Interesting, especially when you consider how it wasn’t reported. After the Pitt loss to Louisville, Palko made some comments about everyone needs to make the effort and put in the work. In fact the context the article put it in was in defending Greg Lee when there were questions about dropped passes. Here’s the part that apparently wasn’t mentioned.

After Pitt’s 42-20 loss Thursday at No. 23 Louisville, Palko said high expectations demand a strong commitment to get better and that some players need to “work harder.” He also pointed out how some players decline to talk to reporters after a poor performance, leaving it to others to answer for them.

That changes a lot of the context. Greg Lee was one of the players who didn’t talk with reporters after the game. H.B. Blades had no problem with what Palko said.

“You have to push people, but some people won’t take it,” Blades said. “I can talk and talk until I can’t talk any more, but if they don’t want to do it then they won’t do it. And those are the people, we all know, who won’t be around.”

Blades and Palko are team captains. They should have a good feel for their teammates. I can’t help but wonder if Palko as a team leader and someone who might have recalled how former Coach Walt Harris made some pointed questions only partially oblique about Lee’s efforts in training camp last year — and how well Lee seemed to respond to the public challenge.

Coach Wannstedt in his press conference today was asked about Palko’s comments.

On Tyler Palko’s comments about the team’s work ethic:

Tyler’s very emotional, and nobody works harder than Tyler. There’s probably nobody on our team, in his mind, that works hard enough. That’s him. That’s what you love about him. He’s constantly not going to challenge guys by what he says, but he’ll challenge them just by example. He works on and off the field in doing all the little things to give himself the best chance to be the best that he can be. I don’t mind that attitude. I think you keep that stuff in-house you know. But I don’t think he was really taking a shot at anybody. I’m sure it was just a little bit of emotion and a little bit of frustration we all had.

Wannstedt wants to keep things from getting out of hand, but this is the second time since the game that there is a story about some players being questioned for their efforts (Does that mean you are backing off your criticisms of Zeise’s piece? Not really, I still think it wasn’t a particularly good effort. Still it is something to cause reconsideration.).

I never made it back to posting on the b-ball team yesterday.

This story discusses how Pitt got off to a slow start, and this one noted how it had a definite warm-up feel.

There’s a reason they call these exhibition games.

It’s not as if Pitt pored over tapes of the Slippery Rock point guards and offensive schemes in preparation for last night’s contest at the Petersen Events Center.

“It’s for us to get better,” Pitt point guard Carl Krauser said. “I won’t ever take anything away from any other team, no matter what division, but it’s about us working on our game.”

And of course the new kids got a lot of love.

Everyone wanted to talk about the new class after the game.

“The young guys really do a good job taking things from practice and carrying them over to the games,” Krauser said.

“They work really hard,” Gray added. “They’re there [in the gym] every day, sometimes some of the first players there.”

Dixon acknowledged the hard-work aspect, but also explained that the freshmen are usually in the gym because there’s no place they’d rather be.

“They like to play, and they like to be in the gym,” he said.

You mean they don’t want to go to class?

Freshman Sam Young, especially, made people stand-up and take notice.

Young showed the 6,813 in attendance, especially the rather-full student section earning their new loyalty points, what his teammates and coaches had known since he’s been at Pitt this fall — he has all the athletic ability in the world.

“He’s an instant highlight,” center Aaron Gray said of Young. “He does his thing every day in practice and he’s going to be a great spark for us all year.”

The 6-foot-6 forward scored eight points in 10 minutes in the second half. It wasn’t necessarily the quantity of the points Young scored as much as it was the quality that got the crowd so excited.

A little more than five minutes into the second half, Young put on his very own one-man slam-dunk spectacular.

After a steal in the backcourt, Young broke in all alone at the hoop closest to the Pitt bench. As the entire Oakland Zoo wondered what would transpire, it was as if his teammates already knew because they were already standing. In LeBron James-like fashion, Young nearly hit his head off the rim as he fully extended his right arm for a tomahawk dunk.

Although it was early November, the Zoo sounded like it was mid-April.

“Having someone like him that can instantly get 12,500 people going crazy, it just adds to our home court advantage,” Gray said.

I’m very happy to read that the students were already showing up ready for this season. A very good thing, and it mostly matches with what Aaron reported.

so, yeah, i was at the game. a few observations, even against “the rock” (haha.) – pitt STILL is just carelessly launching too many threes without working to get the ball inside, especially graves. it was really disconcerting to see pitt, with about a foot on every player for SRU, just continually launch threes before the shot clock hit 25. – krauser looked sharp, looks like he has motivation this year to impress some scouts. – the zoo was rocking last night. i was surprised, since it WAS an exhibition against SRU, but it was pretty good. – i was pretty impressed with the freshmen, since this was the first “game” they were in. fields already looks like the third best G (behind carl and ramon, and ahead of graves and benjamin), although we’ll see how he reacts in the big east. young was impressive in size, but after all the raves from the scrimmage, i expected to see some fireworks, but they weren’t happening. exhibition, i guess. overall, a good exhibition. definitely some quirks to be worked out, though, before we get into december. the next few games should help with this.

A little difference of opinion regarding Young and what he did, though.

I never made it back to posting on the b-ball team yesterday.

This story discusses how Pitt got off to a slow start, and this one noted how it had a definite warm-up feel.

There’s a reason they call these exhibition games.

It’s not as if Pitt pored over tapes of the Slippery Rock point guards and offensive schemes in preparation for last night’s contest at the Petersen Events Center.

“It’s for us to get better,” Pitt point guard Carl Krauser said. “I won’t ever take anything away from any other team, no matter what division, but it’s about us working on our game.”

And of course the new kids got a lot of love.

Everyone wanted to talk about the new class after the game.

“The young guys really do a good job taking things from practice and carrying them over to the games,” Krauser said.

“They work really hard,” Gray added. “They’re there [in the gym] every day, sometimes some of the first players there.”

Dixon acknowledged the hard-work aspect, but also explained that the freshmen are usually in the gym because there’s no place they’d rather be.

“They like to play, and they like to be in the gym,” he said.

You mean they don’t want to go to class?

Freshman Sam Young, especially, made people stand-up and take notice.

Young showed the 6,813 in attendance, especially the rather-full student section earning their new loyalty points, what his teammates and coaches had known since he’s been at Pitt this fall — he has all the athletic ability in the world.

“He’s an instant highlight,” center Aaron Gray said of Young. “He does his thing every day in practice and he’s going to be a great spark for us all year.”

The 6-foot-6 forward scored eight points in 10 minutes in the second half. It wasn’t necessarily the quantity of the points Young scored as much as it was the quality that got the crowd so excited.

A little more than five minutes into the second half, Young put on his very own one-man slam-dunk spectacular.

After a steal in the backcourt, Young broke in all alone at the hoop closest to the Pitt bench. As the entire Oakland Zoo wondered what would transpire, it was as if his teammates already knew because they were already standing. In LeBron James-like fashion, Young nearly hit his head off the rim as he fully extended his right arm for a tomahawk dunk.

Although it was early November, the Zoo sounded like it was mid-April.

“Having someone like him that can instantly get 12,500 people going crazy, it just adds to our home court advantage,” Gray said.

I’m very happy to read that the students were already showing up ready for this season. A very good thing, and it mostly matches with what Aaron reported.

so, yeah, i was at the game. a few observations, even against “the rock” (haha.) – pitt STILL is just carelessly launching too many threes without working to get the ball inside, especially graves. it was really disconcerting to see pitt, with about a foot on every player for SRU, just continually launch threes before the shot clock hit 25. – krauser looked sharp, looks like he has motivation this year to impress some scouts. – the zoo was rocking last night. i was surprised, since it WAS an exhibition against SRU, but it was pretty good. – i was pretty impressed with the freshmen, since this was the first “game” they were in. fields already looks like the third best G (behind carl and ramon, and ahead of graves and benjamin), although we’ll see how he reacts in the big east. young was impressive in size, but after all the raves from the scrimmage, i expected to see some fireworks, but they weren’t happening. exhibition, i guess. overall, a good exhibition. definitely some quirks to be worked out, though, before we get into december. the next few games should help with this.

A little difference of opinion regarding Young and what he did, though.

Considering how many searches are landing here because people are searching desperately for pictures of the NFL Carolina Panthers Cheerleaders who were, uh, talking in a bathroom stall, and the team’s site appears to be non-functioning at the moment, I want to help.

Go to Deadspin who has a couple pics of the ladies in question.

If anyone needs me I’ll be in my bathroom.

UPDATE: Hater Nation also has some pics. Additional, this story has mug shots of the ladies taken into custody (that is one hell of a schnozz on the brunette).

USF is stunned to find itself with a chance to win the conference after the way it had lost in Pittsburgh.

The defeat at Pittsburgh 23 days ago might have been the darkest moment for the University of South Florida football team this year, but it also could be the springboard that lifts the program to its most successful season.

USF head coach Jim Leavitt still talks about the game and still finds himself apologizing for not giving Pittsburgh enough credit.

“I always expect our guys to play, which is why I was so disappointed at Pittsburgh. I was hurting,” Leavitt said. “We got home from Pittsburgh and our team met at midnight. We didn’t play at all. I should’ve given Pittsburgh credit, but I was so mad at our guys.”

After 21 days without a game since Pittsburgh, USF turned in one of its better efforts in a 45-31 win over Rutgers on Saturday. The offense didn’t turn the ball over unlike it did in losses to Penn State, Miami and Pitt. Pat Julmiste didn’t play like the 94th-rated quarterback in the country, avoiding any sacks or turnovers.

For Pitt, the season is down to two games and will decide whether the team extends the season or not.

The Panthers also have to guard against looking ahead to their annual grudge match against West Virginia on Thanksgiving. The players, however, don’t think focusing on the Huskies will be an issue.

“Connecticut is a good team; that’s what our focus has to be right now,” said linebacker H.B. Blades after Thursday’s loss to Louisville. “They beat us last year, so who are we to overlook them? We have to win two games, that’s what is left for us. We just need to put this one behind us and do whatever it takes to beat UConn and then worry about the last one.”

With Bonislawski out of the lineup, the Huskies’ offense has struggled. In the three games since his injury, Connecticut has averaged only 18 points per game. That’s about half of what the Huskies averaged the first five games of the season.

The Huskies, though, have been competitive in two of their past three games — the Mountaineers pounded the Huskies, 45-17 — because of their defense, which is one of the best in the Big East. The Huskies lead the conference in scoring defense (18.4 ppg), passing defense (148.5 yds per game) and are second in total defense (294.4).

One factor might be turnovers, which is not good news for the Panthers. Connecticut is second in turnover margin (plus-6), which is an area in which Pitt has struggled. The Panthers are ranked 72nd in the NCAA in turnover margin (minus-0.33 per game) and three of their five losses were largely because of turnovers.

Going back to the Louisville game, though, exposed Pitt’s run defense once again.

Wannstedt was not ecstatic about how his defense played in the second half. Louisville had just four possessions (not including when it recovered a fumble with 8 seconds to go in the fourth quarter), but it scored on every one of them and consumed more than 21 minutes of game clock.

Leading 22-20 at the start of the third quarter, the Cardinals moved 64 yards on six plays for a touchdown. Tailback Michael Bush, limping in and out of the huddle with a badly sprained foot, bulled in from 3 yards out.

That TD lunge with 12:41 left in the third was Bush’s final play of the game because of the injury. Yet, he finished with 115 yards on only 16 carries, including a 40-yard burst, and two scores.

“Yeah, he broke one or two (runs),” Blades said. “Things are going to happen. It wasn’t anything that he did special. It was people not being in the right gaps. That will kill you every time. He’s a big back, but he wasn’t running as physical as we’d seen on film, in my opinion.”

Imagine what it would have been like if Bush, who averaged 7.2 yards per carry against Pitt, had been healthy and played the entire game.

As it was, two backups — junior Kolby Smith and redshirt freshman George Stripling — filled in ably for Bush. They combined for 104 yards, all but 2 of it coming in the second half.

If you want something more to worry about, UConn has a solid 1-2 punch at running back in Cornell Brockington (who ran all over Pitt last season) and the now healthy Terry Caulley. UConn averages 191.6 yards/game on the ground.

A columnist at the Pitt News calls out Greg Lee to perform more consistently. He even makes the comparison to Chris Taft.

What wasn’t expected, however, was that the Panthers’ big-play receiver would disappear when it came time to make a big play in a big-play situation.

Too many times this season — about two or three per game — fans have been left stunned, standing in their aisle with their hands above their head, questioning what just happened.
…
You can’t argue against Lee’s numbers, because they are there. He’s caught 41 passes for 805 yards and five touchdowns, but his inconsistency reminds you of a former Pitt athlete that also put up the numbers — Chris Taft.

And you know how many times we questioned Taft as to whether he was going to show up last season.

Well, the same goes for Lee. There are two games left, and Pitt needs to win just one to become bowl eligible. That’s tough to do without your top receiver.

He’ll have his chances. Palko, Dave Wannstedt and the rest of the team have not lost confidence in him. At least they haven’t stated that, and Wannstedt believes Lee just had a bad game.

It’s time to forget about the bad games and move on. It’s also time to forget about Fitzgerald and Bryant comparisons if you haven’t already.

For Pitt to be successful, Lee needs to start playing to the level of at least a Latef Grim or R.J. English, who were both very solid, dependable receivers — and I stress dependable.

Always great when you can sneak in a mention of R.J. English.