Okay, so the afternoon games have hardly been shockers. A momentary scare for Maryland, but even that passed. Let’s face it, we are hoping for more of the same, at least as far as Pitt is concerned in the nightcap.

Antonio Graves got a nice feature story in USA Today.

“I got him on the phone,” Dixon says, “and now that I know him more I can imagine the smile he had through the phone, because when certain things come through that you work for, I recognize the smile he might have had.”

Four years later, Graves’ team bio still lists his happiest and most gratifying moment in sports. It’s the day he signed with Pitt.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky on recruits. Not only with Graves but when Walter Walters failed to qualify and went to Cleveland St. for a week before failing out there. Considering the NCAA emphasis on academics, Pitt dodged an additional bullet with APR issues. (Seton Hall could be heading for a minefield with that issue once Pitt recruit Mike Davis possibly finally qualifying.)

The New York Post notes what Pitt has done over the years,

They are the Big East’s forgotten power in so many ways. They just competed in their sixth league championship game in seven years, a stretch of excellence that covers two coaching administrations and is unparalleled in conference history. They are one of only 12 teams that have played in each of the last six NCAA tournaments; no other Big East school can say that.

Yet, there is something about the Pittsburgh Panthers that is easy to overlook. Georgetown beat them in that finale last week, and the Hoyas are the fashionable selection among bracketeers to enjoy the league’s longest NCAA run. Just as much energy was devoted this week to who’s not here – Syracuse missing the NCAAs, St. John’s and UConn being left out of NIT – as to who is here.

Of course, we all know why, Pitt hasn’t gotten past the Sweet 16. Syracuse in the 80s couldn’t get past G-town in the Big East Championships for years before finally breaking through. Still at least they made runs in the tournament.
I think Ray Fittipaldo is about sick of getting the e-mails and messages about how bad Gray is. I can’t say I blame him. I try to attribute it to some anxiety about the team not succeeding in the Tournament, but some of it seems like downright hatred. To the point where people don’t even want to admit when he did play well. I guess it’s the problem when you harden your position to an absolute, there are no exceptions. And even if the facts disagree, you still argue otherwise.

Just a little something I had forgotten about Wright State Coach Brad Brownwell and how basically the AD and administration went ultra-cheap on Brownwell to shove him out the door.

Brownell said if he had felt better at his situation at UNCW, it would have taken a coaching offer “really special” to make him leave. But he and athletic director Mike Capaccio couldn’t reach an agreement on a contract extension and Brownell resigned March 30 to take the job in Dayton.

“I had a couple of chances to leave there as an assistant and a couple of other times as head coach,” Brownell said. “Just building a program, being a part of something that was really special, that took a long time, that you put so much of your heart and soul into, you want to reap the rewards of that.

“It’s really a special place, but sometimes things don’t work out. Things change and you don’t always know if you feel right.”

Last year UNC-Wilmington was in the NCAA Tournament. This year they had 7 wins. That AD better have some incriminating photos of key members of the administration.