Fast turn-around. Barely time to get over the loss to the Red and now Pitt hosts Orange. Pitt is installed as a 5.5 point favorite at this point. Syracuse will play its 4th straight road game (it is 1-2 at this point), and trying to snap a 2-game losing streak.

This will be the 93rd meeting between Syracuse and Pitt. The Orange leads the all-time series, 60-32, but has lost six of the last eight encounters with the Panthers, including both meetings last season. At the Peterson Events Center last January, Pittsburgh won a 75-69 decision to halt SU’s 13-game winning streak. In the second game played at the Carrier Dome, Pittsburgh outscored Syracuse 18-6 during the final 6:58 of play to overcome an eight-point deficit and beat the Orange, 68-64.

That was being extra generous. Pitt has won 7 of the last 9. Both teams are in the midst of a compressed schedule. This will be the 5th game for Pitt over the last 12 days.

I’ve previously mentioned Coach Boeheim’s complaints about the scheduling costing his team, and fans seem to think they got the short end this year in the BE, but the gamblers just see it as a team that is just in the tough part of the schedule and not at the top-shelf level.

“I don’t put too much weight on fatigue in college sports,” says Covers Expert Shawn Torrey. “I mean, what else would these guys rather be doing than playing basketball? The legs might be a little tired, but the skid can more so be attributed to the level of competition.”

Along with the Wildcats and the Huskies, Syracuse also had to deal with a scrappy Cincinnati team through that stretch. Those three teams have a combined Big East record of 10-4. The Orange are just a game over .500 in league play and two of those wins came against struggling Notre Dame and South Florida.

“Syracuse had some tough games early in the season, but the majority of them were sandwiched between a pair of lesser opponents,” says Torrey. “Now the Orange find themselves in the heart of a tough stretch of Big East games, and it’s showing.”

That’s especially true when you look at the team’s turnovers. The Orange committed 39 in their last two games, and 40 percent of the Wildcats’ offensive production (32 points) was a result of 19 SU giveaways. Fatigue can certainly factor into sloppy ball handling, but it’s been an issue for the Orange all season. They’ve committed 294 turnovers to date, an average of nearly 16 per game.

“From what we’ve seen, Syracuse just doesn’t match up with the Big East’s elite,” says Torrey.

And the jury is still out as to where Pitt matches with the “Big East Elite” (presumably WVU, UConn and Villanova).

The Pitt game notes are here (PDF), and the Athletic Department is encouraging extra rowdiness from the Oakland Zoo for the ESPN Big Monday game. Good news, Dick Vitale won’t be there. It will be a 3-man crew of Sean McDonough (Syracuse grad), Bill Raftery and Jay Bilas.

The Steelers going to XL. Even though I’m an Eagle fan, I’ve never hated the Steelers — partially because the two rarely intersect, but mainly because I enjoy pissing off the locals in Cleveland by pulling for the Pennsylvania teams.

To be fair, my wife is a Browns fan and chose to root more against the Broncos than the Steelers.

In the NFC, I’m rooting for Goings to have a big game but the Seahawks to win.

Outside of Pittsburgh (and we partisans scattered about the country), the loss to St. John’s was about the Red Storm’s play and a glorious weekend honoring their “legends.”

The Red Storm did in Pittsburgh — and did the Redmen proud.

On the day St. John’s honored 10 former coaches and players who were all at the school when it was using its old nickname, the Red Storm knocked No. 9 Pittsburgh from the ranks of the unbeaten, 55-50 Saturday.

“This was a perfect day. Nobody could have written a script like this,” said Hall of Fame coach Lou Carnesecca, one of those honored at a halftime ceremony.

The Red Storm are getting used to winning against ranked teams, having beaten No. 17 Louisville 68-56 on Tuesday, also at Madison Square Garden.

“We are not just playing for ourselves,” St. John’s guard Daryll Hill said. “St. John’s has that history and we are trying to bring it back like it was before.”

And the players of the past made gave the players of now some love.

Mullin was at the Garden yesterday to watch a new generation of local kids like Lamont Hamilton, Daryll Hill, Eugene Lawrence, Ryan Williams and Phil Missere lead the Johnnies on a trip down memory lane, St. John’s stunning previously unbeaten Pittsburgh, the No. 9 team in the country, 55-50.

This was the biggest win yet for St. John’s second-year coach Norm Roberts, whose record is now 10-6 and 3-2 in Big East play. Mullin made a special trip to the locker room afterward to congratulate the players.

“He told us he was proud of the way we represented St. John’s,” Hamilton said.

As for the game itself, the NY writers were treating it like a “back to the future” thing.

On a day when St. John’s honored the heroes of its celebrated past at the Garden, the Red Storm gave everyone in attendance a taste of what it was like back then.

The Johnnies put a perfect ending on a weekend dedicated to their illustrious history with a stunning 55-50 upset of No. 9 Pittsburgh, one of only three remaining unbeaten teams in Division I at the start of the day. Though the crowd was a meager 6,942, those who showed up got to experience a day on par with any of the program’s best from the past; it ended just like one, too, with the fans mobbing the team at center court.

“The way the crowd reacted, you could feel it in here,” said legendary coach Lou Carnesecca, one of 10 St. John’s greats bestowed “Legacy Honors” during the weekend. “It was a big slice of old time. They couldn’t have played any harder.”

Hey, why mess with the obvious storyline?

Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson, Dick McGuire and Lou Carnesecca sat several rows behind the St. John’s bench yesterday taking a wonderfully nostalgic trip back in time. On the Garden court were players wearing the jerseys Mullin, Jackson and others once donned when they gave everything — even blood — to uphold the honor of playing for the Catholic school in Queens that could.

“During one timeout I noticed Mark Jackson holding up his fist, telling us to stay strong,” said St. John’s wingman Ryan Williams. “You could feel their energy throughout the building. This is what St. John’s basketball used to be.”

And this is what St. John’s is becoming again after yesterday’s 55-50 win over No. 9 Pittsburgh.

With their previous win over Louisville, the legends stuff then knocking off Pitt, well this isn’t exactly hyperbole.

At the culmination of the most satisfying basketball day for St. John’s in the 21st century, Lamont Hamilton stepped to the foul line with 12 seconds on the clock and the chance to slay a giant.
…
In claiming its third consecutive Big East victory — equaling its entire conference win total from last season — and second in a row over a Top 25 team, St. John’s (10-6, 3-2) gave reason to believe its days as a bottom-feeder are near an end.

The St. John’s players had a swagger going after the game.

Lamont Hamilton secretly rooted for Pittsburgh over the last few weeks. The St. John’s senior wanted the Panthers to be unbeaten by the time they came to Madison Square Garden yesterday.

“We wanted to be the first ones to beat them,” Hamilton said. “Everyone on the team felt that way. We wanted to do it.”

That is what being undefeated means to other teams — it puts the bullseye on the undefeated. Right Florida and Duke?

Despite leading for almost the entire game, Pitt nearly wore them down to steal away the fairy tale ending.

St. John’s (10-6, 3-2 Big East) had an 11-point lead with 8 minutes 10 seconds remaining, but the Panthers (15-1, 4-1) stormed back with a 12-0 run to go ahead with 2:39 left. St. John’s could have folded, but clamped down on defense instead.

“We knew Pitt is a terrific basketball team and that they would come back strong in the second half,” St. John’s Coach Norm Roberts said. “I was extremely proud of our guys. No matter what happened, a turnover, whatever, they would concentrate on the next play and move on.”

Now as for the view from Pittsburgh, well I think this fits the conventional wisdom that would be accurate.

Pitt began the season with 15 consecutive victories because it was patient, shared the basketball and played tougher than every one of its opponents.

Pitt didn’t do any of those things, or much of anything else for long stretches of the game yesterday against St. John’s, and the Red Storm handed the Panthers their first loss of the season, 55-50, at Madison Square Garden.

Pitt (15-1, 4-1) lost the game in the first half when it went scoreless for the first 6 1/2 minutes, and St. John’s raced to a 14-0 lead. Pitt played its worst half of the season, shooting 27 percent and committing 12 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.

The Panthers got away from their game plan and attempted 12 3-pointers in the first half. They made only two and trailed by 12 at the intermission, 31-19.

“This was a good learning experience for us,” Pitt junior forward Levon Kendall said. “We got away from our game plan, and it cost us. We have to stick to the things that have been working for us all year or we’re going to keep losing.”

Pretty much tracks the overall opinion. I wouldn’t necessarily call the learning experience good, but I’m quibbling.
Krauser agreed with Kendall and what Coach Dixon said.

“You can’t sit here and whine about a loss,” Krauser said. “Those guys played great. They got ready for us. We didn’t play our game. We got away from the things that we do great. We came out way too anxious and we just lost.”
…
“It’s a tough loss, but the only way it’s going to turn into a bad loss is if we don’t turn around and learn from it,” Kendall said.
…
“I didn’t recognize our team on how we played early. Our patience wasn’t there,” Dixon said. “Clearly, it wasn’t our day.”

Pitt’s next opponent is the marquee on ESPN’s Big Monday at 7 pm. A frustrated Syracuse team that has lost 2 straight games to UConn then Villanova. Not to mention a smart coach who is playing the bunker mentality by complaining about the schedule trying to hurt them. Syracuse has McNamara and a Freshman named Rautins who are perimeter shooters. Pitt’s perimeter defense will be tested again.

It has nothing to do with anything regarding the Pitt-St. John’s game. I’ll get to a media round-up later.

This story on Big East scheduling complaints is the story of the day. It rips Calhoun and Boeheim’s whining about the schedules:

No one has registered more complaints than Boeheim and Calhoun. The two Hall of Fame coaches want every advantage. They tend to forget the fact that all the television exposure their teams have received has paid benefits in terms of recruiting.

Nevertheless, Calhoun has repeatedly complained about what he perceives to be Big East leader West Virginia’s weaker conference schedule compared to UConn’s opponents, especially the three home-and-home opponents.

“I look at the schedule and I was trying to find some down teams that we play twice,” Calhoun said. “I couldn’t find them. So we’re going to have to fight for everything we possibly can to get ourselves a chance to win a championship.”

Calhoun is just plain wrong about West Virginia. The two schedules are about the same.

Prior to Saturday, the Huskies split a pair on the road, beating Syracuse and losing at Marquette, and won at home against Georgetown and Cincinnati. The Mountaineers beat Marquette, Georgetown and Providence at home and won at Villanova and at South Florida.

As far as double opponents, UConn faces Villanova, Syracuse and Louisville twice. West Virginia takes on Georgetown, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati twice. Not much difference there.

Syracuse, Georgetown, Villanova and Pittsburgh are all NCAA Tournament quality teams. Louisville and Cincinnati are struggling due to injuries.

Neither UConn or West Virginia plays DePaul or Rutgers.

So Calhoun’s argument holds little weight.

[Emphasis added.]

Keep in mind that this is from a Connecticut paper, so give the writer props for knowing that Calhoun will likely abuse him next press conference.

Villanova coach Jay Wright and West Virginia’s John Beilein have a different perspective than Boeheim and Calhoun. They’ll play as many nationally-televised games as possible. The tradeoff is well worth the payoff.

“At this point right now we’re enjoying it,” Wright said. “When you’re in (Jim Boeheim’s) position and you’ve been through it every year it’s a little difficult. I hope that it benefits us in terms of exposure for our conference and exposure for our university and program, and it prepares us for the NCAA Tournament if we’re lucky enough to get there.

“Television interests dictates that you have quick turnarounds and some tough games. But that’s what the NCAA Tournament is and that’s what the Big East tournament is.”

Up until last year’s surprising postseason run during the Big East and NCAA Tournaments, West Virginia was starving for attention. Now, even as the first-place team in the nation’s best conference, the Moutaineers are just starting to gain notoriety. They played their first CBS television game in over 20 years Saturday when they visited UCLA.

“We’re in a different situation than Syracuse and UConn,” Beilein said. “Every opportunity that we can be on TV is very good. In the long run, I’ll have to see if it runs down our team or does whatever. Jim (Boeheim) has got a point. On the other hand, exposure for college basketball is everywhere. We want the Big East to be a part of that.”

And that is where Pitt is, trying to maintain the attention. Cinci was looking at a fringe top-25 season before Huggins got fired, but because of the years of success, attention and following they have accumulated they were still going to be featured on TV quite a bit (9 times like ‘Cuse, L-Ville and UConn). Pitt, by contrast was looking at the same situation without the track record so they were given only 4 national appearances.

As the article said, the whining is about trying to get every advantage — that doesn’t just mean the schedule. It also means keeping the higher TV profile so competition with the other BE schools for recruits still benefits them.