Will Pitt be able to get away with hideous 3-point shooting against better teams even when the inside game is going, the defense is fine and the team is still passing the ball? Not likely. Can they get away with it against average teams in the Big East? Well, they have before but you don’t want to make it a habit. Can they get away with it against RMU? Obviously.

Just can’t get too wound about the first bad night of 3-point shooting. Consider that Pitt was 40-85 from the 3 before this game. That just wasn’t going to continue.

At one point, the Panthers missed 12 consecutive 3-pointers spanning nearly 24 minutes. Most of the misses were wide-open looks by Pitt, which entered the game shooting a Big East-leading 47.1 percent from behind the arc this season. It was the worst effort since going 2 for 20 at Connecticut last year.

Antonio Graves, Levance Fields and Keith Benjamin combined to go 0 for 9 from 3-point range. Ramon, who entered the game No. 3 in the Big East in 3-point shooting at 66.7 percent, was 2 for 7.

“We just weren’t shooting the ball well,” Ramon said, “the whole game.”

Pitt was much better from inside the arc, hitting 25 of 36 shots.

While a little more drastic than most would like, consider the RMU game something like a market correction. Coach Dixon still found the good.

“We built this program on defense and rebounding,” Dixon said. “Shooting isn’t there every night. … We took very good shots throughout the game. To win by 15 when you shoot the way we did, that says a lot about the other areas of our game.”

Pitt was sharp in other areas. The Panthers played strong defensively and won the rebounding battle. Forwards Levon Kendall and Tyrell Biggs held A.J. Jackson, Robert Morris’ leading scorer, to six points, 18 below his season average. Robert Morris was held to 22 points below its season average.

The Colonials played a tough game. Maybe they really are better than in years past. It seems likely they will turn out to have been a bigger challenge than the Duquesne Dukes will.

If you want more positives, consider that Aaron Gray really asserted himself when the team was sagging.

With Pitt shooting cold from the floor, Aaron Gray led the final charge as the Panthers took over the game with a 25-11 run in the final 13 minutes. Gray scored seven points, pulled down seven rebounds, and blocked one shot in that span.

“Coach Dixon pulled us back together and we got back to playing Pittsburgh basketball. That’s when we took over the game,” Gray said. “We stayed patient. Coach told us to slow things down and take our time and save the good shot for an even-better shot.”

Gray led all scorers with 21 points and rebounders with 15.

“This was a very good Robert Morris team who played real hard and came out flying with all their ammo and we just kept answering,” Gray said. “We came into the huddle and I told everybody I’m not mad you’re missing the shots. When you keep getting open shots and don’t take them, that’s when I’ll get mad.”

Gray did it on 10-13 shooting, and so far this season is near .700 on shooting. That’s very, very promising — not to mention very good for his NBA draft positioning.

Pitt also purposefully got the ball inside with good passes for the scores. 11 of Pitt’s 13 second half baskets were accompanied by an assist.

Let’s give credit to Pitt Wide Receivers Coach Aubrey Hill. I’ve been thinking about this as I start to consider all the things that went wrong and right for Pitt this year. The brightest spot and biggest surprise (in a good way) has been the emergence of a solid young receiving corp.

Think about it. After spring practice, Derek Kinder was the default #1 WR who no one was sure was really more than a possession guy. Joe DelSardo was the default #2 guy. Oderick Turner, Marcel Pestano and Cedric McGee had all done nothing to really separate themselves from one another. They all looked shaky and unsure.

By the first game of the season, that all changed. Kinder showed he was more than just a possession guy. He was a complete receiver who was willing to go over the middle and could handle getting under the deep ball. And, of course, his downfield blocking. Well, even in the bad loss to WVU, his taking out 2 Hoopies to spring Revis on the punt return was a season highlight.
Turner, Pestano and McGee all made tremendous progress and continued to be solid all year long. They were running great routes, making the catches and just doing everything you want from receivers. Turner and Pestano got more time and opportunities at a suddenly crowded WR spot. Turner and Pestano were 2nd and 3d on the team for receptions (44 and 28) and yards (660 and 424). They combined for 10 TDs and had a virtually identical yards/catch average (15 and 15.1).

It’s part of the reason Freshmen like T.J. Porter saw so little action and Dorin Dickerson wasn’t seeing any time at WR. Not to mention a factor in DelSardo spending most of the games with his helmet by his side sitting alone or with the injured players.
The players obviously did the work and its a credit to them for really stepping up this year. But Aubrey Hill deserves a ton of credit. Watching the WRs this year has been an area to enjoy. All the receivers were catching the ball with their hands up. They ran good routes and they were doing the downfield blocking as they were supposed to. Doing all the fundamentals and doing them right. He has developed the kids and got them playing WR using their natural skills but not relying on them to make the play.

It is also clear that Hill has earned more responsibilities and challenges in recruiting.

Wannstedt said Pitt will place a greater emphasis on recruiting in Maryland and Northern Virginia, a region that will be handled by receivers coach Aubrey Hill, and concentrate less on recruiting Florida.

The talent in that area has been rising the last few years, so it makes sense to mine it. It’s part of what Pitt’s basketball team is trying to do.

Let’s face it, this team has so many possibilities for perfectly legit man-crushes, it’s hard to choose one. Levance Fields and Ronald Ramon for fans of the guards. Aaron Gray centering it all. Levon Kendall of the frozen hair for the ladies and for doing all the little things. Sam Young for the potential and his explosiveness (as soon as that knee is 100%). And then there is Mike Cook.

Cook has quickly risen to man-crush stature because he is Pitt’s first legit small forward in a few years. He has size and can play on the perimeter or drive to the hoop. Pitt has missed that.

Gene Collier has chosen Cook as his man-crush for the team this year. So he’s concerned about how he’s fitting in to the Pitt system.

Cook is a remarkably more elegant player than any of the more fire-tested components in Jamie Dixon’s machine. The Panthers, you may have heard, whether they’re No. 3 or No. 2 or even No. 1 in the little known perhaps because it’s purely fictional Pitt Alumni poll, do not exactly generate the athletic spectacle you might associate with one of America’s greatest college basketball teams.

The Pitt paw print on any reliable win — as it was again last night against a determined and talented Robert Morris team — is anything and everything but a series of opulent transition baskets and rim rattling theatrics.

Pitt comes to work you to death, and exactly where a fluid X-factor such as Cook fits into Pitt’s blunt basketball personality still isn’t terribly clear, particularly on a defense Dixon’s team delivers with almost monastic resolve.

Twenty-four hours before Pitt’s seventh consecutive season-opening win, Dixon described Cook’s defense aptitudes as “not there yet, in our book.”

But what is there looks like a load of talent and floor-savvy, the very thing Pitt can use on much colder nights, maybe when its no-frills style isn’t matching up terribly well with another Big East bully.

I’m not particularly worried. As the column points out, even Mike Cook acknowledges he needs to work on his defense. As much from a mental/concentration side as to the actual sets and play. Coach Dixon has already had Cook around him for a year. He has a sense of what the kid can take as far as criticism and being talked about publicly — and how Cook responds.

My guess is Cook actually responds well to some public criticism of part of his game. He is aware of what he has to do and there is no reason not to believe he will get there.

Sorry about the lack of an open thread. Too many real world things kept me away from the computer this evening.

Looks like Pitt had a horrible night shooting 3s — 2-17. Better to have it in a game like this. Yet, Pitt still won 67-53.

Gray had a fine game with 21 points and 15 boards.

Despite poor outside shooting, the team had 18 assists on 27 baskets.

At least, not right now. They got smoked by Wisconsin last night 81-66.

UMass is 6-1 but considering the most impressive win came against Northeastern, they aren’t exactly making the case they were a real challenge.

It’s good to find little things to help keep perspective.

Last year as Pitt was getting ready to face Robert Morris, the minor talk centered around the Colonials possibly not being interested in an annual beating by Pitt much longer. No such talk this year with RMU off to a 4-0 start and the favorite to win the NEC. Now it’s about each side trying to pump the other to keep expectations reasonable.

Pitt is trying to play up the experience and great start by the Colonials.

“No question, it’s the best team they’ve had from what I’ve seen,” Dixon said. “They had the one team that [lost to Central Connecticut State in the Northeast Conference tournament title game] with [Gene] Nabors, the transfer from LSU. I think this is the best all-around team. That team really revolved around [Nabors].

“This team is more balanced and experienced. They have some [junior-college] guys and transfers. And they have played minutes while they were building up, so that’s a big part of it. It’s by far the best team they’ve had and I’m glad to see it.”

The Colonials have beaten Florida International, Marshall, New Hampshire and Maine. The Marshall and Maine games were on the road.

Meanwhile RMU Coach Mark Schmitt is trying to keep things realistic.

Robert Morris coach Mark Schmidt isn’t holding his breath for road win No. 3.

“I’m comfortable with our team,” Schmidt said. “I’m just not comfortable playing the second-best team in the country.”

…

“We are playing with some confidence,” Schmidt said. “But we’re stepping up a little bit (tonight). We’re excited. It’s an opportunity these guys will remember the rest of their lives. We have nothing to lose.”

Only once in 25 meetings has Pitt not won the game by double digits. Pitt has won 14 games by 20 or more points, including 6 of the last 7 meetings.

Okay, last minute poll, so here it is. A little incoherent, but honestly, I don’t think any team is that clearly defined after the top 4 or so. And even then #4 seesm shaky. A very strange season of parity.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	—
2	Southern Cal	—
3	Michigan	—
4	Florida	1
5	Louisville	4
6	LSU	2
7	Rutgers	4
8	Boise State	4
9	Wisconsin	4
10	Oklahoma	4
11	Notre Dame	5
12	West Virginia	5
13	Texas	3
14	Arkansas	10
15	Texas A&M	11
16	Auburn	1
17	California	2
18	Virginia Tech	1
19	Wake Forest	1
20	Georgia Tech	2
21	Nebraska	—
22	Oregon State	1
23	Hawaii	3
24	Tennessee	2
25	Houston	1

Here are the final polling results. I don’t know what to make of the ACC any longer. The whole conference is just a blend of teams that aren’t that good or bad (well, except for 3 out of 4 teams in North Carolina). Just a frickin’ mess.

That’s a phrase I never thought to utter.

It turns out Time Warner Cable is even worse in what they offer and their service.
I was originally going to go satellite this fall, but with the absolute chaos and housing issues we just figured on waiting until things got settled. During that time, TWC started assuming control of the area.

A couple weeks ago, I tried to order ESPN Gameplan (college football package) for the weekend. As I had done on some previous times. TWC was fully in charge now. The Customer Service Rep informed me that TWC doesn’t offer Gameplan on a weekly basis. Only the full package. Very sorry about that. Stupid and annoying, but not ridiculous. I guess. Seems like they are passing up on chances to make more money.
Yesterday, I tried to order ESPN FullCourt for the season. Couldn’t order through the cable box so I called. The CSR said that the computer wasn’t putting it through and that he didn’t know why. I foolishly agreed to let them call back rather than go on hold while he looked into it.

After over 3 hours, I called back. The CSR cheerfully explained that the callback was only 20-45 minutes away. I stopped her before she could hang-up and pointed out that since I had her on the phone and it was a queue issue, not still looking into it. Well, maybe she could just tell me what the situation was now and spare everyone the call back.

She actually had to think about it for a few minutes. Like it was an alien concept.

Finally she told me it seems that TWC doesn’t offer FullCourt in my area. At all. Not weekly, not a full package. I asked why I could locate the channel and the program on the TV. Well it seems that I still have a Comcast cable box, and Comcast offers it. Of course, TWC took over this territory from Comacast and… Hell I don’t know. Typing it out made as much sense as when she tried to explain it.

No sense as to when or if they will offer it.
So, they did it. Got off the phone and went back online and ordered DirecTV. It gets installed in a week and a half.

Congrats TWC, you drove another customer to satellite and you have made me look fondly upon Comcast. The latter just seemed to be a highly improbable shift in my view.

The outcome may never be in doubt, but the game could be tougher than expected against the Robert Morris Colonials.

Coach Mark Schmidt’s Colonials are 4-0 and return an experienced team for the game against Pitt.

“I’m glad that Robert Morris is so good this year,” Dixon said. “They’re 4-0, and we’re familiar with their guys, and it’s great to see Mark doing so well and to see them playing so well this early in the season.

“They have two road wins, and I don’t think anybody in the country has two road wins at this point in the year, so to do that is very impressive. And when you look at their guys, it’s amazing how much they’ve improved.”

Pitt has beaten RMU all 25 previous times. The players are more familiar with one another than ever thanks to playing in the Pittsburgh summer league this past season.

The Colonials are led by Senior Forward A.J. Jackson, who has been the NEC player of the week for the second straight week. The two road wins came at Marshall and Maine.

The game is going to be shown locally on FSN-Pittsburgh, ESPN Regional and FullCourt subscription tomorrow at 7:30. Game Notes (PDF).

So give CBS Sportsline’s Gary Parrish credit. After calling this game a challenge for Pitt, he didn’t mind coming back and addressing what Pitt did to FSU.

Worst game of the weekend: Florida State was supposed to give Pittsburgh its first test. If that’s true, then Jamie Dixon’s team had a cheat sheet, because the Panthers thoroughly dominated the Seminoles, and that much of the damage came from the perimeter is an indication that Pitt is balanced enough to win games in multiple ways. The final was 88-66, but that score is misleading. This beating was much worse than that.

Andy Katz seems a little bothered by Ohio State getting to #1 in the Coaches (hat tip to Steve).

It’s not worth getting too worked up about the polls, since they don’t matter in college hoops like they do in football. But since they exist, they should at least make sense. Putting Ohio State No. 1 this week doesn’t.

Jay Bilas is a bit annoyed at the polls on Pitt’s behalf (Insider subs.).

2. Pitt Should be No. 1
Because college basketball has a tournament, the debate over which team is No. 1 is largely irrelevant. All the No. 1 ranking gives you is bragging rights and a nice reward with top billing on SportsCenter highlights and news coverage. Otherwise, it means bupkes.

Notwithstanding the overall lack of true meaning, I think that Pitt should be No. 1, even though I don’t think the Panthers are the best team in the nation. Pitt and UCLA have not yet lost games and should have risen in the polls over Florida, North Carolina and Kansas because of it. The polls are a snapshot only, and the current photo shows the top contenders with bloody noses while Pitt and UCLA are still clean and unmarked.

Remember, Pitt has been in this position before and lost to St. John’s, then lost in the NCAA Tournament to Bradley. The Panthers, however, look like a team that will be a tougher out this season. The reason? Pitt scores the ball much more easily than in prior years. While Pitt advanced to the Sweet 16 when still grinding it out on the offensive end, it is much easier to play when you can score some easy baskets. So far this season, Pitt is doing that.

A little more love and support for Pitt than in the past. Takes some getting used to.

Safe to say the local media was figuring on doing some more stories about Pitt getting a #1 ranking for the first time in b-ball history. Since that didn’t happen, they had to scramble with other angles.

“What I really like about them is they’ve taken to what we’ve tried to talk to them about each game, what we’ve tried to emphasize, and I think we’ve carried that over from game to game really consistently,” Dixon said. “They understand that it’s not good enough where we’re at right now. That’s the most gratifying thing about this group.”

A No. 1-ranking wouldn’t have altered that mindset — especially in November.

I think Coach Jamie Dixon is just angling to have the Jim Rome Show call to schedule another interview. It’s the only reason to bring up UCSB. Nothing gets you on his show faster then a UCSB shout-out.

Dixon gave credit yesterday to former UC Santa Barbara coach Jerry Pimm, who had Howland and Dixon as his assistants in the early 1990s.

“You can look at our practice plans,” Dixon said. “It’s the same practice plans Jerry Pimm was drawing up at UC Santa Barbara. That’s where we get our defensive fundamentals and philosophies. That’s what carried over.”

The players didn’t deny watching the polls, but they weren’t particularly bothered.

“I definitely thought about it,” sophomore guard Levance Fields said. “But we’re fine with where we’re at. We think we’re playing excellent. If it would have happened, of course we would have been happy. It’s good to be ranked that high, but it doesn’t really mean anything. As long as we’re getting better throughout the season, I’d rather do that than be No. 1.”

Saying exactly the right things.

“We don’t worry about the rankings,” Ramon said. “But how could we be disappointed to be No. 2? We just have to go out and keep winning games. As a team, you always want to do good for your school and your city.

“We feel that we’re a team that can go out and play well against anybody. And if we do what we can do, we can compete with any team.”

And of course, the other angle is the fact that UCLA jumped Pitt for #1 in the AP Poll. There’s that little connection between the coaches and Pitt.

UCLA coach Ben Howland called Pitt coach Jamie Dixon and, naturally, the topic of which team would be No. 1 in the AP college basketball poll came up.

“He said, ‘Hey, you guys are going to be No. 1, and I said, ‘No, you guys are going to be No. 1.’ It just went back and forth like that,” Dixon said Monday. “We joked about it and that was it.”

Turns out Dixon was right.

UCLA, coached by Dixon’s best friend and former boss, jumped from No. 5 last week to No. 1 after the Bruins won the Maui Invitational and last week’s 1-2 teams, Florida and North Carolina, were beaten. UCLA had not been top-ranked since the final poll before the Bruins won their 11th and most recent NCAA title in 1995.

Dixon was so concerned he went to the Pittsburgh Zoo with his kids.

Levon Kendall gets a little feature piece in USA Today. As is usual with any Kendall story, the focus was on his off-court stuff.

For Kendall, it was as ordinary as getting a laptop computer for school. It didn’t have to be grand; a secondhand piano fit the old, rundown house his parents bought at a tax sale a few years ago. Kendall initially wanted the piano for occasional visits by his father, Simon Kendall, a well-known keyboardist in Canada.

The elder Kendall has been a fixture in varied genres, from the psychedelic 1960s to modern blues. It’s no surprise his son, a 6-foot-10 starting forward for Pitt’s third-ranked basketball team, taught himself to play in the last few years.

“I started taking up the piano and realized I was pretty inspired by my dad,” says Levon Kendall, who grew up in Vancouver and was named for American rock musician Levon Helm. “It’s hard to let the talent go to waste. I must have some of that musician gene in me somewhere. I couldn’t have a better resource or teacher available.

For the youngsters in the readership, Levon Helm was the drummer for The Band.

Kendall was spotted at the Louisville-Pitt football game. He was wearing a white warm-up jacket with “CUBA” across the front. It was surmised that he probably traded for it during international competition. His hair, as usual, was perfectly immobilized

I’m not exactly outraged or scandalized that Pitt is now ranked #2 in the AP and #3 in the Coaches. UCLA didn’t just have bigger wins this week, they had bigger televised wins. There’s no pretending that getting on TV doesn’t matter for the profile and the voters. No one got to see Pitt destroy FSU (who, before the game was supposed to be good, but on Sunday night I had the misfortune of hearing Doug Gottlieb stump for UCLA and dismiss Pitt with a “they haven’t beaten anyone,” comment. So predictable.) or any of the other teams Pitt has beaten. Not even on FullCourt for the first 6 games.
That Ohio State got the top spot in the Coaches, though, is a bit of a stumper. If the argument is that Pitt hasn’t beaten anyone, OSU is even worse. Pitt can at least claim to play a team from the ACC and A-10 to this point. The best from Ohio State is Kent St. in the MAC. Yes, OSU takes on UNC on Wednesday, but that doesn’t explain the present.

Still, it’s too early to get that worked up over this. Just slightly annoyed.

It’s a big deal, insofar as the team has never been ranked #1 in basketball. Heck even RMU, Pitt’s next opponent is hoping so, since it will be the first time they have played a #1 team at that time.

This early in the season, though, it is also a big target on the team’s back. Actually, I was going to argue that was a negative. Now I’ve changed my mind. One of the questions about Pitt, that may not be fair, but history requires asking. How can this Pitt team do with all the expectations they have on them?

Every team, every group of players are different. Yet, if we are willing to point out (sometimes gleefully) how other teams always blow it in the big moment, the same has to be asked and proven otherwise of Pitt.

Having 28 assists in a game is a noteworthy accomplishment, regardless of the opponent. Last year, the team was quite impressive in sharing the ball coming in at 21st nationally with 16.4/game (yes, even with Krauser running the point), but the team is even better this year to date. Of course what helps is making the shots, and Pitt shot 62.5% in the game.

The Panthers are shooting 53.0 percent from the floor, which would break the team record (50.9 in 1986-87). They are shooting 47.0 percent from 3-point range, which would obliterate the Panthers’ standard. Pitt hasn’t shot better than 38 percent from 3-point range in any of the past 15 seasons.

“You can’t double-team one of us, because that’s going to leave somebody open,” said Antonio Graves, who scored a team-high 17 points against Florida State. “We all can play. We’re all good. That’s the thing about this team.”

Admittedly, Pitt has played its easiest part of the schedule. Open shots and accompanying assists may not be as plentiful when Big East play starts Jan. 4 at Syracuse. But while the percentages might decrease, the mind-set of passing the ball is one every coach desires in his players.

“I am,” Jamie Dixon said, “very fortunate to coach these kids.”

Mike Cook, who has quickly become a favorite with the way he has completely meshed with this team — that year sitting out was not wasted. He was big on the assists.

Small forward Mike Cook led the way with nine assists. Cook and the rest of the Panthers took advantage of Florida State’s tendency to overplay passing lanes. Dixon put in a few new plays to expose that, and the Panthers made an effort to make the extra pass.

“That’s what we preached all week,” Cook said. “We watched film on them and saw how they played the passing lanes. We tried to come out and make extra pass and play off Aaron. When they double- and triple-teamed him, we wanted to make the play.”

Dixon said no one should be surprised with Cook’s ability to pass. Cook played some point guard at East Carolina, and Dixon always admired his passing skills going back to his days as a high school player in Philadelphia.

“I realized how good a passer he was then,” Dixon said. “I think we’re seeing it now.”

Studying film of opponents? Making adjustments to take advantage of the opponent’s tactics? No — must stay focused on basketball for this post.

To think there were questions about whether Cook could make the adjustments from being the big fish in the small pond/go-to-guy at East Carolina to playing as part of a team where he may not be the focal point of the offense every night.

Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News really liked what he saw from Pitt’s shooters, and how it bodes for the season.

Good luck trying to use a zone defense against Pitt. Opponents often were tempted to try it against the Panthers in recent years because they were erratic from behind the 3-point line, but the team’s unselfishness and zone offense execution generally were effective counters. This team has those qualities and is making 47.1 percent of its 3s–with G Ronald Ramon, G Antonio Graves, G/F Mike Cook and F Sam Young all hitting at least half their attempts. Florida State tried to control 7-0 C Aaron Gray with a 2-3; he wound up with nine points, but the Pitt regulars had FSU down by as much as 36.

Must maintain perspective. Must remember it is not even December. It’s hard. Really hard. I am so excited about the possibilities with this team.