Pitt could have gone to Berkeley this season if things had broken differently.

Many years ago, Cal contracted to play three games with Louisiana Tech, the second of which was scheduled this year for Sept. 16 in Berkeley. In November, Tech officials told Cal that in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the state of Louisiana was cutting Tech’s operating budget by 10 percent. They desperately needed a “guarantee game” and asked out of the 2006 date so they could play at Auburn for between $600,000 and $800,000.

Louisiana Tech agreed to come to Berkeley in 2007 (the third meeting is at Cal in 2010), but Cal was missing a 2006 home game.

“Now, you scramble because it’s November, less than a year from the opener,” Cal schedule-maker Steve Holton said.

He sent e-mails to every Division I conference in search of a school with the same open date, or one willing to shuffle commitments in order to play Cal. “We had no response from Division I-A teams,” he said. “There were 8 to 10 teams from I-AA teams that were looking for a good payday. Our preference was to stay at the I-A level.”

A few I-A schools were open on Sept. 16, but Indiana officials made another commitment before Cal could approach them, and Wyoming and Pitt decided to use the date to book home games.

The home game that day will be with Michigan St. Wonder what year the return game with Cal would have been scheduled.

It’s over, and victory can be announced.

While there are still a few donation checks to come in, it is so close that I’m certain those will push it over the top and the target amount will be reached and possibly exceeded. Rest assued that any excess will be spent on booze for the upcoming football season and tailgating.

Thank you to everyone who contributed. It has really meant a lot to me to get this support.

I’ve already got the hosting service picked out, and will be getting the laptop very soon. I figure on building the site a bit first before taking it online and doing the full migration.

The site, hopefully, will be up and running by mid-May. In the meantime, things will continue as (mostly) normal on the present site.

Saturday’s practice was also a day for recruiting.

Pitt coaches got what they hope is a glimpse of the future when Manheim Central quarterback Pat Bostick, who is one of the Panthers’ top priorities in recruiting for next year, visited practice and spent most of his time with three of Pitt’s incoming recruits, West Allegheny’s Dorin Dickerson, Duquesne’s Elijah Fields and Gateway’s Aaron Smith. At one point, Bostick tossed a football on the sideline with the three future wide receivers. … Bostick was one of a large group of junior prospects to visit Pitt yesterday as part of the Panthers’ annual “Blue Chip day.”

Apparently what they saw was the defense control.

Pitt’s defense dominated yesterday in the Panthers’ final scrimmage before the Blue-Gold spring game Saturday at Heinz Field.

The Panthers’ defensive line overwhelmed the offensive line and rendered the offense virtually powerless. Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt heaped praise on his defense and the line, which has been scrutinized and criticized this spring.

“We didn’t get much of anything done on offense today. We didn’t make many first downs” Wannstedt said. “This was by far the best the defense has looked all spring. We’ve been making progress with our defensive line and the guys are starting to really move around well. They are starting to grasp the concepts of making plays — they are not just out there to take up blocks.

“To play this scheme effectively, our down guys have to be playmakers. I was encouraged.”

Not good news with regards to Pitt’s O-line. Not unexpected. Defense is usually in better shape than offense in the spring. It is a good confidence thing, though, for the D-line that is undersized, but faster than before.

That’s why former linebackers Chris McKillop and Charles Sallet are Pitt’s starting defensive ends, Doug Fulmer is a key backup and safety Tommie Campbell, among the fastest Panthers, recently was moved to outside linebacker during spring practice at the UPMC Sports Complex.

“There’s not one thing that you can coach about speed other than getting it in the right place and heading in the right direction,” Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said. McKillop is listed at 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds, while Sallet is 6-foot, 235 and Fulmer is 6-3, 210. Campbell is 6-2, 190.

“If you’re explosive, then giving up 20 pounds doesn’t necessarily mean that much in a matchup,” Rhoads said.

Of course that actually means you need to have an aggressive defense, not the read-and-react/bend-don’t-break style that Rhoads has been pushing since coming to Pitt. Will Rhoads actually let the defense do that come actual games? Or will he fall back to his “don’t give up the big play, just let them get 4 to 7 yards at a time” philosophy. That is the question.

Gattuso and defensive ends coach Charlie Partridge primarily have been schooling their linemen on fundamentals. With better technique, and an infusion of speed, the defense could be much better.

But what happens when a power offense is across the line? That could be a bad matchup.

“Fundamentals?” You mean like actually tackling rather than just hitting? Tell me that isn’t just some crazy dream.

Final piece is a puffer on TE Darrell Strong having the “lightbulb” go on.

Strong has perhaps the best hands on the team, but he admitted he wasn’t interested in becoming a good blocker last year. He didn’t improve much in that area and played almost exclusively in passing situations.

In the offseason, after thinking things through, he has had a change of heart and attitude. That has left the Panthers with potentially a dominant player who can play in every situation.

“This offseason it just clicked for me. I got a lot bigger, a lot stronger and lost a lot of body weight,” Strong said. “I feel like I’ve become a better blocker this spring and that’s my number one goal. I want to be a dominant blocker. My heart is in it, I want to be a true tight end. I don’t just want to be a H-back or a glorified receiver. I want to be a tight end and I feel like a true tight end.

“My days as a receiver are over and so are my days as a quarterback. I’m a tight end now and I know I can be a great blocker as well as do the things I’ve always done catching passes.”

Strong has worked hard on his blocking and has had plenty of opportunities to test his newfound skills.

Strong should have every opportunity to win the starting TE job over Senior Steve Buches and incoming Freshman Nate Byham.

Well, at this point, there is only one player to watch. Tyler Smith. But don’t expect him to decide right on Wednesday when signing period begins.

Iowa is still recruiting Tyler Smith, a 6-7, 210-pound small forward from Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia. Smith initially signed with Tennessee but elected to attend the prep school after high school.

“They are still in the top two,” Coleman said of the Hawkeyes. “It’s them and Pittsburgh leading Kentucky and Memphis. It’s the same four schools. I think Iowa, sometime in the next few days … is going to be in to talk to him.”

Iowa coach Steve Alford is in Virginia already to watch seniors Jeff Horner, Greg Brunner and Erek Hansen compete at the Portsmouth Invitational pre-draft camp.

Coleman said Smith, a Rivals.com four-star prospect, may not make a decision on Wednesday. The signing period lasts into May.

And Kentucky is trying to put a late run on Smith.

Tyler Smith, a 6-foot-7 forward from Pulaski, Tenn., appears to be a prime target for UK. After serving as co-host for Rajon Rondo’s farewell announcement, UK Coach Tubby Smith went to Pulaski to talk to the prospect.

Other coaches who went to Pulaski last week were Steve Alford (Iowa), Mike Anderson (Missouri) and Rick Stansbury (Mississippi State), said Billy Smith, the prospect’s father.

The perceived leader, Pittsburgh, had used all its visits.

Billy Smith did not offer any hint on when his son would commit.

And you can just bet there will be whispers in Tyler Smith’s ear that Barry Rohrssen — the primary assistant to recruit him — will not be with Pitt very much longer, perhaps not even this coming season.

Kentucky is in desperate need of talent with Rondo going into the NBA draft, with an agent, and freshman Adam Williams transferring out of the school. They don’t just need talent, they are going to need some bodies.

With Maggie Dixon’s wake tonight and the funeral tomorrow, lots of arrangements are being made. Both the DePaul and Army women’s teams are flying to California for the funeral as noted in this story on the Roundball Classic in Chicago.

A sobering thought throughout the weekend was that the game lost someone whose life embodied the joy for the game.

The teams at DePaul and Army, and the game as a whole, suffered an incomprehensible loss when 28-year-old Maggie Dixon died Thursday.

“While we’ve been here, Pam [his wife] and I have gone to bed crying,” [Sonny] Vaccaro said. “We knew her. We knew her dad. And we know her brother [Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon]. It’s so sad. That really hit home. What basketball does is connect us. How do you celebrate when this happens to a 28-year-old kid? The answer is you have to keep living and put on a happy face. If all we do is give pause to her memory, she will never leave us.”

The DePaul and Army women’s basketball teams will fly to California for a wake tonight and the funeral Tuesday. DePaul coach Doug Bruno and athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto plan to attend the burial on Friday at West Point.

“It’s hard to imagine Maggie with the generals,” Bruno said.

It’s just hard to imagine, period.

Of course, Barry Rohrssen will be in attendance, even though it could affect his chances for the Manhattan job.

All eyes now turn to Manhattan, the MAAC regular-season champ which lost Bobby Gonzalez to Seton Hall. Rohrssen is a strong candidate but could be out of play until Wednesday, as he is in Los Angeles for the funeral services of Army women’s coach Maggie Dixon, the sister of Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon.

It probably won’t make any real difference in his chances, and it might help if this time a school talks to some other candidates before Rohrssen.

Joe Starkey is a good columnist, but needs to remember that people read more than the local news.

Are you ready for some spring football?

Me neither. I’d forgotten Pitt even had a football team until Tyler Palko bounced into the room, hat spun backward, playbook in hand, adrenaline visibly coursing through his veins.

Fifteen minutes later, I was ready to charge onto the field and block for the kid.

Either he’s been holding this column for a couple months or he assumes no one has been aware of the fact that he’s been the stringer doing spring football reports on the Big East for ESPN.com since about the end of February.

Maybe I was just being anal, but that opening really distracted me from what was otherwise was a good piece (even if it was slightly derivative of another piece he did this past week for ESPN.com). Anyways, here’s the rest of the new stuff he lets free.

The roster is riddled with question marks, which isn’t exactly what Palko would have hoped heading into his final season.

Not that he’s complaining.

“We would have loved to have everything set up, all the pieces in the right place at the right time and go out contenders for the national championship. But things don’t work out the way you want all the time,” he said. “And who’s to say, at the end of the season, we’re not competing for a big spot?”

You never know. Palko, H.B. Blades and Darrelle Revis give Pitt enough veteran star power to scare people, and the schedule isn’t exactly riddled with national-title contenders. Plus, the final two games are at home against Big East favorites West Virginia and Louisville.

Palko laughed when I asked him to transport himself back to his senior year at West Allegheny.

What was he thinking then?

“In my mind, I’d come in, start four years, win a couple of championships and go to the next level,” he said. “Whether you want to call it a bad arrogant or good, that’s what I was thinking. Ignorant might be the thing, saying nothing bad’s going to happen.”

Bad happened. Good happened, too. Palko injured a hand early in his first year and backed up Rod Rutherford. He redshirted the next year before beating out Luke Getsy. Since then, he has fought through a coaching change and inconsistency with his line, running game and receivers to pass for the fifth-most yards (5,472) in school history.

No matter what, Palko has etched his place in Pitt football lore. Five touchdown passes at Notre Dame will do that for a guy. So will a dramatic, game-winning drive against West Virginia.

Now, he is aiming for a redemptive final season followed by a lot more football.

For Palko to do that, he’ll need a significantly improved offensive line.

It is going to be a long, hard road.

Last season, the offensive line was inexperienced and inconsistent. Only twice did a Panthers running back crack 100 yards in a game. Rutgers held Pitt to minus-11 yards on 25 rushing attempts. Quarterback Tyler Palko was sacked 30 times.

By the end of the season, the line appeared to be playing better. Line coach Paul Dunn said the unit is ahead of where it was this time a year ago.

“I think we’ve taken a giant leap toward understanding the offense a little bit better,” Dunn said. “Last year at this time, we … we just weren’t where we needed to be. Now, it’s a matter of guys competing a lot better and doing the things they need to do to be a winner.”

You mean like, I dunno, blocking? Not being completly overwhelmed and swallowed at the line of scrimmage? Anything like that?

Krauser had a pretty good showing in Portsmouth. He averaged 15 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.6 steals for the Tournament. DraftExpress, which has covered the Tournament and evaluated each players’ performance each time, thinks Krauser has earned an invite to Orlando. In his final game he had 20 points (8-13 shooting), 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and 4 turnovers.

Krauser put in another strong showing to go along with his first game performance and solidified himself a spot in Orlando in all likelihood.

The most impressive thing about Krauser’s game is his vocal leadership. Krauser could even be heard from the bench encouraging teammates to do well in the brief moments he was out of the game.

Krauser showed decent range tonight on his suspect jumper, enough so that it looks to be workable if Krauser is willing to put in the time. Krauser also passed the ball decently, though his assist opportunities must increase before anyone will consider him a legit point guard prospect.

Krauser makes quick decisions with the ball and doesn’t waste too much time or energy fooling around with the ball even when he is in possession of it for significant lengths of clock time.

His team is better with him on the court than without him, and that’s the best thing that can be said about any prospect that’s participated here in Portsmouth.

As a well documented Krauser partisan, there isn’t anything there for me to really disagree