Personally, I’m not operating under any illusions that the loss to Pitt played any part in Rich Rodriguez’s decision to bolt WVU for Michigan. That’s just a little too much hubris that frankly, Pitt and we fans haven’t earned. To consider the guy who coached the Mountaineers to the upset over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl when held in Atlanta as some sort of choker is just silly. If you want to claim that he’s reached the point where he thinks he can’t go any further and seeks a higher level, I buy that. He nearly bolted last season for ‘Bama, but stayed for less money but key improvements in facilities and assistants pay. Arguing that if he had beaten Pitt, and was playing for the national championship and would have ignored Michigan’s entreaties is something I doubt. He was perfectly willing to go behind his own AD’s back with Michigan not seeking the cursory permission to speak.
I don’t like WVU or whining Rodriguez. I do respect, however, from a pure football standpoint what he has accomplished. His approach on offense and schemes he has developed has been one of the significant changes/innovations to college football in the past 20 years.

I also can’t help but feel a little pity for WVU. To lose the coaches who brought back their basketball and football programs in the same year to the same school is just beyond belief. That has to come back on the Wolverines at some point.

That said, he’s arguably as bad or worse than the duplicitous Bobby Petrino. Rodriguez was happy to use back-channels to let Michigan know he was interested and helped/aided in avoiding even the courtesy of having Michigan seek permission to talk to him. Add in that Rodriguez was a WV native and WVU alum and how much more does it hurt, even with his past flirtations.

It should also be a reminder/wake-up for Pitt and Pitt fans — and almost any other school and their fanbase — that hiring a “Pitt guy” means nothing. Absolutely nothing with coaching loyalty. If there is a better opportunity, more money or any other reason/excuse a coach will at a minimum listen and use it as leverage for more money.

That Coach Wannstedt hasn’t been approached in his time at Pitt is not a reflection of his loyalty but his win-loss record to this point. In the past Miami and Nebraska have both at least talked to him about their programs before he came back to Pitt.

I’m not trying to be negative, but I do think the coaching carousel deserves hard, cold cynicism. It’s why, when there is a change in coaching or the athletic department, nothing pisses me off more than hearing about the need for some “Pitt guy” or someone who understands the area or a local connection. The most important thing is to find the best coach for the job and who will do the best job. Period.

The refs from yesterday’s game were calling everything in the first half. In the second half, they let up. 34 fouls called in the game. There was a sequence of flops by OK State and then Pitt that were both called. The last thing you would think is that a coach would be complaining that the officials let too much go.

“They did a good job on him,” Sutton said. “They got away with a lot of holding, a lot of grabbing and he hadn’t seen that kind of physical play yet. It hurt us because we depend on him to score points for us. He never got in any rhythm.”

Anderson was 2-of-8 from the floor and finished with eight points. He did not play the last five minutes of the game.

“He had eight points,” Pitt point guard Levance Fields said. “We can live with that.”

Much like Duquesne Coach Everhart decided to give the nod to WVU over Pitt as a better team they have lost to, Sutton gave the edge to Pitt over Marquette.

Sutton gave it serious thought and said the teams are pretty even.

“But I might give Pitt a slight edge based off (DeJuan) Blair,” Sutton said. “I think he’s good. I’m not sure Marquette has a guy in there that consistently scores. They both have great guards; they’re both tough.”

Those comparisons mean nothing. In both cases the edge went to the team that beat them last and was at home. As opposed to the road game or neutral site.

Sutton did think his team was better than they were against Marquette (to whom they lost by 30 in Maui).

“It’s going to be a process with a young team,” Sutton said. “I know we are a lot better team now than we were out in Maui. Hopefully we will make the same amount of improvement over the next two or three weeks.”

Why does Sutton think OSU is better than they were in Maui? His team fought back instead of folding.

To be fair, they really didn’t fold. Of course, I also find the oversimplification that but for that 1st half stretch where they let Pitt beat their brains in with a 20-5 run they were even with Pitt. That’s the sort of rationalization excuses the overall performance of a team.

Levance Fields, though, still said the one thing that Pitt fans should love to hear.

Pittsburgh couldn’t miss a shot in the first half, and then for a significant stretch in the second half the Panthers couldn’t make a shot.

Whether their shots were falling or not on Saturday, the No. 11 Panthers did not let up on defense in their 85-68 win over Oklahoma State.

It’s a lesson Sean Sutton hopes his young Cowboys picked up, and one that undefeated Pitt’s point guard was preaching after the game.

“If we make mistakes on offense we can’t compound it by making mistakes on defense,” junior Levance Fields said.

[Emphasis added — because it’s so important.]