Off until Sunday. Way too early to discuss the game. So articles about Pitt will be down to a trickle for the rest of the week. Likely some player puff pieces. Perhaps one on Coach Dixon or a member of the coaching staff. And of course, the pieces looking at how the team is right now. Those, in fact are the main pieces in the Pittsburgh papers.

The P-G has a piece that goes in so many different directions that it goes no where. It starts out going one direction:

There’s good news and bad news about the five remaining regular-season games on Pitt’s schedule.

First, the good news: Three of those games are against ranked teams.

The bad news: The other two opponents are currently unranked.

Playing to the level of its competition has been a curse and blessing for Pitt, which raised its record to 3-0 against Top 25 teams after beating No. 9 Syracuse, 68-64, Monday night at the Carrier Dome.

All three victories have come against higher-ranked opponents and in the span of 22 days. Two were on the road against the past two NCAA champions — Syracuse and Connecticut.

The piece never goes back to the issue of playing up or down to the level of competition. It then shifts to speculating on how Pitt could end up winning the Big East once more, and then shifts yet again to the cliched “team story” of how the team continued to believe in itself and each other even through the rough patch. Makes for a very disjointed read.

For contrast, you can look to this Trib. story. It sticks with one theme, how the players believed in themselves, and never let themselves panic or give up on the season. Now, having said that, there are parts of the story, that need to be examined a little more.

Turn back the clock to Jan. 18. The scene was Madison Square Garden, and the Pitt basketball team was seen walking off the court, heads down, shaken by a three-point loss to Big East bottom-feeder St. John’s.

It was the third defeat in five games for the Panthers, and some believed it was time to hit the panic button. Talk-show callers questioned the abilities of second-year coach Jamie Dixon, they chided point guard Carl Krauser and they exclaimed that this version of the Panthers was inferior to the previous three squads, all of which went 13-3 in the Big East and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

Panic? Who panicked?

I’m not a big fan of revisionism. There were some damn good reasons to worry about this team. Heck, there still are. Even before the bad stuff, Pitt’s non-con schedule meant that the fans had no clear idea about this team. What it was, how far it could go, and really what its character was. Then Pitt really stumbled at the end of the non-con/beginning of the conference. The back-to-back home losses to Bucknell and then Georgetown (who no one knew was going to play this well all season); the struggling wins against bad Seton Hall and even worse Rutgers; and then to lose to a very thin and depleted St. John’s team?

The rest of the article has some quotes from Chevon Troutman wondering why people doubted this team. Love Troutman. Love his game, his story, everything. Borders on man-crush, even. Glad he has such confidence in this program and his teammates. Still, 2 of the 3 early losses were not “tough” losses. They were “bad” losses. And while he may think Pitt has been winning “year after year in the Big East,” some of us have a long painful recall of Pitt not doing much in the Big East.

Speaking of Troutman, a Syracuse writer, in his Big East notebook, sends a promise Troutman’s way:

Ride a Chevy:Big East coaches’ preseason all-conference first and second teams included 13 players. Not one was named Chevon Troutman.

It’s not that Pittsburgh’s 6-foot-7 senior workhorse snuck up on the league; he’d averaged double figures in conference play the previous two seasons, one as a sixth man. Doubt there’ll be a similar postseason faux pas; certainly not around here, where he just dropped 20 (16 free throws) and 10 on SU.

Career-wise, sure-handed Chevy – immovable on the low block and blue collar as the Steel City – slam dunks Patrick Ewing’s field goal percentage record in Big East play (.608). Troutman’s at .665, but his 225 made FGs in 53 games doesn’t qualify him for the mark.

He’ll fall short of the required five made FGs per game.
…
Stat stuffer:Troutman has made and attempted more free throws in 22 games (660 minutes) than he did playing 35 games (1,022 minutes) in ’03-04 or either of his first two years.

I don’t see how Troutman isn’t first-team All-Big East, unless they just choose to give it based on big numbers. In which case Gomes will get named ahead of Troutman. Really, though, the 1st team all-Big East forwards, should be Warrick and Troutman.

As for Villanova, Pitt’s opponent on Sunday. They won a late season, non-con game at home last night. Crushing Bucknell 89-51. (And just to overkill that point) We all can remember Bucknell, right?

The Sunday game with Villanova is at 1:30 on ABC. That means regional telecasts. This is always a concern for me, living in Northeast Ohio. It often means that they will opt to show some game originating from the mid-west. You can’t go to a sports bar, because they block regional telecasts. Earlier in the day, ESPN/ABC hadn’t released a map of the games. I was worried when I saw that the other regional games included a pure mid-west match-up of DePaul-Marquette. I wasn’t too concerned with a Georgia Tech-Florida St. conflict.

The good news, Marquette and DePaul have struggled this year. Pitt and Villanova are ranked. Looks like most of the country — including the majority of Ohio — will get the Pitt game.

I don’t mean to beat into the ground, the Pitt-Syracuse game. Just one other thing. Sportsline has a shot chart. Check the shooting — where they took the shots — of individual players. Very interesting. You can even compare the shooting from the previous meeting of the two teams. I find it very interesting for some reason.

You look at how Hakim Warrick spent a lot less time in the second game under the basket. In the first game, he attempted 4 layups (made 3) and had a dunk. In the second game, he only attempted 2 layups (made 1) and added another dunk. His jump shots in the first game were overwhelmingly taken in the paint. In the game yesterday, all of his shots were outside of the paint. He just did not want to be in there banging.

A couple things to mention from Greg Doyel. His “10 for Tuesday” are disappointments in the season.

7a. Chris Taft: Taft hasn’t deteriorated to the Crosswhite level, but he broke dangerous ground Saturday against Notre Dame when he was benched for the final 11 minutes, 40 seconds of Pittsburgh’s narrow victory. The 6-10 center’s scoring is up from his freshman season — from 10.9 to 13.5 ppg — but his rebounding and blocked shots are roughly static, and his assist-turnover figures have plummeted from 45-and-45 as a freshman to 14-and-34 as a sophomore. “Disappointing” is a relative term, but you can bet Pittsburgh is disappointed with Taft’s sophomore season. NBA scouts must be, too.

No one on the team openly admits. The fans, though, are disappointed.

The other thing is from his blog entry for Feb 15 (he doesn’t have permalinks):

The NCAA is investigating St. John’s because of allegations that a former player received a monthly stipend from the previous coaching staff. As far as accusations go, this one is pretty solid; it was lodged by the ex-player himself, Abe Keita.

The previous coaching staff isn’t a big group. There was Jarvis the elder and Jarvis the younger. There was assistant Kevin Clark, now at Rhode Island. And there was assistant Dermon Player, now an NBA scout.

Jarvis the elder is in fat city, commentating on college hoops for ESPN. Jarvis the younger also is in fat city, working on Mike Krzyzewski’s staff at Duke. For some reason they have gotten a free pass. Both men sit in their plum jobs, while everyone around them pretends to be apathetic to the stink.

We’ll just say this: All of the entities involved — including Rhode Island, come to think of it — had better hope their guy wasn’t St. John’s ethical sleaze. Unless Keita has been lying, someone at St. John’s was dirty.

What he said.

I really don’t get ESPN hiring Jarvis. It even goes back to losing his job last year. He immediately (along with his son) landed at ESPN’s “Cold Pizza” show as a weekly college basketball analyst — his main qualifications I’m guessing were that he was cheap and in NYC. He doesn’t say much that is interesting, never mind insightful. His only qualities for the job seems to be that he comes of as a genial, easygoing guy; and that he is the only African-American in ESPN’s entire college basketball studio crew. Heck, aside from Len Elmore does ESPN have any other African-Americans providing color or play-by-play?

This is Pitt’s remaining schedule.

Feb 20 — @ Villanova
Feb 23 — WVU
Feb 26 — UConn
Feb 28 — @ BC
Mar 5 — @ ND

It’s brutal, but earned. This is the reward for being one of the best teams in the Big East the last couple of years. The TV interests will want the good games at the end of the season, when the ratings will be better because there is no NFL to compete. If you look at the conference schedules for Duke, UConn, Kansas and Kentucky. You will see that they are similarly backloaded with the expected best of the conference opponents.

Busy morning delayed getting to this. I am happy to write that no paper chose to use the fact that the games were played on Valentine’s day to go with a “Valentine’s Day Massacre” headline.

Forgot, last night to link the Pitt press release and full box score and play-by-play info.

Local coverage had headlines touting Krauser or Troutman.

Pitt point guard Carl Krauser hadn’t made a basket in 32 minutes. He was 1 for 9 from the field, and the Panthers were about to get buried by a late Syracuse surge.

But that situation is just the kind of stage Krauser covets. When everything is falling apart around him, he takes pride in putting the pieces back together. With the game on the line, Krauser made three 3-pointers in the final 6:33 and lifted the Panthers to an impressive 68-64 victory before 24,631 at the Carrier Dome.

“Carl is as tough a kid as I’ve ever been around,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “Our guys feed off his toughness.”

It was the second consecutive game that Krauser provided late heroics to lift Pitt to victory.

As for Troutman.

Chevon Troutman put an index finger to his lips and sent a message to the once-robust crowd at the Carrier Dome on Monday night: Shhhhh!

He then proceeded to connect on four consecutive free throws in the final 18 seconds to lead Pitt to a 68-64 victory over Syracuse in front of 24,631. He flashed a sly grin immediately afterwards.

“The crowd here is always messing with me, so I figured I’d mess with them a little,” said Troutman, who did everything but blow a Valentine’s Day goodbye kiss to the masses. “I was having a little fun.”

Pitt has won 7 of 9 from Syracuse and swept a two-game season from them for the third time. Pitt only needs to do that 14 consecutive times and the overall Pitt-Syracuse series will be even at 60.

Dick Weiss at the NY Daily News was impressed with the game.

It went well enough for the 18th-ranked Panthers (18-4, 8-3 Big East) to sweep eighth-ranked Syracuse (22-4, 9-3) for the second time in three years. Pitt seemingly has the Orange’s number, beating them for the fourth time in six games. The Panthers are just a half-game behind the Orange in the Big East standings. Boston College (20-1, 9-1), which plays Syracuse Saturday in Chestnut Hill, is all alone in first place.

Krauser, who made just two of his first 12 shots and shot just 5-for-13 overall, may not be the best shooter, but he makes big shots. “He’s a beast,” Pitt’s 6-7, 350-pound senior forward Chevon Troutman said. “He never thinks he’s going to lose. He thinks he’s always going to win. He’ll do everything in his power to keep us in the game, keep us ahead.”

Troutman contributed 20 points and 10 rebounds in another huge performance, taking the game away with four straight layups. Center Chris Taft, who had been in a funk, shot 6-for-8 and added 15 points for Pitt, which shot 50% in the second half and found just enough holes in Syracuse’s normally sticky 2-3 zone to rally from a 58-50 deficit in the final 6:58.

Pitt’s defense in the last 7 minutes was a big reason that Syracuse just couldn’t get their shots to fall in the end. Not that Syracuse’s players want to be big about this.

Still, the Orange players left the game incredulous, most of them believing they could have won if not for a few missed 3-pointers down the stretch.

“Not a knock on them,” said SU guard Louie McCroskey, “but I know we got a lot more talent than these guys. I wouldn’t say they’re more physical than us, they just make the plays.”

I always love that weak-assed protest. “We’re better, we didn’t get beaten, they just made the plays.” Shame it came from McCroskey, since he did have a great game. He was the better of the Syracuse Macs last night. Still if McCroskey and maybe some of the other Orange don’t think they were outphysicaled, he might want to watch the tape. He also might want to talk to one other teammate.

“I just think we need to be ready to go out there and play,” Syracuse senior center Craig Forth, who had 10 rebounds for the second straight game, said. “Too many teams push us around. Teams that win push us around.”

Sounds like a player who knows who the more physical team was.

Even the Orange partisans know what they saw.

“If you don’t like being in a game like this,” said Krauser, the rugged Pitt guard, “if you don’t like being in the Big East, then I don’t think you’re a basketball player. You know, you could be a hooper. But you can’t be a basketball player.”

Uh huh. It was another one of those kinds of affairs … as if there are any other kinds in this league during this month when clubs at the top collide. Tough. Gritty. Exhausting. You know the drill. And Krauser captured the evening’s sentiments perfectly.
…
The Panthers (18-4) also did their part in setting the blacksmithian tone for the night. Indeed, this was not one of those presentations that came with lace trim, a fact supported by the stat sheet which showed that the two squads combined to miss 65 of the 107 shots they’d heaved from the field.

That clanging, though, merely underscored the personality of the contest.

Now, the 18th-ranked Panthers, who are 40 games over .500 between this season and last, are not without talent. But their girth is what folks sooner or later discuss around the office coffeepot. And for good reason. After all, Pitt unleashed 10 guys in the Dome and six of them weighed at least 220 pounds, including Aaron Gray, Chris Taft and Chevon Troutman, who together make the scales groan to the tune of nearly 800 big ones.

And they know how to use the beef. You may remember that in the first SU-Pitt match 16 days earlier, the Panthers had outrebounded the Orange 39-28. And on Monday, there was more of the same as the visitors pushed their hosts around, especially in the first half, as if the latter were on dollies, ultimately winning the bout under the boards once again, this time by a 41-32 margin.

The people in Syracuse recognize good basketball players, and there was more than a little admiration for Chevy Troutman.

Chevon Troutman, Pitt’s big-time bruiser, once again threw his weight around against Syracuse. While it seemed the Orange was intent on stopping the 6-foot-7, 240-pound senior, they soon realized there was little they could do to stop him legally.

None of the papers made any complaints about the way the game was called, and the times Troutman made it to the line. Syracuse, especially Warrick shied away from really battling inside against Pitt when on offense.

Amusing note: two different papers and reporters from the Syracuse area wrote up the game, and essentially ran the beginning theme.

Exhibit A:

Another “Big Monday” appearance on ESPN turned into a manic Monday for the Syracuse Orange. Just as it did against Connecticut a week ago, Syracuse squandered a late lead, allowing the Pittsburgh Panthers to rally from eight points down just over six minutes to play for a stunning 68-64 victory in front of 24,631 fans at the Carrier Dome on Monday night.

Last week’s 74-66 loss to Connecticut snapped Syracuse’s 16-game home winning streak. Now the Orange has lost back-to-back games at the Carrier Dome for the first time since losing its last three regular-season home games in the 2001-02 season.

Exhibit B:

Another “Big Monday” at the Carrier Dome, another big loss for Syracuse University.

For the second straight week on ESPN’s national telecast, the ninth-ranked Orange came up small down the stretch and lost, 68-64, to No. 17 Pittsburgh before a crowd of 24,631.

SU squandered a five-point lead last week against Connecticut. Against Pitt, it saw an eight-point advantage evaporate over the final seven minutes. The Orange’s veteran lineup started the season 5-0 in games decided by eight points or fewer, but has now lost three of its last four, all to ranked opponents (Pitt twice and UConn).

The other reason both teams wanted this game, both are off until the weekend. Syracuse plays Saturday night, Pitt Sunday afteroon. Hate the idea of having to stew for the rest of the week with a loss.

This really was more the game you could expect from these teams. Neither team truly getting too far ahead of the other. Runs by one team answered quickly. Hard battles for the ball. Tough play, clutch shots. Dare I say, a classic. Well, maybe not quite, but a damn good game.

Whichever team that won this game was going to feel much better about what they can do in the tournament, while the loser would have a sinking feeling in their gut.

Pitt, having won the game, has to feel really, really good. Not only did they hold McNamara and Warrick, relatively in check — 28 points (9-31 shooting), 10 assists and only 5 rebounds between them — but they came away with the win when Syracuse had others stepping up this game.

Syracuse has to be frustrated. They got a career game from McCroskey off the bench, 18 points and 7 rebounds. He was the only Syracuse player shooting well. He kept Syracuse in the game in the first half. They got a solid effort from Forth who crashed the boards well, to get offensive rebounds and put backs. He finished with 10 rebounds and 7 points mostly in the second half. Even Roberts managed to contribute 9 points primarily from just standing by the basket after a turnover was forced, receiving the pass and slamming it home. Still, that was 9 points and high percentage shooting is never wrong.

Syracuse, though, just doesn’t scare anyone with their outside shooting aside from McNamara. Edelin, Nichols and Watkins had nothing. McNamara didn’t have a good shooting night. Yes, he’s gutty and tough to play on a sprained ankle. And while he did his best to make up for it on defense and assists, Syracuse can’t win with him going only 5-21. They definitely couldn’t win with Warrick not having a good game. Warrick went only 4-10 shooting. He drew the contact, getting the fouls, but not in the act of shooting, and Pitt’s defense kept him as a non-factor at the end of the game when any foul would send him to the line.

For Pitt, this game was won by their starters. Specifically Troutman, Taft and Krauser.

Taft ended up with 14 points (6-8 shooting and 2 FTs) and 10 rebounds. He was remarkably steady in the game. 6 points (3-4) and 4 rebounds in the first half, and 8 points (3-4) and 6 rebounds in the second half. So, his performance could be overlooked.

Troutman’s stat line also looks even from the first half to the second. 9 points (1-1 and 7-10 FT) and 6 rebounds in the first half, 11 points (1-1 and 9-10 FT) and 4 rebounds in the second. Two things stand out for Troutman in the second half, 0 turnovers after 3 in the first half and making 4 straight free throws in the final 19 seconds to help put the game away for Pitt. Troutman was just amazing at the line. 80% shooting, and always trying to get the shot as he was being hit.

Krauser, once more may end up with more attention from the highlight machine, because Krauser did everything in the clutch. At the 6:58 mark, Pitt was down 58-50. Krauser at that point had 6 points, shooting 2-10, 4 assists and 4 turnovers. Krauser in the final stretch went 3-3 on 3 point shots, 2 coming deep at the top of the key, had an assist and 2 steals. Krauser accounted for half of Pitt’s points as Pitt blew past Syracuse at the end outscoring them 18-6.

Graves played a good game. He was decent on defense (taking a charge from McNamara) and seemed to find his shot, scoring 9 points on 3-6 shooting. Kendall played well with 5 points and 4 rebounds. He didn’t force his shot except for maybe one 3-point attempt. Played solid perimeter to inside defense.

The bench wasn’t much of a factor for Pitt. Ramon didn’t have the shooting touch, going only 1-7. His defense and passing, however, were solid. He finished with 5 assists and only 1 turnover. Gray didn’t have a good game. He couldn’t finish shots, 0-4 shooting, and never found the flow of the game. Benjamin and DeGroat were barely in the game. McCarroll was just abused during his time.

The style of Pitt’s play changed from the 1st to 2nd half. Pitt was much more aggressive in the first half. This led to a lot more rebounds 26-14 rebounding edge, but also had Pitt being sloppy with the basketball — 13 turnovers.

In the second half, Pitt was much better about taking care of the ball, only 5 more turnovers. Pitt also shifted to the 2-3 zone more, limiting rebound opportunities (not to mention out of position to box out) and had only 15 boards while Syracuse grabbed 18. Pitt shot much better in the second half, and throughout the game were very patient about passing the ball looking and probing for an opening or the open man.

Odd thing, just before Pitt came back in the last 7 minutes, they showed the group of girls Pat nicknamed as “Chevy’s Bevy” in attendance at the game as ESPN came out of the timeout. They even had road tank-shirts (Blue rather than white). Great timing to find the girls. Pat even called me after the game because he had noticed that as well.

Pitt wins again!!!

Not a 17 point comeback, only 8 with about 6 minutes left.

Whoo-Hoo!!!!!!!!

Damn. Just found out that ESPN Classic was showing a couple Pitt-Syracuse games. The one that is in the last 20 minutes right now was from January 4, 1989. It was a Pitt win, 81-76 at the Carrier Dome. The one that comes on at 3 is a heartbreaking 80-78 loss at the Civic Arena from January 3, 1990.

Blogger has been a bit uncooperative today.

Carl Krauser effectively sums up the importance of this game.

“They need a win, we need a win – big, big game,” Pitt junior point guard Carl Krauser said. “It’s Big East basketball. It’s two teams looking to knock each other off. This is what it’s all about.”
…
Krauser, a team leader, said he won’t tolerate any more lapses, that this is the time when contenders separate from pretenders.

“Games like this one is where you start to establish yourself and get ready for that stretch run,” said Krauser, who led the 18th-ranked Panthers to a 68-66 victory over Notre Dame at Petersen Events Center two days ago. “It’s going to be a hostile crowd and they’re going to want to get us back for beating them (76-69 on Jan. 29 at Petersen Events Center). We can’t let up. We have goals set for ourselves.”

A big question will be how does Chris Taft play this game? The players and coaches seem to be doing their best to let him know they are on his side, and they need him.

Taft has been up-and-down this season (25 points, 12 rebounds vs. Providence; eight points and five boards vs. Syracuse, which plays Pitt again tonight). Junior point guard Carl Krauser took Taft aside after the game. “I just told him we’re going to need him and we know he’s going to help us,” Krauser said. “Chris is a great player and a great guy. He’s not going to be bothered by this. He’ll come back against Syracuse and give us his best game. We know that.”

Even if Taft isn’t scoring, he needs to be strong on the boards and help limit the inside Syracuse offense to only Warrick — I readily concede you can’t necessarily stop Warrick, you can only hope to contain him.

If Warrick is the only option inside, then that creates pressure on Syracuse’s perimeter players. A McNamara-Krauser rematch should be epic. McNamara will be playing with a lot of pride and looking to prove that it wasn’t Krauser’s defense that shut him down for most of the second half in the last game. Pitt’s best chance to win, is to make Syracuse a 2-man team once more. You have to expect the 2 best players to score the most, but when they become the only scorers the pressure gets ratcheted up and favors Pitt.

Interesting to see how hard it is get road wins in the Big East. I mean, over the last 4 and a half years, the best road record in the Big East is BC with a 24-14 mark. UConn, the defending national champs, are 18-18. That’s something. It also makes holding serve at your home court even that much more important.

For Syracuse, this game is a bit about revenge from the end of January. I would think it would be more about redemption for blowing a big early lead, but no.

“We want to go out there and get some revenge,” Warrick said of Pitt in the aftermath of his career-high 32-point game at Villanova. “We really felt we should have won that game. We definitely want to go out there and get some revenge Monday.”

‘Cuse is coming in playing a lot better than they were when Pitt played them a couple weeks ago.

This scouting report on Pitt is interesting.

“Levon Kendall is playing well for them. He’s pretty good. When they’ve worked the best, he’s playing well. They play a lot bigger this year because Kendall is a 6-9 ‘three’ man. With this big lineup, it makes them tough on the boards, both offensively and defensively.
…
“The one thing with (Carl) Krauser is that he’s the player who can score and takes most of the shots. He’ll make eight bad passes and turnovers, but he’s also going to make eight other great passes. He’s important, not only from the scoring aspect, but he makes them go.”

RS at Syracuse Hoops isn’t making any real predictions for this game, except that Syracuse won’t blow another 17 point lead.

A couple stories that I worry I may enjoy too much for the wrong reasons.

Pitt isn’t the only one in Pennsylvania raising ticket prices. Penn State is, and with less to back-up the move.

Would you pay more for a share of stock in a company that has been drenched with red ink in four of the last five years? Didn’t think so.

Yet, in essence, that’s what Penn State is asking its fans to do. Single game tickets, if you can get them, will cost you $44 next year. Season tickets are up to $308 plus your contribution to the Nittany Lion Club.

On the surface, an extra two bucks a ticket is an insignificant amount, especially for the people who can afford to buy the season package.

It’s the principle that’s galling, the idea that a school that would ask its fans to pay more for a product that has deteriorated.

It’s been explained that the increase is part of an overall plan to raise prices incrementally. So this is one small increment for fans, one big piece of change for Penn State.

Wouldn’t it make sense, or at least be seen as a recognition of the situation, for the school to put the increase on hold for at least one year, especially in a year when there will be seven home games, which will produce an extra million dollars?

Fans will answer that question by their response to the season ticket applications they’re receiving.

Penn State fans can or will take some solace in the fact that Pitt has also announced it is increasing its season ticket prices. But there are two differences. One, Pitt has been to a bowl game the past several seasons and so it can justify asking for more money. Two, the increase is not in the cost of the season ticket package — it remains $144 for seats between the 40-yard lines — but in the fact that fans will be required to make a donation of $100 to be able to buy those tickets.

Then there is the spin Penn State puts on its declining attendance.

Group snicker.

Then, there is former Pitt basketball coach Ben Howland, still working to rebuild UCLA. Still not there, and, big surprise, the natives are getting restless.

Questionable discipline. The Bruins didn’t bother working for high-percentage shots, instead just jacking up three-pointers. Eight of 16 went down in the first half, and UCLA led 39-38. Eleven of 13 stayed out in the second half, and Arizona led by as many as 21.

Shaky fundamentals. UCLA was outrebounded 26-12 in the second half, and had no idea how to stem a 19-0 Arizona blitz. The Bruins were clueless as to how to beat Arizona’s interior double teams, or how to get their best player into the game; Dijon Thompson scored only 10 points and took three rebounds in 32 dreadful minutes.

And old-time UCLA fans winced. Again.

Ben Howland came to Westwood from Pitt, where he was beating up folks in the Big East. His rep was rebuilding programs.

But with nearly two seasons on his Westwood watch complete, Howland’s Bruins are 24-25, including 14-17 in the Pac-10. With nine defeats on their home court.

Howland complained of the impatience that comes from inexperience. “We took a number of questionable shots that fueled their (19-0) run,” he said.

Indeed, the Bruins start three freshmen. But it seems as if they have been young for decades now, and their highly touted kids rarely turn out to be much of anything.

Not unexpected from the frontrunners of LA, but still comical. Less than 2 seasons in, and they are already acting like it is time for a change. I still haven’t forgiven Howland for the way he bolted Pitt — not that he left for the UCLA job, but his actions. Aside from the weather, you have to imagine he has nights where he wonders why he decided to go that path.

My personal feeling is that it is always difficult in the Big East to win 2 games against the same foe in a year. That is only magnified when it is a team that is also a top-10 team. Nonetheless, a Valentines special tomorrow up in the HVAC Carrier Dome. Of course, that also means if it is a blow out on either side there will be the obligatory “Valentine’s Day Massacre” headline for a story on Tuesday. Heck, even if it’s a close game some copy editor will think he’s being original and go with some such pun. I beg them now, don’t take the easy way. Skip it.

Game notes for Pitt and Syracuse (PDF). The odds are stacked against Pitt. In 42 games in Syracuse, Pitt has only won 9. Syracuse is coming off a strong win down in Philly against Villanova, and looking for payback from a couple weeks ago.

The game is part of ESPN’s Big Monday at 7pm with Sean McDonough (Syracuse grad), Bill Raftery and Jay Bilas calling the game.

I’m not predicting anything with this game.

A Smizik column that may have well been cribbed from my post about Pitt’s “Quest for Excellence” drive.

Well, if you live in and around the ‘Burgh, they are at least holding open forums on it: The Pete on Thursday, Feb. 17; Monroeville Holiday Inn, Tuesday, Feb. 22; The Radisson Green Tree, Thursday, Feb. 24; 4 Points Sheraton, Mars, Tuesday March 1; and finally back to the Pete, Thursday, March 3.

Anyone attending any of these meetings are encouraged to send us a report on the mood, response, sales pitch, whatever. We’ll be happy to post about it.

Late start again — I know, what else is new on Sundays. Before I give the rundown, a little additional story. The wife came into the living room during the last few minutes of the Pitt game after getting the kid down for a nap. As the game ended and the cameras showed the very happy Pitt players, they showed Troutman pulling off his jersey and holding the Pitt name aloft to the fans. I believe the wife’s exact words at seeing the barechested Troutman were, “Yum, thank you, who’s that?” I told her, then handed her a tissue to wipe the drool from her mouth. I’m really in no position to give her any grief, it just makes it easier for me to drool more openly at Jessica Alba.

The Pittsburgh papers of course led with the toughness of Carl Krauser.

You can outshoot him, outscore him and outplay him, but …

“You’ll never out-tough me,” Pitt junior point guard Carl Krauser said late Saturday afternoon. “I will battle you until I see zero, zero, zero on the clock.”

Krauser put his money where his mouth is (more on that mouth later) in helping the Panthers to a scintillating, 68-66, victory in front of matinee crowd of 12,293 at Petersen Events Center.
…
Krauser did most of his damage with a fat lip and rearranged dental work, thanks to an accidental head butt from teammate Mark McCarroll midway through the second half. Krauser missed several minutes to push the teeth back into place, during which the Panthers went on an 11-0 run to slice a 50-47 deficit into a 58-50 lead, then ultimately put the team on his back at crunch time.

“Nothing’s going to stop me from playing,” said Krauser, who saw a dentist last night to reset his back teeth. “I had to get back onto the court and help us win this game. It was a big one.”

In keeping with the toughness theme, a bit of a reference to when Krauser did a little boxing growing up.

Carl Krauser was an amateur boxer as a teenager and knows what it’s like to get bloodied by an opponent. So when Pitt’s pugnacious point guard was knocked out of the game midway through the second half yesterday against Notre Dame, he was down, but not for the count.

Krauser gathered himself — resetting a couple of loose teeth in the hallway beneath the Petersen Events Center stands — and was back in for the final minutes, delivering the knockout punches in Pitt’ 68-66 victory.

Krauser made big play after big play in the final minute and a half, including the winning shot with nine seconds remaining. He finished with 16 points, four rebounds and one swollen lip.

“I was bleeding all day,” said Krauser, who was holding an ice bag on his bloody lip. “It felt like a boxing match. I was in pain, but it didn’t matter because my teammates needed me. I knew what I had to do. I had to give us a lift and hit that shot.”

Krauser, who hadn’t made a basket in the second half, made a big 3-pointer with 1:34 to go to give Pitt a 64-62 lead. On Notre Dame’s next possession, he dived on the floor, recovered a loose ball and passed to Chevon Troutman, who was intentionally fouled on a breakaway layup attempt. Troutman made one free throw for a 65-62 lead.

And then scored the game winning runner after ND had tied the score again. He then spent a lot of the evening getting dental work, of course Pitt has a great dental school as Mike Ditka and Beano Cook will tell you.

Joe Paterno wishes there had been a letter-of-intent in 1957, because Mike Ditka would have signed it after originally committing to Penn State. To this day, almost 50 years later, Paterno considers Ditka his most disappointing recruiting loss.

Picture Ditka and Dave Robinson as Penn State’s defensive ends. No wonder Paterno took it so hard. Ditka had committed to Penn State during his senior year at Aliquippa. Because there was no letter-of-intent at the time, coaches had to keep chasing recruits right up until reporting day in the late of August.

It was at a baseball tournament in Altoona, Pa., according to his book, that Ditka changed his mind and decided to attend Pitt (Pitt has a dental school). Ditka often tells the story that he wanted to become a dentist. Can you picture his hands fitting into someone’s mouth? Never mind the explorer.

Sorry, somewhat irrelevant, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to shoehorn that in somehow. After all, what are the odds anyone is really going to read a book by Ditka?

ND Coach Mike Brey even gave the nod to Krauser.

“He’s a winner,” said Notre Dame coach Mike Brey. “He makes big plays. That’s his style.”

Come the end of any close game for Pitt, Krauser is the guy I want with the ball. Not only do you think he will make the shot, but he can make his free throws.

Now here’s where it gets surprising (at least to me). The papers that cover the game with more of an eye to the ND faithful somehow fail to mention that Krauser nearly lost a couple of teeth and played with and through immense pain. They will mention Krauser’s heroics.

Carl Krauser’s floating left-handed layup with 10 seconds left in the game broke a 65-65 tie, gave the Panthers the lead for good and ultimately secured their fourth victory in the last five games against the Irish.

Krauser led Pittsburgh with 16 points, none bigger than his final two.

“He does that all the time,” Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. “He battles for every loose ball. He’s always around the ball. He makes big plays.”

But not the extent. Instead, it’s focusing on how the ND inside guys came up small. I mean, when Pitt lost to WVU last week, as much as it was them hoisting 3s, they were also getting the ball inside for scores just enough to keep Pitt off-balance. ND couldn’t even do that. I get that you focus on your own team’s issues, but how do you pass on the Krauser toughness, even in passing?

In the end, they seem to chalk it up to yet another close game the Domers couldn’t finish.

Once he single-handedly steered Notre Dame toward overtime with nine points in a 2:06 stretch, guard Chris Quinn sensed Saturday’s basketball game against Pittsburgh was set for overtime.

All the Irish needed was one defensive stop for an additional five minutes. With under 10 seconds remaining and the shot clock close to expiring, Pittsburgh guard Carl Krauser sent a Petersen Events Center crowd of 12,293 home as scheduled.

Krauser hit a lay-up with 9.3 seconds remaining and No. 18 Pittsburgh survived the frantic final seconds for a 68-66 victory.

Quinn was amazing for ND, which of course balanced out Falls on the perimeter.

Personally, I still don’t know what to think of Chris Thomas. He seems to have all the skills. Lots of ability and potential. The one thing he doesn’t seem to have as a point guard — the ability to make the rest of his team better. He gets compared to Jason Kidd quite frequently, but Kidd makes his team better. Not just with court vision, defense and assists. It’s something else. Something that resonates with his teammates. Thomas seems to lack it. I won’t even pretend to define it.

As much as I get on Jamie Dixon for being such bland copy, I’m still not a big fan of players in the college game, basically complaining about their own teammates in the press (however true the criticisms might be). Chris Thomas commits this sin.

“We said the game was going to be won down low,” Thomas said. “We shot the ball well, extremely well from the three-point line. But not having an inside presence, that hurt us.”

Especially at the end.

With 9.6 seconds left, Pittsburgh point guard Carl Krauser, who finished with a team-high 16 points despite missing a long stretch after having two teeth knocked out in a second-half fall, made a short runner to break a 65-65 tie.

Moments later Thomas found Cornett under the basket. But Cornett was fouled and unable to finish and had to settle for two free throws.

Come now, Cornett was never given a chance to finish. McCarroll nearly hugged Cornett, to prevent a clean shot.

Now to some columns. The big one, of course, is Ron Cook’s on Chris Taft not showing up, yet again in the big game. I wrote with a lot of hope that Taft maybe had the flu to explain his performance. No such report showed up, so it appears I’m dead wrong about that. I don’t know what to say here. In the three biggest games for Pitt in the Big East — UConn, Syracuse and ND — Taft has scored 19 points (7-13), 17 rebounds, 4 turnovers, 1 block and 1 assist. He was nowhere near assertive, completely passive (13 of his 17 rebounds were defensive) and he never got in position for shots.

The quandary for Pitt is that they really can’t just bench him. Gray is solid, but he can play hard and with abandon, in part, because he knows that he is only out there for maybe 15 minutes max. Fouls are an issue, and Gray while clearly giving more effort is not close to the ability of Taft. Taft is a convenient scapegoat, but can Pitt really afford to bench him with the games Pitt has in the last few weeks? I don’t have the answer. Of course, I’m not paid around $600 K to figure it out (cheap shot).

In another column, singing the praises of Pitt, Mike Prisuta goes with Pitt’s edge.

“They’re very good,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said after a 68-66 struggle that wasn’t settled until the last inbounds pass slipped from Irish star Chris Thomas’ grasp. “And they played with an edge about them that maybe you haven’t seen all the time.”

That “edge” was apparent from the outset of the festivities at Petersen Events Center, and it allowed Pitt to survive countless challenges to its individual and collective mettle, as well as another barrage of 3-pointers (14 of them this time).

That “edge,” as Brey no doubt detected from his study of videotape, has been conspicuous by its absence on several occasions this season. It’s absence helps explain Pitt’s inability to achieve a consistency of effort and performance, the type that the program had been built upon in recent seasons.

And while that won’t be restored with one game, yesterday was at least a start.

That “edge” helped the Panthers sprint to a 30-17 lead late in the first half.

That “edge” kept the Panthers confident and composed while sustaining a series of counter-punches that allowed Notre Dame to establish a 39-38 lead less than four minutes into the second half, and a 49-44 advantage with 12:53 remaining.

That “edge” kept Ronald Ramon firing, even after he had missed four consecutive 3-point attempts. It kept Pitt attacking even with Carl Krauser, Chris Taft and Chevon Troutman on the bench at one second-half juncture.

That “edge” sealed the deal in the closing seconds.

Troutman always has it, and Krauser almost always does.

Everyone wearing a Pitt jersey had it against the Fighting Irish.

Not to quibble, but Krauser also never lost it. Just that Krauser holds the ball the most, and his mistakes are the most magnified.

Carl Krauser: I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m a fan. Chris Thomas had the slightly better stat line: 16 points (6-12), 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover versus 16 points (6-14), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 4 turnovers. The difference, Thomas disappeared in the last minutes of the game. Krauser rose to the occasion. Thomas’ own coach says to judge a point guard by wins and losses. Krauser at the helm has Pitt 3-0 versus a Thomas led ND.

Chevon Troutman: Solid, but not great game. He spent most of the time banging around inside. Wearing down the entire corp of ND big men. 13 points (4-9 FG, 5-7 FT), 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block and 2 turnovers. Keep in mind, though that the ND big men couldn’t score inside. Their center, Jordan Cornette got 9 of his 10 points shooting 3s. Francis, Latimore and Cornett combined for 4 points and 12 rebounds.

Ronald Ramon: Key scoring early in the game. Solid defense late. Not a great overall shooting game, 4-11 and 3-8 on 3-pointers to get 13 points. Had 4 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a turnover. Did a solid job running the point for Krauser while he was being fixed on the sideline.

Antonio Graves: The longer the game went, the more exposed his perimeter defense was. That will be what cuts his minutes in games. Today, Pitt was short handed and needed him. He maintained his confidence and showed much more willingness to drive to the basket. 10 points on 4-8 shooting. Still needs to take better care of the ball. He had 3 turnovers.

Aaron Gray: After a couple subpar games, Gray bounced back with 9 points on 3-5 shooting. He had 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. More importantly, he provided important energy in the second half when Pitt was struggling to get the ball inside.

Levon Kendall: Only 17 minutes in the game. Mostly in the first half. Lots of hustle, but not much in the stat sheet. He played good defense, but Pitt needed to stay with a smaller faster line-up against ND’s 3 guards. That’s why he didn’t play as much.

Mark McCarroll: Given solid important minutes in the game and clearly responded. Was willing to help clear under the glass. Didn’t try to force his shot (except for the 3-point attempt).

Chris Taft: I don’t know. Led the team with 6 rebounds in only 17 minutes, but showed no effort or energy. I honestly hope it was the flu, because there is no excuse for him to come up playing that small in the big games. He has more talent than any of Pitt’s big guys, but no where near the passion it seems. Pitt needs him to play big for them to go far, but he doesn’t seem to care. It’s easy to say bench him for Gray, but his talent is so needed, and you have to hope he finally snaps out of it. It frustrates the fans, and I can’t imagine what the coaches must be thinking. The team was still playing better with him in the line-up than without. Consider the difference between the 1st half (14 minutes) and 2nd (3 minutes).

John DeGroat: In his 2 minute spurt, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 foul. I would really like to see him at least be given a chance to play 5 straight minutes. He was working hard out there, trying to do the defense first. You need to reward him a little.

Keith Benjamin: Only 3 minutes, all in the first half. Surprised not to see him play at all in the second half.

Coach Jamie Dixon: Nearly let this one get away. Let the team get away from pounding the ball inside. No reason why Troutman and Gray only had 14 attempts combined. Too willing to yo-yo DeGroat and Benjamin in the line-up. If Taft wasn’t ill, you need to find a way to reach him now.

I heard a bit after the game that Krauser wasn’t just getting his lip cleaned up, following the collision in the game. He had 2 teeth knocked out. He came back and scored 5 of Pitt’s final 6 points in the game to give Pitt the win. After a performance like that, anyone that questions Krauser’s drive, determination, toughness or will is nuts. He may not play like a classic point guard, but he gets the wins and he leads this team. Box Score and Game log.

College GameDay spent most of the time talking about the Duke-Maryland game and ancillary things. Digger Phelps was wearing his green tie. About 10 minutes to 12 they get to the ND-Pitt game. Phelps picks ND, but he was “nervous” about this pick. Jay Bilas goes with Pitt.

The game starts in the usual way for Pitt. Disjointed and not in rhythm. It takes Pitt 2-and-a-half minutes to score (3 missed shots). Troutman just muscled inside for an easy jumper.

Notre Dame had scored first on a 3 but wasn’t exactly lighting it up. 1 for their first 6, and 5 of the shots were 3s. Amazingly, ND was 1-7 on 3s early in the game. The problem for Pitt was that the Irish quickly found their stroke. ND hit 5-6 3s in the rest of the half and shot 50% on 3s in the second half (8-16).

The officiating was to Pitt’s liking. The officials weren’t calling much underneath the basket except over the back or (some) pushes. A foul wasn’t called until 16:17 in the half when Kendall was fouled going up for his shot. That was the start of a Pitt 9-0 run. Pitt up 11-5.

ND answers with a tough, but pretty pull-up jumper from Chris Thomas (he does have a sweet looking shot). Pitt then commits the turnover allowing ND to break and Latimore slams it in. 77-9 Pitt, under 11 in the half.

The turnover was charged to Krauser, but it was caused because Benjamin was handling the ball, but got no one to come and help him when he started getting trapped. He had no one coming to him so he could pass out of it. Team mistake. Benjamin is still a freshman, and he is going to make that mistake. The rest of the team compounded things by not recognizing and going to help.

Ramon was on early. He hit 2 straight 3s to give Pitt a 17-9 lead at 9:48. He had 8 of the team’s points. ND kept missing and only getting one shot, and Pitt stretched the lead to 21-9 by 8:33.

Then Cornette hit an open 3. The start of the point where ND just could not miss on their 3-point shot. At first, Pitt responded and then some. The lead was stretched to 13, 3 different points. The last at 4:29 left when Graves dropped a short jumper to make it 30-17.

The player keeping ND even that close was Chris Quinn. He answered again with another 3 to make it 30-20 and Quinn had 11 of ND’s points. Pitt committed at couple turnovers to help ND to a 7-0 run.

Len Elmore around the 3 minute mark, noted that Taft was not making a great effort so far in the game. Taft had 5 rebounds to lead everyone at that point, but he missed a couple shots and just seemed slow.

ND kept hitting 3s and got the game close as the half neared the end. It was 33-30 , Pitt with 40 seconds left. Pitt was holding for a shot near the end, and Krauser got fouled as he started an initial drive with 11 seconds left. Neither team was in the bonus so Pitt could get the last shot after inbounding. Krauser again, drives inside and hits a nice runner. ND has no chance to score. 35-30 Pitt at the half.

If officiating stayed as loose in the second half as it did in the first, there is no excuse for Pitt not to win and pound inside.

Unfortunately, Pitt got away from its game in the second half. The first 8 minutes of the second half saw Pitt blow the lead and go down 49-44. In that stretch, Chris Thomas was on fire, scoring 12 of ND’s 19 points. He was just abusing Antonio Graves. Shulman and Elmore were all over Graves’ defense.

Pitt also just couldn’t score. Missing outside and some inside. But mostly, not getting the ball inside. Instead, the perimeter guys were trying to answer ND with 3s of their own.

Taft was pulled just after the TV time out under 12 minutes left in the game. He played 3 minutes in the second half total. Maybe it was just me, but he looked worn down. Aaron Gray was sick during the week, as was Krauser and DeGroat. It seems likely to me that Taft was ill. He was still the leading rebounder for the game, and one of Pitt’s best players. I don’t think this was the game that Dixon simply had enough and said Taft was done. He hasn’t all season, I don’t see it happening now. Of course I could be dead wrong.

DeGroat and McCarroll start getting some minutes. McCarroll played almost half of the second half and DeGroat got his usual 2 minutes. Still, they both played vital roles that didn’t really show up. DeGroat, in particular, the last few games has shown something. He isn’t trying to throw the ball up any longer. He is trying to fit in on defense and get rebounds. He committed a very important hard foul at 9:43 on Torin Francis to keep him from getting an easy slam. Instead, Francis had to shoot free throws and was only 1-2. This kept the ND lead to only 3.

McCarroll was making a good effort after inadvertently hitting Krauser in the mouth. McCarroll was going for a rebound, and was pushed into Krauser, but there was no call on anything. At that point, Elmore and Shulman said they thought it was a cut lip on Krauser that was being worked on. Hope they retrieved the teeth.

While Krauser was out, Pitt came back and got the lead with an 11-0 run. Ramon had a great 3 in the corner that bounced all over the rim before falling in, and was fouled. DeGroat outfought a Domer for a rebound. At the other end, McCarroll got a solid put back and the foul. Couldn’t convert, though.

Krauser returned, and committed the dumb foul on Colin Falls shooting a 3. Falls was the one guy not hitting 3s (thankfully, or Pitt would have been toast). Falls made all 3. Troutman got a basket. Then Cornette hit another 3 when left alone. That was Cornette’s last contribution. A minute later he committed his 5th foul as Krauser was driving. Krauser only hit 1-2. 61-56 Pitt, with 4:09 left.

The teams exchanged misses. Then Quinn hit a jumper at 2:48 to bring ND to within 3. Pitt wasn’t ready when ND decided to go with full court pressure and Graves turned it over and Quinn dropped another jumper, 61-60 with 2:26 left. This time Pitt got the ball up, but Quinn — again — stole the ball from Ramon and layed it in to give ND the lead 62-61. 2:01 left. That’s 6 points and a steal in 47 seconds. Not exactly Reggie Miller versus the Knicks but pretty damn painful.

Pitt took a 30 second timeout to regroup from that minute of hell. Pitt then worked the clock down, and Krauser from the top of the key drained a perfect 3 to make it 64-62.

Colin Falls continued his bad shooting missing a 3, but ND got the rebound. Krauser, though, stole the ball from Cornett, and got the ball to Troutman on the breakaway. Cornett then committed the intentional foul. Troutman drained the first. Then Len Elmore spoke of how Troutman has become such a good freethrow shooter. Right on cue, he misses the second.

Since it was an intentional foul, Pitt gets the ball back. Latimore commits the quick foul on Troutman again 1:02 left. Troutman again misses. The second FT attempt gets waived off because Pitt committed a lane violation. According to the game log, it was Krauser who was guilty.

ND brings the ball up and Quinn from beyond NBA 3-point range, drains a clutch 3 at the key to tie the game with 42 seconds left.

Pitt brings the ball up court, and calls a time-out with 17.2 seconds left. Krauser takes the ball and drives and shoots it rolls around the rim and in! Pitt up 67-65 with 9.6 seconds left. Apparently that wasn’t what he was supposed to do.

Krauser wasn’t supposed to take the shot. He got open when 6-foot-7 Chevon Troutman created a lane to the basket.

“I was supposed to look inside for Chevy but he was covered and was giving me a great screen,” Krauser said. “If I missed it, our guys were underneath to get a tip-in.”

Aggressiveness and driving to the basket creates more opportunities.

When ND got the ball down court, McCarroll made a good foul on Cornett. Cornett didn’t look happy going to the line, and even less so after he airballed his first FT attempt. He made the second, and no one was sure if he was supposed to miss or not.

Pitt got the ball to Ramon who got free on a screen. He was quickly fouled with 2.5 seconds left. Ramon missed the first shot, but got the second. 68-66. He should have missed the second on purpose, ND had no timeouts left.

It became moot when the inbound pass sailed high and Chris Thomas could only put a finger on it before it landed in Kendall’s chest. Game over.

Wow. Pitt needed that. Knew this would be a close game. Both teams made runs, but being aggressive and going inside gives better shots and got Pitt to the free throw line much more than a perimeter shooting team. Pitt shot 14-22 at the line while ND only had 6-10.

ND was actually shooting better and more from the 3-point line than inside. 14-29 (48.3%) on 3s, and only 9-28 (32.1%) everywhere else.

Pitt had very balanced scoring. 4 players with 10 or more points, and one more with 9 points.

Pitt only had 13 turnovers (lower than their average), and got ND to commit the same amount (above their average).

Now time to get ready for Syracuse.