Take a close look at the photo on this page.

It appears that Chevy is a big fan of truth in advertising.

That seems to be the reaction by the Pacific players. They seem to know as little about Pitt as we know about them. Though, Pacific knows it won’t be sneaking up on anyone this year.

“We beat a Big East team last season, so Pittsburgh will be a lot more ready,” Thomason said. “We aren’t going to be a surprise anymore. There are no hidden factors for Pacific now.”

Though the Tigers’ success has robbed them of anonymity, going through the NCAA Tournament experience last year should aid UOP this season, because most of the prominent players were regulars last season.

Pittsburgh finished fifth in the Big East and Thomason is concerned about the Panthers’ muscle.

“They’re a tough team and physical, and that’ll be the biggest problem,” Thomason said. “Utah State does that, and we have not done real well against that.”

The Tigers will have their hands full with Pittsburgh forward Chevon Troutman, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound All-Big East selection, and point guard Carl Krauser will be a challenge for UOP’s David Doubley, the Big West Player of the Year who did not play particularly well in the Big West tournament.

Pitt has its game notes (PDF) for the match-up.

Naturally some are trying to look ahead in the bracket.

The bracket is also loaded with schools that may feel slighted and have something to prove, such as Wake Forest, Louisville and Pittsburgh. Call it the fat-around-the-middle bracket.
…
But while the Huskies use a frenetic and disruptive brand of man-to-man, full-court pressing and trapping defense to ignite their high-powered offense, their Achilles’ heel is lack of size in the post. That’s what the other 15 teams in the region hope to exploit. Especially bruising Pittsburgh, which could meet the Huskies in the second round; Georgia Tech, which could throw skilled 7-foot-1 center Luke Schenscher at them in the regional semifinal; or Wake Forest, which has playmaker Chris Paul to negate the Huskies’ quick backcourt, in the regional final.

One game at a time for Pitt. Pacific will be enough of a challenge.

Across the country as laser printers in offices churn out the brackets, and copiers produce plenty more. Don’t forget PSB has its group going through ESPN’s bracket tourney. We welcome all. If the direct link doesn’t work for you, go to the front page. You can look up the group “Pitt Sports Blather.”

As expected there wasn’t much in the way of chattering about Pitt being dropped to a 9 seed on the bracket shows. Seeding issues and who got screwed, is generally reserved for the top 4 seeds in each region. That makes more sense, because seedings 5 through 12 are much more fluid and upsets aren’t terribly unexpected with those match-ups. Taking some time for reflection, I guess Pitt actually got dropped maybe one seed lower than the expected range. There is really no difference between 8 or 9 seeds. In the tournament, the 9 wins just as often (if not more) in that first round game.

As far as match-ups go, and I’m not trying to disrespect the Washington Huskies, they are the preferred #1 seed for Pitt to meet in the first weekend (assuming Pitt beats Pacific). Heck, look at the #2 seeds that Pitt could have ended up facing if they had been a 7 seed. Oklahoma St., Kentucky or Wake Forest. Yes, I’m probably rationalizing a bit.

On to the media takes. Maybe as there is more time to chew over the brackets there will be more commentary about where Pitt was placed. Right now, most of the space will be taken up with questions about the high seeds and teams snubbed. Still, here is one piece that mentions Pitt’s seeding:

Pittsburgh, No. 9 in the Albuquerque region: This is the fourth consecutive season in which the Panthers scheduled themselves into seeding purgatory. The first year, they had an excuse. They still were building. But their rosters the past three years have been powerful. Their opponents have not. Pitt certainly compares favorably to such No. 6 seeds as LSU and Texas Tech. How they climbed so high is hard to figure. But Pitt was good enough to earn four Top 25 victories; it should have been able to collect more than four against the rest of the top 100.

This has been the accepted reason. Pitt’s non-con did them in. Even AD Jeff Long admits they why.

“I think that’s probably what the committee was looking at,” athletic director Jeff Long said. “But people have to realize [we are] playing in the Big East and the way our conference is set up because of television. The best teams play twice. You know what? We have a difficult schedule. And we played some people in the non-conference schedule. … We’re not apologizing for who we schedule. Would I like to have another game of a higher quality? Yes. And Jamie and I will work to do that. But it’s not as easy as people think.”

He’s in spin mode, but even in that mode, he doesn’t get it. Or he won’t admit it. It isn’t just finding one good non-con game. It’s the scheduling of the absolute worst teams. There is no excuse to have Howard, Loyola-Md. and Coppin St. on the schedule. These aren’t just bad teams. They are consistently among the worst teams in the country. Scheduling teams in the high 200s to 300s of the RPI is what drags you down. Playing only one road game in the non-con, that is noticed.

Think about this. What is the difference in the schedules and records for ND and Pitt? 1 game. ND went 9-7 in the Big East and was firmly on the bubble going into the BET. Pitt was 10-6, and off the bubble. Both had horrible non-con schedules that meant they had to do well in conference. Even though ND ended up with the most brutal conference schedule, it wasn’t enough. There was no margin for error. That’s what a bad non-con does. It leaves no margin for error. So, if Pitt does the same again next season and once more spins the brutal Big East, it also means that Pitt better do real well in conference if it wants to go dancing.

Interestingly, the Pittsburgh Punditry seems to think Pitt got what it deserved in the seedings. Some are trying to spin the set-up as being very favorable in terms of match-ups.

One could even argue that Pacific is a more favorable first-round matchup than Central Florida was last year. Pacific plays in the ultra-weak Big West Conference, where it lost the tournament championship by 13 points to Utah State and didn’t have a scorer reach double figures.

That’s not to say Pacific is a pushover — it played Kansas tough on the road this season and knocked Providence out of the NCAA Tournament last year — but this appears to be an ideal matchup for Pitt.

University of San Francisco assistant coach Anwar McQueen told me last night that Pacific is not the stereotypical West Coast run-and-gun team but rather a physical club that favors a deliberate style — in other words, a team that plays right into Pitt’s hands. San Francisco beat Pacific, 67-64, on Dec. 18.

“I saw Pitt play Villanova, and Pacific is very similar to Pitt,” McQueen said. “They want to play half-court, and they have a strong inside game.”

Starkey, though, is completely underestimating this team and the conference. They are ranked and earned an at-large bid. This team shoots 50% on the season. Has a player who shoots better than 40% from beyond the 3-point line. And in the one stat that can be easily transferred from conference to conference, they shoot free throws well. Don’t get me wrong, I like the match-up, but this will not be an easy game. Last year, they dispatched Providence with ease in the first round.

For a real snub, consider that Pitt got dropped from the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll for the first time all year, with that loss to Villanova. Think about it. A neutral court loss to a higher ranked team got Pitt bounced.

The game will be among the first to tip-off for the NCAA Tournament (I don’t count that Tuesday night “play-in” game). Start time is 12:40 pm in Boise, Idaho.

The Pitt players are going to play the disrespected card to some degree to get up for this.

“We’re used to it,” senior forward Chevon Troutman said. “I don’t know how they do (the seeding), but we’ve seen this stuff before. Don’t you think we’re used to this stuff? We’re used to going to weird places and playing weird teams.”

Troutman did not get a sense the team was upset, saying “we look chilled,” but several other Panthers had a different spin on things, including junior point guard Carl Krauser.

“Since I’ve been here, I’ve realized that nobody in college basketball gives us respect,” Krauser said. “We’re used to it. That’s why, a lot of times, we upset people and mess up the bracket. So, we’re going to get ready for Pacific and thank the committee for putting us far away from home.”

Asked if the Panthers will have a chip on their shoulder, Krauser was quick with an answer.

“We have a lot of chips, not just one,” he said. “We’re ready to go out there and we’re ready to play hard and play like a family.”

Amusingly enough, the Pitt player reaction seemed to generate two different views. One suggesting Pitt players took the seeding as a snub. Well, the headline says it. The actual article doesn’t really convey that sense. The more widely disseminated player reaction is that Pitt just let it roll off of them.

That’s why, given the Panthers’ unaccustomed late-season struggles and four home-court losses, senior forward Chevon Troutman said they can’t complain.

West Virginia and UCLA, coached by former Pitt coach Ben Howland, are in Pitt’s region, but the Panthers can’t play either team before the regional final. West Virginia is seeded seventh after winning three games in three days to reach the Big East tournament championship game. Pitt had played in the Big East final in the previous four seasons.

“Everybody’s asking about West Virginia, but they deserve it because they swept us and went to the championship game,” Troutman said. “We played our way into a No. 9 seed, so we’ve got to work from there.”

This is the one most people in the country will see, because it comes from the AP and is picked up in other papers.

In Seattle, there is at least some sense of realism about what can happen to the Huskies.

The Huskies are good enough to up-tempo themselves all the way to St. Louis. Already they’ve beaten Arizona twice, Utah, Oklahoma, Alabama and North Carolina State.

But the field is strong enough that they could be eliminated by the weekend. This is the deepest, most talented pool of teams in the game’s history, an indication of the dramatic resurrection of college basketball.

Washington can ride its seed all the way to the Final Four. Or it could lose to Pittsburgh on Saturday. Think of Pitt, which should beat first-round opponent Pacific, as Stanford with more talent.

Stanford. Why’d it have to be Stanford?

I’m still trying to figure out how Pitt got dropped to a 9 seed. I keep coming back to the non-con. The argument regarding the last 10 games doesn’t wash. Yes, Pitt went 5-5. But look at the losses. All to Tourney teams — Villanova (X 2), WVU (X 2) and UConn. The 5 teams Pitt beat were Syracuse (BET Champs), BC (BE regular season co-champs), ND (X 2, Bubble team) and St. John’s. Pitt’s schedule was back loaded, and it was clear to see.

As for the opponent, the University of Pacific Tigers. No irony here. Just because it was former football coach, Walt Harris’ alma mater.

This is a team that might as well be a West Coast version of Pitt. Look at their stats. Now look at Pitt. Both teams average 72.4 points/game. Pitt allows an average of 63 pts/game; Pacific, 63.5. Both teams have balanced scoring with 3 players in double figures, but no one more than 15.6 points/game. Almost all the stats are similar, except that they are a better free throw shooting team. Obviously, the conference competition is a little different.

Still, looking at Ken Pomeroy’s Basketball Shrink, still shows them to be very similar teams. Pitt is a bit better on defense and rebounding. This will be a brutal 8/9 game.

Thanks to Jamie for the info. This is big stuff.

When the Panthers step onto Heinz Field against Notre Dame on Sept. 3, they’ll do so headed in a different direction.

Sometime before the annual Blue-Gold Game, Pittsburgh will unveil uniforms modified slightly to play off the program’s glory years of Johnny Majors and Jackie Sherrill. The color scheme that was introduced in 1997 and the “PITTSBURGH” lettering across the chest, above the numbers, will remain.

However, the disembodied Panther head that previously graced both sides of the gold helmets is out.

“PITT” is it again.

Sort of.

The “PITT” seen on the new helmets isn’t the script that appeared on helmets worn by Tony Dorsett and Dan Marino, but rather a more modernized version. Visualize the current “PITTSBURGH” lettering and chop off the “SBURGH.”

Lukas described the concept as “updating a classic” — not unlike what the Pirates pulled off when, in 2001, they switched to a sleeveless uniform modeled after those worn by the club in the 1960s.

“It makes sense,” Lucas said of teams playing off their past. “Pitt is selectively cherry-picking from a design that fans preferred.”

And, as Frank Rosato of Brookline proclaimed for all University of Pittsburgh alumni: “I’d rather see the ‘PITT’ script. But any ‘PITT’ is better than no ‘PITT’ at all… or that floating wolverine head.”

Yeah, it’s only a uniform — but it’s so much more.

Nothing on the Pitt site yet. Nothing about the colors — a very important factor. Still, it is good.

Steals a little thunder from one of my posts I have planned for the off-season regarding Pitt logos. You’ll have to trust me on this, when I finally get to it, it will be worth it.

A 9 Seed???!!!

WTF?

Not sure how much the ESPN selection show will get into that. They generally get more into the top5 seeds.

This is a huge blast at the non-con. It’s about the only explanation I can figure. I don’t think it could be made any clearer. As much as I’ve moaned about the non-con, I didn’t think they’d be penalized this badly.

It seems that the Big East got dissed overall. The selection committee seemed to treat the BE as being a very shallow, but wide conference. Hell, the Big 11 teams that got in, got more respect.

Venting in the comments, please.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before.

Pitt and Penn State are talking again.

The two schools’ athletic directors have reopened informal discussions about renewing their football series.

“Jeff (Long) and I have talked a number of times about a lot of different things, including football,” Penn State AD Tim Curley said Friday. “But I wouldn’t say we’re at a stage where we’re near an agreement.”

If it happens, great. I’m not holding my breath. I will, however, engage in pointless speculation about it’s related meaning.

The earliest it would happen would be 2007. More likely 2008. When does Joe Paterno’s latest contract end? 2008. Who’s the biggest obstacle to a renewal of the rivalry?

You can now let the wheels turn on this mindless conspiracy theory.

Miss me? Family duties started much earlier than expected yesterday, so I never got on the computer (around 10 pm, I started getting real twitchy from withdrawal, thank goodness for scotch).

Not sure I’ll be able to watch all the selection shows, the wife is only so tolerant of my behavior. And for some reason, she doesn’t buy the excuses like, “but honey, I’m only thinking of you. I’m waiting to get the reason why Cinci (her school) was made an #8 seed,” any longer.

Pitt will be anywhere from a #5 to #7 seed. Pitt’s a #5 seed, if the selection committee concludes that Pitt only lost to 2 teams not making the tournament. Bucknell winning the Patriot League may end up helping Pitt. If Pitt ends up a #7 seed, it will be punishment once more, for scheduling a weak non-con after being explicitly told last year to start scheduling better. Pitt will be a high 6 or low 5. Not really sure which would be better.

Pitt needs to work some things out still.

The team still has trouble with full court pressure and traps. The guards and small forward continually fail to work and help out when a player is trapped or stuck with the ball. They seem to stand around or hover too far away, rather than come to the ball and the player to help out.

Staying with guard play, the outside shooting picked a bad time to go south. Pitt isn’t going to win with perimeter shooting, but it needs to make a decent number to keep the defense honest and not collapse inside.

The other big thing on offense, is finishing. In the last few games, we’ve seen the guards (not just Krauser) actually try to drive and go inside to score. This is good. Pitt has needed to do this. Now they need to start getting the basket, contact or make a good pass. Too often they have just gotten stuffed or made a bad shot. The need to finish also applies to the guys inside — Taft, Gray and Troutman. All 3 have been having some trouble finishing strongly. Instead, settling for a bad hook, or not going up strong.

Pitt’s color analyst, Dick Groat, gets a puff piece today.

Mike Starkey does a piece about the changes to the Big East membership next year, with a lot of quotes from BE Commish Mike Tranghese. Anyone else notice that of the 6 Big East locks for the NCAA Tournament, only one school (Villanova) doesn’t play football? Anyone see that trend changing anytime soon?

Tranghese insists there won’t be a divorce after that, either. The football-playing members, he says, will not wave goodbye to basketball-only members Marquette, Georgetown, DePaul, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall and Villanova.

“If this was going to break up, it would have happened when Miami and Virginia Tech and Boston College left (to join the ACC),” Tranghese said. “Others could have left, but they sat for three months and didn’t want to do it. They said, ‘Reconfigure this.’

“We need to get as good as we can, to where we’re so attractive that nobody wants to leave.”

Tranghese also pointed out that if the football-playing schools formed their own conference, they would lose a New York City presence, including the Big East tournament. That could seriously hurt a program such as Pitt’s, which relies heavily on Big Apple recruits.

It’s not like he would say otherwise. I’m not sure the BE would necessarily lose the NYC footprint. There are too many BE-football schools within the area: Rutgers, Syracuse and UConn. As for the conference tournament, maybe the Garden might not be so welcoming, but there is going to be a new basketball arena in the 5 boroughs in a few years for the New Jersey Nets. Think the Ratner family might be interested in having their new arena host?

On the recruiting front, Kevin Gorman has a good, level-headed perspective on Herb Pope verballing to Pitt.

He is well traveled for a 16-year-old, having attended a handful of schools while living with various relatives and foster families. After growing up in Beaver County, Pope spent his freshman year at Montrose Christian in Rockville, Md. He lived briefly with the Costo family in Hopewell last fall before moving in with his grandmother in Aliquippa.

Francis says Pope is rumored to be considering a transfer to Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Marlboro, Md., for his junior year. Riverdale Baptist already features two of the nation’s top-10 sophomores in 6-7 forward Michael Beasley, a Charlotte recruit, and 6-3 guard Nolan Smith.

This would make sense, Francis said, because Beasley, Smith and Pope were teammates on the DC Assault Club, which won the 16-and-under division of the Adidas Super 64 tourney in Las Vegas last summer.

Francis also reported that rumors swirl that Pope is not the only high-profile player headed to Riverdale Baptist. HoopScoop has been hearing for months that two of the nation’s top-20 juniors — 6-9 forward Kevin Durant and 6-foot point guard Tywon Lawson — could transfer to Riverdale Baptist from Oak Hill Academy this fall.

Sounds like a burgeoning national powerhouse.

“I think he’ll go back to DC Assault and Riverdale Baptist because they all play together,” Francis said of Pope. “I think his allegiance is to them rather than his high school. The people who control the DC Assault also control Riverdale Baptist. It’s bad for business from their standpoint if he remains in Pittsburgh.”

As a result, Pope has been exposed to the underbelly of the sport, where talent is treated like a tradable commodity. With Adidas, Nike and Reebok already battling over him to attend their invitation-only summer camps — as well as AAU clubs trying to get him on their summer travel teams — Pope is realizing that he can parlay his services.

Read the whole thing.

A couple more articles with quotes from high school sophomore Herb Pope giving a verbal commit to Pitt. Judging by his comments, it’s a tangible example of what some sustained success can do in generating interest and affection for a program.

I haven’t talked about any dance teams in a while. Some part of me has been wrestling with the karmic payback for continuing to drool over them, as I am in my mid-thirties and now have my own daughter. I feel better now. Sportsline.com has Dennis Dodd covering a couple of the basketball tournaments. In addition, he has a blog going for March. Under his March 10 entry time stamped 9:33 pm “Tigers by the Tale” (no permalinks) he writes:

My eyes are blogged over from watching the Memphis and Charlotte dance squads at halftime. Can I say, “Daddy like” without seeming creepy? There was a time as a young senior writer that I actually picked my regional based on where the Memphis dance team would appear. Really. For a while, the NCAA was importing them to dance at halftime of Final Four games. They’re that good. I digress …

Dodd is pushing 50.

Sadly, Memphis has no pictures of their dance or cheerleading squads. Louisville, more specifically, it would appear some of the members did it have sites for the dance team and cheerleaders. While the Big East has taken a hit in terms of lost quality of visiting dance teams from Miami; Louisville is a definite upgrade when compared to BC and Va. Tech. Actually, with Cinci’s cheerleaders and dance team, not to mention USF’s “Sun Dolls,” you could argue the overall quality has improved.

Just trying to go into the weekend with a positive thought.

With all apologies to Bill Simmons for appropriating his line. “The lesson as always: I’m an idiot.”

My predictions on the Big East Tournament have been laughably inaccurate. Even when I had it right — like Georgetown losing to UConn — I haven’t even come close in how the games would go.

Not that it will stop me next year, or in doing the NCAA Bracket, it’s just a little bit of accountability and coming clean when I was dead off.

Speaking of NCAA Tournament Bracket. Still plenty of time to sign up for the PSB Group. If the direct link doesn’t work, go here and look for the group “Pitt Sports Blather.”

Pitt is facing a legal challenge to their plan to re-seat at the Pete.

Stember is basing his suit on what he considers a promise Pitt made in 2000 in a brochure the university produced about purchasing tickets. In a list of frequently asked question in the brochure, one of the question reads:

“Do I have to maintain my Team Pittsburgh membership every year and buy season tickets every year, in order to keep my same seats?”

The answer reads:

“Yes. By maintaining or increasing your level of annual support to Team Pittsburgh and purchasing season tickets each year, you will guarantee your right to the same seats.”

Stember maintains he has lived up to those requirements. He said, “That language is clear as a bell. If Jeff Long or anyone else can show us we’re wrong, we’d be happy to listen.”

Contacted at Madison Square Garden, where Pitt lost to Villanova in the Big East Tournament yesterday, Long issued this statement:

“It is disappointing that a season-ticket holder has obviously misinterpreted our expanded donor-based seating program in the Petersen Events Center and is misrepresenting the information in a 2000 fund-raising brochure. We’re confident that our new system fulfills the commitments made in prior campaigns and will allow the university to continue to field strong and competitive athletic programs.”

Long did not expand.

I’m guessing that Pitt reserved the right to change the terms at any time. It would be hard to believe that a brochure would be sufficient to form a long-term guaranteed contract.

In recruiting news, Pitt has gotten a verbal from a top high school sophomore.

Aliquippa’s Herb Pope, a 6-foot-9 forward considered one of the nation’s top sophomores, has made a verbal commitment to Pitt.

Whether he ever plays for the Panthers is debatable.

For one, verbal commitments are non-binding. And if Pope continues to progress over the next two years, he could potentially jump straight from high school to the NBA.

Pitt was the first school to offer a scholarship to Pope, the No. 28 prospect in the Class of 2007 by the recruiting service HoopScoop. Pope also is ranked 18th nationally by Scout.com and 33rd by Rivals.com in the sophomore class.
…
According to HoopScoop, Pope would become the nation’s fifth sophomore to make a college commitment, joining top-10 prospects Michael Beasley of Upper Marlboro, Md. (Charlotte) and Taylor King of Santa Ana, Calif. (UCLA), as well as Emeka Iweka of Seattle (Oregon State) and Jon Diebler of Upper Sandusky, Ohio (Valparaiso).

King, a 6-7 shooting guard from Mater Dei High, committed to UCLA as an eighth-grader, shortly after Ben Howland left Pitt to become the Bruins coach.

I know all coaches are “reaching out” and contacting kids way before their senior year of high school, staying in contact, trying to build a relationship for a later commitment.. And I realize an actual offer is becoming increasingly common, but I had an instinctive cringe when I read this.

That’s the meme for this loss. That maybe, the Wildcats are the more physical and tougher team in the Big East right now.

“They just seemed to be all over the place defensively,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “They did a great job. They’re playing very good basketball, obviously, lately.”

In some ways, it had to look a little familiar to Dixon. First with Ben Howland prowling the sideline and in the past 2 years with Dixon, Pittsburgh has built its reputation and foundation on defense. The Panthers love to make teams play ugly, forcing bad shots and lots of turnovers, and allowing a game with all the fluidity of a spilled cup of mud.

It’s the sort of game only a coach could love, and Wright long has looked at Pitt and seen art where others have gasped ewwww. He wanted a team with the tenacity and toughness of Pitt, a group that didn’t need to be pretty to win.

Wright wasn’t about to say the torch has been passed. Pitt, after all, has appeared in the last four conference tourney title games, and Villanova hasn’t been to the finals since 1997.

But he couldn’t help but acknowledge that the ‘Cats are closer. A lot closer.

The reality is, until they knock off UConn, they aren’t the toughest team. Still, in Philly, there is a lot of talk of how tough this team has become. Pittsburgh residents aren’t the only ones who prize tough teams.

This time, it’s the Villanova players being lauded for their toughness. It’s the Villanova coach talking about “blood-bath” and defensive intensity. It was ‘Nova who could withstand the late run. Have the right to trash talk.

It’s a bit of a bitter pill. Villanova is now 6-1 against Pitt in the Big East Tournament.

On the other side of the coin, a lot of it was that Pitt just provided no offense. Not to take away from ‘Nova’s defense which was stifling and provided very few chances for the guards to have clear looks — unless they moved inside the 3-point line — and were great at defending the passing lanes to get the ball inside, but Pitt got next to nothing from the guards to help open anything up inside.

Troutman, Pitt’s best interior scorer, didn’t get any help from the guards. The Panthers made just 3 of 17 shots from behind the 3-point arc for a season-low 17 percent.

“We felt like we had to make some shots from the perimeter to hurt them,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “And we didn’t come through in that regard.”

Pitt’s offense was particularly bad — or was Villanova’s defense that good? — in the first half. The Panthers made just 5 of their 25 shots from the floor. They also committed 10 turnovers as they were unable to solve the Wildcats’ trapping defense and full-court pressure.

The team is going to be back in the ‘Burgh today. Getting ready for a likely 6 (5 if ‘Nova wins the BET and the committee gets generous) seed.

The big shock was that Troutman could not put one of his shots in the basket. He got totally frustrated, and did something un-Troutman like — whined about how the game was called.

Troutman contended the officials were calling the game too closely.

“They didn’t give me a break,” he said. “We tried (to be physical), but they were calling ticky-tacky stuff, so it was kind of frustrating because that’s the kind of ball we play. When they’d bump us, we wouldn’t get the call. But when we bumped them, they’d get the call.”

The Panthers physically dominated Boston College and Notre Dame in easy wins the previous two games, but they discovered yesterday that they can’t always impose their will on the opposition. Troutman and center Chris Taft combined for 18 points and 16 boards against Villanova, a game after combining for 48 and 20 vs. Notre Dame.

“We didn’t adjust to the way the refs were calling the game,” Troutman said. “That’s been a problem in our losses.”

I’m guessing not a lot of Big East teams are feeling much sympathy for that complaint.

Pitt was definitely outplayed in this game.

Joe Starkey feels that the talent gap was too much in this game. I have to disagree. Yes, ‘Nova has some big blue-chippers who finally are matching their hype. They may have had some better one-on-one playmakers. The difference was they played a much more disciplined game. They shifted defenses, helped out each other at both ends of the floor and kept their emotions in check.

Keeping the emotions in check is something Pitt needs to do a better job. That the only technical called on the team was by Taft for reaching across to slap the ball on an inbound play was stunning. The ESPN play calling crew couldn’t believe Krauser, Troutman or Dixon didn’t end up with a tech.

Look at the numbers. Curtis Sumpter, Randy Foye and Allan Ray combined for 58 points. As a team, Pitt scored 58. It’s not like they got those points with great accuracy. They shot a combined 15-43. Krauser, Troutman and Taft gave only 36.

Pitt was completely flustered right from the get go about the defense. They were forcing Pitt further and further outside. On some offensive sets, I actually saw no Pitt players near the basket. I never saw that this entire season. Villanova took away all the interior passing lanes. Pitt never seemed to make the adjustments.

Q. Chevy, it’s a different experience for you not going back to the final. Could you talk about that, also the pressure they put on you defensively? They kept you off the board.

CHEVON TROUTMAN: Well, I feel like they were switching all the screens that — or anything we did. Like if we interchanged, like a guard’s too big, they’ll just switch it. They were just frontin’. They was just all over, making it real hard for to pass the ball inside or get the ball wherever you needed it to go.

Q. There’s a lot made this week about you trying to guard them better as opposed to the first time you played. Did you know they were this good defensively?

CHEVON TROUTMAN: They caught us off guard again. We tried to make an adjustment at the beginning of the game but, you know, we made good passes but we just didn’t finish at the bucket.

Q. You say they caught you off guard. What in particular did they do?

CHEVON TROUTMAN: Just being more aggressive than they was last time. We came out pretty strong. Thought that we was gonna start the game off very good, but they came out more aggressive than us.

The ‘Nova team knew Pitt was frustrated, and it just spurred them to contest more shots.

I wish I hadn’t been right about my concerns with having Troutman guard Sumpter. Sumpter was just too quick off the dribble. Troutman ended up committing some bad fouls as he got past him. Being beaten on defense — even before he had to be pulled for most of the first half — took him out of his game on offense. He couldn’t seem to finish.

Taft had a very soft 10 points. It was a poor game for taft despite going 5-9. He didn’t seem to want the ball with all the bodies around him. A few minutes into the second half, Taft completely flubbed a put back dunk because he seemed to be shying from possible contact. As soon as he did, you saw Dixon send Gray to the scorer’s table. Taft didn’t do a good job defensively — letting players go right to the basket and not boxing out for rebounds.

Krauser was very frustrated in the game. He was so lucky not to get a technical when he heaved the ball high into the rafters. He did okay on scoring, but had could not shake his defender, and players were not coming open or coming to the ball. I really am wondering what happened to his free throw shooting. In the last 3-4 games, he is going maybe 50% or a little better. He shot 3-6 on FTs today, and that made no sense.

With Pitt being frustrated at not being able to get the ball inside, and the inability for Krauser and Graves to finish drives to the basket, Pitt kept trying 3s to no avail. Ramon could not find the basket shooting. O-5 on 3s, and a couple were wide open looks. 3-17 shooting 3s as a team. Pitt’s worst shooting game this year.

Pitt’s defense actually was encouraging. They held ‘Nova to 18-54 shooting, and only 5-22 on 3s — and at least 2 of those made 3s were well-contested shots. A big difference, though, was that Villanova can make their free throws. The Wildcats went 26-30 (86.7%). The bigger difference, of course, was that Villanova played even better on defense.

Though it is hard to believe, Pitt played much better in the second half. They just dug themselves too much of a hole in this kind of defensive game. In the first half, Pitt shot 5-24 (20.8%). In the second half, they were 15-33 (45.5%). Turning the ball over 18 times in the game will not help your chances.

Coach Dixon is going to come in for some criticisms. His substitution patterns were questionable to say the least. He gave DeGroat only 2 minutes after DeGroat had played some solid minutes and really contributed in the last 2 games. Kendall, just should not be out there right now. He has no confidence in his game. Benjamin provided a spark on offense, but he didn’t start getting to take shots until late in the second half.

I’m not entirely sure, though, that Dixon should get that much blame. With Pitt’s big 3 having a sub-par game (especially Troutman and Taft) it’s hard to expect a Pitt win.

Pitt played fine on defense. Held them on the 3 point shooting. Problem was Pitt couldn’t handle ‘Nova’s defense. Couldn’t hit a 3 and just let themselves be frustrated by a stifling defense.