I have to admit, I’d rather move to discussing the actual game and what to expect like the cool kids at Bruins Nation have started doing. The problem is there is just a lot of other material to at least link to to stay up to date. I’m hoping this is the big wave of “hey, Dixon and Howland are friends” stories that will subside.

The conference calls were yesterday. Howland spoke well of Pitt as you might expect but the local media did get some surprises.

But that conference call wasn’t all warm and fuzzy. At times, it was downright contentious.

Toward the end of his tenure at Pitt, Howland was tight-lipped about the then-possibility of taking the UCLA job. If his comments yesterday were an accurate barometer, what happened during his final few months at Pitt still rankles him, and he unleashed some scornful words in the direction of the Pittsburgh media.

“The media made it so difficult for any of this stuff to happen,” Howland said of leaving Pittsburgh and going to UCLA. “Really, it was a very, very difficult situation the whole year and [the media in Pittsburgh] was talking about me the whole year and trying to take the focus away from our team. … That is what I remember most about that situation.”

The. Pittsburgh. Media. Made. Things. Difficult? Are we talking the same Pittsburgh media in Pennsylvania? Located in North America? On the scale measuring media toughness with New York City sports coverage being the toughest and North Korean media on Kim Jong-Il’s golf exploits the easiest, the ‘Burgh media usually ranks somewhere south of Chicago Sports covering the first year of a Cubs Manager. All the local Pittsburgh media wants is access. Then it will generally roll over for you. It wasn’t the local media. All media was talking Howland to UCLA the entire season. Boy, I hate having to defend the local media.

Everyone knows they are close friends and will remain BFF. Even if Howland didn’t get UC-Santa Barbara to offer Dixon a scholarship. The one thing to expect is that neither coach expects much different on the court.

Still, as they break down film, each sees what the other sees. Pittsburgh is playing a lot of zone, and Howland laughs, because Dixon didn’t learn that from him. Watching an inbounds play, it looks strikingly familiar.

“There’s a lot of similar stuff, and stuff that’s tweaked,” Howland said. “There are even some of the same calls. There are not a lot of secrets.”

Levon Kendall is the only current Pitt player that actually knew Howland as a coach.