Big East Basketball Blog has the big round-up of articles and previews. I’m just going to touch on a few things.

Brief predictions for today’s games. Seton Hall beats Rutgers. Syracuse somehow beats Cinci. Georgetown falls to ND. Pitt over Louisville.

The official press release from the Big East on last night’s awards. Jay Wright won Coach of the Year. Randy Foye from ‘Nova won POY. I’m a little surprised since I really thought his teammate Ray would split off votes.

Aaron Gray won Most Improved Player.

The 7-foot, 270-pound junior became a starter for Pitt this year and finished the regular season as the only player in the conference to average double figures in scoring (14.0 ppg.) and rebounding (10.4 rpg.).

“I think the consensus, nationally, is that he is the most improved player in the country,” Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said Tuesday, after presenting Gray with a sizeable trophy to coincide with his huge frame.

Making him the 4th Pitt player in the last 7 years to win.

He joins Carl Krauser, Brandin Knight and Ricardo Greer as Pitt players to win the award in the past seven years.

“I saw Carl Krauser win it my freshman year,” Gray said. “It was one of my goals. It was motivation. What makes it so great is that my team has been successful. If I was the most improved player and my team wasn’t in the tournament, I don’t think this would mean as much.

“Our team has exceeded everyone’s expectations. I think I’ve exceeded everyone’s expectations. Now we just have to do a great job of finishing up the year.”

Winning this award is not only a tradition at Pitt, it has become a recruiting tool. When Dixon walks into the households of recruits, he points to the success of players like Gray.

“When I talk to parents, I tell them our first goal is to graduate players,” Dixon said. “And, secondly, they get better as players. Winning this award four of the past seven years says a lot. We’re proud of that. That’s the most important award of the year for us.”

The unbalanced 16 game conference schedule will continue for one more year because of TV. BE Commish Mike Tranghese indicated that after that the BE will likely go to an 18 game conference schedule with everybody playing once and 3 home-and-homes. The Pac-10 is also expected to follow suit (giving them a perfect home-and-home balance) and there have been rumors that the Big 11 might as well.

I have to say that this would help power conferences because it will boost RPI further to favor the conference strength. It also serves the power conferences in two other ways if more go this way. It reduces the number of non-con games needed to schedule. That reduces the demand for patsy games — bringing down the price a bit to pay for such games. It is also a way to check the growing strength of conferences like the MVC and WCC as they will get less chance to show how good they are against the power conferences.

Carl Krauser is 4 rebounds from 500 for his career. As I’ve mentioned before, he will be the only player in Pitt history with 1500+ points, 500+ assists and 500+ rebounds.

Finally, a puff piece on the Oakland Zoo from Central PA.

It wasn’t more than 30 minutes after Carl Krauser had lost his final game at Petersen Events Center, yet there he was.

He had just apologized to Pitt’s fans in his postgame press conference for the team’s first — and only — home loss of the season.

He had just signed a basketball for a young fan who was waiting in the hallway.

He had even bid some strangers a “good night” as they walked past him.

All this after Friday’s heart-wrenching 65-61 loss to Seton Hall, and yet there was Krauser, standing at center court of the empty arena, discussing what was special about being a Pitt player.

“Fans,” the most popular Panther said. “Without these guys, we’re playing in front of seats. You want to hear the fans going crazy, screaming, and having your back. Because we have their backs every time we step on this court.”

The Panthers have made it easy for their fans to have their backs with a 64-6 record at Petersen — the palatial 12,508-seat facility opened in the fall of 2002. But it hasn’t just been their play that has made them so beloved in the Steel City — it’s been the relationship the Pitt players have built with those who cheer them on.

“They’re just so down to earth, they’re like friends with us,” said sophomore Ian Smith, the vice president of the “Oakland Zoo,” as the Pitt student section is known. “I’m friends with pretty much all the guys on the team. So, we want to come and support them. Not only for being their friends, not only for being our basketball team, but for the pride of our school.”

Students and fans love their teams all over the country, but what makes Pitt special is the mutual respect and admiration that the players also have for their fans. During the Senior Night ceremony — in which Krauser and three others were honored — before Friday’s game, Panthers coach Jamie Dixon spoke about that relationship.

“I don’t know if any other group (of seniors) connected with the students and the fans the way these guys did,” Dixon said in his speech to the packed house.

Of course you should read it all.

Pitt lost its last 2 games. 3 of its last 4. Two of the losses came on the road, and all three losses to likely tourney teams. Pitt is struggling.

Louisville has not won 2 straight games since the beginning of January (Providence and UC-Davis). They have been 4-5 since the end of January. All of their losses on the road, all of their wins at home. In that stretch the only win over a tournament team was against Marquette. They are considered to be improving.

The numbers are different. Pitt is a 4 1/2 point favorite. Based on mathematical calculations, Pitt has the best chance of any BE team to win today. Neither team played a neutral site game this season. Pitt is 16-1 at home and 5-5 on the road. Louisville is 16-3 at home and 2-8 on the road. Both teams lost in MSG to St. John’s in the same week.

Right now, I have no sense as to how this game will go. I don’t think anyone is really sure on either side.

There’s a lot of talk about the confidence of Louisville right now.

They say they’re playing their best basketball of the season right now and it would be a mistake to underestimate or overlook them. In their last two games, they took both West Virginia and UConn down to the wire in four-point losses.

“Everybody from the end of the bench to the front of the bench has confidence now and we’re playing a different style of basketball,” guard Taquan Dean said following U of L’s Tuesday afternoon workout at Gaucho’s Gym in the heart of the Bronx near Yankee Stadium. “I think a lot of Big East teams now are coming to realize these guys have to be reckoned with, and if we keep playing the same way we’ve been playing, we’ve got a good shot at it.

“I know other teams are watching and they have to be a little nervous because we’re playing good basketball right now. We know we can play with the best of them and we’re going in there to win it. We’re getting there (improving) because everybody is coming around.”

Which should seem vaguely familiar for Pitt fans since the same sort of talk surrounded Pitt coming off of their 4-point road loss to UConn. How Pitt was playing good ball, and what a good sign it was to take the #1 team to the wire. Yada, yada, yada.

Part of that changed perception for Louisville is also the change in personnel because of injuries and recovered health from earlier in the Big East Conference play.

Way back then – when Louisville, a Final Four team last season, was ranked No. 10 and Pitt was at a season-high at No. 12 – the Cardinals were playing with a hobbled Taquan Dean, a slow-to-recover Juan Palacios and a slow-to-acclimate David Padgett.

They were overrated by talented, yet unhealthy and lacking confidence. Dean played only 12 minutes and Palacios had only eight points. Pitt won 61-57, a mild upset that allowed the Panthers to jump three more spots in The Associated Press poll.

That was so two months ago.

Now, Dean and Palacios are healthy and the Cardinals are playing well. Palacios had 29 points in the regular-season finale at No. 1 Connecticut. The Cardinals beat Marquette, the Big East’s fourth seed, three days before that. They’ve recovered from a morbid midseason stretch in which they lost five of six games, and Dean recovered from his injury and was an all Big East second-team pick.

“They’ve had a good turnaround,” said Pitt guard Levon Kendall. “They are playing with new confidence.”

But all is not wonderful for Louisville and coach Rick Pitino. Padgett, the Cardinals’ second-leading scorer and only inside presence, won’t make the trip to New York after having season-ending knee surgery Monday on his knee that he injured in the Connecticut game.

The loss of Padgett transformed Louisville (18-11, 6-10) into a guard-oriented, outside-shooting team.

Yes, they are playing a different style with different people, but certain things remain.

It has changed the complexion of Louisville’s team, Gray said.

“Maybe a little bit,” the 7-foot center said, responding to a suggestion that Pitt could have an edge in the paint. “(But) it changes about every game. Teams do a good job of focusing down low sometimes and that opens up our perimeter guys. We’ll see as the game progresses.”

Pitino knows Pitt is likely to present as tough a challenge today, despite having struggled down the stretch in the regular season.

“They’ve been a top-10 team for most of the season, and they’ve been very deserving of that ranking,” Pitino told the Louisville Courier-Journal. “They’ve been very consistent, have great experience and have one of the premier big men in the country (Gray).”

Louisville will press. They will play a tough defense, they won’t have a strong defensive presence inside.

Pitt will have to play tough perimeter defense against the 3. Pitt will need to make foul shots and be aggressive going to the basket.

The easy thing is to say that certain players need to have big games.

Colombia native Juan Tello Palacios has arrived just in time to give U of L hope. After struggling all season while playing his way back from a severe ankle injury, the 6-foot-8 Palacios is “really blossoming,” in the words of Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun.

Palacios poured in a career-high 29 points in Saturday’s 84-80 loss to Calhoun’s team. He has had high-scoring games before, but never of the type that he showed in Storrs. He was 3 of 6 from three-point range, made 5 of 10 midrange shots in traffic and, perhaps most important, got to the free-throw line 10 times and made all of them. The final two tied it with with 54.6 seconds to play.

“He’s not just playing the best he has played all season, but he’s at an all-time high,” U of L senior guard Taquan Dean said.

For either team.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon can recite a laundry list of things that have contributed to the downfall of the Panthers in their losses this season. Sometimes, it was poor defense. Sometimes, it was turnovers. Other times, it was missed free throws. Many times, it was a combination of those things.

Invariably, there was one other constant in Pitt’s losses: Carl Krauser.

When Krauser, Pitt’s senior guard and leading scorer, had an off game the results usually weren’t positive for the Panthers. Krauser shot 30.6 percent and averaged a little more than 11 points per game in Pitt’s losses. He was 5 for 17 from the field against St. John’s, 4 for 11 against Connecticut, 3 for 8 against Georgetown, 3 for 16 against West Virginia and 2 for 10 against Seton Hall.

I can’t simply subscribe to just one player needing to step up. You are then presuming everyone else will be about average. Will Louisville win if Palacios has a good game but Dean struggles? How about Pitt if Gray is subpar while Krauser gets hot? Either team might still win, but I like Pitt’s chances more if everyone plays about their season average.

Big thanks to the Big East Basketball Blog for putting together the blogpoll all season long. He has now posted the awards compilation.

BE Bloggers ended up picking Tom Crean as BE Coach of the Year, Aaron Gray was Most Improved.

Yesterday I shared my vote on the Rookie and All-Big East team. Here’s how my vote looked for the individual honors.

Player of the Year: Allen Ray

Most Improved: Aaron Gray

Defensive Player of the Year: Marquis Webb

Coach of the Year: Louis Orr

Freshman of the Year: Dominic James

Not surprisingly, James was a unanimous choice. A freshman running the point so well made Marquette a big surprise and the best C-USA escapee in the BE this season.

Going into the season, I expected Seton Hall to be the worst team in the BE this season. The way they imploded last season, kicked players off the team, early departures and all the reports swirling around Louis Orr. The start they got off to did nothing to dispel that impression. Yet, they somehow, stayed together and got better deeper into the season. It’s a credit to their team, and they far exceeded anything I could have expected. Orr deserves the credit for how he kept that team together, despite being an obvious lame-duck.

The Big East won’t make official announcements on these awards until the dinner tonight.

That’s the easy answer when you ask who needs to step up for Pitt to win games in the BET. In the Seton Hall loss, Krauser didn’t score much, but neither did the bench. The bench only came up with 11 points, 9 rebounds and 4 turnovers.

3/5th of Pitt’s bench are the freshman, and so they will be counted on.

Even if Dixon uses more players in the upcoming Big East and NCAA tournaments, it’s a good bet the Panthers’ freshmen will play a key role.

Point guard Levance Fields, power forward Sam Young and center Tyrell Biggs have all had their moments this season and their contributions during the ensuing weeks could determine Pitt’s fate.

“The sky’s the limit for us,” Young said. “People are saying that the freshmen are going to fold, but I don’t even see myself as a freshman anymore. I just see myself as a competitor.”

Pitt’s talented trio average 15 to 16 minutes combined, but they have scored about 16 points per game as well. Fields spells fifth-year senior Carl Krauser and sophomore Ronald Ramon at point guard, and his high-speed game infuses energy into the offense.

Young, who made the Big East’s all-freshman team, is a finalist for rookie of the year honors as well. He should move into the starting lineup for senior John DeGroat, who has continued to open games down the stretch even though his minutes and contributions have been shrinking.

“I think I’ve done a pretty good job so far this season, but I still have a lot of room for improvement,” Fields said. “I’m looking forward to taking my game to another level in the tournaments and then working hard in the offseason to take it up another notch next year.”

There’s a slight error in the story. The three of them average 15 to 16 minutes each not combined. Fields and Young are right around 20 minutes/game and Biggs is around 8 or 9 minutes.

In another story, Krauser is one who Pitt needs to snap out of his slump/funk/whatever has been affecting his production.

“He is our leader,” teammate Levon Kendall said Monday, following a workout at Petersen Events Center.

And so, even though their senior leader has been struggling of late, the rest of the Panthers players and coaches are hopeful that Krauser can find his form and rekindle a spark as the team enters the Big East Conference tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York as a sixth seed and will face 11th-seeded Louisville in the first round on Wednesday night (9 p.m., ESPN).

“I have a lot of confidence in Carl,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “You get asked the same question about a guy who has an off-game, like a J.J. Redick (of Duke) or a Kevin Pittsnogle (of West Virginia). These guys come back and have good games. Guys don’t shoot the same percentage every game. They don’t have their best game every night. That’s why they’re competitors.”
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“It doesn’t have to be scoring,” Dixon said, searching for positives in his senior guard’s play. “I’ve said all along that one of the best games of his career was the Rutgers game (six points, six assists, three rebounds and five turnovers during a 76-68 road victory Jan. 18) and how well he did with decisions and finding guys. I thought he played very well, offensively.

“The scoring, with the number of guys we have, we’re going to have some games where he doesn’t need to score as much and other games where he will.”

Pitt does need him to lead, though. They need him to pass to the open man. Show he has confidence in them during the game — especially in MSG. He has to show he isn’t trying to do it all himself.

The key regardless, is how the whole team plays. When Pitt has thrived has been when you could see the extra pass. When everyone took defensive responsibility for their guy, with a “none shall pass,” attitude.

For Louisville, they are worried about this game.

The Cards may miss starting center David Padgett more than they have in any other game since they lost the 6-foot-11 sophomore to an aggravation of his knee injury with four games to play in the regular season. Padgett, the team’s leading rebounder when he went down, had successful arthroscopic surgery in New York yesterday and is expected to make a full recovery.

In his place, freshman Brian Johnson and sophomore Terrance Farley will have some work to do to handle Pittsburgh center Aaron Gray, a 7-foot 270-pounder. The Panthers ranked second only to Connecticut in rebounding margin in the Big East, outrebounding opponents by more than seven a game.

Since Padgett went down, they went 2-2. Those two losses were both 4-point road losses to WVU and UConn. They have been playing much better.

They still remember, though, a physical Pitt team that out-toughed them on their home court. It was a defensive match with neither team shooting 40%. Tomorrow night’s game will likely be very different.

The Syracuse Post-Standard has their own awards, based on an informal survey of Big East assistant coaches.

Carl Krauser won biggest trash talker for the 3d year in a row with this quote from an unnamed assistant:

“They’ll retire the award in his honor.”

Krauser somehow edged out Gerry McNamara for whiniest player. McNamara took home most overrated, though, in a landslide.

UConn’s Jim Calhoun edged out Syrause’s Jim Boeheim for whiniest coach. In a shocker, Marquette’s Tom Crean in just his first season in the Big East got honorable mention.

There’s even votes concerning the refs.

Best official? Mike Kitts. Guess the Big East assistants didn’t care that he tossed Jim Boeheim from an exhibition game. Jim Burr and Reggie Greenwood are the only other officials to receive multiple votes.

Worst official? Curtis Shaw. Interestingly, Ted Hillary and Gary Prager both received a vote for Best Official and Worst Official.

The papers have little stories about the coaching moves. The moves make sense as far as talent goes:

Gattuso had been in charge of tight ends and recruiting after joining Wannstedt’s staff last year. His new assignment meshes well with his background — Gattuso was a standout defensive lineman at Penn State in the early 1980s.

“That (move) was a natural,” Wannstedt said. “Greg knows our defense as well as anybody.”

Partridge will maintain his role as defensive ends coach. Last season, some special teams work was added to his responsibilities.

Partridge, 32, is entering his fourth season at Pitt. In the offseason, he was contacted by Wisconsin first-year head coach Bret Bielema about a coaching vacancy. However, Partridge opted not interview with the Badgers.

“They called and wanted me to be part of the new staff,” said Partridge, who has known Bielema for several years. “I didn’t feel like I needed to do that, with the great job that I have here.”

Bob Junko, the article notes, will likely be out of commission recovering from his heart surgery through Spring Drills, and after a year of rebuilding ties with Coaches in Western PA with Gattuso’s help, having Junko handle more of the behind the scenes and X-O stuff rather than working directly with the players on the field and overseeing practices makes a lot of sense health wise.

As for Partridge, staying with Pitt and the move means he also gets a nice little raise by being named a coordinator.

Here’s a story on one of the new offensive graduate assistant/Tight Ends Coach.

Like anyone with aspirations of coaching at his sport’s highest level, Ithaca College’s Brian Angelichio is taking the next step.

Angelichio, a two-sport assistant at IC for the past 10 years — and the well-respected offensive coordinator for coach Mike Welch for the past five — confirmed Monday that he has accepted an offer to become the offensive graduate assistant/tight ends coach under former NFL coach Dave Wannstedt at the University of Pittsburgh.

After spending the last decade in Ithaca, the 1994 St. Lawrence graduate said he will complete his move to Western Pennsylvania by this weekend.

“I’ve always wanted to coach Division I football,” said Angelichio, who also spent nine years assisting IC baseball coach George Valesente. “The opportunity’s there, to try and get as high as I can get — to be a coordinator in Division I football.”

After interviewing with Wannstedt and Pitt’s offensive coordinator, Matt Cavanaugh, last Monday, Angelichio said he was offered the job on the spot.
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Last fall, Angelichio’s offensive unit averaged close to 40 points per game and ranked as one of the best in all of Division III football. The affable assistant played the part of mentor to senior quarterback Josh Felicetti, who broke nearly every passing record in program history and led the Bombers to two NCAA tournament appearances.

He also played a major part in the development of offensive guard Joe Scalice, who became the first Bomber in 20 years this season to be named to the Associated Press’ Little All-America first team.

Most impressive for his new position, however, was that Angelichio coached 2004 American Football Coaches Association first-team All-American Vince Dargush — one of the more prolific offensive players in school history.

And a tight end to boot.

An interesting move. I like the hiring of ambitious coaches. Strategically, with RB Coach David Walker and new graduate assistant Jeff Hafley from Albany as well, I can’t help but wonder what that will mean for recruiting in New York. It almost seems like part of a plan to secure the state.

Final note, this story about a former top-ranked QB recruit who just transferred to Middle Tennessee State University.

That splash comes in the form of 6-foot-5, 230-pound stud quarterback Gene Delle Donne.

Delle Donne, who signed with Duke after a sterling career at Salesianum High in Delaware, is transferring to Middle Tennessee after redshirting last season with the Blue Devils.

Delle Donne, who has to sit out one season because of the NCAA’s transfer rules, will have three years of eligibility remaining beginning with the 2007 season.

Coming out of Salesianium, where he was rated the 22nd best high school quarterback in the nation by rivals.com, Delle Donne considered Notre Dame, Michigan, Boston College and Maryland before selecting Duke.

However, a switch in Duke’s offensive philosophy, the Blue Devils wanted a more mobile, athletic quarterback, led Delle Donne to look for another school.

After a visit to MTSU last month, he headed to Pittsburgh to talk with head coach Dave Wannstedt about playing for the Panthers before deciding to go with the Blue Raiders.

Apparently the kid is longer on potential than anything else. The article indicates he was only a 3-star recruit (it also says that MTSU has no player on its team with a ranking of greater than 2-stars).

It would appear Delle Donne was looking for stronger assurances of playing time. He definitely wouldn’t get those assurances at Pitt. Heck, it’s not even clear if Pitt offered a scholarship if he transferred.

The Big East Coaches had a weekly conference call. This time, of course, to discuss the BET. I imagine the time seemed to fly by for reporters with 4 less coaches to have to hear from. They don’t have the audio up at this time.

There are of course articles about the call. Quotes from coaches raving about how tough this will be.

Pitt, Georgetown, Cincinnati and Seton Hall are considered locks for the NCAA tournament field. Syracuse and Louisville can play their way in with one or two victories this week.

“It’s absolutely incredible,” West Virginia coach John Beilein said yesterday. “If you go back two or three years, those first-round games look a like a Sweet 16 group. I looked at the bracket [Sunday] and that’s when it finally hit me how strong this league was this season. The teams that are playing just to get to the quarterfinal round … it’s unbelievable.”

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun compared this season to the 1996 Big East tournament. In ’96, the Big East produced six NBA first-round picks, headlined by Allen Iverson, Ray Allen and Kerry Kittles. Allen and the Huskies beat Iverson and the Hoyas, 75-74, in the Big East championship game.

Syracuse didn’t make the Big East title game that year, but the Orange advanced to the NCAA title game a few weeks later.

It could be that type of year again in the Big East.

“I think we had three top-10 teams and five teams in the top 20 that year …” Calhoun said. “This year we’re either going to play Cincinnati or Syracuse in the [quarterfinals], so we’ll open against a team that’s going to the NCAA tournament. It was almost impossible to imagine this scenario a few years ago. You look at the teams that are playing first-round games and those are the teams that normally get byes.”

And of course reflecting on just how hard the whole season was.

“The league is a grind. There was just never a time to relax,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “Every game was a huge game, no matter who came in.”

“You could make a case for anybody in this league keeping you up at night, not wanting to face them,” said Tom Crean, coach of Marquette, one of the new teams and the only one to earn a first-round bye.

Sam Young getting All-Big East Freshman honors marks the 3rd straight year Pitt has placed a player on that squad. Chris Taft in 2004 and Ronald Ramon for 2005.

Aaron Gray gave a seemingly Oscar award type comment for being named All-Big East.

Junior center Aaron Gray became the sixth player in school history to earn first-team honors. Senior guard Carl Krauser was named to the second team and freshman forward Sam Young was named to the all-rookie team.

Gray joins Charles Smith, Jerome Lane, Brian Shorter, Brandin Knight and Chevon Troutman as Pitt first-team selections.

“It’s a great achievement,” Gray said. “It’s a great compliment to my team. I couldn’t have done it without them. The support the coaches and my teammates gave me is probably the biggest reason this happened.”

And I’d like to thank all the little people out there that made this possible.

Today Coach, Player and Most Improved Player of the Year in the Big East will be announced.

Gray is a virtual lock for most improved.

Player of the Year will probably go to Rudy Gay. I think Pittsnogle gets his vote splintered by teammate Gansey. The same will happen for Villanova’s Ray and Foye.

I’ll have my selections later and the Big East Blog will put out the blog vote.

Ron Cook still argues for Jamie Dixon. To make the argument, Cook goes revisionist that there were no expectations for Dixon and Pitt. Bull. There were plenty of questions about Pitt. As I said from the end of last season, this team would be anywhere from 6-10 to 10-6 in the Big East. The team met the upper-part of expectations. Also note that Cook leaves out Tom Crean and Marquette who had just as many if not more questions and lowered expectations.

Suffice to say, I did not pick Coach Dixon. If you are looking for a clue as to my vote, here was my preseason predictions for the Big East order.

Lots of articles today.

If the fans have been getting antsy about a repeat of last year’s collapse, then you know the whispers are making it to the coaches and players.

The Panthers won at Louisville 61-57 on Jan. 15 to move to 14-0 but lost to St. John’s six days later and went just 6-6 in their final 12 games. Last season, Pitt also struggled down the stretch, losing three of its last five regular-season games before losing in the first round of both the Big East and NCAA tournaments.

“I think it’s a different situation, a different team,” said junior center Aaron Gray, who was named first-team all-Big East on Monday. “This team, we just got a little unfocused. Last year was a different problem. This year, it’s very correctable. We’re very confident going into the Big East tournament.”

After Saturday’s practice, the team had a meeting to get stuff out of their system.

“We obviously didn’t finish the way we wanted to,” Pitt center Aaron Gray said. “Everyone got their feelings out. We accomplished a lot by just being able to talk to each other. We think we’re not only going into [the postseason] physically prepared but mentally prepared as well.”

Junior forward Levon Kendall agreed that the Panthers needed to have a meeting before the Big East tournament, which begins tomorrow at Madison Square Garden in New York. Pitt plays Louisville at 9 p.m. in a first-round game.

“It was good,” Kendall said. “It gave us a chance to regroup and get refocused. We’ve started to fade a little bit and lose focus the past few weeks. We talked about tightening up and taking care of the little details.

“At the beginning and middle part of the year we were buying into what the coaches were saying and were consistent with all the little things. You can see it when one guy doesn’t trust another guy and tries to make a play on defense. It ends up costing us because we’re not on the same page. We’re listening to the coaches and understanding what they have to say.”
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“Guys are putting too much stress on the offensive end and not enough stress on the defensive end,” Gray said. “I think that showed in the last game. We also have to cut down on turnovers. The biggest part of the meeting was cutting down on the little things. People don’t understand that one possession, one breakdown can lead to you winning or losing the game. We’ve confronted those issues and hopefully we’ll learn from them.”

This wasn’t a ‘players only’ type of meeting. The coaches were on hand as well.

OK, it wasn’t of the closed-door, players-only, yell-and-scream variety like after a midseason loss to St. John’s last season.

Actually, this one was scheduled. The coaches were there. The managers were there. The only thing impromptu was the discussion after a session of watching film on Louisville, the Panthers’ opponent in the first round of the Big East tournament (9 p.m., Wednesday; ESPN).

Yet, after two straight narrow losses to end the regular season – two games Pitt could have easily won had it cut down on mistakes – this was necessary.
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Dixon said that the Panthers are being too aggressive on defense, even taking their penchant for help defense too far – which Dixon called “over-helping.” Kendall said that the team just isn’t “on the same page” defensively Gray cited turnovers – pesky mistakes that have gnawed at the Panthers all season – as another reason for the disappointing finish.

The over-helping is accurate. It’s what burned them the second time against WVU and at key moments with Seton Hall. It almost seemed like the players not only got over-anxious, but sought to match what the opposition was doing. They’d double-team Gray, so Pitt players would do the same with their inside guy. I’m over-simplifying, but Pitt has to stick to a stronger man-to-man given the quality opponents in the BET and the NCAA.

Some shifting to Pitt’s coaching staff (hat tip Jeff/BurghGuy68).

Pitt assistant head coach Bob Junko, who has coached the defensive tackles the last nine years, will now serve as recruiting coordinator. In addition to his assistant head coach duties, he will also continue to serve as an overall defensive coach.

Greg Gattuso, who joined Pitt last year as tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator, will now coach the defensive line.

Pitt defensive ends coach Charlie Partridge, who added special teams to his responsibilities last year, has been named special teams coordinator.

Additionally, Wannstedt announced the appointments of two new graduate
assistant coaches. Brian Angelichio, previously the offensive coordinator at
Ithaca College, has been named the offensive graduate assistant and will also
coach the tight ends. Jeff Hafley, formerly an assistant at the University of
Albany, will serve as the defensive graduate assistant and have coaching
responsibility with the secondary.

“As I said a year ago, I believe we have as good a coaching staff as anyone in college football,” Wannstedt said. “We are always looking for ways to make ourselves more efficient and effective, and these adjustments help us accomplish that. As a result, we have a greater emphasis on special teams, we more effectively utilize Bob’s recruiting strengths and we put Greg’s defensive line knowledge to use by focusing him on that position. We additionally have added two quality young graduate assistants in Brian Angelichio and Jeff Hafley.”

Not sure what the moves actually mean, other than that Bob Junko will probably work on more recruiting stuff and possibly give him time to recuperate from his surgery ahead of spring practice. Interesting that the graduate assistants were both from NY. Seems to be an area of the country that Coach Wannstedt wants to further mine for recruiting.

Also, there was the Scout.com combine, and this story on it. There are also full reports on what the kids numbers were.

While talking camps and combines and football, there’s this story about how coaching is a year-round thing with recruiting and everything else. That would include the Nike Camp in Allentown this past weekend. The one that Coach Wannstedt even attended.

In college football, the offseason has constricted to a few slivery weeks a year, and it’s only going to get worse. From bowl games to recruiting, junior days to summer camps, coaches find themselves with less time — both on field and off. Still, many are eager to commit to weekends like this.

Tiller was among the more than 20 college coaches attending the the Nike Coach of the Year clinic at the Holiday Inn Fogelsville. Former Northern Lehigh coach Jim Tkach operates the the three-day clinic, one of 20 across the country presided over by former Pittsburgh coach Johnny Majors.

Joining Tiller from the stable of Nike-contracted coaches were Miami’s Larry Coker and Connecticut’s Randy Edsall (Georgia Tech’s Chan Gailey was scheduled to appear but could not make it). In addition, Majors and Tkach (whose son Tyler is headed to Pitt) wrangled Panthers head coach Dave Wannstedt and offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, even though they’re sponsored by adidas.

I didn’t know Majors was involved at all. I just figured this was a favor to Tkach, and another way to make inroads into the Eastern part of Pennsylvania.

Pitt took a tumble in the rankings this week, but not nearly as bad as I feared. It probably helped to have so many other highly ranked teams suffer losses that all things stayed bunched. Pitt ultimately dropped 7 spots in both rankings. From #8 in the AP to #15, and #9 in the Coaches to #16.

Pitt’s non-con Strength of Schedule is now in the crapper. Even UConn has a higher non-con SOS. Now, heading into the Conference Tournaments, these are the teams that Pitt should hope to see have good tourney runs: Wisconsin, South Carolina, Auburn, Penn St. (I can’t do it), St. Peter’s, Duquesne (yeah, sure that’s gonna’ happen), Vermont and Coppin St. The others are already finished in their tourneys.

It would also help the overall RPI and appearances if Rutgers and ND could win a game. Perhaps even Syracuse to keep their RPI in the top 50.

Sort of. The biggest problem with the gi-normous Big East is picking all-conference squads. The BE goes weird with 11 member 1st and 2nd teams. That doesn’t even get to honorable mention.

2005-06 All-BIG EAST First Team
Eric Hicks, Cincinnati, Sr., 6-6, 245, Greensboro, N.C.
*Rudy Gay, Connecticut, So., 6-9, 220, Baltimore, Md.
*Steve Novak, Marquette, Sr., 6-10, 220, Brown Deer, Wis.
Chris Quinn, Notre Dame, Sr., 6-2, 185, Dublin, Ohio
Aaron Gray, Pittsburgh, Jr., 7-0, 270, Emmaus, Pa.
Quincy Douby, Rutgers, Jr., 6-3, 175, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Gerry McNamara, Syracuse, Sr., 6-2, 182, Scranton, Pa.
*Randy Foye, Villanova, Sr., 6-4, 205, Newark, N.J.
*Allan Ray, Villanova, Sr., 6-2, 205, Bronx, N.Y.
Mike Gansey, West Virginia, Sr., 6-4, 205, Olmstead Falls, Ohio
Kevin Pittsnogle, West Virginia, Sr., 6-11, 255, Martinsburg, W.Va.

2005-06 All-BIG EAST Second Team
Hilton Armstrong, Connecticut, Sr., 6-11, 235, Peekskill, N.Y.
Marcus Williams, Connecticut, Jr., 6-3, 205, Los Angeles, Calif.
Jeff Green, Georgetown, So., 6-8, 225, Hyattsville, Md.
Roy Hibbert, Georgetown, So., 7-2, 272, Bethesda, Md.
Taquan Dean, Louisville, Sr., 6-3, 185, Red Bank, N.J.
Carl Krauser, Pittsburgh, Sr., 6-2, 200, Bronx, N.Y.
Donnie McGrath, Providence, Sr., 6-4, 190, Katonah, N.Y.
Donald Copeland, Seton Hall, Sr., 5-10, 173, Jersey City, N.J.
Kelly Whitney, Seton Hall, Sr., 6-8, 245, Chicago, Ill.
Kyle Lowry, Villanova, So., 6-1, 190, Philadelphia, Pa.

2005-06 BIG EAST Honorable Mention
James White, Cincinnati, Sr., 6-7, 200, Kensington, Md.
Rashad Anderson, Connecticut, Sr., 6-5, 215, Lakeland, Fla.
Josh Boone, Connecticut, Jr., 6-10, 237, Mt. Airy, Md.
Dominic James, Marquette, Fr., 5-10, 165, Richmond, Ind.
Lamont Hamilton, St. John’s, Jr., 6-10, 253, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Solomon Jones, USF, Sr., 6-10, 230, Mount Dora, Fla.

BIG EAST All-Rookie Team
*Devan Downey, Cincinnati, 5-10, 175, Chester, S.C.
Jeff Adrien, Connecticut, 6-6, 225, Brookline, Mass.
*Wilson Chandler, DePaul, 6-7, 190, Benton Harbor, Mich.
Sam Young, Pittsburgh, 6-6, 210, Clinton, Md.
*Dominic James, Marquette, 5-10, 165, Richmond, Ind.
Jerel McNeal, Marquette, 6-3, 185, Country Club Hills, Ill.
Sharaud Curry, Providence, 5-10, 165, Gainesville, Ga.
Geoff McDermott, Providence, 6-7, 230, New Rochelle, N.Y.
JR Inman, Rutgers, 6-9, 220, Pomona, N.Y.
Anthony Farmer, Rutgers, 6-1, 190, Millville, N.J.
Eric Devendorf, Syracuse, 6-4, 175, Bay City, Mich.

*denotes unanimous selection

Now, sometime tomorrow, the Big East Blog will be releasing the blog-version, though there will be actual squads of 5 based on our votes. There will ultimately be 4 all-conf. squads and 3 all-rookie teams. Each blog voter just went 3 squad and 2 squad respectively.

Here’s what my votes looked like:

Rookie Team

1st team
Dominic James
Devan Downey
Wilson Chandler
Jeff Adrien
Sam Young

2nd Team
Levance Fields
Jerel McNeal
Eric Devendorf
Anthony Mason, Jr.
Terrance Williams

All Big East

1st team
Douby
Foye
Pittsnogle
Ray
Gay

2nd team
Quinn
Gansey
Gray
Novak
Armstrong

3d team
Hicks
Green
Whitney
Dean
McNamara

I probably shouldn’t have had McNamara, and put Marcus Williams there, but I used a heretofor unknown and unspoken morals clause to exclude him (okay, I just forgot. That’s the other problem with 16 teams to examine, it is too easy to miss someone obvious).

I wish I could have had Gray on the first team. If for no other reason than to list: Gay, Ray, Gray.

I’ll list my individual awards later.

Press releases from both Pitt and Louisville on the game. And the Game Notes for Pitt and Louisville (PDF).

Pitt also has a “Tournament Central” sub site set up for information. Hopefully it will get plenty of use and updates.

When the team has struggled at times with the turnovers. Holding the lead. Getting a lead. Defensive breakdowns at key times. Not hitting the key shots. Not making free throws. I really don’t feel like going on.

Suffice to say there wouldn’t be any first round foe Pitt would face that would fill me with the idea that they are an easy target. Especially with the bottom 4 not even at the BET. Facing Louisville will be a big challenge.

The nature of the team is different from the last time. Taquan Dean is healthy. Juan Palacios is healthy and has been hot. Center David Padgett is out with a season ending knee injury, but the team has actually played better and tougher since. Freshman Forward Terrance Williams lit up Pitt for 25 points — his career and season high — in the last meeting.

For many, this will be the first time seeing the team since the last meeting coincided with the AFC playoff game between the Steelers and the Colts.

“They seem to be playing well,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said last night as he was watching Louisville game tapes. “But it didn’t matter who we were going to be playing, we were going to be playing someone good. Everyone in the league is playing well right now.”

In the first game, Pitt won despite foul trouble that forced Carl Krauser and Gray to sit out for key stretches of the contest. Gray played just 24 minutes and had 10 points and 12 rebounds; Krauser contributed just eight points in 31 minutes.

Pitt got big games from freshmen Levance Fields and Sam Young. Fields led the Panthers with 13 points and made three 3-pointers. Young had nine points and six rebounds.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino chided his team after the game for allowing Pitt to dominate the physical aspect of the game. The Panthers outrebounded the Cardinals, 39-34, and got 11 offensive rebounds, which led to 13 second-chance points.

“We’re going to play our same style,” Dixon said. “We’re going to play to our strengths. We’re not going to change. We’re going to defend. We’re going to take good shots. We’re going to move the ball around. We’re going to do the things we’ve been doing all season.”

Watching Louisville play UConn on Saturday, I saw a very different team. A team that could and would penetrate — even against UConn — and kick out for open 3s. Coach Pitino has this team playing a better game, and their defense looks very good. Honestly, I will be happy if Pitt keeps the turnovers around 12.

Plus, we are talking about one of the best college coaches in the last 30 years getting 3 days to get his team ready for a tournament game. If you want more to worry about, Pitt has lost 4 of its last 5 games at MSG — both playing in the BET and against St. John’s.

Pitt says it will be playing tough, but it hasn’t shown completely in the last few games. I’m not talking about hammering people or even how the defense is playing. I’m talking about inside banging and driving. I’m talking about putting the body against another player to not give space or separation for the shot. I’m talking about a certain level of fearlessness.

I can’t help but wonder about Gray’s recent play. He seems less willing than ever to go straight up for a shot when in traffic. Choosing hooks and fades. I don’t think it has to do with the fear of contact, but more drawing the foul and going for free throws. He just hasn’t been hitting them, and I think it is affecting his confidence in what kind of shot he wants to take. It is part of what seems to be allowing him to get pushed away from the basket.

Ron Cook writes about how the success or failure of the season is now determined by what Pitt does in the BET and the NCAA.

“We’ve reached that point as a program,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.

In many ways, it’s a blessing. Pitt could be Duquesne. There are no expectations on Duquesne’s woeful program, which has become irrelevant in town. There is nothing worse than irrelevant.

But the heavy expectations also can be a curse. There’s extraordinary pressure when a 21-win season — including 10 in the toughest conference in college basketball — with a young team will be considered something less than satisfying if Pitt goes out quickly in the Big East and NCAA tournaments.

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun knows. His team will go into the postseason as the No. 1 team in the polls. Anything less than a national championship will be regarded as a failure.

“The monster has to be fed,” Calhoun said.

Dixon was reminded of that soon after Pitt was eliminated by Pacific in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season. He was in New York recruiting and, even though he should have known better, was listening to talk radio. The host and callers were beating up Calhoun because Connecticut lost in the second round to North Carolina State. They were beating up Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim because his team was knocked out in the first round by Vermont after winning the Big East tournament. Calhoun and Boeheim had just won their 700th career games and soon would be elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Yet, there they were, being called idiots by Joe in the Bronx.

It’s probably just as well Dixon heard that nonsense instead of what they were saying about him back here.

Oh, I think he heard.

Blogger seems to be acting up today. Finally got to this point. Trying to post, but not able to post.

Rutgers, to my surprise, actually beat St. John’s to clinch the #10 spot in the Big East Tournament.

That means #6 Pitt will face #11 seed, Louisville (9pm, Wednesday). The winner gets #3 WVU (9pm, Thursday).

Notre Dame by virtue of losing head-to-head with L-ville gets the #12 seed and faces #5 Georgetown (2pm). The winner gets #4 Marquette (2pm)

Seton Hall is the #7 seed and gets #10 Rutgers (7pm). The lucky winner faces #2 Villanova (7pm).

#8 Cinci plays #9 Syracuse (Noon). Then it’s to face #1 UConn (Noon).

If you really want to keep wondering, if Pitt wins its first two it faces (presumbably) Villanova in the semis.