Well, that was unexpected. I think everyone expected more of a challenge from Memphis than that. I mean,when the last time you can point to where the team was only trailing by single digits was at about the 16:30 mark of the first half.

I didn’t see any postgame interviews with the coaches, but when you figure the best spin John Calipari could put on the game would be something to the effect of, I give our guys a lot of credit. They could have packed it in, in the first half but they were back out there in the second half fighting. Unfortunately we dug ourselves too big a hole in the first half… Or words to that effect.

Well, let’s face it Dick Vitale may have actually nailed it with his truism to start the game concerning Pitt with, “We don’t know how good this team is, yet.”

The game was over early. Pitt didn’t shoot well, but were continually getting a first step on Memphis to force them to foul or give up inside baskets. For the most part, Memphis chose to foul. Pitt went to the free throw line 42 times. They may have only hit 25 (less than 60%), but when you get that many opportunities in a game you can overcome it.

Pitt won this game the same way it did last year — defense first. People forget that last year, Pitt could score on teams (prior to the last 6 weeks), but they still played a defense first game. That was part of their problem. They had a much shorter bench because Coach Dixon and the coaching staff would really limit the bench to those who were willing to put defense first on the court. Ultimately this gassed the starters.

This year, though, it is a much different story. Graves, Gray, and even McCarroll are making a real effort to stop the other side before looking for their shots. The new kids, Ramon and DeGroat are already responding to this approach. Ultimately, what this means is a better distribution of minutes — once again, no Pitt player broke the 30 minute barrier in PT. Let me put it this way, last year in the first 7 games, 3 players per night played 30 minutes or more (pp 23-24, PDF). And the foes weren’t any better. Pitt averaged 71 points per game against the first 3 teams last year. This year, through 6 games they are averaging closer to 80 points/game, but the appraoch isn’t really any different. Just more players willing to play the game the way the Pitt coaching staff demands.

Vitale didn’t bother me as much as he usually does. Probably because his voice seemed strained. He could talk — and he did, continually — but he couldn’t screech. This made it easier to tune him out.

I would have produced better game notes, I swear, but I ended up talking with Lee for about a half-hour early in the second-half and then a call from my sister in the last 5 minutes ruined any chance to track the second half.

Obviously, Memphis was not at full strength, but this has been the best test Pitt has faced so far and it aced it. Another positive and a key difference from last year. It put Memphis away early. Last year, Pitt would forget to put defense first early in the game and try and run as up-tempo as the oppoosition. This would cause problems until Coach Dixon could finally, and after burning a bunch of timeouts, made it clear to the players to play defense and be patient looking for the open shot. This would have Pitt falling behind or playing far closer a game than it should be. Not a problem tonight.

Pitt’s next game is also it’s first official “road game” of the year. A trip to State College to play Penn State on Saturday. Lee, Shawn and Pat are planning to be in attendance. I’m expecting to read some first hand perspective.

Pitt still maintains that Stanford has not contacted them regarding interviewing Coach Walt Harris for their vacant head coaching job. That hasn’t changed any reports, though, that he will be talking to Stanford this week.

Now that Jeff Tedford is staying at California, Washington is looking around some more. Ty Willingham is still mentioned, but now Harris is even being mentioned for that job. (check out the end of the article to see the pay for all PAC-10 coaches). Actually Washington must be getting nervous. If you can believe it (and I’m not sure I can) Tom O’Brien at Boston College is starting to be rumored as a candidate. If that becomes the case, I think that would fully qualify as failing upward. Can you imagine tanking game to win the Big East title and getting a better paying, higher profile job?

Strange coaching year.

When Ben Howland left Pitt to take the UCLA job, Pitt was somehow caught flat-footed by the move. Part of that was because the Athletic Director had left in December and the school had never gotten around to naming a new AD. There was still an interim tag on the former assistant AD (who shortly after the hiring of a new head basketball coach got sick of waiting to see if he’d get the job without the interim tag and left), which meant the coach search wasn’t really under his control. It really was under the control of the school’s Chancellor.

John Calipari’s name came up early since he was a native to the Pittsburgh area, he was an assistant at Pitt in the 80s, and there was some strong support from well-heeled boosters. Calipari did nothing to dispel the notion. Then, Pitt totally zeroed in on just one guy virtually to the exclusion of all other candidates – Skip Prosser at Wake Forest. John Calipari was never even contacted by the Pitt administration about the opening. This forced him to come out and profess his loyalty to Memphis, even though he never even sniffed the job. Of course, Prosser decided to stay, and Pitt was forced to scramble.

By default they had to give the job to Jamie Dixon – not that, it hasn’t worked out well, but the search was so pathetic and bad it was more by luck than design. Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News had a great comparison on how badly Pitt screwed up on the search when compared to Dayton (and Goslin feel optimism in having Chancellor Nordenberg replace the football coach?).

Well, now that I recapped what happened then, it’s time to see the revisionism.

When University of Pittsburgh chancellor Mark Nordenberg set out to find a replacement for Ben Howland in the spring of 2003, he first tried to hire Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser. When Prosser, a Pittsburgh native, turned him down, he turned to assistant coach Jamie Dixon.

Nordenberg never did place a call to another of Pittsburgh’s famous coaching sons. Memphis coach John Calipari, who grew up in Moon and spent three seasons as an assistant at Pitt in the 1980s before leading Massachusetts to a Final Four in 1996, didn’t even receive a courtesy interview.

Three of the university’s top five athletic donors called Nordenberg to make a pitch for Calipari, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. Apparently, there were concerns about Calipari’s reputation for not graduating enough players and his recruitment of some players with checkered pasts.

The NCAA wiped Massachusetts’ Final Four appearance from its record book because Marcus Camby played in the NCAA tournament that season after accepting improper gifts from an agent, but Calipari was never sanctioned by the NCAA and has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

“The people at Pitt that I care about, they all called me,” Calipari said. “Everything plays out a certain way for a reason. I’m thrown out there for every job that comes open. It puts me in a bad position.

“The administration at Pitt did the right thing. It’s obviously working. This isn’t my first rodeo. I’m doing fine down here in every sense. It’s worked out for everybody.”

There was no denying of interest or at least wanting to be pursued for the job. From a positive regarding boosters at Pitt, nice to see that they don’t have as much control as they seem to at other schools The Boosters apparently went to both Nordenberg and Calipari, but Nordenberg wouldn’t bite. That much is a definite plus for Nordenberg. Calipari for his part has said all the right things about Pitt, and considering how many friends and family he still has in the region he has to.

Lest anyone forget (including me). The game tonight is to help raise money going to research and fight cancer.

In Memphis, they see a hot Pitt team that has a hot young coach.

A national puff piece on Memphis Forward and reputed “troubled player” Sean Banks. Banks nearly tried to go pro last year, despite not being nearly as good as he thought he was. He returned at the last minute. He’s a talent, but there are “issues.”

Now for the various scouting reports and player news. Memphis Guard, Jeremy Hunt is out for the game with a broken scaphoid in his left wrist. Hunt averaged 24 minutes a game so far. Memphis was already down a guard,

Freshman Darius Washington and senior Anthony Rice will start in the backcourt. Freshman Tank Beavers is the only other guard.

Pitt looks like it will go with the 3 guard line-up to start (Krauser, Graves and Demetrius). The Memphis scouting report looks at a key match-up and appears to give the edge to Pitt.

Dorsey has had trouble staying out of foul trouble against virtually everybody this season. So good luck tonight, when he has to deal with Taft, one of the best big men in the nation. At 6-10, Taft is a rugged rebounder and athletic shot blocker. In other words, he’s a better version of Dorsey, who will have to figure out a way to, (1) Stay out of foul trouble, and (2) Not let Taft go for 20 and 10. If Dorsey can’t at least somewhat control his counterpart, then the Tigers will have a hard time winning on the boards and winning the game.

Final little things, the NYC papers have a story about Pitt’s latest recruiting win over St. John’s. There is also a little piece on Chris Taft.

Coincidence that Pitt is playing in MSG tonight, and it got a verbal from a recruit in the area? I think it’s safe to say the timing didn’t hurt.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon has landed another recruit from New York. Levance Fields, a 6-foot, 185-pound point guard from Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, made a verbal commitment to the Panthers last night.

Fields chose Pitt over St. John’s. He will sign a binding letter of intent during the spring signing period and will be eligible as a freshman after scoring 840 on the SAT.
…
Fields joins three other recruits for the 2004-05 class. Forwards Tyrell Biggs, Sam Young and Doyle Hudson signed during the early signing period a month ago. Biggs is from New York as well.

The signing is viewed as significant in recruiting circles because St. John’s has re-established itself as a player in recruiting. New coach Norm Roberts got Ricky Torres to sign with the Red Storm instead of Pitt a month ago.

Naturally the recruiting was handled by Associate head coach Barry Rohrssen. It also didn’t hurt that he went to the same high school as Chris Taft. His coach put his physical build as similar to former UConn Point Guard Khalid El-Amin — stocky.

Fields put it this way.

“I basically had to decide whether I wanted to go to an established program like Pittsburgh or a rebuilding program like St. John’s,” said Fields, 5-foot-10, 189 pounds. “It was tough, and it’s why I waited awhile. But my mother thought going to Pittsburgh was best for me, and I agreed.”

According to the recruiting sites. Fields is a top 100 player in the country and the anywhere from the 9th to 16th best PG prospect.

I think that Fields will be the last player Pitt signs for the class of 2005.