Nothing particularly outstanding, just little things here and there to pass along. Several ESPN.com chats this week (all Insider Subs.). Pitt got some run. From Andy Katz:

Jonathan Abramovic (Daytona ): Why arent the Pitt Panthers ranked higher, they are undefeated.

Andy Katz: I’ve been wondering that for weeks. Pitt should be right up in the top five. The polls are a beauty contest at this point. Who looks good this week should get plenty of pub and the Panthers are playing as well as anyone in the country.

And someone offered this suggestion.

Eric – NYC: I feel like the preseason polls give legitimacy to teams that don’t deserve it and haven’t proven anything as of yet. Why don’t they wait until a month passes by before releasing the first poll? This would weed out non-contenders such as Kansas and Kentucky and let teams such as Pitt, NC State and Ohio State receive the acclaim they deserve instead of having to climb up all season. I think the polls would mean more by waiting a month.

Andy Katz: You’re speaking to the choir. But the same is true in football, too. But polls, whether by us, AP or the coaches, get plenty of pop in the preseason. They are popular and that’s why we do them. I wouldn’t be against it at all.

Have to disagree with that. People with the polls would still draw up their expected list, or at least compile a list of teams to watch. You are still dealing with visibility, biases, popularity and other issues. Pitt would have still been ignored for the first month or so, simply by virtue of their games not being on TV. Only 3 of their non-cons were televised and picked up on ESPN Full Court (The South Carolina game was only aired on Comcast South and not on the PPV).

Rece Davis:

Todd (Wilmington, DE): Rece, What are your thoughts on Pitt? To me, the Gray kid is getting better every day, Krauser looks more in control and these two freshman ( Young and Fields) look like they will really help the program.

RD: Totally agree. Gray was strong in the clutch last night. Seems like Fields (and Ramon) have taken some of the pressure of Krauser…but he still has the freedom to get his own. Assist to TO ratio for Fields and Ramon are very good. Young gives them some great energy. I don’t think they’ll run the table…but I think many have made too much of their early schedule.
…
Josh (Knoxville, TN): So you’re answering multiple questions about UConn, Florida, Duke…how about a Pitt question? Why is this team still underrated nationally?

RD: I hit Pitt earlier, Josh. Quickly to reiterate…too much being made of early schedule. Like Gray’s development. Fields and Ramon have helped Krauser.
You make a fair point, though. When big east comes up …people talk UConn, Nova, even West Virginia…oh yeah, Pitt…those guys that nobody has beaten.

What, and miss a completely easy excuse to devalue them?

And finally Joe Lunardi speaks some real truth:

Wonger (Orlando): Why all the love for Florida but Pittsburgh has had to walk on water just to get into the top 25 and eventually top 10? Don’t get me wrong, I think they are both a little overrated (u and I could both hand pick 10 teams that would be favored come march) but as undefeateds go, they both deserve respect!

Joe Lunardi: Florida got the early attention by winning the NIT Season Tipoff. Other than that, their profiles are looking more and more similar each week. I currently have them No. 4 and No. 5 on my S-Curve, which is a whole lot closer than their different No. 1 and No. 2 seeds suggest.

And there it is folks. Florida was on nationally broadcast preseason tournament at MSG and knocked off two preseason top-25 teams — Wake Forest and Syracuse. That got them rocketing up the polls early. They have continued to win so they climbed further than Pitt. Add in a media friendly/popular coach like Billy Donavon and that is a combination that will get up there.

Personally, I’m not pissed about Florida being ranked #2. I’m annoyed Pitt is treated differently, despite the similar RPI and what is fast becoming a stronger Strength of Schedule both in and out of conference.

Speaking of strangeness, from SEC/ACC country (Atlanta) something that is sure to be generating some hatemail:

With Selection Sunday just 51 days away, it’s time to get serious about this college basketball business. Pretty much everything you’ll need to know will be revealed in the next few paragraphs. And if I happen to get any of these true-false propositions wrong, I will of course take my lead from Paul Hewitt and blame it on the refs.
…
5. The SEC is down yet again.

True. Is this conference ever going to send another team to another Final Four? (The last SEC entrant to qualify was Florida in 2000.) Somehow the Gators have risen to No. 2 in the rankings, but that’s a mirage. They’ll lose within the next week at either Tennessee or South Carolina, if not both places. Alabama was sliding even before it lost Chuck Davis, and Georgia is still a year away from making a big push. And as much regard as I have for Tubby Smith, I must concede that there’s no reason for Kentucky to have lost six times already.
…
10. It’s possible to be an unbeaten Big East team and still be underrated.

True. Pittsburgh is 15-0 and ranked No. 9, three spots behind thrice-beaten Gonzaga. And somehow Carl Krauser, the toughest player in the country the past three seasons, still never gets mentioned when the topic is the nation’s best point guard. Except in this space. I love the guy.

At SI.com, Luke Winn moves Pitt up 1 whole spot in his power rankings to #11 for road wins at Louisville and Rutgers. Judging by the sidenotes he cribbed from the media guide, I’m convinced he hasn’t actually watched the team play yet.

Meanwhile Seth Davis lists Pitt as a #2 seed in his 16 team bracket. He also relays an interesting anecdote as to part of the problems for BC’s struggles. They are going on the cheap to fly the kids the long distances.

I spoke with an ACC head coach last week who surmised that Boston College would get worn out unless the school flew on chartered planes for its road trips. BC flew commercially after losing on the road at Georgia Tech on Jan. 8 and lost at home by 18 points to N.C. State two days later.

Hey, at least they can be middle of the pack in football.

Not to mention this coaching carousel/domino theory.

Since most of you were probably watching football when I spouted my latest coaching domino theory on CBS last Saturday, I’ll repeat it again here. If Skip Prosser does take the Cincinnati job, then West Virginia coach John Beilein will be at the top of Wake Forest’s wish list of replacements. Beilein has an excellent relationship with Wake AD Ron Wellman, and he would have been hired at Wake if Prosser had turned the job down four years ago. Beilein has a long-term contract with an expensive buyout, but if he does leave, I would expect West Virginia to immediately go after Bob Huggins, a WVU alum. I know Huggins would have a shot at Missouri if Quin Snyder doesn’t hang on, but he has great affection for his alma mater.

And here’s the cherry on top: Since “resigning” from Cincinnati in September, Huggins has maintained a close relationship with schoolboy studs O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker. Those two are teammates at North College Hill in Ohio and have already said they’re going to play in college together. They are also originally from Huntington, W. Va.

Just to add to the paranoia, there is Huggins close relationship with J.O. Stright, Pope’s AAU Coach and the guy who nearly got him to transfer to a Florida prep school. Imagine Huggins recruiting in Pitt’s backyard.

SI. On Campus’ “Vent” is on the most underrated college basketball player.

So, let’s discuss the most unheralded players. For my money, nobody has done more and earned less praise than UConn’s Hilton Armstrong. His numbers won’t bowl anyone over (10 points, 6 rebs per game), but the senior forward has been the anchor down low for the No. 2 Huskies and he has outplayed Josh Boone, who many thought would be the next Emeka Okafor. Also flying under the radar: Louisiana Tech’s junior forward Paul Millsap (21 points, 10 rebs), Rutgers’ junior guard Quincy Douby (23 points, 5 rebs, 3 assists) and Pittsburgh’s junior center Aaron Gray (14 points, 10 rebounds).

They want people’s opinion, and probably why.

Do you know the last time Pitt won a game against St. John’s in NYC? March of 1995 in the Big East Tournament. Pitt has since dropped 5 straight either at Carnesecca Arena or Madison Square Garden. Pitt was 3-8 against St. John’s over this period, though winning 3 of the last 4. Including the BET, Pitt is 5-18 versus St. John’s in NYC (4-16 regular season). It is the worst away record for Pitt against any of the Big East foes (and believe me the away records against Georgetown, Syracuse, UConn and Villanova are nothing to create a particularly prideful feeling).

One of the big things for St. John’s is that they will be retiring the numbers of 8 of their greats and hanging them from the rafters along with banners honoring two of their coaches at Carnesecca Arena in a private ceremony Friday night. They are calling it “Basketball Legacy Honors.”

Joe Lapchick who preceded Lou Carnesecca, and for whom Carnesecca was an assistant is the other coach to be honored. The players are: Walter Berry, Lloyd “Sonny” Dove, Mark Jackson, Tony Jackson, Dick McGuire, Chris Mullin, Malik Sealy and Alan Seiden. Before this, St. John’s had never retired any numbers. The honorees will be acknowledged at halftime of the game on Saturday.

Useless information. This season, Pitt is 2-0 when there are player honors bestowed (home against ND and at South Carolina).

It’s a big deal for Pitt to play St. John’s. As is well known and expected to be hammered home by the announcers, Pitt has a ton of players from the NY/NJ area. Arguably that may play into why they have struggled so at St. John’s. Too many of the kids press and are distracted by seeing family. At least that’s the theory.

Pitt has its game notes (PDF) for the Noon start.

Starting to get a slow trickle of more recruiting stories and rumors as NLI day gets closer. Pitt’s class is mostly set with only a few more possibilities. Hopefully no last minute negative surprises.

Since Jovani Chappel is already taking classes at Pitt, obviously he is not going to be in any high school all-star games.

Nine area high school football standouts have been selected to play in the Grange Insurance Ohio North-South Classic in June. But three of the area’s best won’t be on any all-star rosters.

Ohio State University recruits Kurt Coleman (Northmont) and Ross Homan (Coldwater) graduated in December and are enrolled in college. Jovani Chappel (Trotwood-Madison) has gone that route to Pittsburgh. All will play spring football.

That also makes those three ineligible to participate in any non-NCAA athletic contest, which includes the local White-Allen Chevrolet Pigskin Classic.

Chappel was chosen for the Ohio team in the Big 33 Game vs. Pennsylvania at Hershey, but now he will be replaced. Neither Coleman nor Homan was among the pool of players to be chosen for the North-South Classic or Big 33.

If you are a fan of regional high-school all-star games, the early enrollment of students has to be frustrating. More and more of the games are losing top players because the kids are already at the college.

Boston College is trying to get a Syracuse, NY Defensive End to consider them.

It hasn’t been a very exciting January for Boston College fans as the Eagles have 18 commitments and aren’t desperate at any one position. However, this upcoming weekend will be key in many respects. The Eagles will be hosting defensive end McKenzie Mathews and hope to close out their defensive line class with a commitment. Mathews likes Michigan and Pitt as his two favorites, but apparently mom loves what BC has to offer and if he has a good visit this weekend the Eagles could slide in and steal him.

Mathews is only listed as a 3-star player, but judging by the type of programs that have expressed interest in him he must have a very high ceiling.

It’s a annually stupid argument, but it’s well under way. Which is the toughest conference? Generally speaking, who cares. It is certain that it isn’t the PAC 10, Big XII or SEC. I’ve heard the arguments for the ACC — mainly because of Duke lifting all boats or something to that effect, and BC’s struggles as somehow indicative of the ACC superiority (of course that contradicts last year’s surprises when Miami and VT went from BE bottom feeders to middle of the pack. The Big 11 is a more reasonable argument because of the number of ranked teams as a percentage. I don’t buy the whole depth argument, though, because it’s not like their bottom feeders — Penn State, Purdue and Northwestern — are very good.

The Big East gets a lot of the love for this based on sheer size, and how stunning it is to see teams like Cinci, Louisville, Georgetown and ND somewhere in the middle of the conference standings.

Well, a columnist in Big 11 country will get hatemail for going with the Big East over the Big 11.

This conference is almost as large as the NBA now. The expansion to 16 teams included some solid basketball programs in Louisville, Cincinnati and Marquette. Add them to a group that includes two national-championship contenders, Connecticut and Villanova, plus three other ranked teams, Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Syracuse. Pitt is one of three undefeated teams. Fourteen of the Big East clubs are ranked in the RPI’s top 90. It’s going to be very interesting to see how the NCAA Tournament selection committee handles this mega-conference when it’s time to hand out bids.

Big Ten: These top three conferences listed are really like 1A-1B-1C. All three are very comparable and clearly superior to the rest of the conferences. Like the Big East, the Big Ten has six ranked teams this week — No. 7 Illinois, No. 11 Michigan State, No. 13 Indiana, No. 15 Wisconsin, No. 19 Ohio State and No. 23 Iowa. There’s not much separating these six, which is why the home court usually prevails. Michigan likely will give the conference a seventh NCAA Tournament bid if it at least finishes around .500 in the Big Ten.

Ultimately it is the Tournament that tends to be the final arbiter as to determining the best conference.

An article on Pitt graduation rates in football and basektball quantifies something we have all known. The 90s sucked for Pitt athletics’ marquee programs.

The numbers released yesterday show the Panthers have a 0 percent graduation rate (for the freshman class of 1998-99) for men’s basketball and 53 percent for football. Their four-year average (1996-99) is 13 percent for men’s basketball and 31 percent for football.

Those numbers are not good, but they are not an accurate portrayal of the academic progress made in both sports.

The four-year average for men’s basketball reflects the last four classes of the Ralph Willard era. But numbers to be released next year will be for the freshman class that enrolled in 1999 — Ben Howland’s first class — and Pitt’s graduation rate for that class is 100 percent.

There have been three graduating classes under the Howland/Dixon regime. In those three classes, there were 10 players and nine have graduated; one has one semester left to earn his degree.

“At worst, we’re 90 percent, and we’ll likely be at 100 percent by the end of the summer,” Dixon said. “When Ben and I got here, we understood the numbers, and we knew what our priority had to be. This has been a constant point of emphasis for us.”

The football numbers also will begin to improve each year now that the classes are going to reflect former coach Walt Harris’ recruiting classes instead of classes that were thrown together during the transition from Johnny Majors to Harris.

The numbers released yesterday represent Harris’ first full recruiting class. And unlike the graduation success rate, which was released last fall, the federal rate does not take into account transfers, both in and out of the program. Even still, the 53 percent is a big jump from last year’s number — 31 percent — and a far cry from two years ago when the Panthers were among the lowest in the country at 16 percent.

And Harris’ second full class — which will be next year’s numbers — will jump to 65 percent, and in two years the rate will be 73 percent.

It’s embarrassing when you don’t graduate the players. It’s pathetic when you can’t even win games.

One of the stories today focuses on the bench and how productive it is.

Last season, Dixon had to play Krauser 36 minutes a game and Chevon Troutman 31 minutes a game. The only player averaging more than 30 minutes this season is Krauser, who plays 31.9 per game.

“It’s the deepest team I’ve ever been associated with,” Dixon said. “I had this in mind in the offseason. I thought this would be the best thing for this team. It’s been good. The guys know when they’re coming in. They know what their role is, and they’re comfortable with it. They know what we need.”

Benjamin was the latest role player to play big when his team needed it. The sophomore swingman posted a career-high 12 points in 28 minutes against Rutgers. At one time or another this season, four of Dixon’s six most-used reserves have led the bench in scoring for a game.

I haven’t heard Dixon talk about it — maybe he has on his radio show — but it seems that part of it has been his own growth as a coach. To learn to trust the reserves and younger players. To be a little more patient on the court with them and let them play and make some mistakes. Last year, it was expected that Pitt would use some increased depth to at least partially offset the loss of Page and Brown. That didn’t happen.

Guys like Benjamin, DeGroat and Gray were barely given chances last year. Kendall had a small window then saw his time dwindle quickly. Dante Milligan despaired of ever seeing playing time and transferred to UMass. Admittedly, by all reports, they were struggling in practices, and likely lacked the natural talent, ability and perhaps maturity shown by this year’s group of freshmen. Still, the use of the depth is as much a sign of Dixon trusting the players more and improving as a coach.

The players know they won’t get yanked at the first mistake and are playing more relaxed and with more confidence. Right now everything is clicking, as far as they are concerned.

It was noted in the comments yesterday, that Kendall’s performance and double-double was barely noticed in the local papers following the Rutgers win. Looking over the articles again, I can’t help but think that they were rushed filings because of deadline pressures. The game started after 8pm and was on the road. Both had more of a summary of the game feel without much in the way of quotes from participants and coaches. At least that’s my theory.

Today, Kendall gets a little love.

The easy-going, 6-foot-9 Kendall, who produced 14 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out for unbeaten Pitt (15-0, 4-0 Big East), didn’t bother to correct the pronunciation of his first name (it’s LEE-vaughn). Instead, he wore the same unassuming smile that accompanies him just about everywhere he goes.

“He’s been very good all year-long,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.

Kendall’s double-double boosted his season statistics, but you’d never know it. The junior from Vancouver, British Columbia, is fourth for the Panthers in scoring (7.5 ppg.) and a distant second to Aaron Gray in rebounding (6.3 rpg.).

Amazingly, the piece managed not to mention him scoring 40 for the Canadian U-21 team (a first this season for a Kendall-centric story).