Quotes from the press conference. Antonio Graves and Levance Fields got to do the honors for this one with Coach Dixon. Have to say, judging by the transcript, Fields is going to be really good at this.

Q. Coach, can you talk about the work off the offense.

COACH Jamie Dixon: Yeah, well, I mean, you know, last two games we’ve talked about it. I mean, going into this game, when you’re talking about a West Virginia team and a Villanova team that are very good at a lot of things, rebounding is not their strongest suit. They are great passers, great shooters, great defenders, a great defensive team, Villanova, but we really felt we had to beat them on the boards in a big way. We did that last night and we did it tonight as well.

It’s something, you know, certain teams focus on certain things. Ours is rebounding. We have to win the battle on the boards. We practice it every day. Our drills are based around rebounding, blockouts, getting the rebounds. You don’t finish a drill unless you block out. You don’t get the point unless you block out. I think that carries over and puts us where we’re at rebounding wise.
…
Q. The way you finished the regular season, did you come in here with a little bit of a chip on your shoulder this tournament?

Levance Fields: Most definitely. We definitely had a chip on our shoulder. Definitely because we lost our last game at home. Being undefeated at home, losing to Seton Hall really hurt us, and West Virginia on the road. Games we both felt we could have won. We wanted to come in and prove something, but at the same time, we’re taking it a game at a time. Now we’re going to get ready for Syracuse.

Q. Can you talk about Syracuse. You’re playing your fourth straight game, both teams. That’s even. Can you talk about playing them and the challenges they pose.

Levance Fields: First off, I’ll say that I know they said no team won four games in a row, so that’s gonna be broken tomorrow. But Syracuse, you know, they got Gerry who is playing excellent right now. They’re big down low. We have to attack the zone. We’ll have to be aggressive. We’ll have to run some of our plays and try to get a couple of baskets in transition. We’ll definitely have to attack the zone and play good defense.

Villanova Coach Jay Wright praised Pitt in his opening statement.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: We really haven’t had a game like that this year where we just felt like we couldn’t get things going offensively. Then I thought that Pittsburgh, once they got a hold of the game, did a great job of just controlling the tempo and hitting big shots, making free throws. We’ve usually been able to, when we weren’t scoring, take people out of what they do offensively with our defense and create some shots. I just think Pittsburgh’s guards did a great job of controlling the game and taking care of the ball. They just did a great job against us.
…
Q. Jay, you came close before. Given the depth of the conference now, did you think it was inevitable that some team was going to win four games in four days? Someone is going to do it this year, obviously.

COACH JAY WRIGHT: You know, I didn’t. I didn’t think someone would do it this year because of the depth of the conference, because of how much every game is going to take out of you.

This is real impressive, both teams, Pitt and Syracuse. It doesn’t surprise me, any of the upsets, because, you know, we knew we could get beat any night. But it surprised me that somebody is going to do this, and it’s probably the only way you could do it, if two teams played four nights and then play each other.

I have to agree with his assessment of how a team wins the BET with 4 games in 4 days. Tonight could be rather ragged.

At least one columnist in the Philly area is just down on the Wildcats after this — with an “I told you so,” column.

The long version of any analysis of Villanova and its chances for a national championship would include everything from the nuances of the 1-2-2 trapping press to the physics of the long rebound. These short versions would be more to the point:

No big man, no chance.

Too many jump shots, too many risks.

Short bench, short tournament life.

Pick one, pick them all. But the Wildcats must pick themselves up now, following a 68-54 loss to Pitt Friday night in the Big East semifinals at Madison Square Garden, and they must understand that this whole national-championship search might just be a little more difficult than a dedication to gang rebounding and depositing open jump shots.

One loss in the BET Semis and they are exposed as frauds? This would be weak-ass Chicken Little crap on a message board or in the comments.

Admittedly, people have wondered whether the ‘Nova line-up could succeed with 4 guards and staying small. Sure they got beat last night, but it’s hard to argue with the overall body of work. Besides, you have to play the best players you have.

Villanova starts four guards and has always given the appearance that it could be vulnerable against a physical group with strong interior players. Pittsburgh is just that type of team. It has the 7-foot center Aaron Gray, who clogs the middle, and receives solid contributions from the 6-9 Levon Kendall and the 6-6 Sam Young. Pittsburgh dominated the boards throughout the game, outrebounding Villanova, 45-27.

“Yes, that’s the type of team that can give us trouble.” Wright said. “We’ve found ways in the past to eliminate that problem. Pitt did a good job on the glass. They killed us on the glass. We’ve usually been able to be tough enough to outrebound people or spread the ball around a little bit so they aren’t able to be around the basket.”

Good shooting can offset poor rebounding, but Villanova did not do that well, either. The Wildcats shot 35.2 percent from the floor. Antonio Graves scored 18 points to lead Pittsburgh (24-6). Randy Foye scored 26 points to lead Villanova (25-4). Kyle Lowry (10 points) was the only other player to reach double figures for the Wildcats. This was the first meeting this season between the two teams.

In the BET, the NYC papers drop into open local homerism at times. In that respect, they have loved Pitt the last few years and especially this match-up.

With Ray and Newark’s Randy Foye in the backcourt, Villanova’s rise to the highest levels of college basketball has had a local flavor, but Pittsburgh has three city guards – Levance Fields from Brooklyn and Krauser and Ramon of the Bronx – and now has wrested the stage away.

“I’d expect New Yorkers to look to Pittsburgh for some really good stories,” Krauser said.

I’m truly impressed with Kendall playing. He really came in and helped Pitt establish the control of the glass. Snaring 7 rebounds and playing 23 minutes. And those 6 points all from the free throw line, put Pitt in a controlling double digit lead before halftime. His play really helped change the tone and gave a vibe that Pitt was in control of the game.

Pitt received a boost from junior forward Levon Kendall, who played one day after back spasms forced him to miss the quarterfinal victory against West Virginia. Kendall did not start, but he came off the bench to provide solid defense and rebounding.

“I felt good,” Kendall said. “I got enough medication in me that it didn’t bother me too much. Hopefully, it’s the same way [this] morning.”

Pitt had an 11-point lead at halftime and boosted the lead to 14 twice midway through the second half. A few minutes later the lead was 18 points after Graves and Krauser made back-to-back 3-pointers.

Sam Young is going to get so much better if he learns from Kendall about positioning and boxing out on rebounds. He’ll become a monster on the boards and get a lot of easy baskets on putbacks. Aaron Gray seems to still have his confidence despite some really amazing misses right at the basket. He’s at least feeling better about shooting free throws after the WVU game.

Smizik isn’t sure what to think right now. He too is stunned that Pitt could win and control the game without much from Krauser and Gray.

It was well known it would require Pitt’s finest effort to defeat the Wildcats, who came in at 25-3 and ranked second in the polls, and that is precisely what was forthcoming.

The most astonishing aspect of this victory is that Pitt won with minimal contributions from its two best players and leading scorers, Carl Krauser and Aaron Gray.

Krauser played only 20 minutes because of foul trouble and scored nine points, but five of those came from the free-throw line in the final minute, long after the game had been decided. Gray continued to have a terrible shooting touch close to the basket. He missed 7 of 9 shots and finished with five points and seven rebounds, well below his averages.

But what Krauser and Gray didn’t provide, others did. Stepping up doesn’t begin to describe the play off the bench of guards Levance Fields and Antonio Graves.

Krauser did provide 6 assists in his 20 minutes and Gray, tied with Kendall, led with 7 rebounds. They just didn’t do much scoring.

Joe Starkey is excited because the win over Villanova is the signature win for Pitt’s season to date.

Think about how close Pitt was to being a No. 1 seed: Before last night, its previous six losses were by an average of 3.8 points, none worse than five. It’s a credit to the coaching staff and to the internal leadership that Pitt did not have a complete stinker of a game all season (the St. John’s game was bad, but also quite winnable). How many teams can say that? None in the Big East. Every one of them lost at least once by double digits.

Pitt’s style sometimes prevents it from blowing teams out, but, more importantly, virtually assures it will be in every game. The last time the Panthers lost by double figures was two years ago against Oklahoma State in the Sweet 16 (63-51), and that game was plenty competitive.

Meanwhile, Pitt obviously has corrected its problems from last season in defending the 3-pointer. Those who still rip its outside defense should heed the words of WVU coach John Beilein, who said Thursday, “It was a bad matchup for us as far as quickness on the perimeter.”

What is there not to like about this team right now?

He’s practically giddy.

Now, it’s time to get ready for the ‘Cuse.

And yes, Matt, we all have our superstitions kicking into overdrive right now.