First off, Rick Pitino is a popular coach with the media because he can be blunt, funny and just entertaining. His post-game press conference after the game (PDF) was that. He did say that his team was tired and ran out of gas in the second half. He didn’t say it was just because of the Double-OT game (though that would be my guess, and not unreasonable).

He did come down on his team and players.

Q. Sosa out, talk about the way he played?

RICK PITINO: I didn’t think he was playing too well. That’s why I kept him out.

Q. What was he not doing?

RICK PITINO: He was not making other people better.

Q. I know that your focus is on your team, but when the opposing coach has a situation where his big guy gets a quick third foul and then a quick fourth foul and he leaves him in, how does that impact, if at all, any decisions you make?

RICK PITINO: Well, they did the smart thing, they put Kendall on our five-man and put Gray on our four-man. We still want to go strong to the glass and take it in. He’s been getting in foul trouble a lot and has to be careful on offensive rebounding to get inside position. I think they are getting used to playing without him because they have been, and tonight, if you say you shut out Fields and Gray and you lose, that’s just our inability to execute. We didn’t do a lot of things defensively, we didn’t force turnovers, we didn’t get deflections and create steals. When I see that, I see a tired basketball team a little bit and I don’t know if it’s tired physically but more emotionally. David wasn’t on top of his game, Sosa was not on top of his game and sometimes double overtime games do that to you.

But that’s no excuse. You have to give Pitt the credit for winning.

He also talked about how the team kept forgetting the scouting report and getting away from what they were supposed to do in the second half — that pretty much explains the continual timeouts in the early going in the second half.

Pitino was the only one to show up from Louisville in the postgame press conference. Pitt had Coach Dixon, Antonio Graves and Mike Cook.

I think Dixon has concluded Mike Cook can take it and needs to be publicly prodded at times. He is the only player I’ve ever heard or read Dixon come close to publicly challenge — something that he does not do or like to do.

JAMIE DIXON: Well, I was very excited about the win and happy for our guys and happy for the way we responded especially in the second half. Obviously being in an 11-point deficit, shows the character of our guys, especially the two guys here, impressed. I’m proud of Antonio and Mike, especially Antonio for knocking down and playing so well the last two days. Proud of him, he’s practiced hard and worked hard and is going to the gym late at night the last couple of weeks. And hard work pays off. And Mike is rebounding like we’ve been bugging him all year, so I’m proud of them for really stepping up.

[Emphasis added.]

Well, another close game before hand. I wouldn’t object to another OT.

I’m curious to see how Pitt will adjust to Louisville this second time around.

9:45: Well, whatever the original plan was, it just got altered with Gray out early with 2 fouls.

10:20: Gray on the bench for all but 3 minutes. No 3s hit. And Pitt is right in this game.

10:26: Bad gamble by Dixon to put Gray in for the final minute. Pitt couldn’t do anything on offense to make it worthwhile and then Gray had to essentially stand far from the basket on defense to avoid any more fouls.

Totally disrupted Pitt’s spacing on defense. It ended up costing 6 more points. Up to that point, Pitt wasn’t in bad shape considering the situation.
Now Pitt down 37-26 at the half.

I’m not saying Pitt should be relying on the 3, but they have to knock some down. 0-6 is not promising.

10:44: To: Antonio Graves

Re: hitting some 3s.

Thank you for those first two.
37-32 Louisville in less than a minute into the second half.

10:53: Seems Antonio Graves found his stroke. Thankfully.

Can’t believe they called Gray for that foul.

11:04: More consistency from the refs, as Padgett keeps getting away with wrapping and yanking players. When did Cook get his nose bloodied?

11:22: Well, this has just gotten ugly. Has anyone scored in the last couple minutes? Gray has missed 3 straigh FTs. Still 52-51 Pitt, 3:29 left.

11:37: 65-59 PITT WINS!!!

WHOOO-Hoo!!!!!!!!!

11:39: Here’s the added bonus. What are the odds of seeing Burr and Higgins again tomorrow?

12:06: Some postgame thoughts. Gray had 8 points and 0 rebounds in 14 mintues, and Pitt won. Yeah, I saw that coming.

Graves found his stroke and his confidence in the second half. 23 points, 2 blocks, 4 assists and a steal.

Mike Cook had 13 points and 8 rebounds along with 2 steals.

Pitt only had 6 turnovers in the game. A second straight low turnover game against teams that got Pitt to fumble the ball away.

17 assists on 20 baskets.

20-31 on FTs. It could be better, but it has been worse.

It wasn’t that Pitt wasn’t getting whistles. It was the sheer unpredictability of what  would be called that gets on the nerves.
Big thanks to Louisville for panicking early in the second half, launching shots without any real plan. Forcing your coach to burn all but one of your timeouts in the first 5 minutes.

Really, I don’t know what happened to Louisville in the second half. They seemed to panic the minute Pitt sank a 3. May not have been Pitino’s best halftime speech.

Conference tournaments mess up my schedule. I’m thinking about what to say about last night’s game and I realize we’ll be back out on the MSG court in 3 hours.

Quick thoughts from last night went like this:

We saw that Ronald Ramon will never get off a good shot if he has to create his own space. Somehow the local papers have yet to pick up on this.

This is the first game in a long time where I just sat there watching the game thinking to myself, “Yes, Aaron, yes. Nice work.” So many good things to say about him. He wasn’t the only one that looked good though. Kendall played very solidly as did Cook and Sam Young (while battling his knee issues). The best 40 minutes of the year?

If you missed it when the ESPN guys were chatting with about a minute to go the mentioned the half court shooting contest after every morning shoot around. Players, mangers, coaches, and probably even the janitor sometimes get in on the action. I’d pay to see that in person just once — sounds like a load of fun.

I’m not sure what to think about tonight’s game since I’m still recovering from last night.

It took Louisville two overtimes to put away WVU but should it have even gone to OT in the first place?

Count the steps, make your call.

First, NY Warrior at Cracked Sidewalks has a solid recap from the Marquette perspective. Definitely worth the read.

Go figure, a lot of the deserved attention in the coverage was on the game Aaron Gray had.

Gray put up game highs of 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead third-seeded Pittsburgh (26-6), which will face the second-seeded Louisville Cardinals in the second semifinal tonight.

“He’s been great every night we’ve played him,” MU coach Tom Crean said of Gray. “He’s so strong, if he gets any position inside it’s so hard to guard him. He was catching the ball so deep that we couldn’t get down and get the ball out of his hands or put some pressure on him.”

Sam Young added 17 points and Mike Cook 16 for the Panthers, who made more free throws (27) than the Golden Eagles attempted (21).

Pitt actually making free throws made Gene Collier happy. He also notes that this was Mike Cook’s first BET game and Cook admits some jitters.

“I’m not going to say it was the defense,” he said after slashing for 16 points. “It was just, you know, a big environment for me on a big stage and I came out kind of nervous a little bit. Coach kept me in the game, let me get myself into the game and let me get into the flow. It really helped me out a lot that I was able to get a transition bucket. The second half I just wanted to come out and get rebounds, get some steals and, if the shot was there, just take it.”

Cook had 14 of his 16 after intermission, when Pitt’s shooting started to look unstoppable. The Panthers made six of their 11 3-point attempts, a serious reversal of a condition that, over their previous six games, three of them losses, they were shooting only 29 percent from behind the arc.

Cooks definitely seemed more settled in the second half. In general, though, since his little shooting slump late in the season, he has been more willing to let the game come to him more and less forcing things.

As I said last night/early morning, my sense that it would be a win for Pitt solidified when Barro missed the breakaway lay-in, the media horde, however, seems to have focused on Fields’ bankshot 3-pointer.

Pittsburgh guard Levance Fields looked over to the bench, shook his head and smiled.

His desperation toss with seconds left on the shot clock banked off the backboard and splashed through the net — one of those shots Fields knew he should have called before launching it midway through the second half.

The significance of the banker? Proof that it was Pittsburgh’s night.

Especially because in the postgame, Marquette Coach Tom Crean said (PDF) that was when he thought it wouldn’t be their night.

When Fields made a 27-footer off the backboard, it started to feel like it just wasn’t our night, even though, to me, even though we continued to play very hard.

Of course if it had been James or Kinsella or Fitzgerald, then it would have been no surprise because they do that in practice all the time.

Aw, heck, a little more from the postgame presser.

Q. They made more free throws than your whole team attempted; do you feel the game was won or lost at the free throw line?

TOM CREAN: Most games usually are. At halftime the foul shots were 16-3, and in a physical aggressive game, that’s a tough pill to swallow. That’s the way it was and that’s the way the game was called and just deal with it. There’s no way we got a little shorthanded, and when you take a player like Jerel McNeal out of our lineup that can get to the rim and create so much for himself and for others, that hurts your belly a little bit to get to the line. But that’s why we want to go home, regroup, hope to have him back next week, and let’s see what happens.

But they stepped up. We missed two free throws the entire night; that’s what it was?

Q. 17 for 19.

TOM CREAN: And they shot 41. It’s a tough number, it’s a tough number this time of year. But they earned them and that’s the way it is.

It could read like he was on the verge of complaining about the officiating and then pulled back. The complexion of their offense was so different without McNeal to be a 3d possible slasher from the outside. Fitzgerald just doesn’t bring that. He may be shooting well, but it’s jump shots and not a lot that draws contact.

Then there was this from Aaron Gray.

Q. Did you feel that you fed off the energy of the crowd? It seemed almost like a home game.

AARON GRAY: Definitely. They were announcing the starting lineups and Marquette had a little cheer and our cheer was definitely louder. We were over on the bench saying, all right, Pittsburgh just won round one. It was definitely huge, we got a lot of fan support. We traveled real well. I know I had a ton of people coming up from home to see my last BIG EAST tournament. It’s huge for me, all of the support that I’m getting and all of the support the University of Pittsburgh is getting.

Seems Pitt is now one of the top-3 ticket sellers for the BET since the 2001 BET.

Joe Starkey tries to downplay it as Pitt just doing what it should do. Um, okay. It’s a tournament. Things happen in general. There’s a reason why this is the first time in 10 years the BET had all 4 top seeds in the semis. And of course the fact that Pitt had lost 3 straight to Marquette. Good to know that Larry Fitzgerald and Tyler Palko were at the game, though.

Since everyone has probably read them anyways, just links to the Trib and P-G articles.

Hello all. Big thanks for everything Dennis has been doing here the last couple of days. It’s been a little chaotic. I actually had a post this morning that got swallowed by the ether. I was too frustrated to recreate it, but might try again later next week.

Any how. Not sure when this game will start with the WVU-L-ville game going like this.

9:19: Double OT for WVU-L’ville.

10:09: Well, Pitt is definitely playing with a lot of energy. Right now, they are clearly controlling the pace and forcing Marquette to play a slow. Good things so far.

10:17: Pitt up 17-16. I’m not exactly the picture of calm right now. This is going to stay tight. It just feels that way.

10:23: Pitt now down 20-18. Ugh. Ramon just panics when he sees a press.

10:26: Some good news. Lazar Hayward committed his 3d foul, and Dominic James has 2 fouls with 9:05 in the half.

10:33: Not the worst strategy, just foul Gray and make him shoot FTs.

10:41: Idle thought, does Fields think that he has to show he’s as good as Dominic James or something at times. It’s probably just the fact that he’s nailing 3s against Pitt, but there’s something about Dan Fitzgerald’s narrow face that annoys the hell out of me.

10:50: Pitt leads 40-37 at the half. The first time this year, Pitt has led against Marquette at the half.

10:53: Kendall is having a fine game. 6 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 0 turnovers and 4 assists.

Young is looking pretty good on offense with 9 points. His defense, though, urgh. He is just impatient and hates to wait and guard, so he keeps leaving and drifting from his guy.

Gray is playing solid. Just wish he could hit a free throw — granted he’s no Terrence Roberts of Syracuse.

Not getting much from the guard play, but on the bright side only 5 turnovers. That’s an improvement.

11:16: Dan Shulman, “Aaron Gray is single-handily getting Marquette into foul trouble here.” Yep.

By the way, they took one of the fouls away from James, so he only has 1 foul (I don’t know).

11:29: Pitt still leading. They keep talking about how Marquette isn’t getting to the line like they usually do. The difference is Fitzgerald rather than McNeal. It’s one less perimeter threat to penetrate. And it seems they are settling for more jump shots in general. It’s also — obviously — the presence of Gray inside to change shots and force more pull-ups.

11:37: 69-57. It’s not over. Marquette’s got one more run at Pitt in them. Pitt just has to stay patient on both ends. Let the Golden Eagles get frustrated.

11:49: Pitt up by 12, still with under 4. Great night for penetration and going inside. Not just Gray, but Cook and Young are having great nights. Just attacking.

11:55: Okay, I’m going to say Pitt has this. 83-69, 1:32 left.

15 straight FTs by Pitt.

I didn’t want to jinx it, but I felt confident Pitt would win, when marquette had the steal and Barro was ahead of everyone and missed the lay-up because he looked back. Like what Fields did in the loss at Marquette.

12:01: Did I speak too soon? They missed 3 straight FTs before Fields made his second.

Well, Gray got his 10th Rebound for a double-double.

Gray, Graves, Fields, Cook and Young all in double digit scoring.

12:06: Is it worth mentioning that the streak of the games being decided by 6 or less points appears to be about over? I think it is.

12:09:

89-79 Final
Yeah, that felt good. I’ll say that win takes a lot of the sting out of losing twice in the season to knock Marquette out of the Big East Tournament. Heh.

12:27: Post-game on ESPNews Coach Dixon was pretty much stock answers.

Mark Jones was feeling Gray up, poking him and checking him for scraps and scratches on his body. Awkward!

–One of the main things working to our advantage is the fact that Marquette played last night. As we’ve already seen twice today from Villanova and WVU, the teams who played yesterday got out to a slow start. Sure Georgetown played very well, but some of that 25-2 lead they jumped out to was a product of ‘Nova’s fatigue. Since Marquette played in the late game last night, it’s an even better advantage.

–I’m not sure how to exploit Marquette main weakness, but they definitely have one. I’m pretty sure it involves an Indian rowing in the opposite direction of the way the man in a robe is pointing.

–I have a good feeling that Dixon and his staff worked hard thinking of ways to take advantage of the fact that Big East Defensive Player of the Year Jerel McNeal is sitting out. If they didn’t, well shame on them.

–Who does the Big East think they’re going to fool by saying the game will start at 9:00? The WVU-Louisville game would need to go at record speed to start on time. Chances are we’ll see a tipoff at around 9:25.

The unbalanced schedule throws team’s conference strength of schedule of of whack but we might be done with that starting with the 2006-07 season. I heard this mentioned by one of the play-by-play guys during Big East tournament coverage yesterday, but wasn’t sure if it was a done deal or just an idea. Well, some random newspaper from the middle of nowhere confirms the story.

A major change will boost the number of conference games from 16 to 18. Two years of an unbalanced schedule, where all schools did not play one another, generated many complaints.

“It’s not the best situation,” Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. “It’s not a league, it’s a corporation. It’s really two leagues.”

Marquette coach Tom Crean said the new schedule is going to be tougher, with more league games replacing breathers against the bottom tier of Division I schools.

So you play the other 15 Big East teams once plus an extra game against three of them which I have no problem with. We didn’t get to play Notre Dame this season and instead played a Florida A&M type team to fill out the schedule.

This thread will be updated a few times throughout each game of today’s Big East Tournament. I’m not sure where this will lead to — I assume I’ll just go with the flow of the day. Feel free to comment throughout the day on any thoughts you have on today on the BET.

Today’s schedule looks like this (all games on ESPN):

Wednesday, March 7:

#8 DePaul vs. #9 Villanova, 12pm

#5 Syracuse vs. #12 UConn, 2pm

#7 West Virginia vs. #10 Providence, 7pm

#6 Marquette vs. #11 St. John’s, 9pm

Game 1: #8 DePaul vs. #9 Villanova

12:22 pm — So the tournament tips off with a good matchup, and for the record I have ‘Nova in this one. The ESPN coverage began with what can best be described as a “strange opening rap/dance montage” with people wearing a jersey from each team. The Pitt “representative” was wearing a #11 jersey and at first you’d think it was Carl Krauser; it’s the newer style jersey though that Krauser never wore therefore meaning it was…a Gilbert Brown jersey?!?

By the way there’s a game going on too and although ‘Nova jumped out to an early 8-0 lead, DePaul cut it to 12-8 with 12 minutes left in the half.

12:53 pm — Villanova went to a zone for the final few minutes of the half and Curtis Sumpter (13 pts. at the half) sat out the last few minutes because of foul trouble. DePaul closes the lead to 2 points because because BE RoY Scottie Reynolds played less than stellar.

1:03 pm — Don’t underestimate the fact that it’s pretty tough to play in this time slot. Neither team seems to have a huge contingent there and it’s definitely odd for those guys to play in a 20,000 seat arena that is only half full.

1:17 pm — DePaul is down 11 now with about 16 minutes left in the second half. Maybe if their jerseys didn’t resemble Penn State’s then they’d be much better.

1:33 pm — I know I said earlier that I picked Villanova to win but I’d rather see DePaul win if it means these teams go into three or four overtime periods. Anything to prolong the time before the impending doom that is Syracuse’s new unis.

1:49 pm — Villanova has had the lead for the entire game and DePaul has been able to pull close and then fade away a bit and then pull back in a continuing cycle. Scottie Reynolds isn’t playing his best game and still has 19 and counting. A five point lead for the Wildcats with seven left in the game.

Jay Bilas throws kind words towards Pitt’s way for the second time today, basically saying the same thing he did on Cold Pizza.

2:03 pm — If Nova wins they’ll have a tough time against a rested Georgetown team tomorrow now that two of the Wildcat’s key players have come up limping. Still have to win this one though. Villanova leads 63-59 with 1:20 left.

2:13 pm — Nova doesn’t miss foul shots which should lead them to the win. I won’t be able to watch the UConn-‘Cuse game but feel free to make your comments on that game. I should be back in action for the 7:00 game though.

6:02 pm — I’m back and just saw the SportsCenter highlight of Nichols and Devendorf destroying UConn. WVU-Providence coming up in about an hour.

Game 3: #7 West Virginia vs. #10 Providence

6:52 pm — If you take a look at my professionally made Big East bracket I filled out for the poll at BigEastHoops.com you’ll see I’m 2 for 2 so far today and looking for WVU to make it 3 of 3. Yeah I took Pitt all the way, and had it been for money I might have thought a bit more rationally, but it’s a free deal so I can be as big of a homer as I want.

7:03 pm — So everyone who missed the dancing intro during the day session got a look at it as they moved from SportsCenter into the game broadcast. Both teams NEED this game (and probably a few more) if they want to avoid the NIT.

7:15 pm — Is it just me or does the BET logo at center court get bigger every year?

7:37 pm — This game has been full of each team going on 7-8 point runs and then having the other team do the same.

I really wish we’d have clinched the 2nd seed for this tournament. I think the drop off from Marquette (6 seed) to WVU (7 seed) is pretty great. In my opinion, Louisville got the best draw.

8:05 pm — Patrick Beilein, son of Coach John, is in attendance and looking as fruity as ever.

8:14 pm — Dominic James struts into Madison Square Garden carrying his shoes in his hands and his jersey over his back. MU can’t afford duffel bags?

8:26 pm — Herbert Hill has trouble carrying this Providence team on his back and yet they’re still in the game. This game is beginning to look like the Villanova/DePaul game though. Like Depaul, Providence has been making runs at coming back but when it gets to within a point or two then WVU pulls away.

9:01 pm — WVU was just too tough for Providence but neither team’s defense was spectacular. Final score of WVU (92) to Providence (79).
By the way, I just found this hilarious post by Chas on Syracuse’s shorts over at the FanHouse.

Game 4: #6 Marquette vs. #11 St. John’s

9:15 pm — The game that affects Pitt the most at this point in time is coming up in about ten minutes or so. Not sure if I’ll make it through the entire game — I don’t think I would be able to stay awake if Marquette blows SJU out of the water.

9:43 pm — It’s not too hard to see that Marquette is the better team. For SJU to pull it off they’ll need someone to play the game of their life.

Congrats definitely to Aaron Gray for winning the Big East Scholar-Athlete Award. There’s a cynical side of me that thinks part of why he got it was an additional reward for deferring the NBA for another year. Not to mention, that with his expected financial windfall, he’ll probably just donate the $2000 scholarship money to the school or some other group.

The article in the P-G, though, does have an error. It states that Gray is the first Pitt player to win it. How can they forget the immortal Darren Morningstar? The winner of the award back in 1992.

As for the new Syracuse basketball unis. Not nearly as hideous as expected when they aren’t wearing the base layer. That or the Syracuse players opted for larger jerseys to minimize the contour. I posted my observations here.

Jamie Dixon will be on ESPN2’s Cold Pizza this morning. The show runs from 10 am until noon so I’m not sure what time he’ll actually come on and how long it’ll last but from the commercials I’ve seen during Mike & Mike (hooray for having the day off!) it looks like Dixon is the main guest on today’s show.

If Dixon says anything special, I’ll be sure to update this post with what it is. If/when they ask him about the Panthers, I’m going to go out on a limb and say he’ll keep his words positive. Just a thought…

Updates:

10:12 am — I guess I never realized how nice it is to have the WWLS cover the Big East. The amount of BET coverage we’re going to see in the next few days is going to be great and it’s already started on Cold Pizza. Jay Bilas says that Georgetown is the favorite to win the BET but if he had to pick another team, it would be Pitt. Dixon hasn’t been on yet but I’m home, I’m bored, and I feel like updating this at my leisure.

11:10 am — They went an hour without mentioning Dixon but rest assured, they just did a little promo for his appearence going into the commercial break.

11:17 am — Dixon finally appears and starts by saying it’s a new season and he believes the Big East can get 8 teams into the NCAA tournament. According to him, Gray definitely lost some rhythm by missing so many practices during his ankle injury but he’s back into the groove with the team.

The Cold Pizza host (already forgot his name…there’s a reason he hosts a show in the middle of the day on ESPN2) brings up free throwing shooting…and then asks Dixon to shot some foul shots on in his suit and tie on the 7 foot basketball hoop in the studio.

The first one he tries with one hand and hits the front of the rim. The second one is with two hands and he sinks it.

So we saw Monday who the coaches think should earn the Big East postseason honors. Tuesday it was the bloggers’ turn to talk. Unlike the coaches, however, the bloggers understand that award teams generally have five players; not half of the players in the league listed on one team. Notable awards listed below but to see the entire list click the link above.

BIG EAST PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Jeff Green, Georgetown

All-Big East 1st Team:
Herbert Hill, Providence
Demetris Nichols, Syracuse
Roy Hibbert, Georgetown
Aaron Gray, Pittsburgh
Curtis Sumpter, Villanova

All-Big East 4th Team:
Sharaud Curry, Providence
Lamont Hamilton, St. John’s
Wilson Chandler, DePaul
Levance Fields, Pittsburgh
Brian Laing, Seton Hall

BIG EAST FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR:
Scottie Reynolds (Villanova)

BIG EAST COACH OF THE YEAR:
Mike Brey, Notre Dame

BIG EAST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
Jerel McNeal, Marquette

Here are some more official awards announced last night.

2006-07 BIG EAST AWARDS

Player of the Year
Jeff Green, Georgetown

Coach of the Year
Mike Brey, Notre Dame

Rookie of the Year
Scottie Reynolds, Villanova

Defensive Player of the Year
Jerel McNeal, Marquette

Most Improved Player
Herbert Hill, Providence

Sportsmanship Award
Brandon Jenkins, Louisville

No Pitt guys on the list, obviously not a surprise.

I’m about as excited as you can get for a Villanova-DePaul game as you can probably get. If you don’t love Big East tourney time–well I really don’t have any threat for you–but you should. Great games all day today and tomorrow and should be a ton of fun.

Andy Lee could continue his career at Heinz Field with the Steelers.

The Steelers have signed free agent punter Andy Lee to an offer sheet, agent Eddie Edwards confirmed today.

Lee, who played collegiately at Pitt, was a sixth-round draft choice of the San Francisco 49ers in 2004. Last season he averaged 44.8 yards per punt (gross) to rank sixth in the NFC and seventh in the NFL.

First off, I’m not fully sure what an offer sheet is. Pro sports financial type terms confuse me. I can barely explain Restricted Free Agency so “offer sheet” is way out of my range. Thankfully none of that has infiltrated college athletics.

Lee’s average is fairly better than what the Steelers have seen from Chris Gardocki. Gardocki has never had a punt blocked in his career but I might be able to pull that off too if I didn’t spend time trying to actually get a good punt off. I wouldn’t mind seeing Lee compete for the job in training camp against Gardocki and Mike Barr who probably should have got the punting spot in 2006.

Just so those of you tuning into the Big East Tournament, 2 pm game, don’t scream in shock and fear, Nike is debuting their new b-ball unis starting in conference tournaments. Florida, Arizona, Ohio State and Syracuse will be wearing the new look. Something that has been compared to team wedding dresses or almost gladiator-esque. A snug-spandex contoured top with sleeves and shorts that — well — baggy doesn’t even begin to describe.

You’ve been warned.

Thank god Pitt is not a Nike school.

Seeing this got me very excited for some reason. Even as we’re starting to embark upon the greatest time of the year with all of the conference hoops tourneys, any thoughts of football starting up again are great in my book. I guess it’s nice to get away from our basketball woes for a few seconds.

Spring practice starting date: March 17

Spring game: April 14

Top returner: WR Derek Kinder. Kinder emerged as a junior for a team-leading 847 yards. Like the rest of the team, he faded down the stretch – partially because of the emergence of redshirt freshman Oderick Turner. The veteran wideout will need to be more of a threat in the passing game with a new quarterback under center.

Player on the verge: CB Aaron Berry: Tyler Palko was the starting quarterback and H.B. Blades piled on the tackles, but cornerback Darelle Revis will be tougher to replace than either of them. The sophomore Berry, who was a four-star recruit in 2005, will get a crack at the position opposite rising senior Kennard Cox.

Impact newcomer: RB LeSean McCoy: Like Ford, McCoy is another prep school player who had a change of heart in the last year. McCoy committed to Miami out of high school but signed with Pitt after a year at New Berlin (N.Y.) Milford Academy. McCoy should provide a power option to counter LaRod Stephens-Howling‘s speed game.

The big question: What’s next now that Palko, Blades and Revis are gone? If Pitt went 11-12 with those three players over the last two seasons, what happens now that they’re gone? Entering year three, Dave Wannstedt will be put to the test in finding a new quarterback among the inexperienced Bill Stull, Kevan Smith and incoming freshman Pat Bostick. A former NFL head coach and defensive coordinator, Wannstedt has his work cut out for him with the 107th-ranked rush defense in the country.

Well, after reading those last few lines, I’ve been shot back down to Earth.

It’s nothing personal against the Red Storm. Under normal circumstances, I would actually give them a 40% chance against Marquette in the Garden for the Big East Tournament game, especially if Jerel McNeal is expected to be out. Except that the Johnnies best player Senior Lamont Hamilton will be out for the rest of the year (1 more game) with a partial tear in the patella tendon of his left knee. St. John’s lost Daryll Hill earlier in the season to injury. I mean, even with both of them, they wouldn’t have been much better than their record. But, now they have no chance.