With the blowouts in football this afternoon, I was actually able to catch several Big East teams playing basketball. Villanova looks really good. Georgetown is upper-half. Cinci is lower-middle of the BE and Notre Dame looks destined for the NIT once again.

The Oakland Zoo may not be a fully student run operation any longer, at least it was started by students and does not have to worry about a name change in the event of a coaching change. Unlike Auburn’s Lebo’s Lunatics student cheering group.

As mentioned yesterday, Jeff Lebo and his father Dave were in Carlisle, PA last night for the christening of Lebo Court. Carlisle had to come back to win the actual game, and unsurprisingly the place was packed with “countless members of the extended family.” And if they were anything like the numerous “Lebos” I knew at the time in Lebanon, “extended” is just a polite euphemism for “no relation, other than a name, that failed miserably as an opening with girls in attempts to get laid.” But that could have just been my little corner of Central PA.

Anyhow, Game Notes from both Pitt and Auburn (PDF for both) are out. This is the first time Pitt and Auburn have ever faced each other in a major sport (and of course, that means football or men’s basketball). According to the Pitt game notes that leaves Kansas State, Texas Tech and Wake Forest as the only teams from the other 5 BCS conferences that Pitt has never faced in b-ball or football.

This is what Jeff Lebo had to say about going to face Pitt:

“We are going to a whole different arena and place now. We are going to play in a hostile environment. Pitt is a very big, physical team. They have a terrific player in Carl Krauser. They have had extra time to get ready for us. They are by far the best defensive team that we will have faced. They are a very physical team. Pittsburgh is always very physical. They are a team that over the last five years has almost averaged 25 wins a season. You are looking at a team here recently that has been really, really good and especially good at home. It will be good for Ronny to get back to Pennsylvania. He will have a lot of family coming to the game. It will be another tough test for us. This has been a tough stretch with three games this week, two of them on the road, and a lot of miles in-between. It will give them a little taste of what it is like in the SEC.”

“Ronny” is Senior Guard and Auburn’s leading scorer, Ronny LeMelle of Bishop McDevitt High in Harrisburg. He is expecting around 40 friends and family in attendance.

There was an article on Pitt’s struggles to shoot the 3. Specifically, Graves, Ramon and Krauser are shooting a combined 19-57 (.333) — and the team as a whole is shooting 33%. Naturally, Coach Dixon expressed no concern long-term over this. I’m a little more concerned. Last year, the team’s worst game in the non-con portion of the schedule — where the defense wasn’t as strong — was 35%. This has been the 3-point shooting % for each game so far in order played: 47.6, 37.5, 27.3, 20. That isn’t exactly an encouraging trend.

Sort of.

This is a big recruiting weekend for Pitt.

A number of potential recruits are making official visits to campus, and Pitt hopes to close the deal with some top out-of-state players, such as defensive lineman McKenzie Mathews from New York and quarterback Thaddeus Lewis from Florida. Others, such as running back Kevin Collier, have committed to the Panthers but have suitors elsewhere and have at least taken a second look.

A little more than two hours away in Columbus, Ohio, one of the Panthers more highly touted recruits, offensive lineman Joe Thomas from Cleveland, is making an official visit to Ohio State, which recently started pressing him to change his commitment. Pitt coaches have been working hard to keep Thomas because he is so important to the team’s future, given the Panthers shortcomings on the offensive line.
…
“Our top priority right now has to be recruiting, because we are in a lot of battles for a lot of great kids,” Wannstedt said. “I think the encouraging thing is the battles that we are in. We’re fighting off the Ohio State’s, the Michigan’s, the Penn State’s, the USC’s, those are the types of kids we’re going after and we’ve gotten. So it is exciting right now, but we have to close strong in order to get to where we want to be, and we believe we will.”

So far, Pitt has been holding its own in the recruiting battles. Winning some (Dorin Dickerson) and losing some (Darrin Walls). Obviously, Pitt needs to win a few of these battles for the highly ranked high school kids who have waited until closer to signing day; and at the same time continue to shepherd and hand-hold the early commits who are still being pursued. To this point, Coach Wannstedt and the staff have handled the balancing far better than I imagined.

The other part of the equation won’t begin until after the new year.

“We will have a more demanding offseason program and we will ask for more accountability. I know the pulse of this team and I have a good idea what we need to do. I take it personal that we were not as good as we wanted to be. Nobody is more disappointed than me. But we’re not sitting here feeling sorry for ourselves, we’ve already gotten to work and will continue to do so every day until we line up to play Virginia in September.

“Our fans deserve better than what they got this year, I know that, and I share a lot of the blame for that. But that chapter is over and we are going to move forward and upward from this point on.”

In addition to recruiting, Wannstedt is dealing with a host of other issues. He will meet with his staff and evaluate their performances later this month. He will meet with a number of players to discuss their future with the team. And he will prepare to make a number of changes, not only in his approach, but in how he and the rest of the coaching staff use the limited time they have with the players.

He said he doesn’t anticipate any major staff changes, but that is subject to change based on his review of the coaches. He expects to advise a few players to look elsewhere to finish their careers because they might not be part of the Panthers’ plans, but he won’t force anyone to leave.

I didn’t think he would advise DC Paul Rhoads to look elsewhere, but I can hope.

OC Matt Cavanaugh needs to re-learn a lot of things. Starting with the layout of a college football field and where the hashmarks are. If he makes that excuse again next season about the hashmarks being at different spots than in the NFL, well, Pitt alum and QB of the last national champion team or not, he has to go. Because it would prove beyond a doubt that his heart isn’t in being in the college game.

This past week, Coach Wannstedt had held court with the media in his office — must have been crowded — for an unofficial review of the first season.

“Right now, the priority is recruiting,” Wannstedt said. “But I’ll sit down and have an evaluation and a long discussion with all the coaches. … I think I’ve got an outstanding coaching staff. I’m not saying that we’re not going to juggle some things, but everyone has to be accountable.”

In order to bolster Pitt’s recruiting efforts in eastern Pennsylvania, Wannstedt assigned offensive line coach Paul Dunn and tight ends coach Greg Gattusso to that area. But the entire staff, spearheaded by Wannstedt, is responsible for the WPIAL. And the head coach remained adamant that Pitt will dominate recruiting in its backyard even though West Virginia coach Rick Rodriguez took offense to that statement prior to their Thanksgiving game.

“I wasn’t just directing it at him,” Wannstedt said. “I was directing it to everybody. That was not a direct shot at West Virginia. I was putting everybody on notice.

“The motivation is to get this program to be top-10 program in all phases. That’s on the field, in recruiting and in the classroom. And it’s going to happen, because I’m bound and determined to make that happen.”

One thing Wannstedt seems to have realized — and I’m shocked he didn’t realize this — is that these are college kids, not professionals drawing a paycheck with a bunch of other things in their lives.

Improvements need to be made off the field, as well. Wannstedt said he has realized why college coaches always emphasize offseason conditioning and team get-togethers.

“The season starts so fast,” he said. “You show up in August, you have a couple scrimmages and then you’re into the season. You don’t really establish that chemistry and bonding stuff.”

At most teams’ preseason camps, the coaches and players gather every day for weeks for early-morning runs or other types of get-to-know-you events. Last summer, the Panthers did that for just a couple of days.

“Back then, I said, ‘Aw, we don’t need to do that,’ ” Wannstedt said. “Well, we do. And we will.”

Wannstedt said it took until the middle of the season before the Panthers rebounded from their opening loss against Notre Dame.

“When you go into a season like we did (this) year, where there was so much excitement, there were some real traps being laid out — and I believe we fell into them,” he said.

I can understand why the defensive coaching staff didn’t say anything to him. They were retained by Wannstedt and were still feeling him out and whether he was looking for an excuse to run him off. I just can’t believe coaches he brought in like Dunn and Gattuso didn’t take him aside and say, “Uh, Dave, listen…”

It also confuses me, when before the season started, Coach Wannstedt was doing all of the activities to help get the students fired up for the season. Attending pep rallies and bonfires, I mean it sounds a bit like ass-covering now from Wannstedt to have not realized it applied to the team as well.

All the same, Coach Wannstedt has such exuberance for the job and wanting to win, that it is infectious to those who come in contact with him, including the media. Everyone wants to believe.

Paul Zeise has his final Q&A for the year. Looks like he won’t do another one until a week or two before NLI day.

Q: Do you think Joe Thomas and Kevin Collier will remain committed to Pitt? And what about John Malecki now that he is hearing from other schools?

Zeise: If I had to handicap it now, based on what I know and conversations I’ve had, Malecki is no doubt coming to Pitt. That is not even a question. Collier,I think, is pretty firm as well. Thomas, well, that one is going to be a battle. So far Pitt has held its own, but he visits Ohio State this weekend, so I guess it would be an understatement to say this is a critical time in his recruitment. The one thing the Panthers have going for them is that he is scheduled to visit Pitt either next weekend or the weekend after, so coach Wannstedt and company will have a chance to secure his commitment even after he gets the full court press from Ohio State. I’d say stay tuned on that one. I think it will be very interesting to see what happens with a lot of these linemen that Pitt is battling for.

There is also a question that gets a long response from frequent PSB commenter RKohberger. I believe that is his second question responded to by Zeise this season.