Pitt has lost 4 games. All on the road and by 5, 4, 3 and 2 points. In that order. The loss to St. John’s was the only one that comes close to being a “bad” loss. The other 3 losses are to teams that will be in the NCAA Tournament and should be in the top-25 this week.

The bad news is that Pitt has yet to win a road game against a legit top-25 team (Louisville doesn’t count). You like to have at least one during the season to show you can win big games away from home. Pitt will get one more shot at that elusive road win next Monday down in Morgantown.

It’s one thing to hang tough, play close against good teams on the road. It’s another thing to actually win the games.

I’m not worried that the team will stew in this loss for a week. They may be a little hard on themselves for a couple of days, but the one thing this team and the coaches have shown is that they don’t get too down. They responded to two losses by shutting down the Hoopies. I think they will respond well to a tough week of practice and knowing that they have to keep proving themselves.

A couple hours to game time. Comment before, during and after.

HALFTIME UPDATE: Pitt losing 41-44.

Dominic James is astounding the way he keeps driving the lane. Novak has shot very well as Marquette is setting some great screens to free him.

Pitt has settled for too many outside shots. Too many 3s. Those 2 quick fouls on Gray really hurt. Fields has shot well.

Pitt really needs to pick up the defense because Marquette is shooting lights out.

FINAL UPDATE: Pitt loses 82-84.

Gray probably had his worst game of the season and Pitt still came close. Those missed free throws. Yes, Gray’s stand out because the game was on the line but there were others as well. Not to mention Pitt failing to block out on rebounds throughout the game. It’s like too many players have gotten lazy with Gray doing so much this season. That Fitzgerald put back off a missed FT around 7:35 in the second half was maddening.

It’s not a bad loss, and Marquette is very good. And there is an argument that Pitt had no business winning this game with the way Marquette shot and Pitt not playing its best defense. Still, Pitt made it close to nearly steal this one. They didn’t and it still sucks because they could have.

POSTGAME THOUGHTS: The Graves bashing seems to be reaching pathological. Here’s the full box score. Graves played 25 minutes, shot 3-4 and made his free throws (9 points), 3 assists and only 1 turnover. He was on the court for 16 minutes in the second half — the half when Pitt’s defense improved. I’m not claiming Graves is the best player out there, or even 3rd best off of the bench. He was not, however, a factor in why Pitt lost this game.

The problem in the second half was not defending the first shot. It was that Marquette got second chances. 10 offensive rebounds in the second half for the Golden Eagles. Aside from Gray, no Pitt player was working the defensive rebounds in the second half. Marquette crashed the boards, and there wasn’t any boxing out.

Add in 10 turnovers in the second half, and Pitt did plenty to shoot itself in the foot.

The last Q&A with the guys from Cracked Sidewalks was enough fun that we decided to do it again. Marquette92 supplied the responses with a little supplemental from Marquette Hoops (in italics). My answers to their questions will be up on their site later are here.

1. Pitt has gone through it’s own back and forth over new logos, colors and even whether it is Pitt or Pittsburgh (it is and always will be, Pitt). Now, over the last year, sometimes it seems longer, Marquette was faced with mascot/nickname issues. A large contingent looking to go back to the Warriors, a school that sought to go with an element, and ultimately settling back with the metallic bird. Is there a way to concisely explain what the hell happened? Additional, didn’t Marquette have different colors in the past? Was there any discussion of going back to them? Even just for a throwback game?

Concisely explain…not sure and my perspective is certainly different than others here…I’m more jaded about the process than others and the division of how fans see this issue is fairly stark in my opinion. I think we might lead the nation in nicknames. We were the Hilltoppers for a long time and then acquired a football only nickname of Golden Avalanche.

In 1954 we became the Warriors and took on an Indian mascot and Indian logo. The first renditions were overdone and stereotypical depictions of Indians in much the way the Cleveland Indians have with their logo. Over the years we toned it down and eventually Native Americans actually designed the costume for our mascot and developed our logo.

In 1994, President DiUlio unilaterally decided Warriors was going to go much to the chagrin of many alumni. An “election” was held between two candidates, Golden Eagles and Lightning. The proof of this election is somewhere in the same area of Jimmy Hoffa’s body.

About two years ago the issue surfaced again when a Board of Trustee member stated at graduation ceremonies that he would give the university several million dollars if we returned to the Warriors. This started a process in which the Board of Trustees had a survey given to all alumni and students about the Warriors nickname, the Golden Eagles and a number of other issues. The survey revealed overwhelming distaste for the Golden Eagles name.

Now, was it because of who answered the survey, was it because of the way the questions were asked, etc, etc…who knows. I was certainly one that voted to get rid of the Eagles name. This led to more meetings with the BOT and apparently with the Great Lakes Tribal council (made up of all the tribes in Wisconsin) where their opinions were garnered as well.

At the end of the day, the BOT and/or Father Wild said despite the strong support for Warriors even in the context of it not being an Indian mascot, it was their determination that it was not possible for our alumni to disassociate themselves from the history of the name and it’s linkage to Native Americans. Even a Warrior as a Rainbow or a Knight or whatever could not possibly in a person’s mind be mistaken for that link to Native Americans which was dropped 10 years prior (I’m now being sarcastic).

This is where it gets fun. The BOT then in the next breadth announced that instead of keeping the Golden Eagles they settled on the GOLD. The Marquette GOLD.

Well to say Pandora’s Box was blown wide open would be an understatement. We were the butt of all jokes almost within minutes of the announcement. Alumni that were fans of Warriors were furious. Alumni that were fans of Golden Eagles were furious. Alumni who gave a shit about athletics were even furious. It was just colossally dumb. For about a week the administration tried to play the damage control card and say how wonderful it was and this and that. Finally they caved, thank God.

As a result, they decided to have a committee select 10 names from 1000’s that were submitted by alumni, fans, etc or come up with their own. There were rules, the names could not incorporate Warrior in them or anything of that nature of “war”. The committee diligently selected 10 names and alumni were given these names to vote on through an online system.

The top 2 names chosen would go in a run off for another election weeks later. The top two names were Hilltoppers (our first name) and Golden Eagles, our last name. Warriors received a very strong write-in vote despite the university clearly saying upfront that it would be counted but not recognized. Many alumni chose it anyway in protest. In the runoff, Golden Eagles won and we were right back to ground zero.

Not Marquette’s proudest moment(s) to be sure. I, for one, remain a Marquette fan to the hilt but I will always be a Warrior just like Rick Majerus said last night on the ESPN broadcast. It will stick in my craw until I die.

We have always been blue and gold as far as I know. Various different shades of blue to be certain, but always blue and gold. We have worn replica 1977 jerseys for a couple of games that were untucked (against NCAA rules today).

2. Injuries seem to have been taking a toll on the Golden Eagles. Who’s in, who’s out and who’s not at full strength? Has anyone new stepped up since the last meeting that Pitt should be wary of?

Kinsella is out with an appendix. Lott is out due to Mono. Fitzgerald is dinged up with ankle issues. Amoroso is not playing due to undisclosed medical issues or something else (doghouse, who knows). I’d say as far as someone “new” it is possible that Fitzgerald could have a breakout game and this will be the first time you see Wes Matthews who is coming off a stress fracture.

Matthews has yet to hit his stride since his return, but played another smart floor game against Georgetown. Seeing how the Pitt backcourt played so well against MU earlier this season, Matthews’ return should help MU.

3. As the coaching carousel starts to really get wound, how are the rumors affecting the fanbase. Crean is an annual rumor at many schools, and with job openings in the Big 11 and 12, Crean’s name is becoming mentioned more frequently. Pitt fans are keeping a wary eye out west at the Arizona State rumors of going after Dixon.

Fans are fairly confident he will stay. It’s his program now, his stamp, we’re in the Big East, we have a dynamite Freshman class and two more good kids coming in. The timing just seems odd. He’s at a basketball only school that loves it’s hoops. He’s paid VERY well. Things can change, but I think most are confident the timing doesn’t seem right for a departure.

4. Do you see a noticeable difference in any aspects of Marquette’s game when playing at home versus the road? Some area they seem to do better or worse when in the Bradley Center?

MU has lost two games at home, though one of them was the second game of the season to Winthrop when the freshmen were still getting settled in. The other loss was a few days after beating UCONN, a great win that sometimes can take emotion out of you. MU led Cincinnati by double digits in the second half of that game and collapsed. UC blocked 20+ shots that day I think. We just kept going to the hole drive after drive after drive and they would block it. We weren’t very smart.

I am worried about playing Pitt off of last night’s emotional game. I hope we have gas left in the tank. The Bradley Center has a good home court advantage for us despite it’s big size and NBA type feel at times.

5. For Pitt fans and alum showing up at the game, what kind of reception can they expect?

Hard to say, I can remember the last time we played you at Marquette if ever. It’s been a long time if we had. I can tell you this, a lot of MU fans cheered for you against Wisconsin a few years ago at the Bradley Center in the NCAAs.

I do think MU fans will be jacked up for the game tonight, and it should be a sellout (or very close to it) — the win over Georgetown put alot of wind in our sales, and folks know how tight the game was at the Pete.

6. What is the state of the team, fans and Dominic James with the rematch considering the controversy over his shoulder injury and crash off-court — bump,push or shove — in the earlier meeting. Any talk of payback, dirty play and such?

The ‘shove’ was a hot issue during the week after the last meeting, but given DJ’s strong play since its ceased to be a topic of conversation. It also helped that the ‘shove’ didn’t injure DJ — he was hurt on the incidental contact before that anway. There has not been much buzz of payback, though Crean continues to push the team to get tougher on the glass and limit second chance opportunities.

The game is 9pm, and is on ESPN Full Court if you are outside of Fox Sports Pittsburgh. Bet ESPN wishes it could swap this with the Louisville-Syracuse tilt.

Thanks agains guys.

I’m a bit surprised that Pitt is a 2.5 point favorite in this game. Must not be as many Marquette fans who like to gamble.

Since this is the rematch game, there is a bit of rekindled discussion regarding the Dominic James shoulder injury and shove/bump incident from the game 3 weeks ago.

Keith Benjamin, at least, seems to be indicating that James and the Golden Eagles will see plenty of physical play.

“You never want to go out there and blatantly do anything intentional,” Pitt guard Keith Benjamin said.

“But this is the Big East, and you have to be physical at all times, or someone else is going to do something to you. When we were physical with him, I think he got a little timid like a freshman would because it was his first time in that type of environment. I think he’ll be better prepared for what we have to offer, but we’re still going to go out there and get the job done.”

It’s not quite up there with threatening a war, but I imagine that quote’s been pinned to the front of James’ locker.

Levon Kendall tried to be a little more diplomatic about it.

“We have to do a better job of stopping their penetration,” junior forward Levon Kendall said.

“They broke us down quite a bit and got some easy things going to the bucket. That will be big in this game.”

The Panthers are targeting James not only because of his size, but because he is a rookie. James is the runaway rookie of the year in the Big East Conference, but Pitt wants to test his mettle and see how he responds to being bumped and bothered.

“Getting guys out of their comfort zone is big,” Kendall said. “Young guys usually don’t respond well to adversity. If we do that from the get-go and be on them, they’ll have a tough time responding to that and to the pressure.”

Not that Marquette isn’t very ready for this game.

Marquette’s players were so ready, so fast at Friday’s basketball practice that coach Tom Crean decided to let them have some fun.

He stood by as the players took part in 3-on-3 games — and also did the coaching.

“We were hungry and focused,” Crean said alluding to tonight’s home game against No. 9 Pittsburgh.
…
Tonight’s game will be tough, Crean said. “It was very physical, very intense (the first game),” he said. “We’re going to have to match that toughness.”

Unlike the first game, Marquette’s Steve Novak won’t be hobbled by a bad ankle. That means the senior forward will be more mobile and able to drive as well as take the outside shot and pull-up jumpers.

Novak, a 6-foot-10 senior who already owns the career mark for 3s at Marquette, broke Travis Diener’s season record and now has 92 on the year. He also moved into 13th place all-time in scoring with 1,444 career points.

“He makes more contested shots than anyone I’ve seen in a long time,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “It’s a gift that he’s worked on, clearly.”

In the last game, Antonio Graves — beyond being in the center of a controversy — had a career game, and Gray grabbed 20 rebounds.

Now I’m not saying the Marquette stories are trying to fan the flames of some controversy or bad blood between Pitt and Marquette. I’l just point out that the next articles include the AP photo of James grabbing his shoulder in pain while Graves is behind him veering off.

Marquette didn’t use its depth in the Georgetown game, but expects to tonight.

Normally using a larger rotation this year, Marquette only played eight men in the 57-51 victory over Georgetown. With a game against a real physical Pittsburgh team just 48 hours later, Marquette might be forced to deepen the bench tomorrow night.

“Tomorrow we might have to play a lot more guys,” said Crean. “Pittsburgh plays ten guys, and they all can play real well.”

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal wants a rivalry and a street fight.

There wasn’t much history between the schools before this season – they had faced each other just four times previously and split the series – and they aren’t located in the same geographic region.

But the teams’ chippy meeting Jan. 28 in Pittsburgh quickly changed the tone.

In it, MU (17-8, 7-5) jumped to an early lead only to falter late and lose a game it could have won, 77-71. Along the way bodies went flying, tempers flared and words were exchanged.

The Golden Eagles get their chance for revenge at 8 tonight at the Bradley Center against the ninth-ranked Panthers (20-3, 9-3).

“I think games where teams come out and battle each other, those can always turn into rivalries,” MU coach Tom Crean said.

An incident involving MU’s Dominic James and Pittsburgh’s Antonio Graves with a little more than 13 minutes left was the source of much consternation for Crean and his Eagles.
…
“My opinion didn’t change at all,” Crean said when asked if he still thought Graves’ shove was uncalled for after watching film of the incident. “Certainly nothing’s changed on my part, but that’s over. Our key is that we don’t let Antonio Graves come in and get 19 (points) again.”

For his part, James said he wasn’t holding any grudges.

“I don’t think it was a dirty play or anything like that, but I know it’s going to be another physical game back here at home,” he said.

It should be a tough game for both teams.

First important note, Aaron Gray will be doing an ESPN Nation Chat on Tuesday at noon. You can start putting in your questions now. I’ll try to remind everyone again on Monday or Tuesday morning.

So onto this week in the ESPN.com chats. Rece Davis had a couple Pitt questions to field.

Josh (Da ‘Burgh): Where does Pitt’s Aaron Gray rank among the most improved players in the nation?

Rece Davis: Considering the distance he covered…I can’t think of anyone MORE improved.
…
Jack (Atlanta): More LOVE for Tennessee!! I know Pitt isnt a sexy program and that they might not be an elite team (top 5), but why dont these kids and especially the coach get more love? This was a rebuilding year and they have only lost 3 games by a total of 12 points. Florida and Tennessee are getting too much love being out of the SEC!!

Rece Davis: Everybody wants love. Love, love, love….maybe it’s the Valentine’s thing. I think Jamie is doing a great job. Taking Krauser off the ball occasionally…the improvement of Gray. Fields, Young making contributions. Very good team…tough-minded and a big threat in the tournament.

Keiran Darcy has some Marquette and Pitt comments.

Conor (Chicago): With that big win, how is Marquette looking?

Kieran Darcy: Marquette is looking very good, I think. Their remaining Big East schedule is relatively easy (by Big East standards) — they’ve got Providence at home, and Notre Dame and Louisville on the road, in addition to their home game tomorrow against Pittsburgh. Tom Crean has done an excellent job, and they should go Dancing — a pretty great accomplishment since they were pegged in the preseason to finish 12th in the conference.
…
JB Pittsburgh: Com’on Kieran, whats up with Pitt. Can we get some props here or what?

Kieran Darcy: Pitt’s been very impressive. They’ve got a guard-post combo in Krauser and Gray that can get them to the Sweet Sixteen, maybe even beyond. Let’s see what happens.

And we can end it with some snark predictions from Joe Lunardi.

Greg Milwaukee, WI: Joe, What do you think about Marquette and their chances against Pitt Saturday night?

Joe Lunardi: I like Pitt’s chances to join the growing list of Big East teams to lose on their first trip to Milwaukee.

A lot of pressure on Marquette as well to avoid the emotional letdown.

Ray Fittipaldo has his weekly Q&A.

Q: The way Carl Krauser has handled the younger players on the team this year (consoling and mentoring), do you see any possibility that he will be added to Dixon’s coaching staff after he leaves? I really don’t see him making it at the next level, but he seems to have a good head on his shoulders, and I think he would be an asset to the staff; especially with the group of players that will be left behind after he graduates.

Fittipaldo: Krauser is good enough to play professional basketball and make a lot of money. It might not be in the NBA, at least not right away, but he can go make a nice buck overseas. Most players try to exhaust their playing potential before entering coaching. I suspect Krauser will see what’s out there for him professionally. If you’re looking for a former Pitt player who might be a future coach, look to Brandin Knight. If he is not able to come back from his leg injury and play again, he told me he wants to pursue coaching opportunities.

Other questions concern whether Hudson is a complete or partial bust, not starting DeGroat (a weekly question), Gray and dunking and Herb Pope.

Tomorrow morning a new Q&A with the Marquette bloggers. I’m still catching up with actually doing stuff not on a computer. Bad craziness.

The game is on at 9pm. Game notes for Pitt and Marquette (PDF). Marquette, not only coming off a big, clutch win over Georgetown will be retiring the jersey of Maurice Lucas at halftime. He’s one of their all-time greats. I’m not familiar with him either, but I doubt many Marquette fans really recall Billy Knight or Sam Clancy at Pitt.

Greg Doyel at Sportsline.com once more can’t bring himself to pick Pitt, and apparently is aware of his history.

No. 9 Pittsburgh at Marquette: It has come to our attention that Pittsburgh gets picked against almost every time the Panthers make it into the vaunted and highly respected Top 10 Games. Cognizant of that, we vowed to pick Pittsburgh this week, regardless of the opponent or location. But we’re nervous because, while Pittsburgh is an almost-great team, the Panthers become beatable on the road. Marquette, meanwhile, is a very good team that becomes unbeatable at home. And this one’s at Marquette. But we promised a friend we’d pick Pitt. Pick: Screw it … Marquette.

Thanks for reading, Greg. No, I’m not the friend, but I know he is aware of this blog and how much I’ve harped on Pitt’s disconnect on the road. So I’ll take some credit for causing him to go against Pitt on the road.

Remember what I said earlier in the day about how people trying to rank and seed teams couldn’t abide having too many teams from the same conference ahead of power conferences? Seth Davis helps prove my point with his “seed report.” He gives a #1 seed to both Villanova and UConn, but puts Pitt at a #3. Tennessee and Iowa (Huh??) get a #2. He also has George Washington as a #3 seed — and a guy who loves to pound teams repeatedly for weak non-cons puts GW with their #321 non-con SOS at #3 — how?

At some point, you have to stop looking at the RPI spreadsheets and start heeding records, rankings and gut instincts. If you look at George Washington’s nitty gritty (1-1 vs. the RPI’s top 50, nonconference strength of schedule ranked 322nd), you couldn’t make the Colonials higher than a five seed. I’ve made them a three. They’ve lost one game all year long and are ranked seventh in the AP poll. You simply cannot leave them out of your top 16.

And at some point you have to admit your own inconsistencies and hypocricsies.

In an unrelated note, Luke Winn at SI.com raises Pitt to #10 in his power rankings — behind Tennessee, Florida and GW.

Demoting Pitt to No. 16 last week was the move that drew the most hate mail, and the Panthers responded with three straight victories (West Virginia, Cincinnati and at Providence) to climb back into the Top 10. Oakland surprise story Aaron Gray is only getting better by the week — he delivered an inspired performance against the Mountaineers, scoring 16 points and holding Kevin Pittsnogle to zero points (he averages 19.1) on 0-of-12 shooting. “Every shot he took was contested,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said of Pittsnogle.

Pitt fans have been among the loudest in the last few years at letting some of the b-ball writers know what they think.

Posting will be a little light today as I have business that actually takes me more than 50 feet from an internet connection. Hopefully the republic will survive.

Marquette pulled off the big win last night, and are still catching their breath before they can even turnaround to face Pitt. Marquette has done two things Pitt hasn’t this year. They’ve beaten UConn and Georgetown. Yeah, they did it on their home court, and Pitt lost in away games, but Pitt is heading to that court so it is a very tough game tomorrow night.

The team knows it needs to keep winning as it can’t help but peek to March.

“We came into this year thinking we were going to win 20 games. A lot of people didn’t,” said sophomore guard Keith Benjamin, who has scored 31 points off the bench in the Panthers’ past two games. “It’s really not that important to us right now. We know we’re in the (NCAA) tournament now, but we’re still going to come out and play hard. We want more wins, as many as we can get this season from this team.”

Benjamin hesitated, then bit his lower lip and cocked his head just slightly while fixing his eyes in reflection on the floor ahead of him.

“Right now,” he said, finally, nodding his head in confirmation, “we’ve totally come together, and it’s going to be something special for the rest of the year.”
…
A clean sweep of the team’s remaining four regular-season games would give the Panthers a 24-3 mark and place them in prime position for a first-round bye in the Big East tournament in March.

“I think we’re supposed to win the rest of the games we play in,” Benjamin said. “We’re going to come out and play hard and try and get a win at Marquette.”

It’s debatable whether the Panthers will sweep their remaining games. The road ahead is tough, beginning with the rematch against Marquette, which owns a victory over No. 1 Connecticut.

Later, there are rematches with Providence at home and at No. 11 West Virginia, as well as the home finale against Seton Hall, which, like Pitt, has defeated WVU this season.

Pitt is looking to snare itself a possible 2 seed in the NCAA.

The Panthers (20-3, 9-3) are in contention for a No. 2 seed at the moment and have an outside shot at a No. 1 seed if they win their final four regular-season games and the Big East tournament. Even if they split their final four regular-season games, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Pitt would drop any lower than a No. 4 or 5 seed.

When Pitt advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2002, ’03 and ’04, the Panthers were a No. 2 or No. 3 seed. Last season, Pitt was a No. 9 seed and lost to Pacific in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

“I definitely think playing for a higher seed is very important,” Benjamin said. “If you open up the tournament playing somebody from a very small conference … getting that first one is the most important thing in that tournament. We’re trying to get that first win so we can get that second win, so we can get back in the Sweet 16 and break the curse.”

I’m guessing Benjamin was made available for interviews yesterday.

I have to be honest, I doubt Pitt will get a 2 seed unless it ends up in the Big East Championship game. Even though Pitt is #6 in the RPI. Pitt will be looking at a #3 or #4 seed. Pitt will take abuse for its non-con SOS as usual unless teams like Auburn and Penn State get hot in their tournaments to push their RPIs under 100.

I don’t care if ESPN.com’s power rankings have Pitt in the 2 seed group. Look at how far over the board the ESPN.com “experts” have Pitt. Andy Katz — who has been very positive to Pitt, so let’s not have any bias claims — has somehow moved Pitt to 16 behind BC and NC State. That’s just mindboggling.

I have finally come up with a theory why Florida kept staying above Pitt in the polls and even most of the power rankings despite Pitt having as good a record and a better SOS. The people doing the rankings have a hard time putting 3 teams (not from the ACC) ahead of all teams from any one power/BCS conference. Sure the SEC is down, but to put 3 BE teams (or Big 12 or 11 for argument’s sake) ahead of the best team in the SEC just “feels” wrong. Florida can now fall below Pitt, though, because Tennessee can be subbed in their place.

Well with Indiana’s Mike Davis making it official that he is a lame duck, the speculation jumps the tracks about where coaches will go and what will happen.

Andy Katz at ESPN.com writes of the trend this year to be coaches at other schools not wanting to have their names dragged around in advance.

Questions will be asked of prospective candidates, who will then predictably deny any interest. Athletic directors will posture to show they can keep their own head coaches. And of course plenty of coaches will play the game of Job Search that will ultimately land them a hefty raise.

But the overriding theme for these three high-profile gigs (and they may not be the only ones that pop up) is the reluctance of big-name candidates to be part of a formal coaching search.

For example, if Indiana wants Iowa’s Steve Alford, then the Hoosiers will have to go get him, according to a source close to Alford. Alford isn’t about to do a dance with his alma mater and go through a formal interview process with three or four other candidates. A coach at a rival school can’t afford to do that.

The same would be true if Indiana were to go after Marquette’s Tom Crean. He can’t afford a slow waltz with a school only to risk not being chosen. Nor should he have to dance.

This unwillingness to join the search process will be seen throughout the country at places like Wake Forest, where Skip Prosser could be contacted by Cincinnati. West Virginia’s John Beilein, a highly coveted coach, can’t simply flirt with breaking his deal in Morgantown. He would have to do it and go, not waffle over whether to stay or bolt.

Geez name coaches not wanting to be attached to searches, where are the Bobby Petrinos of college basketball coaches?

Greg Doyel takes the coaching change potential to a tongue-in-cheek extreme for the potential turnover and dominoes. Pitt and Jamie Dixon are included in the game.

Arizona State: This job belongs to Rob Evans — for now. When he goes, the Sun Devils will pursue Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon. And Dixon, a West Coast guy with the confidence and ability to wake this sleeping giant, will say yes. Dark horse pick: Lon Kruger, who’s getting the message that UNLV isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. And whose son, Kevin, will be an ASU senior guard next season.

Pittsburgh: By replacing Ben Howland and winning just as big, Dixon demonstrated that successions can work. Next in line at Pittsburgh is associate head Barry Rohrssen, who helped stock the program with talent and would be an even more devastating recruiter in the Northeast with the words “head coach” on his business card. Dark horse pick: Bucknell’s Pat Flannery, a nearly lifelong resident of Pennsylvania, can X-and-O with anyone.

He also lists NC St. assistant and former Pitt great Larry Harris as the darkhorse for the Duquesne job. I’m not sure Duquesne is going back to the Pitt well for a coach after Darrelle Porter didn’t work out for them. Like I said, definitely has a tongue-in-cheek feel to it. I wouldn’t read much into it at this time.

Hopefully this is just coincidence and not a negative reflection. Either way, I hope the Big East got its money from XM up front for the broadcast rights.

XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.’s losses soared in the fourth quarter on higher costs for marketing and acquiring subscribers, and a director quit over disagreements about the company’s direction, warning of a looming “crisis.”

Investors punished the shares of the Washington, D.C.-based company, sending them down $1.27, or 5 percent, to close at $23.98 in very heavy volume Thursday afternoon on the Nasdaq Stock Market. They reached a 52-week low of $22.94 earlier in the day.

Of particular concern to investors was the unexpected departure of Pierce J. Roberts Jr. from XM’s board of directors, who said in his resignation letter that he was “troubled” by the company’s current path. Roberts, the former chief telecom banker at Bear Stearns, had served on the board’s audit, compensation and nominating committees. He had been a director for five years.

“Given current course and speed there is, in my view, a significant chance of a crisis on the horizon,” Roberts wrote in the letter, which the company disclosed in a regulatory filing. “Even absent a crisis, I believe that XM will inevitably serve its shareholders poorly without major changes now.”

Now from the comments, there have been some good ones. Jamie H. did a better job than I did in trying to explain why it was good for Pitt that St. John’s beat Rutgers:

… if you are familiar with the Seeding Sheets the Selection Committee uses, they break down your schedule into records vs teams ranked 1-25, 25-50, 50-100, 100-200 etc in the RPI. So it is better for us to keep St. Johns’ RPI as high as possible, so that we dont have any losses to sub-100 RPI teams. We beat Rutgers, so their RPI moving below 100 wont hurt us. Losing to sub-100 RPI teams looks bad, and the Committee will dock you for it. Regardless of your overall RPI (which isnt affected by the Rutger-Johnnies game).

The oft-cited (by me) Ken Pomeroy has a breakdown on his RPI page so you can get a better visual.

Speculation about Aaron Gray is also a speculative discussion. Eric R. essentially sums up my view.

If the Panthers make a strong run in the post season (i.e. Sweet 16 on), there will be a plethura of national stories about Pitt. You can bet on a lot of those stories focusing on a number of individual players, including Gray (assuming he continues to put up consistant numbers). That would certainly raise Gray’s stock and put him, possibly, in the NBA. If however, the Panthers get knocked out early, the possibility of Gray returning increases.

Bottom line: Wait until the end of March and it will be easier to tell.

My feeling is more that Pitt has to get to the Elite 8 or better for the attention on Gray to reach a point where the buzz pushes him higher. At the Sweet 16, there are still enough teams and players to diffuse the stories. I think more like what happened with Dwayne Wade at Marquette. The talk about him was there, but it was still an undercurrent until he became unstoppable against Pitt and then Kentucky. If Pitt had beaten Marquette, Wade may not have been a lottery pick.

It’s an interesting conflict Pitt hasn’t had to wrestle to this point. The better Pitt does, the greater the chance Gray leaves early. Considering last year was supposed to be the year it all came together for Pitt, and what happened, I will happily wish Gray well in the pros if Pitt gets past the Sweet 16.

Looking to the next game, I’m really hoping for a Marquette win over Georgetown tonight. The last thing I want is Pitt to go into the Bradley Center against a desperate, but good team, that has lost 3 straight.

The normal box scores are here and of course the advanced numbers.

Pitt

Poss 71.9 Pace Moderate
O-Rating 118.3 D-Rating 107.1 (Eff. Margin +11.1)
eFG% 59.8 PPWS 1.25
A/TO 1.3 TO Rate 18.1% A/B 56.7%
Floor Pct 56.5% FT Prod 32.1

Providence

Poss 68.9 Pace Moderate
O-Rating 111.8 D-Rating 123.4 (Eff. Margin -11.6)
eFG% 53.7 PPWS 1.17
A/TO 0.6 TO Rate 23.2% A/B 36.0%
Floor Pct 54.3% FT Prod 35.2

Both teams were scoring, but Pitt more efficient. Especially in the second half when Providence had 10 turnovers. Pitt was less sloppy with the ball.

3-point shooting recovered a bit in the second half for Pitt (3-9 1st, 4-9 2nd). It was nowhere near as pathetic as it was against UConn, St. John’s or Rutgers. Still it was noticeably lower than when Pitt is at home. Ramon, who was precise the last two home games was only 2-6 last night. Krauser struggled as well. In fact the guards were only 4-14. It was at the forward position where the 3s were falling — 3-4 from Benjamin, DeGroat and Kendall — to bail out the overall numbers.

Aaron Gray had one of the prettiest lines you could hope to see from the big man

  --------------------- FG    3pt  FT   Reb
                 Min  M-A   M-A  M-A  O-T   A F S TO BLK Pts Aaron Gray         30   9-9   0-0  4-5  3-9   1 2 1  2  2   22

Keith Benjamin not only got it done on the offense with his 15 points on 6-8 shooting, but on the other end of the floor as well. He was very aggressive on defense — leading to 4 fouls — with 2 steals. He grabbed 4 rebounds (2 at each end). He was out there for 23 minutes.

Pitt in fact favored the forwards as far as playing time over the guards. Pitt decided to exploit the size and strength advantage in the second half, by going with two guards. Graves and Fields played 12 and 16 minutes in the game, but only a total of 8 minutes in the second half. John DeGroat actually played more minutes in the second half (6) than either guard. Tyrell Biggs actually saw a couple minutes of action in the second half.

The big mystery to me is Aaron Gray’s free throw shooting. Gray is 86-133 (.647) at the line on the year. Once more Gray shot free throws well on the road. I’ve been noting to myself recently that Gray seems to shoot his FTs better away from the Pete. That’s not entirely true.

——– FTM – FTA — FT%
Overall (23) 86 — 133 — .647
Home – (15) 52 — 80 — .650
Road — (8) 34 — 53 — .642

So I’m wrong. Not entirely. It turns out if you go to BE Conference games only, the numbers are quite different.

——– FTM – FTA — FT%
Overall (12) 50 — 79 — .633
Home — (6) 20 — 36 — .556
Road — (6) 30 — 43 — .698

In the non-con, Gray shot .667 overall (36-54) and .727 at home (32-44). With only 2 non-con away games, he shot only 4-10 (.400).

I’m not sure what happened. His first 3 road games (which includes Louisville) he went 8-19. His last 3 road games showed an excellent 16-18. At home in the last 3 games, he went 8-17.

The simple explanation is that he is still learning his stroke and he is just inconsistent. It’s just been very strange since the start of January and got even weirder since the end of the month.

Lots of achievements for individuals and the team last night.

Aaron Gray missed getting another double double, but was a perfect 9-9 from the floor. He was the first Pitt player in 15 years to shoot such perfection. Brian Shorter went 11-11 in 1990, also against Providence. Pitt is now 24-15 versus Providence since joining the Big East (24-16 overall). The second best winning percentage for Pitt against any BE conference foe (the best is against now departed BC — 28-15).

Pitt (20-3, 9-3) came out after the intermission and forced the ball into Gray, who responded with 16 points in the first 6 1/2 minutes of the second half. Pitt took control of the game with a 17-2 run. Gray scored 12 of those points, including a 3-point play with 14:45 remaining that gave the Panthers a 52-44 lead.

The Panthers were bringing a man up to the high post and working the high-low to perfection in the second half.

“We just really stressed getting the ball inside in the second half,” Gray said. “We were all making plays. That was the main difference in us winning the game.”
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“I thought we did a good job of attacking the zone in the second half,” Dixon said. “We had to do a better job of getting the ball inside in the second half, and we did that. Aaron is doing such a great job of keeping the ball up [after he catches it]. He caught all of the balls and never brought any of them down.”

Krauser had another slow start to the first half, not helped by being limited to only 9 minutes due to foul trouble. Still, Gray gave credit to Krauser for getting them going in the second half.

“It was our on-the-floor leadership of Carl Krauser,” Gray said, explaining what helped to hold Pitt together. “He’s the one who huddled us up at halftime and really took control, and coach Dixon came in and kind of cleaned it up. We realized that anywhere in the Big East it’s tough to steal a win, but we felt we could here.”

Providence played a zone defense for most of the first half and it seemed to confound the Panthers. But Pitt solved things in the second half, when the Friars played zone and mixed it up with a man-to-man.

“We weren’t playing very smart (in the first half),” Gray said. “But we made the right adjustments and were able to keep it going.”

Krauser scored 12 points, 10 coming in the second half. More importantly he had 6 assists in the second half (7 for the game), by being the guy able to get the ball to Gray. He became the first Pitt player with 1500+ points and 500+ assists. No other Pitt player has done that. On top of that, has 467 rebounds as a point and shooting guard. Krauser’s ability to get the ball inside to the frontcourt players is probably the most overlooked thing about him. It will be sorely missed. No other Pitt guard can do it quite so well, and is a big thing for Ramon and Fields to work on for next year.

Keith Benjamin had another excellent offensive performance, taking good shots and hitting them. Naturally, it is resulting in him seeing more minutes.

As previously noted, with this win the team has won 20 or more games and finished above .500 in the BE for 5 straight seasons. The first time ever. Jamie Dixon also accomplished a first for Pitt.

The victory gave Pitt its 20th in a season for a school-record fifth consecutive time and enabled Dixon to become the first in school history to win 20 games in his first three seasons.

Former Pitt coach Paul Evans won 20 in his first two years, but finished with 17 in his third.

In Providence, Aaron Gray was part of the story.

When all else fails, pure size can do an awful lot of damage in a basketball game.

The Friars found that out the hard way last night as Pittsburgh’s deep set of big men, and most notably 7-footer Aaron Gray, had their way inside to lead the Panthers to an 85-77 win. After talking at the half on concentrating on pounding the ball inside against PC’s zone defense, Pitt shot 60 percent in the second half and made 14 of 21 shots from the foul line. More important, the team’s defense overwhelmed PC’s inside game as Herbert Hill was held to eight points and Randall Hanke managed only six.

“They are good, and their big guys are very good and really run the floor well,” Pitt coach Jaime Dixon said of the Friars. “In the second half, we did a much better job inside and on the boards, and that helped us a lot.”

The notebook story also suggests that Pitt and Providence have the best Freshmen classes in the BE. That’s some home-cooking. I may be biased to Pitt, but I would say that Marquette has a better class than Providence. Or at least Marquette is winning more.

The other thing Pitt did, that they have done to so many this season — they just wore down the Friars with their physical play and deep bench.

The Panthers, now 20-3 and 9-3 in the Big East, simply outmanned a PC team that had gotten by with a crisp offense and just enough defense to win four of its previous six games. But with Pitt scoring 19 second-chance points and 34 points in the paint, it became very clear that the Friars don’t yet have the size and strength to push back against the biggest teams in the Big East.

“They wore us out with their size in the second half,” said PC coach Tim Welsh. “In this league, you have to defend the paint and rebound the basketball. The game is played in the lane and won inside, especially against a Pittsburgh.”
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Pitt’s offensive execution limited the Friars’ chances to rebound and crank its running game into gear. Even so, PC’s second half offense managed to put up 40 points. The problem was stopping the Panthers. Dixon tweaked his offense at the half by placing a forward near the foul line and making sure Gray took more than the one shot he attempted in the first half.

I should mention, since I can be quick to criticize bad writing, that the Providence Journal’s Robert McNamara is one of the best college basketball sportswriters out there. That observation about how Coach Dixon adjusted on offense to create more space for Gray is just one of the more subtle reasons why. Every other writer just would go with the stock line about how Pitt just made an effort to get the ball inside to Gray more. McNamara tells you how.

For Providence, Don McGrath was the only story. The Senior Guard, playing at the shooting guard this year after running the point in previous years (geez, that sounds like a familiar storyline), was doing all he could to get that first win over Pitt in his career — the one team he has never beaten. He gets one more shot next Saturday.

I really hate having to listen to basketball games. It’s even worse than listening to football games. You just don’t get a sense of what other players are doing without the ball. You are totally dependent on the announcers to tell you what they find relevant. So take these thoughts on the Pitt radio crew for what they are worth.

Hillgrove and Groat have long, storied ties to announcing Pitt basketball but, I was frequently befuddled by what was actually happening in the game. Not until early in the second half did Groat finally explain that Providence was doing a great job setting screens to free up the shooters.

I think Hillgrove has a great voice for calling games, but aside from the obvious name confusion issues, the big beef with him is that he doesn’t see the plays develop so he will completely whiff on a call — roughly every 8th play. You never know what happened.

Groat is the kindly old grandfather, does a good job of not talking over the action, and can still provide some sharp analysis coming out of time-outs and commercials to explain what a team is or isn’t doing — when he has time. Of course, this is live action, so time is a luxury. The problem is during the game, his comments are frequently banal, cheerleading or just confusing because he is expected to say something. Comments like, “You have to make that pass, young fella’,” after a turnover really don’t do much.

The problem is, people freak when you get rid of longtime, established game-callers. It becomes a comfort and familiar. Groat, especially, would cause a large hue-and-cry because of his age and history with Pittsburgh.

The other problem, is the “be careful what you wish for” risk. Who’s to say that if Groat or even Hillgrove that the next crew would be better. Groat at least isn’t talking over the actual call very much. The trend with color analysts has been to chatter non-stop, and frequently about things not pertaining to what is happening on the court or field.

Kind of feeling a little “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” regarding the radio. Well, hopefully with high expectations next year, more of the games will be televised and on Full Court.

Sorry, just had to get that out of my system.

The non-con SOS and RPI got a big boost with Wisconsin knocking off Ohio State (not to mention making life a little easier for anyone not an OSU fan living in the Buckeye State). Penn State also provided a big boost with the upset of the drain-circling Hoosiers. Everybody say thank you to Penn State for helping Pitt.

Even the Rutgers loss to St. John’s was good. St. John’s has been in a tailspin, and the loss to them has been a drag on the RPI. This will help a little.

The only way it would have been a better night, would have been if Auburn could have actually shown up in the first half against Tennessee.

Oh, and just to bring a smile, Cinci bounced back to trounce Syracuse.

Nearly forgot. Sorry, a little crazy on the politics scene in Ohio the last couple of days.

Comment before, during and after.

My updates may be a little more frequent since I’ll be listening from the computer tonight @#$%@ no Full Court.

11:40 1st Half: Crap. Came out missing and McGrath from Providence not missing. Groat and Hillgrove sounded incensed when Young whistled for offensive foul. Really, really pissed about not being able to see this one.

3:38, 1st Half: Pitt losing 31-23

Stop me if you heard this before. Pitt goes on the road and struggle. Can’t hit a 3 for spit. Krauser having a horrible game with 3 fouls already.

The team seems tenative on offense, settling for jumpers and not getting it inside. And of course, plenty of turnovers.

HALFTIME UPDATE: Pitt down 37-33.

Both teams shooting 13-28. The difference Pitt 3-10 on 3s while Providence is 5-9.

Providence also has 2 more FTMs (6-8 Prov., 4-4 Pitt). Pitt not getting to the line either. Again, it seems to be a familiar storyline on the road. Not holding onto the ball, missing from outside, and not being aggressive to the basket so not getting to the line.

15:14, 2nd Half: Pitt up 49-44.

Pushing and getting the ball inside to Gray. It isn’t simply getting it to Gray, it’s creating space so he can get the pass, and open the lanes. Pitt is penetrating and driving. It makes a difference. Nice adjustment so far.

11:50, 2nd Half: Pitt 57-50.

Gray can’t stay perfect for the entire game. There needs to be someone else scoring. Still too many turnovers. Starting to force Providence to foul more, but not getting to the line yet.

7:52, 2nd Half: Pitt 64-55.

McGrath is carrying the entire Providence team. He is also using the screens extremely well.

3:19, 2nd Half: Pitt 76-63.

Benjamin is doing his damndest to show that the game against Cinci wasn’t a fluke.

FINAL UPDATE: Pitt wins 85-77.

5th straight year of 20+ wins and above-.500 in the Big East. First time for both.

A little troubled by some missed free throws down the stretch, not to mention some brainlock fouls by Pitt in the final minute or so.

The road struggles versus dominance at home is a sign of a young team, which it is easy to forget, Pitt is. It is still a serious issue, though, for the post-season.

More later.

Do columnists assume everyone has been paying attention or ignoring the same things they have? I guess so. Gene Collier, much like the rest of the Pittsburgh media, is finally done talking about the Steelers (at least for a few days). So he turns to Pitt and the Big East to discover *gasp* there are a lot of teams in the conference.

This was in the dark ages of, oh, 1990, when, then as now, Big East basketball meant some of the best teams in the land and most of the best teams in the land between the North Atlantic and the West End Bridge. In that era, you could lurch away from six months of NFL immersion and easily wrap your sports brain around college basketball, at least as it impacted Pitt and the aligned powers.

Tried this approach yesterday by searching out the Big East standings.

First impression: The Big East standings are about an inch too thick.

They’re practically a poll unto themselves.

The storied conference once made up of seven schools now includes 12 states and the District of Columbia. The basketball map that once represented a highly manageable little v-chip of the Northeast — Syracuse to D.C. to Boston — is today not merely the Big East, but the Enormous East. A similar triangulation in 2006 requires a round trip of nearly 4,000 miles, from Milwaukee to Tampa to Providence and back to Point A.

And when there were 7 schools, Pitt wasn’t included. With breathtaking shock, he reports that South Florida isn’t even 50 years old. That Pitt and Villanova don’t play this year, in fact the Big East teams don’t play all the same conference opponents.

And get this. There is size disparity between a school like Providence and Cinci. He neglects to mention or notice that the size disparity is about the same between Pitt and Providence.

I think this article can be safely filed under “filler.”

Aaron Gray gets a puff piece, and reveals that he will probably go through the NBA Camps this spring.

Gray indicated he is leaning toward going through the NBA pre-draft workouts to see where he might get drafted, the same process Taft and Krauser went through last season.

“It’s a possibility,” he said. “They have a great rule in place where you can go through all the camps and everything without an agent. It’s definitely a big decision I’m going to have to make. Right now, I’m just content here with this team for this season.”

Dixon knows many scouts and personnel people in the NBA and will be able to help Gray make his decision, but he said the only thing he and Gray are concerned with is winning games.

“That’s an after-the-season thing,” Dixon said. “We’ve talked in generalities before. There’s no point in talking about it now. The information is not available to him or to any of our other 12 players.”

There is absolutely no reason for Gray not to take advantage of it, and he should.

Last week I noted how sick I was of Dixon being stuck with Howland comparisons.

I realize Dixon was Howland’s assistant and is his close friend. Still, there has to come a time when the credit for the way this team is now has to stay with Coach Dixon. This is his team. Howland has been gone for 3 years. It’s not like Coach Dixon changed or subordinated his own philosophy and views on how to run the team to fit the system.
…
I guess it bothers me because it seems to be denigrating the job by Coach Dixon to this point. The first year, it seemed like many acted like he was Phil Jackson with Michael Jordan and the Bulls, rolling out the ball and letting them do it themselves. Last year was a disappointment, and the fingers were pointed at Dixon — especially from me — and the questions about whether he could really handle being the head coach. This year, he’s showing everyone what kind of job he is capable of, and the comparisons go right back to Howland.

Looks like at least one writer is getting the message, sort of.

But the most credit is reserved for the guy who believed in this team all season. Finally, Dixon has stepped away from the shadow of his predecessor, Ben Howland, by doing his best coaching job with these Panthers.

How good has Dixon been this year? This guy was 31-5 and won the 2004 Big East coach of the year award in 2003-04, his first season as a head coach.

That’s tough to beat.

That Panthers team, however, featured Howland’s players, from starters to bench. Dixon ran the Howland game plan, which was already in place. It was Howland’s offense, Howland’s defense and despite him being a couple thousand miles away at UCLA, Howland’s team.

That’s not to say that Dixon just could have rolled the balls out for practice and left to get a latte – because he did prove a lot that first season – but he didn’t change much for the sake of consistency and was branded for being merely a babysitter.

This year’s Panthers are all Dixon’s own. Krauser was the only Panther to play for Howland. Levon Kendall, Antonio Graves and Gray were recruited during the Howland watch, but probably don’t even remember that he’s bald.

And Dixon isn’t running with Howland’s offenses and defense. Certainly, there are some similarities, but all artists have inspiration. Dixon has morphed his game as his team morphed into a faster, better shooting and more athletic one. They run transition. They look for the 3-pointer. They play a better one-on-one defense.

Of course the “emerging from shadow” cliche started in the first season, and periodically makes an appearance.

Apparently some in Rhode Island trace the woes of the club back to Pitt.

A little more than two years ago — on March 2, 2004, to be exact — the Friars were riding a wave of historical proportions. PC had won 20 of its first 25 games and soared to No. 12 in the polls, the school’s highest perch since 1978. Led by All-American Ryan Gomes, the Friars had an 11-3 Big East record and dreams of winning the conference’s crown.

But then the Pittsburgh Panthers came to town. Led by big men Chris Taft and Chevy Troutman (24 points apiece), the sixth-ranked Panthers pulled the Friars back to earth in a stunningly easy 88-61 win. Almost as shocking as the margin was how the team suddenly deteriorated. In fact, PC never won another game that season, losing its regular-season finale and in the first round of the Big East and NCAA tournaments.

You could make a case that the Friars never really have recovered from that mysterious Pitt loss. After the March meltdown, PC came back last year with a disappointing 14-17 (4-12 Big East) finish marked by a multitude of frustrating, close defeats.

Offseason turmoil over the last two years cost the Friars a slew of players, most notably Rob Sanders and Dwight Brewington. In fact, Donnie McGrath is the only current PC player who saw time in that game. The Friar coaching staff has scrambled to re-tool the roster, but it’s clear that Providence basketball is more about rebuilding than reloading.

That leads us to tonight and Pittsburgh’s first visit to town since 2004. The Friar team that will tangle with the No. 9-rated Panthers is flush with new faces. Three freshmen start for coach Tim Welsh and four see extensive minutes. McGrath is the only senior. But the Big East’s youngest team has won four of 10 conference games, equaling last season’s total. While PC can only dream about regaining a national ranking, a sense of promise envelops the program.

Of course, part of it was simply that Providence in 2004 was totally gassed by the end of the regular season. They haven’t been a particularly deep team and it caught up to them.

This story treats Providence like they are unknowns because they don’t get TV time.

Providence (11-10, 4-6) is the only Big East team that is not scheduled to appear on either

ESPN or ESPN2 telecasts this year. Unless you have attended a Friars game, chances are you’ll need a program to identify their players.

But Dixon claims he’ll have his team ready come tipoff time. No. 9 Pitt (19-3, 8-3) is shooting for its fifth consecutive 20-win season.

“We’re very familiar with their players,” he said, trying to convince a listener. “They’re a little bit younger than the teams we’ve been playing of late, but they’re freshmen are very good players.”

Providence starts three freshmen, including 5-foot-10 point guard Sharaud Curry, who is averaging 11.4 points per game and has 77 assists and 23 steals. Curry scored nearly 1,900 career points during a high school career at Gainesville (Ga.) Wheeler High School.

Only one upperclassmen — leading scorer Donnie McGrath (14.8 ppg.), a 6-4 guard — is among the Providence starting lineup.

Sophomore Randall Hanke, a 6-11 center, is the Friars’ second-leading scorer (13.3 ppg.) and is tied for second on the team in rebounding (4.7 rpg.).

Curry is joined in the lineup by fellow freshmen Weyinmi Efejuku, a 6-5 guard who is averaging 8.0 ppg., and Geoff McDermott, a 6-7 swingman who is averaging 9.6 points and a team-leading 8.1 rebounds per game.

Hanke is considered the legit challenger to Gray for Big East’s Most Improved Player. Sharaud Curry has a good shot at making the BE all-rookie team — among freshmen he’s in the top 5 in scoring and assists.

This should be a sloppy game. Pitt has not looked particularly good on the road — at anypoint this season. Providence should be a little rusty with an 8-day layoff. The Friars are 8-5 at home and Pitt is only a 5.5 point favorite.