…to me.

We all have games that matter for one reason or another. Most of us have a thing with PSU or WVU because of family or friends that went there. A little trash talking from the other keeps things interesting. Then there are the teams that aren’t really traditional rivals, but on a personal level it matters. For me, it is Rutgers.

Even before I got my degree at Pitt in ’92, I started losing interest in the sports teams. They were horrible and I had other things to distract me — mainly beer. After a year or so in Pittsburgh, I moved out to Chicago for a year before ending up in Cleveland for law school. Totally fell out of touch and interest in Pitt. Bad teams, and no information reaching me. Then I started law school, and some of the school pride was coming back to me. It was a little rough, being in Ohio when Ohio State destroyed Pitt for a couple years. Still, you have to back your school. So I started paying closer attention — no matter how depressing.

One of my good friends in law school went to Rutgers. New Jersey bred, and one of the best trash talkers I ever met. Rutgers became a full BE member in the 1995-96 season. And we started going at it occasionally over our teams. They played in New Jersey in January. Rutgers eked out a 1 point win. He gave me grief for a couple days leading me to suggest we go to Pittsburgh for the rematch, and a bet. The loser would wear the other guy’s school gear for a couple days. We spent the next month arguing about it. Everyone knew about the bet and was probably sick of two guys running smack over 2 lousy basketball teams.

I got in touch with John, who was still living in Pittsburgh, and he arranged tickets for the 3 of us. Great seats at Fitzgerald — granted they weren’t hard to get considering Pitt was having another hideous season under Ralph Willard. We were maybe 14 rows from the floor and moved down to about the 5th row on the student side.

The whole drive to Pittsburgh, Amar was just talking trash. Nonstop. We meet John and go watch Pitt blow Rutgers out of the water in the first half. Pitt was up by 20 something if memory serves. It was huge. Unbelievable how good Pitt looked and how bad Rutgers was. Amar wasn’t talking much at that point. Then the second half came.

One of the most spectacular collapses I ever saw to that point (a few years later I saw the ’98 UConn-Pitt game with Pat, but this one is right up there). Rutgers just kept inching closer and closer. Pitt couldn’t score and couldn’t run the clock out fast enough. It happened so slowly, though. The first 10 minutes of the second half, we were barely paying attention. I was catching up a little with John, we were staring at the dance team (which Amar conceded was superior to Rutgers), looking at the college girls. Practically ignoring the game. Then we realized Rutgers had closed the gap into the low teens. Then it was 10 points, then 6. They kept getting closer. Not in a flurry. Not raining shots. No. Slowly. And Pitt seemed to collapse and wither before our eyes. Not even trying to shoot, just trying to run out the clock. It almost worked, despite the cowardice of the play.

Pitt had the ball and the lead in the final seconds and managed to throw it away. Rutgers got the ball with maybe 3 seconds left, down by 2. You defend the inbounds. Hell, you foul whoever gets the ball, right away. You don’t let a shot get off. No. Not this team. The ball was inbounded cleanly to a waiting player standing right in front of where we were standing. He caught and shot the 3, no one even close to him and it swished through at the buzzer. Rutgers won 71-70.

I drank heavily at the Attic that night and continued at my friend Evan’s until I passed out. I was bummed.

So I ended up wearing that hideous fire hydrant red crap for 2 days.

We went back to Pittsburgh for the final game of the Johnny Majors (II) game in November 1996 (AD Pederson never shook my hand). Thankfully Pitt won that game, in the miserable weather. The best thing about that, was that I was determined that he would wear a Pitt jersey. So I had to buy one. Of course the program was completely in the dumps, and licensed gear was minimal. They had no replica jerseys to sell. I asked at the counter and they told me they had a couple official jerseys available — for $120!! They kept them behind the counter, because no one ever bought them. They had Billy West’s #20 on them. My ego was such that I spent $120 dollars on that jersey in 1996. I didn’t exactly have a lot of cash near the end of the semester, but I was determined and a little obsessed.

The next year, Pitt switched uniform colors and I remember being pissed that I had blown that kind of money on an obsolete jersey. On top of that, they were selling replicas that year for $40. Now, of course, I am just extremely happy to have a jersey with the old school colors. Whenever I break it out for games, people stop to ask where I got it. So, thanks to Amar and Rutgers, I have a great jersey, and whenever Pitt and Rutgers meet, it matters. I lost touch with Amar a few years ago, but I bet he still pays attention when the teams meet.

Pitt plays Rutgers on Saturday, and I’m sorely tempted to go with the pay-per-view. Admittedly, I can listen on the internet for free, via Rutgers, but… . It’s a sellout at the RAC.

As posted yesterday, Head Coach Dave Wannstedt made some decisions on his coaching staff. Paul Rhoads and several present Pitt assistants will return, likely in the same capacity.

Wannstedt said he was encouraged by discussions with two more existing Pitt staff members in tight ends/tackles coach Bill Bleil and defensive ends coach Charlie Partridge.

Partridge, known as a strong recruiter, particularly in Florida, could be in line for the recruiting coordinator’s job that would be vacated by longtime staff member Bryan Deal.

Wannstedt will not retain any assistants from Walt Harris’ offensive staff. Line coach Tom Freeman and running backs coach Wayne Moses are off to Stanford and wide receivers coach Pete Carmichael has yet to secure a new destination.

As for the position of Offensive Coordinator, all Wanny has said is that he has winnowed the list to four. He’ll do a little more interviewing next week.

Wannstedt said he will attend a coaches [the American Football Coaches Association] convention in Kentucky next week to interview prospective offensive coordinators as well as other assistant coaches, but he is not feeling pressure to complete his staff now that he has a foundation in place.

“It is about getting the right offensive coordinator,” Wannstedt said, “and really the right fit for my staff. What I don’t want is someone who is going to come here and then leave after a year to go back to the NFL or whatever. I want coaches who are going to make a commitment to Pitt and this program just like the rest of us.

“I can take my time because we have enough now to finish recruiting, which only lasts a few more weeks. We won’t start on X’s and O’s and systems really until right after signing day, so I can be selective and make sure I’m comfortable with my choice.”

I’m glad he isn’t rushing the coach hirings. There will be plenty of candidates out there, and there is no need to act too quickly on the offensive side.

Meanwhile he is in Pittsburgh to do some hands-on recruiting and meetings with commits and potential recruits. He even showed up at the basketball game last night. Then after the convention, he’ll do more recruiting outside of Pennsylvania. Definitely has the enthusiasm.

And just because it is never too early to predict next season, one ESPN.com columnist listed his top-25 for 2005.

23. Pittsburgh Panthers
Why: Resourceful quarterback Tyler Palko leads a strong cast of returning players.

Why not: Does Dave Wannstedt know what he’s doing on the college level? For that matter, did he know what he was doing on the pro level?

The better “why not” would have been: Did you see that offensive line?

There’s a temptation to say, “I told you so,” regarding Pitt’s pathetic non-con. That beating up on patsies did not prepare Pitt for real challenges. The supposed advantage of a weak non-con — working in the new players and learning and resolving problems — did not occur because the opponents were too weak to reveal the flaws. Instead, the weak non-con helped to mask and disguise problems that only started to show as the opponents’ talent level increased.

But I’m not going to do that. No really. Right now Pitt has some major problems on both sides of the ball. It isn’t the talent, this time. It is execution and mental. It is now time for Coach Jamie Dixon and his staff to really start earning their pay.

The most obvious problem is defense, specifically, the perimeter defense. I had been dismissive of those who suggested Pitt would really miss Page and Brown, thinking that as much defense they provided, Pitt could compensate with players who could provide more offense while at least being average on defense. Clearly, either I underestimated how much Page and Brown just shut down guys on the perimeter and made passing inside difficult for opposing players. Or I overestimated how much offense their replacements would provide. And right now, it appears to be a bit of both.

Pitt is using 3 guards most of the time. A smaller, quicker front court. But it is not creating turnovers or defensive pressure. Pitt should consider going back to only 2 guards and using another forward. There is depth at the forward position with McCarroll, Milligan, DeGroat and Benjamin on the bench. Last night, DeGroat and McCarroll were the only two to come off the bench for a combined 13 minutes, and most of that was to spell Troutman. I’m aware that McCarroll is not particularly good on defense and DeGroat is still learning the defense, but Pitt’s guard play has not been effective.

At the very least, it will give Pitt one more player who is willing to drive inside on offense. Right now, the only one who does that is Krauser. Taft and Troutman are already inside, they aren’t driving to the basket. Graves, Ramon and Demetris all stay outside or pull-up for jumpers. They don’t slash and drive, to draw attention away from the inside guys or draw fouls.

Another aspect that the coaches are going to have to work on is the team’s confidence.

Pitt obviously needs to figure out why four consecutive opponents have shot better than 45 percent from the field, why the past three have shot 50 percent or better, especially when the Panthers seem fully capable in brief flashes of displaying the defensive temerity on which they’ve built a presumed conference power.

Georgetown’s first 14 possessions of the second half resulted in only one field goal, which allowed not only Taft’s turning one-hander to establish, at 41-39, the first Pitt lead since 6-5, but eventually led to a six-point Panthers lead with only 5:15 remaining. Soon again, however, Pitt’s defense would evaporate, and, when Georgetown needed a basket to break a 64-64 tie with 24 seconds left, Brandon Bowman drove through a forest of Panthers for the lead the Hoyas would not relinquish.

That’s the thing about this loss. Pitt had overcome the huge deficit before halftime. They were down by only 5. They asserted themselves over the Hoyas in the second half, but couldn’t keep it up.

It wasn’t simply that G-town was hitting everything in the first half, it was the end of the game as well:

Finishing games has been one of Pitt’s strongest attributes the past several seasons. But last night for the second game in a row, the Panthers didn’t have what it took when the game was on the line to pull out a victory.

Georgetown, a team that starts three freshmen, scored 9 of the final 11 points of the game and came back to beat No. 16 Pitt, 67-64, at the Petersen Events Center.

Pitt knows it was its own enemy last night.

“This team is real upset,” said Pitt center Chris Taft, who had a team-high 20 points. “The two games we just lost we felt we should have won. We put ourselves in a big hole. We battled back, but we just can’t keep doing that.

“This is a big test for us to see how good we are as a team, how tough we are. This is the Big East now.”

Georgetown (9-3, 1-0) quickly reminded the Panthers of that, exposing their 2-3 zone defense with its Princeton-style offense by converting its first six 3-point attempts. The Hoyas used a 23-3 run to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 28-9 lead with 9:33 left in the first half.

“There were a lot of breakdowns on defense,” Taft said. “They hit tough shots in the first half, but there’s no reason we should be down 28-9 in the first half.”

Pitt’s zone defense kept Georgetown outside, but…

The Hoyas put on an uncanny first-half shooting display by making nine of 12 3-pointers. Panthers coach Jamie Dixon elected to stay in a 2-3 zone, and the Hoyas merely shot over it to take a 39-34 halftime lead. The hot Hoyas shot 60 percent from the field in the first half.

“In the first half we were getting nothing inside — we were getting all 3s,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said.

Even in a zone, you have to step out on the man. Pitt seemed to be letting them take 3s uncontested.

For Georgetown, this was a big, big win. Their first Big East win in 9 games dating back to last year, and the first time they beat a ranked team in 3 years. Add in the fact that Pitt had a 6 point lead with less than 6 minutes left, and answered. Pitt couldn’t put them away, but to the Hoyas’ credit — they wouldn’t go away.

As for individual players:

Starters
Taft had a great second half. He went on a tear to give Pitt the lead. 20 points on 9-13 shooting, but 14 came in the second half. He also had 6 rebounds.

Troutman was sick. Talking with Lee on the phone for most of the first half, he relayed to me that the cameras showing Troutman vomiting by the bench (The game wasn’t being aired in the Cleveland area). He still played 29 minutes, getting 5 points and 8 rebounds.

Krauser played 39 minutes. He was not having a good shooting game, but still brought Pitt back in the first half. He just started driving to the basket and drawing contact. He took advantage of the youth on the Hoyas for a while. Ended up with 15 points (9 coming from the free throw line). He had 7 assists, but also 4 turnovers. It’s the funny thing about a point guard like Krauser. You either love him or hate him. He’s either a ball hog to you or a leader controlling the game. He is very much, in that way like his idol, Isaiah Thomas.

Graves was not shooting well. He was 2-4 shooting 3s, but 1-5 from anywhere else. 4 assists but 4 turnovers. He needs to get more aggressive on defense at times.

Demetris played 22 minutes as the starter — 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal and 1 turnover. He’s there for passing and defense. That’s the problem. The other team knows it. He is left alone on offense, but just never looks comfortable or confident enough to take the shot. He still wants to put the ball on the floor before shooting. He needs to try a little penetration and pull-up, if he isn’t going to take jumpers right away. Otherwise, he gives the defender time to get back.

Off the Bench
Ramon mainly subbed in for Demetris. He was in for 20 minutes. He took smart, good shots. Providing the main perimeter shooting for Pitt. 3-4 from beyond the arc (3-5 overall) for 9 points.

McCarroll is just playing without confidence.

Gray has been effective in his limited minutes coming in for Taft. He provided 4 points (2-3) in 7 minutes.

DeGroat played 1 minute. Nothing on the stat sheet otherwise.

Everyone else, DNP.

Looking ahead:

First road game of the season on Saturday. Going to the RAC to play Rutgers. First road game of the season. Rutgers hasn’t been that good — they lost to Penn State. But they play well at home, usually.

I’m thinking a road game might be a good thing at this point. It sure couldn’t hurt.

Pitt needs a win. Badly.

Otherwise, this question that was posed before the Georgetown game could become a real issue:

2. Is it possible this year’s Pittsburgh team is a pretender? The presence of Carl Krauser, Chevy Troutman and Chris Taft earned the Panthers a pass for taking the easy road in terms of non-conference scheduling, but a home loss to Bucknell raises plenty of questions. Pittsburgh lacks a proven perimeter scorer and didn’t challenge itself against anyone to learn about its new guys. After playing host to rebuilding Georgetown on Wednesday, they’ll be at the RAC for Rutgers on Saturday.

I know, it sounds familiar.