Though I didn’t see it personally, I’ve already had three people text me about KDKA reporting on their 6pm news that defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads is thisclose to leaving for the same DC job at Auburn. Apparently Rhoads and Auburn HC Tommy Tuberville were seen meeting together today, and there have been rumors of this move happening for a week or so. They’ve been quiet rumors though, and reaction to this from Pitt fans is probably mixed:

— We want to keep him: Pitt held one of the best offenses in the NCAA to 7 points and played and amazing game. There were different blitz packages and schemes and we were able to keep great containment on White, Slaton, and Devine. Actually, we saw enough improvement during the last few games that there was hope for an even better defense in 2008.

On the other hand…

— Up until then, the defense was horrible. We never blitzed, never made any adjustments during the game, and saw almost no improvement. It’s been said that near the end of the year, Rhoads was simply Wannstedt’s puppet, and DW fully controlled the defense using Rhoads as a middle-man. In that sense, maybe having Rhoads leave isn’t so bad. Anyone that replaces him would have a defensive unit that is fully Wannstedt’s.

Again, these are just rumors, but they seem to be gaining some real possibility.

Edit: Really? Chas beat me by 12 minutes. Ah.

Don’t toy with me, Auburn.

Don’t get my hopes up for no reason. I have trouble believing it true. Pitt couldn’t have this many good things happen in one week.

The rumors are rampant that Paul Rhoads may be heading to Auburn to take over as Defensive Coordinator there. He once turned down the job — leading to his huge contract.

A few days ago the Auburn beat writer said this was the search for a new DC was a very tight-lipped affair. More than any other he had encountered covering Auburn. Then he still speculated on some of the names out there.

Pittsburgh coordinator Paul Rhoads: He’s not a serious candidate and hasn’t been. UPDATE: There is talk that Rhoads might be in the picture after all. I doubt that’s the case, but we will see.

Tuberville refused to comment about the job or Rhoads specifically a few days later.

Jarred Holley, as widely expected the last week or so, made it an official, non-binding, verbal to Pitt.

Holley, who scored 48 touchdowns and had 21 interceptions in his four-year career at Easton, took an official visit to Pittsburgh but canceled trips to Iowa and Virginia. “The official visits are the wining and dining part of the process,” he said. “I feel comfortable with my choice.”

More about it later when the full stories and interviews come.

Meanwhile, it seems Josh Jenkins has crossed Pitt off the list and added a different choice.

“We talked this afternoon,” McCullough explained to MetroNews’ Tony Caridi. “And he is no longer considering Pitt.”

Good news for fans of the gold and blue, but not great.

That’s because the Parkersburg standout just returned from what he described as “a great” visit at Florida State, where former WVU assistant coach Rick Trickett now calls home.

On Thursday, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel will be at the PHS football complex, the second time he has visited there.

It is a process that has seemingly gone on for a very long time and one that appears to be headed toward an 11th hour decision.

A decision that likely will come down to two schools—WVU and Ohio State, with FSU lurking in the dark looking to snatch away Jenkins’ services if the other two schools fail.

The chances with Jenkins were always slim. Seeing him ship off to FSU would be fine by me.

I don’t want to say lost in the euphoria, but definitely taking a bit of a back seat to the on-court performance of the basketball team, Pitt added three more football recruits that same night.

Altoona all-purpose back A.J. Alexander, one of the state’s fastest and most highly recruited players, announced his verbal commitment to Pitt during a live chat on Scout.com.

“I just liked everything about it,” Alexander told Scout.com. “I get along great with the players there and I feel like I fit in. My whole family loves (Pitt defensive line coach Greg) Gattuso. After the visit, I just figured why wait? I love the city and I love how (Pitt coach Dave) Wannstedt recruits.”

Alexander was joined in picking the Panthers by Lakeland tight end Justin Virbitsky and West Boca Raton (Fla.) middle linebacker Joe Trebitz. All three took official visits to Pitt this past weekend.

A.J. Alexander is a 4-star athlete/running back who was one of the highest ranked Pennsylvania recruits to still not make a verbal. He had initially verballed to FSU, in the summer, but backed off that. Penn State was the presumptive choice given his proximity and their recruiting of him, but he didn’t like their offense. ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. (Insider subs.) worries about his size and durability. They see him excelling as return specialist, but also that he is multi-dimensional in an offense.

He is excellent at cutting back against the grain and exploiting cutback lanes. He would make for a great change of pace in the backfield on third downs and passing downs. However, his future is truly as a return specialist. He has a knack for hitting the seam on punt returns. He does not dance — one cut and upfield is his style. He can make people miss and most importantly, he is a home-run threat once he’s in the clear. He has great speed and a second gear in space.

The next two verbals are definitely projects, and almost assured of heading for redshirts.

Joe Trebitz, a linebacker out of West Boca, FL, and was an all-county, first team selection by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The review from ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. says he is in need of a redshirt, just to bulk up. They do like his potential.

Trebitz shows versatility playing both inside and outside linebacker, and possesses a high ceiling with his tall, rangy frame. His body should explode with bulk once he attacks a college weight-training program. Displays sound diagnosing skills and sifts adequately well through the lateral trash. Fills hard and brings adequate power and leverage to the point of attack.

Finally, Pitt has a blocking tight end in Justin Virbitsky out of Jermyn, PA. He likes where things are going with Pitt.

“I’m very excited,” Virbitsky said. “Pittsburgh is a football city. They have a good program. Coach is a real nice guy and a great coach. I’m glad to have a chance to play from him.”

Virbitsky, who didn’t start playing football until eighth grade, moved up to the varsity as a freshman where he played for the District 2 Class AA championship team as a tight end. He started the next three years at both tight end and defensive end, helping the Chiefs to another district title in 2006.

Last season, Virbitsky had 56 solo tackles with four sacks and earned a spot on The Associated Press Class AA all-state first-team defense.

From the ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. commentary,  they see him as further along as a blocker than a receiver right now. They also think that he will be a great fit with a little work in a run-oriented offense.

Excels on drive blocks where he blends good upper and lower-body strength with proper leverage. Consistently generates enough power to wash down defensive ends creating good run perimeter run lanes. We like the tenacity this kid plays with as a blocker– he finishes blocks and constantly looks for more up-field. Receiver skills show potential with some polish. Hands are reliable and most of his grabs come away from the body. Shows good ability catching the ball in stride and in traffic. Utilizes his big body to absorb the hit and continue with forward progress. Demonstrates good concentration for big tight end prospect; he does a nice job adjusting to the difficult throw. However, he is currently limited athletically in some phases as a pass catcher.

Quickly, through a couple other things.

Jarred Holley will be announcing his choice today: Iowa, Pitt or Virginia.

DE Logan Shultz out of Gettysburg still lists Pitt as one of his choices.

Josh Jenkins attracted a parade of coaches coming through Parkersburg.

On Monday, new West Virginia University head football coach Bill Stewart and even newer recruiting coordinator John ‘Doc’ Holliday were at PHS to meet with all-America lineman

…

Today, University of Michigan recruiting coordinator Tony Gibson — who not long ago was recruiting Jenkins on behalf of WVU —will visit the Big Red football complex.

On Wednesday, University of Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt —whose Panthers upset West Virginia in the regular season finale and knocked the Mountaineers out of the National Championship game, will be in Parkersburg seeking the services of Jenkins —who is scheduled to make his official visit to the Pittsburgh campus this weekend.

Finally, on Thursday, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel will be back in Parkersburg, taking his final shot at Jenkins.

Wheee.

Lots and lots of stories about Pitt beating G-town. There was one national writer who was expecting a very good game.

Game to watch this week: In case you haven’t caught on, we’re working on a theme here. Your reigning player of the week meets your reigning team of the week Monday night at 7: Georgetown vs. Pitt at the Petersen Events Center — televised by ESPN on Big Monday — where the Panthers try to remain among the contenders for the Big East championship by taking down the clear favorite. Georgetown’s preference for a measured pace should work well for the Panthers, who no longer are deep enough to push things as much as they would prefer. If you’re not curious how rugged, wide-shouldered Pitt freshman DeJuan Blair will fare against Hibbert, you might need to ask yourself if you really love this game.

Mike Miller at MSNBC.com was impressed by what he has seen from Pitt.

Guess Pitt missed the memo about writing off this season.

For the last few weeks, the Panthers have heard about how tough their season will be without starters Mike Cook and Levance Fields. But a 69-60 win against No. 5 Georgetown should silence any remaining doubters and reestablish Pitt as a Final Four contender.

It’s amazing what a few weeks, a good coach and lots of talent will do.

I love this team, but I would hesitate with Final Four talk right now. Hyperbole either way, always seems to be the downside of instant punditry. That said, Miller’s entry pretty much echoed the national theme on the game and Pitt (Jan 15 entry).

Let the record show that I’m finished expecting Pittsburgh to collapse just because Levance Fields and Mike Cook are sidelined with injuries. I mean, there’s no way they can be as good without those two key players as they were going to be with those two key players. But that 69-60 victory over Georgetown is an indication that No. 15 Pitt will still be more than competitive as long as DeJuan Blair (15 points and nine rebounds) and Ronald Ramon (18 points and four assists) remain on the court, and if Jamie Dixon holds this together he’ll be the easy pick for Big East Coach of the Year. As for Georgetown, is it time to question the fifth-ranked Hoyas? They’ve played just two ranked teams (Memphis and Pitt) and lost both games by comfortable margins, making their 13-2 record almost meaningless.

ESPN’s Jay Bilas was happy to sing the Pitt praises after the game and in an online chat (Insider subs.).

DJ (Pittsburgh): Can we finally put to rest the idea that Pitt will struggle to make the NCAA tournament after the injuries? They might be a protected seed!

Jay Bilas: Aren’t the Panthers amazing? Ramon and Benjamin have been incredible, and Pitt has become even more efficient over the past five games. Jamie Dixon has shortened his playbook, and has simplified things. And, he believes in his players and empowers them to break free of limiting roles. Pitt will be in the NCAA Tournament.

…

Mike (Atlanta GA): How was the atmosphere at the Pete for last night’s Pitt/G-town game and which player impressed you the most?

Jay Bilas: Awesome. I was really impressed with Blair and his work ethic. Also, Benjamin and Ramon were truly outstanding. Gutty win for Pitt. That place is one of the great atmospheres in college basketball.

Doug Gottlieb had a lot of Pitt fans pestering him in his online chat.

Zak (Pittsburgh): Pitt sure looked like an NIT team last night, didn’t they? Doug, admit you are biased against the Big East because of your problems at Notre Dame.

Doug Gottlieb: Yeah, uh, my bad. Hey be honest, any other team loses their starting PG and their leading returning scorer who is also their best passer, you would think they were going to fall off too right?

Jamie Dixon is one terrific coach to keep this thing going. BY the way, anyone else think LeVance Fields looks like Donovan McNabb?

He got grief for forgetting to include DeJuan Blair (and Donte Green) in his list of top freshmen — to be fair, I think chats are tricky since you do have to respond off the top of your head. It’s easy to miss things. He then put Sam Young in a list of seniors who have really developed their game (adding for Young, “wow has he improved”) — and was again called out on not realizing Young is a junior.

Not a big Gottlieb fan, but I’ll admit to smiling a little at this bit.

John (Milwaukee): Bilas and Phelps picked Notre Dame to win at Marquette only to have MU beat them by almost 30. Will MU surprise people or was this just a fluke?

Doug Gottlieb: Digger picked ND? Noooo…..really?

The ESPN College Basketball Insider podcast (mp3) from today had Gottlieb apologizing over his NIT comments. Singing the praises of Coach Dixon for what he is doing with the team.

Dick Weiss of the NY Daily News has been a big believer in Pitt, and that hasn’t changed.

Senior guard Keith Benjamin, the former Mount Vernon High star, scored 18 points, his fifth straight double-figure performance. That helped make up for the fact the Hoyas did a good job shutting down Sam Young, Pitt’s leading scorer.

Young did his part on the defensive end, combining with 6-6 freshman Gilbert Brown and Ty Biggs to shut down Georgetown’s 6-9 sophomore star DeJuan Summers, who shot 0-for-7 and did not score.

“That was very big,” Benjamin said. “Down there, they hold him up to be like their next Jeff Green (the former Hoyas star now with the NBA Sonics). Sam started it, being physical with him, taking him out of his rhythm. That was somebody we needed to take out of the game.”

Pitt is 91-8 at the Pete and owns a 13-game home winning streak. But Georgetown had beaten Pitt four of the previous five games. With that in mind, this was the type of character win that should do wonders for a team that refused to melt down.

The AP wire article, of course, has a huge impact on national perception.

What few considered was this: Not only would they stay ranked without point guard Levance Fields and small forward Mike Cook, but they are moving up in the ratings after an initial drop.

The 15th-ranked Panthers, down to No. 20 a week ago, pulled off one of their most impressive victories in recent seasons Monday night, never trailing in a 69-60 victory over No. 5 Georgetown.

The way they played – getting outside scoring from Keith Benjamin and Ronald Ramon and a strong inside presence from freshman center DeJuan Blair – the Panthers didn’t look like a team that’s interested in dropping out of the poll anytime soon.

The Georgetown excuse reasoning for the loss seems to be the fact that they shot 3-20 on threes.

Fifth-ranked Georgetown was just 3 of 20 from beyond the arc (15 percent). It was the Hoyas’ worst three-point shooting performance since they shot 14.3 percent (2 for 14) in a loss at Duke in December 2006.

Freshman Austin Freeman, a 46 percent shooter, and sophomore forward DaJuan Summers, a 38 percent shooter, were both 0 for 4 from three-point range. Wallace made just 2 of 7 three-point attempts; the first one came on a half-court heave at the halftime buzzer, and the other came in the final 12 seconds, after the game was decided.

“They’re a good defensive team, but we were getting a lot of shots that we usually hit, and a lot of good looks,” said Wallace, who is 3 of 14 from beyond the three-point arc over the past two games. “Just the shot wasn’t falling tonight. We were trying to take different things to try to get something going down low, but we just couldn’t get it right tonight.”

Not so easy to buy, as Seth Davis explains:

The larger problem for the Hoyas is their three-point shooting is suspect once they hit the road. In their two losses at Memphis and Pitt, the Hoyas shot a combined 6 for 34 from behind the arc. It’s not just the low percentage that bothers me, it’s the high number of attempts. As I’ve said before, the biggest difference between playing at home and on the road is that at home, you can fire up threes, but on the road you’ve got to take it to the cup. It was also disconcerting to see Pitt’s guards slice their way to the basket so often with relative ease.

The Hoyas may have taken a bunch of threes that were open, but they clearly didn’t want to shoot it. They were frustrated because they couldn’t get the ball inside and Pitt’s defense took away the precious backdoor cut of their offense. Settling for the three, when it was not part of the offensive play effects the confidence of the shooter. Not to mention, the physical toll of being bumped and playing Pitt. It was a physical game that wore on the Hoyas.

Georgetown does take a hell of a lot of 3s. Almost 39% of their shot attempts are 3s (307 out of 788). Astounding when you consider the talent of Hibbert inside — not to mention Macklin. Plus DaJuan Summers and Austin Freeman should be attacking the rim more. Summers, especially, is guilty. He is a wing player with talent to attack. Instead, just over half of his shot attempts are 3s. That’s timid and a waste.

The WashTimes writer who thought Pitt was talking too much before the game thought Georgetown lost the game because they were inexplicably slow.

Two days removed from their win over Connecticut, the Hoyas looked dead-legged from the start last night against the Panthers (15-2, 3-1). They were a step slow on their defensive rotations and atypically inaccurate on offense.

“We were flat,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said after the Hoyas gave up a pair 18-point efforts to the Pitt backcourt of Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin. “I don’t know what to attribute that to. This was a pretty big game.”

The Panthers approached it as such, promising revenge for last season’s consecutive losses to the Hoyas and making good on those claims before a sellout crowd of 12,508 fans at Petersen Events Center.

Georgetown’s starting five failed to match Pitt’s passion.

Again, this has to do with a more physical game. The tough defense kept G-town off. Look, when Pitt lost to UCLA in the Sweet 16 game, Pitt had the same problem. They got bumped, outworked and it threw off everything on offense. Pitt struggled to make shots. Just like G-town experienced last night.

Now to the local coverage. Funny coincidence. Both the P-G and the Trib. start the opening graph of the game stories with the same two words.

So much for Pitt treading water until Levance Fields returns to the lineup. The Panthers emphatically announced last night that they are still Big East championship contenders even without their star point guard.

No. 15 Pitt defeated No. 5 Georgetown, 69-60, at the Petersen Events Center. The Panthers (15-2, 3-1) are one last-second loss at Villanova away from being alone atop the conference standings. As it is, they are one of five teams tied for first place this morning.

“It’s definitely a big win for us,” senior guard Ronald Ramon said. “We were looking forward to this game. We just wanted it more.”

And…

So much for poor, injury-plagued Pitt needing to claw to a decent Big East record to make the NCAA Tournament.

So much for the skeptics, who howled the Panthers’ grand hopes were snapped with Levance Fields’ broken foot.

The P-G story also noted something that was also pointed out in the comments.

The tone of the game was set before the opening tip. After the national anthem, Blair approached Hibbert to shake his hand, but Hibbert walked the opposite direction toward the Georgetown bench.

“I don’t care if he doesn’t shake my hand,” Blair said. “It won’t make me or break me. I don’t care if he shakes my hand after the game. I guess he was mad or something. He tried not to.”

Blair got the better of Hibbert in the paint. Hibbert had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, but he was frustrated by Blair’s quickness and did not get prime post position for much of the game.

“It was a tough game all around,” Hibbert said. “I wasn’t playing my best today. We were all a little off.”

Uh-huh. It’s a non-issue. Let’s not turn this into some mini-Belichick-Mangini thing.

Ramon was the hero of the game.

Breakout games aren’t usual in a player’s senior year.

Especially to a player who’s started on and off in his four years.

Especially to a player who’s been so important to his team’s success for his four years.

But to Ronald Ramon, the past three weeks have been anything but usual.

After all, not only has he really stepped up as the point, but he had a great shooting night.

“With the things that have been going on here, the guys going down, we’re stepping up every game,” Ramon said. “It’s something we have on our backs. Teams feel they have a better chance of beating us because we’re missing some guys.”

Pitt’s been missing Ramon’s shooting touch since his move to the point. In his first three games in place of Fields, Ramon took 15 shots. He began to look for his start against Seton Hall and finished with 14 points.

But his 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting, including four three-pointers, came as a bit of a surprise considering the talent of Georgetown’s guards.

“Ronald, you know, he’s pretty good,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.

Ramon several clutch baskets, including a wild three-pointer as the shot clock expired to give Pitt an early 20-15 lead. His leaner before the half kept the Panthers ahead heading into the locker room, even after a halfcourt shot from Jonathan Wallace.

Ron Cook also sings Ramon’s praises. Mike Prisuta seems not to like players and coaches dealing in cliches, even as he essentially riddles his own writing with them.

“I think we just wanted it more,” Pitt’s Ronald Ramon said afterward.

Most night’s that’s a cliche, but on this one, Pitt had earned the right to reach such a conclusion.

Sustaining that desire will go a long way toward making believers out of more than just Pitt’s wagons-circling players and coaches.

I get the feeling that Pittsburgh columnists are going to want to cover Pitt a lot more. Not only are the Steelers done (and they can write those “what needs to be done” columns any time); but this Pitt team has multiple storylines that are easy to write and this is a team that is fun. The joy of the college game is still the kids. It may inch closer to de facto professional leagues every day, but the game is still played by kids. The exuberance and fun they have still can break into even the most cynical. Plus, Pitt is still winning.

Plenty of names on hand at the game.

Some of the dignitaries in attendance were mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, Jeannette quarterback Terrelle Pryor, Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch, Steelers kicker Jeff Reed, former Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko, former Pitt basketball star Billy Knight and coach Jamie Dixon’s father, who flew in from California.

“It’s the Forum east,” quipped Pitt associate athletic director E.J. Borghetti.

And an extra day or two to enjoy the win.

Wow. Pitt never trailed or was tied in this game. In the second half, the Hoyas never got closer than 3 points. As Dixon said in the post-game interview with Bilas, this team is just getting better. They keep practicing, they keep working. They weren’t going to focus on who wasn’t there.
It was a great gameplan against Georgetown. Make it harder to get the pass inside, deny the entry, don’t sleep on the backdoor cuts. Make Georgetown settle for jumpers and feel pressed to shoot rather than make that extra pass. Sounds simple, but Pitt executed it so well.

So here are some of the notes I took down during the game.

Right from the start, there could be an argument that Georgetown will have a problem with Pitt. Not because Pitt got out to an 8-2 start. It’s because Georgetown doesn’t press. It’s guards don’t do that. Their defensive style is to wait in the halfcourt and frustrate teams. That’s something Pitt can handle.

The bad news early was that Sam Young decided he should be taking the 3s early.

Good news, the refs were going to let this be a real Big East game. There were no fouls called on either side until under 14 minutes to go in the game.

Throughout the entire first half, Pitt was focused on this game. There was intensity and fire. What wasn’t there was recklessness or letting emotion get the better of them. I don’t know if it came from the Oakland Zoo to the team or the Zoo recognized and was with it. It just was so clear that there was a connection.

About halfway through the game, Pitt was leading but had missed a lot of shots. That was fine by me because Pitt had a 6-0 offensive rebounding advantage at that point. More shots, more chances. Pitt was just getting to the ball. Keep getting chances and more shots were going to fall.

Ramon was able to come off a couple of great screens to hit some big threes. I am/was a big Aaron Gray fan. That said, with a guy like Blair. So much more athletic and quick that creates some real flexibility for Pitt. Blair was able to come out to the perimeter to set those screens to free Ramon. That has been something Ramon has needed this year. A chance to get free for his shot. It seems Pitt has been working on the screens to get him free and they were paying off tonight.

Gary McGhee learned a hard lesson tonight about how much more he has to learn. He was completely unable to handle being inside against Hibbert. He picked up two very, very quick fouls and then a third almost as soon as he came back in the second half. 3 fouls in 2 minutes. I want to see him get in the rotation and learn more, but I don’t think I’ll be second-guessing Dixon too hard in games where McGhee sees very limited or mop-up minutes only.

Pitt was just so physical with Georgetown. Not dirty, just going hard and not giving ground. Wallace and Ewing, Jr. both struggled with it. DaJuan Summers got very frustrated and picked up 3 fouls in the first half. He was completely taken off his game. Huge since the heir apparent to Green was unable to do much.
At halftime, both Digger Phelps and Stacey Dales were all about how Georgetown was in a great position down only 1 — #%^@*&! halfcourt 3 at the buzzer. Why? Because G-town was shooting 50% while Pitt had shot only 33.3%.

There was barely a cursory acknowledgment that Pitt was leading because they had many more shot attempts thanks to superior offensive rebounding and second chance points. What amused me, was that the extra shots thanks to better offensive rebounding and fewer turnoevers was exactly why G-town avoided being upset by UConn a couple days ago.

The second half, not only saw Pitt still get to the ball faster and have the chances. Pitt started hitting more shots inside. They killed the Hoyas when they went into a zone. There was a clear comfort zone for Pitt from about the free throw line to about 3 feet further inside for Pitt to drop open jumpers. Pitt now has inside guys — Young, Blair and Biggs — who can hit in that area.

More of Pitt’s shots were falling with the open space and Georgetown, got frustrated and rushed more shots.

At halftime of the OK-KS game, they got to the Pitt highlights and of course there was no acknowledgment of how off they were on what they thought. Instead it was about how Pitt dominated on the offensive boards. Hindsight dictated how important that was.

Phelps also spoke of the tremendous job Coach Dixon has done in keeping Pitt focused on the court. Not whining about the injuries or using it as an excuse.

Keith W. here, reentering the blog-o-sphere. Some of you may recognize my name from the comments or from when I’ve written posts here back in the day. I have been on hiatus for some time, however, via Chas’ generosity, I am now back and will be your host for tonight’s game.

I’ll spare you any further introduction until a later date. Any tips, complaints, praise (HA!) that you’d like to get to me but don’t want to put in the comments you are welcome to send my way via e-mail to KWBlather-at-gmail.com.

Chas gave us the media recap this morning and this afternoon while Dennis recently posted an excellent breakdown of the matchups.

Something to discuss until tip off: the Pitt women are back in the AP Top 25 for the first time since the preseason.

With Pittsburgh’s return to the Top 25, the Big East has six teams ranked for the first time since the first poll of the regular season.

“We had a great week,” said Pitt coach Agnus Berenato, whose team beat Syracuse and Cincinnati last week. “We all have to play each other in this conference and everybody is really good.”

The Panthers (13-3), who are 3-0 in the conference for the first time since the 1993-94 season, don’t play again until hosting Providence on Saturday.

Kudos to the women.

Returning to the men’s side, Pitt is back up to No. 15 in the AP Poll while Georgetown is No. 5.

Time to go shovel the driveway (13 inches of fresh snow here in Maine). I’ll be back for the pregame. Until then, comment away.

6:30 – I’ve been checking out Ken Pomeroy’s efficiency stats for each team.

Pitt (as expected) is highly ranked in blocks and offensive rebounds, however, they are not so great when it comes to getting to the line and shooting free throws.

Georgetown is just plain scary when you look at its efficiency numbers. They are ranked No. 1 in effective field goal percentage and No. 2 when it comes to its opponents percentage. They Hoyas don’t go to the FT line often and when they do they miss more often than almost any team in the country.

6:37 – It will be interesting to see how Pitt’s young guys react to tonight’s atmosphere. The Duke game in the garden was big time, but this will be different. The Zoo will be electric and the young studs are now playing a much bigger role. I’d actually like to see the team start off without much emotion. The bench has been shortened considerably making the Panthers unable afford foul trouble. If anyone gets early whistles it’ll be a big problem. As with most Big East games, how the game is called could play a big role. Georgetown has enough depth that theyw can afford some foul trouble. Pitt no longer has that luxury. As always, I expect to see a comment or two (or 50) about the officiating.

7:03 – Blair backs Hibbert into the paint for the first two. If the rest of the country doesn’t know who this kid is, they may know after tonight.

As Stuart alluded to in the comments, the non-Zoo crowd has yet to fill out at all. Lets hope it does.

7:09 – Blair gets caught out of position on D, but Gilbert Brown gives some great help to stop Hibbert. I’ve always found Hibbert to be a bit soft.

7:12 – Cook and Fields look asleep on the bench. Sheesh. FYI, according to Ken Pom only 29.8 percent of Pitt’s field goal attempts have been from beyond the arc this season, ranking the Panthers 273rd in the country. Pitt has already taken four (and made two) tonight.

7:16 – My first beer tonight is a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA. MMMmm Mmm Good.

7:17 – 8-6 Pitt. I’d like to see better shot selection from the Panthers. Sam Young needs to get going. Send it in JEROME!!!

7:20 – Biggs takes it right in front of Hibbert, using his body to prevent the block. Great move by Biggs while Hibbert again appears soft. The basket ends a streak of nine straight misses by the Panthers, who, to their credit, are still up by three.

7:24 – Since I am not local, I haven’t gotten to see many Pitt game’s on TV. It’s obvious by the number Pitt hasn’t had a big man with as much talent as Blair since Chris Taft, but wow their personality and effort couldn’t be ANYMORE different. Thankfully.

7:34 – And 1 for Blair, who misses the FT. Nice to see some things have remained the same since I left Pitt. Momentum heads back G-Towns way in the next possesion with a 3-pointer, still, Pitt is playing scrappy and has a two-point lead.

7:36 – So much for Georgetown having the momentum. Beautiful 3 with the shot clock at zero by Ramon.

7:41 – Sam Young goes 1-for-2 from the line, but is still without a field goal with under 3-minutes to play in the half.

7:42 – Pitt has slowed its pace considerably, using up almost the entire shot clock on its last two possessions.

7:54 – Halftime: Are you kidding? We’ll be seeing that one a few more times this week. Despite the half-court heave Pitt is still up by one at the half. However, Pitt needs to improve if it is going to win this game. The Panthers are shooting 33 (10-30) while Georgetown is 11-22.

According to Pitt’s stat tracker it is dominating the glass, 21 (11 offensive) to 14 (1 off.), which is keeping the game close.

8:05 – Tenacious D (good band) by Blair and than Ramon to force the shot clock violation.

8:08 – A three by Ramon and and steal by Blair. Pitt is making the game’s first run. And a 3-pointer by Benjamin! Great to see him knock one down after he had at least two great looks rattle out.

8:11 – As asked about in the comments, here is a link to the latest recruiting update on AJ Alexander. No word yet on the results.

8:18 – I am beginning to get word on the message boards that football recruit AJ Alexander has chosen Pitt. Nothing official yet, but it is looking very good.

8:21 – Another 3-pointer by Ramon and things are looking good for the Panthers, up 11. If I didn’t know better I’d think Pitt was the far superior team…

8:25 – Blair with a Krauser-like running floater in the paint.

8:27 – Sorry for the continuous football info, but here is a link that confirms Alexander going to Pitt.

8:28 Ewing with a huge slam as Georgetown pulls back within five. Looks like we (myself include) need to get our heads back in the game.

8:30 – Blair is an animal on the glass, going back up strong with Young’s missed 3-pointer. How does Hibbert get dominated in the paint so badly? Anyone? Update: Hibbert was on the bench. A clear answer to my question.

8:31 – There’s Pitt’s highlight of the night. I liked Benjamin’s choice taking it on his own… and somehow it paid off.

8:44 – Typical Big East officiating tonight, which I am not complaining about. The two big guys in the paint, Blair and Hibbert, have combined for only two fouls. Perhaps you can call that a lack of aggression, but I think the style will favor both players in post-season play with the games are called much, MUCH tighter.

8:44 – Get your Tums ready, this game is looking like it may come down to FT shooting *gulp*.

8:50 – I think I jinxed Blair with my comment on fouls. Wow. Tough, tough calls.

8:54 -On one possession Young hits the rafters for a defensive rebound. On the next possession Hibbert loses an offensive rebound with his feet glued to the floor. A huge reason why Pitt has 17 offensive boards.

A 3-pointer by Benjamin gives Pitt it’s biggest lead of the night. This one is OVER. What a win.

9:00 – Final 69-60. Thanks to everyone who played along in the comments. What a win for the Panthers. I think Pitt can basically count on making the NCAA tournament. All that talk of them maybe not getting in following the injuries was WAY premature.

What a coaching job by Jamie Dixon. They way the Panther’s played I could not tell at all they were two starters. Almost a seamless transition.  Amazing. A great game to build on.

Just too much in the offline world to do them justice. I’m on DVR delay again with my thoughts — weeknights have been hell. Keith W. will be taking the reigns for tonight’s liveblog.

The Washington Times takes the, um, Pitt sucks and is talking too much view.

Bob Smizik strangely is positive about Pitt by pretending people believed Pitt’s season was over and they were going in the tank after Fields went down. Huh?

Sam Young gets a puff piece in his semi-local paper, the Washington Post.

Big Pitt theme is that the team is still evolving with the injuries and who is out there.

Obviously from a talent challenge this is probably Pitt’s biggest test — against Duke, Pitt was still at full strength.

More Blair versus Hibbert stuff.

Georgetown started peaking last season when they beat Pitt at the Verizon Center.

This game headlines the Rivals.com games to watch this week.

The Van Buren Boys (G-town blog) are a little concerned about this game.

Here’s the Big East Basketball blog preview and prediction for the game.

So you might recall the last time we played Georgetown. Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green destroyed us, Aaron Gray played the worst 40 minutes of basketball ever seen, and we lost the Big East championship game. Green moved on to the NBA but Roy Hibbert decided to stick around, and his matchup with DeJuan Blair will obviously get much of the attention.

Roy Hibbert vs. DeJuan Blair. With all the momentum Hibbert has coming into the game, defense, not offense, is a point of emphasis here. Blair averages nearly 13 rebounds a game in conference play and rebounds are essential for Pitt to control the game. [Hoya Saxa]

What concerns me the most is Georgetown’s point guard, Jonathan Wallace. He’s a step (or two or three) faster than Ronald Ramon, which can create space for Wallace to either hit threes or force another Pitt defender to play help defense — which in turn opens up another man.

The rest of the Hoya starting lineup will probably be:

G — Wallace
G — Jessie Sapp — will be covering Benjamin on defense, is quick enough to force turnovers
F — Austin Freeman — Only a freshman and smaller than Gilbert Brown who will probably be covering him. One of the few times Brown might have the advantage in a matchup all year.
F — DaJuan Summers — Essentially the same role that Jeff Green played
C — Hibbert

Georgetown is ranked 5th in the nation with a 13-1 overall record with a 3-0 mark in Big East games over Rutgers, DePaul, UConn. The win over UConn came in the final seconds when Roy Hibbert hit a three pointer (seriously! video here). Their only real test came from #2 Memphis (at Memphis) where Hibbert was help to 6 points and the entire team looked over matched. Most of the game was the Chris Douglas-Roberts show for Memphis, and he finished with 24 points.

There are some grumblings that Terelle Pryor might be in attendance. It’s been my opinion that ever since Rich Rodriguez told Pryor before any of his own players about his departure to Michigan than he was planning on following RichRod there. I think he is still considering Pitt in the back of his head, but I doubt we’ll get him. Anyways, a friend pointed out he really might just be using this as a way for tickets to the hoops game — a tactic used by an old friend… Anthony Morelli.

Before the Seton Hall game, I said that the NJ media was too busy with the Giants to bother with the Pirates. Turns out, I was way more right than I knew. The NJ Star-Ledger story on the game was farmed out to Pitt’s P-G beat writer Ray Fittipaldo. The focus was on the loss of Brian Laing in the second half. Interestingly, in his recap for the P-G there was only a passing reference to Laing insofar as he kept the Pirates in the game in the first half. Obviously for Pitt-centric readers the story was Sam Young’s game.

Young not only was dominant inside, but he stepped out and made all four of his 3-point attempts. Young has developed into one of Pitt’s top outside shooters. With his perfect performance yesterday, he is shooting 52.6 percent (20 for 38) from 3-point range for the season.

“He just keeps getting better,” Dixon said. “He’s improving in every area. He was a complete non-shooter coming out of high school. That was the question about him. Even coming out of prep school, people didn’t think he could shoot it. Now he goes 4 for 4, and we’re running plays for him to come off screens and shoot 3s.”

Seton Hall could not handle Blair on the blocks. He had five rebounds in the first four minutes and got stronger. He was 6 for 9 from the field and 8 for 12 from the free-throw line.

After playing half a season together, Young and Blair are beginning to develop excellent chemistry.

“You could see them interacting early on in the season and you could see how they enjoyed playing with each other,” Dixon said. “That’s not normally the case with a young guy like that. They know where each other is now. They have a good feel for each other on the offensive end.”

Not to mention the success on the inside, means more open looks outside.

“We took what we could,” said Keith Benjamin, who made all three of his 3-pointers in the second half after going 0 for 2 before halftime. “Sam and DeJaun are so good at kicking it back to who’s open.

“Inside out … that’s how you want to play basketball.”

Seven of Pitt’s first eight shots were from the outside. All eight went in. It was a masterful shooting performance more because it was unexpected than perfect.

Blair, Young and reserve forward Tyrell Biggs stretched Seton Hall’s inside defense to 10-12 feet and beyond. Young hit four 3-pointers. Blair showed some outside touch with a 13-footer to open the second half. Biggs found his groove with a couple of 15-foot swishes early in the second.

Young, Blair and Biggs were all but a few points of the offense in the first half. The second half was also when Keith Benjamin snapped out of a bad first half. The kind that would have Trevor Matich calling him “Bad Keith” if he played football.

Riding a wave of emotion and brimming with confidence, Benjamin didn’t expect Saturday’s first half to come crashing down on him. He missed all three of his shots, and his two 3-point attempts were nowhere close. He committed three turnovers, the bane of the Panthers since Fields went down.

“My adrenaline was pumping from the last three games. I was a little fast, and the bad ones put me in a funk,” Benjamin said. “In the second half, I was being more patient, more decisive

In the first seven minutes of the second half, which started with Pitt up only three, Benjamin hit two 3-pointers, has four assists and added a steal and a rebound. It was part of a game that saw Benjamin get 12 points and a career-best six assists.

“He made some decisions that aren’t typical of him,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “(In the second half), he waited for his shots.”

Benjamin just seems to be showing a lot more maturity about himself and playing these days.

Of course there was little time to discuss this as things move to the Monday night game. The opener of ESPN’s Big Monday with Georgetown coming.

Their mini-resurgence sets the stage for Georgetown, which beat Pitt two out of three games last season and denied the Panthers the Big East regular-season and tournament crowns with a pair of victories in a 14-day span.

Tipoff for their only regular-season meeting is 7 p.m.

“We think about it all the time,” senior guard Ronald Ramon said. “That was a ring that was taken away from us. It’s behind us now. It’s definitely a challenge. They are coming into our house. We’ve got to protect our house.”

Georgetown has kept winning, but has had some close games including just getting past UConn on Saturday.

DeJuan Blair is excited about a chance to go up against Roy Hibbert.

“He’s a big dude, an excellent player, man,” Blair said. “I can’t say nothin’ about him. He’s a good idol. I’m not saying he’s my idol, but he’s a good player to look up to. It seems like he’s a good guy. I like him.”

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon was asked if Blair thrives in big-game atmospheres.

“I haven’t seen him dislike too many atmospheres,” Dixon said, laughing. “He seems to be smiling every time I see him. I’ve never really seen him in a bad mood. I think he’ll have fun. I think he’ll have a good time.”

Blair going against Hibbert seems to be a theme.

Blair will be tempted to use that big booty to push around Hibbert, but he has to be careful of foul trouble. If he can’t play 30-35 minutes, Pitt will get beat. Write it down.

“You just have to be smart,” Blair said. “Don’t reach in. Keep your feet and play strong. Try not to let him get the ball inside. Try to keep him outside.”

Blair figures to get his points against Hibbert. Many come on put-backs after his rebounds.

Write it down. Ron Cook has used his allotment of the term “booty” for 2008.

The support and loyalty of everyone is always appreciated, even as it embarrasses me a little. It means a lot, since I’ve never actually met any of you except for Steve G. Hmm, there may be a bit of correlation.

Buzz is not getting banned for giving me some crap.

I have banned only a few people in the 4+ years of Pitt blogging. I don’t have hard fast rules that constitute banning, and I do give warnings. Buzz never approached anything that even had me considering banning him. Basically, to get banned you have to repeatedly do any or all of the following:

• Personally attack people in the comments to the level of complete derangement (Buzz’s complaints do not even reach a threshold that would merit a warning).
• Go after Pitt players on a personal level — it’s one thing to criticize their play, but to declare that a player is “garbage” or has some personal defect based on what they do on the field or court is not something I feel is acceptable in college.
• Be a useless troll
• Spam
• I’m sure there are some other things, but they haven’t happened yet.

Now, I’m not sure who Buzz thinks started this blog, but I’ve been here from the beginning. I’ve been lucky to have several quality people who contribute. Dennis being the latest. But, others like Keith W., Shawn, Lee in Altoona State College, John, Harlan and Pat have all been here posting (and are still able to if they feel like it).

I don’t look to this site as a money maker. It has turned into something that has created opportunities for me outside of this, and that has been a great side effect. It was, however, never the goal when it started This is my fun stuff. The place where I can share all the news I would gather anyways, and offer my thoughts on them and Pitt basketball and football games.
That this site has increased in readership is fantastic, but here’s reality. The increase is more connected to what Pitt does, not what I or anyone else writes. When things are well, or there is active news, the numbers go up. Just take a look at the past 12 months and you can see what happened to readership during football season when things weren’t going well, and the spike in December when so much good stuff happened (beating WVU, recruiting news and beating Duke). Honestly, if I was only interested in increasing eyeballs, I’d just talk about recruiting. Nothing seems to help the hit count more than speculation on the future.

Now,  back to the fun.

Sundays are part of the weekend, but it never feels like it. The thought that Monday is around the corner sticks in the back of my mind all day. Ah.

A large number of football recruits visited this weekend for the hoops game against Seton Hall. The list includes verbals like Nix, Burns, and Sunseri plus some hopefuls (most notably AJ Alexander). They were able to pick up their 17th verbal from TE Justin Virbitsky.

Jim Snyder of Pantherlair.com is reporting that TE Justin Virbitsky gave the Panthers a verbal commitment today. Virbitsky is the Panthers 17th verbal commitment. Virbitsky is from Lakeland, Fla. and is being recruited as a “blocking” tight end. Virbitsky was a 3-year starter at Lakeland H.S. and was named to the 1st team Class AA as a defensive end. [PSI]

The “blocking” tight end style is more similar to John Pelusi’s game rather than Nate Byham. Byham is a great blocker but an even better pass-catcher.
Speaking of tight ends (there’s a dirty joke in there somewhere), Darrell Strong played in the Hula Bowl last night. The other Pitt player was Kennard Cox. Two other all-star games will feature former Panthers.

Two-time All-Big East defensive end Joe Clermond will play in the East-West Shrine Game on Jan. 19 in Houston, Texas. The game will be a 7 p.m. (ET) telecast on ESPN. Pitt’s defensive captain, Clermond (Tampa, Fla./Chamberlain) finished the season as the Panthers’ leader in sacks (10.5) and tackles for loss (13). His 53 total tackles tied for fourth. An outstanding pass rusher, Clermond’s .88 sacks per game ranked 11^th nationally (tied) and third in the Big East.

Pitt’s starting offensive tackles, Jeff Otah and Mike McGlynn, will play in the Jan. 26 Senior Bowl, held in Mobile, Ala. The game will kickoff at 3 p.m. (ET) and be televised by the NFL Network.

All-star games have never really excited me; now really planning to watch these unless I find myself really in need of something to do. NFL Draft Countdown has Otah going near the middle of the first round and says this about him:

Otah is still very raw and only has two years of division I experience but he has mind-boggling size (6-6, 340) and great athleticism with almost unlimited potential. In college he played left tackle and did a fantastic job but he might have to the right side at the next level and a good way to think of him would be as a poor man’s Jake Long with more longterm upside.

Teams and Detroit and Philly would be two teams drafting in the middle of the round that could use him on their o-line.

If there is one team that Pitt has inexplicably struggled against in recent years it’s St. John’s. After that, however, it would have to be Seton Hall. The Pirates are 3-3 against Pitt since 2003.

Seton Hall’s style has just seemed to be one that gives Pitt problems, or Pitt has had some bad injuries. This year, both apply. The Pirates like to pressure full court and are pesky. They are also a streaky shooting team.

So, I’ll be liveblogging, but also a fair amount of pacing and moving around and away from the computer. And drinking. Plenty of drinking.

The broadcast crew is John Sanders and Mike Jarvis. I am continually amazed that the Big East tolerates the employment of Jarvis in color commentary for their conference games. The coach who managed to do grievous longterm harm to one of the original BE teams in the largest media market. The fact that he isn’t a particularly good analyst is yet another strike against him.

Jim Burr is the Ref with Curtis Shaw and William Bush the officials for this game.

2:11: Pitt up 9-2. The Panthers look like they will be able to go inside at will on the Pirates. Seton Hall looks a lot less sure of themselves than they did against Marquette. Not getting defensive stops or set up their pressure hurts them.

Blair does have to remember to occasionally kick it back out if he gets an offensive rebound but moves too far from the basket. He invites the double-team on him and has no good shot. It’s something I’m sure he’ll learn.

Young looks hot. Benjamin with a couple dumb mistakes. A bad pass for a turnover and fastbreak opp for SHU and trying to go 1-3 when he had the ball.

2:24: Biggs early does nothing to improve his standing with most Pitt fans. He gets a rebound but tries to toss it up directly underneath the basket. No room to shoot, easy block. Then runs into Wanamaker on the other end as he doesn’t seem to know where he should be going.

Young definitely seems to be feeling it this afternoon. Blair already has 6 rebounds. Ramon has 3 assists and 0 turnovers. Under 12 minutes to the half, Pitt leads 13-9 with Young going to the foul line.

2:32: Pitt up 18-13 with under 8 minutes. Biggs with a couple nice short jumpers open in the middle of the zone. Benjamin not shooting well today. Seton Hall’s defense really picked up once a couple shots went down. Gave them time to set and it makes a huge difference for them.

2:40: Pitt up 23-19 Blair going to the line for a 1-and-1. 3:39 until halftime. Pitt just entered the bonus. Ramon hit a floater in the lane, which were the first points for any of the Pitt guards. Otherwise all the scoring is from Young, Blair and Biggs.

Neither team is shooting well. Eugene Harvey is the scary player against Pitt to me. A guard who drives to the basket constantly. Weak defender, but provides the Pirates with needed points.

2:50: Pitt up 33-30. Having seen the Pirates’ last two games against UConn and Marquette, I’m not shocked. In both games they were leading at the half, but just couldn’t keep it up.

Laing and Nutter played the full 20 for SHU. Ramon and Young both played 19 minutes.

Young and Laing each have 15 points respectively. After that, Eugene Harvey has 9 points that came late in the 1st half. Otherwise, not much else.

Pitt is little better. Only 3 other players have scored. Blair already has 9 rebounds along with 9 points.
Benjamin is having a horrible game. Very jarring after not only playing well most of the year, but absolutely stepping up the past two games.

3:22: The outside shot had been there for Pitt, but now Pitt is making them. Suddenly Pitt is up by 11 with just over 13 minutes left.

Seton Hall is still struggling with its scoring. Something that has been a noticeable problem the second they started Big East play.

3:33: Seton Hall has already used its last TO with over 8 minutes left. That is going to kill them. They have Laing sitting with an injury he got going for a steal. Pitt is up by 14. Threes raining for Pitt now. Just would like to see Wanamaker make one for his confidence.

Benjamin hot now. Actually the guards in general have looked great this half. A spread court will do that.

3:45: I want to thank Seton Hall for making it look like I know what I’m talking about. I said at the half that the Pirates fade in the second half. Boy, did they. The defense fell off tremendously. Offense was still lousy.

70-54 with 3:42 left and Blair coming to the line after the break.

Sam Young has a career high 25 points. Blair has double (14 boards) double (17 points). Ramon has 11 points and 8 assists — and only 1 turnover.

3:53: Mike Davis was once a Pitt commit, but struggled to finish high school — anywhere. Seton Hall took a chance on the guy (he’s no longer a kid), yet he is still raw and a project. He fouled out in only 10 minutes of time.

4:08: Hysterical. Maurice Polen with his first basket of the season and McGhee gets a block before time expires. An 84-70 win.

22 assists on 28 baskets for Pitt.

Sam Young had 28 points. 4-4 on 3s but 6-12 on FTs — go figure. Blair had 20 points and 14 boards. Tyrell Biggs had 10 rebounds and 8 points.

Ramon had 14 points and 8 assists. Benjamin came alive in the second half and with the free throws in the final seconds finished with 12 points, 6 assists, 3 steals and 5 turnovers.

Just quickly through the stuff ahead of the game at 2pm.

Big East blog has a very good preview of the game.

Seton Hall has been an interesting team to say the least. They have already played in four overtime contests, including at home against Monmouth, Robert Morris and James Madison. At times, the Pirates play down to their competition and find themselves in HUGE holes, only to use their full court frantic pace to pull themselves out. Luckily, they do play more consistent against the better teams, because that style is not likely to find success against Big East teams when trying to climb out of a big hole.

Seton Hall was very successful in nearly stealing a road win at Marquette this week by settling back into a zone defense and working to keep the score in the 50’s against Marquette. To win on the road, you have to be willing to get your hands dirty and be able to grind it out in the half court. If they can do this and turn it into a posession by possession game in the last three minutes, the athletic ability and quickness of Eugene Harvey could give Pitt trouble on both ends of the floor. It might be a tougher task against Pitt as the Panthers will rebound the ball very strong and use their size against a smaller Pirate club, but that is probably the best strategy for Bobby Gonzalez to follow.

The last time Seton Hall won a road Big East game was the season finale in 2005 when Louis Orr was still their head coach — at the Pete.

Expect the Pirates to follow that tack. Gonzalez has already said as much.

“We’ve had trouble winning on the road. And I think that has to do with maturity and experience and toughness. We don’t have a lot of it right now. With Brian Laing and Jamar Nutter really our only two experienced players that have played in a Big East road win.

“It’ll be a tough game. I know PIttsburgh’s got their own injury problems. They’re still obviously a very good team, especially at home. They’re big, they’re physical and it’s going to be a very hard game.

This is the extent of the NJ media coverage of the game. A basic starting line-up and capsule summary. I guess most of the coverage is down in Dallas for the Giants-Cowboys. (You know, everytime I start to get annoyed about Pittsburgh media coverage of Pitt, I think about what happens to BC, ‘Nova and all the metro NY/NJ teams and realize how much worse it could be.)

Gary McGhee, naturally, got some attention in the media.

“I hope he continues to make people wonder why he wasn’t being played,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said after Pitt’s 79-66 victory at the Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla.

Guess he read Fittipaldo’s Q&A on Thursday. In the notes, Dixon said that Diggs is still struggling to get healthy from injuries.

McGhee in the rotation, means Pitt can and likely will throw out some more combinations on the floor.

This should shock no one. The Pitt coaches and players are saying that they have complete confidence in Ronald Ramon. Ramon and Pitt should be expecting plenty of pressure on Ramon when he brings up the ball versus Seton Hall.

Things that I just haven’t gotten around to linking or posting.

Bruce Feldman at ESPN.com lists 10 teams he expects to take a big step forward in wins.

2: Pittsburgh

All hail the ‘stache! The Panthers emerged from a four-game losing skid to upset No. 23 Cincinnati and finished off the season by wrecking the title hopes of West Virginia in Morgantown. Pitt will return many of the leaders of the nation’s No. 7 defense as well as one of the country’s top young running backs in LeSean McCoy. They also hope to get back smooth WR Derek Kinder, an All-Big East pick in 2006, who underwent season-ending knee surgery during training camp. QB Bill Stull, another former starter, also will return from injury, and he will try and beat out Pat Bostick, the talented true freshman who finished the season as Pitt’s starter. DT Gus Mustakas, a rugged inside presence, missed the final 10 games of the season after knee surgery and also should be back, as will tackle machine Scott McKillop. I think the Panthers’ patience with Dave Wannstedt will pay off with a return to the Top 25 next season and maybe even a Big East title.

A few individual honors. The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) — which is essentially the Eastern schools from UConn, BC, Syracuse, PSU, UVa, WVU and such — named LeSean McCoy the rookie of the year (PDF). In addition to McCoy also being named to the all-star team, Jeff Otah, Greg Romeus and Scott McKillop were also named to the squad.

Romeus and McCoy were also honored by being named to the Football Writers Association of America All-Freshman team.

A couple days ago, I noticed a slew of hits from a premium WVU message board. Oddly enough, they concerned a post that had nothing to do with them and was 18 months ago. The issue was Charlie Taaffee who served as a Pitt assistant in 2006. Taaffe left to go back to being a head coach in the CFL. He had a disasterous first year back, but there was nothing to suggest he was leaving. He had even hired some new assistants.

Turns out he was big in the rumor mill to be hired as offensive coordinator at WVU. Those reports later turned out to be false and recanted.

Therefore, if the reports are credible, recently fired O-line Coach Paul Dunn is now a candidate for the job in Morgantown.