Okay, everyone getting a little perspective and breathing just a touch easier. It’s rough, I know. Worst loss ever at the Pete. The worst home loss in 6 years.

“I didn’t recognize that team to start,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “It’s not a good feeling right now.”

…

“It was just a bad day,” senior center Aaron Gray said. “It’s going to happen sometimes. The true test will be how we respond.”

…

“There were multiple reasons we lost this game,” Gray said. “If we play like that, we will lose every game.”

I still can’t believe how abysmal Pitt was in just about every facet, and every individual. Well, Tyrell Biggs went 4-4 from the free throw line for about the only positive surprise.

The Pitt players were frustrated, angry and embarrassed — as you would expect. Aaron Gray was the only player who was willing to talk with the media after the game. You can blame your favorite player to hate or the coach or whatever. In this game, it was the ultimate team loss. A complete team effort.
On the bright side, as bad as the game was, it still only counted as one loss.

The coaching staff will have a little more hard evidence to employ as a teaching tool, particularly as it relates to handling full-court pressure and attacking a zone.

Practices will likely become a little more spirited than they might have been, especially considering the Panthers had been less than themselves in getting out-rebounded by eight but still beating Providence, 74-68, on Saturday.

And the players’ pride has clearly been challenged now that a second conference game has been surrendered at home.

Ron Cook  who had been writing laudatory piece after laudatory piece for the last couple of weeks is now concerned.

But Pitt couldn’t stop Louisville’s offense.

That probably was most depressing.

A program known for its tough man-to-man defense was embarrassed by the more athletic Cardinals.

Again, it was a quickness issue.

If you really want something to worry about Pitt at tournament time, worry about that speed thing.

It wasn’t just Gray, who has been known to struggle with mobile big men. Louisville’s David Padgett and Derrick Caracter ate him up inside, but Gray was hardly the only Pitt player who was a step slow. Caracter blew by Levon Kendall for a layup. Terrence Williams flew past Levance Fields and Keith Benjamin on separate occasions. Brandon Jenkins left Fields and Antonio Graves in the dust on his way to an uncontested layups.

We’ve all known that Pitt is not a team with great quickness. I hardly think that’s a revelation.
There are ways to address this, which Pitt had done in terms of moving the ball, staying in position on defense and just not getting rattled. Even in the Marquette game — which Louisville cited as the template — Pitt adjusted to it and made better decisions and execution. There was none of that last night. They were flustered, and then frustrated. They never got settled. Disjointed doesn’t even begin to describe it.
On the flip side, you have to give credit to Louisville. As I wrote later, they finally got everything together in one game. They played their finest game in two years.

“When the ball goes inside, they’re very smart in finding their shooters,” Pitino said. “Once it went inside, we weren’t going to let them go outside to the shooters.

“We played zone and man, and when the ball went inside the foul line, we were just going to match up. We also used some 3-2 zone that we haven’t played much this year.”

The end of the game featured something Louisville fans hadn’t seen in a couple of years: players smiling and laughing while taking down a ranked team. That might have been the signature moment of this night.

“That’s the best win we’ve had in a couple of years,” Padgett said. “We knew coming in that if we won this game and did well our last four games, it would be pretty hard to overlook us (for the NCAA Tournament). This is the kind of win that can turn our season around.”

It was the big win they needed to get themselves solidly in the discussion for an NCAA Tournament bid.

Now, Pitt needs to respond the rest of the way.

Just made it. Pregnant wife craved pancakes and fruit for dinner. Yeesh.

7:10: 8-2 L-ville, 15:55 to the half. Horrible start. Bad ball handling — 4 straight turnovers. Louisville has opened well shooting 4-6.

7:20: Pitt now trailing 17-7, 11:47. 0-5 on 3s, 2-10 shooting overall and 6 turnovers. Pitt has come out unprepared tonight. Can’t say I’ve seen much to like from anyone on the court.

7:26: Frustrating to watch this game with the inconsistent refs. It’s screwed on both sides, but I have no sense about when a foul will be called. They’ve allowed shoving and hits on both, but at the same time they have called some real cheapies.

It isn’t the reason why Pitt is doing so poorly. It just adds to the frustration.

7:38: Safe to say, this has been the worst Pitt has looked all season. Sloppy play. Bad passing, poor effort to get to the ball. Bad shooting. Team effort to look this bad.

7:47: On the bright side, they can only play better after this.

7:53: Pitt down 36-19. I’m blown away. 19 points, 19 rebounds, 15 turnovers. 5-21 shooting and 0-9 on 3s. That’s just too many 3s.
This is a team effort at this kind of bad play. No one player, the whole team shares this opening 20 minutes.

8:31: And now Fields is shaken up. What a tremendously bad game for Pitt. Sloppy. Poor execution, poor play, and even good shots aren’t going down.

Everything is coming together to go absolutely wrong in one game.

8:52: Geez. 61-46, 3:52 left. The team will have the rest of the week to stew and get angry over this performance. Even with all the turnovers (19), the piss-poor shooting was astounding. 14-39 overall and 2-16 on 3s.

9:24: Pitt loses 66-53. Louisville from the very start wanted it more. They played harder. They went after it.

Their defense was tremendous. Not simply pressing up court. It was the way they flew to the ball. There was no space for shots. They swarmed and kept Pitt from getting good shots. The early slew of turnovers, also made Pitt timid about moving the ball around. Afraid of screwing up again.

I mean it’s insane. You look at the stats and if you didn’t see the game you would just assume Pitt had a bad shooting night, and that was the main culprit. Note, these are unofficial stats and may change slightly.
Turnovers: 19-Pitt; 16-Lousiville
Rebounds: 34-Pitt; 33-Louisville

Free Throws: 16-22-Pitt; 10-18-Louisville

Fouls: 21-Pitt; 21-Louisville

Shooting:  17-48-Pitt; 26-54-Louisville

3-point shooting: 3-21-Pitt; 4-12-Louisville

All you can do is tip your cap to Louisville for playing far better then Pitt. For playing their best game of the season — and they did. This was not the same team that lost to Villanova a week and a half ago.

Nor was this the same Pitt team that took it to WVU last week.

It’s now up to Pitt to get up and deal. They can’t expect to win just because of who they are, who they are playing or where they are playing.

First off, how about all of the Steelers fans out there take a moment and thank the scheduling gods that this game is not during an AFC Championship game that we happen to be playing in. Last year I missed the Pitt game to watch the Stillers. Luckily my choice is between Pitt-UL and the Texas-Oklahoma women’s game–a bit of an easier choice.

Next is an update on where former kicker David Abdul is at right now. The answer: kicking in an indoor football league. Commenter B.B. left the link to the Pittsburgh River Rats (who I didn’t know existed until about 15 minutes ago), and it’s good to see he’s in good shape after some health issues.

Now looking to a possible future Pitt Panther, Terrelle Pryor gets an article on SI.com which speaks of a comparison to NFL QB Vince Young. As Mondesi’s House mentions, though, Young was never a top football and basketball recruit.

Jeannette, Pa., quarterback Terrelle Pryor has been compared to Young because of his 6-foot-6, 220-pound frame, his ability to glide past players at top speed and his ability to simply dominate football games.

….

“I leave it up to people to make their own comparisons when they watch me play,” he said. “It’s a very nice comparison, but I haven’t done anything yet. I like to watch Vince Young and Troy Smith and the quarterbacks that can move around and do things, but I don’t compare myself to them.”

Pryor is so good he could be the next (and first) Terrelle Pryor. He still looks skinny on his 6-foot-6 frame, he’s getting faster and he’s learning how to play quarterback. The same raw athletic ability also comes out in basketball, where Pryor is ranked as a national top-25 player.

And finally, I leave you with how the Big East Tournament would look if the season ended right now, compliments of Card Chronicle.

You know, I started typing “Big game tonight,” and realized how stupid and trite that was. This is February. It’s in conference. They are all big games at this point.

Louisville is standing athwart the bubble still looking for a win that doesn’t scream, “yeah, so.” They missed chances at home against Marquette and Georgetown; and blew a shot on the road against ‘Nova. This week they have two more road shots that could be huge. At Pitt and at Marquette.

Unless Rick Pitino’s team wins at Pittsburgh tomorrow and/or at Marquette on Saturday, there’s no reason for prolonged high-fives. At least one victory at one of the most formidable places to play in the Big East is the minimum requirement if the Cardinals expect to be discussed for the NCAA Tournament four weeks from today.

Some would disagree. Some would say this 17-8 team better roll a seven (Pitt is ranked seventh) as well as an 11 (Marquette is ranked 11th) to muscle its way into the debate.

“ESPN has already picked the NCAA field,” Pitino said. “We’re not in right now. We need a win like this to get into the hunt.”

You could say that again. In fact, you could say it twice.

This is the price the Cards are paying for losing to Dayton, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Villanova. It’s the price they’re paying for not having a victory against a ranked team since March 2005.

This is the big, predominant theme for the Cardinals. Credit Pitino for playing this correctly for his team. Rather than complain about back-to-back road games against 2 of the 3 top teams in the conference. It is a chance.

“Right now we need to go against great basketball teams,” he said. “It’s a blessing more than anything else. We need to play against people like that because we need to get one of these road wins. You want a signature win, that’s all people talk about.”

The Cards got surprising output from the highly sought, but early bust Derrick Caracter in their last win — though it was against USF. The bigger story was that David Padgett was hurt — again. This time a sprained foot that has him day-to-day at best. With the constant stream of injuries from major to minor for Padgett, Mike at Card Chronicle may have put it best:

Why wouldn’t David Padgett sprain his foot while simply running down the floor without anyone within five feet of him? It’s like God is running out of ways to plead with him to do something, anything, with his life other than play basketball.

Pitt obviously doesn’t want to lose a home game — or any game for that matter. The fact is, though, with 3 of its final 4 games on the road, Pitt has to win to stay in control of the conference. And just as important, make sure to finish in the top 4 of the conference to get that 1st round bye in the Big East Tournament.

Last year, Pitt won a physical battle in Freedom Hall. In that game, Terrance Williams singlehandedly kept the Cardinals in that game with his best game ever. Right now, Williams has been struggling in a mini-slump — though the Cards have won the games. Williams is the biggest match-up problem for Pitt as a 6’6″ swingman.

But Williams looked uncomfortable on offense as the Cards lost to Villanova and Georgetown before beating South Florida. His three-point shooting remains mostly dreadful; Williams is connecting on just 26.2 percent this season while attempting more threes than all but seven players in the Big East.

His work inside the arc hasn’t been much more effective. Williams drove to the rim five times early in the South Florida game, making one layup but getting two shots blocked and being whistled for a charge.

Pitino says Williams doesn’t know what to do when he gets into the lane.

“He’s driving into what I call a telephone booth,” he said. “The window is closing on him all the time, and he can’t get to the rim and get fouled.”

Despite his muscular frame, Williams seems to shy from contact inside. He has attempted only two free throws the past three games.

“Most of the time I’m shooting on the way down,” he said. “If I take an extra dribble, I can go all the way to the rim and get an easy layup. But I’m stopping outside the paint, trying to jump and create something, and I get stuck in the air.”

Against Pitt’s shorter players on the perimeter, Williams might find his 3-point shooting to be better tonight. Expect Antonio Graves and Mike Cook to switch off on him during the game. Cook actually did some good work on defense against Providence in helping to contain Geoff McDermott.

Moreover, Cook was forced to guard Providence swingman Geoff McDermott, one of the Big East’s best rebounders, because Levon Kendall had to cover center Herbert Hill after Gray sat out much of the first half in foul trouble.

McDermott was hounded by the smaller Cook for much of the game. He finished with 11 points and only five rebounds. That was as much of a victory for Cook, maligned for his lack of defensive prowess, as his 11 points.

“I thought he played pretty good defense,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.

McDermott averages around 11 points but usually corrals 9.6 rebounds. Not only did he limit the rebounding opportunities, but McDermott is their leading assist guy at 5.4. Cook helped hold him to only 4, while getting him with 4 turnovers.
If Cook can help keep Williams in check — you know he’s going to snap out of that slump — Pitt should be able to take the Cardinals. The Cardinal press has not been particularly strong. Still, that has been a struggle for Pitt at times. I expect to see it a lot when it’s just Ramon on the court without Fields.

I’m chalking this up to more from Mike Rice, Jr. More reaching out to recruiting Philly — for 2009.

He was on top of it early on against the Bulls, scoring on three consecutive trips down the floor to keep Chester close. Then in the second quarter, Robinson combined with 6-5 sophomore Rahlir Jefferson for a 14-4 run that gave Chester a 26-18 lead.

Jefferson, who according to Chester coach Fred Pickett also has received an offer from Pitt, would wind up with 16 points to go with four blocks and seven rebounds. He also kept former Chester player and Glen Mills star Alonzo Jones limited to 11 points.

“He’s still a baby,” Pickett said of Jefferson. “He’s satisfied with being the third or fourth wheel. He’s not aggressively trying to take anything over. But he’s going to be a big-time player.”

[Emphasis added.]

This is the Chester Clippers where Nasir Robinson — a Pitt commit for 2008 — plays.

This goes along with the early verbal from another sophomore. I take these as seriously as I took Terrelle Pryor and Herb Pope’s sophomore verbals. They are nice. The kids may be talented. But I’m not holding them to it. It’s just too soon and too many things can change on both sides.

On the truly committed side, DeJuan Blair had another stellar performance.

Some have called the 6-foot-7, 250-pound Pitt recruit a great low-post scorer. Others tend to focus on his rebounding or his innate passing ability.

Last night at the prestigious Primetime Shootout at Sovereign Bank Arena, there was only one word to describe his play — dominating.

Behind a gargantuan effort from its star senior center, No. 21 Schenley (20-2) stormed to a 85-74 victory against No. 20 DeMatha Catholic (Md.), in a battle of two of USA Today’s Top 25 teams.

Despite being loaded with Division I recruits, DeMatha had no answer for the hulking Blair, who finished with 32 points, 20 rebounds, 5 blocks and 5 steals. Blair dazzled the crowd with an array of emphatic dunks, smooth footwork, crisp passes and demoralizing blocked shots.

In a tournament field littered with top-tier teams and premier talent, Blair used it as a coming-out party on the national stage.

He finished the tournament by being named the MVP.

“I love the pressure,” Blair said, “I really do.”

After the game, Blair was treated like a star. Hugs, smiles and standing ovations were abundant as he waved to fans wearing Pitt apparel.

There wasn’t a lot with an evening game and a deadline for the Sunday paper. Plus, there’s a fast turnaround to get ready for Louisville.

You know, during the game, I kept marveling at how well Providence was playing. I’ve seen about 5 of their games this season, but this was one of their best — definitely the best on the road. Of course, 5 isn’t a particularly large sample size. Plus, I could have been a little delusional because of my biases for Pitt. Turns out others had the same view.

The Friars played as well as they have all season on the road (including a win at Connecticut) considering the atmosphere in the Petersen Events Center but still came up short.

Pittsburgh — and especially the Pete — is just not a fun place for the Friars to visit.

Pittsburgh improved to 22-3 on the season and stayed atop the Big East with a 10-1 record. PC is now 0-4 at The Pete and 3-17 all-time at Pittsburgh.

Hill and Curry led the Friars with 20 points apiece. PC is now 15-8 overall but at 5-5 and stuck in the middle of a muddled pack of Big East teams.

The article, though, also calls the intentional foul call “debatable.” Right. Great quote, though, from Gray about the style of this game.

“This is the Big East, so referees traditionally allow a lot of contact. I like it though, because if I get pushed on one end, it means I can push back that much harder on the other end. It’s the kind of game that I enjoy playing and where I excel.”

Just don’t go over the back.

With Gray’s 22 point outburst, naturally a lot of attention comes to the big guy.

“I was really working hard for post position and getting it pretty close to the basket,” Gray said. “My guys did a great job of feeding me the ball.”

Gray sat for only 2:47 of the final 16 minutes, and part of that came when he landed hard on his back following an intentional foul by Providence freshman Ray Hall on a layup with 2:37 to play.

“I was frustrated from having to sit out the whole first half,” Gray said. “That was my fault. I made some stupid mistakes. I thought maybe I could convince him a little bit. I sat for a few minutes, and it worked out well. Obviously, I was still a little hot from picking up my third foul. I could have very easily right away picked up my fourth foul.”

Gray picked up his fourth foul with 22 seconds to play, with Pitt ahead, 71-66.

“He fought through it and played very well,” Dixon said of Gray. “It was good to see.”

It was a great bit of camera work early in the second half when Gray picked up his third foul. You could see him shouting/pleading back to Coach Dixon not to take him out. Where Gray pointed to his own head indicating he would be smart.

Naturally Dixon, after the game, suggested he wasn’t going to pull Gray at that point. Providence decided that with its size inside, the main focus would be on limiting the action on the perimeter. Which they did, limiting 3-point shot opportunities and holding Pitt to only 5-13 shooting from outside. Not every team, though, has the size Providence does to try that.

“It was pick your poison,” Welsh said. “Very rarely do you see a team shoot 43 percent from the 3-point line. That number can hurt you. I’ve seen teams try to zone them and they’re very efficient with the zone. We’ve played them with the zone over the last few years. They’ve always attacked our zone well. I don’t like leaving Gray loose. I wanted to have a body on him. What our problem was they have now surrounded him with great shooters, which makes it tough.”

Pitt shot 46 percent from the field. Antonio Graves and Mike Cook joined Gray in double figures with 13 and 11 points. Providence center Herbert Hill and point guard Sharaud Curry led the Friars with 20 points apiece.

It’s interesting, that Pitt and Providence have similar correlation with certain stats. The eFG% was a wash, and while Providence actually beat Pitt on the offensive glass, that advantage was negated by the number of turnovers for Providence — and their inability to make free throws.

Gray’s back may be sore, but it should be alright come Monday. Ron Cook continues his series on lauding individual Pitt players with one for Gray. Seriously, get Smizik in there for some backhanded compliments and nit-picking questioning of tactics. Just so I have something to get annoyed over.

You know, Pitt didn’t shoot free throws particularly well (13-21), but they were aces compared to Providence (7-16). Interesting to see that the final shooting percentages were nearly the same. Pitt was 28-60, while Providence 28-61. The key difference was that when the final stats come out and the halftime splits are seen, Pitt shot better in the second half.

This was a key win, because Pitt was actually outrebounded 41-33 (and worse 16-11 on offensive glass), and didn’t have a great advantage on shooting. Those are usually the things that indicate doom for Pitt. Pitt was able to overcome that. This was an off-night for the team, but they were good enough to over come that.

Providence played a much better game than I had seen from them recently (they looked nothing like the team that nearly blew it to Cinci at home. Hard to believe, but the Providence team could actually be quite good in the next year or so. Still, Pitt has beaten the Friars 7 straight. Since Pitt came into the Big East, Providence has been the one team they have consistently beaten.
The good: Pitt only had 10 turnovers to Providence’s 6. And the team had 18 assists.

Gray had 22 points. Cook had 11. Graves had 13 (all in the second half). Kendall had 10 rebounds — doing a decent job of picking up the slack on the boards when Gray was out — and those two charges he took were so important.

Despite all the struggles, Pitt had a very balanced distribution of minutes. Levance Fields and Graves played 31 minutes. Five  other players had at least 22 minutes. Benjamin had 11 minutes.

The bad: guard play was shaky, especially in the first half. Pitt only had 7 assists in the first half, and 6 turnovers.
It was disturbing to watch Ramon dribbling, trying to shake his defender to create space for his shot. That wasn’t fooling anyone. If he wants to do that, he needs to show them that he can take them off the dribble and go to the hoop.

It’s probably just me, but there were points where Gray settled for short jump shots rather than push to the basket. It made me think that he was doing that because he’d rather take the chance with the shot than draw the foul, and have to shoot free throws.

Now that all football is done, the 6pm games on ESPN begin.

It’s a Coaches Versus Cancer day, so expect to see Jamie Dixon and Tim Welsh in sneakers.

If you are listening to the radio, be sure to leave a comment on how Hillgrove and Groat do when they have to say Weyinmi Efejuku.

6:12: Just got over here as the Hofstra game just went final. Missed the first 14 points of the game.

6:16: Oh, Gray will abuse Hill if the Friars leave it one-on-one.

6:21: 17-14 Pitt, 12:08. Sam Young not exactly looking that sharp early. Inconsistency is a killer for him.

6:24: 18-17 Providence, 10:46. Pitt slipping into Providence’s game by rushing some shots. Need to control the tempo.

6:42: 30-30 Providence, 3:03. Young recovered from missing some shots, a couple turnovers to notch 6 points. Cook has 7 points.

Providence was getting some tremendous penetration from Curry. This is probably the second best I’ve seen the Friars play on the road (the best was against UConn).

Is anyone else feeling a mixture of amusement and annoyance when they keep referring to rivalry week, with the implications that Pitt-Prov is a rivalry game?

6:56: Pitt trailing 34-33. Gray only played 8 minutes in the half with 2 fouls. Pitt’s shots were a mix of some rushed shots and others that just didn’t go. Graves and Ramon were 0-5 and very little. The team looks uncomfortable and unsettled.
Herbert Hill has been able to back down on the Pitt defense and Sharaud Curry has been very creative. The other players for the Friars haven’t shot that well.

Lots of time, and no reason to panic. Mild frustration is permitted.

7:23: Pitt leads 47-43, 13:11 left. Pitt has gone on an 11-1 run. Kendall has taken two charges in this game.

Just some less than smart play from Pitt too often, while Providence — and I can’t stress this enough — is playing one of their best games. They are, though, one of the bad FT shooting teams in the BE.

Pitt’s guards are not having a good game. Graves, Ramon and even Fields are struggling. Not just shooting, but spacing and ball movement overall.

7:38: Pitt leads 57-52. If Gray could just finish — at least two easy ones just rolled off the rim — he’d be closer to 30.

7:47: Graves grabs back the turnover on the errant pass, and wow! 63-59, and after the TV TO, a chance for one more.

7:59: Here’s a statement you don’t get to read everyday. Pitt has the advantage at the free throw line against Providence.

8:07: Whoever the color guy was that simply said “Fatigue” when Curry missed a FT was dead-on. Curry’s played the entire game. Can’t believe how much Gray struggles at the line, though, down the stretch.

8:10: Pitt wins, 74-68. It wasn’t pretty. It was a less then impressive win. Still that’s okay. Pitt was probably due for a bad game. The timing was important. Better to struggle in this game rather than the prior or even the next two.

The Big East has seen a few big games today with some implications for Pitt.

First was Georgetown walking all over Marquette. I have a hard time believing we can drop three games to the Golden Eagles after this game, but hey, this is the Big East. Every game is tough and every game can surprise you in some way. From a Pitt standpoint we get a little more breathing room at the top spot in the conference standings. Georgetown is one game back and Marquette is 1.5 back.

The real upset was West Virginia over Ben Howland’s Bruins. Although it was 10 am in the internal clocks of UCLA players and starting PG Darren Collison didn’t play, a loss is a loss in the eyes of the RPI–something which means a good deal to Pitt at this point.

According to ESPN InsiderRPI (subs. of course), UCLA had the #1 RPI before the loss (Pitt with the 3rd RPI) and it will be interesting to see how that shapes up once it is updated.

Should it be a choice between Pitt and UCLA for a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, our win over WVU and UCLA’s loss could both play a big part in that decision.

By the way, four weeks from tomorrow we’ll know if Pitt gets screwed again by the selection committee.

They seemed to be a bit late this week. Luke Winn at SI.com has Pitt at #8 behind Marquette, but seems almost prescient:

Smart scheduling by the Big East for putting the Panthers’ visit to Marquette on the regular season’s final Saturday, in the hopes that the league title will be on the line in a nationally televised game. But there are also decent odds that Pitt could finish first in the Big East, with Marquette second, even if the Eagles sweep the teams’ regular-season series. The Panthers only have one league loss (to Marquette at home on Jan. 21) and a much easier schedule leading up to March 3. Aside from a trip to Georgetown, every other game — home dates with Providence, Louisville and West Virginia, plus a trip to Seton Hall — is an expected W. The Eagles, on the other hand, have two Big East losses and visits to Georgetown, DePaul and Notre Dame remaining.

Of course, Pitt has to still get those Ws.

ESPN.com has Pitt up to #7 and a semi-mea culpa/backhander.

This space has been a bit rough on the Panthers, who are a quality outfit in a slightly lesser league this season. Any win in Morgantown is good, but in the Backyard Brawl, it’s even better.

For the record in this power 16, there are 3 Big East teams, 3 PAC-10s,  2 from the ACC, Big 11, SEC and Big 12. The individual votes all have Pitt between 6 and 9.

Finally this article on Senior prospects for the NBA says this about Gray (insider subs).

Gray shocked scouts last year with his emergence from the shadow of Chris Taft’s ruined sophomore season. And he was the anti-Taft in so many ways. While he didn’t have Taft’s physical gifts, he played hard, was consistent and produced for Pittsburgh when they needed him.

Gray declared for the 2006 draft but didn’t get a first-round guarantee, so he returned for his senior year at Pittsburgh.

Gray is a 7-footer with the girth to handle the middle full-time. He’s a good rebounder, especially on the offensive boards.

The knock on Gray is that he’s not athletic, and with the NBA moving toward an up-tempo style, Gray’s type of game is less valued than it’s been in the past.

Still, for a second straight season, Gray continues to prove he’s a legit NBA center prospect, despite scouts’ misgivings.

Right now, he’s moved from the first-round bubble into the first round.

[Emphasis added.]

I think that will hurt Gray in the draft more than anything else. The change in style of play. He’ll be a solid player, and should have a decent career. His offense, though, won’t be enough to put him among the better centers.

Settling in for my weekend monitor duty for AOL Fanhouse (gorging myself on watching lots of college basketball for 10-12 hours, drinking a little and making snarky posts — I love this gig). Trying to think about the Providence-Pitt game a little without feeling overconfident. Pitt has won 6 straight against the Friars. Still, I don’t want to turn into Lou Holtz with puffing a team I really think Pitt should pound.

The Friars have a very nice troika of Herbert Hill, Geoff McDermott and Sharaud Curry. Hill, was actually my mid-season Big East player of the year. Yet, outside a very surprising running off the floor of Marquette (Wesley Matthews was injured and Dominic James was slumping), the Providence Friars haven’t really done much against the better teams — especially on the road.

Pitt is a team, that Providence has to envy. They also aren’t sure where to key on defensively.

At this point, it’s getting difficult to pinpoint just what is the most impressive feature in the six-year run the Pittsburgh Panthers are on.

…

The Panthers have made five straight trips to the NCAA Tournament, easily the best run in school history. In fact, fans in the Steel City have become so spoiled that the only consistent complaint heard on the streets is not will the Panthers win 20 games and get into the NCAAs but why they keep falling short of the Final Four.

This may be the year that that NCAA drought is ended. Howland established Pitt’s tradition of big, strong and physical defense and rebounding before he left for UCLA in 2003. Dixon still stresses those traits and has the best center in the Big East, Aaron Gray, anchoring the team’s power game. But this Panther team’s biggest strength may just be its offensive versatility.

With a slew of talented guards, the best 3-point shooting in the Big East and some athletic, slashing forwards, stopping Pitt’s attack is an opponent’s worst nightmare.

While the minutes might increase for Sam Young, don’t expect him to start (but, really, we knew that). And you know what, no one is going to complain. Especially when Pitt is winning like this. Who really wants to be that kind of whiner? It’s hard to argue with success, and of the 3 losses. Can anyone really, definitively say Pitt would have won with Young in there more and Kendall out? Or Benjamin and/or Ramon in more for Cook and/or Graves?

Georgetown just knocked off Marquette (a lot closer than the score indicates). Guess what game now looms even larger then the season ender for winning the Big East regular season?

Chris Dokish over at Panther Rants posted about a possible verbal commitment from a basketball player visiting the ‘Burgh this weekend. According to the article, he is great as a one-on-one player with the ball who posses great athleticism and he has great size too (6’ 5″ 220 lbs). Did I mention he’s a high school sophomore?

Terrence Boyd sounds like the amazing go-to guy who can easily take over the game that we’ve always wanted. The top 20 sophomore from Oak Hill Academy in Virginia is visiting the city with his mother and coach, and although his verbal isn’t binding at this point it sounds like he loves Pitt.

“I try to watch all of their games,” says Boyd, “and when I can’t, I go on ESPN to watch their highlights and say ‘how did my team do?'”

“They love their basketball there,” Boyd goes on to say. “You can really tell it’s a basketball area. I mean, it’s a lot about football there, too, but it’s really a basketball area now, too, and maybe when I get there and some others, it will be even more of a basketball town.”

Boyd says that if he does commit to the Panthers, that will probably be it. “Unless something drastic happens,” Boyd says, “like the head coach leaving, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

His college career is still a long way from beginning and although I think it’s odd that 10th graders are getting recruited like this, it’s a part of the game now. Actually, after seeing some 7th grade football players making websites to assist their chances, maybe Boyd got a late start.

The Friars out of Providence are tonight’s opponent and the past tells us we’re going to beat them. Last time we played them, February 2005, we won 81-68. We’ve won six in a row against Providence and haven’t lost to the them at home in more than eight years. Get out the magic marker and mark a “W” right?

Well, I would hold off on that just to make sure. The Tribune-Review gives us an article on Providence’s improvement which has been a surprise to Big East teams and coaches who picked them to finish 10th back in the preseason.

Providence is among the top scoring teams in the Big East at 73.8 points per game. When they shoot, good things happen. The Friars rank second in the Big East — and 10th in the nation — in field-goal percentage and No. 4 in the Big East in rebounds.

“They are very good offensively,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “They are very skilled. They shoot the ball well with their guards. They have a well-balanced offense.”

Coach, were you taking about us or them?

It is interesting though to see a team that is supposed to play similar to us on the offensive end. They get it inside to senior center Herbert Hill (18.8 ppg) but the guards will take the open shot too, especially Sharaud Curry (16.6 ppg).

Antonio Graves knows that the key to taking a lead will be stopping the other team’s offense.

“You can trade baskets all day,” Graves said. “It come downs to who can make stops.”

Looking over Providence’s schedule, you see wins over Boston College (when BC was ranked 23rd at the time) and a win over Marquette at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on January 4.

As discussed in this post about the possibility of mixing up the starting line up–notably putting Sam Young in and taking out Levon Kendall–well, don’t expect anything to change anytime soon. Even with Young coming off of a great performance over West Virginia and averaging 5.7 points in 14.7 minutes per game, Kendall will continue to get the starting nod (with 5.3 points in 26.2 minutes per game). Dixon is quoted as saying he loves having a new guy who breaks out every game and the writer’s continue to ask if that player will get more minutes. When another guy comes along the next game and puts up a load of points, then he’s the focus of writers who ask about getting more time.

Translation: One 21-point performance will not dictate a change to a system that has proven to be successful the past four years. For the most part, seniors start and underclassmen come off the bench if the competition is close.

If we keep winning then I have no right to complain.

Well, no. Not really. It’s been in my browser tabs all day. Just hadn’t had a chance to get around to it. The Zeise Q&A was the last for probably a month or so. Wonder what the main topic was?

Well of course there was a lot about recruiting. There was also a long little rant about people needing to chill about the script Pitt. This was worth noting to me.

Q: In light of Buddy Morris’s less than favorable assessment of the shape Pitt’s players are in — Do you think that the team’s sluggish look near the end of the season had more to do with conditioning than talent?

ZEISE: Here is another one of my pet peeves — any time something has gone wrong with Pitt it is automatically their conditioning and the strength coach who is the culprit and the next guy will save the day and make Pitt stronger and tougher. Look, I’m not saying Buddy Morris won’t turn this offensive line into the Redskins Hogs, but I’ve become worn down with this whole strength and conditioning coach thing. First it was Dave Kennedy that was going to save the Panthers, then when Pitt began to fall it was his fault and Mike Kent was brought in and his program was much better for Pitt and they even went to a Fiesta Bowl with him. Then Pitt began to fall again and now it is Buddy Morris to the rescue.

At some point, you have to ask yourself — how much of a difference does a strength and conditioning coach really make? I’m sure there are great ones and their are awful ones, but I bet like any position coach — the great ones have a lot better athletes to work with. My point is this: Perhaps a new voice in the weight room is a good thing but you don’t give up 641 yards in a game or let D.J. Hernandez do a Michael Vick impression against you simply because you aren’t in shape. You do that because you aren’t very good, period.

Case in point? Buddy Morris is considered a great strength and conditioning coach and is given credit for doing some great things at Pitt during some of their best seasons. But don’t forget, he was also the strength and conditioning coach in 1984, 85, 86, 90, 98 and 99 — and those years were pretty lean. He also was the Browns strength coach under Butch Davis, who, if I’m not mistaken, is now at North Carolina because he didn’t win in Cleveland.

My point? Strength and conditioning is an easy target when things go bad, but I’d be willing to bet most strength and conditioning coaches are roughly the same and their success or failure is almost always commensurate with the talent they have to work with.

Given the little debate last week over the puff piece on Buddy Morris (where I was able to dig up nice laudatory praise for Mike Kent from another Zeise Q&A), I find myself bemused. Not even saying I disagree with what Zeise just wrote (I really don’t). But I am bemused.

Ron Cooks asks, but when will Pitt win? What a shock, the answer again –2008.

Let’s see some recruiting euphoria — really, it’s so much like the couple days after the NFL draft. Recruiting grades in the Big East (Insider subs).

Pittsburgh: B
While everyone fell in love with coach Dave Wannstedt’s class in 2006, this class is every bit as good — if not better — but hasn’t received the same attention. The Panthers addressed just about every position, and QB Pat Bostick (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) and OG Chris Jacobson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Keystone Oaks) are excellent additions. S Maurice Williams (Erie, Pa./Strong Vincent) is the surprise athlete of the group.

That was the highest grade given to a Big East school. WVU and Rutgers, B-; USF, C; L-ville, C-; Syracuse, D+; UConn and Cinci, D. Scouts, Inc./ESPN.com in the final rankings put Pitt’s class at #19.

Tom Lemming at CSTV ranked Pitt’s class at #20.

Rivals.com put the class at #25.

Scout.com clocked Pitt at #9.

Tom Deinhart at the Sporting News on the class.

Dave Wannstedt once told me he wouldn’t sign a kid unless he thought he was an NFL player. And, by the looks of this class and his first one, Wanny is getting his word. The Panthers’ future pros look like QB Pat Bostick, DT Tommie Duhart, OL Chris Jacobson, DE Tony Tucker and WR Aundre Wright. The real horse could be RB LeSean McCoy, an uber talent who was forced to a prep school last year.

There’s always questions about which one didn’t the team get that was most disappointing. Personally I’m torn between 2 misses for the O-line. Either Gino Gradkowski who chose West Virginia (you just know another Gradkowski will haunt Pitt) or Josh Marks who went to PSU.

Finally, LeSean McCoy Highlights (hat tip to Jon K).

Ray Fittipaldo has his Q&A and chat on Pitt basketball.

Q: You answered a question about Dixon by noting that he is signed through the 2012-13 season. However, as we all know, the contract of a college coach is about as binding as Anthony Morelli’s verbal commitment was to Pitt, right? So what good would that be if Dixon’s dream job comes calling?

FITTIPALDO: You’re absolutely correct, Bob. Coach’s contracts are not worth the paper they are printed on. If it’s any peace of mind, Dixon said all the right things after signing the contract, like how he felt at home and how he wanted to raise his family here. I suppose it’s up to each individual out there to make up their own mind about believing what he said.

I gotta admit, I’m not sweating this issue this year. I don’t sweat it, generally because I think Dixon really wants to stay (based on no actual proof other than my gut); but he will listen periodically to make sure Pitt periodically kicks up the salary.

This year, though, has nothing that really worries me. There are no schools in the other BCS conferences that would have openings this year that are or are potentially near Pitt at this time. The SEC? Maybe Kentucky jettisons Tubby Smith, but I don’t see Coach Dixon as a target. The ACC? Really only Miami and Haith seem to be nearing a split, but that would be a step down. Big 11? I suppose Michigan or even Illinois might make a coaching change, but neither seems particularly attractive at this point by comparison. The Big 12 has Colorado looking for a new coach, but they’ll be going cheap — plus they suck and have no real support. The PAC-10 actually is stable this year.

And from the chat, some questions about Mike Cook and, um, invaluability (yes, I know it isn’t a real word).

PittHoopsatPittBlather: What do you think has been the biggest reason Mike Cook has struggled the past two games (shooting 1-14 from the field). I figured he may have been a bit nervous at Villanova playing in front of his family, but after last night, I’m clueless. Do you think it’s a cause of concern?

Ray Fittipaldo: If it goes into the next game, I’d start getting concerned. He did play well the two games prior to Villanova. Maybe he’s going through a little slump. It happens. If he does continue to struggle, Dixon does not have many options. He could replace Cook with Benjamin, but Benjamin has always been a role player, not a starter. The only other option is Gilbert Brown, but Dixon would have to burn his redshirt if he played him now.

…

wow11: Is it time to sit Mike Cook down? He’s killing us out there right now with too many bad shots, turnovers, careless defense, I think its time for a change …

Ray Fittipaldo: Who plays in his place? I love Benjamin’s game, but he seems to thrive in his reserve role. As I said before, do you want to burn Brown’s redshirt year and hope he can come in and play significant minutes in the NCAA tournament after sitting the bench the whole season? The best bet is to coach Cook up in the next few weeks and try to limit his mistakes.

PittHoopsatPittBlather: While it’s a good thing that Pitt has so many players that can step up and have good games any given night, it seems like because of that, some players completely disappear at other times. After Gray, who in your opinion, is the player we can least afford to have an off night come tournament time?

Ray Fittipaldo: I would say Ramon because of his 3-point shooting ability. He made two big 3-pointers in the second half last night that kept WVU at a comfortable distance. Pitt is going to need someone to step up and make 3s in the tournament. Ramon cannot have a terrible shooting night or it could spell trouble.

The only concern with Ramon even if he’s shooting well. Can he get open? I love seeing Ramon shoot (most of the time), but he is best when he has a chance to spot up or a catch and shoot — preferably off of a screen. The scariest thing when he is shooting, is when he is trying to create his own space for a shot.
While there is some speculation as to whether Young will see more minutes, there is little question that Kendall will continue to start.

Kendall is averaging more rebounds and assists.

“Sam hasn’t been showing as much pain in the past,” senior Antonio Graves said. “In the beginning of the season, that was holding him down. Now he’s a lot more explosive in practice and dunking more in practice. He’s more energetic.

“He’s coming along at the right time. … It adds to our depth and makes us more dangerous. That’s the thing about this team. We are able to make a substitution and not lose anything.”

Young wouldn’t give his perspective. He has barely spoken to the media since an 18-point performance against Dayton two days before Christmas. But history shows that seniors — at least the good ones — almost always start ahead of underclassmen at Pitt. Since October, Big East coaches have said the 6-foot-10, 225-pound Kendall is one of the most underappreciated forwards in the conference.

You know, I do think Kendall does do a lot of little things, and fits well with the team. Still, I can’t help but wonder if the other coaches like to cite Kendall and puff him much the way they do losing coaches from their conference — you know, so they can keep beating a team rather then risk someone competent get the job.

Whether luck or skill, Pitt’s perimeter defense has been much better this year.

Opponents are shooting 29.6 percent from behind the 3-point arc compared to 34.6 percent last season. And those double-digit 3-point barrages have gone by the wayside. Only one team managed to make 10 3-pointers in a game this season, and that happened in the first game against Western Michigan.

“We’re better guarding on the perimeter, there’s no question,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “We’re better guarding the dribbler as well as getting out on shooters. It’s improved a lot throughout the year. That’s the area where we’ve improved the most and it has to continue.”

…

“Our attitude has changed this year,” sophomore point guard Levance Fields said. “We’re in the gaps more. We’re preparing ahead of time. The one thing coach has stressed to us is communicating. Everyone is talking to each other this year. We’re talking each other through everything.”