I’m sure most of you don’t care, but tonight is the Crosstown Shootout between Cinci and Xavier. Even though the wife is a Cinci alum, I’m struggling with who to support.

On the one hand, it’s Cinci, a BE team and it’s good for the conference and ultimately Pitt for them to win. In terms of out-of-conference record, conference strength and of course the RPI — direct benefits to Pitt for Cinci to win. Plus Bob Huggins is no longer there to hate.

On the other side, Xavier is coached by former Pitt PG, Sean Miller. And I always like to see the alum doing well. Especially a guy who played while I was at Pitt.

Pitt’s non-con schedule is starting to hit that “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” phase.

The John Chaney Award for reckless scheduling. Amazingly, Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon has done a complete 180 on pre-conference scheduling, going from one of the easiest slates in each of his first three seasons to what will probably be the most difficult any major team plays this year. It almost cost the Panthers when they scheduled a low-reward game at Buffalo, but they rallied to a 70-67 victory. They’ve still got games at Wisconsin (Saturday) and vs. Oklahoma State in Oklahoma City (Dec. 21).

That’s why the MAC and other mid-major conferences rarely get these kind of games. If you win, you’re supposed to. If you get upset, it exposes you. Even as all the pundits say with the other breath that these teams aren’t that bad and teams should play these games. There’s no real payoff.

Wisconsin has a game against UW-Milwaukee today (also the Panthers), but there is no way that the media isn’t peeking ahead.

This game will be the highlight game of the Badgers’ nonconference season. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon and UW coach Bo Ryan have similar philosophies: Win with fundamentals and by playing smart. They also don’t mind traveling to places other top programs would never go to become tougher. Pitt was tested Saturday when it traveled to mid-major Buffalo and eked out a 70-67 win – just the second time this season that its winning margin wasn’t double-digits. That was a 74-66 win at Auburn. The Tigers lost to Wisconsin 77-63 at the South Padre Island Invitational in late November. Florida State is also a common opponent. Pitt beat the Seminoles 88-66 at home while Wisconsin beat the Seminoles 81-66 at the Kohl Center.

Pitt and Wisconsin have other similarities, too. Both have a serious All-America candidate as well as a strong and deep supporting cast. The Panthers are led by Aaron Gray, a talented 7-foot, 270-pound senior center who averages 16.8 points, 10.8 rebounds and is shooting 64 percent overall. Mike Cook, a 6-4 junior swingman, averages 11.6 points and is shooting 56.6 percent overall and 35.7 percent from 3-point range. Antonio Graves, a 6-3 senior guard, averages 10.1 points and is shooting 49.4 percent overall and 48.1 percent from 3. The Panthers have nine players who average more than 12 minutes a game.

Pitt beat Wisconsin on New Year’s Eve last season as then-senior point guard Carl Krauser scored 22 points for the host Panthers, who shot 55.1 percent. Alando Tucker had 25 points for Wisconsin, which shot 42.1 percent.

It’s Saturday, noon on ESPN. Now the bad news. Dick Vitale will be doing the screaming.

Coach Dixon seems a little envious that Wisconsin gets a warm-up after a break with Milwaukee.

In years past under Dixon, Pitt would traditionally play a major-conference team between Christmas and New Year’s Day. The Panthers preferred to play smaller conference foes the weekend after final exams.

That is not the case this season with a trip to No. 7 Wisconsin Saturday. Wisconsin gave Pitt two dates for the game and this is the one that worked best for Pitt.

“It’s not ideal,” Dixon said. “But that’s what you have to do to get two of the best teams in the country to play. As you can see, there are not a lot of teams out there playing games like these.”

Wisconsin actually has size to match up with Pitt. Two strong 6′ 11″ players in Forward-Center Brian Butch and Center Greg Stiemsma, who like Gray, is also is willing and adept at passing out if the shot isn’t there.

A story on Levon Kendall in the Toronto paper. As usual the focus is on what he does on the court, not the box score.

“They did a good job of clogging the lane,” Buffalo point guard Eric Moore said after the game. He wasn’t kidding. With Kendall and Gray parked in the paint, knees bent, arms stretched straight out, they forced the Bulls out to the perimeter, where in the end the Bulls relied too much on outside shots. Dixon said Kendall is the team’s MVP. His status has Canada’s senior men’s national team coach Leo Rautins salivating as well.

A kid who put up 40 points and 12 rebounds for Canada against a junior national U.S. team in a tournament in Argentina in 2005, dumbfounding NBA scouts, has been contributing in other ways for Pitt. In Saturday’s game, in front of 6,350 frenzied Bulls fans — the third largest crowd in Alumni Arena history — Kendall had just six points, but it was the intangibles that one took notice of, especially in the face of a charged-up Bulls team that came within three points of pulling off a massive upset.

Gray had 19 points, but it was Kendall’s six rebounds, his four assists, one turnover — and the key points during a close game where he made those contributions — that get noticed by basketball people.

“My role in this offence is a lot different here,” Kendall said. “I do the little things, play defence, set screens, be a leader, the stuff that doesn’t show up in the boxscores. I’m not satisfied with 6.0 points per game (his average), but that’s not something I’m going to force.”

Well his points per game would be higher if he was shooting better. So far he’s only 18-47 (.383) this season. The lowest shooting percentage among the starters and the four coming off the bench. His Free Throw shooting is solid, but he isn’t knocking down shots so far.

ESPN.com has conference reviews, Joe Starkey handles the Big East.

Biggest Disappointment

Pittsburgh

The Panthers garnered some preseason votes in both polls and were picked to finish third in the conference but lost their final five games — their first five-game Big East losing streak since 1998 — to finish 6-6 and mired in sixth place. Some key injuries on the defensive line set the stage for the season-ending collapse. Pitt’s final three opponents (UConn, West Virginia, Louisville) combined for 139 points and 1,621 yards. West Virginia’s home loss to USF also could qualify in this category. It was a season-killer.

Yeah, Pitt was an easy consensus. In the individual capsules (Insider subs.) I was mildly surprised he even mentioned Paul Rhoads.

Shortly after the regular-season finale, second-year coach Dave Wannstedt fired linebacker coach Curtis Bray and strength and conditioning coach Mike Kent but surprised many by retaining defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads. The Panthers finished 87th in Division I-A in total defense.

Capsules are tough, because you are trying to summarize everything past and going forward in too short a space. Still that, was begging for more. Instead, that was the extent of commentary on the defense. In looking back and forward you get this.

Biggest disappointment: The freshman class was supposed to have some major contributors, but players such as receiver/tailback Dorin Dickerson, tight end Nate Byham, tailback Kevin Collier and safety Elijah Fields would have been better off redshirting. Dickerson was hobbled early in the season and Fields didn’t catch on to the defense fast enough.

What’s next: As the pressure rises, Wannstedt is going to have to break in a new quarterback to replace Palko. The three major competitors will be highly touted freshman Pat Bostick, junior Bill Stull and redshirt freshman Kevan Smith. Whoever emerges should have an outstanding corps of receivers, led by Derek Kinder (57 catches, six touchdowns) and Oderick Turner (44 catches, eight touchdowns).

The implication by linking Byham and Collier with the other two, is that they too had struggles that kept them from contributing. Not simply a failure to use them. Something that isn’t actually clear from this past season — especially Byham. If you want to use the heralded freshmen as the “biggest disappointment” rather than the run defense, then the questions on the coaches only increases.
The pressure is going to be on seeing the defense improve. That more then anything else, it is what will be watched closely. It’s what has failed miserably. It is supposed to be Wannstedt’s strength. It’s where he has resisted any coaching changes other then tossing over Bray since coming into the job.