Looks like with Pitt not playing until Saturday and most resources and interest being focused on the Steelers and the Super Bowl, Pitt will have a day or so of obscurity locally.

Just this story recapping Pitt’s rebound from the St. John’s loss to beating Syracuse. It essentially highlights the good (bench scoring, Keith Benjamin and Carl Krauser) and almost (rebounding improved). Kind of avoided the bad (Gray’s inconsistent foul troubles and missing easy buckets).

The biggest problem media coverage in college sports is that there are so many teams, that coverage is spotty, inconsistent and not terribly accurate. It’s hard, and college basketball is more brutal than college football with all of the mid-majors and basketball only schools. National media writers just can’t see it all to get a clear picture because they simply can’t spend enough time watching them — except for the prestige/name schools that have gotten the national following over extended time: Kentucky, UNC, Duke, UCLA, Kansas.

A couple examples come from CSTV.com articles in the last week. I will give the writers credit. They admit they had yet to see Pitt actually play prior to watching them at Rutgers and versus Syracuse. It’s a good thing, because they saw different things from Pitt.

Here’s the Rutgers game story:

But how has a team that struggled for consistency last season with all-conference frontcourt players — like the departed Chevy Troutman and Chris Taft — managed to resurge so brilliantly without them?

Blame Canada.

Or, more specifically, junior combo forward Levon Kendall, the native of Vancouver, B.C., who’s enjoying a breakout season for the unbeaten Panthers.

“Levon’s a very good player and his numbers sometimes don’t indicate how good he is,” Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. “His rebound totals have been very good for the minutes he’s played, with the rotation we’ve got. He’s a great defender — not a good defender, but a great defender. He gives us so many things.”

The 6-foot-9 Kendall is a smooth mover, an instinctive rebounder with the fundamentals to start his own instructional video series. He’s physical enough to make a living as an effective post player, but has the handling ability to play facing the basket. With his controlled demeanor — always remaining within his tempo — Kendall is the type of guy who routinely makes his opponents pay for their lapses in concentration.

In the Rutgers game, Kendall had one of his best all-around game with 14 points and 13 boards. We’ve seen this team all year long. And while I think Kendall has become a good player (more so than many of you think), this article gave me a laugh for being so far over the top.

Another one of the CSTV.com analysts saw Pitt for the first time against Syracuse — mainly to talk about how bad Syracuse looked. He also said this:

On the flip side, Pitt looked good. Not great, but good. Having seen Carl Krauser in person for the first time this year, I’m a believer. Not only did he score 32 points, but he passed the ball, played great defense and fired up his teammates and the crowd on multiple occasions. He genuinely looked like he was having fun. It has helped his game that he’s playing mostly at the two-guard spot, a step away from ball handling responsibilities.

What if his first viewing of Pitt had been at MSG versus St. John’s? Can you imagine what he would have thought of Krauser then?

On the plus side, he was accurate in this:

As a final aside, it was a great atmosphere for college hoops. I’ve seen and listened to some rabid student sections, but the “Zoo” was jumping, moving and screaming the whole game, so props to them.

This is often called “parachute journalism,” where it is more important to show that the media organization was reporting from the scene, then to actually know what is going on. It’s common in all types of reporting (not just sports). It’s part of how Jayson Blair from the NY Times got caught — he failed to parachute, instead reporting and making things up from his apartment.

Andy Katz in his ESPN.com blog (Insider Subs.) has a couple things worth noting. He included Carl Krauser on his Wooden Award watch list. Voters had to narrow their choices down to 30 for this round. Krauser probably doesn’t have a shot at the award, but hopefully he’ll make the cut-down.

Katz from a couple days ago pointed out a flaw in the Big East Tournament set-up:

If the season were to end today, there would be a three-way tie at the bottom of the Big East for the 12th and final spot in the conference tournament. Louisville, Notre Dame and Providence are all 1-4, with DePaul and South Florida at 1-5 and 0-5, respectively. The problem for the Big East will come if two teams tie for 12th and didn’t play each other this season. The league is figuring out that tiebreaking procedure.

Whoops.

Now for a continuing theme on Doug Gottlieb. In his Weekly Watch offers this bit of meaningless puff:

We will find out how tough-minded Pittsburgh is over the next five games. Any road conference game is difficult, and for the second straight year, St. John’s beat Pitt in the Garden, but upcoming games at home versus Syracuse (Big Monday) and Marquette, on the road against UConn and Georgetown, then back home for West Virginia (the Backyard Brawl is a phenomenal football rivalry) will show if Pitt is for real.

Uh, okay. What does that mean? Does Pitt just need to go 3-2 over the 5 games to show if they are “for real?” 4-1? A 5-0 sweep? He doesn’t say. That way, he can decide later what he wants to say about Pitt without having to show that he holds no opinion — other than the opposite one of others on the radio or camera.

The squads for the “Big 33” game were announced. It includes 7 current Pitt commits and a couple other possibilities.

Over the weekend, it was noted that Pitt was still in contention for a few more kids from Florida and others.

Pitt is a finalist for three Florida players — defensive end Audie Augustine of Northeast High, defensive end Geno Atkins of St. Thomas Aquinas and quarterback Thaddeus Lewis of Miami Lakes.

Pitt’s best shot might be at Augustine, who is visiting Pitt this weekend.

“It’s come down to North Carolina State and Pitt,” Northeast coach Adam Ratkevich said. “Ever since last spring, Audie has been very impressed with coach [Dave] Wannstedt.

“Pitt already got [a commitment from] Jared Martin in this area. He’s probably the best defensive tackle in Broward County. By most people’s account, Audie is the best defensive end in the county. That would be two nice players for them.”

Pitt has commitments from 22 players. The Panthers are battling Auburn, Georgia, North Carolina State and Michigan State for Atkins. He is visiting Michigan State this weekend.

Pitt, South Florida, Duke and TCU are the finalists for Lewis.

Pitt also is in the running for receiver-defensive back Aaron Berry of Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg. West Virginia and Minnesota are his other choices.

There’s the continuing wondering about what Kevin Collier is doing. The Syracuse football beat writer doesn’t even know, but he likes to speculate/hope.

Churchville-Chili High School running back Kevin Collier says he’s committed to Pittsburgh, but he is clearly sending mixed messages with his actions. If Collier is such a Pitt lock, why was he at the SU-Connecticut basketball game at the Dome the other night? Why is he still talking regularly with SU coaches, who were at his basketball game this week? If you weren’t interested in the Orange and wanted to push away, wouldn’t you say, “thanx guys, I’ve made my decision?” Lot of pressure on the kid, who seems to be trying to make everyone happy. He’s not the first and won’t be the last. It’s a tough game being played. Stories keep coming out about tiny issues with Syracuse, but don’t you think there must be underlying issues with Pittsburgh if Collier is having this much difficulty getting to Feb. 1 with his commitment? Just a thought.

And members of the mainstream media like to complain about speculation and trying to pressure high school kids from recruiting sites, message boards and blogs?

I’ve tried not to pay too much attention or bother worrying about Penn State’s fantastic finish in recruiting. It’s been hard to ignore with almost daily e-mail updates from Pittsburgh Sports Report on yet another blue-chipper choosing PSU or decommitting from another school to opt for Penn State. The latest today was that QB Pat Devlin has decommitted from Miami to choose PSU.

Mike Farrell from Rivals.com for Sporting News dredged up Pitt’s Morelli stuff in talking about Devlin.

Devlin, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound record breaker from Downington East High
School, took an official visit to PSU this past weekend and is expected to
choose between the Nittany Lions and Hurricanes this week. You see, Penn State
isn’t exactly sold on Morelli being the long-term solution to replace Michael
Robinson and are pushing hard for Devlin despite a commitment from New Jersey
signal-caller Brett Brackett. Just two years after taking Morelli from Pitt, Joe
Paterno and company could do the same to Miami. How ironic that it’s Miami, the
team that stole Johnson away the same day, could now be the victim.

Recruiting is a cut-throat business and when someone is down, you don’t
help them up — you put your foot on their face and squish. Penn State has been
good as the squisher in the past and hopes Devlin allows it to play that role
again.

This finish to NLI day is astounding. Sure they had the fantastic season, but the way they have come hard to get all these name recruits has been extremely impressive. (Damn it.)

The thing I have noticed, though, and the reason why I could ignore for so long without commenting is the fact that most of them were not the ones Pitt was really in contention to get. So what they are doing isn’t actually weakening Pitt’s recruiting, especially locally.

PSU this year, whether it is just for this year or might be a shift in planning, has been focusing and cleaning up on the Eastern seaboard. I mean more than before. They haven’t hit Western PA like the last few years. Instead, most of their damage has been to the ACC schools as they are plucking kids not just from Eastern PA and NJ, but Maryland and Virginia. This means big losses for Maryland, UVA, VT, Miami, BC (which has gotten some top talent out of NJ) and NC State. If so, the ACC could be in for a rough time despite its size.

Just some idle thoughts.

Against Syracuse, a sign that you are attacking them well is indicated by the speed in which they leave the 2-3 zone to go man-to-man. Pitt has been one of the most successful teams in the Big East against Syracuse’s 2-3 in the last 4-5 years. When Pitt got off to the quick 7-0 run, and Watkins fouled Gray as he was scoring off a sweet inside pass from Krauser, Coach Boeheim was forced to call a quick timeout. Pitt had Syracuse going man at at the 18:26 mark. Less than 2 minutes into the game and the ‘Cuse needed something else.

Pitt played a smart balanced game. Pitt was energized to be home, clearly, but they were just fresher looking than Syracuse despite the similarly draining schedule both were completing.

The Orange still tried to push itself, even switching to a press
early in the second half. But the story was told more by Pitt’s dominance on the
boards – it grabbed 45 rebounds to Syracuse’s 38 – or the SU players’ slow,
measured gaits back to the court or bench after timeouts. Even energetic
freshman Eric Devendorf, who scored 18 points, wore a pained grin while driving
to the basket as time wound down in the second half.

“We look like a team that’s been out playing a lot,” Boeheim said. “We’re
tired. … We need a few days off. It’s sad you have to play such great teams
back-to-back and then have six, seven days off.”

Still, Pittsburgh (16-1, 5-1 Big East) faced a similar travel schedule as
the Orange. The Panthers played five games in the past 11 days, two of which
were against teams in the Top 25. Last night’s game was their first home game
since Jan. 12. Pitt, like most of the Orange, refused to say exhaustion had any
effect on its play.

While the Panthers seemed to be telling the truth somewhat, SU looked tired
in the locker room after the game.
…
Syracuse often exhibited that tiredness by committing fouls. Center
Darryl Watkins fouled out with 13 minutes remaining, Roberts did so with 3:10 to
go after being called for a technical foul and Louie McCroskey fouled out with
1:19 left.

Pitt’s deep rotation served them extremely well.

The game was tight early, but Pitt opened up a big lead late in the first half when Gray was out of the game with two fouls. Tyrell Biggs came into the game and scored five points. Later, starting 6-foot-9 forward Levon Kendall switched to center, and Sam Young played power forward. Young had seven first-half points, all in the final five minutes of the half, including a three-point play and a spectacular one-handed dunk.

“Tyrell was big,” Dixon said. “Our depth was a big factor again. That really carried us on our way.”

Unlike Syracuse who has 3 players averaging over 32 minutes and a rotation that rarely goes deeper than 7, Pitt going 10 deep made for a team that could handle the compressed portion of the schedule. To Syracuse, it probably seemed like fresh legs off Pitt’s bench were coming at them in waves.

The free throw attempts disparity was incredible but warranted. Pitt attempted 35, while Syracuse had only 5.

The number of foul shots attempted in the game reflected Syracuse’s
over-aggressiveness. Pitt shot 35 free throws compared to only five for
Syracuse.

“It wasn’t the officiating,” McNamara said. “Maybe if it was 35-28, but
when it’s 35-5 you can’t say anything about the officials. We’re just not
getting in the lane and creating contact – they were, and it’s a different game
if they don’t shoot 35 free throws.”

Pitt’s inside guys did a very good job of not giving up their position inside on defense. While it created some pretty impressive acrobatic attempts from Devendorf or McNamara who found themselves pulling up more when they penetrated, it prevented “and 1” chances. Especially important with Pitt playing with a lead, and not giving them chances to draw even closer from the line.

Kendall was doing it very well, at first to my annoyance, because Devendorf or McNamara would hit those wild floaters without punishment. But what it did was force them further to the perimeter and a lot of off-balance shots, and they got no real easy ones coming inside. At the same time McNamara and Devendorf couldn’t draw the defenders to the dumb foul for free throws or to free the guys inside. It was smart play. It’s why he saw a bulk of minutes.

An interesting contrast in big men in the game. Neither team exactly looked good offensively with the front court. Syracuse ended up blocking a lot of shots because of Pitt’s aggressiveness going to the basket. If Pitt got in to their inside guys, the ‘Cuse interior was able to block and hold their position better. Syracuse was much better about going straight up and down to contest those kind of inside shots. Penetration and drives, however, was a different story. They couldn’t hold their ground, or flinched at the contact.

Pitt’s inside guys held their ground. In a game where the guards for both teams were creating it made a huge difference, and was the reason for the foul shooting disparity. As is the standard for any team taking on Syracuse this year, the first rule is to not allow McNamara to have open looks. Make him work and expend a lot of energy just to get a shot.

Dixon was pleased with his team’s ability to control Syracuse’s top player and one of the top guards in the Big East, McNamara, who shot only 8 for 24 overall and 2 for 12 from 3-point range.

McNamara, a senior, was coming off a season-low four points in an 80-65 loss at No. 6 Villanova on Saturday.

“It was a big key to make him take tough shots,” Dixon said. “He’s going to make shots, but you’ve got to make him take tough shots and limit his trips to the foul line. He’s a great free-throw shooter (92.5 percent).”

Pitt’s guards not only wanted to go to the basket — so did the Orange — they wanted to take it right to the defenders who tried to come out to them. Syracuse’s guards continually stopped short of the basket when they realized Pitt’s defenders were staying where they were.

The story of the game, of course was Carl Krauser.

No Krauser shot was bigger than his pull-up 3-pointer with 12 minutes, 10
seconds left in the game.

Syracuse had pressed its way back from a 15-point deficit to within 53-46. The Orange had the momentum with a 12-2 run and had the sold-out Petersen Events Center worried and quiet.

But the calm and collected Krauser slowed the game down, dribbled the ball at the top of the key and stared at Syracuse’s 2-3 zone defense. When neither McNamara nor Devendorf stepped up to contest him, he nailed a 21-footer.

SU would fight its way back to four-point and five-point deficits later in the game, but that one shot deflated the Orange.

“He hit a wide-open 3,” said McNamara, who finished with 18 points on 8-for-24 shooting. “We go back to the two (zone defense) and he hits a wide-open. We let him shoot it wide-open. I’ve played against Carl a bunch of times and I know he likes that shot. I like that shot, too. We just made a mistake and he made us pay for it.”
…
He was superb again on Monday. He controlled the ball, largely against Devendorf in Syracuse’s desperation man-to-man defense. He pushed the ball when he was supposed to and he was patient against the halfcourt defense.

Yet, after the final buzzer, he had no idea he’d had a career night. Instead, he celebrated the big win by jumping on courtside seats and leading the Pittsburgh student section in a “Let’s-Go-Pitt” chant.

When he stopped the cheerleading long enough to be interviewed by ESPN, he realized how big his game truly was.

“Having a career game is just another game for me,” he said, his words feigning nonchalance but his smile indicating the real story. “I don’t try to feed into it too much. I just try to do what I can to help my teammates. I just really want to go out there and compete. But it does feel good to go out there and have 32 points in the Big East Conference and a collegiate basketball game.”

It’s seeing Krauser figuratively embrace the Oakland Zoo after games that is so great. It briefly warms a cynic’s heart to see the players give the love back to the students and not act like it is a pro game.

Krauser’s 32 points came not just because the team was sharing the ball the way they have, but because the other guards were making and getting shots. It meant that the defense couldn’t collapse on Krauser without someone making them pay. Ramon found his touch early in the game dropping some pretty 3s (3-4 on 3s, 4-6 overall) and scoring 11. That extended the defense, creating the space for Krauser and for more penetration from the perimeter.

That was where Benjamin played another impressive game at the 3-guard/forward spot. Taking the ball inside, but with control and purpose. His shot selection and scoring percentage reflected that — 5-7 and 11 points. Not the reckless, selfish way that had been dropping his minutes earlier in the season. He drove, and showed some great elevation. He played on both ends, crashing the boards for 6 rebounds.

Tip off at 7pm. Comment away before during and after.

HALFTIME UPDATE: Pitt up 39-31.

Syracuse’s big men are not doing anything. McNamara and Devendorf seem to be keeping them in the game.

Gray seems to be every other game or so with foul troubles. Right away you could see the extra pass and looking for the open guy. Lesson appears to have gotten through. Need to keep it up in the second half. Taking it inside a lot and drawing fouls. I think ‘Cuse have 3 guys with 3 fouls.

FINAL UPDATE: Pitt wins 80-67.

Krauser went off. Once again he set the tone. He gave up the ball early and the team took its cue making extra passes. Almost karma-like the way it came back. Krauser gave up some early chances to make sure everyone got involved and he scored a career high 32 points.He also had 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 4 turnovers.

Pitt shot close to 45% while holding ‘Cuse to just under 40%. The big sign that Pitt was playing their game: A/B% was 76%. Pitt shared the ball and found the open look. It probably would have been a bigger blowout if Gray could have been dropping the basket inside.

As promised, here’s what Matt Glaude had to say in response to some questions. I’ll link when he posts my responses in an update.

UPDATE: My responses to Matt’s questions are here.

1. I’ll start with a question that has an extended preamble.

Going into the season, I saw Pitt and Syracuse as 2 similar squads: ” A point guard who has had a fantastic career, now the veteran leader expected to carry a large load with a squad around him that has questions and inexperienced, young talent. ” I gave the edge in preseason to Syracuse because of the coaching reputation. How did you see the teams going into the BE and how has it changed for you (if at all)?

Going into this season, I wasn’t sure what to expect from either Pittsburgh or Syracuse. I knew the Orange were going to have to develop some frontcourt presence to survive in conference, but I still anticipated around a 19 win campaign and a tournament birth. I’ve seen Boeheim take teams with less talent and still accomplish a great deal, and with McNamara and Devendorf potentially pacing the team, expectations were still fairly high.

As for Pittsburgh, I thought the jury was really out on them. I’ve never been a big Krauser fan, just because I think his bulldog mentality tends to limit his potential at times. With Taft and Troutman gone, I really thought the Panthers would struggle inside and as a consequence would suffer in the consistency department. This, of course, would end up being the worst assumption I’ve made since predicting a 6-6 Orange football campaign.

As it stands currently, I think Syracuse and Pittsburgh are teams that have started in different fashions but seem to be situated in a common predicament. Both appear to be struggling with finding a consistent modus operandi and have, at times, failed to find a true identity. Winning tends to mask some of these faults, but when things turn for the worse, they become a little more apparent.

Looking to the future, I see both Pittsburgh and Syracuse fulfilling preseason expectations of making the NCAA tournament. I’m not sure I expect either club to do much damage (which is about what I had anticipated preseason), but of course, things are bound to change, especially if someone gets hot in the Big East Tournament.

2. Right now Pitt looks to be the slightly better team by virtue of winning their tough non-cons and not playing Bucknell this year (taking the hit last year). At roughly 30% through the BE where do you see Syracuse and Pitt in the BE at this point and projecting to the end of the season?

At this juncture, I see Pitt and ‘Cuse sitting in that malaise somewhere behind Connecticut, Villanova, and West Virginia. Now, that’s nothing to scoff at. Those three aforementioned teams are potential Final Four selections depending on how their bracket is structured. However, with Pittsburgh and Syracuse stuck in that uneviable 4/5 spot with sleeping giant Louisville, that makes for a difficult run through the Big East Tournament in order to garner a reasonable NCAA seed.

I don’t really anticipate Syracuse or Pittsburgh really changing their position much to the end of the season. Neither squad has a particular fun road to close out the regular season and each team is fighting off some January/February demons right now. But still, being in the top five of this conference should be good enough to impress the selection committee come Selection Sunday, making for an interesting March.

3. Assuming Pitt keys in and try to stop McNamara first, what players need to have big games? What players coming off the bench need to contribute more?

If Pittsburgh were to stop McNamara (which is a distinct possibility given Gerry schizophrenic nature), Terrence Roberts and Demetris Nichols are both on the hook for carrying Boeheim’s Bunch. Nichols is probably the team’s most consistent outside threat, and if he can get hot, then Gerry can focus on distributing the leather instead of looking for his shot and taking the team out of its offense. Similarly, when McNamara is denied his shot, opportunities exist for Roberts to open up inside and carry some of the scoring load. He was able to do this in the second half against Villanova on Saturday. Of course, in the first half, he might as well have ridden the pine, because his play was borderline pointless.

Off the bench, it’s all about Arinze Onuaku. Onuaku has become the rebounding presence that this team has sorely needed this season. But, in classic Boeheim fashion, Onuaku has seen only sparse playing time because he’s a freshman. Should Roberts or Watkins fail to get the job done tonight, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Onuaku in the game to give the team a spark.

4. Syracuse doesn’t seem to be going deep on its bench this year. The 5 starters taking up an average of 76% of the total minutes, and 3 players averaging more than 32 minutes. How do you feel that will play out over the rest of the season, and can the players handle the load? Does the team have much of a choice?

Boeheim has always working with a rotation of about 7 guys, so seeing McNamara, Roberts and Nichols chew up minutes isn’t too surprising. What I do worry about is seeing fatigue out of Roberts and McNamara down the stretch. Both spent the summer hooping for the red, white, and blue, and given the fact that the bench behind them is young, thin, and inconsistent, there is a strong possibility that they could run out of gas.

But who knows. I expected Gerry to fall apart last season after getting that groin injury and he still managed to put together 40 minutes a night.

5. Are you hoping that Andy Rautins and Levon Kendall aren’t on the court at the same time too often so as not to hear too much from the play-by-play folks about how they were on the Canadian U-21 squad together and coached by Rautins’ father? Or is that just me?

“I’m from Canadah. They think I’m slow, eh?”

I love the Simpsons. Just an interesting note on Andy Rautins: he was recruited by two schools – St. Bonaventure and Syracuse. And Syracuse came into the picture real late. Now, apparently, he’s the best shooter on the team. Just goes to show that recruiting is an inexact science.

Okay, looks like Pitt earned more respect than realized. That or a lot more people saw just how hard St. John’s played at home. In the AP and Coaches Polls, Pitt didn’t fall nearly so far. To number 12 in the AP and only one spot drop in the Coaches to #10. The top-8 in both polls — UConn #1 and ‘Nova #6. The AP moved WVU all the way up to #9 while the Coaches only bumped them up to #13. Syracuse remained in both polls (25 – AP, 24 – Coaches) and so did Louisville (22 and 23). Georgetown somehow failed to garner a single vote in the AP poll (27th in the Coaches).

In the all important Big East Blog Poll, Pitt came in at #4. I’m surprised because I actually voted them one spot lower. I gave Georgetown a lot of love for their win over Duke:

UConn — Nearly gave it to WVU, but UConn got the slight edge.
WVU — Now they are looking dangerous.
Villanova — Nearly blew it to Syracuse, but overwhelmed them.
Georgetown — Knocking off the undefeated #1 team deserves props.
Pitt — G-town’s win simply was the difference.
Marquette — Looked a little shaky against a DePaul team that had Chandler suspended. Still, a quietly solid team that is getting better.
Syracuse — No shame in the losses, but there were still 2 of them.
St. John’s — Big week and the team handled it. Now how do they follow it up?
Cinci — Still finding ways to stay in the middle despite the ever shrinking depth. Someon is going to look real smart for hiring Kennedy after this season.
Louisville — The loss of Dean is really taking a toll.
Rutgers — Just as they start to get close, it seems to slip away.
ND — No more excuses regarding their schedule this year. They just aren’t very good and lack much heart.
Providence — Barely
DePaul — Wainwright and DePaul lost 2 games on principle by suspending Chandler. Admirable.
Seton Hall — Hard to watch.
USF — Haven’t yet.

A couple more stories.

Despite the Pitt loss (or in part helped by), this turned out to be a good weekend for the Big East on a national level. The NY Times said so (hat tip, Steve).

When St. John’s tapped into some of its old glory by handing No. 9 Pittsburgh its first loss of the season Saturday, it was just part of a special day for the Big East.

With No. 12 West Virginia’s victory at No. 18 U.C.L.A. and unranked Georgetown’s upset of top-ranked and previously undefeated Duke, the Big East cemented its status as the top conference in college basketball. Although the league, with its 16 teams, may be twice as large as it was in its halcyon days, the enduring quality is that every game is grueling.

“It’s very obvious,” Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim said. “There’s nothing I need to say. You can just look around and see what we’re doing.”

In Big Twelve country, there is recognition as to where the best conference is:

This year, however, The Beast is bigger and perhaps better than ever. The Big East is the deepest basketball conference in Division I, and that’s not simply because it has expanded to a sweet 16.

The Big East has eight teams with 13 or more victories (the 12-team ACC has five). With six weeks of regular-season play remaining, all of those teams are in excellent shape to earn an NCAA Tournament spot.

Georgetown is 12-4 following its upset of top-ranked Duke. If the Hoyas are on the NCAA bubble, their defeat of the Blue Devils could be a deal maker.

Sure, it’s an advantage to have a 16-team league if it leads to landing a record number of teams in the field. The Big East figures to best the previous record of seven teams from one conference. But it’s not just a numbers game.

The Big East has legitimate Final Four contenders in West Virginia, Villanova and Pittsburgh. Georgetown will be a dark horse.

St. John’s, picked to finish 10th, defeated Louisville and Pitt last week. The Mountaineers won at UCLA the same day Georgetown ended Duke’s perfect start.

And Connecticut, likely to be the new No. 1, is the national championship favorite. (Sorry, Duke fans, but the Huskies are more talented than the Blue Devils.)

The Georgetown win over Duke will keep them in the NCAA (or at least on the bubble) for the season.

Dick Weiss at the NY Daily News, agrees about the beast and sees the potential for 10 teams.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said late Saturday night that he could make a case for at least 10 teams from the conference making the NCAA Tournament field.

He didn’t get specific, but here’s how it breaks down: There’s a solid case for UConn (16-1), Villanova (13-2), Pitt (15-1), Syracuse (15-4), West Virginia (14-3), Marquette (14-5) and Georgetown (12-4) as teams that should be in the field of 65. Louisville (13-5), Cincinnati (14-5) and maybe even Rutgers (12-6) also could be in the mix come March.

It’s hard to know what the selection committee will think, especially since some of these teams will have losing records in cannibalistic conference play. Right now, for example, Louisville – a Final Four team last year – is 1-4, but the Cardinals’ last two league losses have come without star guard Taquan Dean, who is nursing a high ankle sprain.

There may be backlash from committee members who will rationalize that no league can be that good. But this is the deepest Big East in memory since 1985, when three teams – Georgetown, St. John’s and eventual national champion Villanova – threw their own block party at the Final Four.
…
But no one – not even UConn, which lost by 15 at Marquette – is safe in this league. Underrated, improving teams like Georgetown and St. John’s sprinted out of the shadows with huge wins. The Johnnies silenced previously undefeated Pitt, 55-50, early Saturday afternoon at the Garden. Then, Georgetown made the biggest statement for the Big East, stunning top-ranked Duke, 87-84, at the MCI Center in D.C.

In Weiss’ top-10 at the bottom of the column he has UConn #1, Villanova #5, WVU #7 and Pitt #10. Sure he’s biased to the BE, but that isn’t totally unplausable. Right?

Turning back to tonight’s Syracuse game, the ‘Cuse players are not shying away from its importance for them.

For Syracuse, it is exactly the wrong time to play Pittsburgh, which has turned into quite an Orange nemesis in recent years. The Panthers have bullied SU in winning seven of the last nine meetings.

But the Orange has earned wins in five of its last eight trips to Pittsburgh. And it so desperately needs a victory tonight.

“It definitely is a must-win right now,” said junior Terrence Roberts. “I start to look at the future here as far as the NCAA Tournament goes and I think we need these quality wins against these ranked teams. But I think we need these wins more than anything just for ourselves to show that we can compete with these teams. We’ve got to stop coming out here and getting blown out because this is really not us.”

Both teams need this. Not to get into the NCAA, but to show they are an upper-tier team and they need the big wins if they want the higher seeds. A lot at stake early in the season. That is, however, what happens when a conference is as tough as the BE is. Every game has meaning and deeper significance.

Both Pitt and Syracuse come into the game with losses. Both teams have their coaches saying pretty much the exact same thing as being the problem.

Coach Boeheim:

Presumably, they’ll show up at tonight’s game vs. the Panthers before they fall behind 12-0.

The Orange will try to avoid its first three-game losing streak in four years as it faces Pitt, which is coming off its first Big East setback, 55-50, at St. John’s on Saturday. By tip-off tonight, this most likely won’t be a matchup of two ranked Big East teams.

No. 9 Pitt (4-1 Big East, 15-4 overall) will drop out of the Top 10 in the new poll, which comes out today. After being blown out by No. 3 Connecticut last Monday and by No. 8 Villanova on Saturday, SU (3-2, 15-4) certainly won’t still be the Top 25.

Offensive impatience buried the Orange in 12-0 holes in each loss.

“Our offense is killing us,” coach Jim Boeheim said after ‘Nova forced 10 turnovers in the Orange’s first 12 possessions — a stat that still sounds like it can’t be true. “As much as it has been the other team, it’s been ourselves.”

Now, Coach Dixon.

Pittsburgh fell behind 14-0 in the first six-plus minutes, shot a season-low 35.2 percent from the field and was outrebounded 36-32.

“We were impatient,” Panthers coach Jamie Dixon said. “Rushing things offensively and that hurt our defense. We had some foul problems early and that hurt us. We just didn’t play well. Our offense has a lot to do with our defense. They go hand in hand.”

Both teams shot under 40% in their losses and turned the ball over a ton in the first half of their Saturday losses. Oh, and both teams staged furious comebacks in the second half that didn’t quite make it. And yes, both teams star guards are struggling right now.

Carl Krauser had 10 points but went 5-of-17 from the field and missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the final minute for the Panthers, who are 11-0 this season and 59-5 all-time at the Petersen Events Center.Carl Krauser had 10 points but went 5-of-17 from the field and missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the final minute for the Panthers, who are 11-0 this season and 59-5 all-time at the Petersen Events Center.
…
Syracuse fell behind 20-4 and committed 15 first-half turnovers before rallying in the second half of an 80-65 defeat Saturday to Villanova. Senior guard Gerry McNamara, who averages 16.9 points, was held to four on 1-for-7 shooting while committing six turnovers.

Both teams see this as the end of the end of a rough patch of games in a short span. Pitt of course is playing its 5th game in 12 days — sandwiching home games around 3 on the road.

But the scenario appears much tougher for Syracuse (15-4, 3-2), which faced a challenging five-game stretch that began Jan. 11 with an 88-82 victory at Notre Dame.

Following the Wednesday night game, the Orange stayed in the Midwest for a Jan. 14 contest at then-No. 25 Cincinnati — Syracuse won, 77-58 — before returning home last Monday to entertain No. 3 Connecticut.

The road-weary Orange fell to the Huskies, 88-80, at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.

Since then, Syracuse dropped an 80-65 decision at No. 8 Villanova on Saturday and, in Pitt, will face its fourth consecutive nationally ranked team tonight.

While Boeheim has publicly bitched about it and it all being for TV. Coach Dixon has been more tactful, especially because he knows Pitt can use exposure.

Pitt lost for the first time Saturday to St. John’s, 55-50, in the Panthers’ third consecutive road game in a week’s span. The Panthers looked like a tired team. They shot poorly and got outrebounded, a sign that their legs might be weary. But Dixon and his players refused to say playing a third consecutive road game was the reason for the loss.

“That question is going to be asked because of all the road games we’ve played, but I don’t think that’s why we lost,” Dixon said. “We looked stronger in the second half, so that really wasn’t the case. We were just impatient and missed a lot of easy shots. We rushed some things.”

“We’re not going to use that as an excuse,” said Pitt senior Carl Krauser, who was 5 for 17 from the field and scored 10 points against St. John’s. “We just had a bad game. They did what they had to do. And we didn’t do what we had to do.”

The Panthers enter the Syracuse game looking for answers on offense. They have shot 38.1 percent from the field the past three games, including a season-low 35.2 percent against St. John’s. They had shot more than 40 percent in 13 of their first 15 games, only shooting poorly in victories against Maine and South Carolina.

They are averaging 62 points per game the past three games, 13 below their season average.

Um, context helps. Pitt’s last 3 opponents are in the upper-half of the conference in scoring defense. St. John’s is ranked #1 (7th nationally), Rutgers #4 (31st) and Louisville #6 (44th). Against Rutgers it was 39.3% shooting and Louisville was 37.7%. Additionally, all 3 hold opponents to under 40% shooting on average. A high shooting % and scoring a lot should not have been expected.

Now as for complaints about how the Big East does everything for TV on its scheduling: No s**t! The Big East came in to being for TV purposes. It is merely staying true to its roots in basketball by continuing to do things that way.

The game tonight will be the second consecutive game where Aaron Gray will be matched up inside against another big guy. Daryl Watkins, who hasn’t exactly shown much yet. Here’s a comment from Syracuse Post-Standard beat writer Kim Baxter:

But anywho … you get the idea. Gray is a big kid who knows how to throw around his strength. It’ll be interesting to see him go up against SU’s Darryl Watkins (6-11 and 258 pounds). We’ve been hearing all year how Mookie will play better against centers his size. Here’s his chance.

She sounds skeptical.

Matt Glaude and I will try to get some Q&A’s up today ahead of the game.

With possible patches of noticing.

But it won’t start with tonight’s game against Syracuse, despite being on ESPN at 7pm.

Have to figure Pittsburgh will be Steeler-centric for the next 3 weeks. The two week build up to the Super Bowl and then a week of focusing on what happened. So it’s time to peek ahead to see what most of the city will miss.

The Saturday Marquette game at noon might grab a couple people desperate for some sports. Going to UConn on a Thursday night will be a blip. And this is just absurd, but Pitt will be at Georgetown for a nooner on Super Bowl Sunday.

What will likely herald the end of the media blackout would be the Thursday after the Super Bowl tilt with West Virginia. Unfortunately, that game is on at 9pm to temper even that game.

I have to believe full awareness of Pitt won’t be in effect until the desperate Pittsburgh sports fan turns on their TV the following Sunday. At that time, Pitt will be playing Cinci.

Then there will be 5 games left in the regular season. Arguably, Pitt is playing one of the most locally ignored successful seasons, anywhere and ever.

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.

Quick media note to pass along. Coach Jamie Dixon will be the guest on “Rome is Burning” on Monday, 4:30 PM Eastern. Since I have taken plenty of shots at Coach Dixon’s media presence, I’ll be watching with curiosity how he does with the old softballs.

I’ve been looking over my own notes, the box score and the detailed box score. I’ve been trying to make sense of how Pitt lost.

In the large scope of things, this shouldn’t be a big deal. Pitt got off to a start no one expected. 15-1 overall, and 4-1 in the Big East. They had 3 straight road games and went 2-1

First of all, a lot of props have to be given to the Red Storm. They played as tough as anyone today. They would appear to have the right coach and already seem to have a great core to build for the future. There were many points where they clearly outplayed Pitt. Had greater desire, and kept Pitt on their heels, and played a great defense. They made some tough shots, and sank clutch free throws down the stretch. They were the team on offense to use ball movement and patience to find the shot.

Now for Pitt. The team played so horribly disjointed. It’s not an excuse, in fact I’m a bit pissed about it, but too many of the players looked like they were trying to show something to their friends and family rather than play the game.

Krauser, especially, has to take this blame. Right from the start he appeared to be impatient, pressing and wanting to do it all. He was not committed to passing along the perimeter to the other guards. He wanted to take the shot, drive or pass inside. He wasn’t looking for anyone else. As the team leader, he helped set that tone. I hate, I mean, really hate typing it because I love Krauser’s game and Pitt wouldn’t be where it is without him. But he bares a lot of responsibility for this loss since he took almost 1/3 of Pitt’s total FGAs. He shot 5-17 for 10 points. He missed 5 3s and never got to the free throw line. Committed 4 turnovers and 4 fouls — including a technical — and only 3 assists and rebounds. It spread to the rest of the team.

Here’s something that points out how much more of an individual game Pitt played. Going into today’s game Pitt had an impressive Assisted Basketball Percentage (A/B% = Assists/FGM) of 68.4%. That indicates a lot of passing and finding someone with the shot — team. Today it was at 52.6%. Meaning too many players just taking a shot and not making the passes.

Gray looked to have a moderately good game with 14 points and 9 rebounds. He was 7-11 shooting, but with Pitt not getting the ball around to find an open shot he didn’t get as many attempts as one would hope. Another part was some very, very good defense by St. John’s and Lamont Hamilton. They were doing a very good job of denying the passing lanes.

I do not understand how Gray only had 1 turnover. That was generous scoring. Especially early, there were some plays where Gray literally fumbled the ball around on some inside passes. He still needs to do a lot of work on handling the ball — and resisting the urge to put it on the ground before taking a shot. The big problem was that he only had 2 offensive rebounds.

Part of that was the St. John’s play of total crashing of the boards. They were sending 3 or 4 guys for the rebounds. And while Pitt was not doing a great job of boxing out, you can’t really box out that many guys too often.

Ramon, Fields and Graves all struggled. Ramon had a hard time with St. John’s defense turning the ball over 3 times in the first half. Fields looked like a Freshman a lot today. Graves is just struggling all season.

Neither Kendall or Young looked particularly good combining to go 2-11. Kendall was pushed around by St. John’s and only grabbed 2 boards. His bright side, 0 turnovers. Young was able to grab 6 rebounds but also had 2 turnovers.

DeGroat played rather well I thought. He was one of the only NY players who didn’t seem like he was trying to do too much. He was going hard for the ball and with maybe one exception took good shots (2-4, 5 points). He was credited with 4 steals which were of the rip the ball from the opposing player variety.

Benjamin stayed in control. He was aggressive going to the basket and drew the fouls. He grabbed some nice rebounds and his defense looked a lot sharper.

Coach Jamie Dixon after the game did his best to defend his players as best he could, but also showed some honesty.

Pittsburgh Head Coach Jamie Dixon On today’s game: “In the second half we obviously did some things better. We took care of the ball. We moved the ball better. We actually played pretty well, but digging ourselves a 12-point hole in a 60 point game is significant. We are going to get ready for Syracuse and be ready to practice tomorrow and be ready to go Monday.”

On offensive execution:“We were impatient. Rushing things offensively and that hurt our defense. We had some foul problems early and that hurt us. We just didn’t play well. Our offense has a lot to do with our defense. They go hand in hand.”

More on today’s game:“Our guys were ready to play. We played hard. It was just bad execution. We rushed things. Our poor offense lead to our defense deficiency. Both teams battled on the floor and were going hard. That is how both teams play. We figured it was going to be that type of game and we were ready for it. We just didn’t respond the way we should have.”

More on today’s game:“The effort on both ends was tremendous. I don’t think we executed. Our patience wasn’t there. Clearly it wasn’t our day. We said they would come out aggressively and have their early runs. I can’t say I was surprised. I didn’t recognize our team on how we played early. The impatience offensively and forcing things, just put us in a hole. I really thought it extended from our offense. You can’t turn the ball over as much as we did and have it not effect you on the defensive end.”

12 first half turnovers were killer.

Okay, Wisconsin has lost at home to B-ball independant North Dakota St. 62-55. Pitt has lost to a conference rival against whom they have not had a lot of success, especially when they are the visiting team. #1 Duke has lost to unranked Georgetown.

Losing still sucks, but this was hardly devastating.