Looks like Rashad Jennings is definitely transferring.

Freshman tailback Rashad Jennings has decided to quit the Pitt football team and will transfer to another school closer to his home in Virginia.

Jennings will call Panthers coach Dave Wannstedt either today or tomorrow and officially ask to be released from his scholarship.

“I’ve got to have my final talk with Wannstedt and then that will be it,” Jennings said Monday.

Wannstedt is out of town and was unavailable for comment. A team spokesman said Wannstedt will make a statement on the status of Jennings and wideout Greg Lee later this week, after the coach returns to Pittsburgh and holds a team meeting.
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Jennings said yesterday that he is still in the process of choosing which school to attend this fall. He listed Liberty, James Madison, Virginia and Virginia Tech among the possibilities.

“The decision now is where I’m going next,” he said. “A lot of schools from around the country have contacted me, but I’m not going anywhere besides a Virginia school. I’ll decide in a day or two.”

I’m glad I don’t have to make this decision. Jennings or Wannstedt’s. Jennings is doing the right thing for his family and himself by going closer to home. He will want to play on a good team, as much for his future and potential in the NFL. That would make UVA or VT the most likely.

Coach Wannstedt probably would like to make an exception and release Jennings from his scholarship in this case. I’m not sure, however, that Coach Wannstedt would be eager to let Jennings go right to UVA, with Pitt having a 2 game series with them starting this fall. There are competitve concerns.

Hopefully things will be worked out.

That is the theme. And while most of Domer Nation is still saying, “Wha’ happen?” over the Fiesta Bowl, ND and Pitt kick off the Conference play tomorrow night. The Irish have fallen off the NCAA bubble each of the last 3 years. Simply put, not enough quality wins in the BE or non-con. Add in an annual end of the season stumble and they do themselves in each year.

As for Pitt looking at Big East play, Coach Dixon argues that while the number of teams is up, the conference isn’t that different as far as night-in-night-out competition.

“To me, it is more of the same,” Dixon said. “The names have changed, but you know you are going to have good teams every night; and we have always been playing against the best people. There are a few more teams, but they are all good.

“But, it is a great thing — to be in the best conference in college basketball is a great thing for the schools and for our university. It is going to be hard, but we want to be in the elite in everything we do. And to be included in the Big East is a tremendous honor.”

Here’s a shock regarding Pitt’s non-con. According to the RPI, it’s looking better this week.

The Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) for Pitt has climbed to No. 10. Villanova, at No. 5, is the only Big East Conference team to rank ahead of the Panthers. Duke is rated No. 1, and Wisconsin is No. 7. The RPI represents a formula used by the NCAA to rate men’s and women’s college basketball team, combining such criteria as winning percentage, opponents’ winning percentage and strength of schedule. Pitt’s strength of schedule ranks seventh in the Big East and 126th nationally.

Wisconsin, South Carolina and surprisingly Auburn are all top-50 RPI teams, Pitt has faced to raise the level. Other teams like St. Peter’s and Vermont are looking better. It definitely helps reality, but not necessarily perception.

Now that Pitt is back in both polls, Coach Dixon is trying to keep the players from losing focus.

“Our whole thing has been to continue to improve,” 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.”

Dixon, whose team has won 11 games to start a season for the second time in the past three years, said his players appeared to have shrugged off the idea of appearing in both national polls.

“They don’t seem any different today than they were two days ago or before the Wisconsin game,” Dixon said. “I don’t see any real changes. I think they just look forward to the competition in practice that day, and that’s what they think about.”

But at least one player couldn’t contain his excitement, despite Dixon’s observation of his players.

“This team is very excited,” said a determined Benjamin. “A lot of people wrote us off. They wanted to say that Pitt was nothing but Carl Krauser, and that’s it.”

Notre Dame is still led by its outside shooting. Primarily Colin Falls and Chris Quinn. Two other Guards, Kyle McAlarney and Luke Zeller also put the ball up often from outside. Let’s put it this way: of the 4, only Quinn has more than half of his total field goal attempts and makes coming from inside the arc. The 4 also shoot a combined .406 on 3-pointers (78-192). Ronald Ramon and the perimeter defense will have a tough job.

Their inside guy is still Torin Francis, who has yet to show up against Pitt in these games.

The game notes for Pitt are here (PDF). The game is on FSN-Pittsburgh, and if you live in other markets — presumably Big East markets — you might have the game via ESPN Regional (check local listings). Pitt has won 4 straight against the Irish, 5 of the last 6 and is 3-0 against them at the Pete.

For the Krauser-Pitt record book watch, he needs 5 points to pass Jerry McCullough for 14th on the scroring list, 5 assists to pass Vonteego Cummings for 5th, and 2 more steals to pass Sam Clancy for 10th place.

At halftime Pitt will honor 3 of its great players: Billy Knight, Charles Smith and Donn Hennon. All 3 will be on hand.

I’ll even skip the couch-burning jokes for the day in honor of the Sugar Bowl win.

That fake punt to keep the ball from Georgia wasn’t just ballsy. It was well executed. Not only did the Hoopies win a BCS Bowl, they were the only Big East team to win a bowl this year. In this case the convential wisdom is correct — this was big for the Big East. Especially considering how Louisville gacked it away against Virginia Tech in the Gator, where all the Big East had going for it to that point was a weak-ass, “well the games were close” kind of claim.

As has been previously observed, Pitt is now 11-0. This now has Pitt ranked in both polls. Pitt has moved to #20 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and debuts in the AP Writers Poll at #22.

Let’s start with the partial mea culpa from Greg Doyel who expected a Pitt loss.

Pittsburgh’s good. Clemson’s bad. I’m an idiot.

Let’s do the Monday Morning Knee-Jerk.

Best win: Undefeated Pittsburgh’s victory over No. 24 Wisconsin verified Pitt’s legitimacy more than its first 10 victories combined.

Speaking of partial mea culpas, Doug Gottlieb who previously ripped on Pitt and expected “Wisconsin to give them fits at home,” now says this.

Could it be the most underrated player in the country is Carl Krauser? Sure, “Black Magic” has his detractors, but all he has done to silence them is shoot more consistently, turn the ball over less and lead Pitt to a nice little run against quality competition last week.

While no one expects the Panthers to contend with UConn or Villanova for the Big East crown, Krauser is putting his team in position to compete with Louisville, Syracuse and others for NCAA Tournament respect. Compare Krauser (who literally has been at Pitt half a decade) and Gerry McNamara (who seems like he has been at the Cuse forever) this season and G-Mac has been more spectacular, but he is only shooting 33 percent from both 2- and 3-point range (although he’s at 93.4 percent from the FT line) while Krauser is shooting at a career-high 46 percent from 2 and 39.5 percent from 3 and quietly is having a far better senior season.

If by quietly, you mean not appearing on TV, then sure.

Meanwhile, from “Wisconsin’s progressive newspaper” (hey, that’s what they call themselves), how about some backhanded slaps at Krauser while trying to defend yet another top Wisconsin player being shut down by Pitt.

Taylor, however, wasn’t looking for excuses. He was bothered by the fact that he didn’t match the toughness displayed by Tucker or Pitt’s overly demonstrative senior guard Carl Krauser, who was all over the place with 22 points, four assists, six turnovers and one incredibly dim-witted technical foul.

*Ahem* Let me put this gently: Scoreboard. Bitch. You stay classy, Wisconsin.

Finally, in an action that should surprise no one, Sam Young was named Big East Rookie of the Week.

In Pitt’s two weekly wins, Young averaged 16.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game while converting 12 of his 19 field goal attempts (63.2 percent). He scored a career-high tying 16 points (7-11 FG) and grabbed five rebounds in 28 minutes off the bench vs. Wisconsin on Dec. 31. He also led Pitt with 16 points (5-8 FG) and grabbed a career-high seven rebounds in a victory at South Carolina on Dec. 28.

A native of Clinton, Md., Young was named the National Prep School Player of the Year by Scout.com after averaging 23 points and 11 rebounds per game at Hargrave Military Academy (Chatham, Va.) last year. Through Pitt’s first 11 games, Young is averaging 8.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game and is converting 60.0 percent (33-55) of his field goal attempts.

The last Pitt player to earn Big East Rookie of the Week honors was Chris Taft on March 7, 2004. Taft earned the honor six times during the 2003-04 season.

The BE press release is here.

Late start this morning, still a little tired, and it’s something of a light day. I’m just going to throw the stuff out there.

ESPN.com has their bracket prediction updates. Pitt is now in as an 8 seed. Really don’t care right now. It was done before the Wisconsin game. Their bracketolgoy expert had a chat on Friday (Insider Subs.) with the following:

dan (tempe, az): joe what are your thoughts on pitt after a nice win at south carolina? ready to give them any love yet?

Joe Lunardi: The Panthers are in the new bracket. Amazing what a decent road win can accomplish (kind of makes you wonder why they don’t try it more often?).

Paranoid Pitt thought of the day. Going into the season everybody conceded it was a rebuilding season for Pitt. The schedule didn’t appear that weak, but since Pitt is supposed to be rebuilding the final scores should at least once or twice reflect more struggling on the learning curve. Prior to the past 2 games, the final of every Pitt game has been 11 points or higher victory. National pundits just looking at the score are going to see just the final — especially since none of the games (except Duquesne and PSU) were even on TV for some possible highlights. So, now that Pitt has actually gelled and is playing better than expected, they are going to take more abuse than ever for the schedule, in part because of how lousy it has been even when the team was expected to be good.

This just in, Pitt is undefeated, but can still improve.

Pitt was among only eight undefeated teams entering the new year.

“We try to improve every game,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “We feel like we can get better and better. The battle on the boards (with Wisconsin) was tied, 32-32. That’s an area we have to win, so we feel like there’s always something we can do better.”

It’s true, it was the 1st game since the Maine game where they didn’t out rebound a team, and only the second time that they were out rebounded on the offensive glass (again, Maine).

Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News throws some love to Pitt in his weekend review:

Maybe they’re for real: Pittsburgh got great performances from freshman forward Sam Young in each of its two important victories, on the road at South Carolina and at home over Wisconsin. Young scored 16 points in each game and gradually is gaining comfort at the Division I level. Pitt had played exclusively in Pittsburgh before making the trip to play the Gamecocks, and the Panthers had not faced anyone of top 25 quality before Wisconsin came to town on New Year’s Eve.

And in basketball recruiting news, Pitt is trying to keep some more talent from its own backyard.

Class of 2007 blue chip power forward Herb Pope (6 foot 8 inches, 228 pounds) from Aliquippa High School in Aliquippa, PA already verbally committed to University of Pittsburgh Head Basketball Coach Jamie Dixon. With Pope in fold, the Panthers have set their sites on his burly AAU teammate DeJuan Blair (6-ft-8 inches, 250 pounds) from Schenley High School in Pittsburgh, PA.

“I’m looking at a bunch of schools right now,” stated Blair. “I like Pitt, North Carolina State, Cincinnati, Wake Forest, Louisville, Illinois and Kansas. You could say I don’t have any favorites at this time.”
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The Panthers haven’t officially offered Blair a scholarship, but Coach Dixon and staff seem to be very close. They have attended a number of Schenley High School games and practices. Blair indicated that Pitt may be receiving external support. “Herb (Pope) is recruiting me pretty hard. He wants me and D.J. to come to Pitt with him,” he said.

Blair and Kennedy are often referred to as a “package deal”. DeJuan was quick to validate those rumors. He emphatically replied, “Yes, D.J. and I would like to play for the same team. You could call us a package deal. We’re trying to bring our point guard Jamal “Onion” Bryant with us as well.”

Success breeds interest.

For those that hate numbers, this will probably make your eyes glaze. I’m going to look at some of the more esoteric numbers. Overall for Pitt, given the level of their opponent, this was probably the best team game from them.

Pitt:
Poss 69.4 Pace Moderate
O-Rating 105.2 D-Rating 92.2 (Eff. Margin +13.0)
eFG% 60.2 PPWS 1.2
A/TO 1.3 TO Rate 20.2% A/B 66.7%
Floor Pct 50.8% FT Prod 28.6

Wisconsin:
Poss 69.5 Pace Moderate
O-Rating 92.1 D-Rating 105.0 (Eff. Margin -12.9)
eFG% 44.7 PPWS 1.0
A/TO 1.1 TO Rate 20.1% A/B 62.5%
Floor Pct 49.3% FT Prod 22.8

A little explanation. Stats in basketball are slowly getting more advanced, much like in all other sports.

The first line contains the possession number (explanation here). That goes to explaining the pace, which was considered “moderate.” The average pace for a NCAA game is somewhere around 69.0 possessions.

The offensive/defensive ratings are based on points per 100 possessions. So on offense you want a high number, while on defense it should be lower. The effieciency margin is simply the O-Rating – D-Rating. The higher the number on the positve end indicates just how good the team is over the course of the season. In a per-game use, it is of less value, but Pitt was below its season average in both for this game. Not surprising considering the higher quality foe faced. It still points out a team playing very, very well.

Effective Field Goal Percentage (eFG%) is an attempt to take into account the 3-point shot and its value rather than simple FG %. eFG%= (FGM + (0.5 x 3PM))/FGA.

In the Wisconsin game, Pitt’s eFG% was huge. This is Pitt’s eFG% for the whole season (including the Wisconsin game).

(286 + (o.5 x 79))/620 = 325.5/620 = .525 = 52.5% Season eFG%

It just points out how well Pitt was doing shooting, period.

Then there is Points Per Weighted Shot (PPWS), which goes to understanding the efficiency of players and teams in translating shot and free throw attempts into points.

PPWS = PTS/(FGA + (0.475 x FTA))

It also serves to give better understanding the value of individual players. Here are the top 4 scorers for Pitt, the overall team, and opponents for the season.

Krauser: 1.19 PPWS = 190/(136+(.475*51))
Gray: 1.12 PPWS = 128 / (89 + (.475*54))
Young: 1.30 PPWS = 90 / (55 + (.475*30))
Kendall: 1.11 PPWS = 81 / (57+(.475*33))

PITT: 1.08 PPWS = 820 / (620 +(.475*244))
OPP: 0.94 PPWS = 610/ (564 + (.475*185))

Pitt had one of its best days, even with less than spectacular free throw shooting.

It also suggests that Gray is doing fine work at Center on offense and that Young is going to keep taking minutes from Kendall and/or DeGroat as long as he maintains the defensive effort. Kendall isn’t playing that badly, it’s just that Young is playing that much better.

Getting back to the next line, those are mostly common numbers. Pitt’s assist/TO ratio was not as good as one would like, but not surprising considering the number of offensive fouls called against Pitt in the game (those count as turnovers). That’s how Gray had 3 TO in his limited minutes. TO Rate is TO/Poss.

Floor Pct means the percentage number of possessions that result in baskets: (FGM + OR) / (FGA + Turnovers). Even with the turnovers Pitt had, they were still doing well because of the the high shooting percentage. Usually Pitt’s number is kept higher because the number of offensive rebounds it gets, but without Aaron Gray inside, that number was lower.

FTProd stands for Free Throw Production: (FTM / FGA).

This may simply be projection, but mild surprise seems to be the tone of the stories for Pitt beating Wisconsin. Something about the stories suggest a sort of slightly befuddled, “what?” Or that could just be me and being a bit off this morning.

The Wisconsin players are still trying to figure out what happened.

With about a half-minute left Saturday, the Pittsburgh student section, which affectionately is called the Zoo, began a chant that summed up what the University of Wisconsin refused to accept.

“It’s all over! It’s all over!”

They were celebrating what would be a 73-64 Panthers’ victory over the Badgers in front of a New Year’s Eve crowd of 11,580 at the Petersen Events Center. It was Pittsburgh’s 11th consecutive victory to open the season and its 57th in the 62 games played in the four-year-old arena.
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The Panthers snapped Wisconsin’s string of six straight games holding its opponent to less than 40% shooting. They shot 55.1% and were 5 of 12 (41.7%) from three-point range.

And Pittsburgh did it without much help from its top big men, Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall. Strapped by foul trouble, the two combined for 11 points rather than their customary 20. However, freshmen Young and Tyrell Biggs picked up the slack, equaling their personal highs with 16 and eight points, respectively.

Getting Kendall and Gray off the floor was part of the Badgers’ game plan they accomplished.

“We did it and it turns out the guys that came in off the bench did just as well or even better,” Ryan said.

The play of Young and Biggs helped seal what started as a promising evening for the Badgers. An early 7-0 run gave Wisconsin a 10-5 lead, but Krauser sparked a 13-0 run that put the Badgers in a hole they never completely climbed out of.

“I don’t think we did a good job of executing,” said junior guard Kammron Taylor, who finished with five points. “They let us know that they were going to be physical with us, and we played right into their hands. That’s just something we’re going to have to continue to work on: executing our game plan.”

The fact that Pitt did this without Gray was stunning only because of the size inside for Wisconsin. Not because Gray isn’t important to the team, but because Pitt won by taking the ball to the basket. By not settling for the 3 or a jumper. They worked the ball around and got inside, despite the size of Wisconsin inside.

Wisconsin was stifled by Pitt’s defense. Despite shooting well in the second half, especially in the final 10 minutes, the Badgers were held to 42.1% shooting. The only game they shot worse was against UNC-Wilmington (40.9%).

Wisconsin does seem to be a team that has trouble playing from behind. At least that’s the thought based on both losses this season for them.

In Pittsburgh, obviously the fans story was how the freshmen stepped up, but there is still one other key.

Young, a budding superstar, played a big role in the Panthers’ 73-64 win yesterday against No. 24 Wisconsin at the Petersen Events Center with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists.

Young was one of three freshmen who sparked Pitt’s win, but the major player for the Panthers continued to be the team’s senior leader — guard Carl Krauser, who had 22 points, 4 assists and 2 steals.

Krauser played with the poise of a veteran leader and made big play after big play to help the Panthers hold the Badgers off in the second half. And that’s exactly what the Panthers will need from Krauser because they are so inexperienced.

“My role as the senior leader is to make big plays and help my team win,” Krauser said. “I want to try and take this team as far as we can. I have to battle in the game. But this was a team win. We executed the offense and shot the ball from the field. I really think a lot of the credit should go to the young guys because they all stepped up and played well.”

Krauser was on the court for 35 minutes. Sam Young played the second most minutes with 28. Krauser may not be playing point as much, but he is at the center of the team. He’s the guy Wisconsin felt killed their chances at coming back.

“We got back into the game and it’s times like that where I think Krauser hit a big 3,” Tucker said. “It’s just a couple plays. We were right there. We had a couple of costly turnovers during that same period. It’s those plays right now that we have to learn we can’t do. We can’t afford that in tough situations, tough games like this.”

Things were equally tough for the Badgers beyond the arc. UW, which entered the game shooting 39.1 percent on 3s, made just three of 15.

Coach Dixon had praise for the guys running the point and playing that very good perimeter defense — Ronald Ramon and Levance Fields:

Dixon praised the play of Fields, who combined with sophomore Ronald Ramon to play 40 minutes at the point guard spot. The two did not put up big numbers — Fields had nine points and Ramon was scoreless — but they ran the offense well and played tough defense against Wisconsin’s Kammron Taylor.

“I think Ronald and Levance were a key for us tonight. The way they played and directed our team was critical,” Dixon said. “They combined for nine assists and they did not turn the ball over, which is what we are looking for from our point guards.”

Ramon was very, very good on defense and at finding guys. Fields, of course, as one of the freshmen who stepped up in the game was solid.

In all, Biggs, Young and Fields, combined for 33 points, made 13 of 19 shots and had five assists. All three played more than 19 minutes and were on the floor during the crucial stretches in the second half when Pitt was trying to hold on to the lead.

Young said that shouldn’t be a surprise because, 11 games into the season, they don’t feel like freshmen anymore.

“We don’t look at ourselves as freshmen. We are ballplayers,” Young said. “We’re competitors. We want to compete and win just like everybody else. Others from the outside look at us like freshmen, but we don’t. We’re just out there doing our best trying to win basketball games.”

It’s a great attitude. A confident one, but there will still be nights where they will look like freshmen.

John DeGroat definitely got whatever message Coach Dixon sent him in the South Carolina game. He played a very fundamentally sound game, with energy.

“It was a good win against a great program with Aaron just playing 14 mintues and in foul trouble,” Dixon said. “We played a few guys a little more than we had been. This is a game we needed John (DeGroat) to give us.”

And DeGroat, the only other senior on the team, responded by scoring five points to go with three rebounds in 24 minutes after playing only two minutes in Wednesday’s 58-51 victory at South Carolina.

The thing to remember, that while everyone points out how Pitt’s starting inside guys were limited in time and production because of foul troubles, Wisconsin’s inside presence didn’t exactly dominate.

Brian Butch, coming off an 18-point, 10-rebound game against Louisiana Tech, was held to nine points and five rebounds. Wisconsin’s other four starters besides Tucker were limited to a combined 23 points.

Tucker was the story in the second half for Wisconsin. He was the only one who could get free and score, after a slow start. In fact he was the only Badger to reach double figures.

My major concern right now is that Coach Dixon may have indoctrinated the Freshmen too much in speaking to the press.

Sam Young:

On his success playing bigger guys:

“Our coaches gave us a great scouting report. All I had to do was go out and execute. I give credit to both my coaches and my teammates.”

On the challenge of facing Wisconsin:

“This was definitely our toughest challenge. They have really good coaching and some great players. It was definitely the hardest game for me so far.”

Tyrell Biggs:

On what goes through his mind when Aaron Gray gets into foul trouble:

“I know I have to be ready to go in and bang down low. I want to make sure I’m physical and prepared to play defense.”

Levance Fields:

On having success as a freshman:

“I just want to make sure I stick to the game plan. I have confidence in my own game, but I also trust my teammates. As long as I go out there and do what the coaches tell me, I know I’ll be okay.”

On what a game like this means to him personally:

“It just boosts my confidence to know I can do what I have to do to go out there and help my team out.”

Okay, this sort of thing can’t be allowed.

More later on the numbers.