Yes, the brackets haven’t even been announced yet and you can’t make picks. Still, beat the rush and sign up now for the NCAA Tournament challenge on ESPN. By doing the basic sign-up now (those who did our bowl challenge can use the same ID and info), you will avoid the crush on the servers once the brackets and seedings are announced next Sunday.

We have our own open group called “Pitt Sports Blather.” You can find it by typing “pitt” in the “search by name” box in the group directory. At last check, there were over 35 groups using Pitt or Pittsburgh in their group name.

Plenty of Pittsburgh coverage. Philadelphia is perfunctory.

In Philly, they had one reporter there. His report is short and dry. Other Philly papers relied on the Associated Press’ Pittsburgh sports writer Alan Robinson for the story.

At the Trib, the winning of the Big East regular season championship almost seemed secondary to this non-story.

…but the happiest moment might have occurred afterward, when freshman center Chris Taft promised that he will return for his sophomore year.
…
Taft amassed 16 points and 11 rebounds, went 7 of 10 from the field, and led a crucial eight-point run in the first half that ripped into a 14-point deficit. Three nights earlier, he scored 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting in a 27-point rout at Providence.

“I’ll be back for sure,” Taft said, quashing any rumors that he is considering a premature jump to the NBA. “My focus right now is on winning the Big East Tournament.”

Oh, please. If Pitt makes a Final Four run, and Taft performs like he did yesterday; the amount of exposure, attention and whispering in his ears will make it impossible and silly not to make the move. He’d get pushed into the first round. It just shouldn’t be a major discussion right now. There’s a chance and it is directly proportional to how far Pitt gets in the NCAA Tournament. Still the focus was on the job by Taft and Troutman inside.

The P-G game story was about Taft and Troutman and the Pitt defense.

Pitt held Villanova to 23 points after halftime and 28 percent shooting. The 45 points were the fewest the Wildcats scored this season.

Pitt has held six teams below 50 points this season and did it for the second time in three games.

“Defense is the easiest part of the game,” Page said. “It’s pride. If your offense affects your defense, you’re not a player. As long as you keep stopping teams from scoring, you’ll be in the game. Hopefully, your offense comes around, and that’s what happened today.”

The defense enabled the Panthers to win, despite shooting 35 percent (17 for 48) from the floor. That’s their second-lowest shooting percentage of the season, trumped only by the 31 percent effort in the 49-46 overtime loss to Syracuse a week ago.

Of course the offense of Pitt — or lack thereof for the second time in 3 games — is a concern.

While a lot of football coaches will tell you that defense wins championships, Pitt (27-3, 13-3) might need to hone its offense as the competition gets progressively stiffer through the conference and NCAA tournaments.
…
Although Pitt came back from its 17-3 hole — keyed by Taft’s eight consecutive points in the first half and four points at the start of a 16-0 run early in the second half — the icy start and close game until Pitt pulled away from a 37-37 tie at 8:27 of the second half spurred Taft to make a promise.

“We’ll try to never get down like that again, and we never will,” he said. “Come tournament time, people are going to be more aggressive and they’re going to be focusing more on your plays. If we get down like that, we’re going to get in trouble.”
…
In three of its past four games, Pitt has been held to 22 points or fewer in the first half. The Panthers scored 20 before halftime in a 68-58 win at Georgetown, and 22 in a 49-46 overtime loss at home to Syracuse. Overall, they have been held under 30 points in the first half 12 times.

While it isn’t fair to put all the blame on one person, Julius Page’s horrendous shooting is the most noticeable.

On the downside, Page’s shooting slump hit new lows in a 59-45 victory over Villanova. He shot 0 for 8 from the field, making him 16 for 54 (29.6 percent) in his past eight games.

Page finished the regular season with a career-low field goal percentage of 39.1 percent.
…
Nothing worked. Page missed two layups and five 3-point attempts. He did sink 5 of 6 free-throw attempts.

“I’m obviously in a slump,” Page said in a quiet moment later, as he walked with his 4-year-old son, Dredon. “I’m missing open shots that I usually make, but it’s not because of a lack of confidence, it’s because I’m not used to playing defense on a daily basis like I’ve been playing the past couple of games.”

Tired legs?

“Definitely,” he said. “On one pull-up shot, it felt like I was an inch off the ground.”

Everyone wants to help him. Former Pitt guards Curtis Aiken and Jason Matthews were speaking with him about his shooting at halftime.

Page keeps saying all the right things, but he is clearly bothered by both the slump and the attention.

In the columns, Ron Cook focuses on Taft’s impact (and a little on how it is good he isn’t going to turn pro for another year, sigh), and saving the day.

Two plays Taft made in the second half showed just how much he has improved. In each case, he beat his man, made a left-handed shot and drew a foul. The Pitt coaches loved it because he took his time, didn’t rush to make something happen and allowed traffic to clear around him. They also loved that he used his left hand. The scouting report on him earlier in the season was that he could only go to his right.

“Teams have been playing me that way all season,” Taft said. “They try to take away my right hand. I just say, ‘Thank you,’ when they do. That gives me the chance to show I can beat them with either hand.”

Taft deserves his success. He has worked countless hours on his inside game with the Pitt coaches, especially Orlando Antigua. He also has played close attention to Troutman, who is a master of sealing off defenders with his large behind. Troutman led Pitt with 17 points yesterday and is shooting 65.7 percent.

Mike Pirusta, however, wants to savor the Big East Regular Season Championship.

The celebration that followed was as heartfelt as it was well-deserved. Balloons descended from the rafters and popped like firecrackers upon reaching the crowd. Tears decorated the face of Julius Page. The Big East Conference championship trophy was hoisted at mid-court. The pep band blasted out the Pitt Fight Song and the NCAA Tournament theme that CBS has made so recognizable over the years. Toby Keith was once again heard warbling over the arena speakers (“How Do You Like Me Now?”).

Jamie Dixon addressed the fans as the best in the nation.

And Toree Morris fired his commemorative hat and T-shirt into the Oakland Zoo.

The symbolism of the moment was unmistakable, but Morris maintained he wasn’t trying to make any sort of statement about there being more work to do or about Pitt having bigger goals to capture.

This was special enough all on its own that the big center from Oliver Springs, Tenn., was simply overcome with emotion.

“I just did it to show my love for those guys,” Morris said. “I don’t know everybody, but I know the guys that started the Zoo when we were freshmen, when the year before that we weren’t the ‘Beast of the East.’

“I really do love those guys.”

The feeling was more than mutual on a day when Pitt basketball once again achieved, in a manner that takes the program to a previously unattained level of excellence.

Other Notes

The Trib beat reporter looks at the awards for the Big East, and sees Pitt dominating. He pencils Jamie Dixon in as Coach of the Year; Carl Krauser for Most Improved; Chris Taft is Rookie of the Year; Jaron Brown for Sportman of the Year. He lists Okafor of UConn for Player of the Year and Defensive Player, but he puts Page a close second for Defensive.

A good way to judge the interest in a program is to see how many papers pick up the AP stories on the team. This Alan Robinson piece on Pitt’s possibilities in the NCAA, for example appeared in the San Jose Mercury News, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Seattle Post Intelligencer, LA Times, Atlanta Journal Constitution; and in papers in California, Georgia (a couple), South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi and even the Philly area.

Then there’s this profile piece from Robinson on Jaron Brown that just ran in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Big East Seedings

Here’s the match-ups for the Big East Tournament (it hasn’t been updated as yet). Syracuse beat UConn today (they rested Okafor, damn them), so Syracuse gets the #4 seed and the bye in the first round. Pitt will face the winner of the Rutgers-VaTech game on March 11. Syracuse will play the winner of Boston College-Georgetown. Assuming Pitt and Syracuse win, they will meet each other in the semis. It won’t be easy for Pitt to get to the Big East Championship game.

Pitt won. Pitt has their 3rd straight Big East regular season title. They beat down a weaker team after spotting them a 14 point lead with less than 8 minutes left in the first half. Here’s the box score and game log. Play along with game notes.

1:30 pm, settling into the chair, see that Dan Shulman and Len Elmore will be calling the game. No complaints. They’ll be doing the Big East Tournament as well, so it’s going to be familiar.

Game starts and the crowd seems a little subdued. Not full throated. Or is that the sound guys filtering them out? The game starts in what seems to be the usual Pitt fashion — sloppy. Missed shots, missed follows, turnovers. Pitt scores first at 17:45 when Troutman follows his own miss with a tip-in.

Odd, Pitt isn’t doing a good job on defensive rebounds. They aren’t boxing out, allowing ‘Nova to get second chances.

Page takes his first shot at 15:53, miss. He is looking to shoot from the outside. Allen Ray of ‘Nova gets the long rebound and scores on a drive to the basket. That’s what Page should be doing. Driving all the way to the hoop. He has decided to be a jump shooter, and that isn’t his style. It wasn’t how he played last year.

TV timeout at 14:32. Pitt is only down 4-2, but they have only taken 5 shots (1-5) while ‘Nova has 8 shots. Pitt has turned the ball over a couple of times and has allowed second shots by the Wildcats. On both ends Pitt looks out of sorts. Disjointed on both offense and defense.

After play resumes, Pitt turns the ball over. That’s 3 straight times. Unbelievable. Pitt is taking nothing but outside shots. They are letting themselves play a perimeter game and no one is getting after the boards. Suddenly it’s 11-2 Villanova and Pitt has to use a 30 second timeout at 12:30. And what happens? Page comes out and launches a 3 — miss.

Sloppy play by both sides ensues, leading to Torree Morris being fouled. He makes 1 of 2 FT. Pitt’s first point in over 6:30 minutes. And the scoring drought continues. Page misses an open 3 and even fails to complete a layup on a break. Pitt finds itself down 17-3, and as the graphic on TV points out — their biggest deficit of the year. Pitt calls another timeout at 8:32. The Pete is a tomb. Nova is playing a slow pace, but they are hustling to the basketball. They are being aggressive. They are making Pitt look slow.

Pitt actually gets a basket when Taft gets a lay-up at 7:21 to make it 17-5. Pitt’s first basket in over 10 minutes.

Taft scores again, getting the offensive rebound and laying it in. Nova misses again, and Taft lays another one in. It’s now 17-9. The crowd starts sounding alive, and Villanova takes a 30 second timeout at 5:45. Nova turns it over, but Troutman misses the lay-up — but Taft with a put-back dunk! The crowd noise really picks up.

How has ESPN SportsCenter not done a feature on Taft this year? It’s a cakewalk, set it to the “Shaft” theme music. Alternative lyrics with “TAFT!” If they miss this opportunity in the Big East Tournament, someone needs to be fired.

Page misses another jumper. His shot is just not there. He settled for the jumper, though, when he had a step on his defender to the basket. Frustrating to watch.

Villanova ends it’s scoring drought to make it 19-11 at 4:10, but Krauser answers with his first basket of the game.

TV timeout at 2:43. This game has taken an eerily familiar feel to early Big East conference games of Pitt. Where they would come out sluggish, out of sorts, not ready; then anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes into the game a light would go on and Pitt would start playing its game.

Out of the timeout and Page misses another wide open 3-point shot. At this rate, Nova might as well leave Page alone on the perimeter.

The half ends and Pitt is down by 5, 22-17. It was Pitt’s lowest scoring half of the season. Still considering Pitt was down by 14 more than halfway through the quarter, Pitt has a good shot. Page, Brown and Krauser shot a combined 1 for 14. As a team, Pitt shot 7 for 24.

Villanova gets the ball to start the second half and Allen Ray immediately nails a jumper. Damn.

Page misses an up and under shot. Then a minute later misses an open 3. He couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat today. Geez.

It’s Taft again on offense. He puts one back on a rebound then scores on a lay up, though he misses the free throw when fouled scoring. Pitt gets the rebound. Oh s**t, Troutman takes a 3. And he makes it! Tie game at 24. Wow.

Nova misses again. Pitt gets the ball and a TV timeout at 15:57. Pitt is on a 7-0 run.

Out of the timeout, Brown hits a runner. 26-24. Pitt has its first lead since being up 2-0.

Now Pitt is getting the rebounds and putting the pressure on Villanova. The Wildcats are wilting a little. You can see them start to press. They commit another turnover, and Troutman is all alone under the basket for an easy lay-in. ‘Nova has to take a 30 second timeout. It doesn’t help. Foye commits another turnover (he committed 7 in the game), and Allen Ray has to foul Troutman to prevent the breakaway lay-up. Troutman nails both free throws and Pitt is now up 30-24. Less than a minute later Brown nails a huge,open 3. Pitt has a 33-24 lead. A 16-0 run. Villanova takes another 30 second timeout.

Then confusion. The refs give Page a technical, but nobody knows why (apparently he got it for jawing or taunting Allen Ray of Villanova). Allen Ray sinks both free throws then puts down a jumper to make it a 33-28 game. This is part of Villanova’s 13-4 run to tie the game at 37, with 8:27 left. Ray scored 10 of the 13 points for Villanova.

The Pete got very quiet during that run. Pitt is starting to look shaky again. In that run, Krauser got called for a pushing off foul with the ball. Elmore points out that he uses his elbow to try and shove the guy out of the way. I now get why he doesn’t get more blocking calls when he drives. He’s always pushing, shoving into the defender.

Taft gets fouled and makes 1-2 free throws to give Pitt a 38-37 lead with 7:45 left. McCarroll misses a 3, then Page makes a steal on Villanova at their end. The ball heads out of bounds and a Nova player tries to get it. The ball is stopped on the line and the ref blows the whistle saying it’s out of bounds, Pitt ball. This is right in front of Nova coach Jay Wright who starts screaming and is immediately given a technical. Krauser drops both free throws, and on the ensuing possession is fouled. This sends Pitt to the double bonus and Krauser makes the next pair.

Now it is 42-37 Pitt. The Pete starts to roar again. Villanova goes ice cold, impatience and sloppiness. Pitt goes up 51-37. A 14-0 run where Pitt only had 6 points on baskets, and 8 from free throws. Nova ended the drought at 1:38 with a 3 but it was too late. Pitt keeps making foul shots down the stretch. With less than a minute left, Brown and Page — the seniors — come out to a standing ovation for each. Then on the next stoppage Troutman and Taft. After that, Krauser.

There was a shot of Morris — the 3rd senior — on the bench in his warm-up suit — he hadn’t been in except for 2 minutes in the first half. Dixon apparently asked if he wanted in for the last minute, but he declined.

Final score, Pitt 59-45

The game was all about the inside play of Taft and Troutman for the second straight game. Taft was the player of the game with a double-double — 16 points and 11 rebounds. He was 7-10 shooting. His only negative was 2-6 from the free throw line.

Troutman went for 17 points (6-12 shooting) and 7 rebounds. He also had 4 steals.

Krauser had 11 points but only 2 came from the field (1-9). The other 9 came on free throws. Brown had 7 points on 2-5 shooting and 2-2 free throws.

Page, though, was hideous once more. 0-8 shooting, including 0-5 from 3-point. He got 5 points on 5-6 from the free throw line. I just do not understand why he refuses to drive to the basket. He is so powerful off the dribble, but keeps pulling up, or waiting to take an open look. It isn’t working.

It’s not a struggle for me; I’m still shooting the ball. It’s difficult sometimes when you’re playing hard
defense; you get tired when you switch to offense. All I care about is that we win. If I shoot badly and we
still win, I’ll shoot 0-8 every night.

No matter how much he protests Pitt needs him to be a reliable scorer.

During the telecast, they kept flashing to the “thousands” of balloons in the nets that they were going to drop if Pitt won. It was amusing in a way because the first time they showed them, Pitt was down big, so the comments were almost sarcastic, then it changed to an “if,” then “maybe,” and finally inevitability.