Pitt has had a bad spell. People are having doubts. I don’t know if this was the idea of someone in the athletic department or it came from Coach Dixon. I do know that I think it a smart move:

Join Coach Dixon in the Petersen Events Center

OAKLAND ZOO HOOPS MEETING

Date: Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Time: 8:00pm

Location: On the court in the Petersen Events Center

(use regular student game day entrances)

Dear Zoo Members,

Since opening the Petersen Events Center, the now nationally recognized Oakland Zoo is what has made the Petersen Events Center one of the toughest places to play in America. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your exceptional support as we get ready for Seton Hall. See you Wednesday.

Hail to Pitt,

Head Coach Jamie Dixon

Event Features:

*Q & A with Coach Dixon

*First 300 students to receive an Oakland Zoo T-shirt

*Contests and Prizes

*Pizza and drinks

Start with the students. Shore up the base. From what I understand, the crowd was pretty much stunned into silence during the Bucknell and G-town games. At least someone is figuring out you can’t take the fans and students completely for granted.

Pitt doesn’t play again until Saturday, so there is probably going to be way too much time to chew over this game. The long break will be good for Pitt if they are as banged-up and flu-ridden as Coach Jamie Dixon says.

In the game, Rutgers turned thing around when Chevy Troutman was given a technical for hanging on the rim after a dunk about 4 minutes into the second half. The dunk gave Pitt a 41-33 lead. They sank the free throws and scored on the possession, and for the next 11 minutes the game was all Rutgers. They went on an 11-0 run in less than 5 minutes, and 18-4 overall in that stretch. Even Ramon, who played such a breakout game made the dumb mistake of fouling Douby when he was attempting a 3 (Douby sank all 3 FTs). It was and is disturbing how Pitt just seemed to collapse for about 11 straight minutes. Lost energy, focus and desire. There was no leadership anywhere. Coach Dixon burned through most of the timeouts in this stretch with little changing.

On the positive, Pitt rallied. They regrouped and went on a 10-4 run to tie the game. And while Rutgers clearly out-hustled Pitt in the second half, Pitt’s defense was better. Rutgers shot nearly 45% in the first half (and from inside the 3-point line, over 50%); but in the second half, they couldn’t even get to 36% (6-17 inside the 3-point line, 4-11 outside). Rebounding and turnovers nearly did Pitt in, but not the defense.

The second half, also obscured the fact that Pitt came out and played a good first half for the first time since Richmond (Dec. 23). Ramon had 11 points in the first half and Troutman and Taft had already combined for 15 points and 10 rebounds. Pitt had gone 5-5 at the FT line (Taft was a shocking 3-3). Pitt had only committed 4 turnovers. Yes, Graves was not shooting well, and Krauser was not creating; but Pitt was playing a tougher defense and getting the rebounds.

Concerns have to remain with free throw shooting. Especially late in the game. Technically, Pitt improved on its overall team shooting % by making 12-18. The trend was scary: 1st half, 5-5 (100%); 2nd half 5-8 (62.5%); OT, 2-5 (40%).

Looking ahead a little, I have to believe Pitt will start getting away from the 3 guard line-up a little more. If, as claimed, part of the issue with the forward position were little injuries, that should be resolved with the week off. Add in the extra practices, and DeGroat, Benjamin and Milligan should be seeing some increased playing time. Likely at the expense of Demetris and even Graves. Demetris was already being pushed for time by Ramon, and Graves hasn’t been nearly so consistent as the competition’s talent levels increased.

Just watched too much NFL playoffs, in between giving the family thing appropriate lip service (I’m really counting on my wife being honest about not reading this) to get back to some things about the b-ball game yesterday.

Let’s start off by disproving the notion that the provincial, looking for the hometown hook thing is limited to just newspapers in smaller towns. From the NY Post:

Even with Carl Krauser (nine turnovers) playing like you’d expect from a guy with the flu and a bad shoulder, the Panthers got a career-high 21 points from freshman guard Ronald Ramon, the latest in their line of New York stars. And they got the biggest plays in the final minute from guard Antonio Graves and forward Chevon Troutman, role players who yesterday played the heroes.

I’m sure two of the Pitt starters are thrilled to know they are role players since they aren’t from the 5 boroughs.

Yes it seems that part of the explanation for Krauser’s bad performance yesterday was the flu bug that seems to be going around the team. Would help explain how he could miss 2 FTs in the closing seconds of OT.

For Pitt, this was about stopping some bleeding. And it was Antonio Graves sinking some clutch shots at the end — finally. Last season, Graves ended up taking the final shot against UConn and Seton Hall in losses. He also was involved in the end of the Bucknell and Georgetown games this past week. Each time he came up short but said he was still confident at the end of the game. This time it finally went his and Pitt’s way.

The game, though, was really about Ronald Ramon coming up big on the perimeter. Though for Rutgers, who also recruited Ramon, it seemed personal.

The 6-1 guard scored a career-high 21 points, Pittsburgh returned to its tough, physical defensive ways and the combination was just enough for the Panthers to deal Rutgers a 66-63 overtime loss yesterday at the Rutgers Athletic Center in Piscataway.

“We knew he was good,” Knights coach Gary Waters said of Ramon, “but I didn’t think he could come in here and score 21. He was a guy we did not spend a lot of preparation on.”

Without Ramon’s 7-for-11 shooting off the bench (5-for-9 on 3-pointers), Pittsburgh might be the Big East’s biggest early-season flop today. Instead, the Panthers improved to 11-2 overall and 1-1 in the league, surviving Ricky Shields’ dramatic 3-pointer that forced overtime with less than one second left in regulation. Rutgers (6-5 overall, 0-1 Big East) had all the momentum then.

Ramon had given the Panthers a 58-55 lead with 7.6 seconds left by sinking a 3-pointer as Pittsburgh rallied from a six-point deficit with 5:01 to play.

“When (Shields) hit his, our guys just looked at each other and said ‘okay, we have to get back to work,'” Ramon said.

From the Rutgers viewpoint, they didn’t just let a game they could have won get away from them, it was a case of not having the guys inside and being too dependent on the perimeter game.

When you play Russian roulette basketball the way Rutgers does, you’re eventually going to run out of bullets.

So when Ricky Shields’ desperation three-point attempt from in front of the RU bench was off the mark Saturday, the Scarlet Knights were left to ponder what went wrong in their 66-63 overtime loss to Pittsburgh.

This was a could have, should have, but didn’t game for Rutgers. Instead of a rousing start to their Big East schedule, fueled by a three-pointer by Shields that sent the game into overtime, the Scarlet Knights (6-5) were reminded that their three-point shooting can carry them only so far.

“We need some size,” said RU coach Gary Waters.

That was painfully evident again Saturday. Chris Taft and Chevon Troutman, Pitt’s big men, combined for 27 points and 22 rebounds, compared to eight points and five rebounds for Ollie Bailey and Byron Joynes. This was a rude welcome to the Big East for Bailey. The freshman had six points and one rebound and shot 2-of-10, with three shots blocked. “We were pretty exposed,” said Bailey.

Well Joynes took himself out of the game with foul problems (limiting himself to only 20 minutes), after opening his mouth before the game.

For Pitt, they nearly gave the game away with a huge letdown in the second half. Rutgers got 13 more shot attempts in the second half than Pitt. So, despite Pitt’s defense really keeping Rutgers’ shooting percentages low, the sheer number of shot attempts made up the difference. A lot of that was because of turnovers. Pitt committed 7 turnovers in the second half to only 1 by Rutgers. But Rutgers was just getting after the ball more in the second half.

In the first half, Pitt out rebounded them 17-11, and enjoyed a 6-2 rebounding advantage in the OT. But in the second half, Rugters actually managed to slightly outrebound Pitt 13-12. Very obvious that Pitt just didn’t want the ball as much at times in the second half. Rutgers was more tenacious and fought harder in the second half. Pitt was failing to put Rutgers away.

Again, though, it was a win. Much needed and very important. Hard to quibble with how it was won at the moment.

A couple stories on hiring David Walker as RB Coach. I’m sorry, I find myself drooling over a RB coach who has consistently had one of the best rushing attacks in college football the last 5-8 years. Yes, I know lines have a big deal to do with that, but Walker has taken the talent and made it better.

“I think the key is not the system you play in but rather the fundamentals and techniques you teach,” Walker.

“A lot of the things we worked on at Syracuse, I’ll bring to the running backs here. I haven’t yet evaluated the ones we have here, but I will and then I’ll have a better feel for what we need to do.”

Oh, golly. Fundamentals? Technique? Those are two of the things that generally have been lacking in Pitt’s running game. I’m definitely excited. Probably the best position coach signing Wannstedt has made. It gets better:

“The first thing I talk about to young men is I want guys to be three-dimensional. They have to run, block and receive the ball. That’s the goal. We’re going to work real hard on developing those aspects of the game.”

Furman was Pitt’s best receiving RB, Murphy the best North-South runner, and Kirkley was solid blocking. If any could just do 2 of 3 I’d be thrilled.

It’s now official (as much as any verbal can be) for some Pitt recruits. Bryan Williams has recommited to Pitt:

Buchtel coach Claude Brown said Williams’ decision to go to Minnesota didn’t have to do with Harris leaving Pitt. With the coaching change at Pitt, Williams didn’t think Panthers defensive line coach Bob Junko, who recruited Williams, or defensive coordinator Paul Rhodes would be retained.

Wannstedt kept both, though. That was all Williams needed to hear.
…
In Brown’s eight years coaching at Buchtel, he has sent numerous players to Pitt, including Ramon Walker, Deon Hayes, Brandon Hayes, Darrell McMurray, Tim Murphy and Steve Walker. Marlon Terry, a 6-foot-2, 240-pound fullback/linebacker who was Williams’ teammate this past season, committed to play at Pitt before the season.

Williams, who was a Division III first-team all-state performer, rushed for 1,831 yards and 26 touchdowns for the Griffins last season and was a first-team All-Beacon Journal defensive back after leading Buchtel with six interceptions.

And of course Shane Murray at Central Catholic has made his verbal as a QB (for the time being)

He chose the Panthers over Connecticut, Hofstra and Richmond and also was receiving from Georgia Tech, Syracuse and the U.S. Naval Academy.

“I always grew up a Pitt fan – it’s the place to be,” Murray said. “Coach Wannstedt coming in and recruiting Western Pennsylvania players first, that shows how much he’s committed to his hometown. He’s not passing up WPIAL players.”
…
“Shane isn’t just a good pocket passer; he throws well on the run and his decision-making was really spectacular,” Central coach Art Walker Jr. said. “He has the ability to run and his arm is a lot stronger than people think.”

For that reason, Murray has drawn comparisons to Palko.

“That would be great, because Tyler plays with intensity,” Murray said. “He never takes a play off. He only cares about his team and cares about winning. I feel like I’m the spitting image, but a lot skinnier.”

Like Palko, Murray also started at safety, recording 66 tackles, five interceptions and two fumble recoveries. He was named to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Terrific 25 and All-Class AAAA teams, and was an Associated Press first-team Class AAAA all-state pick at defensive back.

Pitt addressed a need by recruiting Murray as a quarterback, where the only other scholarship player besides Palko was backup Joe Flacco.

“When Pitt recruited me as a quarterback, it showed me they have confidence in me,” Murray said. “Even so, if they told me they needed me to play defensive back, I’d do that in a heartbeat. If you get on that field, that’s all that matters.”

Maybe he stays at QB, maybe he changes position like Darrelle Strong did. The kid is an athlete and a football player, and he wants to play. Seems to be worth taking a shot on developing him somewhere.

Finally, the big story, a Q&A with Head Coach Dave Wannstedt. It probably doesn’t need saying, but it is the must read of the day. I’m not even going to excerpt anything. Too much stuff each reader will want to focus on. Suffice to say, even in a Q&A the enthusiasm and excitement he is generating and bringing comes through. I guess, if anything it makes me a little nervous to find myself so easily and happily ready to drink the kool-aid (Yes, part of it is “I want to believe“). I’ll have to work on my cynicism. Tomorrow. I promise.

Plenty to write about in this game. Plenty good and plenty bad. The overriding issue, though, is that Pitt got a win they desperately needed. I’ll have more later when the full stats are out.

Some quick thoughts:

1. Ramon made his case not just for more minutes, but starter’s minutes.
2. Demetris might have played himself out of starting by falling down against Shields on the final shot of the second half. He’s in there for defense and being a smart player. If he can’t do that, he brings nothing else.
3. Rutgers had a disciplined game plan to deal with Krauser. The RU announcers said that the Scarlet Knights had practiced all week on taking charges when Krauser would drive. And it showed. Krauser got called for 3 of his 4 fouls on the offensive side. Took Krauser completely out of his game.
4. Troutman and Taft asserted themselves much more in this game. A clear effort to make sure the ball got inside was part of the game plan.

More on the b-ball later.

Lot to do this morning to get the time-block necessary to listen to the game on the internet (I just missed being able to order the game on TV, at a store with my wife if she had taken 5 more minutes it would have allowed me to get the game as a reward). Anyways, quick summary of stories today:

Pitt has been getting off to bad starts. Digging holes they have to climb out of, just to get to a tie game. The last time Pitt lost 3 games in a row was February 2001.

The perimeter defense has to be a priority:

An area of concern has been the Panthers’ perimeter defense, which is nowhere close to what it was when Julius Page and Jaron Brown were still with the team. The Panthers – led by Carl Krauser, Yuri Demetris, Ronald Ramon and Graves on the perimeter — watched Georgetown go 6 for 6 on 3-pointers at the outset of Wednesday night’s game, and allowed Bucknell to go 7 of 18 from beyond the arc last Sunday. Rutgers is hitting at a 36 percent clip from long range.

Moreover, Pitt’s past three opponents have shot better than 50 percent from the field. That happened only once last season, when Miami connected on 50.8 percent of its shots in a double-overtime victory for the Panthers.

“I just think we’re being overly aggressive on defense right now, not staying with our man as long as we should,” Graves said. “It’s something we’ll correct. It’s going to start in this game. We know how to play defense, we just have to get it together.”

At least they know they need this game:

There has been no chest-thumping for these Panthers of late, no in-your-face domination, no nothing during an uncharacteristic two-game swoon, which hasn’t happened in three years.

“We need to get it together,” sophomore center Chris Taft said.
…
“This game is big,” sophomore guard Antonio Graves said. “We need to get this win on the road, then come back home and keep it going. We know how important this game is.”

As for Rutgers, some are looking at home losses by Pitt and UConn to open BE play and wondering if Rutgers might not be able to make some noise. Of course, as much as Pitt has had a stellar homecourt advantage, so as Rutgers at the RAC, except where Pitt is concerned.

Rutgers, 6-4 overall and freshened by a week off, has generally held its own against Big East teams at home, however.

All except Pittsburgh. The Panthers are the only Big East team that Waters, now in his fourth season, has yet to beat.

Keep it going. It will be a wild crowd as the new semester begins for the students. And the players seem to be talking a little:

The Rutgers forward listened to the rave over Chevon Troutman and Chris Taft’s size. He heard the admiration of their muscles and the speculation that Pitt’s two big men could be tougher than any other pair in the league. But the blather that the two would even look frightening on the Panthers’ football field? That, Joynes said, was enough.

“Hey, we lift weights, too,” the 6-foot-9, 265-pound [Rutgers Forward Byron] Joynes said, showing no signs of the merry smile he usually wears. “We may not look as good, but we’re big. We’re strong.”

He was insulted by the suggestion that injured Adrian Hill was Rutgers’ best elbow-thrower (“I throw tough elbows,” he said). And he was even more affronted by the proposal that the thickly built, tightly wound 6-7 Troutman and 6-10 Taft would go straight at Rutgers’ inexperienced interior.

The sophomore Joynes sure picked a prime time to be peeved. No. 16 Pittsburgh’s in town today, coming off two straight losses for the first time in three years, its big men surely looking to dish out some punishment – as they do anyway.

“They try to punk you,” Joynes said, nodding his head. “They’re very physical and very tough and so they try to out-tough you.”

Playing tough themselves, and laying the first hit, is all Rutgers (6-4) coach Gary Waters has talked about to his own big men this week. Keep Pitt (10-2) out of the lane and off the boards. Put a body on every big man. Go at the basket every time a shot goes up. When there, attack the rim.

“We have to make them go over our backs,” Joynes said, stressing first the “them” and then the “our.” He’s being particular there for good cause – that’s the type of foul Waters calls “cheap” and the type Joynes has an exasperating penchant for getting tagged with.

Just a few minutes now.

I’m getting to this so late in the day, that I’ll start with the item that you might not have noticed in the papers. Pitt added another coach to its staff. David Walker has been named the running backs coach. Walker comes to Pitt from Syracuse where he has been developing top RBs since 1995. This was a great hire to me. The one thing Syracuse has had in the last decade has been stellar RBs. Walker has been the guy in charge.

You have to imagine the Walker hiring had to have helped Pitt land WPIAL running back (no, not Eugene Jarvis) Shane Brooks. According to the recruiting sites, Brooks is around the 30th best RB in the country, and a top-10 player in Pennsylvania. He still has to qualify academically, though.

It would also appear that Shane Murray, the QB at Central Catholic will commit to Pitt. It’s unclear whether he will remain at QB in college. It does appear that this is Pitt’s first recruiting class in its history with 2 “Shane”s. Our research staff is on that.

Pitt also got an outside linebacker from Syracuse. Doug Fulmer, who appears to be something of an athlete/diamond-in-the-rough type recruit was getting some interest from Iowa.

It will likely be in the papers tomorrow, but Bryan Williams out of Akron, Ohio appears to have re-committed to Pitt after saying he had changed his mind and was going to Minnesota. So far, it would appear Wannstedt is as enthusiastic as he said. Yay.

My demon-spawned daughter decided to wake-up with the wife and I this morning, and she hasn’t napped, nor wanted me out of her sight much. I hate the Teletubbies.

Lots of questions now for Pitt. Losing the way they did to who they did, will do that. It’s reflected in the weekly Q&A with the Pitt beat reporter for the P-G.

Q: After watching Pitt the past two games, I have a hard time envisioning this team making the NCAA tournament. What do you think?

FITTIPALDO: There are 15 Big East games to go, so it’s too early to write the Panthers off. I do think there should be some genuine concern out there among Pitt fans, though. This team can’t stop anyone. Georgetown came into the game shooting 38 percent from 3-point range. The Hoyas shot 52.2 percent (11 for 21) against Pitt. They have some good shooters, but it was like practicing against air for them. There were no Pitt players in sight on some of them. Pitt’s offense has been inconsistent as well. Carl Krauser has a tendency to look for his own shot too much. He needs to look for Chris Taft and Chevon Troutman more. The inside-outside game got the Panthers back into it against Georgetown. Taft and Aaron Gray accounted for 16 of the first 19 points for Pitt to open the second half. That opened up the outside and Krauser, Graves and Ramon made three 3-pointers in less than four minutes at which time Pitt took the lead. The most concerning thing about this team is its inability to finish off games. Despite the poor play against Bucknell and Georgetown, the Panthers had the lead with less than two minutes remaining in both games and failed to win. That’s the sign of a team that doesn’t know how to win. With three returning starters, there’s no excuse for that.
…
Q: I think Dave Odom just used what will be my favorite basketball catch phrase for 2005 when he said, “Troutman just big boyed us in the second half.” What does big boyed mean in basketball terms? I think you should use this term every chance you get when covering Pitt basketball. Keep up the excellent work.

FITTIPALDO: Odom sure does fill up a reporter’s notebook fast. I will do my best work “big boyed” in as the season goes along, although PG editors might have other ideas.

I’m not prepared to panic until I see what happens tomorrow. Shake-ups have to be coming though, if the team keeps playing the way it has.

I also have a hard time attributing much of Pitt’s struggles to some injuries. With the exception of Graves, the injuries have been to bench players that weren’t seeing that much action. Especially when DeGroat — one of the players cited as being hurt — is pleading for more playing time. Sounds, disturbingly, like a weak excuse from Coach Dixon. And if injuries are really a factor at the forward/3rd guard position, then why hasn’t McCarroll gotten more time and when was the last time anyone even saw Levon Kendall get off the bench?

Now, even the players are thinking a road game might be best right now. The mystique is definitely missing from the Pete right now.

Game notes for both teams are now out. Pitt & Rutgers (PDF). Rutgers has 2 good wins against Charlotte and Kansas State (who may or may not be fraudulent). Bad losses to Air Force, Princeton and Penn State. This will be Rutgers Big East opener. Rutgers still leads the all-time series 22-18 despite Pitt having won the last 6 times they have played.

Some think Pitt has to become more physical. I’m not so sure. Especially when it all but seems to be an advocacy for thug ball. Pitt is out rebounding teams and getting after things. The difference between this year and the last couple is not the inside muscling. It is that the perimeter is much softer. Teams are willing to stay outside more, and take mid-range jumpers when they come off a screen or just get around the defender. It forces the guys inside to step out more, but doesn’t allow them to get in position to block or even hammer the guy in the lane. That’s part of why then can drive.

Taft is still considered the 2nd best Sophomore talent (behind Wake’s Chris Paul) being eyed by the NBA, despite his play to date:

The facts: 6-10, 230 pounds; 13.5 ppg, 7 rpg on 54 percent shooting
The skinny: Taft has the rare combination of size, athleticism, strength and power that NBA scouts covet in a good power forward. And unlike many players who possess those abilities, Taft prefers to score with his back to the basket. His footwork is sound, he’s patient in the paint and always working for a good shot.

Taft, too, has enjoyed his share of hype this summer. And he has struggled a bit to live up to it. Despite his superior strength and athleticism, he’s been just an average rebounder and shot blocker this season.

Several NBA scouts told Insider recently that they were unimpressed with Taft this season.

“I think he has a bad case of NBA-itis,” one NBA scout said. “He just looks like he’s going through the motions. Last year he had something to prove. This year, he seems like he’s just trying not to get hurt.”

Another scout said that he’s concerned that Taft has put on some bad weight, which might be hurting his athleticism and explosiveness. Despite the hand wringing, everyone still concedes that the chances of Taft falling out of the top five if he declares are slim. There’s a dearth of athletic big men in college basketball at the moment. When one comes along, very few teams are willing to pass that up.

You can’t teach size. I have to believe he will be asserting himself early in this game. The issue is motivation. It happened in the second half against Georgetown. He just has to want it earlier.

…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.

Paul Rhoads is coming back. Deep breath. Just poured the rest of a bottle of Makers Mark (thanks, Lee) into a glass. I’m not sure if I’m going to drink it or pour it on myself and set myself on fire.

In addition to Rhoads, Bob Junko(Defensive Tackles) and Curtis Bray (Linebackers) will be back. From the present staff, Wannstedt is still in discussions with Bill Bleil (Tackles/Tight Ends) and Charlie Partridge (Defensive Ends).

As for new hires, in addition to Paul Dunn, Aubrey Hill was hired. Here’s Hill’s info:

Hill, who played and coached under Steve Spurrier’s “Fun ‘n Gun” offense at Florida, joins the Panthers after working at NCAA I-AA Elon (N.C.) University as receivers coach last year. He previously was the receivers coach at Duke from 1999-2003 and additionally served in a pair of NFL coaching internships.
…
Hill helped Florida to a four-year record of 43-10-1 (.806) and three SEC championships. He compiled 86 receptions and 18 touchdowns for his career and caught a touchdown every 4.78 catches, the third best TD ratio in Gators history. He was a team captain as a senior in 1994.

Following his playing career, Hill served as a Florida graduate assistant from 1996-98. In his first season as an assistant, Florida captured the national championship with a 12-1 mark, capped by a 52-20 victory over Florida State in the Sugar Bowl. During his three years on the Florida staff, the Gators went a combined 32-5 (.865).

Those NFL internships? Washington (2001) and Miami (2002). Obviously, Wanny knows and likes him.

While official titles haven’t been announced, I’m guessing that there won’t be many changes. Hill, I’m guessing will be the receivers coach. He seems to have enthusiasm and ambition.

The only downside, is that means the present receivers coach Pete Carmichael is out. Not sure about how he was as a recruiter (he is in his 60s) but as a coach there must be some credit given for the development of Greg Lee this year, along with Joe DelSardo. There was some concern going into the season with WRs since Brookhart left for the Akron gig.

You know, I’m not some long-time Big East worshipping, pining for the “glory days” of the mid-80s of BE basketball. Still, my memories of Georgetown were trips to the Civic Arena because they were such big games they were played there instead of Fitzgerald in the late 80s. They were the team Pitt wanted to be. Now, they are using Pitt as their measuring stick as to where they are in the conference.

The young Georgetown Hoyas open the Big East portion of their schedule tonight at No. 16 Pittsburgh (10-1) and should get a better idea what they can expect over the next 10 weeks.

And Georgetown knows Pitt could be in a mood.

This might not be the ideal time for Georgetown to play the Panthers, considering that Pittsburgh is coming off of a stunning loss to Bucknell. The 69-66 defeat marked just the second time in 46 games that Pittsburgh had lost at the three-year-old Petersen Events Center. The Panthers have not lost back-to-back home games since February 2001.

“Bucknell probably stirred up the hornet’s nest,” Thompson said with a smile. “They’re not going to be in a good mood.”

Pitt better not be in a good mood. Despite the reversal of fortunes, neither team has ever won more than 5 straight games. Pitt has a 5 game winning streak against G-town.

And just for a bitter reminder as to how big the win was, from the San Francisco Chronicle:

No, it really was the previously undefeated, No. 10 Pittsburgh Panthers that lost. It was Bucknell, a Patriot League team from Lewisburg, Pa., that did not offer athletic scholarships until two years ago, that got the win. The site was Pittsburgh’s Petersen Events Center, where the Panthers were 43-1 before Sunday. The only loss had been an overtime defeat to Syracuse, and Connecticut is 0-2 at Petersen.

Bucknell did what UConn could not in beating the Panthers in their new arena.

“We were having our team meeting about 11 o’clock this morning (Tuesday), and the kids said, “Hey, coach, we got to turn on ESPN to catch the top 10 plays of the week, ’cause we’ll be on,” coach Pat Flannery said.

Flannery thought they were kidding, but when No. 1 came up, there were the Bucknell players running around after the upset.

Flannery’s weekly alumni luncheon that usually draws 30 or 40 people had 150 people show up Tuesday.

A paper in SF needs to point out the upset. Actually, interesting to learn that the Patriot League teams are now offering some sports scholarships.

Game’s on in less than an hour.

Alright, a few days late (had to fly back to Pittsburgh and finally get onto Blogger).

In keeping with the gangsta feel of my pre-trip post, I’m pleased to relay that the planes I flew to and from Phoenix on (with Northwest) all had “NWA” painted in big letters.

As for the service, I did make it to and from Phoenix in one piece, so here’s to NWA for that. Otherwise, too many connections; the stewardesses were not nearly hot enough (one from Pittsburgh-Detroit-Milwaukee was cute, but the others were middle aged women or screamingly gay men). Of all the airports I visited, I’d say Phoenix sucked the most – no people movers (there were three different terminals, though, so maybe the others had better amenities). Minneapolis-St. Paul was the largest, Detroit was so-so, but Milwaukee had the best looking women by far. Who would have thought? Milwaukee? I don’t know what it was: maybe it was Wisconsin students flying in and out – either way, tons of good looking 17-34 women. Even the moms were attractive – the town could be renamed MILF-waukee! They also have a Miller beer pub there, as well as a General Billy Mitchell museum. I spent over 5 hours in that airport, drinking some kind of Red Lager (Lienenfleguel-von-farhfergnugen or something?) which was very good, and watching the hotties walk by.

Anyway, I finally got to Arizona around 6pm Friday, December 31. My buddy Mike, who I went to both HS and Pitt with, and who painted Mountaineer Field in whiskey spiked vomit back in 1997 (missing the great 4th and 17 OT), arrived earlier that morning and picked me up in his pimpin’ Chrysler rental car. Sadly, it was stuck on high beams, so we wisely chose to take a cab to new year’s eve celebrations – nothing says “pull me over, I’m drunk!” like driving around town with high beams. Mike had been up to the Pitt HQ hotel (the Princess resort – very swanky) for the afternoon gathering, and picked up some free Pitt stuff – a ticket holder, a button that said “boot the Utes!” and some Pitt mini towels.

We called up one of our law-student interns who attended ASU as an udergrad, and we met him and his crew in Old Town Scottsdale for the block party there. Good fun, but too many dudes. I was still on Eastern time, so I enjoyed drinking until 4am EST. The weather was much cooler than expected – we could see our breath at the block party, and I caught a little bit of a cold.

The game was at 6:30pm MST (8:30pm EST), so we headed to Tempe and Mill Avenue for some pre-game fun. The weather was 60’s and beautiful. We ate some Mexican, drank some beer, and headed towards the north end of the stadium for the Alumni association pre-game. We had two extra tickets, at $85 in the upper level 35 yard line – the best offer we got was $15 for both. Utah fans, clad in red, were everywhere, and very few Pitt fans were in sight.

We had to completely circumnavigate the stadium and the surrounding hillsides (it is so close to those two “Buttes”, or hills, that you see on TV that you can’t walk between the butte and the stadium to get to the other side. After that long walk, we finally entered the Worlds Largest College Football Party, and quickly found the Pitt section. This is the only time we didn’t feel completely outnumbered the entire time we were in Tempe. We watched the Rose Bowl, drank some more beer, and watched the band march in and play some Pitt songs. We met a lot of Pitt fans, and everyone was very friendly – I guess safety in numbers breeds camaraderie.

The lines were so long at the Utah tent for food they started coming to our area – a few good natured exchanges took place, with the occasional Mormon joke – all in good fun. They were giving away blue and gold beads (mini footballs, actually) and more of those towels – they ran out of beads, but we loaded up on towels. Then, after drinking several beers courtesy of our new friends (we met some business people and a young lady named Kerry, a recent Pitt grad who lives in LA, who’s father is from Mike and I’s hometown), we departed for the long walk back around to the other side of the stadium – the only way in!

To our dismay, we were corralled into a path that prevented us from getting to the other side of the stadium before we had to present our tickets – thus we had to eat the two extra $85 tickets. That made us want to drink – and drink we did! Beer was sold at the stadium, and the Utah fans seemed to only want to buy food and soft drinks.

Mike and I went up to our four seats in section 204, while Kerry went down to section 7 – her aunt is on the Board of Trustees and got her tickets at the 50 yard line, sitting a few seats down from Nordenberg. Our seats were good, however – 35yd line bleachers with backs. [Our law-student intern and his friends bought $175 club seats for $30 a piece – booze, food – everything but a complementary hand job. I was pissed!] Still, we were in a relatively pro-Pitt section (about 60% to 70% for Pitt), which was nice considering about 90% of the rest of the stadium was in red!

The Utah fans in front of us were cool. Two young late 20’s early 30’s couples, with one wife possessing two ample breasts bursting through a tight red sweater, complete with one black Utah pin over each nipple. Very nice. The guys were knowlegable about football, and we spoke of the power of the porn-stash (they were skeptical of Wannstedt’s hiring, but we set them straight).

Larry Fitzgerald was the honorary Pitt captain, and the Pitt band played well – Utah fans near us had band-envy (their band must suck ass).

The game: sucked. Pitt did not have an answer for the Utah offense, and Alex Smith was amazing. They could run, pass, and always seemed to get the key first downs. I think they punted once! I don’t remember Pitt turning the ball over at all – it was just that Utah drove the field. No defensive adjustments – what could they possibly do? I blame Rhodes a little, but Utah had better athletes making better plays.

Pitt’s offense was offensive, and in a bad way. Palko was running for his life the whole game. No adjustments by Harris – no extra fullback or TE to pick up blitzes, no quick shuffles to thwart the blitzing linebackers, and no running game whatsoever. And what the hell did Harris try that field goal for?

I’m not trying to shock anyone, but Mike and I actually left the game early. Yes, you read that correctly. I was too disgusted to watch anymore, and there were several hours of drinking ahead of us. We met Kerry and some of her friends who didn’t bother with the game out in a nightclub in Scottsdale. Drinks were expensive, but VERY strong. There were a couple of former Pitt players at the club as well – I recognized their names, but I can’t remember them. We drank to 4am EST, drove back to the hotel (yes, drove with the high beams on), and I promptly passed out on the lazy-boy chair.

I awoke at 8am MST the next day to hear Mike talking to his kids on the phone in the next room. My head…the pain! I had forgotten how my old room mate was a morning person, and it was really pissing me off. Anyway, I slept until lunch time, and Mike and I hit a really bad strip club on Scottsdale Road, Babes. Not all nude, no VIP section, no food, no Canadian style lap dances – we were the only two patrons in the bar, which made it kind of creepy. The two dancers were so-so, both too skinny and small breasted (the hostess was nice, and cute). There, I drank the first non-alcoholic beverage of the entire weekend – I went all of Friday and Saturday without ingesting a single pop, glass of water or juice that wasn’t mixed with booze.

Mike took his rental car to the airport, flew back to Dallas Sunday evening, and I just walked around near the hotel, and got some good local Mexican food. On Monday it rained like hell, and it caused flight delays at the airport. All in all, a fun trip. I regret not hitting an Indian casino, but I probably would have lost too much money anyway. I highly recommend going to a bowl game – just one closer to home so it isn’t such an expensive trip.

[The Big East basketball season is about to begin, and so I finally reprint my brief history of the Big East. This was originally posted on College Basketball Blog back in mid-December. The reprint of Part 1 is here.]

How did it come to this? The Big East will become a 16 team lumbering behemoth in basketball next year, and a 8 team weakling in football. Both seem ill-fitting. How did it get here? Where is it going? Arguably, the seeds for the present situation were sewn in the first 5 years of the Big East’s existence. This is, disturbingly enough, Part 2 of something I’ve been thinking about for a while. Part 1 is here. Part 2 covers the time period of 1992 to now and the future.

Football and its money transcends all.

1992 saw the creation of the Bowl Coalition. The goal was to try and set things up for a true national champion without disrupting the bowl system (or conference alliances with particular bowls). The Bowl Coalition lasted 2 more seasons. It was scrapped after the 1994 season.

It was replaced by the Bowl Alliance, where 4 conferences (SEC, ACC, Big East and the Big 12 [technically, in ’95 it was still the Big 8 and Southwest]), match-up the consensus #1 and #2 teams in a bowl game. The hitch was that the Big 11 and PAC-10 refused to join, preferring to stay with the Rose Bowl. The Bowl Alliance, like its forerunner, lasted 3 seasons.

This led to the formation of the Bowl Championship Series in 1998. This time all 6 conferences — ACC, Big East, Big 11, Big 12, PAC-10 and SEC — agreed to participate.

As for basketball, the impact of expansion for football began to be felt. For the 1995-96 season, the Big East basketball league went from 10 to 13 teams as Notre Dame, Rutgers and WVU became full members. The quality of the Big East had been suffering from the expansion. Too many teams near the bottom. Pitt, Rutgers, WVU, Miami and even ND at first were all not very good teams. You were also seeing the b-ball only schools start to drop in quality. The early to mid ’90s was not a great time to watch the Big East.

The league was split into the BE 7 and BE 6 divisions in 1995. There was no logical split for the divisions. Providence and Miami were in the same division, but Pitt and WVU were not. That split was scrapped after the 1996-97 season.

Unfortunately, the divisional format was restored upon Virginia Tech’s full admission into the Big East in 2000. They were not the same divisions as before, but they were still despised. The division format hurt the conference as a whole for getting teams into the NCAA Tournament. One division, invariably would be stronger than the other, and you would have them beating each other up. Less teams in the NCAA Tournament, less money for the Big East. They were scrapped after the 2002-03 season.

The Big East was still a big name in basketball, but the football money was just dwarfing everything. The BCS, for all of its faults, did what it really was supposed to do: generate lots and lots of cash for the participating conferences and schools. The #1 vs. #2 was incidental. That’s what the public reason was, but really it was and is about the cash for the programs and departments. (Why else did you see such politicking and complaining by Cal and the PAC 10 about Texas getting the other at-large bid? It’s not like it would affect the national championship. Follow the money.)

The money had gotten immense. So much so, that the ACC — the conference everyone looks to when talking about all that is great about college basketball — decided that it needed to get a bigger share of the pie. In the history of the BCS and Bowl Alliance, only 2 conferences failed to place an at-large team in one of the extra slots: the ACC and the Big East.

The ACC was looking at low TV ratings for its televised football games and reduced revenue on its next TV contract. Additionally, NCAA rules prohibit Conference Championship games without at least 12 members. The ACC, at only 9 members made a business decision. It needed to go to a 12 team football-first conference.

Miami and two other members of the Big East football conference were the logical choices. Really, they were the only choices. The other major conferences were very stable and quite lucrative in their revenue. The Big East football, though was even smaller than the ACC. Miami, of course was the linchpin. Miami had a traditional rivalry game with FSU, an ACC member, and was a geographical fit.

So the ACC, quietly, began sniffing around Miami. Trying to gauge their interest. Miami had interest, and quiet discussions ensued. Eventually, though, these things do not stay quiet. Too many people, too many institutions involved. By April 2003, the Big East Commissioner, Mike Tranghese, made it public what the ACC was up to. Unfortunately, that was about all he accomplished.

Tranghese merely put it out in the public. He and the rest of the Big East did not act decisively. They dithered and made proclamations. I admit, as alum and concerned first, and foremost about Pitt, this can be seen as biased to the football/basketball programs. The plain fact, though, is that there had been a split coming between football/basketball athletic programs and the basketball only programs in the Big East. Even at 14 teams in the BE there were problems and grumblings on the basketball side about the schedule, about how football was too important, how the basketball tournament kept 2 schools at home every year, and that the basketball schools were having their interests ignored.

I was blogging about this for some time when it was going down.

For those unfamiliar with everything here’s the condensed Reader’s Digest version from after it became public that the ACC was looking to raid the Big East:

• Miami admitted interest, and it was revealed that it wanted to take Syracuse and BC with them.
• Both schools conceded they would jump — Syracuse, reluctantly; BC, realistically.
• Rumor time. No real news. Stories that the BE would counter offer to Miami by splitting into two conferences. The BE-football would split off and expand. VT was scrambling to try and survive. Political pressure in the state of Virginia. UConn tried to muscle out BC for an invite.
• BE filed a lawsuit against BC, Miami and the ACC. Seemed to actually surprise ACC and threw the whole mess into question.
• BE rather than use the opportunity to push the obvious solution of splitting the divergent interests of basketball only schools with football/basketball schools into two separate conferences, stared talking about becoming a 16 team conference. Failed to secure assurances from all member schools that they will remain loyal BE teams no matter what.
• ACC and Miami regrouped. Political pressure from Virginia forced UVA to back Virginia Tech for membership. VT jumped at the first offer.
• Miami announced it was leaving for the ACC.

With Miami gone, what I saw as clearly necessary back in May 2003 — splitting the BE apart — looked like it would happen. But then things changed. First, and foremost, Mike Tranghese, the BE Commissioner and in 2003, the guy who had just come off a stint as the mouthpiece for defending the BCS said he wouldn’t serve as commissioner of either part of a split Big East.

This boxed in the football-playing BE teams. They needed Tranghese and his personal ties to other BCS conference commissioners to help keep them in the BCS with an automatic bid. The other conferences could boot the BE easily enough if they hadn’t dealt with the commissioner, but not if he was one of them. A guy who helped defend their little system.

Tranghese was making one last play to protect his school (Providence) and the basketball only programs. The basketball schools had been in a down period, as the balance of basketball power had clearly shifted away from the likes of Seton Hall, St. John’s, Villanova and Georgetown in the Big East. The power was with UConn, Syracuse, Pitt and even BC. At best, the basketball only schools didn’t look much stronger than the Atlantic 10. The basketball schools needed to keep their association with the stronger members of the Big East.

So the only way to keep Tranghese and his connections was to remain in the BE with basketball only schools. At least for the short term. The b-ball schools weren’t going to let themselves be put in an overwhelming minority position, since it was clear that sooner or later the BE football teams would split off. That is why, rather than look to replace Miami, VT and BC with Louisville, Cinci and USF; you had the Big East add 2 basketball only schools as well.

Next year, the Big East will begin playing its 16-team megaconference schedule. The Big East Tournament will still be limited to only 12 teams, so the bottom 4 do not even make it to Madison Square Garden. The system is built for pissing off the member schools.

To repeat, the whole point is to give both sides time to build up their strength, and prepare for another raid. The basketball only schools are not in the best shape. They need the new infusion of Marquette and DePaul (ND will be in this side of the sheet, since they are a football indy).

The dominance of basketball right now in the BE is on the side of the schools that also play football — Syracuse, Pitt, UConn, and add in Louisville and Cinci.

By the end of the 2009-10 season, at the latest, the BE will officially split. You can expect the football schools to make one more run at ND (and fail) then expand to 12 with possibly Memphis, Marshall, East Carolina and/or Central Florida.

Likewise on the basketball side, you can expect them to try and keep ND and pick and choose over UMass, Temple, St. Joe’s, St. Louis, Xavier and/or Charlotte.

The real battle will be over the rights to the name “Big East.”

For the football schools, there is one other wrinkle that concerns their future. Expansion by another conference. The most obvious is the Big 11. They can maintain that they have no interest in expansion at this time. That they don’t want a conference championship game. But sooner or later they will look for that 12th member.

Obviously they will take one more run at getting Notre Dame to join. Who knows? Perhaps by that point, Domer pride will have been hit long and hard enough that they will finally give up that cherished independence and join a conference. But I doubt it.

That would leave Pitt or Syracuse as their other choices. These are the only 2 schools in the Big East that would meet the athletic and educational standards required in the Big 11. Only Pitt and Syracuse are members of the Association of American Universities — like all members of the Big 11 (Rutgers is also a member, but they offer nothing in athletics or tradition other than playing that first football game). Quite honestly, if either school received an offer, it would have to be taken. Conference stability alone would necessitate it. To say nothing about getting into a conference that is assured of always being involved in whatever college football post season format there is. The money would drive that decision. As it drives almost all decisions in big time college sports.