So, I notice that Johnny Majors is getting inducted into the Peach Bowl Hall of Fame.

Former Pitt coach Johnny Majors will be inducted to the Peach Bowl hall of fame. While he was the coach at Tennessee, Majors went 1-1 in the Peach Bowl — losing to Iowa after the 1982 season and beating Indiana in 1988.

Now my first thought was, “Wait, Indiana went to a bowl game in the ’80s? Within the last 20 years Indiana went to a bowl game? How did that happen and how much worse does it make Rutgers look?” Honestly it took a while to get past that factoid.

The next issue was that someone qualifies for getting into any hall of fame based on a 1-1 record? I want to be there when the Citrus Bowl inducts Phil Fulmer. Well, only if Steve Spurrier is the presenter.

Then I moved on to wondering whether this was more of a conceptual HoF. After all what broom closet would exist and where to to have a hall of fame for a bowl game, let alone a mid-level (at best) bowl game? Turns out they opened a “mini-museum” (display case?) in the Georgia Dome by Gate E last year. Coach Majors will join the other 16 members. I’m sure it ranks high on the list of honors for Jim Kelly, Hayden Fry and Mike Singletary. That certificate didn’t end up on a pile somewhere in their house. I’m sure it’s framed and prominently displayed.

It of course begs the question why any bowl game would have a hall of fame? I understand the record books stuff, detailing past MVPs and greats who have played and coached in the game. You need to have something to add to the gravitas of the bowl, and some information to help fill programs other than ads for limo service, hotels, strip gentlemen clubs and car dealerships to justify charging whatever they charge for a program.

But a hall of fame? Once more, to be clear: a Peach Bowl Hall of Fame. I’m sure no one will be leaving their seat for that presentation during the half.

Is generally the sign of a poorly coached/motivated team or a young team. I’m giving the benefit of the doubt to youth. Pitt is working on overcoming that issue.

But good teams generally do not allow inferior teams to hang around deep into games.

“Having that killer instinct shows that you’re a good team,” [Levance] Fields said. “We have that thought in mind. [In] the first game, we actually had a big lead and didn’t finish well. The Duquesne game … we had the lead, but we just couldn’t build on it. It’s just us executing and making shots. We’ll be all right. When the Big East comes we’re going to do it.”

Coach Jamie Dixon is a cup-is-half-full kind of guy. So he looks at the fact that his team’s two most impressive victories have come in the past two weeks and finds that encouraging.

“I think we’ve done a lot of good things,” he said. “We’ve improved throughout the year. You’re talking about a couple of recent games. So I think that’s a good sign, rather than [have me] focus on one half or a five-minute stretch where we didn’t play well.

“This team has improved dramatically throughout, but we still have a long way to go.”

Adding to the half-full part, is that in most of the games Pitt has come out and grabbed the lead. Not waited 5 minutes until after the game started to start playing.

The game on Saturday, will likely be a bit on the sloppy side since Pitt and Vermont have had the week off for finals.

“It’s not just a week off. It’s finals,” he said. “When you see it on the calendar, you have big plans to get a lot of things done. But when you sit down and look at their schedule, you realize that three or four guys can’t be in practice. There’s no way we can get a practice time where all guys are available.”

This is not the same Vermont team that was a high mid-major last year, knocking off Syracuse and pushing Michigan State to the end in the NCAA Tournament. There is only one returning starter and a rookie head coach on the team.

Pitt has its game notes available (PDF). Pitt last played Vermont in 1994, a win. It is the only meeting.

If Krauser scores 15 points or more in the game, he will pass Chevon Troutman, Bobby Martin and Sean Miller on the Pitt all-time scoring list — moving up to 15th. He can also move to 6th on assists list with just 3.

The game is at 4 pm tomorrow, and you can listen on the internet from the Vermont perspective through a link on their website.

ESPN.com has it’s Bowl Challenge game up and running. I’ve set up a group for the blog titled, strangely enough, “Pitt Sports Blather.” (If the direct link doesn’t take you there, here’s the front page and you can look it up.)

Participation is open to anyone. It’s a chance to show how much more you know about picking games than me. It is also a chance to see just how much confidence some have in their “other” teams, since you also pick the point value in each bowl from 1-28. So we can see how much faith JFC has in his Sun Devils or Lee in his Buckeyes.

If you are having trouble evaluating or picking games, EDSBS has their rooting interest in every bowl game. And really, though they hardly need the plug, if you aren’t reading them every day you are missing out on some of the funniest shit on the net. I will point out some recent gems: “Tim Tebow — bust,” their two-parter on “things to do in Tampa,” parts 1 and 2 (yes, it includes critiquing strip clubs), and their ongoing reviews of University promo ads. I really do advise against reading the stuff while drinking anything. Spit takes are an actual risk.

UPDATE: The direct link to the group doesn’t seem to work. It would appear the Mouse company doesn’t like direct links to things, unless you are already signed-up. You can go to the frontpage, sign-up (or in if you already have a previous sign-in name) and then join the group. Sorry for the inconvenience

Unlike the name basketball schools — UNC, Arizona, Kansas or UCLA — or schools with name coaches — Michigan State, Syracuse, UConn or Louisville — Pitt is not allowed to have a disappointing/below expectations year and expect to be re-embraced the following season. So Pitt’s 7-0 start is not going to get Pitt that much love yet.

In fact, it will be looked at critically to explain why it is so misleading. So when Grant Wahl of SI.com says Pitt’s schedule is so weak that it is second only to Texas A&M in the country (hat tip, Dave), this shouldn’t be surprising.

As I have written several times, going into the season Pitt’s non-con was weak but it appeared better than it had been. I also don’t mind as much in a rebuilding year that is also key to the program and coach’s future. Honestly, though, through the first 2/3 of the non-con, it has been even weaker than expected.

Team ——- Record
St. Peter’s —– 4-4
Robert Morris — 3-4
Maine ———- 3-6
St. Francis (NY) — 2-5
Auburn ——– 4-2
Duquesne —— 1-5
Penn State —– 4-3
———————–
Combined Record — 21 – 29

Those names and records alone would make most scoff at what a team has done to this point. Now add in the RPI of the teams played to this point (flawed I know to use RPI with such a small sample set, but bear with me): 90, 242, 304, 274, 25, 307, 98. That averages out to 191.43 per team.

Now, if this wasn’t Pitt I wouldn’t even have them on a top-25 ballot.

If you want to feel good about Pitt, take a look at Pitt being ranked #11 right now in the Pomeroy rankings (explanation for it here).

[Editor note: For those of you who weren’t reading this blog last basketball season, Ken Pomeroy does some amazing work with stats and information regarding college basketball. I’m a big fan of what he does, and will cite it with some frequency because it is so interesting to me.]

But even then, you see Pitt has a horrible non-con strength of schedule to this point — #267.

Now for comparison’s sake, let’s talk about this year’s version of last year’s Pitt. (Meaning a team that is a bit more overrated based on the previous year’s accomplishment and media affection for players and/or coach.) That would be Boston College.

BC started the season ranked in the top 15 and got as high as #6 before losing consecutive road games to top-20 teams (including an early conference game). They are still ranked despite, in my opinion, not yet doing anything. They have a few things going for them: 1) they started the season ranked and it is harder to fall out of the rankings then crack the rankings (Pitt enjoyed that last season); 2) they have played a name, ranked team on the road in the non-con — sure they lost to Michigan St., but they played them — and they got to play in a tournament, i.e., a neutral site; and 3) the likeability factor — a head coach, Al Skinner, who gets fawning treatment and players, Craig Smith and Jared Dudley, with name recognition — making it easier to keep voting for them (again, Pitt benefited with this regarding Troutman, Taft and Krauser).

It just comes down to Pitt winning it’s full non-con. That means going down to South Carolina and taking care of business, then doing the same at home against Wisconsin. And even if that happens, you can be sure someone will take a shot at Pitt’s record and say they only beat one team.

My advice, save the outrage and hope the non-cons we beat, play well the rest of the year (excepting Penn State).

In something of a bright spot, for the past season, OG C.J. Davis made the Scout.com All-Freshman 2nd team squad.

All the talk about freshmen this season focused on the backs — Stephens-Howling, Collins and Jennings. Unfortunately, their impact was limited by a weak O-line. Davis was one of the few encouraging things by the end of the season.

Not a lot happening. Puff piece, and a couple pieces to bemuse on the misery of others.

John DeGroat gets a puff piece on his strong, improved play from last year. He also expresses a rare thought from a college player — that Pitt had redshirted him last season.

“John DeGroat is a completely different player than he was last year,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “He is a much better player, especially on the defensive end.”

Those words came on the heels of a 37-point victory against Penn State Saturday, perhaps DeGroat’s best game with the Panthers. A native of Monticello, N.Y., DeGroat tied his career-high with 11 points, but more importantly started out the game defending Penn State’s leading scorer, Geary Claxton, who finished 4 for 12 from the field and only scored 11 points, well below his season average.

For anyone who watched DeGroat struggle through his first season at Pitt, his early season play can be described only as a surprise. Dixon used DeGroat so sparingly last season that there was doubt about how much he figured into the team’s plans this season. Dixon did not bother to play DeGroat in six games last season and used him less than four minutes per game in Big East play. He didn’t get to play at all in Pitt’s NCAA tournament game against Pacific.

I think DeGroat came in to last season just expecting that his own ability and skill would be enough. To be fair, most people thought he would be a contributor last year. DeGroat, though, struggled on the defensive end and in Pitt’s system, that won’t get you on the court.

Based on last year, there wasn’t the expectations with DeGroat, and it has been a positive surprise. If DeGroat continues to play the way he has as the competition improves, he will be a big reason Pitt makes the NCAA.

Can you imagine losing by 37 and having to wait a week and a half to play? I would imagine that would really eat at a team, coach and players. That’s what Auburn has had to endure. They haven’t played since Pitt put the beat-down on them.

“They just physically manhandled our young kids,” Lebo said. “I thought we played so tentative and scared in that game. We may be young and inexperienced, but I never want us to play soft like we did against Pitt.”

Lebo said he has used Auburn’s 10-day break, which was brought on by final exams, to send a message.

“When they have quotes in the paper from the other teams’ big guys saying, `When we see two freshmen in the middle, our eyes light up.’ That is going to be the game plan for the whole year against our young kids, and they have to understand that. They are going to be thrown to the wolves. Every team is going to go right at your young kids inside and see how they are going to respond.”

Adding to their fun, the back-up point guard is transferring.

As for that other team that was on the receiving end of a 37-point whipping, well the questions are about whether Coach Ed DeChellis is actually the right man for the Penn State job (a better question might be whether anyone can do the job)? Heck, there’s a question as to where PSU is ranked in the local basketball community.

There have also been unexpected developments, like the emergence of nearby Bucknell. Given all the Bison have done of late, it is now apparent that Penn State isn’t even the best Division I team in its part of the state.

DeChellis said Bucknell’s rise ”hasn’t had an effect on us in any way.” Not recruiting-wise, attendance-wise, anything.

But this is a matter of perceptions.

Once again, Penn State has seen its stature diminished. Once again, DeChellis must find a way to prop his program up, to raise its profile.

Not easily done. Not at all.

Let’s see: Villanova, Pitt, St. Joseph’s, Temple and Bucknell all look to be clearly superior. That would leave them competing with Penn, Drexel and LaSalle.

I mentioned that when I was in Pittsburgh for the basketball game, Pitt football was hosting players for a visit. Scout.com has the visit list for the weekend. All but 2 on the list have already verballed to Pitt — not that having prior verbals in for a visit is a problem. It’s very important, especially following Ohio State’s wooing of Joe Thomas the prior weekend. The other 2 kids on the list haven’t actually been offered a scholarship by Pitt.

Didn’t get a chance to run down my Big East rankings yesterday. The full power poll is out. My ballot looked like this. My top-5 and bottom-5 matched the full poll. It was #6-11 where there is confusion. That will likely be the case all year with that portion.

1. UConn — Unbeaten.
2. Villanova — Took care of Bucknell, to quiet the giant killer stuff.
3. Louisville — Actually playing some games now.
4. Pitt — Yes, not playing the best teams, but absolutely dominating them.
5. Syracuse — Steadily improving, and hitting the cream-puff center of the non-con helps.
6. Georgetown — No shame losing to Illinois in Champaign after cross-country trip to Oregon.
7. WVU — Quietly climbing back up the poll
8. Rutgers — Mistake on my part. Failed to catch that loss to Buffalo. Would have dropped them to #11
9. ND — Got what seemed like a big upset win against Alabama, then the Crimson Tide followed that up with a Temple loss — diminishing the value.
10. Marquette — They will be bouncing between #6 and #10 all season I think. Lost their rivalry game with Wisconsin.
11. Cinci — If this team makes it through the season without a locker room fight, I’ll be shocked. The team just looks perpetually stressed.
12. DePaul — Another very inconsistent team.
13. St. John’s — Right now an uneven and young team.
14. Providence — 4 straight losses, even if some were to good teams, is still 4 straight losses.
15. Seton Hall — Sad to see a team that has quit on their coach before the New Year.
16. USF — With injuries thinning out their depth even more, they may prove me wrong and finish at the bottom.

The real dogfight all season will be to stay out of #13-16. There’s no shame for some teams to finish 12th, but below that starts putting the coach on the hot seat.

Other than the fact that this is a young, talented team with plenty of potential it is hard to read too much into the season so far. Being 7-0 after taking apart Penn State, is not too surprising. Even going into the season that wasn’t unexpected. It has been the way Pitt has absolutely crushed, dominated and decimated Auburn and Penn State that has been eye-opening. Yes, neither team is particularly good — in fact they are very bad — but they are still schools from major conferences.

When the non-con was announced, I noted that the RPI of the teams Pitt would play was up from the previous year based on the end of last year’s RPI. It wasn’t the most difficult schedule but it was some progress. I especially didn’t mind this year, because if there was a season where a less strenuous, trying non-con was needed for Pitt, this would be the year. With all the new players and new starters to learn what the team could do. But since Pitt is undefeated and has had a history of a weak non-con since gaining national prominence in the last 5 years, most comments about the team’s start have focused on the weak schedule (Insider Subs.).

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon isn’t apologizing for the schedule. He anticipated when he signed up to play Auburn and Penn State that both programs would be at a higher level. Still, the Panthers smoked both “high-major” teams and haven’t really been tested yet. The Panthers play Vermont and Coppin State at home before likely finding out just how good they are when they play at South Carolina on Dec. 28 — their first road game of the season — and then against Wisconsin on Dec. 31. The Panthers are undefeated, unranked, and way off the national radar.

Well not “way off.” They are receiving votes in the polls (translating to #29 in the Coaches and AP. That feels about right given the overall teams played and being unranked going into the season. Assuming Pitt wins its next 2 games (Vermont and Coppin St.) the team will likely be just outside of the top-25. They will then face South Carolina and Wisconsin. That will determine whether they crack the rankings or not.

As Joe Starkey points out, this Pitt team is “intriguing” because of the potential. It is also hard to argue with these observations.

Young, a 6-foot-6 freshman forward, will be starting by the middle of the Big East season, if not sooner.

Pitt won’t be an easy team to scout, as Dixon can use multiple lineups. His biggest challenge will be to find some rhythm using so many players – as many as nine or 10 could see double-digit minutes — and to avoid a swell of discontentment among those who feel they’re not playing enough.

Krauser has shot more 3-pointers (48) than 2-pointers (40) and is making them at a 42-percent clip. Not having to endure a beating bringing the ball upcourt should improve his accuracy.

Seven-foot center Aaron Gray, who had his fifth double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) will equal or surpass Chris Taft’s averages of 13.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game last season.

Pitt’s greatest vulnerability is its interior defense. Gray and Levon Kendall will be targeted once the Big East season begins. How they — and reserve Tyrell Biggs — respond will go a long way toward determining whether Krauser’s predictions come true.

Carl Krauser wants the team and the fans to have high expectations.

After Saturday’s game before a room full of reporters, guard Carl Krauser invoked the words “Big East championship” and “Sweet 16.” And he wasn’t referring to the 2003-04 team. Krauser has those aspirations for this team.

Afterward, outside the Pitt locker room, Krauser explained the method to his madness. He believes 100 percent in what he said, but he also wants the younger players around him this season to understand the standards Pitt teams of the recent past have set.

“Sometimes you really have to put it out there,” Krauser said. “This is my last year. I’m going to compete as hard as I can every game. That’s my goal. We all have the same goals. We’re just going to go out there and do everything I said.”

Right now, the inexperienced Panthers are playing follow the leader. Krauser, embracing his role as elder statesman , played perhaps his best game of the season against Penn State, with 20 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. He is averaging 17.1 points per game and is shooting 41.7 percent from 3-point range. He has taken in stride the move from point guard to shooting guard.

“He’s an unselfish guy,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “He’s a team guy. I can say it over and over again. We’ve had [12] 20-win seasons in the last 75 years. He’s been here for four of them. Ever since he’s gotten here, we’ve won. All he wants to do is win.”

I still think this team will end up on the bubble for the NCAA this season. This is just a very young team that is still figuring things out.

Potentially interesting sidenote. I stayed at the Holiday Inn on campus for the night. They have a 42″ LCD TV in the lobby to list events and things in the hotel. One of the things was that Pitt football recruits had a meeting in that morning. Turns out it was another football recruiting weekend. This of course led to the ever popular, “spot the recruits at the basketball game” game. You know, look for the group of big, beefy kids who look too young to be that big, dressed nicely and not sitting in the student section. They were treated to an absolute massacre and over 10,000 person crowd — albeit, somewhat late arriving.

The Centre Daily Times continues its tradition of not reporting bad things about Penn State by providing this story credited to “CDT staff reports.” To be fair, it neatly summarizes the statistical domination:

Pittsburgh had five players in double figures, led by senior point guard Carl Krauser’s 20 points. John DeGroat and Sam Young scored 11 points each and Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall both had 10.

The Panthers out-rebounded the Nittany Lions 49-30 and grabbed 24 offensive rebounds, many of them leading to easy putbacks. Penn State had been out-rebounding opponents by nearly nine rebounds per game prior to Saturday.

Penn State, which lost for the third time in four games, got a career-high 15 points from Cilk McSweeney, who hit all four of his field-goal attempts off the bench, three of them 3-pointers. Geary Claxton scored 11 points, but Penn State’s other four starters — guards Mike Walker and David Jackson and forwards Travis Parker and Brandon Hassell — were a combined 4-of-16 from the field for just 13 total points. Milos Bogetic scored eight points off the bench and Jamelle Cornley added seven.

Penn State played the entire game without starting point guard Ben Luber, who suffered a minor shoulder sprain during Wednesday’s win over Missouri-Kansas City. Freshman guard Maxwell DuBois suffered a foot injury during Friday’s practice and did not see any action, and classmate Nikola Obradovic played just three minutes. That left the backcourt work mostly up to Walker, who played 35 minutes in his first start of the season, and Jackson, who played 34.

The Nittany Lions were a dreadful 12-of-22 (55 percent) at the free-throw line Saturday and committed 22 turnovers. Jackson, who had committed just seven turnovers in the first six games, had a team-high seven Saturday.

Now the theme that carries through most stories on the game is that Pitt and Penn State don’t play in football and the basketball side will likely go on hiatus after this. Once more, then, Penn State is left with the bitter taste in its mouth as going out a loser and looking like it wants to duck games. In this case, with the biggest blowout loss in the 145 game, series history.

The Panthers and PSU likely met for the last time on the men’s basketball court as well, but it’s unlikely that fans would want this series to continue after Pitt blasted an undermanned Nittany Lions squad 91-54 yesterday at the Petersen Events Center.

It was the largest margin of victory for Pitt (7-0) all-time against Penn State (4-3) and the Panthers’ fifth straight win in the six-game series that resumed in 2000. PSU’s only win was the first game when the series was renewed.
…
“I had a certain type of energy that I felt that I haven’t felt since freshman year,” Krauser said. “So, I just wanted to calm down and look for some other guys and get them some great shots.

“We sent a message that we’re the better team right now. I don’t discredit them at all. They’re a great team with a great coach, and they’re some great competitors. But, at the same time, we’re a Big East team, and we feel like we have a lot of good things to do this year.”

Being short-handed is about the only excuse Penn State has for being destroyed that badly. They played 9 guys, but one of them only played 3 minutes. Effectively, they had a 3 man bench. Pitt on the other hand had 10 players go for double-digit minutes and another player see 6 minutes of action. Not to mention senior walk-ons Bowman and Small made it on to the floor.

Penn State head coach Ed DeChellis is now in year 3 of rebuilding Penn State basketball. (Just to nit-pick, how do you rebuild something that was never truly there? Unless by rebuild, mean get it to a .500 team or so. Which given recent times would be rebuilding.) Based on what we saw on Saturday, 0-16 in the Big 11 this season is a legitimate possibility. I wonder what the line is on them finishing with more than 7 wins (the number of wins they have had each of the last two years) this season is?

If there is any solace for Penn State fans, I guess it’s the knowledge that the suckitude of the team will likely be a drag on Pitt’s RPI and the RPI of any other decent team that beats them.

The game is nothing more than another warm-up for Pitt, along the same lines as Maine and Vermont and St. Francis (N.Y.). The Panthers have beaten the Lions 24 of the past 27 times, and have not lost in this series since the 2000-01 season, when Penn State went on an improbable run to the Sweet 16.

The Panthers have since made four straight NCAA Tournaments and had three Sweet 16 appearances. Penn State has whimpered through 7-21, 7-21, 9-19 and 7-23 seasons.

The only Penn State player who looked good, and shot well was the wonderfully named Cilk (pronounced, Silk) McSweeney. And he turned out to be a gift walk-on for PSU.

Perhaps the most damning piece of evidence on how far Penn State men’s basketball team has to go in order to become a legitimate contender in the Big Ten is this: The Nittany Lions most impressive player in a 91-54 loss at Pitt yesterday was a walk-on junior transfer from Towson University who entered the game averaging seven minutes and three points per game.

That’s not a good thing for any team, especially one that is in the third year of what began as a massive rebuilding program. At this point, at least one or two younger players would be expected to step up and show they are the foundation for what is a brighter future.

Penn State coach Ed DeChellis is waiting for that to happen, but after watching his team yesterday, he has more questions about its direction than answers.

The fact walk-on Cilk McSweeney made four 3-pointers and had a team-high 15 points must have given DeChellis something positive to take from the Nittany Lions trip to the Petersen Events Center, right?

Not really.

For Pitt, Coach Dixon was very happy with the performance especially on the defense.

“We executed defensively throughout and really crashed the boards,” Dixon said. “We made them take tough shots which helped our defense play really well.”

Pitt’s defense continued its stinginess of not allowing a team to score more than 60 points since the first game this season.

“We emphasized contesting a lot of their shots, especially the 3-point shots, because they really do shoot well,” Dixon said. “Our ball pressure throughout the game was stressed and we were able to create some turnovers.”

Pitt jumped out early on Penn State and never let them come close.

“The beginning of the game is the most important part of the basketball game,” DeGroat said. “We started off strong from the gate. That’s what we do. We play tough defense. And we carried it through the rest of the game.”

This is a big difference from last year and this year. Pitt is coming out right away and taking leads. In the last 5 games, Pitt has come out and scored and not let the other team take even a brief lead. Last year, even in the weak non-con, Pitt would come out slow and let an opponent lead and hang around. Forcing the starters to stay in more and generally not be focused.

That hasn’t been a problem this season. Everyone is getting time to play, learn and perform. Coach Dixon seems to have realized that having too quick a hook with the young players leads to less confidence and continually fearing a mistake rather than playing and executing.

Sorry about taking this long, but I didn’t get back until this afternoon and then I put myself through the emotional wringer of watching the Eagles-Giants game. Is there anything worse than watching a game with no faith in your team, then they end up coming thisclose only to lose? Oh, wait, this is a blog where the majority of the readers are Pitt fans. Of course you understand.

Pitt’s 91-54 pantsing of Penn State was one hell of a way to see my first game at the Pete. We had nice seats in Section 225, Row A, #15-18. The provided a great view of the court and the student section. Went to the game with Pat, Shawn (both occasional contributors to PSB) and my dad. The sight lines were great, though the angle would occasionally confuse as to whether a basket would go in or miss on the closer basket.

The great thing about the view, though, is you could see the offense and defense set up and how things were developing. I’m not a big fan of the sky-cam feature in televised basketball, because it really doesn’t show much. This far back, though, you can see everything and it provided a solid view of the whole place.

Any questions about the possible outcome were answered in the first couple minutes. Pitt jumped to a 7-0 lead and Penn State had no rhythm, structure or organization. Pitt was able to run and do what it wanted both offensively and defense. Pitt was completely prepared and up for this game.

My dad expected his team to lose, but he was just pissed at how bad they played. He couldn’t stand the fact that Penn State never had any coherence or plays on offense. Everything was busted, one-on-one or completely jumbled. Of course a large part of it had to do with Pitt, but we wouldn’t accept that excuse from Pitt if it got its ass handed to it by UConn, Duke or Villanova the way Penn State did to Pitt.

The Oakland Zoo was as loud as advertised. Just great energy for the entire game. The holding up of newspapers as if reading and ignoring PSU during the introductions was a nice touch, though I really didn’t like Mystery, Alaska. I’m not sure what led the Zoo to single out Mike Walker of PSU for abuse — chanting his name everytime he handled the ball in the second half — but it was in the kid’s head. You could see him flustered, and not simply because the Pitt defense caused him to turn the ball over 4 times and harried all of his shots. It led Walker to making more mistakes as he tried to shut up the fans.

With this game decided so quickly and decisively, it’s kind of silly to talk about the game itself. I found myself watching the players, substitutions and how they worked as units.

Team/Coach Dixon: Able to give everyone minutes. No one exceeded 25 minutes. Early, he gave Levance Fields and the youngsters opportunities to play as a unit. I would have like to see some of Fields and Ramon teamed in the same back court. Or some more of Fields and Graves playing together without Krauser. Dixon definitely had the team ready to play and ready to put the opposition down. Dixon showed a lot more patience with the freshmen and sophomores. There was no yanking them right out of the game when they made an obvious mistake.

I think it’s a reflection of the youth of the team that the best, most explosive games they have played have come against Auburn and Penn State. Neither team may be very good, but they are teams with name recognition. Teams from major conferences.

Carl Krauser: There is no doubt in my mind that Pitt is a much better team with him on the floor. Krauser is far and away the best guard at making the passes inside. This allows Pitt to go inside and gives Gray, Young, Kendall and any of the players going inside their best chance to score. On the defensive side, he not only locks up his guy, but he makes it a team defense. He is clearly the team leader, and seems to have embraced the role. He wants to make the team better.

This game, Krauser was completely on. He shot 8-10 for 20 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. He could have had more, but only played 8 minutes in the second half.

Ronald Ramon: First the bad, his shot just isn’t falling beyond the arc. He had some wide-open looks and clanged the rim and airballed one. He is now below .300 on 3-point shots (8-27). I almost think it’s more in his head at this point. He just didn’t have a confident look to his body as he lined up the shot a couple times.

The good is his defense. He is not losing his man and is able to play closer to prevent separation for an outside shot, without risk of the player getting a step inside on him. Offensively in the second half, he started going inside a little more and shot 2-3 inside the arc. He was frequently teamed with Krauser in the backcourt and was instrumental in getting plays set. Would have liked to see him play point without Krauser a little more just to see how the team looked.

Aaron Gray: He had two different halves. The first half, he was 4-7 (8 points) and 6 rebounds, but only 2 offensive boards. He was much more passive. In the second half, he tried to be more aggressive, but was called for 3 fouls in only 6 minutes. He also pulled down 6 more boards in that time, including 3 offensive, but only went 1-4.

Levon Kendall: I thought he played a decent game. He’s not as good as Hillgrove and Groat seem to treat him, but he isn’t a scrub. Yes, he will lose minutes to Young and Biggs as they improve, but he is a solid player willing to scrap inside. He was very efficient going 3-4 (along with 4-4 at the free throw line) and pulled down 7 rebounds. 5 of the boards were offensive to give Pitt more chances. His defense isn’t great, but right now is probably the best at the position.

John DeGroat: Decided to show his range early, by scoring inside to start the game and then draining a 3 a couple minutes later. He is definitely a scoring threat and has shown some marked improvement in his ball handling and passing. His defense, though, lags. He had trouble with his footwork and positioning that led to him fouling and missing rebounds.

Antonio Graves: I think Dixon is trying to figure out how to best use Graves. He was paired with Fields in the backcourt which seemed awkward. Graves can score, but is streaky. He doesn’t make passes inside particularly effectively and paired with a freshman point guard created some stalling in the offense and a lot of outside shots.

Keith Benjamin: Dixon’s patience with errors and mental mistakes was in display in the fact that Benjamin kept playing after the first half. Benjamin was too eager to launch his shot, and wasn’t looking to pass even when the shot wasn’t there. It almost seemed like he couldn’t wait to join the scoring fun without seeing the whole court. He showed flashes, but his game is still in development.

Levance Fields: My first thought watching him play was that the descriptions of how he is a lot like Krauser is dead on. Especially physically. Their body types are very similar. Krauser is much more chiseled and conditioned now, but when he started playing he had the same stocky, baby fat look that Fields has. And like Krauser, I’m sure that will change as he spends more time on conditioning.

Fields has all the makings of an excellent point guard. He is young and raw right now. He had a little trouble when PSU made an effort to trap and press as he brought the ball up court. He was clearly not expecting it. Coach Dixon, though, stayed with him. He was entrusted to run the offense and make mistakes. He needs to work on passing the ball inside.

Sam Young: Now I understand what people mean by explosive and potential when discussing him. There’s also a bit of showman in him. He was looking to jam the ball, to bring the whole crowd into the game. He has a great first step to get past defenses.

Tyrell Biggs: A little passive going for rebounds, which had as much to do with his positioning and inexperience. He is starting to look a little more comfortable on the court.

Doyle Hudson: Looks totally lost playing defense, and I’m not sure he is strong enough right now for Big East play. Despite being a JUCO transfer, he looks like he needs some more strength.

I’ll have the round-up of stories tomorrow.

For those of you watching or listening at home, comment away before during and after the game.

Pitt will have a week off for finals after this game, and maybe longer before Pitt and Penn State play again.

Today’s game at the Petersen Events Center is the final scheduled game in the century-old series. And although the two schools are talking about future games, scheduling conflicts could prevent the continuation of the game.

“We’ve talked about [playing again],” Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said. “One of the things has been a date. As I remember, they needed another home game next year and so do we. I’m not sure if we can do it. It’s not that we don’t want to. It’s just a matter of both teams needing [home] games.”

Not this crap once more. Haven’t we had enough of this: we need the home game revenue argument in the football program? I note that Coach Dixon is not quoted on saying anything about needing another home game for next year. Why the hell aren’t the ADs actually interviewed if this is the issue? This should be no-brainer for both schools.

Which naturally brings up the question: Why is Pitt so intent on playing them if they’re not all that interested anymore?

It’s no secret that Robert Morris and recently Penn State drag down Pitt’s Ratings Percentage Index, the overriding statistic the NCAA tournament committee looks at when choosing its at-large field for the NCAA tournament.

Dixon maintains there are a few reasons for continuing the series. He is a firm believer in playing local teams because it helps basketball state-wide and it cuts down on Pitt’s travel during this fall semester, when players are preparing for final exams.

Dixon did not site this, but if you’re Pitt, why take automatic wins off the schedule? The Panthers are 25-0 against Robert Morris and have won 14 of the past 20 meetings against the Nittany Lions.

All very good reasons. In Philly, they have scheduling headaches every year between the local colleges but they somehow manage to work them out. These things are resolvable if the parties actually want to. They only become unresolveable when one or both sides is looking for an out.

I can give you an additional reason outside of basketball: football. There is a common argument that Pitt shouldn’t bother playing Penn State in basketball or any other sports until the football series resumed. I gave my reasons for continuing it a couple years ago. I think it still holds up (even if the fact patterns in #2 are a little off this year).

1. The annual basketball game is not even close to equal value in terms of money, national attention, alumni pride, and exposure.
2. Pitt is, at present, a top-25 team. It has been a top-25 team for the previous 2 seasons. Prior to that, it had been almost a decade since Pitt had even cracked the top-25 in during a season. Pitt holds no great reputation as a basketball power. Unlike Penn St. football, the mention of Pitt basketball does not cause national sportswriters and tv people to wax poetic about the tradition and history (and yes, these days when they talk of PSU, it tends to be in the past tense and with a little wistful sadness to see Paterno fall so far). Pitt has no historical elite reputation like Duke, UNC, Kansas or Kentucky. It doesn’t even reach perennial contender or top-25 standards like Cinci, Arizona, Syracuse, Temple, Mich. St., or UConn. Pitt is trying to get there, but it isn’t yet.
3. How much would Penn St. basketball be harmed by an end to playing Pitt? Prior to 2000, Pitt and Penn St. played each other 3 times between 1981-1999. Did anyone notice? Not exactly much of a hammer. It’s not like football, where there is a battle for local recruits. There aren’t that many recruits worth fighting over in Western and Central Pennsylvania.
4. It makes more sense to build up a good relationship with the other athletic programs and the athletic department, so that it is easier to resume the football rivalry after Paterno is put out to pasture retires.
5. Pitt should keep playing Penn State in basketball. If for no other reason, it is a good reminder of what a pale shadow it is compared to what the annual football game was.

I think part of the reason, this is the primary topic today, is that there isn’t much to say about the game.

Pitt likely presents the biggest test so far for Penn State, whose two losses have come in succession to Clemson (96-88) and Texas A&M (60-55).

“They can beat you in different ways,” DeChellis said of the Panthers, who have limited their first six opponents to an average of 56.3 points per game. “You look at their stats and (Carl) Krauser is the guy that gets them going. But they’ve got great balance, and they guard you well.”

Krauser, the Panthers’ senior leader, paces Pitt in scoring (16.7 ppg.), assists (3.3 apg.) and steals (2.7 spg.).

“It’ll be important for us to get off to a good start,” DeChellis said, adding: “We can’t be careless with the basketball.”

Three players average double figures in scoring for Penn State, led by 6-foot-5 sophomore Geary Claxton (15.7 ppg.).

In the 4 straight Pitt wins, Pitt has blown out PSU by an average of 24.5 points. Add in the fact that their leading assist guy is questionable at best with a shoulder injury.

As an amusing side note, how sad/hilarious/pathetic is it that the Centre Daily Times doesn’t even mention the game today (or yesterday). Here’s the front page of the PSU section.

Now, I understand it being behind football. But men’s b-ball apparently ranks somewhere behind women’s volleyball and basketball and wrestling. Then again those are all programs that are winning. Guess that explains everything.

Assuming I can dig out of the snow, I am very excited to go to the game tomorrow. This will be my first trip to the Pete. Walked and driven past it many times since it opened, but will be my first time inside (Pat, you did get those tickets from your brother-in-law, right?). For some reason, trips to the ‘Burgh for basketball games have just fallen through or simply not materialized. The added bonus is going with my dad — while the wife, kid and my mom go to a museum or something. Should be fun.

The game notes for both Pitt and Penn State (PDFs) are available. This will be the 145th meeting of the two schools. As in football it is Penn State’s longest running series, and Pitt’s second longest after WVU.

Pitt has won the last 4 meetings and is looking to go 7-0 on the season. Penn State, on the otherhand, is 3-2 coming off a come-from-behind victory over University of Missouri-Kansas City, 75-71. Penn State has made it a habit of getting off to slow starts this season.

Starting slow is a trend for the Lions recently, trailing by 19 at halftime of the Clemson game, 15 at halftime of A&M game and 15-0 after 10 minutes on Wednesday. These slow starts are often accompanied by turnover binges, something Penn State Ed DeChellis said the Lions couldn’t afford vs. a quality opponent like Pitt.

“We gotta go in there ready to take care of the basketball and play well early,” DeChellis said Wednesday. “If you let a team like Pitt get up 12, 15-0 like this tonight, that’s a little bit different story. If they smell blood, they’ll come after you.”

Pitt only beat 1-4 Duquesne by 11 points, but did hand Auburn a 37-point drubbing on Dec. 3. DeChellis said the Panthers will play 40 minutes of man-to-man defense and play aggressively — a stark contrast to the zone defense UMKC presented, allowing the Lions to get shots off and stage a comeback win.

Clemson and Texas A&M also played especially aggressive defense, so it will be a test to see how the Lions adjust, and if they can avoid getting down early.

This is a Penn State team picked — once again — for last in the Big 11. They set modest goals for this season:

[Sophomore guard, Mike] Walker said the Lions can still, for the most part, achieve their goal of going undefeated at home against non-conference competition. Though they have already dropped one to Clemson, he said they need to stay focused.

So how can they meet that goal if they already lost a game at home in the non-con? Must be the new math. Ah, the value of a Penn State education.

It’s here. My ballot — which earned me a tie for the top spot as “Mr. Stubborn” for not doing much to change the bottom portion of my ballot from the previous week (other than dropping Oklahoma and adding FSU) can be found here. All individual ballots are reviewable by going here.

Far be it from me to give much sympathy to the media, but voting in this poll every week is tough. There is a load to process and you simply can’t help the biases. Just one more reason to have some form of playoffs.