Hope anyone who laid money on the game took the points instead of the Panthers. Otherwise, in the final 2 minutes you were screaming bloody murder at the TV/radio/computer as Bowman and Small got scrub time. Sure enough, Pitt gave up 5 points in the final 25 seconds to win by only 11, 71-60. The spread was somewhere around 14. Ouch.

Pitt had something of a letdown in this game, and Duquesne was running after the ball. Too many turnovers and just some sloppiness at times.

Gray had another double-double, but had a down game at the FT line. He is an unknown at the line from game to game. Krauser had a very, very good game 23 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists and only 3 turnovers. Once again, 10 Pitt players played double digit minutes.

A question for those either at the game or who were able to see it on TV. How was the officiating? Listening to Hillgrove and Groat, it seemed like Pitt was not getting a lot of calls. Hometeam playcalling or fairly accurate?

Pitt places 8 on the 1st and 2nd teams:

WR — Greg Lee — 1st Team
LB — H.B. Blades — 1st Team
CB — Josh Lay — 1st Team
CB — Darrelle Revis — 1st Team
QB — Tyler Palko — 2nd Team
OT — Charles Spencer — 2nd Team
PK — Josh Cummings — 2nd Team
S — Tez Morris — 2nd Team

Louisville placed 10 (7 on the 1st team) and WVU had 12 (6 on the 1st team).

As for individual honors, Pitt was blanked.

BIG EAST OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Brian Brohm, Louisville, QB, Sophomore

BIG EAST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Elvis Dumervil, Louisville, DE, Senior

BIG EAST SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Willie Foster, Rutgers, WR, Junior

BIG EAST ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Steve Slaton, West Virginia, RB, Freshman

BIG EAST COACH OF THE YEAR
Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia

Nothing to create much in the way of disagreement.

Less than glowing 1st half from Pitt. Krauser was dominating, hitting 5 of his first 6 shots. He was 5-8 overall with 13 points. The biggest problems for Pitt was the lack of 2nd chance points — they had 2 offensive rebounds, both in the final 2 minutes of the half — and turnovers. Pitt had 9 turnovers. A lot of unforced errors. Generally sloppy.

Still Pitt is leading 32-23. Mainly because the defense is doing fine and Duquesne can’t hit much. Pitt is only letting them get one shot most of the time.

Okay, no sooner does Pittsburgh Sports Report send an update on Pitt recruiting with the following information:

The biggest area of need, and something the Panthers have yet to address, is the tackle position. Big (literally) help could come from JEFF OTAH, a massive 6’7″ 340-pounder from Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, PA. Otah will enter as a junior and could easily see time, or even start, right away. South Carolina is the biggest obstacle for the Panthers to overcome for Otah’s services. Local prospect ANDY MILLER of Trinity High School in Washington, PA was a tight end in high school but his frame (6’6″ 260) and quick feet has the Panthers thinking he could make a good offensive tackle. They must, however, battle Ohio State and West Virginia, who both think the same thing. The Panthers have also taken a liking recently to CHRIS DAINO from Neshaminy High School in Feasterville, PA. The 6’4 1/2″ 275-pound Daino is a sleeper that could develop in time, but Pitt has yet to offer, and may not should they land Otah and Miller before Daino’s January visit. The success of this offensive line class will come down to the Panthers holding on to [Joe] Thomas and securing Otah, because both should at least see time in the rotation next year, if not start.

So, of course, this afternoon Otah verbals to Pitt (hat tip to Neil). South Carolina was the only other school Otah visited. He also had offers from Maryland, West Virginia and Michigan State.

Sporting News college basketball writer, Mike DeCourcy is from and started covering sports in Pittsburgh. He actually remembers when the City Game was relevant. He posts a brief chronicle on how the inaptitude of how the Duquesne administration has driven the basketball program to irrelevance.

Now, they play because Pitt doesn’t want to deal with the public relations backlash of ending the series, so the Panthers take their annual victory and forfeit the money they would earn every other year on a home game against an opponent at the Dukes’ level. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, for instance.
…
You think an incompetent administration can’t destroy a successful program? Under Chick Davies, Dudey Moore and later Red Manning, the Dukes were a national power. They’ve languished since, missing several opportunities to regain at least part of their stature. In 1988, they let John Calipari go from red-hot assistant at Pittsburgh to Massachusetts, where he turned the Minutemen into a Final Four program. An administration with foresight might have kept him in town. A year later, they removed Jim Satalin but rejected the opportunity to replace him with either Bob Huggins or George Karl, who campaigned for the job. In 2001, they arrogantly passed over Sean Miller, who wanted to become a head coach and liked the idea of returning home. Miller now has the best job in the Atlantic-10, at Xavier.

Duquesne has a new athletic director, Greg Amodio, who came, coincidentally, from Xavier. He’s a bright, engaging guy who knows how to raise a buck. A lot of what once was possible for the Dukes has passed them by, but it’s certainly conceivable to rise above the level of consistent embarrassment. Maybe then the Panthers-Dukes rivalry again could live for reasons other than inertia.

Pitt fans know how an incompetent administration can destroy a successful program. Most of us still bitterly remember the 90s.

An interesting little tidbit from the December 7 “3-point stance” of Ivan Maisel:

1. A conference must have its champions average a final BCS standing of 12th over four years to secure its automatic bid. What I didn’t know is that the BCS leagues decided to throw out the standings before the ACC raided the Big East. The four-year average begins with the 2004 season. Nothing before that season counts.

2. Why bring that up? With Florida State finishing this season at No. 22, the ACC’s four year average from 2002-2005 is 12.75. The ACC has been saved from embarrassment by a technicality. With Virginia Tech at No. 8 in 2004, The next two champs’ final ranking can’t add up to more than 18.

I vaguely recall early in this season all the talk about how the ACC was the premier conference in college football this year. The Big East may not be what it was in football or what we want it to be, but the ACC is not what it thinks it is.

Not that I’m complaining. Last March I raved about the CBS/CSTV online March Madness deal. Only $10-15 to watch a load of the 1st and 2nd round action streamed in video for out of market game.

Well this year, they are giving it away (thanks to Keith for the e-mail).

This year it all just got a little bit easier, especially for diehard fans who inexplicably decide to spend the day at work with NCAA March Madness on Demand, a streaming webcast. CBS had been offering the games online as part of a subscription, but this year the NCAA Tournament will be available for free at NCAAsports.com.

“I think that was the evolution of this product,” said Mike Aresco, senior vice president for programming at CBS Sports. “We felt that ultimately the future of online streaming would be on an ad-supported basis.”

The webcasts will be free through the regional semifinals, and there will be web blackouts for games aired in local television markets. Press conferences and highlights are also part of the package.

Aresco doesn’t think this will take away from television ratings, or erode subscribers to the Direct TV package because viewers tend to watch something online if they are already in front of a computer – but they watch television if they are home. This applies not only to office workers, but college students as well.

Hence the boon for those who lament that the first Thursday and Friday of the tournament are not national holidays.
…
“What we are looking to do is figure out how many platforms are feasible to place content on,” Aresco said.

It is less a money-earner than a technology and marketing test, an opportunity to see if free content can attract enough viewers to pull in advertising revenue.

I’m not complaining. I guess it’s a worthwhile experiment. I’m a little surprised, though, because I thought the price-point they were offering was already a good deal.

Here’s the CSTV/CBS press release on it.

It hasn’t been very meaningful since both teams were in the Eastern Eight. It’s not yet to the point of playing Robert Morris, but it is getting there.

Currently, the inner-city basketball rivalry between Pitt and Duquesne has been quite one-sided. The Panthers have won 23 of the past 26 meetings, including the past four, all by 15 points or more. Last year’s 30-point beat-down of the Dukes at the Petersen Events Center was the most lopsided defeat in the series in 35 years.

No player on Pitt’s roster has ever experienced what it is like to lose to Duquesne. So just how do Pitt players maintain interest in a series that has been so noncompetitive?

“It’s basketball,” senior guard Carl Krauser said. “You get up for basketball games if you’re a competitor. You’re going to get up to play the game if you play anybody. It’s for bragging rights in the city. If we lose, we’re going to hear it all summer, all year. It will be a never-ending story.”

That has been something the players have been passing down: avoid the embarrassment.

Krauser related a story about the last time Pitt lost to Duquesne. It was December 2000, a year before Krauser arrived at school. Once he arrived on campus and the subject of the Dukes came up, Brandin Knight gave the young freshman some instructions.

“He said, ‘Promise me one thing,’ ” Krauser recalled. “He said: ‘Never lose to Duquesne while you’re here.’ I promise that. I don’t want those bragging rights hanging over my head.”

So how does Coach Jamie Dixon talk about this opponent?

“I know we’ve lost a lot of games to them in the past. They’ve got a great tradition of players and history, and it goes way back in years,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.
…
After opening the year with three losses, Duquesne got its first victory Saturday by beating Robert Morris, 73-58.

“They played very well against Robert Morris and beat them by double figures,” Dixon said. “They’ve got experience and good size, and they’re athletic. They’re going to be a team that gets better as the year goes on.”

He’s grasping, but that’s what he’s supposed to do.

The big problem for Duquesne is the loss of Achara in not just terms of points and rebounds that were expected from him, but also size and depth. The Dukes are not a particularly big or deep team (big surprise). Pitt should be looking to get it inside to Gray, Kendall, Young, Hudson (if his ankle is okay) and Biggs often.

Final note, Antonio Graves was back practicing. His ankle is apparently much better.

As can now be safely read from a free source, Pitt recruit Kevin Collier has reaffirmed that Pitt is his choice.

The highly recruited running back from Churchville-Chili opened the door for speculation after taking an official visit to Syracuse University on Nov. 12, but he said Tuesday night that he plans to honor his initial verbal commitment, made in August, to the University of Pittsburgh.

Collier reaffirmed his desire to play for coach Dave Wannstedt’s Panthers after his official visit last weekend.

“It’s a done deal. I’m going to Pitt,” said Collier, who has been offered scholarships by 14 schools. “But I know (colleges) are not going to stop calling until I sign the papers.”

He can’t sign a binding letter of intent until early February. Recruiters from South Florida, SU and Connecticut are expected to watch him play basketball this week, Collier said, then try to woo him. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound senior had 19 touchdowns and 1,942 yards rushing last fall and became Section V’s all-time leading ground gainer (5,402 yards).

“I told (Pitt) I (visited) Syracuse because I wanted to make sure I was making the right decision,” said Collier, who watched the Orange lose that day, or in his words, “get destroyed,” by South Florida, 27-0. “After going to Pitt, I know.”
…
“It would drive any coach crazy if a guy had committed and was visiting other places,” said Collier, who also has offers from programs such as Boston College, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Maryland and Georgia Tech. “It’s almost like cheating, being unfaithful.”

He said that he doesn’t plan to change his mind, but he isn’t ruling out other official visits (NCAA rules allow five). He’s in it for the experience, he said.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I might go just to go. I’ll call Wannstedt and tell him I’m going just to go,” Collier said, laughing. “But as far as where I’ll be playing, it’s Pitt.”

I don’t blame him for taking the visits. Just glad he’s still coming.

While on the subject of NY and Pitt players, Mark May was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame last night.

Not sure why there was no mention of this in the Pittsburgh papers. Unsurprisingly, the West Virginia papers had coverage of former WVU Coach Don Nehlan being inducted. They even had an article on May talking about playing Nehlan and the Mountaineers.

“We beat them four out of four times [three under Nehlen] and the difficulty was that they were always going to give their best effort from the first play to the last play.”

May recalled playing at the old Mountaineer Field in 1979, when the National Guard was called out for a chaotic situation that started with a soccer game, that the fans were in “a state of dementia” by the time the football game started.

Speaking of WVU. The coach of a school in one backwater state had to apologize to another for leaving the Hoopies off of his ballot.

Arkansas football coach Houston Nutt says he has apologized to West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez for leaving the Mountaineers off his ballot in the coaches’ Top 25 football poll.

Nutt said he had voted for West Virginia in previous weeks but that, while shuffling teams listed in the USA Today poll, he inadvertently left the Mountaineers off the ballot. He said he would have listed West Virginia No. 13.

Nutt said Rodriguez understood that a mistake happened and “was very gracious about it.”

“I’ve also gotten some e-mails from West Virginia fans. They’re upset about it, and I understand their feelings,” Nutt said.

West Virginia finished the regular season No. 11 in The Associated Press and the coaches’ polls. The 13 points West Virginia would have received from a properly cast Nutt ballot would not have been enough to move the team into the coaches’ top 10.

Oh, well.