Is today’s theme. Both papers have their primary story to play up the fact that Syracuse was the first team to beat Pitt at the Pete.

“Yeah, we’re pretty mad at them,” junior point guard Carl Krauser said. “We’ve got to get those guys back. They’re a great team with a great coach and we’ll need to follow our game plan and protect our house this time.”

Eight of 10 starters from the two teams will be back on the floor Saturday night, when No. 4 Syracuse (20-1, 7-0 Big East) returns to face the 20th-ranked Panthers (13-3, 3-2) at 7 p.m. The Orange have all five starters back; Pitt three.

Syracuse star forward Hakim Warrick expects the Panthers to be about as hospitable as Archie Bunker. The Orange are riding a 13-game winning streak, and Pitt wouldn’t mind putting it to a halt.

“I know they’re looking for some revenge,” said Warrick, who averages 20.1 points and 9.0 rebounds. “We know all about breaking their streak and them losing for the first time there. We expect them to be hyped up for us.”

Is he worried?

“They’re going to come after us, but it’s always that way in a game like this,” Warrick said.

“I think we’d hate them even if they didn’t break our long streak,” Gray said, laughing. “They’re real competitive games and they’re fun games to watch. We get to play them at the Petersen Center, so this gives us another big chance to show people that, after beating Connecticut (last Saturday), that we are one of the best teams in the Big East.”

Last year’s game was a frustrating and maddening one to watch. Pure ugly. Scoring was minimal.

“What I remember about that game was it just felt like the ball wouldn’t go in the basket,” point guard Carl Krauser said, recalling that Sunday afternoon when the Panthers scored their fewest points in a game in 22 years. “We had a lot of opportunities. We just couldn’t execute our plays. It was a rough game. They broke our winning streak. And we’re going to try and get them back on Saturday.”

Pitt players are feeling good after the come-from-behind-win-on-the-road-on-national-TV game against UConn. The Big East has been strange, though, 36 BE games and the record is 18-18 for home teams. Syracuse is 7-0 in the BE, including 4-0 on the road. They ended last season with 4 straight conference road wins. A win against Pitt would tie their own team record of 9 consecutive conference road wins. Just one more little incentive.

Yuri Demetris waived his preliminary hearing. His trial is scheduled for February 18. Don’t expect him to rejoin the team regardless of the outcome.

Ray Fittipaldo, the Pitt beat writer for the P-G, has his Q&A up. Some good stuff, including a few topics that have been posted here.

Q: Why is Jamie Dixon so reluctant to use his bench? It appears that other teams are more athletic and larger at the perimeter positions. He has size on the bench. Your thoughts.

FITTIPALDO: Dixon has been a coach who has liked to use seven or eight players in his rotation during his first year and a half as Pitt’s coach. That has changed somewhat with Yuri Demetris being suspended. He played 10 players during the first half of the Connecticut game. I think he was searching for someone to step up and take advantage of the minutes they were getting. He eventually settled on Levon Kendall, who played 20 minutes in that game and played very well on the defensive end. I don’t expect him to play 10 players every game, but I do think you will see him go to his bench more because he needs to match up different players in different situations, taking their strengths and weaknesses into consideration.
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Q: Did you read the article on Chris Taft in ESPN The Magazine. What is wrong with this kid? He does not seem to get it. Talk is cheap. How about doing something on the floor.

FITTIPALDO: I did read the article and some of the things Taft said were pretty outlandish. But you also have to understand that outlandish is ESPN’s schtick. Taft has been very humble with the local media all season and never once uttered anything close to what he said for ESPN. Maybe Taft got caught up in a national magazine doing a centerpiece story on him. I don’t know. But I agree with you. If he said those things, he had better start backing it up with more consistent play.
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Q: If I had a dollar for every time Jamie Dixon has uttered the words “We need to get better”, well, you know the rest. What is behind Dixon’s generic A-Rod-esque responses to every question posed to him? Is he trying to protect his players? Does he realize that this approach is quickly getting old with fans who appreciate honest answers?

FITTIPALDO: There are people in local media circles and some at Pitt who are of the opinion that Dixon needs to take a course or two on media relations. It wouldn’t hurt. Dixon is a good man, but he does not come across well in front of the camera. I think part of it is he is being careful with his words because he is a first-time head coach and does not want his words misconstrued by his players. He has never called out one of his players in the media in his short tenure as head coach. He does not use the media in that way. In fact, I don’t think he has much use for the media at all. He understands it is part of his job, but he would much rather be poring over game tapes and meeting with his coaches than meeting with reporters. He is that kind of coach. He is not out to sell himself. But, he probably would serve the program better if he tried to use the forum in a more positive manner. That may happen as he grows more comfortable in that role.

I guess one of the positives of Walt Harris no longer coaching football at Pitt, is that the school no longer has the dullest 1-2 coaching pair in Division 1. Now there’s something to figure out. Which school has the worst coach-speak copy in both football and basketball?