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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The classiest college athlete, has managed to do the unthinkable. He’s got Virginia Tech actually contemplating discipline for on-field thuggery.

* He can renounce his final year of eligibility and turn pro, something Vick said he wouldn’t do in an interview before the Gator Bowl. He would need to declare his intentions to turn pro by Jan. 15

* He can transfer to a Division I-AA school for the final year of his eligibility. He would be immediately eligible.

* He can accept a suspension — likely only one game but maybe more — at the start of next season with the understanding that one more on-field or off-field incident would result in dismissal from the team.

Two of the sources said Vick may even be required to sit out spring practice, though that hasn’t been determined.

My guess, is that next year it will be one more thing he will refuse to discuss in interviews. Along with marijuana, his fun with minors, and reckless driving.

UPDATE: It’s not looking good for Vick the Younger.

Virginia Tech has announced a press for 11 a.m. Saturday in Blacksburg to discuss the Gator Bowl incident involving Marcus Vick.

Television cameras caught Vick stomping on the left calf of Louisville defender Elvis Dumervil during the Hokies’ victory Monday.

A press release states that University President Charles Steger, Athletic Director Jim Weaver and Coach Frank Beamer will take part in the session.

Note, that Marcus isn’t included in the list of participants. Add in his previously unreported arrest on December 17 for speeding. Well, no, he wasn’t arrested for speeding. He was pulled over for it, then arrested for driving with a suspended license — stemming from his previous arrest for reckless driving and marijuana possession. The story goes, of course, that he didn’t tell anyone on the VT coaching staff about it.

New ACC Slogan: The ACC, now even more like the SEC.

UPDATE 2: It’s over for Vick. He’s been dismissed. Beamer seems, shall we say, ambiguous about the outcome.

Said Coach Frank Beamer, “I’m very disappointed that this didn’t have a better ending. We wanted what’s best for this football team and Marcus. I certainly wish him the best.”

Roughly translated: We still needed his talent. It wasn’t my call.

Arguably, VT had no choice after previously saying that anything else would end Marcus Vick’s time at VT. Still, this took a certain level of stones considering his brother Michael is probably the most famous alum — not to mention a very generous donor.

I’ll give some props to VPI for jettisoning the baggage. At the very least, they’ve shown themselves to be above Florida State.

So, did anyone catch the Jamie Dixon Show on the radio? Has he gotten any more relaxed when he talks? Still nothing but cliches?

With Pitt off until Thursday (ESPN 9 pm), there’s a little more talk about how Pitt won the ND game. There is the “glass is half-full” view.

Pitt did not close out the game with efficiency, but two freshmen and a sophomore were at the forefront of the pulsating victory. After Krauser fouled out with 2:06 remaining in regulation, coach Jamie Dixon turned to his talented underclassmen, who performed like veterans under trying circumstances.

Freshman Sam Young scored seven of his 15 points in the overtime periods. Freshman Levance Fields came in, ran the team and scored five points. And not to be outdone by the fantastic freshmen, sophomore Ronald Ramon made the winning shot, a 3-pointer, with 16 seconds remaining after Fields penetrated and kicked it out.

“It was tough,” Ramon said of playing without Krauser. “He was the one who was going out there and making plays for everybody. He’s the energy guy. We feed off him. But it was time for us to step up and make plays.”
…
When Pitt looks back on the 2005-06 season, the performances of Young, Fields and Ramon against Notre Dame might be viewed as one of the turning points of the season. There are going to be other times when Krauser is in foul trouble or having an off night. The Panthers now know that they have the players capable of filling the void.

Or the somewhat “half-empty” approach.

But the Panthers nearly self-destructed by missing two free throws in the final 35 seconds of regulation and making only 10 of 19 during the two overtimes to finish 30-for-46 overall.

Still, through it all — the missed free throws, Notre Dame’s hot shooting, the loss of Krauser — Dixon said his team hung together.

“You want to win them all,” he said, (but) there’s no extra value, nothing special we should take away from this, other than it’s the effort we need throughout conference play.”

Consistency from the free throw line is going to drive everyone crazy. Pitt shot 65% against ND. In the previous 5 games it was 58.3, 81.0, 83.3, 72.7 and 60.0. Overall, it is 68.6%. One thing to expect is that there will be times late in a game where the opponent will decide to make Pitt finish the game from the line. Especially when no one is sure what kind of performance Pitt will give at the line.

The P-G basketball Q&A is up early today. Questions about Gray’s NBA potential, why Graves plays, the strategy of not fouling at the end of the ND game, getting into holiday tournaments, finding Paul Evans, and a couple more. Also one on RPI and SOS.

Q: Just some clarification about the RPI as it affects Pitt’s chances come NCAA tournament selection time. Isn’t Pitt’s RPI higher this year than it has been in the past? Is the RPI based on what the rankings of a team were when Pitt played them? Or does the RPI fluctuate based on how that team does after the game?

FITTIPALDO: The RPI is adjusted throughout the season, Ed. That’s why you hear coaches rooting for teams they just played. You want them to do well the rest of the season because it will help your RPI. Pitt’s RPI is better than it has been, but I maintain that it’s way too early to be looking at the RPI now. I think you have to wait another month or so before examining what it means. You have to wait and see how some of these teams perform in their leagues.

I would argue that the RPI is worth looking at in terms of the non-con at this point. It’s silly to worry about NCAA seeding or bubble things right now, but SOS and non-con RPI are good to compare. Especially to other ranked teams. I think it helps with perspective.

He’s going to Liberty University.

Jennings, an LCA grad, has transferred to Liberty and will start school later this month when the spring semester begins. Since he is transferring from a Division I-A to a I-AA school, he will not have to sit out a season and will be eligible to play next season.

“I don’t want to leave all the burden on my mom,” Jennings said. “When my football career is all said and done, the only thing that’s going to matter to me is the loved ones. I’d rather be spending my time closer to them.

“I love the Pitt program and coach Wannstedt and the fans, but it’s just that we all have to take different routes to get somewhere. Pittsburgh was not working for me.”

The article notes that he considered University of Virginia but, Coach Wannstedt wouldn’t release him from his scholarship if that was his destination. Sounds harsh and not mentioned in the story, but as previously noted Pitt plays 2 games with UVA starting this fall.

Liberty, though. Ack.

Good luck to Rashad and his family.

The local South Bend paper has an article on the game. Chris Quinn admitted afterwards that he just felt like he hit the zone:

Heckled by the home crowd late in regulation and hounded by a host of defenders all night, Quinn was actually having a quiet, but efficient evening before getting going late in the second half. At one point during a 3:27 stretch, he scored 16 consecutive points, including a four-point play. That helped the Irish slice a nine-point deficit to three with 33 seconds remaining in regulation.

It got to a point where everything he tossed up — runners down the lane, floaters from the baseline and 3-point shots well behind the NBA line — found the net.

“Oh, man,” Gray said afterward when asked of Quinn’s 13-of-23 shooting display. “You’ve just got to marvel at him.”

It was, Quinn said afterward, a feeling and a focus he had not had since high school back in Dublin, Ohio. Every time he rose up, whether he had a hand in his face or not, Quinn felt the ball was going to drop.

“The only way we were going to get back in it was if we forced some stuff and score pretty quickly,” said Quinn, who scored 30 of his 37 in the second half and the extra sessions. “I didn’t pay attention (to the fans). Everywhere you go, you’re going to hear stuff from the fans.

“I just continued to play my game.”

With little working for the Irish in the low post, Brey finally decided to put four perimeter players around Quinn and let the senior guard go for it.

That last sentence, by the way folks, is why Graves was out there and Biggs, DeGroat and Benjamin did not see a lot of time especially near the end of the game and OT. With a small, guard-laden line-up and playing out on the perimeter, Pitt couldn’t have forwards who the guards could get a step on or around. Pitt needed to play the guards who could keep the players in front of them, not get burned or commit the foul.

The article alludes to fan abuse of Quinn, as did Keith — who seemed quite bothered by what he heard. I couldn’t catch it, so I have no solid opinion.

Inexplicably, there is nothing about Torin Francis riding the pine for most of the second half. The color guy on the ESPN feed, commented after Francis got blocked cleanly by Gray — again — early in the second half that it looked like Francis completely lost confidence in his shot. That he didn’t want to try again, even though he had scored on 2 of their first 3 possessions to start the second half. The more I think about it, the more that seems to be what Mike Brey saw from the sidelines. Yet another big guy with skill, but soft inside.

Frank Burlison for Fox Sports/Scout.com had a column prior to the game last night giving some love to Pitt.

What makes this potentially the best offensive team Pitt has had since the revamping of the Panthers by Howland and Dixon is the fact that there are so many places Dixon can turn to for offense.

In 7-foot, 260-pound Aaron Gray, the Panthers have a guy who has evolved into one of the best low-post threats in the conference while averaging 11.6 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.7 blocked shots per game.

And the two classes of recruits signed by Dixon and his staff after Howland left have both proven highly productive.

Among those six players, Dixon is getting a cumulative 33 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists per game.

And, even with guards Devan Downey of Cincinnati and Dominic James of Marquette having marvelous non-conference performances, Dixon — in 6-foot-6 Sam Young — has a player who could be rated the Big East’s best freshman by the time conference tournament action rolls around in March.

With this win, Pitt is, at the moment, 6th in the RPI. Pitt’s overall strength of schedule is now a close to respectable, 83. It will be interesting about how the SOS for the non-con looks closer to the end of the season. Right now, it is in the same ball park as Ohio State, Florida, Illinois and BC. Teams, that are all ranked ahead of Pitt in the polls. If that continues to remain so, it will be harder to ding Pitt for its non-con while not making the same complaints regarding the others.

UPDATE: Remember that the non-con RPI is likely to fall a bit. A lot of the teams Pitt played are in mid-major conferences where once they play each during the season it will serve to drag down their RPI and by extension Pitt’s RPI and SOS. So remember, root for St. Peter’s, Coppin St., Robert Morris, Auburn, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Maine, Vermont, St. Francis (NY), Duquesne and maybe even an upset or two for PSU.

Still for comparison’s sake, Pitt’s non-con SOS in 2005 was 262, in 2004 — 234, and in 2003 — 226.

I know a lot of folks find Dick Vitale irritating. It may be his purple prose, overheated game-time commentary, or his enduring man-crush on the likes of Jim Boheim (sorry, but I can’t spell Mike Kryzewski), but even those who admire him can find him a bit wearying.

Still, we Pitt fans should cut the man some slack. It would only be fair, seeing as how as he’s done the same for us recently:

Look across America, and there are only a handful of unbeatens left in college basketball. Well, the Panthers are one of them, and sports fans across the nation are no doubt surprised by that fact. Yes, some may question the schedule and ask who Pittsburgh has played; some may say they are pretenders. Forget about it.

He then predicts (if vaguely) good things and goes on to name names:

The Panthers will cause problems in the Big East all season. They play tough defense, are tenacious and hungry. Pittsburgh has a nice blend of young talent and experienced performers. Diaper dandy Sam Young can put points on the board and rebound. Veteran point guard Carl Krauser knows how to win. Up front, Aaron Gray is one of the nation’s most improved players.

Suddenly, my estimation of Mr. Vitale has gone up a few notches. Heh. Guess I’m easy that way. Still, there are worse things than being praised by College Basketball’s most famous pundit.

You have your usual box score, with halftime split along with play by play. Then there is the slightly more detailed information.

For Pitt:

Poss 88.9 Pace Moderate
O-Rating 112.5 D-Rating 109.2 (Eff. Margin +3.4)
eFG% 53.8 PPWS 1.15
A/TO 2.0 TO Rate 16.9% A/B 93.8%
Floor Pct 56.3% FT Prod 46.2

And Notre Dame:

Poss 88.9 Pace Moderate
O-Rating 109.1 D-Rating 112.5 (Eff. Margin -3.4)
eFG% 49.4 PPWS 1.03
A/TO 1.9 TO Rate 11.2% A/B 55.9%
Floor Pct 52.7% FT Prod 18.1

You can find a little more explanation of the what these numbers are here. Both teams played the same pace despite ND shooting 18 more shots, because Pitt literally doubled them up on Free Throws Made and Attempted (ND: 15-23, Pitt 30-46).

Pitt shot a little better than it’s season eFG (before the game 52.5%), while ND was held below its (52.9%).

Overall, Pitt shot a little better than its season average. Here are some individual PPWS (points per weighted shots) from the game.

———- game —season avg.
Pitt: —– 1.15 —– 1.12
Krauser: 1.42 ——- 1.21
Gray: — 1.23 ——- 1.13
Kendall: 1.15 ——- 1.12
Young: – 1.12 ——- 1.27
Fields: – 0.98 ——- 1.24
Ramon: – 1.36 ——- 1.15

Interesting to see that while Young and Fields were vital down to the end, their offense wasn’t nearly as good as it has been. For Fields, despite 11 points, it came on 1-6 shooting and 8-14 on FTs. Fields was vital in ball handling and running the point with Ramon, but it has to be conceded that he struggled with his shot. For Young, the drop-off wasn’t so drastic, and was quite literally that missed slam of his in the game. Make that, and he’s at 1.27.

(Brief aside, it’s another thing to note in the change to Coach Dixon this year, that Young kept playing. Last year, there is no doubt that he would have been pulled and sat for the entire game for blowing the easy basket trying to make it earthshattering. Of course it is also due, in no small part, to Young’s tremendous talent and Pitt’s need.)

Ramon had one of his best days in quite a while. Krauser and Gray were nicely above average.

Now on the subject of Chris Quinn. Where to start. How about how far above average he played. His season PPWS is 1.17. In this game it was 1.46. What immediately stands out about that is how close to Carl Krauser his season and game PPWS mirrored. Obviously, Quinn took more shots in this game and was out there far longer by virtue of not fouling out until the final minute of the 2nd OT, but their production was very similar. Obviously, though, not the same way.

Quinn had an eFG% of 69.6 for the game, well above his season average of 52.7. The rest of the team only had a eFG% of 40%. Unbelievably bad in any definition since the straight FG% for the rest of the team was 35% (21-60) without him. It is just astounding to realize how much he carried that team.

You know, I feel like it was my fault Pitt nearly lost. At the very least ended up in OT. In the final couple of minutes I started typing some of my thoughts of the second half, and had even typed that Pitt won. I should know better.

I’d say the general consensus on the ESPN Full Court On-line set-up is thumbs down. It didn’t seem to matter what kind of broadband connection — cable or dsl — people had periods of picture freeze and skipping around. The sound was consistent throughout, which was good. I don’t see how, other than for those who have to be at a computer or somehow have a cable system not offering the package you would pay the same price for the plan that you would for the TV deal. Now if the price point was about 1/2, then I’d see the value and interest. Not at that price and for that quality, though.

I’m not sure how the schedule worked out that way, but it is a good thing Pitt has over a week off to rest. Especially to let Gray’s ankle and Kendall’s back heal.

Despite ND losing, let’s face it, the story was Chris Quinn.

No matter what defense Pitt tried against Chris Quinn, no matter what defender was used against him, he made shots — some from beyond the NBA’s 3-point range. But on a night no lead was safe against Notre Dame and its Quinn-led comebacks, what proved the Irish’s undoing was their inability to hold one of their few leads.

Ronald Ramon hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 15 seconds left in the second overtime and No. 22 Pittsburgh withstood Quinn’s 37 points and frantic Notre Dame rallies at the end of regulation and the first overtime for a 100-97 victory Wednesday night.

Quinn was just hitting shots, and there was nothing to stop him. The defense was there, it wasn’t like he was getting clean, open looks. He was catching and shooting without any thought. Only 3-7 in the first half with 7 points, he just started hitting shot after shot late in the game and throughout the overtime. 10-16 the second half and OT, which included 5-5 at the line and 5-7 on 3s.

What Pitt had going for it was the fact that the rest of the ND team did not raise their game. It helped that the rest of their guards were fouling out along with Rick Cornett — removing the only inside presence they had.

Time to ponder the fate of Torin Francis. How shot must his confidence be? Once more, he wilts when he actually faces another team that plays strong inside. He played 29 minutes for the game. Only 14 in the second half and OTs. The only reason he played that much was because Cornett and the other guards had fouled out. He was stuck on the bench after a brief flash of effort to start the second half. And just how much smaller does his game look, when Quinn was literally carrying the Irish on his back.

In the end, and despite some shaky (to be kind) free throw shooting in the final 12 minutes of the game and OTs — with Krauser having fouled out of the game — Pitt came through.

With Pitt trailing by one, Ronald Ramon made a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left for the victory the Panthers tried to give away twice, once at the end of regulation and once in overtime.

Sam Young set a pick up high, Levance Fields penetrated and kicked it out to a wide-open Ramon for the winner. The Panthers did it without senior leader and leading scorer Carl Krauser, who had fouled out with 2:06 left in regulation.

“It was perfect execution by two freshmen and a sophomore,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “Five guys did exactly what we wanted to do.”

And that not only should provide confidence for those players and the coach, it should make every Pitt fan very optimistic about the future. And, I’m almost ready to say that Coach Dixon deserves a little more confidence in him from the fans. Question a lot of things, but this team is showing noticeable improvement from the first game to now. From how they played last year to this season.

The basic numbers for Pitt were excellent.

Gray recorded his seventh double-double of the season, leading Pitt with 25 points and 11 rebounds. He also contributed four blocks, three assists and two steals.

Before fouling out, Krauser had 21 points and six assists, while freshman Sam Young had 15 points and 12 rebounds for his first career double-double. Ramon added 12 points, and Levance Fields had 11 points.

“It’s tough not having Carl out there,” Ramon said. “He’s the energy guy, the guy going out there and making plays.”

Pitt shot just 6 for 15 from 3-point range and was 30 for 46 from the free-throw line. The Panthers shot 49.2 percent (32 for 65) overall from the field.

Free throws could have been better, but I think that goes without saying.

Some numbers later, but here’s something that astounded me. Pitt had 30 assists on 32 baskets. That’s an Assist/Basket % (A/B%) of 93.2. Even more stunning to learn that Antonio Graves led with 7 assists, Krauser 6, Fields 5 and Ramon 4.

Tonight’s open thread.

HALFTIME UPDATE: Pitt has a 34-30 lead.

The ESPN regional crew is solid in calling the game. Color guy (sorry I didn’t catch who) made a very good observation that Pitt’s improved perimeter defense later in the half came from simply putting the arms up more — that Pitt was had the arms down trying to poke at the ball and get a steal. This made a huge difference.

Aaron Gray is showing some great hustle. Getting rebounds, blocking shots and just getting to the ball. He has 10 points with Torin Francis forgetting to show up — again — for ND.

Young missed an easy dunk trying to make it spectacular.

ND had the early 3 point success, and keeps settling for the jumpers and outside shots as expected. No inside game.

RETIRED NUMBER UPDATE: An interesting compromise, they were banners, with the number and an image of the player in action, and in the case of Knight and Smith — showing their jersey. Then the new Pitt logo at the bottom.

FINAL UPDATE: Pitt wins 100-97 in 2OT. Whew.

Gray and Krauser were huge for scoring. Krauser took advantage of guards that were a step behind him. Gray was open and Francis was not aggressive against him and was out of the game most of the second half. Back in only because of ND players fouling out.

The perimeter defense was beautiful most of the game — except for the final minutes. That was led by Ramon who really is the defensive leader on the team. He really sets the tone and the other guards seem to take their cues from him. Ramon of course showed the heroics by nailing the game-winning 3

Quinn came on strong at the end to make it unbelievably scary before thankfully fouling out. He played 49 of 50 minutes — only fouling out kept him from playing the entire game. 37 points on 13-23 shooting.

Lots to digest and I haven’t even had a chance to look at the Rose Bowl.

You ever look for the historical inaccuracies in a flick or story? Or try to spot the regular shoes being worn in cheap westerns or gladiator flicks from the 60s and 70s? Or do you just point them out during particularly slow parts of pornos? Sorry, getting away from a point I was going to make.

Tonight Pitt will have a halftime ceremony to re-honor the retired jerseys/numbers of Don Hennon, Billy Knight and Charles Smith.

Billy Knight had this to say in Atlanta:

Knight will be in Pittsburgh tonight scouting the Pitt-Notre Dame Big East opener for both teams. But he’ll also be on hand when the Panthers honor all three of their retired jersey recipients during a men’s basketball Centennial Celebration. Knight, along with Don Hennon and Charles Smith, will be introduced to the Peterson Events Center crowd while banners are raised in their honor.

“Any time your school wants to recognize you, it’s an honor,” said Knight, the only player in Pitt history to average better than 20 points and 10 rebounds in each of his three college seasons. “But it’s really not that big of a deal. The jerseys were already retired in the old building. Now they’re just putting them up in the new arena.”

Knight earned consensus All-America honors at Pitt, where he guided the 1973-74 team to a 25-4 record, an NCAA Elite Eight appearance and a school-record 22-game winning streak. Knight averaged 22.2 points and 12.0 rebounds per game during his college career before embarking on an 11-year All-Pro career in the ABA and NBA.

Here’s what I’m wondering. Will they just be re-hanging the number or hanging jerseys. Here’s why.

That was Knight playing in 1974, his senior year.

This was the original night they retired his jersey in February 1989.

Notice the logo difference? When they retired his number in ’89 they were lazy enough to use the, now classic, but at the time present script Pitt logo. But they didn’t go to that on basketball unis until Pitt joined the Big East in 1982.

I’m just wondering what they will be hanging this time.

Some good news, Pitt isn’t wasting time trying to set up some of their non-con games for next season. Of course, there is the game at Wisconsin next season, but it looks like Pitt has already booked Dayton for a home game in 2006. It will be a home-and-home so Pitt goes to Dayton in 2007. Dayton is a fairly consistent, middle of the pack A-10 team, with a good coach and trying to improve.

Remember, even if you live outside of the Pittsburgh market, there is no excuse not to watch this as long as you have broadband. ESPN Full Court will be doing the free online preview this week. Just remember to use Internet Explorer, as Firefox likely won’t be accepted as the browser choice.

ND finally has their game notes out (PDF version). They acknowledge that they have yet to win at the Pete, but that the last 2 games have been decided by 5 points in total.

The Irish are on a 7 game winning streak, after hanging on to beat Wofford last week 74-71. It hasn’t been pretty.

Two games earlier, the Irish struggled before pulling out a 75-68 win against Columbia, and they barely escaped Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne, 65-63, Dec. 18. Still, the Irish have one of the better point guards in the Big East in Chris Quinn and a bona fide post player in Torin Francis.

Quinn and guards Kyle McAlarney and Luke Zeller all shoot better than 40 percent from 3-point range. On the season, they’ve combined to make 46 of 105 attempts. In the win against Wofford, the Irish made 3-pointers on five consecutive trips down the court. And starting guard Colin Falls also is a threat from the outside, though he has struggled a bit this season. He leads the team in 3-pointers made, with 32, but he has made just 36.8 percent of his attempts.

That foursome should put a lot of pressure on the Panthers to guard the perimeter, which is something they’ve done well all season. The Panthers top two perimeter defenders have been Krauser and Ronald Ramon, but Fields, Antonio Graves and Keith Benjamin have proven up to the task as well.

Notre Dame in the last few years has played tough against Pitt, but always fallen short. That’s because Pitt has completely dominated the inside, and all ND would do was hoist 3s. I don’t think that approach will be changing in this game as their soft 6’11” center Torin Francis is also the only starter over 6’5″. Pitt’s perimeter defense has been good at cutting off the inside, so the Domers will probably be shooting outside.

The counter challenge will be for Pitt not to start hoisting 3s of their own. Over the last 3 halves for Pitt, when they have kept their own 3-point shooting in control, they have been much more effective. The 1st half of the South Carolina game saw them putting up too many 3s, and not so coincidentally, losing.

For Pitt, obviously, it is about continuing to win. The stated theme from the coaches and players right now is to continue improving.

“We’re all trying to learn every day. We’re still not where we need to be, but we’re getting better,” said Pitt guard Levance Fields, one of three freshmen who are playing significant minutes for Pitt.
…
Fields, along with fellow freshmen Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs, played at least 19 minutes each against the Badgers on Saturday, and Fields and Ramon, a sophomore, combined for nine assists and zero turnovers at point guard.

“We knew, as freshmen coming in, that we had to stick together no matter what — us, with the coaches and everybody else that’s beind us,” Fields said. “We just have to play hard and everything else will work itself out.”

So far, so good for the Panthers.

The need to keep improving is vital as the quality of the opponents improve the further into the season.

“Our whole thing has been about improving,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “Not a lot was expected of these guys by people, but they have been gaining confidence and we’re continuing to improve.”

The challenge now, of course, is that the schedule is improving, too.

The Panthers have played only one game outside Pittsburgh and have met only one ranked opponent – beating then-No. 24 Wisconsin 73-64 on Saturday night – but none of their remaining 13 opponents has a losing record.

Of the 13, six already have 10 or more victories, and three are ranked: No. 2 Connecticut (11-0), No. 9 Louisville (11-1) and No. 24 West Virginia (8-3). All but one of the 13 have won at least seven games, including traditional powers such as Syracuse, Cincinnati and Marquette.

But while the Panthers have lacked competition to date, they don’t lack confidence.

In a story previewing the Big East for the Irish, there is this about Pitt.

As for Pittsburgh’s style, Brey said the Panthers (11-0) look faster and play more of a half-court game than last season, but they’re still physical. Pittsburgh’s 73-64 victory over then-No. 24 Wisconsin on Saturday propelled the Panthers into the AP poll.

“They’re not the bulkiest of guys, but quick guys, good athletes and up in you and hand-checking and making it hard for you,” Brey said. “Probably the way they can be physical is they always have fresh guys on the court.

“Us handling the basketball and swinging it and our second big guy being good with it is going to really be key because they’re going to be up on us and up underneath us,” Brey said.

The article also quotes Brey as thinking 9-7 would be good for ND again — translation on the bubble once more. What a confident coach.

Carl Krauser gets a puff piece in the South Bend paper.

Instead of handling the ball all the time, Krauser often defers to underclassmen Ronald Ramon and LeVance Fields. A first team all-league preseason pick, Krauser leads the Panthers in scoring at a career-high 17.3 points per game and plays a team-high 31.2 minutes. When someone needs to make a big play or take a big shot, Krauser’s still the one.

“He’s better in every area,” said coach Jamie Dixon, whose rotation includes 10 guys who all play at least 12 minutes. “Carl’s comfortable in his position and understanding of our system. That’s a big step. It’s one thing to know it, but it’s another thing to pass it on to others.”
…
The Panthers have a swagger because Krauser does.

“The tone of the team is his personality,” said Irish coach Mike Brey. “As a senior, guys value that. He may never be on that stage again, to have complete control of the locker room.”

Picked to finish seventh in a preseason vote of conference coaches, the Panthers begin Big East play a feisty bunch. Pittsburgh has beaten two Southeastern Conference teams — Auburn and South Carolina — by 34 and seven points. Four days ago, Pittsburgh beat Wisconsin by nine. Still, some have been slow to promote the Panthers, who have won 119 games during Krauser’s five years.

“People didn’t think we’d be this good,” Krauser said. “Maybe they’re haters or just regular, but that makes no sense.

“We’ll prove them wrong.”

At the risk of seeming revisionist, so far the difference in the swagger this year is the confidence that they can and will beat a team. Last year, there were too many games, especially the start of the game where the team seemed to think that merely showing up to the game would be enough. So far, this team has been more cohesive and determined.

At the Pete, Pitt has only lost to Syracuse, Georgetown, UConn and WVU. Hopefully that won’t be changing tonight.

Big East Basketball has the latest poll up, and Pitt comes in at #3 on the charts. Marquette upset UConn tonight, so that already makes this look extremely dated. It also completely tanks that planned post titled, “Welcome to the Big East, Bitch.”

Here’s the way I voted for this week.

1. UConn — They will take a tumble next week.
2. Villanova — Just a very, very good team.
3. Pitt — Soft schedule questions, mostly answered after this past week.
4. Louisville — Slipped a notch, mainly because Pitt won their challenge non-cons, while Louisville lost its earlier.
5. Cinci — So far, I’d say Adam Kennedy’s audition for a job elsewhere is going pretty well.
6. WVU — They are going to win and lose some headscratchers the way they shoot.
7. Syracuse — Can Syracuse win tough BE games if McNamara has a bad night?
8. Georgetown — This is why this is a deep tough conference. G-town did nothing to be this low, but also nothing to be higher.
9. Marquette — Now the only thing between them and a big jump next week is Cinci.
10. ND — So far they are like a Boston College football team: they win the games they are supposed to and lose to any at the same level or higher.
11. DePaul — A scary team to play because you can never be absolutely sure what will happen, but that doesn’t make them good.
12. Rutgers — They beat Princeton. Whoopie. So did Carnegie Mellon.
13. St. John’s
14. Providence
15. Seton Hall
16. USF

Here’s the thing about all 4 teams at the bottom. They are all depleted in their roster to one degree or another, and it looms even larger now that conference play is starting. St. John’s is still recovering from the loss of players a couple years ago from their own sexcapade scandal and Mike Jarvis created chaos. Providence just sheds them in some incoherent pattern, seemingly on a weekly basis. Seton Hall ended up with a house cleaning last year with players failing out, quitting and inexplicably going pro. USF has become the Big East MASH unit.

There’s actually some really good stuff on other blogs today to point out.

For those feeling stat and number curious along the lines of what I was talking about after Wisconsin, Matt Glaude of Orange 44 has the numbers for the Big East just before the start of conference play. He even provides more detailed explanation on the materials.

HeismanPundit meditates upon the vagaries of recruiting and evaluating high schoolers in light of Steve Slation’s performance against Georgia.

The lesson here? Sometimes those recruiting services are way, way off. This is obviously not a revelation to most of us who follow college football. There are plenty of examples out there of great players who were lightly recruited out of high school.

And I do grant that if a team gets most of the players that most of the teams want, then success usually follows.

But Slaton is a special, special player who has a good shot at becoming an All-American very soon. How did the recruiting gurus miss that one? Even more puzzling, how did the major powers not see what kind of talent this kid has?

I think part of it is coaching and using the player right. Slaton has some very good talent, but it is a credit to the Mountaineer coaching staff that they have used it correctly. Slaton has a great first step, and can cut back brilliantly. What the coaching has done is make sure he doesn’t dance around looking for the really big opening. Instead he has hit the spot quickly and without hesitation. Whether he simply fits their system, or they adapted to the talent it was an impressive sight.

Finally, over at Pitt Panther Hoops, Keith asked me 5 questions and I answered with my usual brevity and conciseness.