An 82-53 decimation of Miami. Pitt never trailed in the game. After starting strong, Miami chipped away and hung within a handful of points of Pitt for most of the 1st half. Blair had some foul issues and Pitt was not doing a good job of boxing out and giving the RedHawks second chances inside. Poor free throw shooting (4-8) helped keep the game closer.

The second half saw Pitt turn up the intensity on defense and keep it up. On offense, Sam Young found his groove as well as Jermaine Dixon getting room outside out of fear of him attacking the rim. Fields was shooting well. Blair was much cleaner in the second half and was his beastly self inside.

I really like what I saw from Nasir Robinson. He’s young, raw and definitely can be out of position. But he passed a lot better than I expected. He really seemed to see the court well and plays with some intensity.

Travon Woodall and Ashton Gibbs both look promising. They are already playing within the team framework.

McGhee is coming along. He will be a decent back-up this year as he gets more confidence and learns where to be on the court. You can see that he has plenty of room still to develop.

Wanamaker at moments seemed like he is trying too hard. Like he wants to hit a homerun every time he touches the ball. A bit of Keith Benjamin in the early days is the best comparison. Right down to running around too much even without the ball. He needs to realize that he’ll have a better shot at getting more PT if he plays defense and stays within the offense for his opportunities. He’s a solid defender.

9 players getting 14 to 28 minutes of action. 5 players in double digits. 21of 32 baskets came with an assist. Pitt shot 59% (32-54) overall. 41% on 3s and an eFG of 65.7%. The only downside on the offense was shooting only 11-17 on free throws though the team shot 7-9 on FTs in the second half.

On defense, Pitt held Miami to 31% shooting. They held Miami to 0-9 on 3s in the second half. I mean, the second half was a complete shutdown of the RedHawks. Pitt was moving faster and simply overwhelmed them.

I’ll be watching, but probably pausing a lot throughout to deal with kids. So, no liveblog for this game. Just feel free to comment on what you are seeing.

There aren’t 25-top teams. There really aren’t. Way too many 3-loss teams on this list. But that’s because there aren’t that many 1-, 2-loss teams.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas Tech	—
2	Alabama	—
3	Florida	—
4	Texas	—
5	Oklahoma	—
6	Southern Cal	—
7	Utah	—
8	Penn State	—
9	Ohio State	—
10	Boise State	—
11	Oklahoma State	—
12	Ball State	—
13	Missouri	1
14	Georgia	1
15	Brigham Young	—
16	Cincinnati	2
17	Michigan State	—
18	Oregon State	3
19	TCU	—
20	West Virginia	4
21	LSU	1
22	Oregon	4
23	Maryland	3
24	Miami (Florida)	2
25	Connecticut	1

No, not a lot of movement this week. Just not a lot of shake-out in the top half.

Yes, especially this week am I not taking any chances.

So, this will be the first game people can watch Pitt without being at the Pete. A boon for those of us who don’t live in Pittsburgh. Plus it is not just on FoxSports Pittsburgh.

ESPN Regional/FSN Pittsburgh (Michael Reghi, Dave Kaplan; Producer: Bill Shissler). Broadcast live on other affiliates including Denver, Colo. (Altitude) and New Orleans, La. (Cox-New Orleans). Tape delay: Washington, D.C./Baltimore/Maryland (MASN) at 10:30 p.m. ET Monday night and New York City (SportsnetNY) on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 1 p.m.

And for those with ESPN FullCourt Package, the game is being aired on that way (Ch. 722 on DirecTV) for a 7pm start.

Seems to be some surprise over Pitt being 2-10 all-time against Miami (OH). Well, here’s the record (PDF).

Date —– H/A — W/L — Pitt-UMn
12/13/53 — H —- L —- 64 – 65
3/11/58 —N# —- L —– 77- 82
12/20/58 — A —– L —- 75 – 88
2/17/60 — H —– W — 83 – 79
1/28/61 — A —– L —- 48 – 62
2/14/62 — H —– L —- 72 – 75
3/2/63 —- A —– W — 74 – 64
12/20/63 — H —– L —- 63 – 77
1964-65 — A —– L —- 66 – 89
12/10/65 — CA# — L —- 60 – 65
3/4/67 —– H —- L —- 68 – 82
1/30/68 —- A —- L —- 42 – 66

Obviously Pitt has been ducking the RedHawks for a few, uh, decades.

The RedHawks play a style that the Pitt players may not like, but Coach Dixon will likely be comfortable.

“For us, when we recruit, we promise the kids we’ll play before enthusiastic crowds and talented players,” Coles said. “You have to have selling points. We’re going to play a tough schedule. If you come here you’ll get a chance to play some quality opponents. Every now and then we’ll look bad. But sometimes we’ll play well. When you play well in these games there’s a reward.”

Coles had the Redhawks play a slow-paced game against UCLA and could implement a similar strategy against Pitt. By limiting turnovers and running down the shot clock, the Redhawks can force the Panthers to execute on offense to earn their points.

When asked which of Pitt’s three stars — Blair, Sam Young or Levance Fields — he had to control, Coles said: “Fields is the floor general. Should we do something to him? Then you have Blair inside. Sam Young was first-team all-Big East. And you know he can shoot 3-pointers now, so he’s even more dangerous. I don’t know what to do with them.

“What you have to do is try to make them earn their points and keep them out of the paint. But they have players that can hurt you.”

The opportunity to play before enthusiastic crowds as well as talented players must have helped land a 3-star center for next year that chose the RedHawks over Penn State.

Miami Coach Coles expects a very physical game.

“They’re similar to UCLA,” Miami coach Charlie Coles said of the No. 5 Panthers. “I don’t know if they’re better than UCLA, but they’re more physical than UCLA. We’re really going to have to compete (today).”

…

But the RedHawks showed they were no pushovers against UCLA. They led the Bruins 44-42 with 12:24 left and came within inches of tying it when senior point guard Kenny Hayes missed a 3-point shot with 10 seconds left.

Miami also has headline players in Hayes, Michael Bramos and Tyler Dierkers, but Coles said he was particularly encouraged by his supporting players. Nick Winbush, Antonio Ballard, Eric Pollitz, Eric Soderholm, Julian Mavunga and Adam Fletcher all made key contributions last week.

Miami has been predicted in the multitude of preseason mags to finish 1st or 2nd in the MAC East. They and Kent St. seem to be the picks. This is Coach Charlie Coles 13th and likely last year. Forward Michael Bramos is 1st team all-MAC.

Obviously Coach Dixon has been warning the players all weekend how dangerous the Redhawks are. I figure the players are listening, just by the nature of how close Miami came to beating UCLA.

Early signing period ends on November 19. Durand Scott will announce his decision on that day at the studios of SNY in Manhattan.

The 6-foot-4 guard out of Rice High School in Manhattan will choose from among Miami, UConn and Pittsburgh.

No actual time is given, but at least it won’t be drawn out into the spring.

It’s always possible that Pitt could have lost their season opener. Kentucky has reminded everyone of that possibility. Still it was far more improbable than anything else. So, Pitt’s 86-63 win over the Farleigh-Dickinson Chessmen Knights was not surprising. Nor was heavy use of the Pitt bench.

The big story was Levance Fields starting and playing well.

Fields reported no soreness in his foot, which was buoyed by a shoe insert and wrapped carefully, although he did favor it on a few (of many) transition plays in the game. But for the most part, Fields was thoroughly involved in a dynamic Panthers’ offense in his 25 minutes. He scored 15 points, had eight assists and no turnovers.

“I played like I played before I got hurt,” Fields said.

But he isn’t fully recovered, and that three-minute stint in the second half proved that he wants some more time. His conditioning, admittedly, isn’t nearly enough to compete against Big East bodies. Fields goes full in one practice, the less-than-full the next. He said he’ll continue that for a few weeks, so he needed all the familiarity in real time he could get.

Either way, Fields’ story is a rather remarkable one. That he’s playing at a high level, even if it isn’t his highest, is a testament to his off-the-court work ethic combined with his drive to be on the court.

“He’s had limited activity for 11 months,” Dixon said. “I’ve never been around anybody like that”

The way Pitt play impressed the Knights’ head coach as he was effusive in praise.

“I’ve been the head coach at Fairleigh Dickinson for 25 years,” Knights coach Tom Green said. “We play three or four big-time teams every year and we’ve been to the NCAA tournament four times. I’ve never seen a team play man-to-man defense the way Pittsburgh does it. Jamie’s defense is the best defense I’ve ever coached against. Ever. It’s incredible.”

…

“That’s a team looked like it was in midseason form,” Green said. “I have a vote in the coaches’ poll. I voted them No. 2 behind North Carolina. I’m going to keep voting them No. 2 until I see someone better.”

FDU’s next opponent is out in Pullman — the Washington State Cougars. You do have to love a crusty, old coach who apparently has seen everything.

On Levance Fields:

“We were expecting him. Probable means you’ll see him, doubtful means he’ll play a few minutes, and if he’s dead, you’ll see him off the bench. He’s a tough nut. He’s quick. He looks like he should be playing linebacker for someone, but he looks very sharp.”

Of course, I’m starting to wonder of Coach Dixon is taking a page from the Bill Belichik handbook on injuries. Prior to the game, it was all about how Fields appeared behind schedule and just wasn’t coming along. There was speculation that maybe Coach Dixon was pissed about his progress or lack of progress. Then he comes out and plays more than 20 minutes.

So, what to make of Gilbert Brown’s status in that light?

Redshirt sophomore Gilbert Brown, who has missed the past 10 days with a stress fracture in his left foot, was not in uniform. He is doubtful to play on Monday against Miami (Ohio).

“He’s not doing real well,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “We need to get him ready and healthy. If I had to guess, I’d say he (won’t play) on Monday.”

Who can say for sure at this point.

Jerry Carino sums up my feelings.

It hurts to say this, especially as a certified hoop-head, but college basketball season starts to early. For decades the schedule tipped off Dec. 1, after college football’s regular season. Then it was Thanksgiving week for special tournaments, like the Preseason NIT and the Great Alaska Shootout. Now, for the last couple of years, it’s been mid-November. Does any major sport start its season with so little fanfare? You can’t put the genie back in the bottle, but hopefully it won’t spill over into October.

It really seems that starting the season this week is incredibly stupid. It’s hard enough for college basketball to get any attention at the start of the season with the sheer volume of meaningless games, the NFL, NBA and NHL seasons underway. But to start now, as college football has all the college fans attention in most places? It makes it near impossible to be promoted.

ESPN is the 800-pound gorilla in this, but it has college football games right now that still get far better ratings — even a MAC battle. So any college basketball game gets relegated to ESPN-U and mostly ignored on SportsCenter. I can’t blame them for it.

On the one positive, by getting a slew of warm-up/patsy games that no one really cares about cleared now, by the time the beginning of December rolls around some actual good games are available and can be promoted when there’s an opening.

Still, the haphazard way the season is launched really prevents a lot of initial excitement over the season.

This week is also the early signing period that concludes on November 19. While not announced by the school yet, Chris Dokish says all four of the verbals to Pitt have signed and it’s just a matter of finishing the paperwork.

Dante Taylor, 6’9″ forward from National Christian Academy in Fort Washington, MD, 6’4 wing Lamar Patterson of St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, NJ, 6’7″ forward J.J. Richardson of Hightower HS in Missouri City, TX, and 6’9″ Talib Zanna of Bishop McNamara HS in Forestville, MD have all signed their National Letter of Intent, but only Richardson also has the required signature of his parents. The other three prospects will become official tomorrow when their parents sign the document.

What stands out is that none of these players are actually from the NY/NJ area. Patterson is from Central PA and is attending St. Benedict’s for this season — after he had already verballed to Pitt. Pitt has built on its success and continued to expand its recruiting region.

Mike DeCourcy has some lists as this weeks action starts the season. There’s certain team categories. Pitt didn’t rank at the top in offense or defense, but he does like this about Pitt.

Best chemistry

1. Pitt. No program does a better job of keeping agendas out of the locker room.

Which plays right into the Tyrell Biggs puff piece as the senior gets ready to start the season as a starter.

The unselfish, do-it-all reserve power forward is assuming a bigger piece of the action for his senior season at nationally ranked Pitt.

“I feel like my role is the same,” Biggs said, “it’s just a lot more time on the floor.”

Biggs will join small forward Sam Young and center DeJuan Blair in what is considered one of the top five frontcourts in the nation by multiple preseason publications.

For at least the first few games, there is no reason not to start Biggs. As the article notes, it would continue the trend of a somewhat maligned reserve player (Keith Benjamin and Antonio Graves) stepping up in his senior year to be a reliable and occasional sparkplug player.

The primary senior in the frontcourt — Sam Young — had the first of what will hopefully many puff pieces for this season.

He also made DeCourcy’s list of top small forwards.

A half-century has passed since Pitt produced a consensus first-team All-America selection: guard Don Hennon, who averaged 26 points a game. Panthers basketball hasn’t been empty since. There’ve been some exceptional players — Billy Knight, Charles Smith, Brandin Knight among them — and, lately, some extraordinary teams that were based more on mutual commitment than individual skill.

What if the Panthers have both this season? What if they’ve got the best small forward in the country and still the same devotion to team play?

This could become the year the Sweet 16 is not a destination, but a checkpoint.

1. Sam Young, Pitt. It’s possible Young is the most underrated player in the country, and it is time for that to change. How much more quietly can a guy average 18.1 points? On a championship team, no less. Young carried the Panthers to the Big East Tournament title with a 20-point average in four victories over four days. This is a slight positional move for Young, from power forward on an undersized team to small forward in a bigger frontcourt. He has built for three years toward this, however. He has grown in his understanding of the game and his confidence level. He shoots well from 3-point range and uses his extraordinary athleticism to finish plays at the rim. It’s time the basketball world remembers his name.

Speaking of optimism, Smizik gives some of his own.

Dixon is proud of what the Pitt program has accomplished the past seven years. He was an assistant for the first two and head coach for the past five. During that span, Pitt has the fourth-best winning percentage in college basketball, behind only Memphis, Kansas and Duke.

Dixon’s winning percentage of .767 is fourth among active coaches. He’s behind Roy Williams, Mark Few and Bo Ryan and ahead of Mike Krzyzewski and Rick Pitino.

But he understands major success in the NCAA tournament, the ultimate test, is missing.

“I don’t feel we’ve accomplished all we can,” he said.

This is the season they can do it.

Injuries, have been a big storyline all preseason. So, the issue is adaptability.

But for the Pitt Panthers, the traditional roles on the team are less clearly defined. Coach Jamie Dixon has compiled a team of players who have the potential to create mismatch problems for opponents because of the variety of positions they can play.

Almost every player on Pitt’s team can handle two positions and a few can manage three. Pitt has had versatile teams under Dixon before, but this team has so much flexibility that it stands apart.

“Now we have guys who can play different positions because of their versatility, their height, their size, things like that,” senior Sam Young said. “Once we are comfortable with each position that we can play we’ll be a much better team than in the past.”

Playing multiple positions has been something Coach Dixon has been working towards since being the head coach. Remember that a couple years prior, Pitt was already trying to get Sam Young at small forward. He’s (hopefully) reached that point now. But, other players are in that spot as well. Blair will play the 4 or the 5. Gilbert Brown can play in the front or backcourt and as a versatile wing player. Just a lot more flexibility.

Of course, talking about players everyone has seen is old hat. The big obsession is with all the freshmen and a JUCO.

“If we do start,” freshman point guard Ashton Gibbs said, “it’s a tremendous honor.”

Gibbs, out of Seton Hall (N.J.) Prep, is listed as the probable starter at point guard, and junior college transfer Jermaine Dixon is the likely shooting guard in a backcourt possibly still without Levance Fields.

“I’m definitely excited,” said Dixon, who played the past two seasons at Tallahassee (Fla.) Junior College. “I’ve been waiting for this my whole career. I’m definitely ready.”

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said he probably won’t know Fields’ status until Friday’s shootaround. The senior point guard, rehabbing after foot surgery, practiced Tuesday and Wednesday and will sit out today’s workout, as scheduled.

And indeed, Gibbs will get the start tonight.

Finally freshman forward Nasir Robinson gets his first puff piece.

“I watched Pitt games for a long time,” Robinson said. “When they recruited me, I liked the style of play. Coming out of Chester I was used to playing in front of big crowds every night, the competition. I’m used to the atmosphere. The difference is the physical play. There are bigger and better players.”

Dixon is not counting on Robinson to be a major contributor this season because he has a number of veteran forwards on his depth chart, but Robinson will get more of an opportunity in the short-term because Gilbert Brown is out of the lineup for another week with a stress fracture in his left foot.

With seniors Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs holding down the starting small forward and power forward positions, Robinson will be the first forward off the bench in place of Brown when the Panthers play La Roche today in the final exhibition game before Friday’s season opener against Fairleigh Dickinson.

Dixon said he will use Robinson mostly at power forward this season, but he sees him developing into a small forward as his skill level rises.

The game tonight will feature a banner raising of Pitt’s Big East Tournament Championship.

Sorry for just quick stuff. I’m a bit overloaded and even a bit behind on things — including a slightly delayed preview week for college basketball at FanHouse.

I still need to put some more thought into the Big East choice of commissioner. For the record, Chancellor Nordenberg has been great for Pitt and Pitt Athletics. That isn’t an issue to me. I do question his decisionmaking with regards to the Big East conference, which is something different. So, the fact that he was co-chair of the search committee that made this decision puts a lot of the responsibility on him.

In the semifinals of individual awards, it is no surprise that Scott McKillop has been named a semi-finalist for the Trent Ronnie Lott award and the Chuck Bednarik Award. Both are for outstanding defensive player.

LeSean McCoy made it to the final-15 for the Maxwell Award — the top collegiate player — which is something of a minor surprise. No surprise, that he was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Doak Walker award for best running back. He’s got a shot, but at the same time he isn’t a lock. If you look just in the Big East, he’s behind Donald Brown in YPC and total yards.

The Cinci game is a 7:15 ESPN2 primetime game. Pitt made the wise decision to move the IUP-Pitt basketball game to a 4pm start from 7 pm. Good call.

Pitt also put up a link page to all the potential bowls Pitt could be attending — sort of. More precisely, all the bowls the Big East is directly tied-in to. After all, the BCS Championship game and Rose Bowl are not even realistic should Pitt win out the season.

I’ve said it before, I like both beat writers for Pitt football. Both do a good job overall. It’s also fun to dissect things. This week, Paul Zeise has been focused on the secondary issues. It came out in his “Good, Bad & Ugly” review of the Louisville and the question answered in a Q&A.

Q: In your “Good, Bad and Ugly” summary you hit the nail on the head with the ugly — On the touchdown pass [in the Louisville game] Aaron Berry threw his hands up in confusion immediately after the play, during the extra point and the whole way over to the sideline where he met with Phil Bennett. It also appeared that Cantwell and Simms were throwing at Berry every chance they had. And when the kid is visibly showing his confusion, it’s hard to blame teams for throwing his way. You also mentioned some time ago that it looks like Eric Thatcher is getting beat (since he usually has to make the TD saving tackle or is the closest guy to the play), but in reality he may be just cleaning up. My questions are: How much of the blown coverage is truly Aaron Berry and how much in safety coverage? Is it a matter of confidence with Berry or does he not understand the playbook?

Jim Raible, Irwin

ZEISE: Those are great questions — and the answers are simple — some of it is on the corners and some of it is on the safeties, hence the confusion back there. On certain plays it has been the corner just getting beat, or worse, thinking he had zone coverage when the play called was for him to be in man coverage, but sometimes it is a corner knowing he was supposed to have safety help over the top and the safety isn’t there. It has been a real issue because the breakdowns are so easy to see from the press box. This is something that really needs to get solved. I think it is simply a matter of communication and making sure before the ball is snapped every player is on the same page. There have been plays when Berry was at fault, but there have been plays when it has been Thatcher or Dom DeCicco or Elijah Fields as well. And on the other side — with Ricky Gary or Jovani Chappel — it is just simply that both are struggling in man coverage and probably would be better off if they had safety help over the top on most plays. These things can get resolved, but if Pitt is going to win the Big East they need to make sure the touchdown pass thrown by Louisville is the last time this year a receiver is running down the middle of the field with nobody in the secondary even close to him.

That developed into his story in the PG today.

“It has become personal because guys think they can come in here to Heinz Field, or even when we are on the road and throw a lot of deep balls at us now,” Gary said. “We had what you would call a little tweak in our defense against Rutgers and some guys got behind us so now a lot of guys think they can get behind us.

“But it isn’t like people think it is. Sometimes receivers get the best of corners in certain games so we just need to regroup. We are going to redeem ourselves and show the world that our secondary is better than what people think it is.”

Part of the problem, according to Gary, is miscommunication, but it is also that players try too hard to make big plays.

He said the 30-yard touchdown pass the Panthers gave up against Louisville Saturday, for instance, was an example of miscommunication between a safety and a corner, resulting in a bust and a wide open receiver.

Gary said defensive coordinator Phil Bennett has made it clear that those kinds of busts will no longer be tolerated.

Or else what? That actually wasn’t answered.

Meanwhile if you have read Kevin Gorman this season — especially his notes in his blog — he has cast a dubious eye towards Coach Wannstedt’s constant refrain from week one about winning the turnover battle. That led to this week’s story.

The statistic is such a prominent part of his philosophy that Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt finds it inconceivable that a team can win games without likewise owning the turnover battle.

Yet his Panthers have proven it’s possible on a near weekly basis.

“We pretty much made a joke of the turnover ratio,” Pitt quarterback Bill Stull cracked last week.

That explains why Wannstedt was so relieved when No. 21 Pitt (7-2, 3-1 Big East) forced five turnovers – and committed none – in a 41-7 victory over Louisville Saturday.

“Finally, we play a game where we win the turnover battle,” Wannstedt said. “It was a long time coming. This was a game where we needed to force some turnovers, and we did.”

In the previous eight games, the Panthers had confounded Wannstedt. They won the turnover battle only once, against Syracuse, and finished even another time, against Buffalo.

Even after the lopsided Louisville game, Pitt has four more turnovers lost (17) than gained (13) and is in a six-way tie to rank 85th nationally with a minus-.44 average per game.

I’m not so sure that Pitt truly needed to force turnovers to win. It made it look easy, but “needed?” Um, not really.

Nice story on the defensive line — focusing on DTs Rasheed Duncan and Mick Williams.

In another Q&A, Zeise notes the impact of strength and conditioning coach Buddy Morris, including admitting he had been dismissive of the change in that before Morris returned.

And of course cursory stories about getting ready for Cinci. Hard to do much yet with that on a bye week and Cinci playing L-ville tomorrow night. Brag about the trophy?

“It’s the River City Rivalry for a reason,” Pitt linebacker Scott McKillop said. “We’ve been lucky enough to have the trophy the past three years. … No matter what the trophy looks like, we want to keep it in-house. I just wish we could pick it up and carry it around, but it’s a little bit heavy.”

The “reason” is that the Big East wanted to show everyone that they can jury-rig a rivalry/trophy game to match the Big 11’s Land Grant Shelving Unit.

ESPN casting call for college basketball commercial. It’s time to stereotype.

ESPN
Promo
SAG
PAY RATE: SAG PROMO RATE

Director: Matt Aselton
Casting Director: ERICA PALGON
Interview: Thurs 11/13 and Fri 11/14, Mon 11/17
Fitting: 11/21
Shoot: 11/24, 25
Location: New York

SUBMIT ELECTRONICALLY LIZ LEWIS CASTING PARTNERS

EVERYONE MUST BE STRONG WITH COMEDY/IMPROV. PLEASE WRITE ANY ADDITIONAL NOTES, IN THE NOTES PAGE, ABOUT ACTOR’S COMEDIC/IMPROV EXPERIENCE/TRAINING, THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL IN LOOKING THROUGH SUBMISSIONS

All roles are ages 18-22 yrs old. WITH THE EXCEPTION of PERDUE.

The concept: The spots take place in the ESPN College Basketball Call Center (CBBCC). All of these guys are there representing their schools, calling people on the phone to get them to watch more College Basketball. Basically they are selling college basketball.

…

[ PITTSBURGH ]
FEMALE. Pittsburgh is a tomboy. She obviously grew up in the neighborhood and isn’t going to take any guff from anyone and she’ll wallop you in the eye with a crowbar if you suggest different. So don’t. Think Tina Fey type.

Ohhhh-kaaaayyyyy.

Here’s some more from the Big East schools:

[ CONNECTICUT ]
MALE. Connecticut is all things Connecticut. He’s a little bit older.
He’s a little bit thicker around the waist. He’s WHITE. He’s also competitive. Very. Waspy, blue blood.

…

[ LOUISVILLE ]
MALE. Louisville is very true to place. He’s short. He’s HISPANIC. And one day he hopes to carry on in proud Louisville tradition and race thoroughbreds.

…

[ VILLANOVA ]
MALE. Villanova is the poor man’s Duke — he’s not quite as handsome, he’s not quite as rich, he’s not quite as dapper. After 2 or 3 beers though, who cares? As he’s friendly enough.

[ NOTRE DAME ]
MALE He’s an ASIAN kid who is in to all things Notre Dame, ridiculously so. Oh, and he’s always fighting. Every time we encounter him he always has some words or another, be it the faint traces of a black eye, or a scab or whatever. He epitomizes the fightin’ Irish.

…

[ SYRACUSE ]
MALE. Jewish kid from Long Island that is loving the college experience. It has opened up a world he never knew existed. All you can eat buffets in the cafeteria — who knew? To Syracuse, everything is a party.

[ GEORGETOWN ]
FEMALE. Georgetown, a 4.36 GPA who’s lived in 9 world-class cities, but all the time in her sister’s shadow (her GPA is 4.37). She’s sort of the female Duke, except most people like her. Think Reese Witherspoon.

…

[ MARQUETTE ]
FEMALE. Marquette, on a scale of 1-10, she’s a six. A B-, C in every category you can define a person by. Her defining characteristic is you don’t really remember her. You’re not breaking your arm to get to her, but you’re not chewing it off to get away. She does have a winning personality though. Midwest, sweet girl.

Apparently the plan has already been torched according to Awful Announcing’s update. ESPN apparently outsourced the plan and denies all responsibility for the stereotyping casting call.

Maybe it will turn out to be a good hire, but my instincts are not that way. Looks like the Big East has its successor to Mike Tranghese.

The Big East Conference is expected to name John Marinatto, the league’s second-ranking official, to succeed Commissioner Michael Tranghese at season’s end.
This Story

A conference call has been scheduled for 11 a.m. today “to make a significant announcement concerning the direction of the conference,” league officials announced.

Any guess as to what school John Marinatto was associated before becoming part of the BE hierarchy?

Marinatto graduated in 1979 from Providence, where he worked as a student manager for Dave Gavitt, who became the first commissioner of the Big East. He later worked for Tranghese at Providence, where he performed myriad jobs in the athletic department, including sports information director, ticket manager, and as the athletic director for 14 years.

The new face of the Big East. The only way this would have been more incestuous would have been if Dan Gavitt had been given the job.

Remember, Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg was part of the search committee that made this choice. This choice, though, smacks of the search group just taking Mike Tranghese’s recommendation. I really think the Big East needed to go outside of their office. Definitely outside Providence.

A couple more previews as real basketball is just barely getting underway.

CollegeHoopsNet puts Pitt at #11 in their rankings. Their concerns seem to be the health of Levance Fields, who will be the 2-guard. Seems to be a common theme.

Sports Illustrated pegs Pitt at #7 for this weeks CBB Preview issue. They also have Pitt as one of the regional covers — which are below the rankings.

ESPN.com power rankings spot Pitt at #9.

Over at Sportsline, Gary Parrish ranks the Big East and puts Pitt 4th.

The good: Levance Fields, Sam Young and DeJuan Blair form quite a trio for the college game. They combined to average 41.6 points, 19.3 rebounds and 7.2 assists last season and should easily keep Jamie Dixon’s streak of consecutive 20-win seasons intact. Dixon has never won less than 20 games, never not made the NCAA tournament in five years as a head coach, which is why Pitt is paying him big money and other schools are constantly interested.

The bad: Just when Fields was cleared to practice following a foot injury, Gilbert Brown went down with — you’ll never guess — a foot injury. The sophomore guard who started 15 games last season is expected to miss at least 10 days. That means he’ll miss the Nov. 14 opener against Fairleigh-Dickinson.

The bottom line: This is the fourth Big East team ranked in the top 10 of the preseason Top 25 (and one), which backs my theory that this is going to be the best and most competitive league in the nation. Any of the top four — Louisville, UConn, Notre Dame and Pitt — are capable of winning the conference, advancing to the Final Four and, perhaps, winning a national title if North Carolina somehow screws things up.

Meanwhile Andy Katz for ESPN.com goes one better at #6.

Five points as the season nears, according to head coach Jamie Dixon:

1. Junior Jermaine Dixon will be the starting shooting guard. He had seven assists and five steals in an exhibition win Sunday. Yet he feeds the post well and will be starting alongside Levance Fields, when Fields (who is still nursing a foot injury) is ready to play the point again.

2. Freshman Ashton Gibbs played the point in Fields’ absence and had seven assists and one turnover. He will play the position throughout the year and has given the Panthers another ballhandler to rely on.

3. Not having Fields and sophomore Gilbert Brown (out with a stress fracture in his left foot) has left the Panthers wondering when the team will be complete. Until then, Dixon and his staff are trying to coach with two teams in mind — one with them and one without.

4. Dixon has been impressed with the freshmen’s learning curve. The teaching continues, but the newcomers’ ability to pick up what the Panthers want to do has eased a lot of the concerns here lately.

5. The Panthers are getting good news on senior forward Tyrell Biggs. He made all five of his field goals in the exhibition win over La Roche on Sunday. He hasn’t been discussed as much as Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and of course Fields. But if Biggs can be a factor that certainly helps.

By the end of this week (I hope) FanHouse will be releasing its own top-25 with previews.

That’s it for those kind of previews, but there are a couple more pre-season lists connected with Pitt.

Jay Bilas has his 10 Burning Questions (Insider subs).

7. Can anyone stay down on Young’s shot fake?

Watch Pitt’s Sam Young this season. He is a really good player, and as tough as they come. Young has the most exaggerated shot fake in college basketball, and maybe in all of basketball. Many coaches will teach you to exaggerate your shot fake, knowing that the speed of the game will likely speed up your fake. Well, Young’s fake looks almost cartoonish when you watch it on film, but defenders go for it almost every time. Watch for it. Young has the best and most effective shot fake in college basketball. You will see defenders flying when he uses it.

The question is, will all the whining from coaches last year that Young left his feet (when he didn’t) catch-up and get some bad calls go against Pitt when Young does his shot fake?

Luke Winn at SI.com ranks the preseason tourneys — man, they rank everything.

10. Legends Classic, Nov. 28-29, Newark, N.J. (Akron, Eastern Kentucky, Farleigh Dickinson, Mississippi State, Pittsburgh, Texas Tech, Washington State)

This tourney will go from having Texas and Tennessee — a legitimately huge November duel — in its inaugural title game last year … to having Pittsburgh against either Washington State or Mississippi State this year. Anchoring the Newark event with a highly ranked Big East team was a smart move … but it’s sorely lacking in a real challenger for the Panthers.

Projected winner: Pitt, in a cakewalk.

No pressure.

Finally, NBE Basketball Report ranks the PGs in the Big East and puts Levance Fields at #3.

Typical NYC point guard with toughness and flair. Questions about his foot does temper some of his senior season expectations.

It really does seem like Field’s foot has become Pitt’s version of Beanie Wells’ toe.

Well, I guess you could make the argument that Pitt needs another change-of-pace back with LaRod Stephens-Howling graduating. Otherwise someone might have a question (Insider subs).

If college programs can overlook Douglas’ lack of size, they are going to get one heck of a running back with all the skills to become very productive and create major mismatches in a spread offense.

Pardon?

Durability is a concern but he does not give defenders a clean shot on him. Quicker than fast but displays an extra gear and great top-end speed when he reaches the second the level. Overall, Douglas is the real threat with the ball in his hands and can turn a short run into a big gain. Size could deter some programs but he does a great job masking it and also using it to his advantage as runner. Great change of pace back if finds an open spread offense. Potential to contribute at corner and in the return game as well.

Hmm. Maybe there is some concern with Cameron Saddler coming back from his ACL injury.

Douglas comes in at 5-6, 170 pounds. He’s a 3-star or 2-star recruit from Weston (Cypress Bay HS), Florida.

Seems the other BCS Conference offers came from Kansas State (coach fired at the end of the year) and Vandy (coach heavily rumored for Clemson). Still, let’s look at the positive.

ESPN’s Billy Tucker said of the news, “Pitt may struggle to sign another top-25 class in 2009, but it does have a solid class with a handful of sleepers like Douglas. This was a major land out of Florida. All this kid is lacking is great size; he is a game-breaker with the great speed and quickness needed to create mismatches in space for Wannstedt and the Panthers.”
…
“Look for him to also get a lot of touches in the receiving game and as a returner where he is very dangerous. Pitt just landed a very versatile weapon that has really slid under the radar.”

That would be nice.

Uber-recruit Dominic Cheek was supposed to be at Pitt this weekend. Unfortunately he didn’t make it.

“Dominic didn’t go,” said St. Anthony associate head coach Ben Gamble. “He had a root canal Thursday so we kept him home. He had it Thursday afternoon, so we cancelled the trip.

“He would’ve been sick and it wouldn’t have been fair to Pittsburgh.”

Gamble said Cheek will also skip Monday’s unofficial trip to Rutgers for an exhibition game with Division 2 Caldwell College, but would make two more officials this fall.

“The schedule remains the same,” he said. “He’s going to go to Memphis [Nov. 14] and then he’s going to Rutgers [Nov. 21] and he has not counted out Pittsburgh. It will probably be the last trip that he makes and that will probably be in the spring.”

There was no way he was going to be signing in the November 12-19 early signing period. So, if he waits to take a visit during the regular basketball season. Not to mention stopping by the Prudential Center during Pitt’s play for the Legend’s Classic. There will be plenty of time for Pitt to keep on him.

That is, if someone else doesn’t sign with Pitt in the next week.

The 6-foot-4 Scott, the No. 9 shooting guard in the Class of 2009 according to Rivals, is expected to choose from among Miami, UConn and Pittsburgh, the three schools to which he has taken officials.

“There’s no more visits scheduled. This is pretty much it,” Dwayne Mitchell, Scott’s coach with the New York Gauchos, said recently. “It’s pretty much the three that he visited. We’ll try and make a decision that makes sense.”

Pitt associate head coach Tom Herrion attended a practice at Rice High School on Friday, but Scott was on crutches after badly spraining his ankle in the Metro Classic last month. Scott is expected to be in a walking boot for another couple of weeks.

In other recruiting notes, Chris Dokish reports that Pitt and Sewickley Academy’s Tom Droney now appears to be an unlikely pairing.

For ’10, the Panthers are looking for a point guard or combo guard with good point guard skills. That appears to eliminate 6’5″ Tom Droney of Sewickley Academy, just outside of Pittsburgh. Droney does not project as a PG in Pitt’s system. Droney appeared to be leaning to Pitt for a long time, but his parents seem to think he is a better fit socially at Notre Dame, and they may be right.

He notes that Pitt may be focusing more on Isiah Epps for 2010 at the guard spot. Also, DeAndre Kane remains a fallback position if Scott and Cheek sign elsewhere.

It’s bad. That 3-loss teams are making it into the rankings just speaks to the lack of worthy teams.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas Tech	2
2	Alabama	1
3	Florida	2
4	Texas	—
5	Oklahoma	1
6	Southern Cal	1
7	Utah	1
8	Penn State	6
9	Ohio State	2
10	Boise State	—
11	Oklahoma State	2
12	Ball State	2
13	Georgia	1
14	Missouri	2
15	Brigham Young	4
16	North Carolina	10
17	Michigan State	6
18	Cincinnati	2
19	TCU	6
20	Florida State	6
21	Oregon State	4
22	LSU	7
23	California	5
24	West Virginia	7
25	South Carolina	1

You bet I’m not ranking Pitt. They haven’t shown they can handle the success of being ranked in the BlogPoll. Granted there is no rational reason not to rank them. Just irrational fear on my part.

UNC took the biggest leap. I actually like the way they are playing a lot. Butch Davis has gotten results quickly. I just get hesitant to trust them with all of their injuries and an erratic pass defense.

Pitt was going to win that game. Of that I am not questioning. Pitt had a blowout because the Cards couldn’t hold on to the ball. Five turnovers, plus Aaron Berry had an interception one bounce off his hands. 17 of Pitt’s points came from turnovers. Bad, sloppy, careless effort by Louisville.

Heck, the Louisville offense wasn’t even given a chance with the two turnovers by special teams in the first half.

The Cards won’t like what they see when they review this game tape, and it won’t take long for them to start flinching from their mistakes.

U of L forced the Panthers (7-2, 3-1) to punt after their first three plays netted minus-2 yards. Sophomore returner Doug Beaumont waved for a fair catch but misjudged the ball’s flight. He came close to touching the ball, but at the last instant he stepped aside and let it hit the ground and bounce downfield.

With players on both teams pursuing the ball, U of L’s Bobby Buchanan tried to pick it up but never secured it. Pitt’s Jovani Chappel recovered at the U of L 19-yard line, and the turnover led to a field goal.

Beaumont mishandled two other punts on fair catches. The Cards recovered the first, but the Panthers fell on the second. Although they didn’t score on that possession, they had altered the field position and soon scored on a 47-yard drive.

Add in the two defensive scores in the 4th quarter that were all about listless, stupid Louisville play. Ricky Gary scooped up an incomplete backwards pass while Louisville players stood around without realizing anything. McKillop’s interception was a take-away when the Louisville receiver juggled it, trying to turn upfield. The poor effort was noticed down in Louisville.

This season is much the way Jurich said it would be. Rebuilding, he said. It will take awhile, he said. Seven wins would be great, he said. He was the original caution light on this one.

But he can’t have pictured it the way it was yesterday. It’s one thing to lose to a ranked team on the road. It’s another to look inept and uninspired doing it.

The road signs are not encouraging. These were some of U of L’s better players not getting it done on the most basic of plays, short passes, fielding punts, covering loose balls. The Cards have won just four of their past 11 Big East Conference games.

I’m not downgrading this win. This has been precisely the kind of game Pitt has blown, and as frustrating and maddening as it would have been many would not have been shocked if Pitt had lost. Instead, they never trailed. Were always in control. Even if McCoy was being stopped cold, the offense kept things going.

That brings the accolades back to OC Matt Cavanaugh.

Not long ago, it seemed Cavanaugh’s offense was modeled after the Academy Award-winning film, “Sideways.” Baldwin helped to change that. In the upset over South Florida, the 6-foot-5 phenom emerged as a game-breaker.

He’s been breaking games ever since.

Louisville was determined to stop McCoy, which it did, holding him to 39 yards on 17 carries. But that left an open prairie and all kinds of one-on-one matchups in the passing game.

Stull capitalized, completing 15 passes at better than 14 yards per attempt. Baldwin’s two grabs netted 80 yards.

Way too conservative.

Be serious. Ever since the Bowling Green debacle, for example, Wannstedt has been a fourth-down demon. Pitt has converted 10 of 12 fourth-down tries since then, six on passes and several in situations where the old Wannstedt would have been only too happy to punt.

Example: On its first drive of the second half, leading 17-0, Pitt faced a fourth-and-1 at the Louisville 43. Not only did Wannstedt go for it, but Cavanaugh dialed up a Stull rollout and a pass to Derek Kinder.

“His play-calling kept their defense from focusing on one thing,” Kinder said.

He’s been due to get some positive stuff. I hope it is finally figuring out that in the college game, you can’t just wait for the players to learn and develop in full. You have to take the chances with inexperience and even mistakes.

Having a playmaker in the receiving corps makes a difference. Even with a stud running back, having a serious deep threat helps.

What ought to be motivating Pitt right now, literally and figuratively, is the space Baldwin is creating in opposing secondaries. With the defense suitably stretched, Stull and Cavanaugh look a lot more accomplished and the Panthers look downright dangerous to someone other than themselves.

“From Day 1 we’ve wanted to win the Big East championship and go to a bowl game,” senior wideout Derek Kinder said. “I just feel so good for all these guys. We haven’t been to a bowl game since I was a freshman.”

Really?

Seems like since Wannstedt was a freshman.

The headline of this article sums things up well: Pitt does what a ranked home team should — win

Yep.

McCoy was stopped by a Louisville team that completely sold out to stop him.

McCoy said the Panthers proved they have a lot of reliable weapons and that they no longer are a one-trick pony. He said he expects more defenses to employ Louisville’s defensive strategy, and, in some ways, he hopes they do. Why? Because that would allow the Panthers’ passing offense to make big plays and score lots of points.

“Their defense played good today, they boxed us in,” McCoy said. “You could tell their mind frame was ‘We are not going to let LeSean do anything’ and they did a good job of it, but, when you do that, you leave your secondary man-on-man with one guy at safety.

“I mean, with our wideouts and Bill Stull, you can’t do that. Last year, I still had to run the ball for us to be successful, but now we can score in a lot of ways.”

And at long last, Pitt has its first winning record and clinching a bowl berth in the Wannstedt era.

The Big East Conference championship is within reach, and Pitt revealed its intentions to claim it by hammering Louisville, 41-7, Saturday afternoon before a crowd of 44,055 at Heinz Field.

“We were going out to do something we’ve never done before,” Pitt sophomore tailback LeSean McCoy said. “We want to get to a bowl and win the Big East. Every game is important to us.”

The defense also stepped up with a bit of redemption. They went into this game giving up 27 points or so per game.

“I thought our defense really came together,” Linebacker Scott McKillop, who led Pitt’s defense with seven tackles, said. “We knew in order to win the entire team had to play well in all three phases of the game, offense, defense, and special teams, so we definitely wanted to hold up our end.”

McKillop helped the defense hold up its end by intercepting a pass and returning it 18 yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. That put the finishing touches on the scoring and gave Pitt a 41-7 lead.

“I never intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown in all the years I played football,” McKillop said. “When I grabbed the ball and started running it back, the end zone looked a mile wide.”

The upshot is this.

S is for Sexxxxayyyy. Who is your Big East title winner and BCS berth holder? One sexy clue:

Dave Wannstedt and the 7-2 Pitt Panthers are poised to roar off into the sunset in a cherry-red Ferrari if they win out over West Virginia and Cincinnati in the next two weeks. Mock the Wannstache at your own risk, cynics. You might get embarrassed by them as Louisville was on Saturday.

I’m still not ranking Pitt in the BlogPoll. If there is even a chance that it’s a jinx, I’m not taking that responsibility.