall. It wasn’t the loss — Seton Hall is a quality team, particularly on its home court — it was the style of play. Point guard Carl Krauser scored 23 points, but he also had three assists and eight turnovers. The poor shooting season of Julius Page continued. He made one of six shots.

A home win against Connecticut put the Seton Hall loss out of mind, but the next three games brought it back.

Of course Smizik along with the rest of the media in Pittsburgh didn’t notice the problems until the loss to Syracuse. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. So is immediate revisionism.

Still, Smizik actually makes some decent points.

In these past five games, Pitt’s guards — starters Krauser and Page and top reserve Yuri Demetris — are shooting 34 percent, an unacceptable number. Over that same span, Krauser’s assist-to-turnover ratio is 21/24, which is equally unacceptable.

There’s no accounting for Page’s slump. He’s 12 for 39 (31 percent) in the past five games. It’s not like he’s pouting over Krauser’s ascendancy. A freshman substitute last year, Krauser has taken the mantle of leadership and go-to tag from Page, who is a four-year starter. Page’s defensive play on Syracuse’s Gerry McNamara Sunday was masterful and ample testimony that he’s working hard.

His confidence, though, appears to be nearly ruined and it will be difficult, but not impossible, to regain it at this point in the season. Krauser’s turnaround is a more plausible scenario.

You know within the first 5 minutes of the game if Page will be on or not. If he misses his first 2 shots, he is done right there. His confidence goes right out the window. That’s been apparent all season, even to me.

Page shoots an airball for his first shot at 17:50, never a good sign. Page needs to get the baskets falling early. His game, offensively, is dictated early by how he shoots. If the shots fall, he’s good. If they don’t, it just gets worse.

Krauser’s turnovers in large part can be attributed to the zones completely choking off the passes he makes inside, and trying to do too much outside because Page has been useless on offense.

There are other problems. The bench once lauded as deep is down to seven men and Demetris is not offering a lot. He has less confidence in his shot than Page. Since he rarely even thinks of shooting, defenses don’t have to contend with him, allowing them to exert more pressure on Pitt’s four other players.

Exactly what has happened to freshman guard Antonio Graves, who started and played well in four games when Krauser was hurt early in the season, is hard to figure. He looks to be a better shooting and ballhandling option than Demetris. But he has been all but exiled, having played only seven minutes in the past five games and one minute in the past three.

Demetrius is in there over Graves because Graves is not very good on defense. Demetrius at least stays with his guy and won’t be deterred or taken out by picks. Pitt is a defense first team. Demetrius’s offense is nothing, and it’s been that way all year. It’s why he lost a starting position and is now the second or third player off the bench behind McCarroll and Morris.

The other column feels that this is the game where Pitt needs to redeem itself. Ross points out that Pitt doesn’t express much angst, but the fans and media are the ones starting to freak.

Understand that fans of the Pittsburgh sports condition — the city, not just the university — have developed a Cubs-like sense of impending doom regarding their sporting teams. How will the Steelers blow a home AFC title game next? How will Pitt fail in its next big football game?

More recently, it’s been what malady will rise up and short-circuit a Pitt NCAA Tournament run?

These fans want to embrace success without reserve, to enjoy the giddy ride on the bandwagon, but they can’t seem to forget the pain from when they fell off the last time.

The Pitt NCAA Tournament angst, Ross came up with on his own, so he’s going to push it for the next month. Ross does offer some perspective

Early in the year, when the transition from Ben Howland to Dixon was just beginning, another Sweet 16 trip seemed like an admirable goal. As the season progressed, and Pitt’s win total swelled, Elite Eight and Final Four entered the expectation horizon.

Those remain operative — tentatively — as the standards by which some will judge this season’s success, or disappointment. The Syracuse loss has hinted of the need for a re-examination. A loss to Providence would be further evidence of the need for a re-think.

Yeah, but a win puts us right back to Final Four dreamin’. Looks like a long evening in front of the computer, reloading updates.