Well, I was all set to start ripping on the local papers for not doing much in the way of coverage of Pitt basketball. Figured this was the result of the newspapers being lazy about a team that isn’t a pre-season top-25 like last year. Then I made the mistake of checking the PSB archives to compare things to this time of year. Well, so much for that plan.

The difference, I would say, is that I am that much more aware of all of the other blogs and coverages of teams than I was last year or even the year before. So, I notice a crapload of UConn, Syracuse, Louisville even some Rutgers b-ball coverage, and don’t even get me started on what is coming from outside the BE and the all-b-ball blogs. Then there has been nothing from the Pittsburgh dailies other than BE media day and a couple stories on the exhibition game.

Anyways, a pretty good puff piece on Carl Krauser and coming back for his final season at Pitt.

Krauser, last season’s starting point guard and de facto team captain, believed he might be playing rather than practicing in early November. Just a few months earlier, he declared for the NBA Draft, though he did not hire an agent. He attended the pre-draft camps. He rode the yellow school buses from the hotel to games. He ate fast food. He packed the equipment. He trained in front of scouts and general managers.

Then, he made the final decision. He was withdrawing his name from the draft and returning to Pitt, where last year he was the team’s leading scorer at 16.0 points per game.

“Three reasons,” Krauser said. “I wanted to get my degree, I wanted to be with my son (who turned 1 in August) and I wanted to play at Pitt again.”
…
This year’s team needs Krauser. He’ll be a calming influence on a young nucleus still unfamiliar with Dixon’s physical play, yet he’s able to match them in exuberance and creativity.

“I’ll be a teacher,” Krauser said. “I’ll show them how to do things.”

Had Krauser not returned, the Panthers would have been without their top three leading scorers and 44.3 of their 73.3 points per game. Taft was NBA-bound, and bruising inside star Chevon Troutman graduated.

Had Krauser not returned, he wouldn’t get one more year to learn basketball, one more year to get his degree in legal studies, one more year to see his son virtually whenever he wants.

Now, I freely to admit having questions about how much he really wanted to come back to Pitt and get his degree. I have no doubts, though, that he wanted to be able to see his son on something approaching a regular basis. That has appeared to have been the one big thing. While I hope he does get to and stay in the NBA after this season, most of the reports on Krauser and what he is probably keenly aware of — he will likely have to go overseas to earn a living playing b-ball.

He made the decision to stay relatively near his son for another year. I’m not going to argue with that.

Frank Burlison of Scout.com/Fox Sports ranks the BE this season. He puts Pitt at #7

Frank’s spin: Coach Jamie Dixon lost the bulk of his post attack (Chevon Troutman and Chris Taft) but has an even stronger perimeter than he anticipated because guard Carl Krauser removed his name from the NBA Draft pool when it became apparent to all that he wasn’t going to be drafted as a junior. Junior forward Levon Kendall dropped 40 points on Team USA while playing for Canada in the 21-under World Championships in Argentina in the summer. Watch how productive forward Sam Young is for Dixon; he’s got a solid opportunity to be the Big East Freshman of the Year.

Postseason possibilities: The return of Krauser, the improvement of Kendall and the addition of Young helps the Panthers get their fifth consecutive NCAA tourney bid.

Pitt will likely be sweating the bubble this season.

Well, I was all set to start ripping on the local papers for not doing much in the way of coverage of Pitt basketball. Figured this was the result of the newspapers being lazy about a team that isn’t a pre-season top-25 like last year. Then I made the mistake of checking the PSB archives to compare things to this time of year. Well, so much for that plan.

The difference, I would say, is that I am that much more aware of all of the other blogs and coverages of teams than I was last year or even the year before. So, I notice a crapload of UConn, Syracuse, Louisville even some Rutgers b-ball coverage, and don’t even get me started on what is coming from outside the BE and the all-b-ball blogs. Then there has been nothing from the Pittsburgh dailies other than BE media day and a couple stories on the exhibition game.

Anyways, a pretty good puff piece on Carl Krauser and coming back for his final season at Pitt.

Krauser, last season’s starting point guard and de facto team captain, believed he might be playing rather than practicing in early November. Just a few months earlier, he declared for the NBA Draft, though he did not hire an agent. He attended the pre-draft camps. He rode the yellow school buses from the hotel to games. He ate fast food. He packed the equipment. He trained in front of scouts and general managers.

Then, he made the final decision. He was withdrawing his name from the draft and returning to Pitt, where last year he was the team’s leading scorer at 16.0 points per game.

“Three reasons,” Krauser said. “I wanted to get my degree, I wanted to be with my son (who turned 1 in August) and I wanted to play at Pitt again.”
…
This year’s team needs Krauser. He’ll be a calming influence on a young nucleus still unfamiliar with Dixon’s physical play, yet he’s able to match them in exuberance and creativity.

“I’ll be a teacher,” Krauser said. “I’ll show them how to do things.”

Had Krauser not returned, the Panthers would have been without their top three leading scorers and 44.3 of their 73.3 points per game. Taft was NBA-bound, and bruising inside star Chevon Troutman graduated.

Had Krauser not returned, he wouldn’t get one more year to learn basketball, one more year to get his degree in legal studies, one more year to see his son virtually whenever he wants.

Now, I freely to admit having questions about how much he really wanted to come back to Pitt and get his degree. I have no doubts, though, that he wanted to be able to see his son on something approaching a regular basis. That has appeared to have been the one big thing. While I hope he does get to and stay in the NBA after this season, most of the reports on Krauser and what he is probably keenly aware of — he will likely have to go overseas to earn a living playing b-ball.

He made the decision to stay relatively near his son for another year. I’m not going to argue with that.

Frank Burlison of Scout.com/Fox Sports ranks the BE this season. He puts Pitt at #7

Frank’s spin: Coach Jamie Dixon lost the bulk of his post attack (Chevon Troutman and Chris Taft) but has an even stronger perimeter than he anticipated because guard Carl Krauser removed his name from the NBA Draft pool when it became apparent to all that he wasn’t going to be drafted as a junior. Junior forward Levon Kendall dropped 40 points on Team USA while playing for Canada in the 21-under World Championships in Argentina in the summer. Watch how productive forward Sam Young is for Dixon; he’s got a solid opportunity to be the Big East Freshman of the Year.

Postseason possibilities: The return of Krauser, the improvement of Kendall and the addition of Young helps the Panthers get their fifth consecutive NCAA tourney bid.

Pitt will likely be sweating the bubble this season.

Well I survived the week despite putting Rutgers in the top-25. They sure did their part to validate that pick. Boston College in its first year in the ACC showed them what they have showed everyone for years in the Big East — the slow fade away. Expect them to win whatever minor bowl they end up in, though.

The full blogpoll results are here, along with individual votes. My votes are as follows. Sorry about the limited comments and not posting my ballot until now, but time has been minimal this week.

1. Southern California — Romp
2. Texas — Romp
3. Miami (Florida) — Impressive
4. Alabama — Shakier every week
5. Notre Dame — Probably a little too high
6. Virginia Tech — Just as I came to fully believe they weren’t going to collapse
7. Louisiana State —
8. Ohio State —
9. Penn State —
10. West Virginia — Backyard Brawl is now looking like their second most important game of the season
11. Georgia — Hanging on until Shockley returns
12. Florida — Vandy? Had to get help from the refs to beat Vandy?
13. Auburn — Beat somebody, please
14. Texas Tech — Eh, maybe
15. Wisconsin — Not as good as it seemed
16. Florida State —
17. UCLA — Epic collapse
18. TCU —
19. Michigan —
20. Oregon —
21. Fresno State —
22. Colorado — 3rd best team in the Big 12
23. Louisville — Try to win on the road, occasionally
24. Northwestern — Wheeee
25. Georgia Tech —

In: Louisville and Northwestern
Out: Boston College and Rutgers
Standing By: Um…
Games Seen whole or in part: UConn-WVU, Pitt-L-ville, Miami-VT, Alabama-MSU, Tenn-ND, Wisc-PSU, Vandy-Fla.

The boys at Every Day Should Be Saturday, have a tremendous thread going on what music should be used as a team takes the field.

Now since I am admittedly so far out of the loop these days with music, I’ll turn it over to you to help come up with one for Pitt.

A very interesting story about former Pitt and Colt Fullback Randy McMillan (hat tip to Stratton).

He didn’t quite have the grades initially to get into a major college, but he dominated at Harford Community College for two years, and University of Pittsburgh coach Jackie Sherrill practically begged him to become a Panther. Oklahoma, Nebraska and Penn State wanted him, too, but when Sherrill introduced him to Dorsett, it was an easy decision.

“Tony Dorsett is the only reason I went to Pitt,” McMillan says. “He was my idol.”

McMillan didn’t even get the ball much in college, especially after a brash, young quarterback named Dan Marino showed up on campus, but he was such a good athlete, by the time he was a senior, NFL teams were intrigued by his potential. He was 6 feet 1, 220 pounds, and could run a 40-yard dash in 4.57 seconds. He could easily dunk a basketball, even though his hands were too small to palm one. Dolphins coach Don Shula told McMillan at the Senior Bowl that if he was available when it was Miami’s turn to draft in the first round, the club planned to grab him with the 13th pick. He showed up in New York for the 1981 draft, dreaming of sandy beaches, warm breezes and the beautiful women of South Beach.

“Baltimore had the 12th pick, and right before they went, John Madden says on TV, ‘I think they might be thinking about Randy McMillan here,'” McMillan says. “I wasn’t thinking about the Colts at all. They’d just drafted Curtis Dickey out of Texas A&M the year before. But they picked me. After they made their pick, Madden looked at me and said, ‘Well, are you happy?’ I said, ‘I’m ecstatic.’ But really, I wasn’t. I couldn’t tell the truth.”

He didn’t have a fantastic career, but he was doing okay until a car accident. He still made a life for himself after football, but another accident left him in a wheelchair. He fell into a depression, that old friends eventually pulled him out of. The unintentionally funniest line in the story, though:

“Gerry was really the sunshine in my life, to be honest,” McMillan says. “I hate to say that about another guy, but it’s true. Without him, I don’t know that I’d have any contact with anybody.”

Really, the whole story is very interesting, but that is just classic.

Meanwhile in high school the WPIAL AAA semifinal is tomorrow night and Pitt commits on each team will face-off.

Dickerson and Nix have met a few times at camps and also at Pitt games this season. Tomorrow, they will most certainly meet again, helmet to helmet.

Dickerson is a star receiver/running back/quarterback/defensive back at West Allegheny, while Nix is a standout running back/linebacker for Thomas Jefferson. Two slices of Pitt’s future will be on display on the artificial turf at Moon.

“I’m sure we both have something to prove to each other,” Nix said. “The fact that we’ll be on the same team next year brings a little more attention to this game. Hopefully, we’ll show people what Pitt is going to get.”

And hopefully, this sort of storyline/angle will become stock.

Then there was a Q&A with Dorin Dickerson.

Q: What is the most unique thing to happen since you committed to Pitt?

A: I took a bunch of sophomores to the Pitt-USF game. We were walking to get something to eat at halftime, and this whole section stood up and started clapping for me. The other guys were laughing at me. I was embarrassed. I was like, ‘Whoa! Uh, thank you.’ I’d go to the bathroom or get something to eat, and dads would bring their little kids up and ask me for an autograph. I’m not used to all that stuff.

A little disturbed by the bathroom approach is, but the rest is cool. You can also bet that his younger classmates took note of how he was treated for staying home.

Well the Connecticut papers are a little more focused on basketball getting started. Those vital exhibition games. The Pittsburgh papers are just the opposite. Completely ignoring basketball (presumably they might start to pay a little attention after Saturday with a week-and-a-half lay-off for Pitt before the Backyard Brawl).

The only story out of Storrs is that the Huskies are trying to stay loose.

After exiting the room just as his sophomore free safety, Marvin Taylor, was about to talk with the media, Edsall felt comfortable in throwing a little jab Taylor’s way.

“You going to talk about your receding hairline?” the coach said with a laugh.

“Don’t worry,” Taylor whispered to reporters. “I’ll get him later.”

It has been more than a month since their last victory and they are facing a difficult finishing stretch, but Edsall insists his Huskies (4-4) aren’t ready to throw in the towel.

UConn Coach Randy Edsall is a Central Pennsylvania native, so there’s an article about him and recruiting the area in the Harrisburg paper.

As far as Edsall is concerned, Connecticut needs to keep central Pennsylvania in its recruiting plans.

“As long as we can continue our recruiting success in central Pennsylvania, it can’t help but be good for our program,” Edsall said.

There are seven players on the roster from that area, but he gets a puff piece and a chance to sell the program in the paper. UConn has another seven from Western PA and a few others from the eastern part of the state.

The Pitt stories are both on WR Greg Lee. Lee was finally made available to the media and he stressed that he hasn’t lost confidence and no one has in him.

Those dropped passes by Pitt wide receiver Greg Lee were a big deal then, but as they say, “this is now.” How else would Lee be expected to view Saturday’s Heinz Field finale for the Panthers against Connecticut?

Speaking publicly Wednesday for the first time since suffering through a miserable performance in Pitt’s 42-20 loss at Louisville on Nov. 2, the junior from Tampa, Fla., who leads the Big East Conference in receiving yards, is determined to bounce back from a game that saw him catch seven passes but fail to hold on to four others.

Two of the drops occurred on a crucial Panthers drive early in the third quarter, when Pitt (4-5, 3-2 Big East) was still in range of Louisville, 29-20.

“I’m my toughest critic. No one can get on me as tough as I can. It’s over and done. There’s nothing I can do about it now. I’m just trying to move on,” Lee said.

Of course, Lee might be a little more sensitive than he is admitting.

Lee said one of the things that has helped him get through this tough time is the support from his teammates, coaches and, for the most part, fans. He said many of the students have been very supportive, too — with the exception of one group.

“It hasn’t been that tough because I don’t let things like that bother me that much,” he said. “Some classmates [have been critical], like we have a local school newspaper called the Pitt News that just ripped me up the other day. I mean, they tore me up, and they were talking all kinds of stuff about me. But it is what it is. I’m learning that when you are up they will support you and it is natural, but, when you are not winning, they’ll point the fingers at you.

“I don’t mind, I guess if you are going to point fingers, point them at me, that’s fine.”

That Pitt News story was hardly vicious (except for the comparison to Chris Taft). It essentially said the same thing everyone else has said and written. Lee has been inconsistent this season.

For Pitt, the special teams came under the microscope today. Kick Returner/WR Terrell Allen came in for a tough but fair piece.

The two plays highlighted Allen’s potential — and his shortcomings.

A lapse in concentration led to Allen’s fumble on the opening kick. His speed and athleticism allowed him to tear off a 97-yard return on the second kick.

And a streak of immaturity was why Allen was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct on his long runback for a score.

“Did you see the first kickoff? And did you see what he did when he scored the touchdown?” Panthers coach Dave Wannstedt said. “That’s why he’s not a consistent receiver.”

It’s also the reason Allen was kept far away from reporters after the game and during scheduled interview sessions this week.

In the mind of the coaching staff, Allen’s biggest crime Thursday was not having slippery fingers near the goal line. It was taking a swan dive into the end zone as he scored to tie the game 7-7.

“That was a very poor decision and not a team-based decision,” special teams coach Charlie Partridge said. “That will get you taken off the field a lot quicker than a mishandled kick.”

I imagine Allen feels quite frustrated himself, at this point. A high potential recruit who came on late in his freshman year in the return game in 2003, and expected to be fighting for a starting WR job in 2004. Instead, gets injured in the spring and has to miss the entire season. Gets injured again during the off-season practices and again falls behind many other wide receivers. Doesn’t even get to return kicks until about halfway through the season. Not what anyone foresaw.

The other article on the special teams highlights other negatives to date, but does try to note the positives.

While negative plays have gotten most of the attention, the special teams have contributed plenty of positive plays, too. Place-kicker Josh Cummings is having another spectacular season after having knee surgery after the Nebraska game, punt returner Darrelle Revis has been excellent all season and Allen has been a good kick returner.

The Panthers also have returned two kickoffs and a punt for a touchdown, marking the first time they have had at least one of each since 1977. Pitt also is one of three Division I-A teams (TCU and North Carolina) to have two kickoffs returned for a touchdown this year.

So, there is that.

Of course, there is another wide receiver having a tough year.

Even if it hasn’t been a particularly good year to be a UConn wide receiver, Jason Williams won’t admit it.

To do so would be akin to pointing fingers or shirking responsibility and that’s not Williams’ style.

Williams leads the Huskies with 25 receptions. It’s a total well below the expectations he had for himself coming into his senior year.

Williams is also from McKeesport, so he has been looking forward to this game.

It looks like UConn won’t name their starting QB until game time. As indicated by having Jason Williams, the trip to Pittsburgh is an important recruiting trip for UConn.

“We recruit a lot in western Pennsylvania. (Defensive coordinator) Todd Orlando, who’s from Central Catholic High School out there in Pittsburgh, has recruited that area since we’ve been here,” Edsall said. “We’ve been able to get some quality student-athletes to come here and contribute to our program.

“It’s always going to be an area that we recruit. It’s a tough area to recruit because of the … teams that are out there (recruiting) in that area — all the Big Ten teams, and really, everybody in the country.”

Now, if only we could return the favor occasionally with some of their basketball talent.

Coach Wannstedt was not even publicly bothered by H.B. Blades’ comments from yesterday. No reason he should. Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads, though, seemed to indicate that he would have preferred a little more discretion.

I know, where has the free ice cream been today?

Those of you with kids will understand.

Took my daughter for a flu shot yesterday. It worked. Really, really well.

She was sick by 9 pm.

Needless to say, it was a fun night. It was an even better day with her.

Okay Game Notes for Pitt and UConn (PDFs). Thomas Smith is the only Pitt starter who is day-to-day with a toe injury.

This of course is Pitt’s final home game and that makes it Senior Day. Coach Wannstedt is all gooey over it, well not really.

On the seniors’ emotions as they go into their last home game:

It’s probably something that you don’t give much though to until the day after. You’re going through the season and they say, “This is the last game.” Maybe it’s in the locker room when it really hits you that this is the last time that, “Hey this is the last time that I’m going to be, not necessarily with these guys, but the last time I’m going to be running out of that tunnel and with the team in this locker room.” That probably is the biggest emotional type of feeling that the guys would feel.

I’ve got to think about it a little more to be very honest with you. I haven’t given it a whole lot of thought. My focus has been on what we’ve got to do to try to win this game. The best thing that I can do is to do my part and whatever I can do to get a win this week so that they would leave winning a football game in their last game at Pitt at home.
…
On members of this year’s senior class going on to play professionally:

Oh yeah, I [think so]. I don’t think it would be fair to comment, but we’ll definitely have some guys go on and have the opportunity to play at the next level.

Over on the UConn side of things, they have become one big freaking M*A*S*H unit this season.

UConn fullback Lou Allen will undergo surgery today on his right hand to repair the broken finger he suffered in last week’s loss to West Virginia. Allen, a redshirt freshman from Salem, could be out for the season.

In addition, cornerback Jimmy McClam is trying to recover from an injury to his right ACL, which also came during the West Virginia game. Coach Randy Edsall said Monday he wasn’t sure if McClam’s injury would require surgery, but that the true freshman would not play again this season.

“We’ve basically lost Jimmy for the rest of the year and Lou for at least a few weeks,” Edsall said.

The injury to Allen leaves the depth in UConn’s backfield slim. Starter Terry Caulley and reserve Cornell Brockington are there, but Allen and Larry Taylor have been lost to injury. In addition, freshman fullback Anthony Barksdale isn’t 100 percent healthy, either.

“We’re down to 2 backs,” Edsall said. “We’ve got Terry. We’ve got Brock. Anthony Barksdale is going to have surgery as soon as the season is over.”

Then there is the QB situation. Starter Matt Bonislawski went down with a broken collarbone last month as they were beating up on Syracuse. Back-up redshirt freshman D.J. Hernandez took over and then he went down with an injury. That left freshman Dennis Brown to start the last 2 games (both losses). Hernandez actually relieved Brown in the last game, and will likely be the starter versus Pitt. Hernandez has mobility and could be a problem for Pitt.

UConn booted their punter down the depth chart in favor of a walk-on.

Looks like Pitt could be moving up its road game against a potentially tough mid-major.

The Panthers have reached a tentative deal to play at Central Florida next season instead of 2008. The non-conference schedule next season will include home games against Virginia (Sept. 2), Toledo (Sept. 9) and Michigan State (Sept. 16) and the trip to the Central Florida.

The Panthers, who have three Big East Conference homes games, are still in search of a fifth non-conference game, which will be at home against a Division I-AA opponent, likely The Citadel, a Southern Conference team. But the athletic department is still holding out hope that it will find a Division I-A foe to fill the schedule.

Also, the Virginia game, which is the opener, is likely to be moved to Aug. 31 (Thursday) or Sept. 3 (Sunday) and be nationally televised. The Toledo game also might be moved to later in the season to break up consecutive road games and a conference away game would move into that earlier date.

UCF under George O’Leary has engineered a surprising turnaround this season. From coming in with one of the longest losing streaks to being bowl eligible. I would not consider this game a gimmee next season.

The piece also notes that a bluish-chip recruit, Jovani Chappel, will make an official visit to Pitt this weekend along with others. Chappel is considered anywhere from #31 to #43 in rankings of Cornerbacks in the country despite being only 5′ 8″. Rivals.com also has him listed as the 20th best recruit in Ohio. He has already given a “soft” verbal to Purdue, so it is unclear how interested he actually is in Pitt.

Honestly, this whole mini-flap over what Palko said seems a bit forced. His comments were made Thursday night following the loss, and there was no mention of a controversy or problem until Monday afternoon. Even H.B. Blades’ follow-up/echoing comments don’t strike me as terribly problematic. There are only 2 games left in the season. Kind of late to worry about a split in the locker room. Not to mention no names were named.

Still, it’s the news, so it is time to see what it is. Blades had the tougher follow-up comments that are now the story.

“I think some of the guys feel sorry for themselves,” Blades said. “In high school, some guys are hot recruits and they can do whatever they want to do. Then, they come here and it’s a totally different story.

“You have to do things a certain way — the right way. I think some guys are just now getting used to that. There’s going to be a lot of changes. People are going to have to shape up or ship out.”

That Palko and Blades would voice their concerns is no surprise. The two juniors are the most fiercely competitive players on Pitt’s roster.

“You have to push people,” Blades said. “Some people just don’t want to take it. I can talk and talk until I can’t talk anymore, but if they don’t want to do it, they don’t want to do it.

“Those are the people that we know will not be around next year. I’m going to be a senior next year, so I’m not messing around.”

No one has ever doubted Blades’ sincerity. One of the elite linebackers in the Big East, he leads the league with 108 tackles.

Against Louisville, Blades made 20 tackles, as many as the next three players on the list — cornerback Darrelle Revis, free safety Tez Morris and weak-side linebacker J.J. Horne — combined. Blades’ amazing effort included 14 solo stops and one forced fumble.

“To be honest, I shouldn’t have to make 20 tackles in a game,” Blades said. “For us to be the defense that we want to be, everybody should be in there, making as many plays as they can — not just me or Josh (Lay) or Tez. Not just one person.”

Blades more interesting comments regarded the starters not working with and trying to help the younger players, the back-ups get better.

Blades spends a lot of time going over schemes and techniques with his backup, redshirt freshman Scott McKillop. Blades wants to make sure McKillop could step in ably if needed.

“I think that’s what we’re missing — a lot of the older guys are not stepping up and trying to be a (role model) for their backups,” Blades said.

Bloodlines always sound good, but rarely does it seem to match — unless they have that something inside. Blades would appear to have “it.”

“I have to be the best,” Blades added. “I have to be better than the person in front of me. I love football because it’s all about heart. If you don’t have any heart, no matter how talented you are, you’ll never play. And that’s why I love the game. It’s just like life. It’s never the ones that are more talented that succeed. It’s always the ones that want it more. They fight more than anybody else to get to where they want to be.”

I don’t think any Pitt fans are going to lose any respect for Blades. What he is saying, is stuff the fans want to hear.

“I expect a lot of things to be changed around here, it is crunch time, you know?,” Blades said. “I didn’t come here to be a part of a mediocre football team, I want to win a championship, that’s the reason I came to school here, but who is actually going to go out and do everything they can to win – that’s the difference. It takes a lot more than talk to get to where you want to be.”

Blades said he and Palko and many others on the team are frustrated by losing but believe a major reason they are losing is that not every player has made the commitment to be the best they can be. He said that will change next season because the Panthers have a recruiting class full of players who come from championship programs that have a championship mentality.

“Tyler’s all heart and he’s like me — he just wants to win. We can’t be sitting around saying “I hope I don’t upset this person” because some of them are going to get hurt, but my feelings have been hurt along the way all the time by my uncle [former NFL player Al Blades],” Blades said. “But he was honest with me because he wanted me to succeed. That’s the feeling Tyler and I and a lot of other guys have — we hate losing and will do whatever it takes to win but you’re only as strong as your weakest link.

“You have to push people, sometimes people don’t want to take it. I can talk to people but if they don’t want to do it, they don’t want to do it and those are the guys that we know are not going to be around. I’m going to be a senior next year, my last year, and I’m not messing around.”

[Emphasis added.]

Coach Wannstedt may publicly be saying he’d have preferred to “keep that stuff in-house,” but you know privately he has to be thrilled to see the team leaders being vocal. They have bought into his program, his way and they are making sure the rest of the team knows there is only one way.

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).