You would think a team that was a pre-season #1 would have their local media relieved that they finally lived up to the hype by winning the BET. Surely they wouldn’t consider it one of the greatest UConn wins ever — would they?

UConn has celebrated some magical moments at Madison Square Garden, but Saturday night may have topped them all.

Oh. This win has evoked a lot of memories for the media following UConn

With 30.4 seconds left on this memorable March night, he climbed into Ray Allen’s jersey and hit a runner in the lane over a wall of Pittsburgh Panthers.

The shot was a huge one. The moment was even bigger.

Eight years ago, in this same game in the big city, Allen’s runner had curled around the rim and dropped in to drop Georgetown for one of the greatest comebacks in UConn basketball history. As a snapshot, there are few more savored Polaroids in the Huskies’ scrapbook.

Allen’s Big East tournament winner in 1996 had come too late for Georgetown to recover. Pitt would have a solid last chance Saturday night and maybe it had to be this way for Ben Gordon.
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The buzzer sounded. Gordon thought the game was over. He took the basketball in one hand and heaved it all the way to the Hudson River. No, it was farther than that. He threw it all the way to his hometown of Mount Vernon.

There could be no sweeter moment for a New York kid, especially one prodded for being timid, one prodded to take charge. Gordon took charge all right. He jumped up on the scorer’s table the way El-Amin did that afternoon in Pittsburgh during the 1999 national title run. Only this time, it wasn’t done as a response to the taunting of UConn’s biggest rival. It was done in unrestrained joy.

What? No reference to Donyell Marshall? They have made Ben Gordon a god.

Still, UConn found a way to win its sixth Big East championship.

Found a way because Ben Gordon made good on every bet that has ever been placed on him.

Most Huskie followers were just relieved Okafor left for foul troubles, not back spasms. And of course, there is love for the big men who filled in for Villanueva yesterday and Okafor the two previous games — a classic “what they did, doesn’t show up in the stat sheet” piece.

Then there is this.

Pitt could still land a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. With their physical style and terrific defense, they won’t be easy to beat in the postseason. But they must get past this disappointment first.

Apparently the writer is convinced that this loss is a total demoralizer for Pitt. I have a hard time seeing it like that. Nothing the Pitt players or Coach Dixon said indicates they won’t get past the game.

Lots of articles, and it may actually take a couple days before I get to everything. So, starting with the local dailies, there is a sense that this is not an earthshattering loss. Ron Cook is a leading proponent on this and has two columns extolling this line.

I want to be disappointed with Pitt this morning. Disappointed that it blew a 12-point second-half lead against Connecticut. Disappointed that it blew a wonderful chance to win a second consecutive Big East Conference tournament championship. Disappointed that it blew a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Disappointed that it blew it all.

But I’m sorry, I can’t feel that way.

That was too good of a game at Madison Square Garden last night.

That was too good of an opponent.

It’s fairly safe to say Pitt won’t play a better team in the NCAA tournament. That doesn’t mean the Panthers are a lock for the national championship or even the Final Four. It also doesn’t mean they don’t have plenty to work on between now and their first-round game Thursday or Friday.

It just means there was no shame in this 61-58 loss.

The most annoying thing, is I don’t totally disagree. I wanted Pitt to win. I leapt from my seat at times, shouted, yelled, cheered and fell to the floor when Gordon put UConn ahead with less than a minute left. But after it was over, I was not despondent. It would have been great to win, but part of me was already moving on to NCAA Tourney dreams. Mike Pirusta also was ready to start the NCAA Tourney dreaming.

This is probably the best recap of the game, and it points out an interesting figure: UConn had a 23-4 edge in second chance points. It also points out that Pitt was outrebounded 41-33. I don’t find that so disturbing, because UConn had a 14-3 rebounding edge at the 12:02 mark of the first half, most coming during UConn’s initial run. From that point on, Pitt actually held a slight 30-27 rebounding edge. Strangely, none in the Pittsburgh media or in recaps seems to note that in the first half both teams exchanged runs. Even the final 8 minutes is not put in the context of a run. I guess that was just me.

The “notebook” columns from each paper are interesting. This one leads with the high bench scoring from Pitt. The other one observes that this was the 8th time the BET Championship game was played between 2 top ten teams. It also has a little note about Brandin Knight contacting Dixon and Krauser the day of the game with some advice.

From the BET site, they list the:

2004 BIG EAST ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Taliek Brown, Connecticut, Sr.
Jaron Brown, Pittsburgh, Sr.
Carl Krauser, Pittsburgh, So.
Chris Taft, Pittsburgh, Fr.
Craig Smith, Boston College, So.

Dave Gavitt Trophy (Most Outstanding Player)
Ben Gordon, Connecticut, Jr.

Here are the interview transcripts for Pitt and UConn. There was a follow up to Taliek Brown on his joking comments about “hating” Pitt.

Q. Last night you said (inaudible)?
TALIEK BROWN: They cool with me, now (laughter). They all right with me now.

I should note that none of the Pittsburgh media used the “We hate them” quote in any articles. I expected them to, but they didn’t bother. Good.

Throw In

I meant to highlight this article earlier in the week about the NCAA Tournament selection committee. It talks about how the conferences lobby the committee members for their bubble teams. I found it interesting.

One of the more covert aspects of the NCAA Tournament selection process is the work done by conference offices to advocate the candidacy of their teams. Nobody likes to use the word “lobbying.” Fair or not, this connotes the use of expensive dinners, extravagant gifts and junkets to manipulate the political process. What the conferences primarily do with members of the selection committee is give them more to read.
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Just before selection weekend, the leagues present organized material that champions the strength of their teams. A lot of this information can be found on a Ratings Percentage Index breakdown page: overall record, conference record, record against various levels of RPI teams, etc. But there also is information about injuries and suspensions that might have affected results. The committee often talks about how teams will be given breaks if injuries affected results — so long as those players are back competing effectively.
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Ultimately, the conferences do this work because they’re passionate about it and their members are, effectively, paying them to do it. Coaches appreciate knowing somebody is out there fighting for their cause. But who knows whether it works? Without being lobbied, bracket analysts Jerry Palm of CollegeRPI.com and Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com routinely come close to matching the committee’s picks. They’ve come to understand what numbers the committee values.

Of course, that reminds me that it is time for the members of PSB and its readers to sign-up in the ESPN NCAA Tourney Challenge. Our group is called, not surprisingly, “Pitt Sports Blather.”

The UConn-Pitt game was one of runs. Hot and cold spells. Nothing and everything. UConn went on a 13-2 run to start. Pitt countered with a 19-2 sprint. Then 8-4 UConn, countered by 9-2 by Pitt. And that was just in the first half. If you were looking for flow, consistency and rhythm then this was not your game. Ultimately, UConn made a final run to win the game and the Big East Championship, 61-58. Hats off to the Huskies. I would have to say both UConn and Pitt should get #2 seeds for the NCAA this evening. Let’s go to the game notes.

Before the game, the announcers tell us that Okafor will play and Villanueva will sit. Had that dead wrong. The Garden already sounds loud. There should be a an edge to UConn in the crowd, simply by geographic proximity.

Pitt wins the tip, but Taft takes a shot that misses badly. UConn runs the floor and Anderson off of a screen drops a 3. Page takes Pitt’s next shot, and isn’t close. Okay. Page has to shut down Gordon. And on cue, Page steals the ball from Ben Gordon. Unfortunately Krauser’s shot goes in and out. Then Jaron Brown steals the ball and gets it to Troutman for a slam. The next 3 minutes is all UConn. Pitt can’t make a shot or get a rebound. Gordon nails two deep (beyond the NBA-line) 3-point shots in a row. Page will have to go out further on him, if he is feeling it like that. Okafor looks pretty good, grabbing rebounds inside, and completely changing shots. There’s a TV timeout at 14:46, and it’s 13-2 UConn.

At 13:50, Jaron Brown makes another steal and lays the ball in himself to end Pitt’s drought. At that point, they show that UConn went 5-11 on shooting, and Pitt was only 2-8. Okafor went out of the game in some obvious discomfort. He doesn’t sit, they say to avoid having his back tighten up. Judging by the grimace on his face, I’d say it’s already tight.

Pitt starts getting points. Krauser hits 2 free throws, and Torree Morris comes off the bench to slam the ball down off a pass from Jaron Brown. UConn has troubles, despite a 14-23 rebounding edge. Taliek Brown commits an offensive foul and with the score 13-8, Okafor comes back in after only a minute and a half of game time rest. Pitt is now in sync. Krauser to McCarroll for an alley-oop. Brown has his 3rd steal and lays another one in. UConn is not making anything. McCarroll nails a jumper and Pitt has the lead, 14-13. McCarroll looks like he is feeling confident tonight. Okafor makes a jumper to briefly let UConn retake the lead. Then Taft makes a jumper over Okafor. McCarroll adds a 3-pointer for 7 points off the bench. Gordon, who after starting 2-4 is now ice cold misses another 3-point shot and Krauser takes it down and hits a runner high off the glass to make it 21-15 Pitt. UConn takes a timeout at 8:13 to regroup from Pitt’s 19-2 run. In that run, UConn went 1-6 shooting, while Pitt was 7-10.

UConn gets a little run going to make it a 2 point game, 25-23 with 5 minutes left, but Pitt takes control for the final 5 minutes. Jaron Brown is playing a magnificent game. It seems as if he is showing his complete game with defense, passing and decent shooting. Making a case for an NBA team to at least consider signing him to play in the NBDL. McCarroll seemed to have received a message from Coach Dixon after his performance last night. He is on his game.

By Halftime, Pitt has a 34-25 lead. Pitt shot nearly 50% while holding UConn to under 30%. Pitt shot free throws well, 5-6, and had a 22-8 point edge over Syracuse for points in the paint. Page had no points but held Gordon to only 6 points on 2-10 shooting.

The second half looks like Pitt might do it. For almost 13 minutes, the teams just trade baskets, misses, and fouls. Antonio Graves who has gotten some minutes tonight buries a 3 to give Pitt a 51-40 lead at 8:25. Then it all changed.

UConn scores 7 unanswered points before Page makes a steal and lay-in to make it 53-47 with 4:56 left. Gordon who did not stop shooting the entire game (5-12 in the second half), made another 3 and made all his foul shots in the second half (6-6). Anderson added another 3 (he went 4-10 shooting 3’s). Okafor added a couple more points and rebounds before fouling out with 2:19 left, and Troutman made 1-2 free throws to give Pitt its first points in almost 2 minutes, still holding a 56-54 lead. Even with Okafor out, Pitt couldn’t rebound. Anderson’s 3 at 1:58 gave UConn it’s first lead since the mid-point of the first half. McCarroll hits a jumper, and Pitt has the lead. Then a minute of nothing. Gordon hits a clutch jumper with 39 seconds left, and UConn has a 59-58 lead.

Pitt takes a timeout. Krauser has the ball. He is holding to take a shot. Everyone knows he will be taking the shot. He starts to drive then pulls up for a jumper with about 8 seconds left. It misses, but McCarroll gets the rebound. He takes a jump shot and misses. It’s a long rebound to Gordon who is fouled with half a second left. He sinks his free throws. Pitt actually gets the ball all the way down to Page who misses a 2 point (2 point?) jumper. The final 8 minutes, and UConn goes on a 21-7 run to pull the game out.

Final 61-58.

Ben Gordon was the difference pouring in 23 points on 7-22 shooting. Amusing that he eclipsed Allen Iverson’s BET total scoring record while having an AI like shooting night. Page just wasn’t able to contain him. I was surprised how quiet Josh Boone was this game. Only 5 points and 3 rebounds. Rashad Anderson kept making 3s at key moments. Okafor was more effective than I thought he would be — 11 points and 13 rebounds. Gordon, Anderson and Okafor had 48 of UConn’s 61 points.

Unbelievable that Pitt got 20 points from the bench to UConn’s 0, but still lost. Pitt had the balanced scoring 11 points for both Taft and McCarroll, 10 points for Brown and Krauser. Pitt only scored 24 points in the second half. They shot 10-26 (38.5%) and only 3-7 on free throws in the second half.

Looking over my notes and the game log of the second half leads to some disturbing decisions. Pitt’s outside shots weren’t there. Krauser, Page and Brown each had only 1 basket in the second half. In the first half Pitt dominated points in the paint with 22 of their 34. They got away from that in the second half, settling for jumpers and not getting it inside to Taft, Troutman, Morris or even McCarroll. In the second half, Troutman only had one basket (1-1 shooting, and 1-2 on free throws), and Taft only had 3 shots (2-3, but also 2-4 on free throws). I don’t know if I should blame Krauser at point for not trying to get the ball inside more, or Coach Dixon for not instructing the players to do so. That’s when Pitt loses. When they forget to get it inside.

Seeding Thoughts

Briefly, I have to believe that both UConn and Pitt will get #2 seeds. I think the ACC will end up with 6 teams in the NCAA, because there aren’t enough at-large bids — 34. Consider the multiple seed conferences:

Big East — Pitt, UConn, Syracuse, BC, Providence, Seton Hall
ACC — Duke, UNC, NC St., Wake Forest, Maryland, Georgia Tech.
SEC — Kentucky, Florida, Vandy, MSU, Georgia, South Carolina
C-USA — Cinci, Louisville, DePaul, UAB, Memphis, Charlotte
Big XII — OSU, Texas, Kansas, Tex Tech
A-10 — St. Joe, Xavier, Dayton, Richmond
Big 11 — Illinois, Wisc., MSU
Pac 10 — Stanford, AZ, Wash.

Right there, is 30 at-large bids. That doesn’t count Mountain West which will have BYU and probably Air Force as at-large bids to go with Utah. Southern Illinois and Utah St. will get at-large bids. Richmond is the only team listed that could end up being shafted.