No one story or theme today. You can bid on a game ball from the ND-Pitt game. It’s been signed by Coach Dixon.
An article trying to pump support for Chevon Troutman as Big East Player of the Year. I just don’t see it happening. I think Hakim Warrick of Syracuse will get it. Arguably, Jared Dudley from BC might be the right choice but I think he gets penalized for being on BC and having some votes split by his teammate, Craig Smith. I just want Troutman on the 1st-team All-Big East squad.
Add Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated to the many fans of Troutman.
Staying in the Big East: Pitt’s undersized-but-relentless Chevon Troutman has become one of my favorite players (and could teach a thing or two about consistency to teammate Chris Taft). And it’s nice to see that Boston College didn’t get buried by the pollsters after suffering its only loss of the season last week at Notre Dame. (I figured the Eagles might take a beating.)
Word to ‘Bag pal Pat Forde: Ashley Judd may not be the belle of college basketball after all. Several readers have nominated Kansas team manager Shannon O’Connor, who now has legions of her own fans for reasons that have little to do with hoops.
The link to O’Connor is worth clicking to. That’s one way to help build the team support.
The weekly Pitt basketball Q&A with Ray Fittipaldo, the P-G reporter, is up. Some interesting stuff, and a promise to find out where is Ricardo Greer.
Looking to the future with an article on how the 2005 recruiting class for basketball is doing this year. Makes you feel very optimistic. I like the confidence of the kids that they believe they can get right into things. Some sound so enthusiastic for the physical style of play, it makes me grin. You have to like players that say they want to get in there and bang and play inside.
As for Villanova, they survived a scare at Seton Hall last night. It actually snapped a six game losing streak to the Pirates. ‘Nova was led by Curtis Sumpter who scored 25 points. The Wildcats are still a hot and cold running team. They led the game 43-27 then went 9+ minutes without scoring (0-13) to let Seton Hall back into the game.
Villanova has always given Pitt a hard time. Last year they threw a scare into Pitt, before collapsing in the final 8 minutes. This is an unpredictable team, still. They are fighting to get into the NCAA Tournament. Right now they are a proverbial bubble team.
