I realize that Pitt was supposed to be in a down year, so that helps explain why Pitt and UConn only play once, and Pitt’s minimal TV exposure, but I am still at a loss for why the BE would schedule a game between Pitt and Georgetown on Superbowl Sunday — regardless of the teams in the Superbowl. Not only do you assure the number of viewers to be minimal, but you all but assure the two teams of having the game totally ignored even when it comes to the national exposure. Really. How much coverage do you think SportsCenter is going to give this game? It should get some with two teams in the top-20. Instead, it will get no play.
Georgetown was at least expected to be continuing an upswing from last year, and no matter what kind of rebuilding year Pitt was expected to have, they were still middle-of-the-pack expectations. A close, good game would have been expected regardless. Why not put it on Saturday? Both teams played on Tuesday, it’s not like either team wouldn’t have had a short week. Or Monday. Both teams won’t play again until Thursday. The BE schedule makers just screwed up.
I’m pissed, and to make matters worse, I may have to miss the second half. When I mentioned to the wife that I would be watching the game, she informed me that there was an open house for the pre-school we were thinking of sending my daughter that afternoon. An open house on Superbowl Sunday? I have my doubts about any school that would do such a thing. I could be in a very foul mood on Sunday.
Enough about the personal problems, the local papers are still talking about the Pitt-UConn game.
It’s a shame the Big East Conference underestimated how good Pitt was going to be this season, if for only one reason: It denied college basketball fans a Pitt-Connecticut rematch.
If Tuesday’s instant classic at Gampel Pavilion — an 80-76 Connecticut victory, another in a long line of great games between these two rivals — proved one thing, it’s that the Panthers and Huskies ought to play a home-and-home series every year. It’s the best buy in the Big East.
Given the present TV/Schedule format goes for one more year, it you would assume that 3 of the 4 home-and-homes for Pitt will be with WVU, Marquette and UConn.
I’m not sure that the players, though, would like another game this season. Everyone seemed completely drained afterwards. At the very least, I suspect UConn doesn’t want to have to face Pitt again.
Here’s an example of someone who hasn’t seen Pitt play much parachuting in late.
Pitt lost two talented bigs in Chevy Troutman and Chris Taft and the Panthers steamed off to a 15-0 start and are 17-2 after a narrow loss at UConn. The Panthers were picked to finish 8th or 9th in the Big East.
The best story at Pitt is guard Antonio Graves. Once upon a time, he was a starter. He lost his job last season and fell all the way to the 8th or 9th spot in the rotation this season.
Graves stayed ready and bailed out the Panthers against Marquette with 19 off the bench when the guards who play before him, Keith Benjamin and Levance Fields, were 2-for-9 from the field.
Of course part of the reason Graves has ended up so deep on the bench is that his play hasn’t been that good and his shooting for most of the season has been atrocious. But since, the writer hasn’t seen much and only read the positives after the Marquette game, he wouldn’t really know that.
They play 10 guys. They scrap. They were horrible shooting the ball against UConn on Tuesday night, but fierce play on the boards made up for it. If senior guard Carl Krauser had not fouled out, they would have won.
Sure, the Panthers had a weak schedule, but that performance at UConn, even in a loss, shed a lot of doubters. I saw this team in December — albeit on TV — and the improvement has been spectacular.
As I noted yesterday, that kind of view is the norm when a sports writer hasn’t really seen the team.
