Providence is actually a fairly good offensive team. The problem is that they are, at best, average on defense. They give up almost as many points as they score, which is why they are 11-10 overall. Pitt is actually about as efficient on offense as Providence, but is much better on defense.

The big problem of Providence is that they are not a 3-point shooting team. In fact their 3-point shooting percentage is actually slightly below Pitt’s. Of course, Pitt has shot 3s far worse on the road. Providence is actually at its best inside the arc. They are at 52.8% on 2-FGs (31st in the country). Their strength, though, goes right against Pitt’s strength: interior defense. Pitt is holding teams to only 42.9% on 2-FGs (19th).

Providence game notes and Pitt (PDF). A win and Pitt has 20 on the season and a winning record in the Big East Conference for a 5th straight year.

Well, maybe not the right type, but it was the song that popped into my head. At least when I read this.

XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR), the nation’s largest satellite radio service with more than six million subscribers, announced today that it has signed a long-term agreement with The BIG EAST Conference. The BIG EAST sponsorship provides XM with the exclusive satellite radio broadcast rights to the BIG EAST Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships Presented by Aéropostale, along with select regular season games during football and basketball seasons.

As “The Official Satellite Radio Service of The BIG EAST Conference,” XM will have marketing rights to all BIG EAST Championship events, and promotional use of the BIG EAST marks, media and other proprietary marketing assets. Nelligan Sports Marketing, Inc., who represents the official BIG EAST Sponsorship Program, brokered this agreement for the Conference.

Additionally, the first XM broadcast will be the Pitt-Providence game tomorrow.

XM Satellite Radio will broadcast BIG EAST Conference games beginning on February 15, 2006 at 7:30 p.m. as the Providence College men’s basketball team hosts No. 14/13 Pittsburgh (19-3, 8-3 BIG EAST). The game can be found on XM Channel 200 and will feature the Friars call of John Rooke and Joe Hassett. Providence (11-10, 4-6 BIG EAST) has won two straight and four of its last six games.

I do not know what impact this will have on Pitt’s deal with Sirius Satellite Radio. I have made an inquiry, though, and will let everyone know. I am aware that several loyal readers have Sirius subscriptions.

At the very least, I think it is safe to assume that any of the Big East Tournament games Pitt plays will be XM only.

UPDATE: Okay, that was a fast response, thanks to Dan Satter for the info. This will not have any impact on Pitt’s deal with Sirius Satellite — and that includes tomorrow night’s game.

Keith Benjamin’s efficiency and being the offensive sparkplug against Cinci gets him a puff piece focusing on his game.

Benjamin was not happy about his performance. On Saturday, after final preparations for the Cincinnati game, senior Carl Krauser and Benjamin had a conversation about staying patient and waiting for opportunities.

Benjamin, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, digested Krauser’s advice and responded with the best performance of his college career. Benjamin scored a career-high 16 points against the Bearcats and was a driving force behind Pitt’s 89-69 victory Sunday.

“Me and Carl sat down [Saturday] and I was a little frustrated,” Benjamin said. “I was like, ‘I can score 20 points in any game we play.’ He said you just have to focus and go out there and play your best and pick your spots. I listened to him and I came out and picked my spots.”

This season has been feast or famine for Benjamin. He has been held without a field goal in four Big East Conference games and has scored in double figures in four others. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said the ups and downs in Benjamin’s game are expected because every reserve has gone through similar things this season. Because of the way the bench players are used, they often take turns in the scoring department.

“We knew when we were going to play three guys at [small forward] that there was going to be a common theme,” Dixon said. “When you sit down and look at it, his game [Sunday] really wasn’t a whole lot different from some of his others this season. His 3-pointers just went in. Sometimes your shots fall, sometimes they don’t. … He’s got the ability to score. He gets open, there’s no doubt about that. And he’s becoming a better shooter. He just has to get more consistent with his form.”

Coach Dixon points out that this was his first full season of being healthy in a couple years to help explain getting more consistent.

To me, Benjamin’s biggest thing is his patience. Late in the non-con, I pointed out how many shots he was taking relative to his minutes — that he seemed overeager to show what he could do — add in is poor shooting percentage and he was heading to even less playing time rather than more. He got over that and started taking his time. In the non-con his FG% was .377 (20-53). In conference play he is shooting .480 (24-50).

Worth noting of course, that the guy he went to for advice and just to talk was Krauser. Krauser likely won’t win any national awards, but his name stays out there.

Pitt senior Carl Krauser is among 30 players named to the mid-season list of candidates for the Naismith Trophy, presented annually by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to the nation’s top college men’s basketball player. Last month, the 6-foot-2 guard was named to a similar list for the Wooden Award, presented by the Los Angeles Athletic Club to the nation’s top player. Krauser’s team-high 18 points Sunday against Cincinnati marked the 18th time the senior guard has scored in double figures this season and the 72nd time during his college career. Krauser leads Pitt in scoring this year with an average of 15.9 points per game and he ranks 13th all-time at the score with 1,497 career points. He needs 16 more to pass Julius Page (1,512) for 12th on the list.

Aaron Gray gets another puff piece, as Ron Cook seems to be trying to catch up on his Pitt coverage.

“It’s amazing what you can do when you have a dominant 7-footer,” guard Carl Krauser said.

The best is yet to come for Gray, everyone predicted, not exactly going far out on a skinny limb.

It’s pretty obvious the NBA is in his future. You just can’t teach a guy to be 7-foot with quick feet and soft hands.

“You’re either on an upswing or a downswing as a player. Aaron’s been on the upswing since he’s been here,” Dixon said. “I don’t see that changing. He’s going to finish better around the basket. He’s going to play better away from the basket. He’s going to handle double teams better. He’s going to shoot his free throws better … “

I think Gray will come back for his Senior year, but I’m not entirely sure. The trade-off, more and more seems to be that the longer you stay in school the more time scouts and draftniks have to pick apart your game. When you come out too early, there is much more talk about rawness, potential and “upside.” That always seems to get NBA types more excited because then there is more to expect.

Let me hedge by saying that if Pitt makes a deep run in the NCAA and Gray shines, he will likely go (see Andrew Bogut from last year). Of course, I think I’d take that trade-off.

Coach Dixon gets another article focusing on him. Mainly about how he’s managed to go with such a deep rotation this season.

“We’ve got great kids,” Dixon said Monday, rejecting a suggestion that he’s the primary reason for the Panthers’ meteoric rise to ninth in the latest national polls.

Yet Dixon is the man who seemingly has molded a team of young players like this to accomplish what it has this year.

“He’s really coming into his own,” junior center Aaron Gray said. “He has such high expectations coming in. He has surpassed everyone’s expectations. It’s his team. He’s making his own coaching decisions, balancing a 9-, 10-man rotation — which not a lot of guys can do — and keep everyone happy and focused on winning.”
…
“He does a great job of getting people to play their best,” Gray said. “One of the reasons we are such a good team is that every day in practice is like a game to us. Everything we do is competitive, and everything we do we want to win, no matter what the drill is. He knows you have to coach everyone differently.”

Dixon said he had a vision before the season that convinced him that his team would do well. He could see the chemistry forming early on, and today that chemistry is a major factor in Pitt’s success.

“It’s unique, I know, to play 10 guys in the rotation,” Dixon said. “But I said from the beginning this would be the best thing for this team, and I think it’s come to fruition.”

The deep rotation has not only worked this year, but it sets the tone for next year. It means the kids know they will have to work hard in practice and over the summer to get starting minutes and more playing time.

Biggs, Young, Benjamin and even Hudson all battling to replace DeGroat as a starter (and give Kendall more competition for playing time next season). At guard, Fields and Ramon will be competing to be the starting point guard and face more competition at the shooting/two guard with transfer Mike Cook becoming eligible. Graves will still be there and Freshman Gilbert Brown will be trying to make some noise.

Sorry, getting a little ahead of things. The focus should be on this year since there is still so much that can be accomplished. Still, it is exciting to realize the potential is there to keep the high level of performance in Pitt basketball continuing. There are now entire classes of students at Pitt who have no idea that this team could suck. There have been some students who have even managed to graduate without even seeing a .500 season in conference. Starting with the 1982-83 inaugural year for Pitt in the Big East (PDF pp. 61-66) through the 2000-01 season, only 5 times did Pitt finish the Big East Conference schedule with a record better than .500. Pitt is preparing to complete a 5th straight season of above .500 in conference. That, to me, is more impressive than winning 20+ games in 5 straight years.

Some Pitt related, some not so much. And even a non-sports story.

It looks like the Pitt-Providence game won’t be on ESPN Full Court. Here’s the Pitt Full Court schedule, and it is not listed. Yes, the game is on FSN-Pittsburgh, and maybe some regional FSN stations might show it, but it’s anyone’s guess. That has me pissed off. Looks like it’s Internet Radio to listen.

The good news for citizens of Spotsylvania County, Virginia. The police there are getting their happy endings so you won’t.

In Spotsylvania County, as part of a campaign by the sheriff’s office to root out prostitution in the massage parlor business, detectives have been receiving sexual services from “masseuses.” During several visits to Moon Spa on Plank Road last month, detectives allowed women to perform sexual acts on them on four occasions and once left a $350 tip, according to court papers.

Spotsylvania Sheriff Howard D. Smith said that the practice is not new and that only unmarried detectives are assigned to such cases. Most prostitutes are careful not to say anything incriminating, so sexual contact is necessary, he said.

“If I thought we could get the conviction without that, we wouldn’t allow it,” Smith said. “If you want to make them, this has to be done.”
…
Smith said most “professionals” know better than to name an explicit act and a price. And with the Asian-run parlors that have periodically sprung up in Spotsylvania, he said, “they don’t speak much English. There’s not a lot of conversation.” Smith and Spotsylvania Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Thomas Shaia likened the situation to investigators buying drugs from a drug dealer — a necessary violation to prove a larger crime.

But police officials and prosecutors in many Northern Virginia jurisdictions said buying drugs, as undercover officers routinely do, is not analogous. Officers purchase drugs for evidence but don’t use them. Likewise, the other jurisdictions do not allow their officers to conduct sexual activities with suspected prostitutes.

No word if this has increased the number of applicants to join the sheriff’s department in Spotsylvania (Shawn?).

Staying with the Washington Post, they have a long piece on basketball factories masquerading as prep schools. The focus is on Lutheran Christian Academy in Philadelphia (via Greg Doyel 2/13 entry).

The school does not have its own building or formal classrooms, and it operates out of a community center in a ragged North Philadelphia neighborhood. It has just one full-time employee: the basketball coach, a former sanitation worker who founded the school. One former student, who attended the school for three months, said it did not use traditional textbooks and that the coach, Darryl Schofield, was the only teacher.
…
Lutheran Christian is licensed as a religious institution by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which reports on its database that the school opened Sept. 1, 2003. Schofield said the school is currently not directly affiliated with a church.

Schofield said the school has four part-time instructors: two former players with bachelor’s degrees who returned to teach at Lutheran Christian and two women. One of them, Tamara Casey, has listed her residence as one of the houses Schofield said he owns. One current player said Casey taught him in three courses. Property records show that house is owned by Schofield’s parents. When asked for the name of the second instructor, Schofield couldn’t recall it, calling her “Mrs. Robinson.” None of the players he asked could remember Robinson’s first name, either.

Casey and Robinson could not be reached for comment.

Georgetown, UMass, Temple, Mississippi St. and George Washington are among the schools that have former LCA students on their basketball teams. Here’s hoping Pitt doesn’t go near any kid from this “school.” As Doyel puts it:

As for any college coach who has had, does have, or will have a player on his roster from Philly Lutheran … you deserve whatever scrutiny is coming your way.

Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News doesn’t see Coach Jamie Dixon going anywhere, provided the school ponies up as expected.

Pittsburgh isn’t likely to let coach Jamie Dixon get away. Pitt will be proactive in assuring Dixon remains with the Panthers, given his staff’s track record of winning and recruiting Big East-level prospects. Dixon was one of the league’s lowest-paid coaches when he was promoted from assistant in 2003, but his contract was reworked after his team won 31 games in his first season. With the future looking bright, thanks to some promising youngsters, Dixon probably is due another boost to dissuade potential suitors.

Andy Katz give Pitt some props for a good week by including the Panthers among the “rising”teams in his Weekly Watch.

The Panthers nipped their two-game slide quickly with a huge win over West Virginia on Thursday and then rolled Cincinnati on Saturday to move into fifth place in the Big East. The Panthers are still within striking distance of second and a decent seed in the NCAAs.

Pitt’s chances of getting to 2nd in the BE took a hit with Villanova knocking off UConn. That puts Nova and WVU up at the top with only 1 loss apiece and UConn in 3d with 2 losses. The focus right now is just to finish 3rd or 4th in the BE to get a first round bye in the BE Tournament.

Despite my wish to give football recruiting stuff a break for a few weeks, this has to be mentioned.

Scout.com is escalating the process by holding its All-American Combine on March 4 at the UPMC Sports Performance Complex on the South Side.

The timing makes sense, says Scout.com analyst Bob Lichtenfels, because colleges are already extending scholarship offers to top-flight juniors.

“Today, the way the kids are, a lot of them don’t want to participate in them later in the spring because they have a plethora of offers,” Lichtenfels said. “You have to pick the lesser of the evils.”

That was the case last spring, when Baldwin’s Jason Pinkston and Justin Hargrove skipped the adidas and Nike combines, as well as Joe Butler’s Metro Index camp. All three are typically held in late April or May.
…
The early date is one way for Scout.com to stay a step ahead of its combine competitors, especially considering that Nike is aligned with Rivals.com.

“We try to pick it strategically,” Lichtenfels said. “There’s only so many Saturdays during the evaluation period that the coaches can come. It gives enough time to get away from the other (combines). When they’re in Pennsylvania, we’ll be out West or down South. It doesn’t make sense for everyone to compete for the same kids.”

These combines could be heading for extinction, or at least severe restructuring, though. Back in January at the American Football Coaches Association convention there was been a lot of talk about these combines as Bruce Feldman notes (Insider Subs.).

Anyhow, this week in Dallas at the AFCA (coaches convention) a proposal was put forth that could prohibit Division I colleges from actually hosting these combines.

I think this is a shrewd move because any hosting campus get a very unfair advantage over colleges that don’t.

Last spring, I was at a combine at Penn State with a recruit that said he had no plans of visiting State College, but was there solely for the combine. (Penn State was holding its junior day the day before the combine too, and to its credit, PSU did an impressive job.)

Places like USC, Texas A&M, Miami and a handful of others get an added opportunity to showcase their programs and their facilities that other schools miss out on. Coaches from all over the country flock to the sidelines of many of these combines, even though they aren’t able to formally communicate potential recruits. The thinking that at least they get to eyeball a kid in person.

That’s the plan anyway.

“You really don’t learn anything by seeing the kid go through those one-on-ones,” says one Big 12 assistant. “Most times the quarterbacks they’re going with can’t even get it near them anyhow. Basically, you’re there just so they can see you and that they know you love them. You gotta represent, you know?”

Of course, this doesn’t mean that all combines will be shut down, and I don’t think they should be. Some of these are run by good people and some kids do benefit from them, but many of the ills seem to multiply in number each offseason.

That said, one of the bigger frustrations shared by the Big Ten head coaches focuses on some recruiting gurus using college campuses as backgrounds for staging group photo shoots. Their claim was that certain outsiders have apparent allegiances to some schools and can create situations in those schools’ favor. This, too, becomes another de facto college visit and appears to be much harder to legislate against. And then there is the growing concern over street agents.

“I don’t know if this is gonna really get at what we think is the real problem,” says one Big East assistant, “which is that football is getting too much like basketball with all these entourage, hanger-on guys. It’s like whoever you talk to now tells you ‘You gotta talk to such-and-such for me.’ And that guy is handling like three kids. One may be a kid you want, but the guy has two other kids who probably aren’t scholarship kids and the guy will keep saying, ‘I’m not an agent. I’m not an agent. I’m just here to help these kids get qualified or so they know what courses to take or just to give them a ride.’ It’s [expletive] weird, man.”

Anyone know when Pitt is hosting a junior day?

Joe Schad also noted similar things at the meetings regarding the combines:

It also turns out that coaches like lively debate. I realized this while sitting in on a meeting of Division I-A assistant coaches. They debated the merits of attending “combines” for high school players (not much of a debate, actually. They want to make it a violation for coaches to attend them).

“By 2007, we will be out of the combine business,” said Notre Dame assistant coach Rob Ianello, who is a Stepinac High grad (a rival of my St. Francis Prep) I must point out and is greatly respected as the leader of the assistant coaches organization.

The combines will continue. I don’t see how they won’t. But, I won’t be surprised if Div. 1A schools can no longer host them.

One other useless piece of information. The AFCA has a board for schools to post open schedule dates. Pitt posted something in 2004, and my guess is they haven’t gone back to updated it. Right now it reads:

Posted: 2-16-04
University of Pittsburgh
2008: 8/30, 9/6, 9/13, 9/20, 9/27, Home
2009: 9/5 Home or Away
2010: 9/4, 9/11, 9/25, 2 Home, 1 Away
2011: 9/3, 9/10, 9/17, 9/24 Home and Away
2012: 9/1, 9/8, 9/15, 9/22, 9/29, Home and Away
Contact: Jason Lener, Assistant AD

At least I hope they haven’t updated it in a while.

The Cinci-Pitt game was by far, Pitt’s fastest paced game of the season.

Pitt

Poss 79.3 Pace Fast
O-Rating 112.2 D-Rating 87.0 (Eff. Margin +25.2)
eFG% 62.3 PPWS 1.27
A/TO 1.1 TO Rate 22.7% A/B 59.4%
Floor Pct 54.7% FT Prod 31.6

Cinci

Poss 78.2 Pace Fast
O-Rating 88.3 D-Rating 113.8 (Eff. Margin -25.6)
eFG% 45.3 PPWS 0.98
A/TO 0.8 TO Rate 20.5% A/B 44.4%
Floor Pct 43.8% FT Prod 17.2

No shock that Pitt’s offense was going very well yesterday. It’s interesting, compared to their season numbers. The Effective Field Goal% and Points Per Weighted Shot were much higher than average (50.3% and 1.08).

Pitt’s possession per 40 minutes is 69.0, and Pitt was slightly more than 10 over that for this game. That’s big to have had 10 extra opportunities. Especially since Floor % and FT Production were close to the average.

Despite having 19 assists, the team’s Assist to Baskets % was lower (67.4%) because Pitt made so many shots. Despite Pitt’s 18 turnovers, the TO Rate wasn’t that much higher than normal (19.5%).

As is usual in Pitt wins, Pitt got to the line. They were aggressive and forced the other team to foul rather than let them shoot. Of course, Pitt was aided by Cinci twice fouling on 3-point shots. Rarely see that once in a game, let alone two times.

Other numbers that stood out. A by-product of Aaron Gray’s 6-7 shooting, was that 0 of his 10 rebounds were offensive. Also a factor was that Pitt shot better than 56 % for the game. Still, Gray gets a fair amount of offensive rebounds following his own shot. Only missing once, limits those opportunities.

Pitt’s defense really did a fine job against Cinci, even though the Bearcats shot 42%. Cinci turned the ball over 16 times, more than they usually do. Going into the game, Cinci turned the ball over an average only 11.625 times/game. The perimeter defense was very good as well, forcing Cinci to go inside more.

Part of why Pitt was able to have its way so easily with Cinci, was that Cinci’s defense was put in an unfamiliar position of playing zone to try and limit Aaron Gray.

Even though they struggled with several Panthers, UC simply had no answer for 7-foot Aaron Gray, who finished with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting and 10 rebounds.

“We gave up 89 points and we had to play more zone than we’d like because we had no answer for Aaron Gray,” Kennedy said.

While Gray had a good start, leading scorer Krauser had a quiet first half with just three points, before finishing with a team-high 18.

“They’re the epitome of a good team. They have other options if Krauser or Gray, their marquee guys, are just OK. … As a result they go to their bench and they find options,” Kennedy said. “We’re very dependent on our core guys, and with the exception of Jihad Muhammad, I’m not sure the rest of them played the way they need to play for us to even be competitive in a game like this.”

Showing they had no answer to Pitt was set right at the start when Pitt got the rebound off Cinci’s first shot,the whole Cinci defense moved out to defend the perimeter. Ramon fired a pass to Gray alone under the basket. He looked around genuinely stunned that there was no blackshirt near him before putting it in the hoop.

Pitchers and catchers report this week — something of a trade-off for Valentines Day I guess. But there’s still a little time before then for the columnists to write things about Pitt. Since they haven’t for a while, they need to ease into things.

Ron Cook does one on Krauser. Hey, did you know Carl came back for his senior year? Man, haven’t heard much about that this season.

Hey, give the man a break. Dixon freely admits he fudges the numbers with Krauser. He insists on counting Pitt’s 29-6 record in 2001-02 in Krauser’s total even though Krauser redshirted that season. “If you saw us practice that season, you know he made us better as a team and Brandin Knight better as a point guard,” Dixon said.

But even if you use conventional arithmetic, Krauser’s success at Pitt is extraordinary. At 19-3, Pitt is one win from its fifth consecutive 20-win season.

“And Carl has been a big part of all five,” Dixon said. “That, to me, is what it’s all about.”

It’s clear the young Pitt players, including three freshmen and two sophomores in that 10-man rotation, follow Krauser the way he once followed Jaron Brown and Julius Page, and Knight before them. You see it in the little things. Krauser quickly made peace with Gray yesterday. “I told him it was my fault. I should have given him a bounce pass.” You really see it in the big things. No one practices harder or plays with more passion than Krauser.

“The guys feed off his experience and knowledge,” Dixon said. “They trust him, They believe in him.”

And they have learned well from Krauser.

No, to be fair, Krauser deserves plenty of love right now. There are only two more home games left. That’s actually kind of hard to believe. Krauser no longer playing at the Pete.

The other piece from Joe Starkey after busting out the Howland comparisons for the team last week, gives Dixon a puff piece of how he’s coming into his own.

It’s not just the X’s and O’s, or Dixon’s masterful manipulation of the bench (Keith Benjamin was the hot reserve yesterday, with a career-high 16 points). It’s the way he has embraced his role as the public face of the program.

Previously, Dixon’s news conferences often consisted of him scratching the back of his right ankle and the back of his neck while staring at the floor and mumbling non-answers. He won plenty of games, of course, but public relations are an important part of running a big-time college athletics program.

This year, suddenly, Dixon has assumed the public persona of a self-assured, ultra-confident, well-spoken boss. Kind of like his mentor, Ben Howland.

I’m convinced Pitt enlisted somebody to coach Dixon on improving his public relations skills. Long hedged on that question, saying only, “As Jamie has gotten more and more comfortable leading the team, he’s been able to focus more on his public image. … I think he’s matured both on and off the court in leading the program.”

Long acknowledged that he and Dixon had discussed the public-relations issue during the offseason. Now, it seems about time they talk about a new contract. Dixon hasn’t received one since he replaced Howland three years ago. His current contract runs a few more years. The prudent move would be to lock him up (as much as that’s possible these days) with a fat, new deal.

Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say “ultra-confident.” He has, though, looked more relaxed and at ease in post-game interviews and when doing interviews. The worst I’ve seen him do was his appearance on “Jim Rome Is Burning” a few weeks ago. He looked like someone who had been, uh, coached to remember to smile the whole time. Otherwise, only once in the course of the interview did he sound like someone who was trying to recite key talking points rather than have a conversation.

I do agree with Starkey, though, that I think someone in the Athletic Department got him some help in the public speaking and dealing with the public. Either that or he got some help on his own. The change has been too dramatic.

For those of us watching the game on ESPN Full Court, we were treated to a less then stellar production. What with effed up involuntary closed-captioning gibberish bouncing all over the screen for stretches throughout the game — including several minutes of a band of letters, symbols and numbers right in the middle of the screen. I guess the bright side of a C-level production crew on the game was they managed to miss a chance to put Bob Huggins on the screen.

Former UC coach Bob Huggins was at the game. Huggins stopped by the Bearcats’ practice Saturday afternoon. Former UC president Joseph Steger was also on hand.

Any doubt that he was in attendance with his close friend and local AAU Coach J.O. Stright? Wonder if he just happened to run into Aliquippa Junior Herb Pope while with Stright during the weekend?

They were able to point out Steeler Kicker and Tar Heel grad, Jeff Reed decked out in a Pitt sweatshirt and knit cap, though.

For Cinci, this was a beating and they were left wondering many things.

The beating was so thorough that interim head coach Andy Kennedy said he thought the Panthers (19-3, 8-3) actually toyed with his team.
…
The Panthers compensated for their sloppy play by making 56.1 percent of their shots, and 7 of 17 from 3-point range. They also out-rebounded the Bearcats 43-25.

“They just gave it to us,” said UC forward Eric Hicks.

While Hicks, who re-twisted his right ankle early in the game, talked with reporters, the rest of the UC players filed somberly out of the locker room, down the hall and out to the bus for the five-hour ride home.

“We’ve still got games left,” Hicks said. “We’ve just got to win three. It’s still the same thing. We just can’t get blown out no more.”

They have 5 games left to win 3 and finish the season 8-8 in the Big East. Those games are at Syracuse, Providence, Villanova, at Seton Hall and then WVU. It will be dicey. They were just completely outmanned yesterday. White played 33 minutes on a sprained ankle and Hicks played 31 less than a week after a concussion. They really had no chance in this game.

Pitt led for nearly the entire game — the teams were tied twice during the first two minutes — and enjoyed a 43-33 halftime advantage, behind nine points each on a combined 7-for-8 shooting by Gray and Ronald Ramon, who finished with 14 points.

“They dominated us in every area,” Cincinnati interim coach Andy Kennedy said. “They played extremely well. Our team’s margin for error is such that we certainly can’t approach the game with a tentative mindset. Today, we were on our heels the whole game fighting uphill.”

Cincinnati (16-9, 5-6) made a run in the second half, closing within 48-42 before Benjamin ignited a Pitt rally with a 3-pointer, and the Panthers soon established a double-digit cushion for the rest of the way.

Three free throws by Ramon, who posted his third double-figure performance and sixth in the past eight games, moved Pitt, which won its 15th consecutive home game, to a 71-58 lead with 6:37 to go.

Ramon and Benjamin combined to hit 6-of-7 shots from 3-point range, where Pitt finished 7 for 17 (41.2 percent).

While Krauser ended up the leading Pitt scorer with 18, the story was Keith Benjamin coming off the bench to get 16 points.

“When you have a deep bench like we have, it’s kind of hard to play against us,” said senior guard Carl Krauser, who led the Panthers with 18 points. “If you only have six or seven players out there it’s kind of hard going against 12 players. All 12 guys can play and do everything the starters do. They come with great energy and compete so hard. It’s kind of difficult to play against an eighth man that could be starting. That’s a different look we have this year. That’s the type of look that’s going to help us have a good run this year.”

Benjamin was the bench star yesterday, but there is a long list of reserves who have carried the team in games this season. Antonio Graves led the team with 19 points in a win against Marquette. Levance Fields led the Panthers with 13 points in a road win at Louisville. Sam Young has scored in double figures in five of 11 Big East games.

“I think collectively, much more so than individually, is where they beat you,” Cincinnati coach Andy Kennedy said. “Today, for example, they come off the bench with Keith Benjamin. He provided the spark that really started them. I thought Benjamin and the guys they brought off the bench gave them lifts and were factors throughout.”

Benjamin was 5 for 7 from the field and 3 for 3 from 3-point range. When Krauser was struggling in the first half — he was 0 for 6 from the field and had three points at the intermission — Benjamin scored his seven first-half points in about a two-minute span midway through the half. His quick outburst gave Pitt a 21-9 lead with 10:51 remaining in the first half.

In the second half, Benjamin made 3-pointers on consecutive possessions that turned a six-point game into a 12-point game in a little more than a minute.

He did all of his damage in only 18 minutes.

Benjamin said the game plan was for Pitt’s reserves to maintain a frenetic pace because Cincinnati (16-9, 5-6) does not have the manpower to compete with Pitt’s talented bench. Kennedy used a walk-on yesterday who is a tight end on the Bearcats’ football team. Connor Barwin played 19 minutes and has been on the team less than a month.

“We have a 10-man [rotation],” Benjamin said. “We can go out and get the job done. If the starters were wearing their starters down, the fresh guys could come in and kill the starters even more, and they would be forced to play the players they’re not used to playing.”

That strategy was painfully run down Cinci’s throat. It may be employed again on Wednesday against Providence. Another team short on the bench. They have 3 starters playing 30+ minutes a game (McGrath and Curry are playing 36+ in BE Conference play). I will be very curious to see how Pitt shoots from the perimeter on the road.

Either I am a steadily growing influence in the Pitt-centric community, or there is a very smart district manager at Borders doing what he can to try and make people aware. Any ways, I’m passing along the announcement I was e-mailed, mainly to feed my ego and the perception of relevance:

Borders hosts Sam Sciullo, author of Pitt: 100 Years of Pitt Basketball, along with special guest Pitt basketball legend Curtis Aiken.

Borders Books in Monroeville on Saturday, February 18, at 2pm
200 Mall Blvd Monroeville, PA 15146 412-374-9772
Pitt: 100 Years of Pitt Basketball is the definitive history of basketball at the University of Pittsburgh. From Charley Hyatt, Doc Carlson’s first All-American, through sure and steady point guard Brandin Knight, some of college basketball’s most influential players have worn blue and gold.

A University of Pittsburgh graduate, Sam Sciullo Jr. served seven years (1990-1997) as a member of Pitt’s sports information office. He was formerly the Sports Information Director at Robert Morris College and the Athletics Publications Director at Texas A&M University.

Curtis Aiken played for the Panthers from 1983-1987. His 1,200 career points ranks 21st on Pitt’s all-time scoring list. He is currently a local Pittsburgh businessman & serves as co-host of the Pitt men’s basketball post-game radio show.

The game at Marquette isn’t until 9pm that night.

An acknowledgment in Big 12 country that the Big East is the best b-ball conference.

Five Big East teams are ranked among the top 15 teams in the most recent Associated Press poll. Eight teams are ranked among the top 33 teams ranked in the most recent RPI released by the NCAA. The conference has been so competitive that Louisville, a Final Four team from last year that was ranked as high as No. 4 nationally in mid-December, will struggle to make the 12-team Big East tournament.

“I think we’ve established ourselves as the best conference in the country,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. “We’ve established ourselves as the deepest group in the country — it’s not even close.”
…
The Big 12 could struggle to place many teams this season and could be in line for one of its worst seasons. Texas is a lock and should challenge for a No. 1 seed. Kansas and Oklahoma both have come on of late. But after that, every other team’s NCAA hopes appear dicey.

“The Big 12 has basically been Texas and the 11 dwarfs,” said Jerry Palm, who projects the tournament field on his Web site, CollegeRPI.com. “Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas will make it, but everybody other than Texas really is only one late slump away from not making the tournament.”

I kind of wondered why the WVU AD was so dismissive of the possibility of Beilein leaving. After-all Beilein is around $700,000/year with modest raises each season. Seemed even sillier with the resignation of Missouri Coach Quin Snyder. Then I found out about the buyout clause.

Seriously, most of the talk seems to be centered on West Virginia’s John Beilein, who has rescued the Mountaineers’ program and turned it into a national contender. The problem for Tigers fans is money. Beilein just signed a seven-year contract extension last year that started with a base salary of $700,000 this year. His buyout clause is reportedly $500,000 per season. That’s about a $3 million buyout.

Yow. That was smart. No school looking for a coach is going to be that willing to shell out $4 million in the first year — buyout plus what you would have to expect the salary offer range. Even worse for Missouri since they still have to pay Snyder something to settle his contract (at least $400,000 in base salary). Really, with that kind of buyout clause, no school will be able to consider Beilein until at a minimum after the 2007-08 season (only $2 million on the buyout).

This Big East Notebook story has a lazy reporter or just parrots the complaints from UConn Coach Jim Calhoun.

It’s not very often that Big East teams go on three-game road trips. UConn’s consecutive jaunts to Seton Hall, Villanova and West Virginia represent just the second time in its history it has played three straight league games on the road.

“This weekend might be like root canal,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said.

Maybe that was true when there weren’t 16 teams, but not any longer. Look at the frickin’ schedules before making that claim. 6 other teams in the Big East had or have 3-game conference road trips this year: Georgetown, Marquette, Pitt, Rutgers, St. John’s and WVU.

Don’t they have fact-checkers and editors to catch this stuff?

Coach Dixon went into this game with the plan to wear down the undermanned Bearcats. He was going to throw waves of fresh legs at them (pause to let the visual pass) and push the ball up the court. This was clear early, and reflected in the box score. Aaron Gray played the most minutes with 30. This wasn’t simply that they didn’t play much in the second half. Even in the first half only he and Krauser reached 15 minutes.

In fact, the only reason, Gray played 30 was so he could get that 10th rebound to complete the double-double. There was one point inside of around 6:25 left, where Gray appeared to bark at Graves for grabbing a rebound he was in the process of corralling. If it wasn’t for the fact that Pitt had the game well in hand, and it was apparent why Gray was still out there, I’d be worried. As soon as he grabbed that 10th rebound (3:24), he came out at the next break (2:43).

There’s an argument to be made that Pitt took a chance getting away from it’s usual style of half-court offense, but I disagree. I like adaptation to the situation. Pitt showed against UConn that it can still play in a more up-tempo style when needed. Against a team like Cinci that likes and needs to play at a slower pace because of the lack of depth, Pitt exploited a weakness. I also don’t think Pitt played too far out of their normal style.

They pushed it up court, yes, but they still took their time to set the play once they got outside of the perimeter. They just forced Cinci to expend a lot of energy in transition to get back on defense. Forcing them out of position and choosing either to foul or let the player go. Too many times, Cinci got trapped.

In the second half Pitt dominated on the boards. Pitt outrebounded Cinci 23-9 in the second half. Pitt also shot incredibly well for the game 32-57, and that includes 0-4 from Small and Bowman. Memo to Small and Bowman: everyone did everything they could to give you guys chances to score points. You have to take advantage. That just hurt. At least they combined to get 3 rebounds.

The team was shooting so well. Ramon, Gray, Fields and Kendall each missed only one shot. Graves, Young and Benjamin only missed 2 apiece. There weren’t a lot of bad shots taken.

Krauser is only a few points away now from having 1500+ points and 500+ rebounds for his career. No Pitt player has ever done that.

Ronald Ramon should get extra notice, not just because of his continuing hot shooting for 14 points. This game he also added 6 assists and 2 steals. He only had 2 turnovers. All in only 25 minutes.

Everyone’s familiar with the drill. Chatter away before, during and after.

HALFTIME UPDATE: Pitt leads 43-33.

Pitt has decided to push the ball as much as possible at times. Take advantage of Cinci’s lack of depth by trying to run them ragged. Mixed results. Still, way too many turnovers (9 ?), to give Cinci more chances, but Krauser got Muhammad on a dumb 3rd foul at the end of the half with some smart play and burying his head in Muhammad’s chest.

Can’t believe Cinci was that slow to put the double team on Gray.

Ramon is still shooting hot.

DeGroat must have been under orders: look to pass — or else. Still committed the dumb turnover early.

FINAL UPDATE: Pitt wins 89-69.

Pitt kept pushing the tempo and the action. Attacking the basket. Kicking out, and just making Cinci continue to expend energy. Cinci did their best to stay with Pitt for the first 5 minutes or so of the second half, but you could just see them wearing down and Pitt ready to pull away. When Benjamin buried another 3 with about 14 minutes left, to give Pitt a 54-42 lead, Cinci was never able to get the lead under 10 points.

Benjamin had a fantastic game shooting. Ramon looked so confident. Gray was aggressive. As was Young. Kendall was setting some beautiful screens to spring the open looks outside. Krauser got it going in the second half. Graves played very well. Fields was running the point. Even DeGroat looked a little looser in the second half.

And then to see Dixon empty the bench in the final couple minutes just made it complete. To see the team and crowd take such enjoyment in getting Bowman, Small and even Hudson out there makes you smile.

I think Pitt needed that. To feel like they were having fun again. Just for a little while.

If you read this story, you might think the Bearcats are coming in with an advantage.

Pitt must contend with a rested Cincinnati, which hasn’t played in six days, when the Bearcats avenged an earlier loss to Louisville with a 74-68 home victory on Feb. 6.

No. 14 Pitt, meanwhile, is coming off a 57-53 victory over No. 9 West Virginia on Thursday. Cincinnati, two days before facing Louisville, dropped a 66-57 decision to the Mountaineers on Feb. 4 at WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, W.Va. Cincinnati leads Pitt in their series, 6-1, but the teams have not played since 1979, when the Bearcats earned a 61-60 victory over the Panthers. Pitt registered its only victory in the series in 1977, 65-64, at Fitzgerald Field House.

Then of course, there is the story from Cinci.

The Bearcats will try to counter Gray’s inside presence with 6-foot-6 senior Eric Hicks, who will be surrendering six inches and about 25 pounds.

Hicks will spend the bulk of the time trying to slow Gray, the leading rebounder in the league. But it would be foolhardy to expect Hicks to stop Gray by himself.

“It makes us have to make some changes and be flexible as to what may work,” Kennedy said. “We’re going to have to try a lot of different things.

“You can’t go to a steady diet of zone because you have no size. The zone is not nearly as imposing with small guys. You can press some but we can’t make a living off pressing because of our numbers. You’re going to get fatigued and you’re going to be more susceptible to fouls.”

To complicate matters for UC, Pitt also plays excellent defense. The Panthers allow 61.1 points per game, third in the league, and rank fourth in field goal percentage defense at 39.8 percent.
…
If Pitt’s size inside, its defensive prowess and the presence of Krauser weren’t enough, the Bearcats will also have to contend with perhaps the best home-court advantage in the league.

Spurred by the Oakland Zoo student section, the Panthers are 14-0 at the 12,508-seat Petersen Events Center this season and are 62-5 since the building opened four years ago.

“It’s something we’re proud of,” Dixon said. “Our fans, our students, the Oakland Zoo, they’ve been a big part of our success. Our students are right on top of you. It’s something we did four years ago when we built the building. It’s a good situation.”

The rest for Cinci was mitigated by the lingering effects of the concussion on Hicks and White’s sprained ankle. Cinci also gives up a lot of size — though they are athletic and guys who play taller — with no player taller than 6’7″ and two starters under 6′.

I expect Gray will be contending with the double team once more. That means Pitt is going to have to hit some jumpers and perimeter shots to help him get free. Hicks is 3d in the BE in rebounding (9.7) despite being only 6’6″. He’s fearless inside.

Cinci is also playing to get in the tournament. They are somewhere on the bubble as the team has been sliding without Kirkland. Right now, no Cinci area teams are looking good for the NCAA.

The stories in Pittsburgh media focus on Cinci and their rough year, as I noted in an earlier post. There’s the whole adjusting to life in the Big East deal.

“It’s your typical Cincinnati team from what I’ve known in the past. They’re very athletic and they’re very experienced,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.

Cincinnati (16-8, 5-5), with three seniors in the starting lineup and a fourth lost for the season with an injury, is coming off a crucial 74-68 home victory Monday over slumping Louisville, another first-year Big East member.

Both teams previously were members of Conference USA but find themselves scrapping to stay afloat in the Big East standings.

“The Big East has certainly lived up to all the expectations,” Kennedy said. “Night-in and night-out, the league is just so brutal. There’s just no off-nights.”

And of course all the turmoil at the school and the program.

From the day he took over as men’s head coach at Cincinnati in August, Andy Kennedy gave his team a mantra to live by: adapt and overcome.

The Bearcats lost their coach on the eve of the fall semester when Bob Huggins, who had been the head coach at Cincinnati for 16 seasons, was dismissed by school president Nancy Zimpher after multiple missteps involving the successful head coach, an assistant and some players.

Then after winning 13 of its first 15 games to start the season, senior forward Armein Kirkland, one of the best players on the team and a veteran leader, was lost for the season when his left anterior cruciate ligament was torn in a loss at Connecticut Jan. 9.

But through the coaching upheaval, injuries and a short bench — Kennedy has just eight scholarship players at his disposal — Cincinnati enters a game against Pitt today at the Petersen Events Center with a 16-8 overall record (5-5 Big East) and is in position to contend for an NCAA tournament berth in its first season as a member of the Big East Conference.

Here’s what DraftExpress had to say about the game

-CINCINNATI AT PITTSBURGH. Cincinnati got a much needed win against Louisville which helped stop the bleeding somewhat. If they can pull off a win in this game they’lll be very much back in the bracket picture. Pitt is still a very solid team who appears to be headed toward the pod system. They just got a big win against West Virginia and are still hanging around the top of the Big East Standings. Winning is important as far as that goes because they are chasing both Villanova and Connecticut not just for the conference lead, but for a spot in Philadelphia. They are two games out of first and another loss in a game like this might put it out of reach. They’re a very solid tournament team either way though.

Roughly translated: they looked quickly at the standings and schedule each played and went with the standard generic info.

Okay in case you have forgotten, you have 1 more week to vote on the Centennial Team for Pitt. The 15 greatest players in Pitt history.

I have my choices narrowed. I had 3 no-brainers. The 3 best in Pitt’s history and have their jersey’s retired. Kind of obligatory that they make the list. A brief scan of the Pitt record book makes it even easier.

1. Charles Smith
2. Billy Knight
3. Don Hennon

Then I have (to me at least) 7 sure things. In no particular order:

4. Brandin Knight
5. Clyde Vaughan
6. Demetreus Gore
7. Sam Clancy
8. Sean Miller
9. Carl Krauser
10. Charles Hyatt

Hyatt won’t show up in any of the record books since he played in the late 20s. Only 880 total points for a 13.1 pts/game average. He was however the star on the teams that won national championships in 1927-28 and 1929-30 — he also led the nation in scoring in those years. A 3-time All-American and National Player of the Year in 1929-30. Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959.

That leaves 5 spots left. Here were my remaining possibilities, along with a couple I eliminated:

Jason Matthews — 5th all-time scorer, 15.0pts/gm career avg.; best career 3-pt shooter 3FGM and 3FG%; 4th FTM, 5th FTA, 2nd FT%
Ricardo Greer
Vonteego Cummings
Julius Page — Most minutes played in career; 12th (soon to be 13th) leading scorer; 3d in 3FGM;
Jaron Brown
Chevon Troutman — .625 FG%, 1274 points, 711 rebounds.
Jerome Lane — “Send it in Jerome!” breaking the backboard created signature moment for Pitt basketball in the ’80s. 1217 points, 970 rebounds — 13.1 pts, 10.3 rebounds for 3 year career; Named 2nd and 3rd team All-American in career
Brian Shorter — 9th all-time in points; 17.8 pts/gm career avg. (5th best); Best FG% of any Pitt player with 1000+ FGA (.538); Very consistent shooter with 88% of his games being in double figures; 33 games 10+ rebounds; 2nd in career FTA and FTM; 31 double-doubles
Larry Harris — 3d all-time in scoring; all time leader in FGM; 50 20+ points in a game; 17.9 pts/gm career average
Bobby Martin
Jerry McCullough
Darrelle Porter — 1007 pts, 617 rebounds, 1.95 A-TO Ratio

With deep regret I cut Brown. An absolute favorite from the present era. So much of what he did don’t show up in the stats. He just won and was on teams that accomplished more than few other Pitt teams have. Still, these are players, not teams, and there are players that have just done more.

I’m really torn because I don’t think Page and Troutman make the cut together. I think it has to be one or the other. Right now, I’m leaning towards Page. What made Troutman great was the way he improved every year, and maximized his effort and potential. Unfortunately, that may not be enough. Troutman is roughly the equivalent of Bobby Martin by the numbers, and Martin falls short.

Porter was really close. One of only 3 players with 1000+ points and 600+ assists (Miller and Knight are the other 2). He was one of my favorites at Pitt when I was in school. He just didn’t have enough by comparison.

Jason Matthews was a hell of a shooter, but not much else. It’s hard to ignore those numbers, but here are the other career numbers 288 rebounds, 225 assists, 224 turnovers, 109 steals. His job was to be the marksman, and he was. Is that enough? Compared to others, it is not looking good.

I haven’t broken out the numbers for Greer, Cummings and McCullough. All 3 have fantastic numbers, but are almost hurt by how bad their teams were and how much of a load they carried. Do they have the numbers because no one else could? I have to look harder at those.

I’m willing to consider all arguments and anyone you think I am glaringly leaving off the list (Chad Varga and Darren Morningstar don’t count).

Even after the firing of Bob Huggins this was a game I had circled — and not just because the wife is a Cinci alum. This would be a match-up between two teams known for strong, physical defense and general play. If there was really going to be anything beyond contrivance to the “River City Rivalry,” it would start with the basketball teams.

Then of course, after Huggy-bear got fired things managed to keep getting worse. The team had a couple kids not qualify academically (or have issues with law enforcement). The school just brought in a new Athletic Director after the old one retired. Adam Kennedy has the interim head coach label, and knowing he won’t get the job and that recruiting isn’t going to happen, has done a fantastic job of circling the wagons and getting this team not to quit (even more amazing when you contrast that to the St. Bonaventure adventures a few years ago — culminating on the players quite literally quitting the team).

The team has continued to keep playing despite the continuing shrinking of depth — the loss of one of their best players and leader Senior Forward Armein Kirkland to a blown ACL in early January. They now have 2 players from the football team playing regular minutes, and they still have depth issues.

The depth-challenged Bearcats received another blow when Scott Benken suffered an elbow injury in practice requiring surgery that will sideline him for the remainder of the season. Benken, a non-scholarship player at Wake Forest in 2002-03 and 2003-04 prior to transferring to UC, joined the Bearcats as a walk-on on Jan. 17. Two members of the Bearcats’ football program, Connor Barwin and Angelo Craig, joined the team as walk-ons on Jan. 11. Barwin, a tight end in football, has been the most productive.

Craig hasn’t played yet and Barwin averages around 8 minutes a game. Cinci has its five starters averaging a minimum of 24 minutes a game. Only one bench player plays double digit minutes. Heck, a walk-on Freshman actually saw some time in their last game.

On top of that, the other top assistant and recruiter, Keith LaGree, had been busted for drunk driving in the fall. Considering what had gone down the year before with Huggins, LaGree was pressured to resign. This led to breaking in a new assistant, former Bearcat star, Corie Blount.

Cinci won their last game against Louisville at home, but with costs. Two starters — #1 and #2 in scoring — James White and Eric Hicks had to leave with injuries. Hicks is also the leading rebounder and White is #3. Hicks suffered a concussion just before halftime, and White sprained his ankle late in the game. Both had to sit out practices, but both have been cleared and are expected to play.

Before Wednesday’s practice, Hicks passed an impact test, clearing him for practice. He participated in the Bearcats’ light practice, despite suffering from headaches on-and-off since Monday night.

“I passed all the tests,” Hicks said. “They’re tests where you see if you’ve got your memory and reaction time. They give you a list of colors, then make you click on numbers back from 25 and then you have to remember the colors and words.”

James White, who left the game late in the game with a sprained ankle, sat out the practice.

UC coach Andy Kennedy said both should be ready for Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh.

Hicks suffered a sprained ankle last month at Marquette and it has been aggravated several times since then.

“It’s still swollen; what can I do?” Hicks said. “I don’t have time to rest. I’ve got to walk to class. It just needs time to rest, but I’ve just got to deal with.”

White was in the locker room getting treatment before Wednesday’s practice and was unavailable to the media. Hicks said White’s ankle was “as big as a grapefruit.”

“It was like mine was after Marquette,” Hicks said. “Plus he’s so skinny, so it looks bigger. The top half of (my ankle) is still fat.”

Pitt meanwhile is healthy and looking to continue it’s run of perfection at home. Since Kirkland went down for Cinci, the road has been extremely inhospitable. They are 0-5 on the road including the UConn game.

Big East Basketball report favors Pitt, because of the depth, home and the nagging injuries to Hicks and White.

I have to admit a lot of unease. I guess it’s because there is no excuse for Pitt not to win this game. At the same time, it feels something like a trap game. I guess something about the situation feels a bit like the St. John’s game. A tough, physical team with little depth looking to make a statement. Luckily, this game is at home. Pitt is favored by 8.5 points.

Game notes for Pitt and Cinci (PDF).