Despite no articles about tomorrow’s game, there are some stories about Pitt basketball.

Pitt’s brutally bad non-con, something I have been slightly manic about flogging, gets somewhat of a defense.

Big East associate commissioner Tom Odjackjian said CBS tried to arrange for the No. 20 Panthers to play televised games at No. 1 Illinois, No. 5 Duke and No. 15 Michigan State, but all three schools balked at the offer.

“Syracuse and Pittsburgh have had some criticism for their non-conference schedules, but it’s not for their lack of trying or lack of willingness,” Odjackjian said when reached by telephone. “That’s how they ended up in the Jimmy V Classic.”
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“I think it’s important people understand Pittsburgh and Syracuse were willing to play,” he said. “Pittsburgh, in particular, was willing to go to Cameron (Indoor Stadium), but it didn’t work out.

“Some people, philosophically, don’t like to play a tough game in January, but that’s what some networks are looking for.”

January? That doesn’t excuse the whole month of December. And why wasn’t the Athletic Department working to make it happen rather than rely on a TV network to sell it?

Meanwhile, Darrelle Revis, the Freshman Cornerback for Pitt who was going to join the b-ball team, and showed up at the Oakland Zoo meeting. Revis took part in a couple practices and opted to concentrate on football. Just as well, the odds of him getting off the bench from here to the end of the season weren’t exactly high.

An article about how the younger players are showing a willingness to step up and take the big shots at big moments in games. Honestly that has never been a question. Krauser and Graves were willing to do it last year, as well. It’s more a matter of making the big shots.

Another article talks about Pitt working to improve on the defensive end. The article points out that Pitt is shooting well in just about all aspects. The big problem, as far as the offense, has been turnovers. Pitt is still a deliberate, half-court offense. The large number of turnovers Pitt has had, though, limit its already low number of shooting opportunities. The defense, showed some signs of coming around against Rutgers, but it is unclear how much was just playing a bad Rutgers team putting up bad shots.

MSNBC does a series on the best college basketball rivalries (tip-off, courtesy of B.B.). My wife is a Cinci grad, so she is happy they list Cinci-Xavier, the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout. Pitt-UConn made their list as the best budding rivalry.

Fans and players donÂ’t really hate each other, but the level of play in their games has thrusted this to the forefront. Last yearÂ’s Big East title game, which the Huskies won, 61-58 after the Panthers took the regular-season title, is a great example.

With star Emeka Okafor hobbled by back spasms, guard Ben Gordon hit the game-winner and set the Big East Tournament scoring record in the process. Oh yeah, it was the third straight time theyÂ’d played for the title. It was the fourth straight final for the Panthers and the eighth in 10 years for Connecticut.

Funny, there is still a lot of residual tension and discussion over a game at Fitzgerald in 1998. Still this only remains a good rivalry game as long as both teams are near the same level. It wasn’t much of one, prior to 1998.

The game is tomorrow, but you wouldn’t know it. The New Jersey papers have nothing, nor do the Pittsburgh papers have anything about the game. Seton Hall has put out its press release for the game and stats and game notes (PDF). In the NY/NJ area the game will be broadcast on MSG network. You can hear the game live on the internet for free via ESPN 1050AM.

Long profile story on former Pitt RB, Curtis Martin of the NY Jets, as most of Western Pennsylvania focuses on the Jets-Steelers game. Seems Martin was never really much of a football guy:

“My mom didn’t want me out on the streets,” Martin recalled. “Too many of us were getting killed. I feel like I could have been dead so many times. I feel so blessed and grateful that [bad] things never panned out for me.”

Hackett and assistant Sal Sunseri wooed Martin, sold his mother on a Pitt education, landed the prize recruit. “I listened to them and the whole time I’m thinking in my mind, ‘They don’t know, I don’t even care.’ I was horrible in college. I didn’t want to play. I just didn’t want to look stupid [frittering away] the scholarship.”

Seems like a deep one-on-one sitdown with a reporter. That is until you see the same quotes and same type of story in the Asbury Park Press and NorthJersey.com. Not to mention the NY Times. Basically he told this story during media sit-down.

As an additional aside, an interesting and sad story (picked up by the sports wires) on the murder of Paul Hackett’s father nearly 40 years ago.

Arguably, Matt Cavanaugh coming in as Offensive Coordinator and QB Coach at Pitt will be a gamble for Cavanaugh. Cavanaugh took the blame in Baltimore for the Ravens’ putrid offense, and failure to develop a QB. He was getting a lot of heat before he “resigned.” Boller’s development this year was credited by most to Jim Fassel who came in as QB coach. In Cavanaugh’s defense, the Ravens have lacked a real #1 receiver who can stretch the field, but did have a strong O-line, an-all-pro TE (who was hurt for half the year) and stud running back.

Cavanaugh is very much a “west-coast offense” kind of coach who prefers the strong running game and short passes. He uses his tight ends as receivers a lot. At Pitt, he will have Eric Gill at TE and a receiving corp that will have Greg Lee to stretch the field along with Darrell Strong and Joe DelSardo to go over the middle. He basically comes into a job where the strengths and weaknessess are reversed.

Not only does he need to rebuild his reputation to a degree, but Pitt fans will be watching closely. Palko had progressed and developed so quickly into a top college QB, that any steps backward will likely be pinned on Cavanaugh.

A familiar, though surprising name (no, not Paul Hackett).

Former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh is expected to take a similar position at Pitt, according to a source close to the situation.

Cavanaugh, a former Pitt player and assistant coach, was offered the job by new Panthers coach Dave Wannstedt last week. He wanted a few days to consider it because he also was weighing some opportunities in the NFL.

If Cavanaugh is named to Pitt’s staff, it would mean the Panthers not only got their top candidate for the head coaching position — Wannstedt — but also their second and third choices.

Cavanaugh and defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads were the other two finalists for the head coaching position vacated by Walt Harris in December.

Wow. I’m stunned. Absolutely stunned if he comes on board. Cavanaugh was Wannstedt’s OC when he was head coach in Chicago for a couple years, and apparently there isn’t too much in the way of hurt feelings that Wannstedt came back into the Pitt coaching picture at the last minute.

In Kentucky, a much heralded Freshman Guard, Joe Crawford, wants released from his letter of intent to transfer to another school. The kid is a Michigan native, and it is assumed that Michigan State is his destination. However, there are six other schools that asked for his release from Kentucky (subs. only):

Arizona, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Pittsburgh and Clemson also asked for a release.

If Crawford isn’t released from his NLI by Kentucky, he would be a second-semester junior when he’s eligible next December, even though it will be only his second year of college.

Kentucky spokesperson Scott Stricklin said the school doesn’t want to start a trend of allowing freshmen to come to Lexington and then leave, treating the early season essentially as a tryout. Crawford’s decision to leave doesn’t fall under extenuating circumstances, since it’s just a playing time issue. Crawford was averaging 13.3 minutes a game but played only four minutes against South Carolina and only three against Kansas. He hadn’t scored in the last three games as he got squeezed out of the guard rotation.

[Emphasis added.]

Yoni, over at College Basketball Blog has more on this story. My impulse is that while the kid is a talent, I don’t see him being happy at Pitt. If it’s right away playing time he wants, he will have a hard time getting that much at Pitt. Pitt hasn’t exactly rushed anyone on to the floor. Ronald Ramon is the only freshman seeing significant playing time at this point, and at first that was mostly because Graves has had issues with his ankle.

Selfish head cases with interfering parents make me nervous anyways. I suppose if he has some interest in Pitt and he is a talent, Pitt has to at least ask for his release. It seems unlikely, though, that Kentucky is going to back down. There is no reason to, and I actually agree with their position.

Ray Fittipaldo of the P-G has his Pitt basketball Q&A posted. As has been constant in all the Q&As there has been the steady stream of questions that boil down to, “why does Coach Dixon play Demetris so much?”

Q: I think Pitt is missing a solid small forward. Pitt was blessed to have Jaron Brown for three seasons. He could play against guards and he could play against bigger guys too because of his super long arms. I don’t think Yuri Demetris can fill the role Jaron Brown did. Also, why does Dixon continually pull Demetris and Ronald Ramon out of games when they’re getting on a roll. Ramon hit two 3s in a row and then Dixon pulled him out of the game. He has to let these guys get into a rhythm, especially Ramon because he is the best outside shooting threat Pitt has.

FITTIPALDO: I don’t think Pitt coaches expect Demetirs or anyone else to take Jaron Brown’s place. Brown was too good a player for anyone to think they could step in and do as a good a job as he did. I think they look to Demetris for certain things and then either Ramon or Graves for certain things when they play the small forward spot. Demetris is an OK shooter, but is an excellent passer and a decent defender. Graves and Ramon are two of the team’s best 3-point threats. Brown wasn’t a good shooter, but he got a ton of rebounds and made all the dirty plays no one else would make. In that sense he is irreplaceable. Whatever player is playing the small forward spot this season pales in comparison to Brown. When Alex Galindo chose Kansas over Pitt last spring, I think that was a crushing blow. Galindo is contributing as a freshman with the Jayhawks and would be starting here by now. Pitt’s inability to recruit a comparable replacement for Brown could come back to haunt them by the end of the season if Demetris does not improve greatly.
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Q: Obviously, this is no time to panic, but my question is this: Is Jamie Dixon playing the right players? Mark McCarroll has clearly taken a step backward. Yuri Demetris is playing too much for a program of Pitt’s stature. It seems to me that Benjamin, DeGroat and even Levon Kendall are more dynamic players or at least will be, if given more playing time. Remember during Troutman’s freshman year when Ben Howland admitted that he probably should have played Troutman more earlier on. Could this be a similar case with at least one of the aforementioned players?

FITTIPALDO: I don’t think any of us outside the program really know what DeGroat or Benjamin can do because they haven’t received ample opportunity in games to prove their ability. I would like to see more of DeGroat. Even if he is a defensive liability, he might be able to give you more scoring, and I believe that is something this team is going to need more of in the Big East. You are not going to get by scoring in the high 50s and low 60s against ranked teams such as Connecticut and Syracuse, especially when your defense is average at best. I agree that McCarroll doesn’t seem to be the same player as last season, but he is getting about four minutes fewer per game. Maybe with more time he would produce more. Kendall is third-string behind Troutman and McCarroll. We’ll find out next season if he is a player or if he was a recruiting miss.

I realize it was only the Under-21 Canadian national team, but Kendall was a star player for them over the summer. I guess the coaches feel he doesn’t have the mobility or outside shot to play small forward.

I’m not sure if missing out on Galindo was a “crushing blow.” He became available at the last minute when there was a coaching change at UTEP. It would have been nice, to get one of the best recruits in the country, but it’s not like Pitt spent all their efforts and pinned their hopes on getting him. Rutgers also went at him hard, and since he was NJ native it probably hurt them from many more angles.

Nothing regarding Pitt once more. Off for the week and Black & Gold is all the Pittsburgh papers care about at the moment, and in New Jersey they don’t care about covering college basketball unless they know the teams are winning.

So despite my general disgust when sports columnists mail it in with a “…” type column, I’m just going to get a couple things out that have nothing directly regarding Pitt.

Stanford Coach Walt Harris is looking for an offensive coordinator. Guess, Stanford is giving him enough of a budget to afford one.

College Football coaches are raising their voices against the dangerous proposals to make their poll votes public. Transparency for all, except them. Right. Truth is they don’t want people finding out that they barely have time or inclination to pay attention to other games outside of their next opponent or perhaps their conference.

The banner on top of the latest SI, blairs “College Hoops Bounce Back.” There’s an article on how college basketball is having a “rennaissance” (subs. only). Personally, I don’t think it ever went away. If pressed though, my feeling as to why some might think that is the large number of great non-con games that took place. That meant a lot of great games earlier in the season, rather than waiting for conference play to begin. There were great games on weekends, during the week. Match-ups even I, in my limited free time to watch sports (as opposed to yet another Elmo video demanded by my daughter), made me interested and intrigued.

Television has certainly noticed the difference. At a time when the Nielsens for many major sports are declining or flat, college hoops ratings are up 12% on CBS (compared with this time last season), 10% on ESPN and 25% on ESPN2. “In our world double-digit growth is more than significant. That’s a major change from one season to the next,” says Burke Magnus, who has coordinated ESPN’s college basketball programming for the past five years. The ratings are up despite a proliferation of games: The ESPN family plans to televise 303 men’s games this season, including 18 that have been added on Wednesday nights in place of locked-out NHL games. And that doesn’t take into account the 510 additional games available on ESPN’s Full Court satellite and digital-cable packages for the most addled of hoopheads.

Meanwhile, thanks to prodding from the TV networks and the NCAA tournament committee’s increased focus on strength of schedule, coaches now have more incentive than ever to arrange the kind of marquee intersectional matchups that fans want to see. Back in the 1980s John Thompson’s Georgetown teams would load up on cupcakes like St. Leo and Hawaii-Hilo. Now even notorious Syracuse fraidy cat Jim Boeheim is willing to take on Oklahoma State and risk an early-season loss. (The Orange fell to the Cowboys 74-60 on Dec. 7.) “I’m finding more teams are willing to play anybody,” says Mike Aresco, the senior vice president for programming at CBS Sports. “We’ve never had so many good nonconference games, like Kansas-Kentucky and Connecticut-North Carolina [on Feb. 13], scheduled in January and February.”

Three of the most electrifying games this season have been No. 16 Gonzaga’s takedowns of No. 8 Georgia Tech, Oklahoma State and No. 14 Washington, prime contenders, respectively, for the ACC, Big 12 and Pac-10 titles. Such matchups might not have happened in years past. “As a coach you control a certain number of games, so you’d better do something to show you’ll schedule the way the committee wants,” says Zags coach Mark Few. “In the end you’ll be rewarded, either by getting into the tournament or drawing a high seed.” Even better, the tournament committee’s recent changes to the Ratings Percentage Index — which will reward teams more for road wins than for home wins — should only increase the willingness of powerhouses to venture into the lairs of other heavyweights, as Georgia Tech did on New Year’s Day when it dropped a 70-68 overtime thriller at Kansas.

Of course Pitt missed out on that — again — with its schedule.

A big thanks to one of our readers, Jamie, who is a student at Pitt and attended the Oakland Zoo Meeting at the Pete. Jamie was good enough to respond to my offhand request for an e-mail report on the event from anyone who might attend. So, other than some minor corrections for spelling here it is, as is:

Hi guys,

I am a Junior at Pitt. I went to the Oakland zoo meeting tonite at the Pete. It went really well. Lots of kids showed up. There was a line out the door when I showed up, at 5 minutes to eight. They gave out Zoo shirts to the first 300 people. They ended up getting more because there were so many more people than that, probably 400. The shirts are made by Adidas now, and are nicer quality, a sure sign of the Athletic Dept becoming more involved in running and assisting the group than before. This means no more ads on the back, also. They bought lots of pizza and drinks, more than enough.

Orlando Antigua introduced Jeff Long who spoke about a lot of things, thanking the students and giving ideas for more Zoo features. He said among other things, he’d like to get Zoo members show up for women’s games, and mentioned one this Sunday that will “be on tv”, whatever that might mean. He says they will be putting up signage within the next few days in the lobby designating the “Oakland Zoo Entrance”. He wants to make the group more prominent. He’d like to get more cheers together and to be more in sync.

Coach Dixon then spoke and thanked everyone, reminiscing about when the group started with 3 people six years ago, and all the meetings that took place with ‘big ideas’ that are finally coming to fruition. He mentioned the Georgetown game, and how our support helped Pitt rally back from a big deficit and take the lead. (no mention however in how we might be involved in the final collapse, though I imagine that’s his team’s fault.) He says that while other schools have intense crowds (citing Rutgers, and Syracuse’s 30,000), no one else in the Big East has a student section that is as good or respected. He loves how our game atmosphere is getting more attention nationally and by ESPN and Dickie V of course. He thinks its an important part of a powerhouse program.

They had shooting competitions for the students, with Dixon and Long also taking their attempts. Many of the players attended and hung out with everyone, taking pics and signing autos, but mostly just talkin’ and hangin’ around. Carl Krauser, Chevy Troutman, Keith Benjamin, Ronald Ramon, and most interestingly Darrelle Revis, who was acting like a new part of the team. Ramon got the biggest cheer, however, when he walked in.

The co-founders of the Zoo (and President and VP) Matt Cohen and Jon St. George spoke last. They said they are looking for new leadership to take the reins next year. They mentioned the perks of the job which apparently includes going to every Big East and NCAA tournament game for free, through donations. Glad to hear they are spreading the dough around… Anyway, they want to get the Zoo to make appearances at all the big road games, busing everyone in to create a mini Zoo. Obviously that would be very intimidating to a home crowd, who they mentioned all know of us and respect us. They also passed out the first edition of the “Zoo News”, which they say will be passed out to students at every upcoming game. It will include the upcoming games, info, opposing rosters and player info, and Cheers for that game.

Overall the event was very successful, everyone seemed to have a great time, not just the fans. It was very encouraging from an administrative standpoint. The athletic dept obviously put a lot of time, effort, and money into putting this event together. It bodes well for the future and their ongoing support.

Thanks for reading, and for the great job you guys do with the blog. Keep it up, we’ll keep reading.

Once more, thank you Jamie. Anyone else attend and have thoughts? E-mail or leave them in the comments.

The Big East had a slow week. Everyone has been off since Tuesday, and do not play until Saturday. Pitt plays Seton Hall this Saturday at Noon on ESPN Full Court and shown in the Pittsburgh area on WTAE (the ABC affiliate). With such a slow week, the game notes are out early (PDF). Unfortunately, Seton Hall hasn’t put its out yet. Hopefully Pitt will remember that the Pirates beat them in East Rutherford last year, though the way Pitt has played it is hard to imagine the Panthers looking past anyone at this point. Actually, it seems Seton Hall has won 2 of the last 3 games from Pitt. Of course, they haven’t won in Pittsburgh in about 10 years (January 25, 1995, pp 55-56).

Advanced storylines from Pitt (I mean in addition to the usual ones): Coach Jamie Dixon’s 50th game; and a Pitt win would be the 100th for the Seniors on Pitt, the Pitt record for wins by a class is 107 set last year. Don Criqui and Bucky Waters will be calling the action.

Seton Hall fans are not exactly expecting victory. The team hasn’t played very well this season, and even worse on the road.

Tonight is also the thank you to the Oakland Zoo from Jamie Dixon. If any of our readers are attending the event, drop me an e-mail describing what happened, so I can post it.

Atlantic 10 match-up in Pittsburgh tonight between Xavier and Duquesne. That means it is time for stories focusing on Xavier’s 1st year head coach, Pitt great and Pittsburgh native, Sean Miller.

Miller is taking over after Thad Motta left for Ohio State and the team is in complete rebuilding mode after losing Guards Chalmers and Sato and Center Myles to graduation.

Miller is about the only former Pitt player from that time that actually gives some praise to Paul Evans. Most I’ve read are snarky about Evans preferring to give more praise to the assistants like Calipari.

Again, not a lot of Pitt stuff. One article on Carl Krauser. He apparently has an injured shoulder, though the nature or severity of the injury isn’t explained. He’s also dealing with being the focus of defenses on the perimeter.

As a first-year starter last season, Carl Krauser was flanked by two established and talented players in Julius Page and Jaron Brown. Opponents did not spend a lot of time worrying about stopping Pitt’s neophyte point guard.

Krauser surprised them all by leading Pitt in scoring and becoming the driving force that led the Panthers to the third round of the NCAA tournament.

This season, Krauser does not have the luxury of having experienced players beside him. He is playing with an inexperienced senior, a sophomore and a freshman in the backcourt. The opponents aren’t worried about Yuri Demetris, Antonio Graves or Ronald Ramon. They’re worried about and determined to limit Krauser’s effectiveness.

In the past five games, teams have done a good job of that.

As I mentioned after the Rutgers game, the Rutgers radio guys said that the Scarlet Knights had specifically practiced taking charges in the lane to deal with Krauser’s driving. It worked perfectly when he picked up 2 quick charging fouls.

Krauser and the team’s offense are now making the adjustment (or at least trying to). It may be another factor in why Pitt will need to get away from the 3 guard line-up they have been using. They need someone (a forward) else who is a threat to drive inside with the ball. Especially if Ramon keeps up his fine perimeter and jump shooting and/or Graves gets his shooting touch back.

To some degree, the fact that Pitt is only now making the adjustment is frustrating and points up the fallacy of the weak non-con (never miss an opportunity to bash the non-con). Against bad teams that didn’t have the talent and same coaching there was nothing indicating that teams were changing their approach to Pitt. Most of the early foes were more concerned with trying to find away to match the inside muscle and size of Taft and Troutman. It was only as the talent and coaching increased that we saw teams making an effort to limit Krauser. So, only then, did Krauser and the Pitt coaches have to start adjusting. They may have even anticipated this coming, but there was no game experience to fall back upon the team was still unprepared.

I’m probably oversimplifying, but Pitt fans seem to be falling into 2 camps regarding Krauser. Those that love his game. And those that think he is a ball hog. Right up front, I admit I’m more of the former than the latter.

Those that see him as a ball hog, see a player not getting the team involved enough on offense. Who is just looking for his shot and not trying to get the ball inside enough for the high percentage shots for Troutman and Taft. He takes too many 3-point shots, plays out of control at times (especially as he drives the lane) and can be careless with the ball.

I won’t really argue taking too many 3s. In general, I cringe when ever I look at the box score and see Pitt has taken over 15 3 pointers. That means too many players are taking too many deep shots. I’m much happier seeing the attempts in the 10-14 realm. Teams that rely too much on/fall in love with the 3s are going to be inconsistent, living and dying each game by how the shots are falling.

The playing out of control doesn’t happen as much as people seem to believe. Krauser is still the only perimeter player for Pitt who takes the ball inside. He has a great first step and looks to initiate contact. It as much to draw the foul and cause the other team to play off him more — to open up passing lanes and cause more hesitation later in the game for fear of picking up another foul. It is part of the game strategy.

I don’t think Krauser is looking for his shot first, so much as he is confident in his game and expects his shots to fall. Krauser is still the leading assist man on the team. He seems to be the only perimeter player who gets the ball inside. Graves and Demetris are much too willing just to keep passing the ball on the perimeter. Either their passes aren’t sharp enough, or they lack the confidence to get the ball to Troutman and Taft inside. How many times this season have you seen Demetris and Graves just look inside, then hesitate to pass, giving the defense time to adjust. Forcing them to keep passing along the perimeter. That leaves it to Krauser to get it inside, and while his passes are much crisper than the other 2, teams are more aware and defend against the inside pass more when he has the ball.

Don’t get me wrong, Graves has really started to improve on the passing inside, but he still hesitates. That’s part of the difference from last year, when Brown and Page were not only threats to shoot and drive, but to make good quick passes inside.

I still think the best hope for Pitt is that one of the forwards (DeGroat, Milligan or even Kendall) finally starts to get what they need to do on defense and start getting more minutes. I just think it would help Pitt a bit more.

I started getting ESPN the Magazine (ESPN-M) in the last couple of months. I didn’t order it. I think it was just a recently added perk for my ESPN.com Insider subscription. I haven’t been too impressed with it. A lot of fluff, and no where near as slick as they think they are.

The latest issue (Dated January 17, 2005 and with Corey Dillon of the Patriots on the cover) has a story on Chris Taft (pp 60-65). The ESPN-M story does not appear on the ESPN website so far as I can tell. Maybe it will get posted in a week or so. It is not the most flattering story of Taft. It talks a lot about his inconsistency and willingness to take plays off when he loses interest. Taft, himself, even admits it without even apologizing for it. Just dismissing it, as not a big deal since it was a blowout. It’s frustrating for a Pitt fan to read, especially in light of the recent struggles for the team.

For an NBA team, this article should be a huge red flag of concern. For all Taft’s admiration and desire to emulate Kevin Garnett, he is completely missing the whole work ethic aspect. Garnett cares on every play. He doesn’t coast. He’s always working to be better and putting the effort on the court. If Taft wasn’t on “my” team, I’d have him pegged as yet another very talented player who will underachieve big-time in the NBA.

Just another challenge for Coach Jamie Dixon. They seem to be piling up quickly.

Looks like Syracuse has found its new football coach:

Texas co-defensive coordinator Greg Robinson will be named head coach at Syracuse, according to two sources close to the Longhorns’ program.

Robinson, 53, was offered the job Monday and accepted after interviewing with new Syracuse athletic director Daryl Gross in Los Angeles on Friday, the sources said.
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Robinson said when he arrived at Texas his ultimate goal was to become a college head coach and that he didn’t want to return to the NFL. Robinson spent 14 seasons in the NFL, including stints as defensive coordinator with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos, where he won Super Bowl rings in 1997 and 1998.

“I’m making a career change,” Robinson said when he was introduced at Texas last year.

Gross, the former associate athletic director at Southern California, received a strong recommendation to hire Robinson from USC coach Pete Carroll, the sources said.
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Robinson has a reputation as a super recruiter dating to his days as an assistant coach under Terry Donahue at UCLA (1982-89). Robinson helped oversee a Texas defense this season that reduced its points allowed from 21.5 in 2003 to 17.9 (18th nationally) in 2004. UT also allowed only 107.4 yards rushing per game (16th nationally) this season compared to 152.5 yards last season.

Bo Pelini whiffed again. I am definitely thinking that he must just suck in the interview.

The NCAA just made “sweeping” changes in an academic reform package that will reduce scholarships if teams don’t meet certain graduation standards.

On the last day of the NCAA convention, the Division I Board of Directors approved the Academic Progress Rate (APR), the standard teams in every sport must reach beginning in the 2005-06 school year to avoid scholarship reductions.

Schools will receive warning reports in the next few weeks that let them know which of their teams fall below the APR set by the Division I Committee on Academic Performance. The rate is based roughly on a 50-percent graduation rate over a five-year period.

Unlike the dubious stats that often indicate nobody is graduating from certain programs, this seems to be the key point:

The APR will be based on the number of student-athletes on each team who achieve eligibility and return to campus full-time each term.

A plain reading would suggest that means athletes that turn pro early wouldn’t count against the school. Nor would transfers. Something that had in the previous formulations. That makes sense, and I don’t see how any of the power conferences and schools would have gone along with the plan without such protections.

There is also a cap on the number of scholarships a team can lose at 10%.

After what seems like a month of non-stop Pitt news on either basketball or football, we have hit a lull. The City of Pittsburgh is more concerned with the Steelers playoff game this weekend, Pitt basketball is off until Saturday, and there has been no major news regarding an offensive coordinator or recruits for Pitt football.

I mentioned last week about Pitt recruiting, that I considered this class of 2005 something of a lost year as it was one that came in the transition. So I am not expecting a particularly high team ranking in the recruiting lists, “It’s looking like mid-40s. If Pitt can finish in the top-40 classes it should be considered a good thing. Top-30 and you toast a remarkable surge.”

Well according to Scout.com (formerly Insiders.com), Pitt has the 36th recruiting class. Rivals.com has Pitt at #42.

In any given year, a team offers about 18-25 scholarships. A program is allowed only up to 85 scholarship players at a time on the football team. Pitt already has 17 commits, and Coach Wannstedt says Pitt can only offer maybe 3 more. National Letter of Intent Signing Day is in 3 weeks. I’m guessing Wannstedt and the coaches are taking some final runs at some bigger prospects who haven’t committed or might be wavering. Then, will consider some of the other possibilities.

Monday tends to be the recap day for the weekend and week in college basketball. So lots of mentions of Pitt. Not too many that were flattering.

It will be a very interesting week, mentally for Pitt. The team had its worst stretch of play in a few years, and the doubters are coming out in force.

Did Bucknell tell more about Pittsburgh than the Panthers want you to know? The Panthers finished a pre-conference schedule designed to address problems with the same problems as when they began. That is not good.

The loss of veteran wings Julius Page and Jaron Brown meant finding two capable replacements. It hasn’t happened. Senior Yuri Demetris and sophomore Antonio Graves have been getting most of the minutes, and neither has scored more than seven points in his past three games. They might be better defensively than the alternatives, but not so good as to prevent coach Jamie Dixon from using zone in a futile attempt to slow down Bucknell’s attack. Pitt big men Chevy Troutman and Chris Taft have been less precise defending the inside.

There are several quality Big East teams waiting for the chance to bring this program back to the pack.

Pitt claimed the purpose of the week non-con to be to answer questions about some new starters. Setting the line-up and the bench are still unresolved. The team does not look cohesive on the floor except in spurts. In the Sporting News “Power Poll,” Pitt slipped a bit more and there are questions.

18. Pittsburgh (11-2) -13 Comment: The Panthers have a lot to prove after their recent stumble. Back-to-back games at UConn (January 22) and against Syracuse (January 29) should be telling.

Those were big dates before Pitt’s slipping. Now they are deciding dates on how Pitt will be viewed for the rest of the season.

The biggest issue is that the non-con only succeeded in padding the win total. Now people want a whack at that approach.

Turns out Pittsburgh’s now-annual tradition of winning its first umpteen games against RPI bottom-feeders really was a mirage this year. Over the past week, the Panthers (11-2) lost to Bucknell and Georgetown and needed overtime to survive Rutgers.

Hell, ESPN.com’s “Bracketology Expert” Joe Lunardi was even more brutal in an online chat (subscription only):

Seth (Oklahoma City): What teams currently in the top 25 had better do well in conference play, or risk being left out on Selection Sunday?

Joe Lunardi: Pitt…the non-league schedule is SO bad (again), that a marginal conference record isn’t going to cut it. I’m sure there are others.

He took a couple whacks at Pitt throughout the chat (though in his first “bracket” for January he included Pitt as a #6 seed). But he makes a valid point. Pitt’s non-con was so brutally weak that Pitt can’t afford even mediocre play in the BE. Pitt has to go around 11-5 in the BE, not just to make the tourney but to avoid getting a dreaded 8/9 seed. The selection committee is going to hold that non-con against Pitt. That’s not a lot of margin for error.

Then again, to show how far Pitt has come, it now gets lumped in with a bunch of other top “name” teams as an adjective to describe their kind of scheduling:

To be reminded yet again what a rotten idea it is to determine a sports champion with a popularity poll, all you need is a good look at the basketball team Associated Press voters deemed to be No. 14 in Division I last week. In its first two Big Ten games, Iowa didn’t even play like the 14th-best team in its state.

There were three ways to view the Hawkeyes’ performance.

My way: Thank goodness this sport has a playoff.

Steve Alford’s way: That wasn’t the same Iowa team that opened the season 12-1.

Maryland’s/Pittsburgh’s/Arizona’s way: Conference play is really tough.

The first week of league competition revealed more about the 2004-05 season than all seven weeks of nonconference games combined — though we were left with more questions than answers. With 10 teams ranked in the January 3 AP poll losing in the subsequent five days, a lot of teams that appeared solid were exposed as flawed. Those flaws need not be fatal; there are nearly two more months to look for solutions.

That is the glass half-full approach, Pitt was hardly the only team to stumble at the end of non-con/beginning of league play. UConn, NC St., WVU, Arizona, Tennessee and Wisconsin all had bad losses.

There was a little love. Chevon Troutman got a small piece, mainly discussing how he could end up a Tight End in the NFL. Ronald Ramon got a quick mention in Doyel’s week in review at Sportsline.

Pitt still remained in the top-20 in both polls. Slipping from #12 to #18 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. In the AP Writers Poll, Pitt fell from #16 to #20.

In something partially related to scheduling — the exempted tournaments. The NCAA is looking at some changes (sub. only):

The proposal calls for 27 regular-season games, plus an exempted tournament (counting for one game against the maximum), plus a conference tournament. If it passes through the management council and the board of directors in April, the Maui Invitational, Great Alaska Shootout, Preseason NIT, Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, Guardians Classic and the like would be able to survive – and likely flourish.

This legislation would allow teams to play in events like this every year, although they couldn’t be in the same event more than once every four seasons. The current rule that limits these events to only one team per conference would still apply – something that may impact the new 16-team Big East and 12-team ACC. The big-name tournaments likely would rotate the highest-profile teams on a four-year cycle, but the good news is the other teams in the leagues will get to play in exempted events every season.

This proposal also would be great for mid- and low-major teams, which would get the chance to play high-profile teams on a neutral court every season. These kinds of games always help a team’s postseason résumé.

The NCAA membership also forwarded a 29-game proposal that likely would wind up in a lawsuit with the NIT. This proposal makes all games count as one, essentially eliminating exempted events, as a team couldn’t schedule without knowing whether it would play one or four games in events like the Preseason NIT.

The overall hangup is what to do with exhibition games. Some schools want to get rid of them all together, while others want to hold onto the revenue. The thinking is the 29-game schedule proposal would give schools two more home games that would replace the exhibitions. Currently, teams play 28 regular-season games.

Pitt hasn’t played in a real tournament in years. My sense is that either proposal would likely extend the drought when you look at the marquee teams in the BE next year. Pitt will need to improve their non-con because they will be hard pressed to get an invite for some time.