There’s a reason Rick Majerus gets so much positive love, no matter what he does. He knows how to lay it on and play to the jolly fat man role.

“I do want to make one final comment; Pitt has been a really great host this weekend. It’s not easy to host a tournament and have it run smoothly, but that’s what these guys did here. From scheduling shoot-arounds and locker rooms, to the coordination of everything else, this place really is top-notch. Everyone, from the police officers to the attendants and everyone in-between was just so friendly. I’m telling you what, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the NCAA Tournament come here to the Petersen Events Center. It would be silly to not take advantage of the facilities and the accommodations that Pitt has to offer. From the gyms, to parking lots, to the people, this was just a great experience and I want to thank everyone involved.”

As for the stories. Majerus was happy to gush about the Pitt players.

“Bryce was emasculated by that young kid,” Majerus said of Blair. “I really love that kid. The kid is a big-time player. It’s the same thing I used to say about Tim Duncan when I faced Duncan at this age. I’d like to be his agent.

“He’s a phenomenal low-block talent on the come. He reminds me of a young Malone. Blair has phenomenal hands. He has soft hands. He has good touch, and he has strong hands. He just blocked Barry Eberhardt and Husak like they were rag-dolls down there. He just took Husak to school.

“You can’t coach the three components that kid’s hands have. Plus, he’s got great low-body balance. Plus, he’s big and strong, and he’s genuinely tough. In an era where there is a lot of pretend toughness, that kid has toughness. He could be special as a (power forward).”

There also was the Majerus influence on Pitt, as it was clear to many that St. Louis played a Pitt style of basketball.

“It was great because we knew exactly what was coming,” Pitt point guard Levance Fields said. “We knew we’d be on defense for 35 seconds each play. We emphasized not falling for shot fakes and no one did. That was good to see that we carried things through.”

Long before coming to Pitt, Dixon, while an assistant under Ben Howland at Northern Arizona, went to Utah to study Majerus and his coaching style. Dixon and Howland began running Majerus’ motion offense and adopted his tough, defensive mentality that have become the hallmarks of Pitt’s program.

“We were struggling our first two years [at Northern Arizona],” Dixon said. “We were running some other stuff. We went to their offensive and defensive philosophies. He’s been a good friend and a mentor. His stamp on this program is probably the most significant of anybody.”

Pitt is transitioning to a more up-tempo style this season because Dixon has recruited better athletes, but the Panthers showed last night that they still know how to win a low-scoring game. Saint Louis got control of the tempo and bled the shot clock almost every possession, but Pitt made all the right plays down the stretch to record the victory.

“We want to run like we keep talking about, but put in a situation where we have to play against a team that is going to hold the ball for 35 seconds a possession, we have to play a similar style that we played in previous years,” Fields said.

From St. Louis, the lesson was that talent matters. A lot.

Blair, Pitt’s 6-foot-7, 265-pound freshman, rolled through the Billikens, scoring 16 points and grabbing eight rebounds as No. 22 Pitt handed SLU its first loss of the season, 69-58. SLU doesn’t have a player like that — not many schools do, actually — and it showed.

“He bopped Barry Eberhardt and Bryce (Husak) like they were rag dolls down there,” said SLU coach Rick Majerus, who compared Blair to a young Karl Malone. “They’ve got size and athleticism. They kicked our butt. We didn’t play well, but it was because of Pitt.”

The St. Louis beat writer had some additional thoughts in his blog.

Majerus effusively praised the set up at Pittsburgh and the efficiency of the operation. He said Pitt should be an NCAA site (Petersen Center is too small; they’d have to do it elsewhere) and offered to have a home-and-home series with Pitt.

Pitt was called for only nine fouls, three in the first, six in the second. SLU was called for 17, though seven were in the last two minutes of the game.

In other words. the officials let them play and did call the game rather evenly.

Pitt never trailed in their 69-58 win over the Billikens.

This was really my first clear look at Pitt. Unlike the internet video feed, I could actually see the players moving without being a blur. The lag of the promise versus the present technology.

In no particular order, some of the things I jotted down while watching.

*The Pete looked quite empty. Surprising to me at first then I realized that this was the consequence of the Browns-Steelers game from earlier in the day.

*It  was interesting and good to face a team that slows down the offense and plays good defense. Hmm, that sounds familiar. Essentially Pitt got to face a team that plays a lot like Pitt has played in the last few years. A challenge for the team to respond when a team forces a change in tempo/pace.

*With Pitt’s accelerated tempo there’s going to be more ragged play in spells. Shots that shouldn’t be taken because they were rushed or a little out of control. It’s the nature of the style, but it takes a little getting used to.

*That said, it was good to see the guards penetrating and driving to the basket. It really opened things up. Seeing even Ramon going to the hoop was a pleasant surprise.

*Wanamaker didn’t see much action, but Gilbert Brown got about 15 minutes. I liked what I saw from him. He really played some solid defense and disrupted plays. Maybe it’s just the headband and playing at the small forward position, but  he reminds me just a bit of another Brown of recent vintage.

*The more aggressive offense has been matched by a newly aggressive defense. A lot more gambling on steals, trying to disrupt the passes and really pester.

*Any time Blair or Young bring up the ball — whether by design or off of a turnover — it is not a good idea. Scary even.

*I actually liked what I saw from Biggs, especially in the second half. His mindset, as much as anything else. A little less on offense, but more on defense. Plus he was doing the little things in the context of the team. Really fighting for some rebounds. I might be on the minority on this one.

*If free throw shooting is contagious, Pitt needs some sort of vaccine. Sam Young was 3-7, Fields 1-3, Biggs 1-2 and Diggs 0-2. Ramon and Cook were both 2-2 late in the game. Hate to say it, but poor FT shooting will cost Pitt at least one game.

Overall, a good early challenge for Pitt. It shows that the team has plenty to work ahead of it.

Question for those of you with a DVR. Do you find yourself looking down at your car stereo every now and again to stab at the rewind button for something you heard on the news or a particular song, when you miss it? Thinking you can do that just like when watching something on TV. Or is that just me?

Late start today because I promised the wife family time. That led to DVR delayed watching of the Browns-Steelers game. Nothing like watching the wife’s hopes raised and dashed at an accelerated pace.

Anyhow, it’s likely my watching of the Billikens-Panther game tonight may be similarly delayed. Still, here are the articles for today.

A couple recap articles from last night where Sam Young had another good night.

If Pitt junior Sam Young had a trading card, the picture on the front would be of one of his high-flying, acrobatic dunks. After all, Young is best known for his athletic ability and off-the-charts vertical leap.

In an 88-61 victory against North Carolina A&T yesterday at Petersen Events Center, Young, a junior forward, showed off another part of his game, stunning the Aggies with his outside shooting. He paced the No. 22 Panthers (2-0) with a career-high 24 points and added 11 rebounds for his third career double-double.

Young was 10 for 14 from the field and 4 for 6 from 3-point range. The most 3-pointers Young made in a game before yesterday was two. He made 13 3-pointers all of last season.

“They were leaving me open in transition,” Young said. “They seemed to lose track. The big man would go down to the block instead of meeting me up top. I took advantage of it basically.”

And this.

Not to disappoint, he obliged the crowd of 9,034 with a soaring, breakaway dunk to cap a 16-0 Pitt run that turned a close game into a rout, 34-17, with 4:23 to play in the first half.

“That run kind of broke the game loose,” North Carolina A&T coach Jerry Eaves said.

Pitt freshman center DeJuan Blair played only 15 minutes while in foul trouble, finishing with 10 points and seven rebounds. Mike Cook had 13 points and five assists, and Levance Fields added seven points and five assists without a turnover.

Of course the A&T coach was a little strange in one of his post-game comments.

“If he continues to hit his perimeter shot, he will be a tough matchup,” Eaves said. “But the Big East is competitive. Teams like Louisville, they have quite a few guys his size and his athletic ability that will be able to guard him out on the floor when he puts it on the floor. I don’t think he’s a huge matchup problem with the better teams in the Big East.”

Eaves, the starting point guard on Louisville’s 1980 national champion, said Fields is the key to Pitt’s success.

“Fields is not a great shooter. But he gets in the gut, and he creates things for them,” Eaves said. “If you have someone who can guard him and stay in front of him without a lot of help, to where people can stay closer to their shooters, I don’t think they are the greatest pure shooters in the country. Just being honest with you.”

You know it sounds like sour grapes, but there is a bit of truth in that. Pitt is very much a point guard oriented team so, yeah, he is a key. And it’s hard to argue that Fields is a great shooter. He’s effective and productive, but I wouldn’t call him a great shooter. That’s not stopped a lot of teams. Ramon is the closest Pitt has to a pure shooter. Really, I’m struggling to think of the last championship team off the top of my head that had a “pure shooter” who was much more than a component as opposed to a central part of the team.

I don’t really have a problem with Pitt being somewhere in the 20s of the preseason top-25. Neither does Ray Fittipaldo. By the way, Dick Weiss of the NY Daily News puts Pitt at #20 in his rankings.

No Big East team has been as consistent as the Panthers, who are counting on 6-7, 265-pound freshman DeJuan Blair to become the next Sam Clancy and replace Aaron Gray in the post. Jamie Dixon is solid everywhere else with veteran guards Levance Fields and Ronald Ramon and underrated wing scorer Mike Cook, who should help make up for a lack of overall size with their scoring and pressure defense.

Now for the St. Louis game, here are the game notes (PDF). Jamie Dixon was strongly influenced by Rick Majerus.

Dixon has known Majerus for 15 years. Many of his coaching philosophies came from Majerus’ Utah teams, while Dixon and Ben Howland were at Northern Arizona.

“He’s been a good friend and a mentor,” said Dixon, who worked Majerus’ basketball camps at Utah and the same NBA camps the past two falls. “His stamp on our program for what we do, is probably the most significant of anybody. No question. With that said, we’ve got to beat him.”

Rick Majerus was all about puffing Pitt.

“(Sunday) is going to be a very difficult game,” said Majerus, who regularly worked Big East games for ESPN last season. “They’re very good. People talk about Georgetown, but they don’t have (Pitt’s) depth. I’ll take their roster over Georgetown’s for sure. They’re big, they’re athletic, … they’re experienced.”

Uh-huh.

The All-Pitt team discussion with Paul Zeise continues with the topic of coaching staff.

In his Big East notes column (Insider subs.), Joe Starkey writes of Pitt’s need to work on improving the pass offense in the bye week to help open things up for LeSean McCoy. Then turns to the defense.

Redshirt freshman defensive end Greg Romeus has begun to make a large impact. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound Romeus killed Syracuse’s final drive with a sack Saturday, a week after making several big plays against Louisville. … Middle linebacker Scott McKillop leads the Big East and is fourth nationally averaging 12 tackles per game. … Pitt’s defense has improved from 87th in the country last season (363 yards per game) to 17th (313.1).

Cynical response. Don’t worry, there’s still time.

Don’t worry, though, Pitt apparently did another outstanding job of preserving redshirts.

Pittsburgh had an opportunity to redshirt 17 freshmen this fall, while Pat Bostick, LeSean McCoy, JaBbaal Sheard, Dom DeCicco and Maurice Williams all had playing time as first-year players. Wideout Aaron Smith, cornerback Buddy Jackson, fullback Henry Hynoski, cornerback Sherrod Murdock, linebacker Brandon Lindsey, running back Greg Williams, running back Shariff Harris, linebacker Max Gruder, offensive lineman Greg Gaskins, defensive lineman Wayne Jones, offensive lineman Jordan Gibbs, offensive lineman John Fieger, wideout Aundre Wright, defensive end Tony Tucker, defensive tackle Myles Caragein and defensive end Justin Hargrove.

…

Two other freshmen, offensive linemen Dan Matha and Chris (Lumpy) Jacobson, had season-ending injuries in training camp and were redshirted. Sophomore tailback Kevin Collier (broken wrist), sophomore offensive tackle Jason Pinkston (shoulder), senior wideout Derek Kinder (knee), junior defensive tackle Gus Mustakas (knee) and junior quarterback Bill Stull (thumb) needed surgery and were fortunate to have redshirts available. Elijah Fields played sparingly as a freshman in 2006 and was redshirted this season while under suspension for disciplinary reasons.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt believed there were a handful of freshmen that he wanted to get some playing experience this season, but in the end he decided to hold them out for a redshirt.

Anyhow. I think it is taken as almost a given that Pitt doesn’t just have to, but will recruit at least one JUCO offensive lineman. Jeff Otah has worked out well and gets a nice puff piece from his home state Delaware paper.

“Coming from a small state like Delaware, you’re never sure how you’re going to match up against guys from the biggest schools and bigger states,” he said. “And with my background and inexperience, I really didn’t know what to expect.”

Now, he does. Otah is a starting left tackle at the University of Pittsburgh, and the 6-foot-6, 340-pounder is a legitimate NFL prospect who’s certain to be drafted next April.

Not bad for a guy who didn’t even play football as a junior at William Penn and then, because of a broken hand, played in just three games as a senior on defense

This article actually ranks him as the #2 OT for the 2008 draft.

2. Jeff Otah, Pittsburgh: Big, athletic and explosive. Is a bit on the raw side because he played only one year in high school and then went to a junior college. Might have more long-term potential than Long, but isn’t as NFL ready.

Mel Kiper, Jr. has him as 14th among senior OTs.

On the recruiting front, there’s this.

But Norwin’s Mike Shanahan and Central Catholic’s Tino Sunseri also have college recruiting on their minds a lot these days.

The college situations for Shanahan and Sunseri have changed drastically in recent weeks. Shanahan, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound senior receiver/defensive back, decided this summer he wanted to play basketball in college, turning down football scholarship offers from West Virginia, Stanford, Georgia Tech and a few others.

But Shanahan has changed his mind and now thinks he might want to play football in college. Pitt offered him a scholarship a few weeks ago. West Virginia also is recruiting him again for football.

Meanwhile, Sunseri, a 6-1, 200-pound quarterback, made a verbal commitment in the spring to the University of Louisville. But he also had a change of heart in the past few weeks and reopened his recruiting. Pitt and Boston College recently offered scholarships to Sunseri, and he plans to make an official visit to Boston College.

We’ll see.

Pitt came out running, as promised. Sam Young is excited.

“In the past, we’ve been known for our defense,” Young said. “We always had the opportunity to get fastbreak points, but we were always a halfcourt team, so we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities. But now that we’re more mobile and more agile, we’re going to take advantage of our opportunities. We’re going to blow teams out and get them out of the way early instead of holding the ball and wasting time.”

The new style seems to fit Young perfectly. He had three highlight-reel dunks in the opening minutes, including one windmill and two off alley-oop passes, one of which came from Blair.

“I’ve played this way all my life,” Young said. “Then I get here and I’m supposed to slow it down a little bit. I feel they weren’t taking advantage of my strengths. This is definitely more my style. I feel more of a need to make things happen.”

It is no shock that Young likes it at a faster pace. At times in his freshman and sophomore years, it seemed like he was trying to out run the Pitt offense. The big concern with Young, though will be his commitment to play defense and his health.

Q: After watching the two exhibition games, Sam Young looks healthier and more aggressive than last year. He is also playing a position where he is more comfortable. Is he ready for a break-out year?

FITTIPALDO: All signs point to Young having a good season, Marc. He led Pitt in scoring in the two exhibition games and has been Pitt’s first option in a lot of the offensive sets. I can see Young averaging 14 points and seven rebounds a game if his knees hold up. That will be the big question. He is taking better care of the knees this season, but we’ll have to see how he holds up over the long haul.

After pasting Houston Baptist, next up is North Carolina A&T (PDF). Presumably Pitt won’t be looking past that game to Sunday, but I know I am and so are others.

Game worth driving to see in person: Rick Majerus’ official return to coaching is Friday night, but it is Sunday that he can make national headlines. His Saint Louis Billikens are in Pittsburgh for the Hispanic College Fund Classic, and they’ll get a shot at Jamie Dixon’s Pitt Panthers in the event’s closing contest.

I’ll just be thrilled to watch on regular TV. The online video feed gives me a bit of a headache.

I don’t think it fully dawned on me that it was actually hoops season until I wrote that last post about the 103-62 win over Houston Baptist.

The absolute best collaboration of bracket predictions is the Bracket Project. It’s amazing and amazingly pointless to predict the brackets at any point during the season, especially before the season even starts, but Pitt’s average projected seed is currently on the 7 line. The highest projection for Pitt is 3 and the lowest is 9.

BigEastHoops.com sees Pitt finishing 9th in the Big East since we have “nothing in the middle.” Presumably because they’re not familiar with Dejuan Blair.

9. Pitt – Their dynasty is over. With Gray and Kendall leaving, Pitt is left with nothing in the middle. In a league that has such great big men, the Panthers will struggle to beat the top teams. The backcourt of Cook, Ramon and Fields are very good. But with no inside game, Pitt will struggle to find points. They’ll still beat the weak teams of the league, but I can’t see them finishing much higher than 9th.

Blair won’t lead this team to a conference title, but I think he’ll keep Pitt from falling as far as 9th or worse.

Big East Basketball Report compiled a preseason power poll as well as conference awards.

2007-2008 Big East Pre-season Poll (first place votes in parenthesis):

1) Georgetown (13): 282 pts. Hi: 1st. Low: 3rd.
2) Louisville (5): 274 pts. Hi: 1st. Low: 3rd.
3) Marquette: 243 pts. Hi: 3rd. Low: 5th.
4) Syracuse: 206 pts. Hi: 3rd. Low: 8th.
5) Pittsburgh (tie): 200 pts. Hi: 3rd. Low: 10th.
5) Villanova (tie): 200 pts. Hi: 2nd. Low: 8th.
7) Connecticut: 195 pts. Hi: 3rd. Low: 10th.
8) Providence: 165 pts. Hi: 4th. Low: 10th.
9) Notre Dame: 154 pts. Hi: 5th. Low: 12th
10) West Virginia: 142 pts. Hi: 4th. Low: 11th.
11) Seton Hall: 98 pts. Hi: 9th. Low: 14th.
12) DePaul: 84 pts. Hi: 9th. Low: 16th.
13) Cincinnati: 82 pts. Hi: 10th. Low: 15th.
14) St. John’s: 57 pts. Hi: 10th. Low: 16th.
15) South Florida: 35 pts. Hi: 13th. Low: 16th.
16) Rutgers: 31 pts. Hi: 14th. Low: 16th.

Seems like Pitt is one of the toughest teams to gauge, with their high-low differential of 7 (10-3=7) is only tied by UConn and DePaul — DePaul doesn’t really count though, because they’re near the bottom and once you get closer to #11 or so, all of the teams are similarly bad.

The preseason awards portion has Levance Fields on the all-conference 3rd team, Dejuan Blair on the all-freshman 2nd team, and Bradley Wannamaker on the freshman honorable mention list.

Continuing HBU’s theme of brutal honesty, with coach Ron Cottrell’s post-game quote.

“I kind of had a feeling that was coming.”

Both the AP and Trib stories started with Pitt’s fast-break, quick, and dunk offense that put up 103 points against Houston Baptist’s 62. Sam Young led all scorers with 22 followed by Dejuan Blair (20 points), playing in his first game.

“My first game, yeah, I would say it’s an excellent game,” Blair said.

“I had fun out there,” Blair said. “It was an excellent game. My teammates make me feel comfortable. I wasn’t nervous at all. I felt great, actually. Everybody made me feel welcome.”

It took about four minutes before the Panthers hit a 13-0 lead and they definitely never looked back. Young and Blair both seemed to like the style of play with all of the alley-oops and quick passing, but I doubt it’s a trend that will continue much longer. Dixon commented that he liked the passing and that the team as a whole passes very well.

Pitt’s next two opponents played the early game at the Pete. North Carolina A&T lost to Rick Majerus’ Saint Louis team, 54-43. Looks like I’ll be able to see the St. Louis game in person; hopefully this doesn’t fall through.

Got an e-mail from Don over at Mondesi’s House about a post of his featuring this photo of Dan Marino and his linemen. In beautiful Pitt Stadium, Marino poses flanked by his linemen dressed as hitmen. If this isn’t as solid a picture as you’ve ever seen then I don’t know what is.

Also via Mondesi’s House is this interview with DJ Gallo of Sports Pickle fame.

What is your favorite animal mascot?

The Pitt Panther. No matter how many points Paul Rhoads’ defense gives up, his expression never changes. I admire that.

So, this opening game against Houston Baptist will be a live video stream via CSTV/Pitt’s All-Access subscription. I’m hoping the quality will be a little better than the Blue-Gold football scrimmage from last spring. Game notes for the first of three games in three days as part of the Hispanic College Fund Challenge are here (PDF).

The 2007-08 Media Guide is available for viewing and downloading (except for section 1?).

As usual, the seniors — Mike Keith Benjamin, Mike Cook and Ronald Ramon — are on the cover.

Houston Baptist had been in the NAIA, and just made the leap to D-1 basketball. They were a late addition to the tournament after Army backed out of the game.

As is typical for new bottom feeders the kids on the team are being rented out as patsy opponents all across the country.

Cottrell was more than happy to accept the invitation. Houston Baptist is trying to pay the bills, the price of returning to NCAA Division I while not having a conference affiliation. The Huskies are hoping to join a conference soon, but they are playing this season as an independent.

As a result, this game at Pitt is the second of 18 consecutive road games. The Huskies do not return home to Houston for a game until Jan. 15.

“It’s going to be difficult,” Cottrell said. “There’s no way to disguise it or hide. But my players are excited about it. I’ve never seen guys embrace something like this the way they have. They’re just looking forward to getting it going.”

Cottrell started the Houston Baptist program from scratch in 1991 after the school dropped basketball for two years. The Huskies did play in NCAA Division I before that, their last season of competition being 1988-89.

I’m glad the players are excited now. Just the kind of shameless exploitation and little concern for the players grades — given the size of the school and program you know there is no academic support staff of any size to help them — though, that brutally reminds everyone that college basketball (and football) is about the money as much as anything else.

/Climbing down from soapbox

Of course any media attention this weekend at the Pete will actually be centered on a mid-level A-10 team with a new coach of some repute.

Majerus’ arrival has raised expectations at Saint Louis higher to any point since hometown hero Larry Hughes signed a decade ago. About 8,000 people attended the Billikens’ exhibition with the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Pitt plays St. Louis in the Sunday finale.

I freely concede my bias against Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads. He has been defensive coordinator for too long and had too many games where he has shown his deficiencies. His defensive schemes, teachings, approach and inability to comprehend any way to defend the spread offense and/or mobile QBs have been consistent through two head coaches. Three games where the defense has played average or better hardly erases that and does not begin to convince me that he has “turned the corner” or had the “light go on.”
What does he have going for him? Players love him and he’s enthusiastic.

“As the season has gone on, I’ve realized, like my dad said, that you never really stop learning,” he said. “One thing I did was make a conscious effort after the Navy game to coach and teach more positive throughout the week, and the team has benefited by that.

“And as a coach, you want to make sure the kids have the right mind-set. I believe that is one thing we’ve done to positively affect their mind-set going into these last three football games.”

Here’s a truth about Paul Rhoads from the years of blogging this team. When things are going bad, you can not locate a quote, comment or interview by the guy about the problems. He just is not to be found. When things are working, though, and he looks even passably competent he’s happy to be quoted and puffed.

So, as the Pitt defense has played reasonably well in the past three games, is it any shock that he’s ready for some attention?

Personally, I saw very little that was impressive in the Syracuse game. The Orange had a 3d stringer and a freshman punt returner trying to run the ball behind a poor O-line. They had a QB play with a cracked rib in the first half and an inexperienced back-up in the second half throw for nearly 200 yards. It still nearly came undone.

Head Coach Dave Wannstedt insists he has no doubt about Rhoads as a coach. Isn’t that great?

The thing that is bothersome is that Rhoads and Wannstedt are happy to insist that it is the coaching that has led to the improvements the past three games. Yet, there was no accountability for last season (or any other). Apparently the Navy game, the UConn or Virginia game weren’t his fault either. Guess that wasn’t the coaching but on the players.

Although the defense has responded for the past three games, Rhoads, who is in his eighth season as the Panthers’ defensive coordinator, still has a legion of critics who think it is time for head coach Dave Wannstedt to find another coordinator.

They cite the Panthers’ struggles on defense in the past few years and last year’s collapse — the team lost its final five games and gave up 1,621 yards of offense and 139 points in the final three — as well as this year’s struggles as evidence his system is not working.

But Wannstedt doesn’t see it that way. He concurs that the defense has played well in the three games since the Navy debacle. He talks about the defense’s lofty rankings in certain categories: The Panthers are 17th in NCAA Division I-A in total defense and 13th in pass defense.

Really, that opening article was just warm-up for spit takes.

And he is puzzled by popular criticism that his defensive schemes and game plans are passive, and that he does not coach an aggressive style of defense. He believes aggressiveness is critical, but frequent blitzing is not the only way to play aggressive defense.

“I believe in aggressiveness and I have always coached aggressiveness,” Rhoads said. “I have never put numbers out there on the table publicly, but I can tell you, if you break down my eight years at Pitt, I can certainly point to a lot higher numbers of games lost that we blitzed more than normal and a lot more games that we won that we blitzed less than normal, but the perception is that wasn’t the case. People seem to think we only blitz in wins, but that’s not at all accurate.

“And aggressive football and attacking football can be played with a four-man rush because those things are based on how well, as I like to say, your players are going north in attacking an offense. And it really has to do with how fast your team plays, and that comes from how confident they are.”

I really feared my head would explode as I read and re-read that. Rhoads hallmark has been the bend-but-don’t-break defense. A read-and-react approach. Don’t give up the big play. In fact, until this season…

Nevertheless, Rhoads is preaching for his linebackers to be more aggressive instead of reading and reacting to plays.

Now why would people think his defensive schemes were passive?

Wait. Let’s start with the last statement in the block quote: “And it really has to do with how fast your team plays, and that comes from how confident they are.”

I would have thought it comes from the player’s ability and how well they are positioned, coached and taught. No. Apparently they just need to have confidence. Self-esteem was the key all along. In the Navy game, they just didn’t feel good about things.
For the record, I don’t care that much about blitzing. It’s an essential component, but it isn’t the end-all, be-all of a defense. I do want to see pressure up front, and blitzing is also a reward for the D-line to really attack. It seems, though, that Rhoads is just indicting his past performance as a DC. The team has tried to blitz, but failed to produce the pressure. They couldn’t generate any pass rush or pressure up front. Not a shock for anyone who has watched this team the past few years, but just a reminder.

Although the Panthers are not blitzing more this season, Rhoads said they made some minor changes to the scheme in the offseason that have paid off. Some of the changes involve mixing up and disguising coverages, but the most important change is that the Panthers have pulled a safety up closer to the line of scrimmage to be more involved in stopping the run — they have gone from a seven-man front to an eight-man front — and it has paid off.

And this is something I have to give credit — to Coach Wannstedt. It’s about the only thing he did right with Paul Rhoads. He took away his duties as the secondary coach and put him on linebackers. It meant that Rhoads was no longer dropping the safety to provide extra support against the pass, but would bring up the safeties to help the linebackers and the D-line more.

This was something that was in the works starting last spring when Rhoads took over the linebackers. Not to mention, once Rhoads had to be responsible for the Linebackers’ performance he did become a lot more interested in making sure the D-line was improving. It also took until this season before Rhoads actually thought that maybe it might help the defense if they worked as an entire defense in some practices and meetings rather than always in individual units.

Again, seven years as a DC, and it took his job being on the line and being responsible for linebackers rather than DBs for Rhoads to see the value of bringing up the safeties against the run.

DeJuan Blair got the media love ahead of Pitt’s season opener. Makes sense as Pitt’s biggest recruit in years, a freshman starting, and a local product.

Blair, who turned the bid to replace All-America Aaron Gray into a one-man show, will be only the third freshman in two decades to start the season opener at Pitt.

The Schenley High School product also is the first City League player at Pitt since Darelle Porter of Perry from 1987-1991, and only the third since Fifth Avenue great Sam Clancy departed in 1981.

“This is what I wanted,” Blair said. “I love pressure and being under pressure. That’s actually why I came to Pitt. I knew Aaron was leaving, and I knew I had a shot of starting. I got my start and ain’t going to let nobody take it. I’ve got to live up to the hype. That’s all it is. That’s why I came here.”

Sam Clancy has been helping in an informal way since coming back to Pitt to finally finish his degree. He has gotten close to Blair.

Clancy and Blair have developed a close relationship the past two years since Clancy came back to town. Clancy grew up with Blair’s grandparents, George and Donna Saddler, in the same Hill District neighborhood, and he played basketball with one of Blair’s uncles, Ricky Townsend.

Blair is a frequent visitor to Clancy’s home, where he is regaled with Pitt stories from yesteryear.

“We’re real close,” Blair said. “He’s a cool dude to be around. We have a lot in common.”

Not the least of which is playing the post with a smaller frame. Blair said picking Clancy’s brain about playing center at 6-7 has been helpful as he prepares for his first game tomorrow night against Houston Baptist.

“I ask him that every day, every chance I get to talk with him,” Blair said. “He gives me excellent pointers. We’re from the same background. We’re the same, I just came along a little later. It’s just lovely. He did it, so I think I can do it.”

No pressure, though.

The bye week got Paul Zeise to bite on picking an all-time Pitt squad.

OFFENSE

• Quarterback: Dan Marino
• Running Backs: Tony Dorsett, Marshall Goldberg
• Wide Receivers: Larry Fitzgerald, Antonio Bryant
• Offensive Lineman: Mark May, Jimbo Covert, Bill Fralic, Rueben Brown, Mark Stepnoski
• Tight End: Mike Ditka
• Kicker: Josh Cummings

DEFENSE

• Defensive Lineman: Hugh Green, Rickey Jackson, Bill Maas, Randy Holloway
• Linebackers: Joe Schmidt, Jerry Olsavsky, Tony Woods
• Defensive Backs: Darrelle Revis, Tim Lewis, Tom Flynn, Ramon Walker
• Punter: Andy Lee

Plenty of feedback and other suggestions followed, as you would expect.

On a related note, Ruben Brown is out for the rest of the season with the Bears due to a shoulder injury. It is very likely that Brown’s career could be over. He’s been in the NFL for 13 years.

The season opener is tomorrow, and given the upset of Kentucky along with struggles by UConn (and by the way they are in another, uh, dogfight with Buffalo as I write this) and Memphis, I take nothing for granted.

Looks like Pitt might start the season a little thin at small forward with Gilbert Brown banged up.

Brown injured his right (shooting) shoulder in Sunday’s exhibition game against IUP but played through the pain. He has not practiced since.

Brown, a redshirt freshman who was plagued by illness and injuries last season, did some shooting drills yesterday. Coach Jamie Dixon was holding out hope that he would be able to practice today.

“Someone came down on his shoulder as he was lifting it up,” Dixon said yesterday. “There’s going to be some pain. I’m a little concerned that it could be around for a little bit. It could be around for a while. He’s played very well. I’m really happy with his progress, so this is a step back for him being out for a couple of days. We’ll see how he responds [today]. Since he shot today and did some running, I think he’ll be able to go live.”

Dixon declined to say specifically what type of injury Brown has, but he is holding out hope that it is not serious because of Brown’s progress the past few days.

I’d rather hold him out for another week. Brown is going to be needed this year.

Joe Lunardi puts Pitt at #35 in his early Bracketology report.

35. PITTSBURGH. Pitt’s five-year RPI average is 13.6, which is fourth-best in the country after Duke (7.0), Kansas (12.6) and Kentucky (13.4). Certainly Jamie Dixon hasn’t gotten enough credit for an amazing job with the Panthers.

Meanwhile ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. looked at the Big East recruiting for 2008, and observes this about Pitt (INsider subs.).

Jamie Dixon and the Panthers finished last season 28-9 (12-4 Big East), though their frontline was hard hit by the graduation of Aaron Gray and Jason Kendall.

The 2007-08 team will be talented, deep and experienced. It may or may not be good enough to make the NCAA tournament. Their ability to have a good season and make the tournament will probably be based on the ability to replace Gray and Kendall and get production from their newcomers.

The Panthers have had a very good recruiting year getting three talented players: Ashton Gibbs (West Orange, N.J.), Travon Woodall (Jersey City, N.J.) and Nasir Robinson (Chester, Pa.), all who are ranked in the ESPN 150. These three will continue to give Dixon the type of players he loves to have in his program since they are all versatile, tough and can defend.

Clyde Vaughan is still trying to rebuild his reputation after a very abrupt fall from grace at UConn.

After his playing career at Pitt, Vaughan became a rising star in the coaching ranks as an assistant coach for Seth Greenberg at South Florida and then under Jim Calhoun at the University of Connecticut. But in August 2004, his career was derailed when he was arrested for patronizing a prostitute and interfering with police officers during a Hartford, Conn., prostitution sting. Vaughan resigned and has been out of coaching since.

Vaughan is currently working toward a master’s degree at Waubonsie College in Aurora, Ill., while running his All-American Basketball Academy.

His dream and long-term goal is to come back and coach in college again at Pitt. Vaughan said he had discussions with Pitt coach Jamie Dixon in April 2006 after Barry Rohrssen left Pitt to become the head coach at Manhattan. But when it came time to hire a new assistant, Dixon hired Mike Rice.

“I talked to Jamie, and he said the people who make the decisions wouldn’t go for it,” Vaughan said. “It was mostly Jeff Long. Bill [Baierl] fought to get me here.”

I’m not sure Vaughan fully gets that he did it to himself.

“Yeah, I made a mistake,” Vaughan said. “I put myself in a bad situation, and I paid for it. But everyone deserves a second chance, especially at your alma mater. I was really hurt when Pitt didn’t hire me. Other than getting married and having my son, these were the best four years of my life.

“I can get the job done here. I’m not politicking, but I can get you the All-Americans. Pitt is a hard-working town used to getting players like me, guys who overachieved. But I can get you the All-Americans. If you don’t believe me, ask Jim Calhoun or Seth Greenberg. Coach Calhoun called Pitt for me. He told them I was the best recruiter he ever had even though I was only there for two years.”

The self-confidence is still not lacking, but it was such an embarrassing act that he hasn’t been hired since. Despite his self-professed recruiting acumen.

It doesn’t seem that Austin Wallace will be much of a factor this year.

Q: I hear so many things about Pitt’s freshmen, namely DeJuan Blair, Bradley Wannamaker and Gilbert Brown. Whatever happened to Austin Wallace? I hear nothing about him this season. Has he not progressed as the coaches would like?

FITTIPALDO: It does not appear Wallace will have a big role on the team this season. He played only a few minutes in the two exhibition games. Austin was a project when Pitt signed him. He was 17 when he arrived and they redshirted him last season. He just does not appear to have the skill set that the other power forwards and centers on the team have. It’s almost like he’s a tweener — not quite big enough to be a quality center and not quite athletic enough to be an effective power forward.

Hopefully he will continue to develop and in another year be ready for the rotation.

P-G Beat writer Ray Fittipaldo also had his first chat of the season.

99fcpanther: Do you think Diggs and McGhee will get minutes this sesaon as backups to Blair or is McGhee a candidate for a redshirt?

Ray Fittipaldo: Originally, the plan was to try to redshirt McGhee, but I’m not sure if they’ll be able to do that. I know it was only two exhibition games, but I thought McGhee outplayed Diggs. I think they’ll go with Diggs as Blair’s backup in hopes that he can fill that role, but if he does not play up to par, McGhee could find himself playing a role on the team this season. We’ll see how that develops over the first few weeks.

Last year, Pitt had a big luxury in being able to redshirt the freshmen. This year, that isn’t likely. It isn’t necessarily that bad a thing as it does reflect greater talent being recruited and the coaches doing more than paying lip-service to the idea that that the best players play.

These are the D-1A teams Pitt has faced to date. I’m not even going to discuss Grambling since 1-AA shouldn’t be in the conversation.
Team ———— Tot. Off (rank) — Rush O — Pass O

Eastern Michigan — 320.60 (104th) — 139.5 — 181.1

Michigan State — 427.40 (32nd) — 210.9 — 216.5

UConn ———- 367.33 (78th) — 174.78 — 192.56

Virginia ——– 329.1 (101st) — 128.70 — 200.40

Navy ———— 438.00 (24th) — 333.33 — 104.67

Cinci ———— 429.44 (31st) — 167.67 — 261.78

Louisville ——- 510.44 (6th) — 149.56 — 360.89

Syracuse ——- 282.67 (114th) — 68.67 —- 214.00

Here’s what Pitt’s D did in those games

Team ———– Total O — Rushing O — Passing O

E. Michigan —– 145 ——— 39 ——— 106

Michigan St. —- 327 ——— 144 ——– 183

UConn ——— 289 ——— 115 ——– 174

Virginia ——– 342 ——— 173 ——— 169

Navy ———- 497 ——— 331 ——— 166

Cinci ———- 358 ——— 121 ——— 237

Louisville —— 356 ——– 120 ——— 236

Syracuse —– 265 ——– 30 ———– 235

By the numbers and having watched all of these games there are 3 games where the defense played well (Michigan State, Cinci and Louisville); 3 games where the defense was poor (UConn, Virginia and Navy) and 2 games where the defense was average (Eastern Michigan and Syracuse). Yes, I will credit the defense with a good effort in the Louisville game, despite the late breakdown that allowed the TD.

In traditional run defense, there is improvement. Notice, though, that in the 3 games where the defense was “poor” the common factor was a mobile QB and teams that at least used elements of the spread. All three had QBs who had at least 12 rushes. Some things have remained constant.

Two of Pitt’s remaining three games are against teams with mobile QBs (Matt Grothe, USF and Pat White, WVU). The other game features one of the top RBs in the country (Ray Rice, Rutgers). Rutgers has used back-up QB Jabu Lovelace (probably the best name in the Big East, even ahead of WVU’s John Holmes) in option situations. How much Pitt sees of him will also depend on the health of Mike Teel who has been banged up.

In half of Pitt’s D-1A games, they have played teams in the bottom third of offensive production nationally. Three who are in the 100 level.

It’s hard not to think a little of last year’s 5-1 start with media talk of the defensive improvement. Even as Pitt had only faced one team (and lost) with a potent offense.

The comments on posts sometime take things to different places. So here’s some thoughts on a couple of them.

I’m going to wait for part two of the Paul Rhoads story before writing about it. Honestly, the first part didn’t surprise me. If you expected a hatchet job on Rhoads, well, then you just haven’t been paying attention to the treatment given him by the local media for the past 8 years.

A little bit of interest in what Pitt players are doing in the NFL is always interesting. More interesting, what is thought of Pitt players heading to the NFL. The 49ers have a scout who blogs, and was in Pennsylvania.

I drove over to Pitt and caught their afternoon practice. This was also my second visit at Pitt, and I was mostly interested in seeing more of their left tackle Jeff Otah. I watched additional film on Friday and also talked to some coaches, and Otah is developing into one of the top left tackles in college football this year and he’ll come off the board relatively early this April.

I hung around Pittsburgh for their game on Saturday against Syracuse. It was a competitive game that Pitt pulled out, and Otah played exactly as I thought he would and as he should.

Another player who stood out in the game for Pitt was defensive end Joe Clermond. He was very productive in the game, got a couple of quarterback sacks and pressures and he showed quickness, speed and was very instinctive in finding the football.

About what you would expect on Pitt’s team for NFL draftable players for the 2008 Draft.