I don’t want to go Lou Holtz here, and start saying things like, “this Akron game scares the hell out of me,” but the local media seems to have forgotten about the actual game tonight.

This very interesting story about Pitt’s 1941 Final Four team talks about how they were essentially forgotten for many years — a banner wasn’t put up for the team until 1997.

Coached by Doc Carlson, the ’41 Panthers were 13-6 and played a schedule against mostly teams from the Big Ten Conference. Pitt accepted an invitation to play in the upstart tournament and beat North Carolina, 26-20, in an opening-round game in Madison, Wis. The Panthers then played Wisconsin in one of two Final Four games, also in Madison. Pitt had beaten Wisconsin, 36-34, in the first game of the season on the Badgers’ home court, but the Badgers won the rematch, 36-30.

Wisconsin beat Washington State to win the third NCAA title.

“It was a very close game,” Raymond recalled. “I was on the floor and we were winning. Then, they tied the game, and the Wisconsin fans went wild. They started playing the Wisconsin victory 1941 song. Unfortunately, they went on to win the game.”

Raymond remembers sitting in the stands before the start of the game and watching a young boy from Madison sell programs.

“He was saying, ‘Get your program here. Get the name of every Pitt player, his position and his salary.’ In those days, the Pitt football players had the reputation of being paid. We got a big kick out of that.”

Well worth reading, but there is nothing in the P-G about the actual game tonight. This story in the Trib. actually mentions that Pitt is playing Providence but it is about Pitt raising the bar in what it expects for itself in terms of success for a season.

This game should set a record for attendance.

Seating capacity at Petersen Events Center will expand, temporarily, to near 13,000 in order to accommodate the former players as well as a group of football recruits and their families. The extra seats will be installed throughout concourse areas on the upper level.

With three games to go, Providence needs every game if it wants to make it to Madison Square Garden.

“We’ve had a bye week and a couple days now to prepare for Providence,” said Dixon. “I think the timing is good for us, and now the guys are anxious to play against Providence. We’re playing well and we’re anxious to play again.”

PC coach Tim Welsh shrugs off the idea that the Panthers are rested and ready to take on his team tonight. “If you’re in the top 10 in the country, it doesn’t matter how much time you have off. They’re good at any time. And their numbers at home are pretty staggering,” he said.

After rolling up a 108-25 record over the last four seasons, the Panthers were expected to take at least a little step backward this season, but Dixon’s group actually may be better than some of his previous clubs. The emergence of Gray gives Pitt a legitimate low-post force who could savage a smaller team like Providence. Krauser is a 24-year-old veteran who has done a lot of winning over the last three years, and this season he’s led a relatively young team back to the top 10.
…
Welsh said playing a team twice in a span of 10 days is both good and bad. It helps in game preparation because neither team has changed at all, but it’s also difficult to surprise such a familiar opponent.

“We’ll make some adjustments, and once we get out there we’ll certainly be ready to play,” said Welsh. “Our big concern is Gray because he hurt us so much. But you have to pick your poison with them. They’ll adjust, too. They have a lot of depth and don’t have any real weaknesses. That’s the big concern.”

Yeah, I’d say Gray would be a concern with a 9-9 shooting night. I wouldn’t be surprised if they do something like What Marquette did — rotate bodies on Gray just to keep any one player from accumulating too many fouls. The Friars may not go as deep or as talented, but they might see if they can wear Gray down a bit and goad him into some dumb fouls.

At least that’s what I’d think about doing against a big man who has already shown how much bigger and better he is than anyone on your team down low.