Hope everyone had a nice couple of days of peace and tolerance. Hopefully family didn’t drive (and aren’t driving — for the students still on break) you too crazy. Don’t know about the rest of you, but this has been a slightly off holiday. Nothing major, just a little edgier at moments. Still stuck on dial-up until I get home sometime this evening.

The Pitt players got back Sunday and received a tough workout Christmas night.

Dixon put his players through the paces Sunday night in an attempt to recondition them for the quick turnaround. The Panthers will leave this morning for Charlotte, N.C., and bus two hours to Columbia, S.C. They will practice there today.

“I was sort of caught off guard,” Kendall said. “I was just expecting to get in the gym and get a sweat going. The coaching staff was pretty set on keeping us undefeated. It was one of the tougher practices we’ve had in a while. We were out there for two hours, and he put us through a lot of the tougher drills. It was really good to get guys going. It got the travel out of our legs. It shocked us a little bit, got us in gear.”

Dixon called it “the best Christmas practice we’ve had in seven years here.”

Krauser agreed.

“We went to work,” he said. “It’s what we’re supposed to do. That’s what we’re here for. Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices with your friends and family and you have to go to work.”

Krauser is looking to be the calming influence in the game, trying to make sure the freshmen don’t get too fired up on the first road game. Yet he isn’t too nervous.

Freshman Forward Sam Young returned from home with a fat lip and a missing tooth.

“I had two good workouts when I went back home. I got my tooth knocked out in a pickup game,” Young said Monday at Petersen Events Center, following Pitt’s second practice since players returned Sunday from an extended Christmas break.

The soft-spoken forward, who leads the Panthers in highlight-reel dunks through the first nine games, seemed more concerned about his next game than anything else.
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“It’s no big deal. There were a lot of people there that I knew,” he said. “I plan on getting the tooth fixed this week.”

The players seem ready. Most of the talking for interviews appears to have been from Krauser and Kendall.

Pitt has moved to #23 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and is at #27 in the AP Writers.

Down in South Carolina, the basketball team is in relative obscurity as the football team plays in the Independence Bowl on Friday. This appears to be a make-or-break year for SC head coach Dave Odom.

For once almost all Carolina fans agree that if Odom’s squad lands the school’s first non-consolation NCAA Tournament win in 30-plus years he should be able to return for another season. However, a classic meltdown amongst the Gamecock Nation would occur if Odom’s squad fell “just short” of that. It’s hard to name another school that has frantic arguments over “expectations/demands/goals” like the ones at USC, and Odom’s tenure has provided fertile ground indeed for these schisms to flourish. Like the “chicken or the egg” debate, it’s unclear what should come first in Columbia: Success or increased expectations?

Shouldn’t an SEC school pumping millions into a program including a multi-million dollar new arena have the right to demand more than plodding minor success and mediocrity from its coach? Shouldn’t that coach be expected to be more than a positive enthusiastic caretaker who obeys the rules? Shouldn’t that coach have to land one NCAA tournament win in five years?

Conversely, is it fair or realistic to demand more first considering the school’s history? Shouldn’t USC fans be happy with “not losing as bad as before?” Why should Odom be expected to do more than others have? Since hiring a young coach hasn’t always worked and has “risk” attached to it, shouldn’t USC just stay right in their current security blanket?

It’s a good piece. And it might seem like a familiar discussion.

In a Big East Notebook story, there is notice that Pitt looks to be better than believed in pre-season, but has yet to be tested.

How Good Is Pitt?

Pittsburgh is 9-0 and hasn’t beaten anybody, really.

Their first game away from home will be Wednesday at South Carolina, a team they beat by four at home last season.

The Panthers have a good point guard in Carl Krauser and a nice big man inside with Aaron Gray, who is averaging 10.4 rebounds.

Pitt is likely to be better than expected. It would have been nice to see how much better with some tougher games early on.

We’ll start finding out tomorrow night.