What a game! Not pretty. Not an even performance. Plenty to criticize (perimeter defense). Plenty to praise. Bottom line.

Pitt wins!

68-66.

I have a Jackson that in tomorrow’s papers, it will be reported that Taft was battling the flu.

Going to try and keep this quick. Curious to see how blatantly biased Digger Phelps goes to his Irish (not that there is anything wrong with blatant, up front biases, or then I’d be a hypocrite regarding Mark May during football season) on the 11 am College GameDay.

The Pitt players are not only confident about this game, but still confident about what they can accomplish this season. There are legitimate questions.

Can Chris Taft play hard enough often enough to dominate, at least during portions of games, as Pitt needs him to?

Will Pitt grasp the importance of effort and execution for 40 minutes on defense?

Can the Panthers expect consistent contributions from their bench?

Will they protect the ball?

Although the Panthers are young at some spots and have been working all season to come to grips with no longer having Julius Page and Jaron Brown upon which to rely, the pieces are in place for Pitt to become a special team. Not Illinois special, not Duke or North Carolina special, but better than last year’s Sweet 16 team, the program’s third in as many seasons.

There’s not time to get into it now, but I will posit that the local media and some fans are the ones that seem to be having the problem coming to grips with Page and Brown no longer being on the team. There’s only 3 weeks left in the regular season, 6 games after today, and the issue of Page and Brown keep getting raised after every game it seems. Time to let it go. Different players. Different team.

What Pitt can expect from the Irish, is not a shock. It’s what teams have been doing in the conference with some success. It’s what the Irish, generally, like to do. It’s taking shots around the perimeter. Not necessarily always going to be 3s, but 15 to 18 foot jumpers.

The trick for players like Graves, Ramon, Benjamin and Kendall — don’t give the easy foul, by going for the fake step. Falls and Quinn prefer to make their own shot and take jumpers. Using the head fake, a short first step like they are going to drive then using the separation to pull back for a jumper.

Thomas, is the perimeter player who drives. He’s had a season that has not lived up to all the hype (when has he?), but he played well against BC. He should be matched up with Krauser, the Pitt perimeter player who drives. This is the match-up everyone wants to talk about for the game.

Each has a fierce desire to win, as well as an ability to create his own shot and take over a games. If this were a prizefight, Krauser would be considered a brawler, a guy who looks for the crowd-pleasing knockout, while Thomas would be considered a ring technician, a calculating finesse fighter.

“He’s one of the toughest point guards in the nation,” Krauser said of Thomas. “I think it’s going to be a good battle.”

Thomas averages 13.7 points, 6 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 3 turnovers this season. Krauser averages 15.8, 6.3, 4.7 and 4.1. Both have been sporadic — offseason knee surgery has hampered Thomas and led to substandard play; Krauser is prone to turnovers — but more often than not, they’ve found ways to lead their teams to significant victories.
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“Winning games is what you have to judge (point guard play) on, not points assists or turnovers,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said.
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“I have a lot of respect for his game,” Krauser said of Thomas, who has hit just 33.7 of his shots this season, compared to 41.5 for Krauser. “We both just want to win.”

In head-to-head competition, Thomas has produced better statistics than Krauser, but Krauser is undefeated at 2-0. Thomas scorched Pitt for a total of 52 points in two games last season (including 29 on 7-of-13 shooting from 3-point range in a three-point loss), in addition to amassing 10 assists. Krauser contributed 34 total points and seven assists.

Wins not stats.

ND has yet to win at the Pete, but the shooters seem to like it.

It is, according to the most accurate shooter in the conference, one of the best shooting arenas in the Big East.

“The Petersen Events Center is a great place to shoot,” Notre Dame guard Colin Falls, tops in the Big East with a 44.3 percentage from three-point range, says of Pittsburgh’s facility.

Pitt is going to need Ramon on defense. Hopefully his shoulder is getting better than previously indicated. Graves just is not that good on defense, and it affects his shooting and ball handling when he starts getting torched.

Let’s Go Pitt!!!

From the major sports sites regarding this Saturday’s game. I’m happy to say that Seth Davis at SI.com is once more picking against Pitt. He is 0-2 so far on Saturday Pitt games, so let’s hope the streak continues.

Yes, the Irish handed BC its first loss of the season, but it would be much more impressive if they can pull out this one on the road. Chris Thomas played his best game of the season by far — and maybe the past three seasons — against the Eagles, dishing out nine assists without a turnover while scoring 19 efficient points. We’re used to thinking of Pitt as a stout defensive team, but this group is actually better on offense. (The Panthers lead the Big East in 3-point percentage.) The problem for Pitt is you never know which Chris Taft is going to show up. I also thought they had found another perimeter scorer to complement Carl Krauser when freshman Ronald Ramon scored 21 in the win at Rutgers on Jan. 8. But Ramon hasn’t scored in double figures since, which underscores why, even playing at home, Pitt is vulnerable against a good team that’s just hitting its stride.
Seth’s Pick: Notre Dame 77, Pittsburgh 72

Greg Doyel doesn’t make a pick in the game, but sees it coming down like this.

The Panthers (16-4, 6-3) are no longer invincible at home, as Bucknell and Georgetown proved earlier this season. The Irish (14-6, 6-4) are playing awesome of late, sandwiching wins against Connecticut and Boston College around a loss at Syracuse — a game Notre Dame probably should have won. With third or fourth place in the Big East at stake, this game will come down to what games involving these two teams always come down to: inconsistent point guards Carl Krauser and Chris Thomas.

Personally, I’m with Troutman. I’ll take Krauser (also it notes that Aaron Gray has been ill this week as well). Right now, Pitt is a 5 to 5.5 point favorite.

Hopefully the game will not come down to officiating, because this has not been a great year for BE officials. Syracuse Hoops Blog notes how bad it was in just a few days — and when a Syracuse fan is wondering how the ND can get whistled for the technical during the ND-‘Cuse game you know it’s not a good scene.

The issue of questionable officiating is also a story in a Connecticut paper.

It’s a safe bet the telephone in Art Hyland’s office got quite a workout in the past week or so. Hyland is the coordinator of men’s basketball officiating for the Big East Conference and the impact his officials have had on conference games lately has certainly warranted a heated discussion or two about their competence.

Officials, naturally, always have an impact on the games they work, but good officials do not decide games, they allow the players to do so. But that hasn’t been the case in a number of conference games.
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Criticizing officials is a no-no for coaches and usually draws a reprimand from the league office, but these calls were so blatantly bad and unnecessary, it’s doubtful the coaches heard a harsh word from the Big East administrators.

Well, perhaps Providence coach Tim Welsh will get a little flak after his assessment following the Friars’ 67-65 loss to West Virginia on Wednesday. Providence took just three free throws, all in the first half, courtesy of officials Pat Driscoll, Will Bush, and Joe Lindsay.

I saw the second half of that game. Gomes was being mugged under the boards without any calls.

I try to avoid talking about how games were called because more often than not it comes off like sour grapes. Still, that will be another thing to watch in tomorrow’s game.

The ND-Pitt game is noon on ESPN, the crew is Dan Shulman and Len Elmore. Game Notes for Pitt (PDF) and ND (skip ND’s PDF game notes, it’s just one page and useless). Nothing too interesting in either.

Aside from their similar BE records, these teams seem similar in other ways.

Defensively, ND is ranked 7th in the country at allowing 60.3 points/game. Pitt is #32 at 61.7. Not even a point-and-a-half difference. On field goal % defense, Pitt is #45 at 40.6% and ND is 60th with 41.1%. 0.5% difference.

Assists and Steals are 2 other categories, where they aren’t too different. Pitt averages 15.9 assists/game (57th) and ND is 1.5 behind at 14.4 (124). In steals, ND has a 0.4 steals/game edge, 7.1 (183) to 6.7 (213).

College basketball stat guru, Kevin Pomeroy’s “Basketball Shrink,” shows that Notre Dame compares closest with teams like South Carolina and DePaul. Pitt has beaten South Carolina. In Pomeroy’s stats, Pitt and ND aren’t that far apart. Both teams prefer to control the pace and use the half court offense. Pitt is far more efficient on offense but ND has the edge on defensive efficiency.

In Big East games, ND has played 10 and Pitt 9, their defenses have allowed about the same number of points per game. ND has allowed 64.9 points/game and Pitt 65.1. Pitt holds an edge on offense as it has scored 70 points/game to ND’s 65.9/game.

Back to overall stats, Pitt has a much better field goal %, which is to be expected since ND takes many more 3s in a game than Pitt. Pitt shoots at 48.6% (23) while ND is down at 40.8% (279). Notre Dame, though, averages 8.3 threes in a game (24) while Pitt may average 6.6 (142). That number for Pitt is deceiving. In Big East play, Pitt has averaged 5.5 3s/game.

A key area of concern for Pitt should be free throw shooting. We know Pitt is at best unpredictable on free throw shooting. Maybe 45% (Bucknell), or perhaps almost 88% (Providence). Most likely, though, right around the season average of 66.3%. Notre Dame is 60th in the nation (2nd in the BE) at 72.3%. For this to be a wash, Pitt will have to get to the line far more than ND. Problem is ND doesn’t commit a lot of fouls. They only commit 14.5 fouls/game (6th in the country). This suggests even more evidence that Pitt needs to get it inside a lot. Pitt can get the position and force the issue, with ND’s big men who seem to shy away from too much contact.

As far as Turnovers, ND doesn’t. They are 9th in the country averaging only 11.7/game. Pitt averages 14.3 (120).

This should be a complete dogfight of a game.

Will it be the Pitt and ND teams that both lost to Georgetown at home? Maybe the Pitt team that beat UConn in Storrs and Syracuse at home? Perhaps the ND team coming off a win over unbeaten BC and that has also beaten UConn? That’s just it, we don’t know.

What we do know: it looks like a flu bug going around the Pitt team. Several articles mention different players as being ill in the end notes.

ND ended up with a more difficult schedule in the Big Eastt by virtue of their other 2 pair of home-away conference games. ND will face Villanova and Georgetown in home-away conference games in addition to Pitt, UConn and Syracuse. Pitt has WVU and St. John’s. ND actually needs that, considering their non-con strength of schedule was actually weaker than Pitt’s.

Something for Pitt to worry about: ND is the best shooting 3-point team in the Big East. Unlike WVU that hoists anywhere, anytime, ND can actually make their shots. They have 3 guys that can shoot well from outside: Colin Falls, Chris Quinn and Chris Thomas. Thomas can also drive to the basket. Pitt has been consistently bad against teams with more than one outside scoring threat. It also means that there will be longer rebounds from misses. Pitt, especially the guards, will have to get in better position to try and snatch them. Unfortunately, aside from Krauser, the other guards tend to stand around waiting for the inside guys to come out for them. This allows the opposing team’s guards to charge in to the ball. And it is always easier to come in to a ball than go out.

If Pitt is really lucky, then ND will have a hideous outside shooting game, like they did against UConn. UConn was unprepared to bang inside, despite the skilled players they possess in the paint, and it was how ND won. Pitt’s inside guys want to bang and don’t shy away. Teams that have tried to match physical play inside against Pitt have failed.

Pitt will need Ramon on the court because Graves has not been any good on perimeter defense. Ramon, though, is still bothered by his sore shoulder. (The article notes that DeGroat missed practice with the flu.)

Pitt has to work on a couple things that were lacking in their last two games. Finishing teams and limiting turnovers. Pitt had chances to put away WVU and St. John’s but couldn’t finish. It caught up with them in Morgantown. The turnovers were astronomical against St. John’s, limiting Pitt’s opportunities. Even against WVU, Pitt had 12 turnovers, and just didn’t take care of the ball. (Carl Krauser is mentioned as being sick during the week.)

The weekly Q&A with Ray Fittipaldo, the P-G Pitt basketball beat reporter. Lots of frustration being conveyed through the questions.

Q: Why can’t this team stay mentally focused for all games? Pitt is 16-4 with losses to Bucknell, St. John’s and now West Virginia. This is not the way to gain national recognition. I know how we’ll hear that West Virginia is our biggest rival. I don’t buy it. Pitt got lucky in the first half when WVU was 2 for 17 from 3-point range. Same shots in the second half, different results. This team is very disturbing. With all the hullabaloo about the improved shooting, the defense just is not there. Dixon needs to kick some butt. Pitt probably will be an NCAA because of its reputation, but at this point, Pitt should be a bubble team.

FITTIPALDO: I’m sure it’s very disconcerting for Dixon that his team underestimates less-talented opponents. Good teams never do that. Pitt is not on the bubble at this point. The Panthers are ranked No. 18 and are OK in the RPI. But they can become a bubble team in the coming weeks if they don’t stand up to what is a very difficult final seven games. Pitt must play Notre Dame, Syracuse (away), Villanova (away), West Virginia, Connecticut, Boston College (away) and Notre Dame (away). If Pitt is 9-7 or 8-8 in conference play after that stretch, then we’d be talking about the bubble. If they’re 10-6, they’d be OK because they’d be 20-7 overall. Remember, the NCAA tournament selection committee looks at how teams are playing over the final month of the season, and they also take into consideration bad losses. Pitt has three bad losses, so they had better be playing well the final few weeks.
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Q: I think it’s fair to say at this point Pitt plays to the level of its competition. What does that say about this group of players?

FITTIPALDO: I would agree with you, Phil. Pitt has showed that it can play great against ranked teams and horribly against the dregs of the Big East. While I won’t go as far as Jamie Dixon or some of Pitt’s players and say this is a young team, I will offer this excuse: Pitt is young at certain positions and the inexperience has hurt them in some instances. Two of Pitt’s top reserves are freshmen and another is a sophomore. Two starters are playing significant minutes for the first time in their careers. The team that advanced to the Sweet 16 last season had two senior starters (Julius Page and Jaron Brown), a two-year starter at power forward (Chevy Troutman), a sophomore at point guard (Carl Krauser) and a freshman (Chris Taft) at center. Krauser and Taft played above expectations and were big factors in Pitt’s success. The first-year players this season are not the impact players those guys were. Plus, we all know by now how important Page and Brown were to that team. They didn’t put up great statistics, but they made big plays on offense and especially on defense that carried that team to a Big East regular-season championship.

Also a little about why Julius Page left the ABA for a Russian team. Hint: money.

Finally a tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek piece from Shelly Anderson about Western Pennsylvania myopia.

I’ve been agonizing over this for some time, and finally crossed over. I have put up some donation buttons in the upper corner. If anyone feels like making a contribution, it would be greatly appreciated, but there is no obligation.

All money donated will be used to pay for my season tickets. If, somehow, the amount goes over the football season ticket costs, I promise that the funds will be used only for my expenses relating to going to Pitt football games (mainly booze).

A good piece on the Oakland Zoo’s history and a little more info on the St. John’s game where the official tossed one of the Zoo.

At that moment several hundred Pitt students, all identically clad and sitting courtside, let the officiating crew know they were displeased at an earlier technical foul called against point guard Carl Krauser.

One of the officials then summoned security, and pointed at a fan in the middle of the crowd. Moments later, Matt Cohen was escorted from the Petersen Events Center.

Talk about taking one for the team – make that two teams.

Following Cohen’s dismissal, Pitt ended the game with a 31-21 run on its way to a 55-44 win over St. John’s, all the while being cheered, applauded and celebrated by Cohen’s creation, the Oakland Zoo.

“Evidently he had a short leash,” Cohen said of the official that requested his removal. “He came over and egged us on. He walked right in front of us and stared. I said to him ‘Why don’t you go back to officiating NAIA games? You’re only here because we’re playing the bottom feeders in our conference.’ But I like to think I might have inspired the team a little.”

Guess that may have hit a little too close to home.

Coach Wannstedt better not have the program take a step backwards this season. Fans at the game may be a little more cranky.

The University of Pittsburgh announced new donor-based seating policies for football and men’s basketball season tickets yesterday as part of an aggressive fund raising campaign called “Quest for Excellence.”

The goal of the campaign is to raise $45 million for the Pitt athletic department by June 2007. The money will be used to bolster the school’s scholarship fund and endowed scholarships and for capital improvements.

While the campaign has a flashy name, the bottom line is the price for football and basketball season tickets is going up. And the only way to get the best football tickets, which are increasing by as much as 70 percent, is to donate money to the Panther Club — the fund raising arm for Pitt’s athletic department.

The “good news,” the actual ticket price won’t be increasing. Instead, either the amount of the annual mandatory “donation” to the Panther Club (formerly known as Team Pittsburgh) will be rising significantly or be added for the privilege of paying for a season ticket.

Naturally, Pitt has a study to back-up the need for the increases. They released the summarized facts showing how far behind Pitt is to other schools.

To be honest, I’m not terribly surprised. Trees Hall, the major rec facility was decrepit and not well kept when I was there in the late ’80s to early ’90s. I remember they had to close my Pistol and Rifle class early that semester — never to be reopened as far as I’m aware (how many people even knew there was a firing range in the bowels?) — when after years of firing, but no clearing out all of the lead from the sand led to dangerous ricohets if an errant shot went too low. Sad truth, Pitt’s Athletic Department is still digging out from over 15 years of neglect. The mid- to late-90s saw the revamping of the primary money programs — football and basketball — and now they are using those to target the rest.

The other factor, is many — including most of the guys who post here — were agitating for Pitt to be willing to step up and spend the money for a head football coach and his staff. Well, we got our wish and this is part of the reward. (Yes, I’m fully aware they probably would have pulled this even if they hired Rhoads, but can you imagine how many season ticket holders would have dropped?)

Here’s the press release from Pitt on the plans, and the area explaining the whole “Quest for Excellence” plan.

To some degree, I guess I have to agree with Starkey’s view. Believe me, I’m not happy about seeing my ticket prices increase. The Trib. has PDF diagrams of the Pete and Heinz Field showing where the donations will be added or increased. I guess the closest thing to a bright side, personally is that the PSB crew’s seats (section 132) are only looking at having a $50 mandatory donation per ticket tacked on (still, about a 35% increase per ticket).

I’m sure there will be plenty more about this.

Ripped from the posts and comments of the last week or so, a piece on Carl Krauser and the possibility that he might turn pro.

The 6-foot-2 Krauser, who is Pitt’s leading scorer at 15.9 points per game, will be faced with some tough decisions regarding his NBA future after the season. He has the option of playing one more year at Pitt or testing the waters of the NBA.

He said he hasn’t made a choice at this point, though he acknowledged that he is on pace to graduate and would be eligible for his senior year. As a partial qualifier, Krauser was required to sit out his freshman year. He is also required to graduate in four years to be eligible for a fifth.

Krauser admits freely that he wants to play pro-basketball. Not a surprise. There is also the issue of his age. He will be 25 next season. Still, he’s a mostly unknown quantity to the NBA.

According to one NBA scout, who did not want to be identified, Krauser should compete in pre-draft camps this summer and, if nothing else, get more name recognition, just like Nate Robinson of the University of Washington did last year. Robinson returned to school, but is known throughout the NBA and is listed as a 32nd overall pick by NBAdraft.net.

Krauser might also consider working out with some NBA teams this summer. He is permitted to do so, but must reimburse those teams for all expenses incurred if he chooses to come back to Pitt. Senior guard Chris Thomas of Notre Dame did that a year ago.

Right now, I just don’t see how he goes pro after this season. The article misses the most obvious factor mitigating against him going. This year’s draft will be absolutely packed with point guards. Krauser would have no shot of being drafted with the sheer numbers.

Gene Collier took his time and got out a piece on the St. John’s-Pitt game.

Pitt and St. John’s staged this “event,” a term also used in nuclear power plant accidents by the way, and nobody who found themselves an eyewitness will soon forget it, no matter how often it got described in the immediate aftermath as forgettable.

Greg Gattuso, just added to Dave Wannstedt’s Pitt football staff after his dazzling success at Duquesne, sat behind the baseline and somehow refrained from rubbing his eyes. Surely, he thought he had dragged this across town from the A.J. Palumbo Center For Costly Turnovers.
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In a matchup of storied programs from a storied conference, the basic story went something like this: St. John’s missed nine of its first 10 shots, but by halftime, settled down to miss only 29 of its first 35.

“I thought we did some good things at the end of the first half,” said St. John’s coach Norm Roberts.

Honest to God.

I’m guessing he meant that of the 14 St. John’s players in uniform, every single one went to the correct locker room for the intermission.

And on a night when St. John’s would end up shooting 28 percent from the floor, Pitt still managed to commit 16 personal fouls. What, do you imagine, is the purpose of fouling a St. John’s shooter? It’s only going to increase his percentage.

Amusing enough.

That is today’s main topic. I noted the lack of production from the bench after each game. The bench has gone a combined 3-15 shooting and 0-5 on free throws in the past two games. The bench players, Gray, Ramon and Benjamin have all been big factors recently. Add in Kendall’s game that earned him starter minutes, and you realize how important the bench is to Pitt’s chances in every game.

Ronald Ramon’s recent injury has been a major factor in the reduced production from the bench.

He is the team’s fourth-leading scorer (7.5 points per game) and one of its best 3-point shooters in conference play (17 for 42). He is fourth in minutes played (26.0), fourth in field goals (44), fourth in field-goal attempts (110) and second in 3-point field goals (34).

Ramon came off the bench to score 21 points to lead Pitt past Rutgers. He has led the reserves in scoring in five of nine Big East games.

Compounding the offensive problems the past two games has been the untimely sag in production from the other bench players. Backup center Aaron Gray (4.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg) has not scored in the past two games. Reserve guard Keith Benjamin (2.3 ppg, 2.1 rpg), who had a breakout game with 10 points against Syracuse, has scored seven points in the past three games, none against St. John’s.

Senior forward Mark McCarroll (2.1 ppg, 1.9 rpg) is the biggest enigma of the season. He was a super sub last season, once scoring 26 points off the bench, but he has scored six points in the past six games. And John DeGroat, the junior-college transfer who was expected to be a big contributor, has scored two points in nine Big East games.

Let’s be somewhat fair to DeGroat and McCarroll. You can’t expect them to score much at this point. They are barely in the games. The combined minutes for the two in the St. John’s game was 4. They get maybe one chance to take a shot. I mean, yes they earned the lack of playing time with their lack of production and defensive effort early in the season. Barring any injuries it doesn’t seem likely they will get a chance to change that.

Publicly, Coach Dixon and the other players aren’t concerned. They probably aren’t regarding the big picture. This was just a couple games. It’s just, with the next 3 games, Pitt will need everyone producing and playing well.

I should have made this in the recap of the St. John’s game, but I have a hard time accepting the spin that Pitt got back to solid defense in this game. St. John’s shot 27.8% in the game. Here are their shooting percentages for the previous 3 games: 26.9, 26.6 and 33.3. That came against UConn, Rutgers and Seton Hall. This was their 3rd straight game under 30% shooting and they hadn’t cracked 35% in 2 weeks. In light of that, it’s hard to attribute much of the St. John’s poor shooting to Pitt’s defense.

A post from About.com’s pro b-ball blog about the 2005 NBA draft.

After a slow start, Wake Forest’s Chris Paul has lived up to the expectation of being the next great NBA floor general, but can you really take a 6’0″ kid No. 1 overall? Pitt’s Chris Taft has 10 inches on Paul, but is dwarfed by Paul in intensity, focus and basketball IQ.

Right now, on their Mock Draft, they have Taft going #6. Krauser does get a mention, in their list of 80 draft prospects for 2006 (the list includes foreign players). Krauser is at #67.

Greg Doyel at Sportsline lists 10 hyped newcomers who have disappointed. Pitt gets one on the list.

8. John DeGroat, Pittsburgh: A 6-5 juco transfer, he was expected to get major minutes, what with the Panthers having to replace wings Jaron Brown and Julius Page. Nope. DeGroat has averaged 7.4 minutes per game and not played in three, probably because he does little but shoot; in 119 minutes of playing time he has 27 shots, seven assists and two steals.

Actually, it seems to be because he has been very slow to be willing to play defense. It essentially cost him this entire season. It will be up to him next season to play or be next year’s Mark McCarroll.

This may upset the Oakland Zoo, but as far as NYC writers were concerned, the student section went easy on St. John’s.

The Pittsburgh student section kept the derisive chanting to a minimum last night, but there was a homemade flyer distributed among fans that read, “Post game party at Club Erotica, St. John’s players welcome.

Showing that the strip club story won’t fade away that easily, even in NYC, one story on the game was headlined, “Stripped Away.” The article asks a question about a particular official who seemed on a short fuse.

What’s gotten into umpire Curtis Shaw? He opened the night by calling a three-second violation on Chevy Troutman. Then he called a palming violation on Pittsburgh’s Antonio Graves and one on Lawrence.

He slapped Carl Krauser with a technical foul when The Bronx native protested an offensive foul call by shouting, “Come on!” He ejected a fan that didn’t like the technical.

Then Shaw stared down Daryll Hill and Phil Missere after they objected to calls.

Some just want all video of this game erased for the good of society.

Mercifully, it came to an end at 8:58 p.m. Forty minutes of basketball that is best forgotten.

Pitt and St. John’s staged a Big East Conference game last night at the Petersen Events Center in name only. The two teams combined for 99 points, 36 turnovers and generally bad basketball.

The general impression I am getting is that this game could be analogized to sex with an ugly. You did it, maybe you needed it, maybe you can claim to have been drunk, but you don’t want to talk about it, and you sure don’t want to see any evidence.

Things got so ugly at Petersen Events Center on Tuesday night that Joan Rivers would have been considered eye candy compared to the Pitt-St. John’s sleepfest.

“Horrible,” Pitt sophomore center Chris Taft said.

“Not pretty at all,” point guard Carl Krauser added.

The duo forgot to mention hideous and unsightly, but when all was said and done, the Panthers walked away with a 55-44 victory in front of 11,034 Visine-deprived spectators.
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“It might have been ugly but we won,” said Taft, who helped the Panthers avenge a crushing three-point loss to the Red Storm three weeks earlier.

And to conclude the analogy, you just wanted that person out of your bed so you could burn the sheets and get a shower.

Taft seemed to play the game with some intensity this time. Taft seemed to play both ends pretty well. He had 3 blocks, 8 rebounds (6 offensive), and 12 points. You just wait for him to show up in a game against the better teams. He has to play this hard on Saturday against ND’s Torin Francis and Chris Lattimore.

The 12 points scored by Krauser managed to push him to the 1,000 point mark in his career.

In NYC, they saw this as more St. John’s getting Pitt to play at their pace.

But the Red Storm again found a way. They dragged the Panthers down into the muck and hung neck-and-neck through the slop for 30 minutes. That’s when Pitt finally figured out that its big horses – 6-11 Chris Taft and 6-7 Chevon Troutman – were the ones who could pull them out of the mire.

That used to be the way Pitt did things. But then, I guess you could say people saw all sorts of things in this game. Some see the struggles and sloppiness as shades of last February.

March is only weeks away, and No. 18 Pittsburgh is looking much like it did before last year’s NCAA tournament.

Coach Jamie Dixon said that needs to be fixed, and in a hurry.

“We are not playing our best basketball, and I hope we get more comfortable,” Dixon said.

In a performance that closely resembled their three NCAA tournament games of last season, the Panthers played exceptional defense in a 55-44 victory over St. John’s on Tuesday night but were turnover-prone and ineffective offensively.

With the Panthers coming off two poorly played games — they were surprised 83-78 in overtime by West Virginia on Saturday night — it appears there will be some February frustration before they make it to March.

Sound familiar? The Panthers were ranked as high as No. 2 last season, only to struggle badly on offense while never scoring even 60 points in any of their three NCAA games.

Despite that sinking feeling in my stomach, I will point out that last year, when Pitt hit its struggles the problem was poor, poor shooting. That hasn’t been an issue. Turnovers, lax defense, and allowing too many second shots has been the issue.

Another view is that this is par for the inconsistency of Pitt all season. The problem is that doesn’t bode well for the Big East Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

Others, somehow, manage to see positives.

“It was a horrible game,” Taft said.

That it was. But Pitt’s 55-44 victory over St. John’s on Tuesday also was a game in which the Panthers reverted to form. Which is to say, they played rock ’em-sock ’em defense, pounded the ball inside and hit the glass with abandon.

That formula has made them one of college basketball’s more successful teams since the turn of the millennium.

That formula, if applied regularly and enhanced greatly in the coming weeks, represents their best chance to inflict significant damage in the postseason tournaments.

Really, the Panthers need to do what the Steelers did during the NFL season — recapture their bully mentality.

Last night’s game was a good start.

Taft, who had no offensive rebounds Saturday at West Virginia, responded with six last night (eight overall) to complement Chevy Troutman’s superb overall effort (7-of-8 from the field, 19 points, seven rebounds).

Nobody questioned the team’s effort on this night, as Taft and point guard Carl Krauser had after the loss Saturday.

Whatever he’s drinking, make mine a double.

Everytime I look over the box score from the game this evening. I am just stunned by something different. First it was the fact that the St. John’s team would not have been able to hit water if it fell out of a boat in the first half. 6-29 shooting. Then I see that Pitt could only muster 16 shots in the same half and 39 for the game. Outshot by St. John’s 54-39 for the game. Granted 22 turnovers and being sent to the free throw line 21 times is a contributing factor, but under 40 shot attempts with a shot clock? Wow. The thing was working on their end, right? Pitt may have out rebounded St. John’s 37-31 for the game, but St. John’s got more offensive (18) than defensive rebounds (13), and Pitt only had 12 offensive rebounds.

The bench came up small for the second straight game. Admittedly, it didn’t get a lot of minutes, with Ramon the only player getting double digit minutes (16). Still, in 37 minutes, the bench provided only 2 points (1-5 shooting, 0-2 FT), 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 turnovers, 1 steal and 1 block.

It was group effort on the turnovers. Yes, Krauser led the way with 7, but Graves had 5, Troutman had 3 and Taft had 2.

Limiting scoring opportunities helps explain what otherwise should be inconceivable. Taft and Troutman only had a combined 19 shots, while making 13. Of course, when only 39 shots are attempted, that is actually a pretty good percentage. Still, when Troutman went 3-4 in the first half and didn’t get a shot off until the 10:27 mark of the second half (admittedly he had 2 turnovers before that to cost him at least one attempt), there was something wrong with the offense and/or the coaching directions.

This team, once more, has a lot of work ahead of itself before the game on Saturday.

Other than the final score, there wasn’t much to like about this one. Pitt now looks at 3 straight very difficult games. Notre Dame, fresh off knocking off previously unbeaten BC (and making Digger Phelps happy), on Saturday night; then a trip to Syracuse on Monday — and you know the ‘Cuse will be looking for payback; then going to Philly to face a good Villanova team, and ‘Nova gives Pitt problems even when they aren’t that good.

I’m sorry I didn’t break down and pay to listen to the Pitt broadcast. The game itself probably would have pissed me off, but if for no other reason, than to hear Yogi Roth say his farewell before leaving for LA.

Dear Panther Faithful,

While I would love to write each and every one of you a personal letter, I felt this was the next best thing.

I want to thank you all for not only the past seven months, but the past five years. The support and encouragement I have received has been dreamlike. As a student-athlete, my experience at the University of Pittsburgh was unmatched. As a professional, the lessons I learned were unforgettable.

The opportunity at the University of Southern California was one that I felt I had to take, but as I leave this great city, I will be sure to take all of the lessons and memories I was so fortunate to be a part of with me.

Tuesday evening will be an emotional one as I work my final broadcast, but it is one I will surely cherish. I hope to stay in touch with all of you as I begin a new and exciting career. You are incredible people who are passionate about University of Pittsburgh Athletics and its student-athletes. Thank you for making me a part of the Pitt Family. It is something that I will cherish and hold on to with great pride.

Hail to Pitt,
Yogi Roth

Good luck, Yogi.