I need to crash. I’m feeling very drained, even though all I did was blog, drink a couple beers and do my best not to wake the kids while watching. It’s a good drained feelings. Not feeling particularly coherent.
Shameless commerce divisions already have the Big East Tournament Championship T-shirts for sale and hats.

I had to get a quickie post out on FanHouse, and the great fun was looking at all the Getty Images of pictures of the Pitt players celebrating. Seeing the players and Coach Dixon cutting down the net. Just have to smile.

It is just a great feeling right now. One that can actually be enjoyed for a day or two. The season isn’t over, but it’s been a wild and twisted one so far.

Looking forward to the selection show.

You know what makes this incarnation of Georgetown frustrating. They can be classy and give credit.

Q. At the end of the first half, they were outrebounding you. Those are hustle plays. How did you address that at the beginning of the second half, because I really saw your team get out‑hustled particularly on the boards.

COACH THOMPSON III: It just happens. It’s one of those days. I agree, it did happen. And you’ve got to give them all the credit in the world. That’s a team that’s gone through a lot of adversity this year with the injuries that they’ve had.

Obviously, Jamie is a terrific coach. They’ve done a terrific job of sticking together and staying focused as a unit. So you’ve got to give just all the credit to them for what they accomplished today.

…

Q. Jessie, did that team play like a team that had played four games in four days?

JESSIE SAPP: They just played like they wanted to win. They did a lot of hustle plays. And you wouldn’t have known that they played in four days. They just played hard, and congratulations to those guys.

No backhanded slaps. No we were the better team junk. Just giving Pitt credit.

Okay, gametime nearing. Let’s see if Pitt can help put the seeding issue into further chaos.

9:00: No shock that the studio crew went Georgetown across the board. History, rankings, seeding, fresher legs, etc. all favor Georgetown.

9:05: Oh, we have the full intros tonight. Did the players get to choose their own music?

9:10: Burr, Cahill and Donato the refs.

9:12: Okay, not exactly the same start as last night. 2 turnovers, a foul by Blair, and a missed shot. Pitt down 6-0 with 18:02 to go in the half. Dixon calls a necessary timeout. Have to settle the team.

9:17: Better. Ball movement on offense. Staying tight on defense. Biggs all over Hibbert (yeah, I’m shocked to be writing that too). 6-5 G-town with 15:44.

9:21: If Pitt can’t knock down any 3s (only 1 so far) they won’t have any room to work inside. G-town is really clogging the lanes.

Can’t believe Fields missed both FTs and Wallace hit that ridiculous 3. Those are the sort of things that can demoralize the team early. Make them think that it won’t be their night.

9:26: Pitt has the lead as Brown comes up with big scores off the bench. Even when things work for G-town, the pace will keep this game close — at least in the first half. Pitt has to remain patient.

Biggs playing solid. Guess he is really up for playing for friends and family.

9:32: In the first meeting this year, the Hoyas only made 3 3s all game. They have 4 already.

9:35: Pitt down 22-21 with 7:01 left.

Have to hope that the Hoyas cool on the 3-point shooting in the second half. That is where they are living right now. Pitt has hit enough 3s now to stay with them and open things inside. They are swarming over Blair inside, though. Good ball movement by Pitt. Defense isn’t bad, G-town is setting some great screens for the 3s and they are knocking them down from a longer range.

9:42: Pitt is incredibly active on the glass. Really attacking the glass. After letting Marquette dominate last night, I guess they redoubled the effort.

Hibbert has 2 fouls.

Pitt up 29-26 with 3:32.

9:53: Pitt’s defense really, really tightened up further into the half. They completely disrupted their final possession.

Pitt leads 31-28 at the half.

Jamie Dixon flashes a little sense of humor to Doris Burke at the halftime interview. The crowd noise drowned her out and he told her so, gave stock coach talk, and then added that he was sure her observations were spot on. At least he isn’t tight for this game.

Pitt definitely came out a little tight, while G-town was loose. By the end of the half, it seemed that the roles switched. Pitt looked looser and faster. The Hoyas seemed a little more frustrated that Pitt wasn’t rolling over for them.

Ewing, Jr. is just a good ball-player. Such a break for the Hoyas that he quit at Indiana and came to them. He’s not a starter, because he isn’t good at helping to set the pace and flow. Once the game is going, though, he jumps right in there and keeps things moving.

In an ideal world, this week is when things finally go off for Biggs mentally. An understanding of all that he has to do in the little things. I don’t know. It finally happened for Benjamin in his senior year. Maybe Biggs is starting to get the message.

Ramon has been so consistently good for Pitt in the BET. He is showing some real fire in his final games as a Panther.

10:13: The floor mic just caught Jesse Sapp saying “Get that s**t out of here” as he fouled Young.

Young then missed both FTs. That’s just killing every Pitt fan with the misses from the charity stripe.

10:19: Pitt still leading 39-35. Blair heading to the line after the commercial break. I’m not optimistic they will increase their lead.

I’m loving what I’m seeing from Ronald Ramon. This is the end of his career and he is just going to leave it all out there. Injuries, fatigue and being undersized be damned.

10:29: DaJuan Summers has his 4th foul with over 12 minutes left. Huge. They are talking about his defense on Young. But he is also the guy that can attack from a wing on offense. Again, Ewing, Jr. tried to take the “credit” for the foul in place of Summers. Just smart.

10:32: How was that a travel on Brown when Hibbert grabbed him on the perimeter?

10:41: It is weird. The Hoya fouls are looking more and more like frustration fouls. Please make some.

Wow. Hibbert picks up 2 quick fouls in a few seconds. Now the Hoyas have Summers, Rivers and Hibbert with 4 fouls.

10:44: Outrebounding, outhustling and taking care of the ball along with the defense. That’s how Pitt is overcoming one of the worst displays of foul shooting ever. Bob Huggins and John Calipari are bothered by this level.

Only theory I have is that the tired legs kick in when they have a chance to stop and try and take their time to shoot. Adrenalin and the game flow are keeping them going in the game itself. I mean, Fields going 1-6?

10:47: DaJuan Summers fouled out with 7:25 left. Pitt up 53-42, Hibbert has to come back in.

10:55: Blair commits a dumb foul after Hibbert already beat him. That’s his 4th. Still 4:45 to go. 56-49.

10:56:Ramon Nails the open 3 on a broken play. Huge. Back up to 10 points.

11:02: Time to prove Pitt can make them when it counts. It’s going to be a procession to the FT line now.

11:04: Rivers fouls out grabbing Ramon on an inbound.

11:15: Another huge block for Young late!!!!

Ramon knocks down 4 straight FTs.

Young will be the Tourney MVP — deservedly so — but damn if Ramon isn’t a close second for the way he has stepped up in this BET.

11:20: YYYEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11:21: There’s a lot of dust in my house as I watch Pitt celebrate.

This is more for posterity. The win is over. Time to focus on the next game.
I guess Tim Higgins can take solace in the fact that fans of every Big East team hate him. He probably feels that means he is doing his job well and fairly. That’s the interesting thing from the Marquette perspective. Jerel McNeal was nearly run by Higgins.

This time, it appeared as though he ejected McNeal from the game as McNeal was seated on the bench. Higgins stopped play, walked over to the scorer’s table, then walked down the sideline and stopped in front of McNeal and twice gestured with his arm as though he was kicking him out.

McNeal and Crean appeared stunned. Then Higgins, perhaps realizing the storm of controversy that doubtless would have surrounded such a move, appeared to change his mind and allowed McNeal to stay, instead warning the bench area to keep quiet.

(Rosiak questioned some of the fouls called on McNeal, including a little bump on Young as he drove. Conveniently ignoring that they called similar fouls on Pitt. Not wild about the officiating, but it was bad both ways.) That was where McNeal seemed to lose his mind on the bench. It does seem that McNeal was going a little beyond emotional at that point.

Tim Higgins went over to the Golden Eagles’ bench and gave a stern verbal warning to McNeal, who had been jumping up and down and screaming profanity in protest of a call. It appeared as if Higgins ejected McNeal, as he pointed to the locker room, but McNeal returned to the game a few minutes later.

As has happened so many times recently in the Big East tournament semifinals, Pittsburgh left an opponent frustrated and on the wrong side of the scoreboard.

As another paper put it, McNeal spent much of the game chewing his fingernails from the bench.

Sure enough, the moral victory stuff I mentioned at the end of last night was a theme for Marquette after the game. I understand and they should go with that. Heck if it had been Pitt in that situation, we know Dixon would have spun it that way, but it is a touch predictable.

In a game that had a lot in it, it’s a bit of a shame that Tyrell Biggs got shorted in the local papers for his contributions. Biggs gave Pitt 31 minutes for a foul-plagued DeJuan Blair. He provided 6 points on 50% shooting and 8 rebounds. He had a block and only 1 turnover. He stepped up for Pitt in the game. I suppose it makes some sense. Both recaps were essentially game recaps. As newspapers, they had deadlines and the lateness of the game meant the newspaper beat writers were up against it — which also explains the minimal amount of quotes in the stories. Even the post-game pressers had to be limited in what they could use.

Eric Hall at the Beaver County Times, though, did work Biggs into his recap.

Consider where these Panthers (25-9) stood after a punishing loss at West Virginia two weeks ago. The Panthers just wrapped up their fourth loss in six games. Hope was disappearing. The players appeared disconnected. They weren’t playing together.

Consider that the hero of Thursday’s win was Gilbert Brown, the redshirt freshman with the unusual shooting stroke and some questionable decisions. He played 36 minutes against Louisville, many more than his career high.

Consider that the hero of Friday’s game was Tyrell Biggs, an inconsistent player who has never delivered on potential that had him on Duke’s wish list. But Biggs played in foul-ridden DeJuan Blair’s stead, 31 minutes worth of rebounding (he had eight) and good defense.

Consider that only once in the history of this event had a team won the night after winning a game in overtime. But the Panthers broke out to a 16-4 lead and never trailed.

Consider that Sam Young, the volatile member of this team, evolved into a leader and has scored at least 21 points in all three games this week. On Friday, he had a game-best 22.

“There’s something about the Garden,” said point guard Levance Fields, who reclaimed his leadership role after a tenuous return from an ankle injury. “Special things happen.”

Revenge always feels good.

“Oh man, we really wanted to get back at them after that,” said Pitt swingman Gilbert Brown. “We came out flat that game. They took a big lead early in the second half and started celebrating. I mean, (Marquette guard David) Cubillan was actually dancing to the crowd.

“We kept that mind.”

Last year was a revenge tour for Pitt with Marquette and Louisville. So was this year. Now it’s time — hopefully — for revenge on G-town for last year.

Because the Panthers will remember:

A 26.2 percent shooting night (16-61) to set a tournament record for fewest points in a 65-42 loss.

The Hoyas celebrating their first Big East tournament championship in 18 years.

John Thompson III clearing his bench with 11/2 minutes left.

Patrick Ewing Jr. giving his old man a hug and handing him a Big East championship cap.

Roy Hibbert scoring 14 of his 18 points (with 11 rebounds) in the first half and dominating shell-shocked Pitt center Aaron Gray.

There’s fatigue factor with Pitt’s short bench, but you can’t argue with the results.

There’s a lot of focus on Levance Fields now returned and fully integrated within the team again.

It’s no coincidence that Pitt is making this surge at the same time he’s rounding into the form that made him the team’s best player before his injury.

“A lot of people thought it was going to be easy to come back and be ready to go right away,” Dixon said. “Even Levance probably thought it was going to be easier than it was …

“I thought it would take us two weeks for him to get into it, us getting used to him and him just getting his legs and getting knocked down a few times. So I think I just kept encouraging him. I think there was some frustration at times with Levance, but he got through it and our guys have confidence in him.

“We’re where we wanted to be right now.”

Fields still isn’t shooting well. He made 3 of 10 shots last night and is an abysmal 8 for 31 in the tournament.

Still, there’s no one on the Pitt team that you want to have the ball in his hands late in a game more than Fields. It’s his confidence that his next shot is going in.

Mandel at SI.com likes what he has seen as Pitt has gotten healthy with Fields back.

Suddenly, they’re one more win from doing it again — and they’re almost certainly headed for a higher seed in the NCAA tournament (No. 5?) than they had in their own conference tourney.

“I don’t think anybody really knew what to make of our team with all the injuries,” said Dixon. “This is a team that had to change in midstream three, four times.”

One of the biggest, if unnoticed impact of the injuries came not in games, but in practices, where for much of the season Pittsburgh has flat-out lacked the bodies to go full-throttle. Dixon said that Fields only began practicing again the week leading up to their regular-season finale against DePaul.

As they’ve begun to return to their more customary, “rugged” practice style, there’s been a noticeable improvement in their defensive performances. The last time the Panthers faced the Cardinals, a 75-73 home loss on Feb. 24, Louisville shot 57 percent; on Thursday night, they hit just 37 percent.

“Practice is where it starts,” said guard Ronald Ramon. “We weren’t able to go after each other, do the ‘aggressive drills,’ as we call them. But now that guys are healthy, we’re able to go five-on-five, get after it. Now when we go on the court and play games, the chemistry’s there.”

Even Luke Winn is giving Pitt a shot.

If Pitt can knock off Georgetown tonight — a scenario that seems entirely plausible — the Panthers have a legitimate case for a No. 5 seed. They were considered an 8 or a 9 heading into this week, but they’re making a push based on these facts:

• Momentum. Winning seven of its final eight regular-season games, with two of those victories coming over Louisville and Georgetown, would make Pitt look rather attractive in the eyes of the selection committee.

• The Negative Momentum of Current Fives. Vanderbilt (with its opening-round loss to Arkansas in the SEC tournament) and Indiana (which lost a stunner to Minnesota on Saturday) are slumping into the dance, and neither team has much of a non-conference resume. Whereas Pitt has a win over Duke.

• The Levance Fields Argument. The Panthers only have two bad losses on their resume — at Cincinnati on Jan. 19 and against Rutgers on Jan. 26. Both of those happened while Fields was hurt. There’s no doubt the selection committee will take this into consideration.

Everyone has been focused on the chaos of the bubble. Arguably, seeding will be a bigger mess. Seeds for lines 3 through 7 are incredibly unclear to me. That’s going to be the big talk coming out of selection Sunday. Not the bubble teams that got screwed, considering how badly so many of them did at the end to hardly make the case. The stories will be about what the selection committee was thinking when they seeded the teams.

To recap, Pitt loves playing at MSG. While it is unprecedented in Big East history for one team to play in the BET Championship game 7 times in 8 seasons, the fact that Pitt has only won it once is still an issue.

Given the way that Pittsburgh wins at the Garden every March, it’s understandable that people say the Panthers own the Big East Tournament. But really, it’s more like a lease. Pitt is always giving it back on the final night.

Georgetown has looked very good, but it turns out John Thompson III is a superstitious one.

Sure I just stole a line from Dick Vitale that I just heard during the ACC semifinal, but last night was just awesome. I told my friends that against Louisville, we’d lose. Uh, way to go there Dennis. Then I told them we’d lose to Marquette just to keep the karma going strong. So I’ll say it again — Georgetown will beat us tonight. (wink, wink)

Levance Fields, who should have Madison Square Garden named after him, had to come through on something said before the game.

Levance Fields had his own end of the bargain to hold.

When top-seeded Georgetown went into its locker room at Madison Square Garden up 33-21 on West Virginia before Pitt’s semifinal game against Marquette last night, Hoyas guard Jessie Sapp, Fields’ friend, saw the Brooklyn-native point guard in the stands as he ran off.

“He gave me a high five and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Fields said.

Fields played a great. So did Ramon. So did Sam Young, Keith Benjamin, Tyrell Biggs, and Gil Brown. How many Marquette players played a great game? You could say Jerel McNeal, who led his team in points and steals, but he was in foul trouble for much of the game and turned the ball over so many times that his good numbers are outweighed by the bad. A leader is no good on the bench or handing the ball over to the other team.

“Obviously, [McNeal]’s a great player,” Dixon said. “I liked the way that we got him. We took some charges, and that was something that we emphasized going into this game, and that was big.”

The 16-4 run to start the game really set the tone from the beginning. Our starters played well and Marquette’s didn’t even bother to show up until the second half. Sam Young has pleasantly surprised me with his play during the BET. His head seems to always be in the game and he’s playing offense and defense.

I think coming into New York City we were somewhere around the 8/9 seed. The last two wins have probably shot us into the 6/7 range and a win over Georgetown tonight could get us as high as a fifth seed. The committee likes to look at how a team has played in recent games leading up to the tournament, and a win tonight would put us under a great light in the committee’s eyes.

Geez, Georgetown suddenly looks scary good. I want Pitt to win — badly — but it also feels like Pitt gets to play with house money at this point. Still, can’t have the newbies from C-USA feel that comfortable yet.

9:25: Just as Pitt gets off to a solid start and 5-0 lead, Blair commits a dumb foul way out on the perimeter. Marquette immediately scored after that.

9:30: Pitt up 14-4 with 15:44 to the half. Hot shooting start. Levance Fields feeling it early going to the basket. Shots that hadn’t fallen since his return are dropping right now. Sam Young is really, really active on the D. Marquette sloppy with the ball helps, too.

9:38: Marquette briefly stopped turning the ball over and closed. Then they got sloppy again and Pitt converts. Now 24-15 with the “and 1” for Brown coming after the commercial. Jerel McNeal has been carrying the Golden Eagles. That ran out for WVU with Alexander today. I’m just sayin’.

9:44: Damn. Blair with his second at about the 10 minute mark. Let’s see if Biggs can give Pitt some more minutes.

Marquette with now within 6.

9:55: Wow. McNeal with 2 fouls and over 6 minutes until halftime. Pitt is still attacking offensively and it is beautiful. Defense is tight to this point. Shots that Marquette is making are not exactly a lay-up line.

9:57: Things not heard very often. Size mismatch in favor of Benjamin.

9:58: With 4:17 left, McNeal commits 3d foul (2nd offensive) as Benjamin draws it. Huge.

10:02: Things all going Pitt’s way right now. It’s Marquette with foul issues — despite better depth. Pitt is just attacking, attacking, attacking.

35-21 with under 4, Benjamin heading to the line. Marquette is even bringing back in Hayward with his two fouls because he provides marginally better inside defense.

10:10: Well, unfortunately Pitt failed to score in the final minutes. Of course Marquette only had 2 points over 9:28.

The Golden Eagles are 0-16 on shooting right now. Eerily like a role-reversal from the first meeting. Pitt should be up more, but then in the first game, so should have Marquette at the end of the 1st half.

Not thrilled with the way Pitt rushed shots in the final few minutes, but I’ll let it slide.

Biggs has been solid in his minutes. This will be somewhat backhanded, but Marquette is precisely the kind of team that Biggs should be able to do well on both ends.

35-22 Pitt at the half.

10:27: Matthews commits 2 fouls in a few seconds. Ramon shooting 3 FTs. Goes 1-3. Huh?

10:30: Blair with his 3d foul just a minute and a half into the second half. Damn.

10:32: Ramon and Young are just getting after things for Pitt. Yippee (I know, trenchant observations here).

10:39: McNeal with foul #4 with 15:43 left in the game. Pitt up “only” 11.

10:46: Just as Marquette gets to 10, Pitt answers. Ramon for a corner 3, then Young steal and lay-in.

13:19 left, Pitt up 49-34.

10:51: Crean’s whining/bitching/complaining in a media TO, gets him a technical. Ramon only 1-2. What is up with his FT shooting tonight?

Biggs now shooting his FTs — and makes them both. 52-39, 11:50 left.

10:57: The Marquette 3s have been falling more. Now Blair gets his 4th foul with 9:01 left. Pitt’s lead down to 8.

11:01: Okay, I don’t know what has happened in this game to Pitt’s FT shooting. Between that and Marquette really getting a ton of second chances (even though they have missed a lot of them) that is really starting to offset good early shooting and Pitt forcing turnovers.

And Biggs off the feed from Young gives Pitt a needed basket with the “and 1” (not counting on it) after the commercial break. Pitt still up by 8, with under 8 to go.

11:06: If Young won’t even warn Ramon, they are going to keep running that screen to free James.

11:30: Marquette and their fans can take, um, solace in the moral victory. That their team didn’t quit. That they rallied and fought and clawed back into the game. All good things.

I’ll take the real thing. Plus the fact that even as Marquette made a comeback, Pitt never lost it. They did what was needed. They regained their composure.

Pitt doesn’t surrender the lead or the game. 68-61 for the win. Points scored in the first half, still counted in the second half.

Thanks to Don, editor of Mondesi’s House, for passing along Jim Colony’s Pitt-centric “Extra Point”.

This isn’t an actual “Extra Point”, since the already recorded Friday one was about Bob Knight being the latest guy who used to hate the media to join the media (see Parcells, B. and Sharpe, S.- Sterling, not Shannon). And Knight is really good, as you knew he would be. It’s impossible to not stop and listen to him because Knight is one of the – if not the – most compelling sports figures of our time.

But as a basketball afficionado who is consistently frustrated by Pitt (annually the worst “really good” team in America), I come before you now to not bury the Panthers, but to praise them. That was a huge win against Louisville.

While Pitt’s familiar 5th and 6th grade-level problems persisted early on – inability to beat the press by failing to keep a guy behind the ball and missing free throws – they made up for it by finally playing some defense. The swarming double-teams in the post clearly disrupted Louisville’s offense and was the kind of defense that has landed the Panthers in the Big East Championship Game more often than not in recent years.

There is a school of thought that making a run to that conference title game can be counterproductive come NCAA time…and that may have been true when Pitt was an obvious top-4 seed. But with the Panthers projected as an 8-seed by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi (even though he had them as a 7 before they beat DePaul), it’s important to get away from that 8-9 line, since I think somehow they’d draw North Carolina.

Pitt has been slighted in the past, but even before the two Big East Tournament wins, the Panthers were 24th in the RPI…which by the book translates to a 6-seed (but Pitt fans know how that goes). Since they just beat Louisville (projected as a 3 across the board), that has to help. Plus, not to sound like Jamie Dixon, but Pitt has now won 5 of 6 (and they also know all about Edgar Sosa because they recruited him).

One more win secures a 7-seed and probably a 6, which is where the Duke and Georgetown wins could come in handy, but as we’ve seen, you never know. Then again, it may not matter that much. Among the top 1-2 seeds, whom do you fear?

Pitt can’t play UCLA in the second round (since the Panthers played them last year) and they can’t play Georgetown or Duke (which is probably too bad)…which leaves North Carolina, Memphis, Tennessee, Kansas, and Texas.

I don’t like the Panthers chances against Carolina or Texas…but anyone else? All of a sudden, they could be back.

Funny how after a big win everyone has the glass half-full.

They entered a team near disarray on defense and on the glass. They’ve emerged as a punishing and pressuring group who fights for every carom and dives for every loose ball.

There must be some magic in Madison Square Garden for Pitt.

Thursday’s 76-69 victory over No. 13 Louisville in overtime marks the seventh time in eight seasons thePanthers (24-9) advanced to the semifinals of the Big East tournament. They’ve been to the finals six times.

One theme from the stories is that Pitt plays well at MSG.

Nothing that happens at Madison Square Garden should surprise anybody anymore.

It is the site of some of Pitt’s greatest victories, the place where Levance Fields shocked Duke.

“We always play pretty decent here,” Sam Young said. “We always have good games.”

Or simply that Pitt ups its play in the Big East Tournament. This link has Coach Dixon talking with Pete Thamel of the NYTimes about playing well at MSG — treating games there as home games, right down to the routines.

And so it goes.

The Panthers go to school in Pennsylvania but they clearly go to work in New York City.

Pittsburgh put on another stunning performance at the Big East tournament, where they have advanced to the championship game six of the last seven seasons. The seventh-seeded Panthers got another step closer Thursday night when they upset second-seeded Louisville 76-69 in overtime.

“This is our home away from home,” Young said.

Another theme concerned Louisville losing 3 straight to Pitt in the Big East Tournament.

Louisville’s athletic director, Tom Jurich, likes to consider Louisville the sixth borough of New York because of Coach Rick Pitino’s many ties to the city. The Pittsburgh team feels so at home in Madison Square Garden that it goes through home-game rituals when it plays here.

By knocking the Cardinals out of the Big East tournament for the third consecutive year, Pittsburgh showed Louisville, a relatively new Big East team, that it has a long way to go before it will be annexed by New York City.

That theme of course meant that the “relatively new Big East team” has media that hasn’t overused and abused those Pitt puns yet.

The Big East Tournament always ends in the pits for the University of Louisville men’s basketball team.

Pittsburgh, that is.

That’s a rib-splitter.

God, love the NYC media. They have no problems taking shots at Pitino.

Afterward, Pitino bristled when asked if he’s concerned about his two-game losing streak.

“Obviously, you don’t know basketball very well,” he told a reporter. “Because if you think it’s bad to lose to Georgetown at Georgetown and a hard-fought game to Pittsburgh in overtime, you don’t follow basketball very much. … If that’s a concern for you, it’s not a concern for me. You worry about it – I won’t. Go home and lose a lot of sleep over it. Promise?”

A bit sensitive, don’t you think?

It was nice, though, to read about some other local media complaining about guard play.

“I thought our frontcourt played well,” Pitino said. “Then they started taking away our frontcourt, and we threw it out and had difficulty scoring from that point on. Generally we don’t.”

Generally, Pitino has enough guys to throw out there that somebody will be on. One night Andre McGee, another Jerry Smith, maybe Edgar Sosa. Or maybe Terrence Williams will have a good perimeter night.

Last night nobody did. Sosa made ill-advised drives into traffic. Williams tried runners and leaners and bangers on his way to 2-for-10 shooting. After two particularly bad shots on back-to-back possessions in overtime allowed Pitt to get some distance, Pitino had seen enough and pulled Williams.

U of L doesn’t have a single perimeter threat who is a lock to deliver night after night. It relies a lot on hope — the hope that somebody in the crowd will be on.

Wait. You mean having superior athletes and height doesn’t guarantee consistency and reliability? Upside and potential is one thing, delivering on it is something else. Really, that’s been the hardest thing for Louisville fans. Outside of Padgett and maybe Palacios, the Cardinal players have been very inconsistent in effort and output for a couple years.

There’s stories with love for the young players.

This has to be at the top of that list: Freshmen DeJuan Blair and Gilbert Brown played under the Madison Square Garden lights — the brightest in college basketball — as if they’ve been doing it all their lives.

Freshmen? No way.

“What have we played? 33 games? We’re not freshmen anymore,” Blair said outside the happy Panthers’ locker room.

“We’re sophomores now … no, we’re froshmores.”

Whatever.

What they were for Pitt last night was terrific.

…

Which is what the kid does all the time when he’s ballin’, by the way. You would smile a lot, too, if you had his ability.

By the way, seeing Ron Cook use “ballin’ ” in a column was incredibly awkward to read. Visualizing the hefty, bearded, 50-something Cook saying anything like that inspired a slight giggle fit.

DeJuan Blair, especially had a solid bounce back performance after what happened the night before with Cinci.

“I had to keep my head up,” Blair said. “I had a tough game (Wednesday), but it was over. I had to worry about (Thursday).”

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon boldly predicted that Blair would have a big game Thursday, despite evidence that Blair’s production has been slipping other than a 22-point effort against DePaul and despite the opponent having Padgett and Derrick Caracter, two formidable post players.

Maybe it was motivation. Maybe it was complete faith. But Dixon saw his young star fulfill his responsibilities, set aside his previous faults and prove fatigue wasn’t the reason for his poor play Wednesday.

Dixon, though, had this warning for Blair after Thursday’s game: “He’s got in some foul trouble and he’s got double-teamed. There’s some things he’s going to get used to, and it’s happening more and more the better and better he gets.”

In other words, coach said there would be days like this. The key is how you overcome them and respond.

Dixon deserves a lot of credit for the way he managed the team in the Louisville game. From the way he carefully put Benjamin and Fields in the 1st half after both had 2 fouls very early. Then there was sticking with Gilbert Brown in the second half over Brown even in the OT. Starkey gives Dixon the love.

Dixon, who is 4-2 against Pitino, said he made several defensive adjustments from the first matchup. One was obvious: He ordered fast and aggressive double teams on Padgett, usually with Sam Young joining Blair.

Dixon also played on his players’ pride. He drilled into them how badly they’d been cut up in the first game against Louisville.

Last night, as he sat at the post-game podium with Blair, Ronald Ramon and Young – Dixon said, “We held them to 37 percent (shooting).” He then turned to his players and said, “What did they shoot last time, guys?”

Blair laughed and said, “57 percent.”

Levance Fields got lots of love from Digger Phelps on ESPN after the game, and got some in the rest of the media as well.

But it was neither. Panthers coach Jamie Dixon saw the change in his team a week ago, when junior point guard Levance Fields returned to practice. He’d missed 14 games with a broken foot, and it was only after Pitt’s regular-season finale that Fields could participate fully in workouts.

“I don’t think anybody really knew what to make of us, because of all the injuries,” said Dixon, who lost senior Mike Cook and freshman Austin Wallace to season-ending injuries before the new year began. “We’re finding ourselves.”

Fields especially. He picked up two fouls in the first 6:37 last night and missed most of the first half, leaving senior Ronald Ramon to try to break Louisville’s difficult full-court press. Fields contributions were varied: Six assists to just one turnover and 6-of-6 free throws in overtime, during which the Panthers (24-9) made all 10 of their foul shots.

Mike DeCourcy isn’t sold on Pitt getting too deep in the NCAA Tournament, but he likes the difference in the team with Fields healthy.

They will not get back small forward Mike Cook, who injured his knee at Madison Square Garden back in December. So they’ll never be quite the same. But Thursday night, in a 76-69 Big East quarterfinal victory over Louisville, they again began to play like Pitt.

That’s because the Panthers got back point guard Levance Fields. He had appeared in eight other games since returning from a 13-game absence because of a foot injury, and he’d produced some OK numbers, but his performance against the Cardinals served as a confirmation that he still could grab a basketball game by the collar and refuse to let go.

In a Big East notebook from the Hartford Courant, the focus was on Pitt and what they have done (and haven’t).

Howland put the program on the national scene, but he could never get past the Sweet 16 and neither has Dixon. He has taken Pitt there twice.

And that’s not enough for some Pittsburgh faithful who think it’s time for the Panthers to go further.

“You see people around the city and even before the season starts they’re saying, ‘Good luck,'” said junior Sam Young, who had game highs of 21 points and 12 boards. “Then they say, ‘But you guys better get further than the Sweet 16.’ It’s amazing. I’m like, ‘Can we start the season first and qualify for the tournament before we start talking about that?'”

Well, we can start talking about it now because the Panthers have qualified. And Pitt’s chances of going further appear to be pretty good. Why?

Because the Panthers are as healthy as they’ve been all season.

Everyone is familiar with the Panthers’ injury situation early on. At one point, they didn’t have enough players for a full scrimmage. No one expected them to get this far in the conference tournament, let alone do any damage in the NCAAs.

The column then leaps into message board speculation that Coach Dixon could be hired away by another program — USC or Indiana. Then he says he doubts it.

That’s it for the recap. Next up is Marquette. Our friends at Cracked Sidewalks are wondering (hoping?) if Pitt will be tired from an OT game. I would be worried normally, given Pitt’s up-and-down performance in games a couple days after another. What Pitt did last night, makes me a little less concerned.

Before I go all gushy about this win, just a small question. How come Pitt can’t beat these guys at home?

I mean, Pitt beat them in Louisville and now 3 straight times at MSG. The two times Pitt has lost to the Cards since they came to the Big East have been at the Pete. Eff it, like the free throws in OT, Pitt makes them when they count.

I’m so juiced right now. That was a fantastic game. Louisville and Pitt just battled. Neither team played a perfect game, but Pitt did more and to go all cliche, showed more heart than Louisville.

Pitt was the undermanned team. Pitt was the team with more players in foul trouble. Pitt was the team with the match-up problems. Pitt was the team with the less heralded recruits.  Pitt was the team with the less accomplished coach. Pitt was the team that won.

Parent-Teacher conference this evening. This appointment was set a month ago. I had to guess when Pitt would play. I guessed poorly. Setting the DVR for this.

Unless Keith or Dennis can get back in time for the liveblog, this is the place to rant comment.

Here’s the sad truth about sports, fans and major media. Most of the time, fans are just paying attention to only their team. They set their rss readers to just their team news — maybe expand to conference info. But come the last two weeks of any season, suddenly it becomes a ravenous search for all the information. Media companies know this, and ramp up the stuff they put out.

College basketball, is probably the most extreme because of the Tournament. The “bubble” and suddenly all these fans want to know how their team stacks up against others. That’s why the crutch of the “blind resume” and similar gimmicks are overused on ESPN and other places. It’s easy, superficial and gives the pundits space to argue without any real meaning. It also fuels the potential outrage of wronged fanbases come selection sunday.

Most likely outraged teams this Sunday: Virginia Tech, Maryland, Villanova, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Ohio St., Arizona St., Arizona, Oregon, Texas A&M, Kansas State and Dayton (subject to change if they win two games in their conference tourneys).

My point being, that major media companies ramp up the output — meaning those working for them — are doing a lot of stuff. That’s my way of explaining my strange absence here. Fanhouse at AOL has had me very, very busy with stuff on or about or around the Tournament.

My trip to MSG for the Big East Tournament, is sadly, still years away. I have to get to a point where the wife will agree to either solo it with the kids or put up with her mother for a week while I spend a lot of money in NYC without her. Still, at least others get to go.

Bob Smizik speculated on whether Sam Young might go pro. Guess, he wanted to get that out of the way now, so he has time to focus on how bad the Pirates are later in March. Stunningly, he left out one other reason why Young might leave now. He’s already going to be 23 by draft day. The NBA isn’t wild about older players because they feel the physical development is about done — meaning little more in the way of upside. Still, that’s a concern for another day.

Young was fantastic for Pitt last night. 21 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks. The blocks were the big thing since 3 came in the final few minutes of the game.

“Although I’m not known for that, I have made some plays on defense in the past, like the Syracuse game,”

Young said, “For me, it doesn’t matter how I win the game. I just want to win the game any way possible.”

It was fitting that defense keyed this victory as so many others have in the past at Madison Square Garden for the Panthers, who are attempting to reach the Big East championship game for the seventh time in eight years.

Pitt had allowed eight consecutive opponents to shoot 42 percent or better from the field. But last night the Panthers buckled down and had their best defensive performance in more than a month.

The Panthers held Cincinnati to 39-percent shooting and outrebounded the Bearcats, 37-36. Cincinnati had outrebounded Pitt in the two previous meetings this season, including a game at Petersen Events Center two weeks ago when the Bearcats won the rebounding battle by 12.

Pitt did limit almost all of the Bearcats.The one guy they couldn’t stop in the second half was Deonta Vaughn whose individual effort willed his team to a tight finish.

The sophomore points scored 30 points, despite a valiant, hustling defensive effort by Ramon for much of the game. Vaughn was 8 of 25 from the floor, and 5 of 15 from 3-point range. During one stretch of the second half, he scored 20 points in a row for Cincinnati, including four 3-pointers in a 2:11-span of the second half to single-handedly keep the Bearcats (13-18) in the game.

“I’m just glad I don’t have to play against Vaughn again, this week anyway,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “I thought we did a pretty good job for the most part.”

The shooting % for Vaughn wasn’t great, but he also drew fouls and went 9-12 from the free throw line.

For the limited media following Cinci, it appears to be some relief to have the season end. Not even the niggling NIT to worry them.

Glass Half-Full column for Pitt at the Big East Tourney or do you prefer the Glass Half-Empty. I guess the fact that Pitt is still playing at least makes me want to look at the glass as half-full. We all know the problems and blemishes on this team.

Eric Hall from the Beaver County Times has been a bit down on this team in the second-half of the season. Interestingly, he isn’t necessarily down on the program.

An underrated perk in having NY/NJ players on Pitt’s squad when it comes time for the Big East Tournament, lots of local media love. Especially when you win.

This may be a shock to Pitt fans, but Louisville and their fans are a little worried about tonight.

The first two times the University of Louisville men’s basketball team came to the Big East Conference Tournament, it was sent home by Pittsburgh.

Will the third time be a charm or produce more harm?

Pitt beat Cincinnati 70-64 in last night’s opening round in Madison Square Garden, setting up a quarterfinal showdown against No. 12-ranked U of L (24-7) tonight.

“We’ve lost to them two years in a row,” Cardinals coach Rick Pitino said last night. “It’s time for things to change.”

Hopefully, not tonight.

I’m around. Sort of.

7:03: Len Elmore calls out Pitt’s defense before the opening tip. No arguments from the peanut gallery.

7:05: By the way, Jim Burr was officiating the Syracuse-‘Nova game, so there is no worry there.

7:11: Making 3s, but taking too many early. Pitt up 8-4, 17:10 to play. Ramon and Benjamin already have a foul each.

7:15: Crap. Benjamin picks up his second foul early. Blair took too long to decide. It was like he waited for the double-team and then decided to go to the basket. He turned right into the double-team in part because he put himself too far under the basket if he turned the other way.

7:23: I’m really concerned about the struggles to get the ball inside. Blair seems a bit sluggish tonight. Brown isn’t getting much of a chance to attack — or even see the ball.

7:29: Damnit! That was basket interference by Williamson. How was that not in the cylinder when he threw it down?

Blair just missed 2 more FTs. Pitt up only 16-14 with under 9 to go until halftime.

7:33: Wow. Over 7 minutes without a field goal for Pitt. Ugly drought.

7:41: Okay. Benjamin back in with his 2 fouls gives Pitt 4 points and then Biggs with a put back when Cinci completely forgot him. Pitt up 22-16 4:41 to halftime.

7:55: Pitt has a 31-25 lead at the half.

Sam Young came to play, to go a bit cliche. Not just on offense. He’s actually flashing defensive effort tonight.

Cinci is struggling. They get Pitt to go nearly 9 minutes without a FG and the best they could do was briefly tie the game. It’s up to Pitt to attack. They seem a bit passive. Blair, looks nervous. I think the BET actually has him a little more tentative than he (or anyone else expected).

8:22: Sorry, kid duties kept me away for a little.

Benjamin stepping up tonight. Much needed.

8:46: And a little more.

Give Cinci — and especially Deonta Vaughn — credit. He’s hitting deep, stepback 3s. That is unbelievable. Pitt looked like they had them down. After the UConn debacle they should have rolled over. They didn’t. Pitt has to put them down, the Bearcats won’t do it for them.

8:52: Thank goodness Ramon is hot in the second half, as well. He’s helping to keep the Vaughns at bay.

9:00: Vaughn has their last 17 points. Anyone else thinking evil thoughts of “Sweep the knee!”? Just me? Oh.

Sam Young with 2 blocks. Wow.

9:03: 1:08 left, Ramon misses 2 FTs? Ugh. Up to that point Pitt had been better than solid at the line.

Vaughn has the last 20 for Cinci. Just a tremendous individual effort to carry his team. Frustrating, because Pitt would be blowing them out otherwise, but it is worthy of respect.

9:15: Phew. Pitt wins 70-64 over the Deonta Vaughns of Cinci.

Sam Young was great for Pitt. 4 blocks including 2 vital ones in the final minute+.

Pitt won despite a horrid game from Blair.

Keith Benjamin stepped up for Pitt. Ramon had a solid game. Fields still lacks his shot, but his passing is getting a lot crisper.

Pat Bostick gets a piece in his local paper. Glowing quotes from Coach Wannstedt abound.

Wannstedt said that after meetings with coaches following the season, Bostick has worked extremely hard and done everything the coaching staff has asked of him.

“Since the season was over, I don’t think there is a player at any position on this team who has worked harder to better himself,” Wannstedt said. “He has lost 18 pounds, and has done everything physically to improve himself. But as in all situations, everyone has to go out and prove themselves again.”

Meaning, despite the accolades, he’ll have to battle to keep his starting role. Wannstedt confirmed the quarterback slot will be a wide-open competition this spring.

With Spring Practice just a couple weeks away we’ll get a chance to see how much Bostick’s physical conditioning has changed.

With all conference games wrapped up for the season, the Big East Tournament field has been set. We play in the best slot possible, 7 pm, as the #7 seed against #10 Cincinnati. The full bracket (via Card Chronicle):

Cinci couldn’t be coming off a worse game; they were pummeled 96-51 at Connecticut earlier today. It is very possible that for Pitt to win the tournament we would have to go through the top 3 seeds. Let’s at least win the first one though.
But hey, it’s Madison Square Garden, our home away from home.

Sorry for the late start. Was outside doing more digging out of all the snow. My back is killing me, barely got back inside. Haven’t even had a chance to grab a beer yet.

Ugly start so far. Lots of misses. At least the defensive effort appears there early.

12:18: DePaul is supposed to have a lot of talent. A big recruiting class. Lots of people think highly of Jerry Wainwright. He was on the coaching staff for USA Basketball (U-21, I think). Aside from being very personable and glib, I have yet to see a DePaul game where I thought the coaching was the difference — in a good way. Especially on defense.

Pitt has really started hitting the shots thanks to the poor DePaul defense. The thing that worries me is that the Pitt players will use it as an excuse not to play defense. Lord knows they need to.

11:09 left in the half, Pitt leading 20-11.

12:28: And there’s the lack of defense inside. DePaul has closed to within 5 with 8:30 left.

12:30: Geez. Wanamaker with a nice steal on help defense, then tries to go 1-3 and turns it right back over. The hoop goes the other way +1. Again, no defense inside to allow right to the basket.

DePaul can take the lead with the free throw after the commercial break.

12:35: That TV timeout gave Pitt a chance to regroup. Moving the ball on offense again and now a 8-0 run to take a 35-27 lead with 5:03 left in the half.

A little more patient on defense in this spurt.

12:40: DePaul already has 3 players with 2 fouls — Clarke, Koshwal, Poscic — mainly inside guys.

12:47: Yes, Pitt leads 45-39.

I’m not that happy, though. Not doing a good job on defense. Way too many easy drives straight to the basket. No one there to contest them. DePaul is not a good team, and they are being allowed to get to the rim.

Sloppy with the ball. Crap load of turnovers — 7 or 8 so far.

Sure the offense has looked pretty good, but this is against DePaul and their weak defense. Fine that Pitt is shooting and scoring. The defense is what they need to be playing.

1:10: Pitt up 56-45 with 16:26 left. Ramon has drained a couple 3s. Still giving up baskets in the paint. There seems little urge from Young or Blair to challenge shots. More afraid of drawing fouls and not getting to score later. Rebounding is solid, at least.

1:20: DePaul is so bad defensively. Leaving Pitt’s perimeter wide open. Benjamin with another 3 and a +1.

Now Pitt getting a quick little spurt.

Pitt up 68-56, with under 13 minutes.

1:33: The good news for Pitt’s offense. 5 players already in double figures — Benjamin, Fields, Blair, Young and Brown. Ramon has 9 points. At least on offense, the wealth is being spread.

Still struggling with the whole defense. Pitt leads 77-68 with 8:04 left.

1:39: Ramon with a basket puts him in double digits as well.

6:34 left Pitt up 84-70.

1:50: Not much to say since Pitt is taking care of DePaul with a 91-76 lead with under 4 to go.

The offense had their way with DePaul, as expected. As I’ve said over and over today, the defense is the issue and that still doesn’t look good.

1:53: In comes senior walk-on Maurice Polen. Go, ‘Mo!

1:59: Pitt cruises 98-79 final.
Also really good news, the women’s team just upset Notre Dame  in the Women’s BE Tournament quarterfinals!