Just a bunch of press releases from the Pitt Athletic Dept.

Game Notes for the Howard-Pitt basketball game tomorrow, here (PDF). Not much of interest since it is only game 1. Though, on Page 3 you can find a box of “Preseason Storylines.” A short list of topics for the lazy sportswriter to consider basing his story or just to sprinkle into a story.

This one trumpets Eric Gill’s catch and run winning the ESPN/Pontiac highlight challenge for the week.

Now this is actually a useful press release. It is a list of the bowl schedule, complete with links to each bowl’s official web site. A fairly useful resource.

Final note, Todd McShay of Scouts, Inc. (via ESPN.com Insider) puts out a list of football players who brokethrough in the second half. No surprise who ended up on the list.

Tyler Palko, QB, Pittsburgh
Palko got off to a rocky beginning as a first-year starter this season. In his first four games, he completed just 52.7 percent of his throws, threw five interceptions and was sacked 12 times. To his credit, he hung in there and has steadily improved.

His breakout game came Saturday in a record-setting, five-touchdown performance in South Bend. Palko has led his team to four wins in its last five games. He has thrown for 1,316 yards, with 12 touchdowns and just one interception in that stretch. With a young offense around him, the Panthers project to have one of the Big East’s most explosive attacks in 2005.

They are trying to get juiced for the game down in Morgantown.

It’s Pitt week, time for the Backyard Brawl.

“There’s an extra buzz around the team,” center Tim Brown admits.

He should know something about it. This is his sixth time going through Pitt week.

“People are hitting harder. Even the scout team is bringing it a little harder,” he said.

Pitt does that.

It’s a rivalry that dates to 1895 between schools not 100 miles apart. Dominated by Pitt until the 1950s and then again in the 1970s, West Virginia has gone 11-4-1 against the Panthers in the past 16 games.

“Every game is a big game,” Brown said, “but this is the biggest. It’s circled every year at the first meeting coming into training camp.”

Pitt week is unlike any other week in the year.

“Mines vs. the mills, the Backyard Brawl,” senior linebacker Scott Gyorko said. “It’s like growing up. You have a fight with your family, it gets out of control and you go at it.”

“We call it ‘Pitt Camp,’ ” senior safety Jahmile Addae said. “It’s the most intense week of the year. We basically get down and dirty and build ourselves back up from the roots.”

Interesting. I have to wonder though, if both teams might be feeling that the game is just a touch anticlimatic. Pitt just won a huge game in ND, that is still having aftershocks. WVU just pissed away their BCS hopes in a gakker at home against BC. I mean when a columnist in the WVU student paper is actually talking about being optimistic for Hoopie sports now that basketball season is here.

In the not-so-unlikely scenario that WVU makes Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko look like Tom Brady on Thanksgiving night, do not feel compelled to run to the bathroom and experience your turkey dinner for a second time.

Take heart, Mountaineer fans: Basketball season is upon us.

Kind of strange that the WVU kids are saying that. We kind of expected us to be the ones talking that way.

Then you have columnists trying to say that being 8-2 isn’t really that bad for the team. Say what? Now that is pathetic homerisms. You can look at columns like that to say, yeah, being the coach with papers like that isn’t too bad afterall.

One WV writer notes with some sadness that Syracuse AD Jake Crouthamel will be retiring in June. Crouthamel was instrumental in helping to get WVU into the Big East. First in football then all in. Wonder if Crouthamel staying until June might save Pasqualoni for another year? Let the next AD choose the guy. Or does he saddle the next AD with a coach he didn’t pick?

Now a plea to our presumably exhausted and time crunched mole in Morgantown. John, we need some reports on the mood down there. How are they gearing up for the Brawl? What’s the word? Hope the new kid is starting to sleep a little longer each night.

At last. Sort of. It’s against Howard University, as Pitt finally begins the regular season. Surprisingly enough, the team is kind of banged up.

Senior Mark McCarroll (hamstring) and sophomore Antonio Graves (ankle) did not practice. Starters Carl Krauser (shoulder) and Chris Taft (elbow) just returned to practice Wednesday. In addition, senior Chevon Troutman and newcomer Keith Benjamin have missed practice in recent days because of illness.

Dixon said he couldn’t project who would practice today much less play tomorrow, but he characterized most of the injuries as “nagging.”

“We’ve had some guys out,” Dixon said. “We haven’t had our whole group together I don’t think since we started practice. A lot of teams go through this at this time of the year.”

I’m not too concerned, either. It seems most of the injuries came from practice. This tells me the guys are still getting after it on defense and are raring to go. The only injury I worry over is Taft’s elbow infection. Just the sort of weird thing that could totally submarine a player. Still, he says he’s playing tomorrow.

The Post-Gazette Pitt basketball beat writer, Ray Fittipaldo kicks off the weekly Q&A. Not a lot for the first week since the expectations are high, and the problems look low.

Q: How good of a shooter is freshman Ronald Ramon?

FITTIPALDO: If the exhibition games are any indication, Ramon should be a big plus for the Pitt offense. He made 5 of 7 3-point attempts against CMU and made 2 of 4 against Gannon on Sunday. We’ll see how he handles himself when the games count for real. (Howard visits the Petersen Events Center for the opener tomorrow night). Of all the newcomers, Ramon seems the most comfortable at this point.

A big key to a deep NCAA run. God, it is still a pleasure to type things like that. That it is now an article of faith that Pitt will make the NCAA Tournament. It hasn’t gotten old.

A couple of player puff pieces. This one on Freshman Guard Keith Benjamin.

Benjamin is a natural at shooting guard – a fleet-footed penetrator who loves to score – but he played the point at practice yesterday to fill in for the ailing Carl Krauser (left shoulder) and Antonio Graves (ankle).

By all accounts, he performed well, displaying one of his greatest assets – versatility.

“I played three positions in high school, wherever they needed me,” Benjamin said. “I feel like I can help in a lot of different ways.”

Krauser believes Benjamin has the makings of a star.

“He listens, and he’s a smart kid,” said Krauser, who injured the shoulder while reaching awkwardly for a ball at a recent practice. (Krauser expects to be near full strength tomorrow). “He’s a good outside shooter, and he’s doing everything right right now. The coaches are getting a chance to see that he’s our future.”

Benjamin wouldn’t mind being “the present,” if things work out this season. He understands that he’ll have to embrace his role as a backup to senior Yuri Demetris, sophomore Graves or freshman Ronald Ramon, but that doesn’t mean he plans to sit quietly on the bench.

“I have to make the most of my chances,” said Benjamin, who’s been compared to former Pitt standout Julius Page, a tenacious defender with incredible leaping ability. “I feel like I can score points, get out on the fastbreak and make plays. I’m a scorer.”

In Pitt’s system, though, it is defense first. He may have to learn some restraint, as well. Talking about wanting to get out on the fastbreak is not how Pitt plays. Pitt is a half-court team.

The other is on Chris Taft. Taft is talking about wanting to win it all this year. I like hearing that. Of course, everyone assumes that Taft will be heading to the NBA after this season.

“I look at it as things happen for a reason. I want to win a national championship. I want to win and win and win. After that, I’m going to sit down with my family and go over things. But I’m focusing on the season now — the NCAA. Not the NBA.”

Taft won’t turn 20 until March. He is a happy-go-lucky kid who lives for “the here and now,” according to his mother.

Tareka Taft raised her son to enjoy the moment, and Chris is following that path. There is no pressure for him to leave college early and turn professional. As more and more teenagers forgo college for the NBA, Tareka is encouraging Chris to stay all four years at Pitt.

“I’m not sure about other parents,” she said. “But I’m not looking for him to go to the NBA for what he can do for me. I can provide for myself. I never looked at it like all the millions and what it could do for me.

“My No. 1 goal is for him to get his education. Yes, he’s good, but he also needs to concentrate on school. Christopher and I have a strong relationship, and I’ve always tried to make him understand that he’ll be stronger if he waits.

“Imagine two or three years from now. He’ll be better prepared for the NBA. You want to be strong and be like Shaq or Kobe. You want to make a name for yourself and not just be in the NBA. If, at the end of the season he says, ‘Mom, I want to come out,’ I’ll strongly try to get him to stay another year. I’ll stick with him no matter what he does, but it’ll be a fight.”

It’s nice to read, but I don’t really buy it. You read this stuff every year and every year they still go pro. I won’t fault him. The money is there, and it doesn’t make sense to turn it down.

Mike Prisuta wonders if this team could actually win it all.

Enthusiasm and expectations are running wild, and justifiably so.

The Panthers were ranked No. 3 in the Big East and No. 17 in the nation in the preseason, and there appears to be no limit to what this team might achieve if it can find someone to consistently knock down the three-ball.

Meet me in St. Louis?

Assuming freshman Ronald Ramon is as good as he’s supposed to be, the Final Four may prove to be within the Panthers’ grasp.

Ramon comes in with the reputation of possessing the outside shooting touch the Panthers have lacked, with the potential to deliver from beyond the arc more consistently than the departed Julius Page. But if Ramon is going to deliver as advertised, he must first stop the other guys at the other end.

Junior college transfer John DeGroat, likewise, must “D” it up before he fills it up and establish himself as an offensively superior alternative to Jaron Brown.
…
And while it’s been offense that’s kept Pitt from advancing past a hat trick of Sweet 16s, it’s been defense and rebounding that has taken Pitt to such heights. And it’ll be defense and rebounding that Dixon and has staff will demand from the newcomers.

Defense, rebounding, ball-handling and more consistent outside shooting.

Probably in that order.

Last year, there were questions about Krauser and Taft. Whether they would want to play D. They embraced the defense. I see no reason the new recruits won’t come around. They won’t see the minutes if they don’t play defense first. That is the way Dixon coaches and runs the team.

As I keep saying, the defense isn’t a concern to me. It will be played at a high level. My big question will be how Dixon uses a deeper bench. How will he rotate the players. Will he rest his starters more?

Pitt has a new football recruit. An offensive lineman from New Jersey. Pitt was the first to actually offer a scholarship to Kevin Hughes. He also had Rutgers, Mich. St., Syracuse and South Carolina on his list — but none at this time appeared to have actually made an offer. It would appear he is a “diamond in the rough” type of recruit. Not ranked, but is 6’5″, 285 pounds (or 6’3″, 260 pounds depending on the report).

A nice enough puff piece on long-time Pitt radio guy, Bill Hillgrove.

The Q&A with Pitt football beat reporter Paul Zeise is a feisty one. He takes shots at the fans, the administration and one at Harris’ performance. This is a full read.

Coach Walt Harris is calling this a big game.

“There is no such thing as overhype when it comes to this game,” Harris said yesterday after practice. “This is the biggest game of the year for us, the most important one on our schedule every year. That’s just how it is. This one cannot be overhyped. We have to do our job, a better job than we’ve done the past two years, though.

“West Virginia has done an excellent job in this game the past two years and we haven’t.”

Harris has tried to downplay the game before. Then last year, he decided to embrace the “big game” concept. Hopefully this year he won’t close practices. Actually this is a big game. This will be the 97th meeting of the two teams. That makes WVU the most played team in Pitt’s history. They will pass Penn State at 96 games.

Harris also appeared to get a little testy with a Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh reporter who was pushing about whether Harris should come back next year.

The last story actually dovetails nicely with something I had been thinking about this week. The defense. Specifically, why the hell Defensive Coordinator/Secondary Coach Paul Rhoads hasn’t been taking more heat for 2 straight years of bad D? At the beginning of the season Rhoads said the D would be better. That they would stop the run. How this year they would get pressure on QBs because they were no longer “contaminated.” The usual.

Hasn’t happened. But there is enough spin to confuse. Take this version from the Game Notes (PDF, Page 8):

Traditionally Strong: Pittsburgh has ranked among the nationÂ’s top 12 in total defense in two of the last three seasons. The Panthers ranked seventh in 2001 (284.6 avg.) and 12th in 2002 (296.0).

In 2002, the Panthers ranked among the nationÂ’s top 25 in an impressive seven different categories. The ’02 defense ranked seventh in fumbles recovered (18 total), 12th in total defense (296.0 avg.), 14th in scoring defense (17.8 avg.), 15th in pass efficiency defense (100.3 rating), 17th in turnovers gained (33 total), 18th in pass defense (178.5 avg.) and 24th in rush defense (117.5 avg.).

They don’t mention last year. And this year, the Total Defense rank is 78. Giving up close to 400 yards per game.

In every game this year, except for Furman, Pitt’s D has given up more total yards than the O has produced (page 33).

Against teams with good running backs: Brockington, UConn; Reyes and Rhodes, Syracuse; and Walker, ND — Pitt has been gashed repeatedly. Overall, the team is 44th.

Pitt’s secondary has been beaten on a regular basis. Pass defense is 109th in the country.

Despite all of that, you don’t read much in the way of criticism of Paul Rhoads. I am guessing that he is just a great guy and a solid interview or something, because you would think he would be just as embattled over what has been happening. Instead you get a piece today talking about the turnaround on defense?

Statistics don’t lie, but then again, they don’t always tell the whole story.

That’s especially true when evaluating Pitt’s defense this year. Statistically, it has not been very good. On the other hand, it often has made game-turning or game-deciding plays.

The Panthers are fourth in the seven-team Big East in scoring defense (25.1 points per game), last in pass defense (264.9 yards per game) and fourth in total defense (396.4).

Not great numbers, but also not the most accurate portrayal of a defense that occasionally has been dominant.

Unbelievable. It gets worse, because the piece lets Rhoads make his case unchallenged.

“You look at the Notre Dame game,” Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said. “We missed a total of four tackles. That’s it. You see all of those points (38) and yards (438), and people assume its because we’re out of position or missing tackles like last year. That’s not the case, four missed tackles in a college football game of 60 or 70 plays is amazingly low.

“What has hurt us is the big plays. More than 200 of those yards came on six plays, 92 on two passes over the top. It is those big plays that have hurt us statistically, but we are making enough plays to win games. And, for the most part, we’re getting off the field. We just have some breakdowns, but they are coming less and less.[“]

The ND game? Those 200+ yards may have come on 6 plays, but did they or did they not set up scores? It doesn’t matter whether they came from a long drive or a few gashing runs and deep passes. They were big gains that helped set up scores. This past week, the highlights showed H.B. Blades applying a bone crushing hit to stop ND running back Ryan Grant cold near the goal line. What was quickly forgotten was that 1-2 plays later Walker ran right into the endzone for a score.

“The week before against Syracuse, we dominated them for the entire half, then on the final drive, we didn’t take the field and play with the same passion and intensity we had and we let them march down and tie the game. That was as simple as us not wanting it and getting beat man-for-man on one drive. We’re still working on getting to the point where we play with passion every play, but we’re getting there.”

You mean after you let them race to a 21-6 lead? As for that spin of “dominating them for the entire half.” No. In the second half, Walter Reyes got hurt and Paul Pasqualoni showed why he Syracuse fans want him gone. He went to the pass when the run was working:

If the first half was all about why Harris needs to go, then the 3rd quarter and most of the 4th was all about why Syracuse fans want to throw Pasqualoni out in the snow.

Pitt showed no ability to stop the run in the first half. Syracuse compiled over 300 yards in the first half. Reyes and Damien Rhodes ran for over half of it. Rhodes has already shown he is a capable back in his own right, so when Reyes hurt his back early in the 3rd quarter, you expect to see Rhodes take over the load. Not with Pasqualoni in charge. Time to have the young QB, Patterson, shoulder the load.

This led to the Patterson fumble that led to the Pitt score to tie the game. Following a 45 yard kickoff return — by the way, when did Pitt become incapable of tackling and covering on kickoffs and punts ? I’m just wondering — they go 3 and out. Pitt gets another field goal (missing a big opportunity) and again, a huge kickoff return (by Rhodes). So, time to run the ball. Chew some clock, take advantage of the bad run defense. No. 3 straight pass attempts. The last being intercepted.

Pitt failed to get a 45 yard field goal. I understand Cummings had the distance on his misses, but… Was he just hooking them? Were they even close? Anyone care to fill me in?

You look at the play-by-play list, and you see that when they do run Rhodes, they get yardage, but then inexplicably they have Patterson throwing 2-3 times in a row. Leading to punts.

Don’t tell me it was about the Pitt D dominating. I may not have seen the game, but Lee did, and he was not conveying the picture of a defense that had figured out Syracuse.

I don’t want to be negative, but all this suggests is that Pitt has won 6 games despite its defense. You also need to worry about when it catches up. If lucky, Pitt makes it through the year. Otherwise…