Keith covered them before I had time, but there were some items in the big sites concerning Pitt. Mike DeCourcy, laments the loss of conference teams playing each other in a season by virtue of conference expansion and raiding.

Villanova at Pittsburgh. Two of the few remaining unbeaten teams in Division I are in the same state, the same league, but will not play during the regular season. How does that happen? I’m not blaming Mike Tranghese, the Big East commissioner. I’m blaming those who plundered his league a few years back.

But what an intriguing matchup this would be. Pittsburgh has three players with point guard skills who might be able to drive the ball against Villanova’s disturbingly disruptive defense. The Panthers have a legit center in 7-0 Aaron Gray. They’ve got an athletic power forward, freshman Sam Young, who might be able to defend one of the Wildcats’ four guards and also make good use of his size advantage. The Panthers are not quite on Villanova’s level, but they would provide a good matchup.

It also happens because of TV and expectations. Pitt and Villanova have played every year except the 00-01 season since 1977. While the rivalry between the schools hasn’t been anywhere near what it was in the late 80s when ‘Nova and Pitt were swiping recruits from each other and really pissing both off, and I wasn’t too upset going into the season given the expectations of both teams. I admit some curiosity as to what would happen. Perhaps in the Big East Tournament?

Luke Winn does his power 16 and debuts Pitt at #16. I’ll offer the explanation as to why he seemingly inexplicably talked about Kendall rather than the other players on Pitt. Kendall’s U-21 performance meant that every college basketball writer made a mental note to keep an eye on Kendall once the season began. Pre-planning their stories on how the game was a springboard to the season and stardom. It hasn’t happened, and that’s annoying when you want a storyline. So, on one of the first chances to talk about Pitt this season, of course Kendall will get mentioned. Just as next Thursday for Pitt’s ESPN season debut, you can bet Kendall’s U-21 game will be mentioned at the first chance they get.

Then Joe Lunardi has to make his semi-compliment to how Pitt is doing in his weekly chat (Insider Subs.):

Rob : New Castle Pa.: Any love starting to come Pitts way after their last 3 wins. This also is a team that is really starting to look even better for next year. If tourney started today where do you see them placed.

Joe Lunardi: Now that we’ve seen the Panthers succeed against quality competition both at home and on the road, their NCAA profile is dramatically improved. At this moment, I have Pitt’s in the nieghborhood of a 5-6 seed (and certainly rising).

Bracketologists like Lunardi and national columnists in general don’t like to note their own inconsistencies. In the chat he also comments that Illinois is a border #1 or #2 seed. On the RPI, Illinois is #7 and Pitt is #8. Their non-con SOS’s aren’t too far apart 125 to Pitt’s 137 at the moment. It has as much to do with preseason expectations and reputations (short and long). Pitt is dinged for not being thought too highly going into the season and a recent history of pathetic non-cons. Illinois is coming off losing in the NCAA championship and preseaosn rankings.

While on that subject, Seth Davis whacks UConn and other schools for a weak non-con as, of course, being the reason they dropped a seeming gimmee.

The question burns: How could a veteran team like Connecticut, which is ranked No. 2 and has designs on winning a national championship, get shellacked 94-79 at Marquette, which starts three freshmen and has lost to Winthrop and Nebraska?

I’ll give you seven reasons: Army, Texas Southern, UMass, New Hampshire, Morehead State, Stony Brook and Quinnipiac. Those are the seven opponents UConn faced after winning the Maui Invitational in late November. And all of those games were at home.

That is hardly the way to prepare a team for a conference road game, but that’s the kind of schedule Huskies coach Jim Calhoun usually puts together in December. To be fair, UConn has two legit nonconference games ahead, at home against LSU on Saturday and at Indiana on Feb. 4. You could also argue that the Big East is so deep and tough that there’s no sense adding extra difficult road games outside the conference.

Nor is Calhoun the only coach to get snakebitten by this home-schooled approach. According to Collegerpi.com, No. 20 George Washington’s schedule is ranked 297th out of 334 schools. When the Colonials faced their first road test on Dec. 30, they lost to N.C. State by 21. Likewise, No. 9 Louisville’s home-heavy slate is ranked 191st. The Cardinals’ comeuppance came in a 12-point loss at Kentucky.

Meanwhile, no mention of Pitt and a very grudging acknowledgment that weak non-con scheduling hasn’t exactly been a problem for UConn for winning national championships. No one is exactly taking BC’s non-con to task because there were expectations for them, and even if they don’t seem to be meeting them, it is early.

Here’s a few things. I don’t like weak non-cons for more experienced teams because those are the teams that need to stay sharp and not get complacent. Younger teams have the whole confidence and learning to play with each other vibe going to excuse a weaker non-con — an argument that could be made in Louisville’s favor. In fact, I think there is an argument to be made for a sliding scale as to how important a tough non-con is to a team, depending on their experience.

I dislike a weak non-con for Pitt on purely selfish grounds. I want to see them play. I live out of market and the weaker the opponents the less likely they will be shown on TV. I mean, they don’t make their national TV debut until mid-January. They only had 3 non-cons out of 11 even televised for ESPN Full Court PPV. To some degree, the weak non-con argument becomes an easy crutch for writers. A shorthand explanation when a team loses without having to think much about it or even look closely as to what happened. I know I used it last season after the Bucknell, G-town and St. John’s losses.

The last two Januaries leading up to National Letter of Intent Signing Day have been, shall we say, unusual for Pitt fans.

Two years ago there was the absolute mass migration from verbals following the Big East’s fall in stature and Pitt’s hideous on-the-field underachievement. Taking a likely top-20 recruiting class down to 50 or so. The less said about that, probably the better.

Last year was the turmoil of a lame duck coach and then Coach Wannstedt coming in and securing some nice talent in the final month, to make it a respectable class. To some degree impressive, considering the timing and speed of events.

Right now, it’s oddly relaxed. Most of the class has verballed and there is no talk of last minute switches or losses. Pitt may add a few more guys, and there is a recruiting weekend taking place. It’s a group comprised of players who have already committed (Malecki, Corson and K. Smith), along with guys who Pitt is still competing hard to get (Aaron Berry and Andy Miller) and two who don’t appear highly rated but could be considered diamonds in the rough: Geno Atkins and Lance Jeter.

Atkins is not really rated, but holds offers from Pitt, Georgia, Auburn, NC St. and Mich. St. That more than his number of stars indicates the potential of this Florida DT.

Jeter doesn’t actually hold an offer from Pitt, but he’d like one. I guess there is some question as to how strong his desire is to play football, despite some obvious talent.

Beaver Falls basketball coach Doug Biega believes Jeter will make a verbal commitment to Pitt if the Panthers offer a scholarship. But it’s questionable whether Pitt will offer one..

“I think he’s going to be a really good college receiver,” Biega said. “I believe he has basketball in his heart, but the bigger offers from colleges are going to be in the football end.”

Jeter has a few scholarship offers for basketball from Mid-American Conference schools.

“I think he’d be a great fit for Pitt because of that physical nature that Dave Wannstedt wants to play,” Biega said.

He’s 6’3″ and 215 pounds. And obviously with Lee leaving early, Pitt could probably use another WR. Not to mention reduced depth with Richardson and Allen off the team. The issue, though, is his desire. If he doesn’t really want to play football, it’s hard to believe he would be a very good player.

Then there’s the US Army All-American Bowl for top High School players. Pitt verbals Dorin Dickerson and Nate Byham are there getting ready.

The Pitt recruits are two of the nation’s top 78 high school football players who will play in the All-American Bowl Saturday at San Antonio’s Alamodome. The all-star game will be televised live at 1 p.m. on NBC.

“It’s pretty exciting to come down here,” Byham said. “The practices are different because everybody is an all-star, so it’s intense and faster but I’m having fun.

“I feel blessed and honored to be in this game. It’s just huge. It doesn’t seem like a big deal until you sit down and think about the game. It’s mind-blowing.”

Although as many as 17 players are expected to announce their college intentions during the game, Byham and Dickerson said they have refuted their teammates’ suggestions that they renege on becoming Panthers.

“That’s not going to happen,” Dickerson said. “Everybody wants to have a top recruiting class. I tell them, ‘I’m good.'”

Added Byham: “We all joke about trying to get everyone to go to other colleges, but it’s all in fun. I think schools have all pretty much given up because they see I’m solid on Pitt.”

The 6-foot-5, 217-pound Byham is expected to start at tight end Saturday, but he might play some at receiver. Byham said he expects to be an H-back at Pitt next season. Dickerson, meantime, will back up every receiver position and could even play some running back for the East All-Stars. Both hope to use the national stage to showcase their skills.

You hope that Coach Wannstedt and OC Cavanaugh watched some of the bowl games — especially with USC and Penn State, and started considering all the different ways they can get the ball in Dickerson’s hands.

I also hope they took note in the bowl games of how well running backs did when the offensive line actually blocked, opened holes and sealed lanes. To be honest, after a season of watching Pitt, I had kind of forgotten what a good O-line can do in the college game.