It’s a nice goal to have. You don’t exactly want the players not believing they will lose games. Much rather have them believing they can and even will win every game. Still, after watching the Georgetown-UConn game, I can say with great confidence that a perfect season is just not going to happen for Pitt.

“We’ve talked about being undefeated,” Young said. “This is the best team we’ve been a part of. Coach [Jamie] Dixon said it’s the best team he’s ever had. We’re talking about the possibility that we can be undefeated and continue this winning streak. If we keep growing as a team anything is possible. The sky is the limit for us. I’m really trying to stay humble, but it’s hard not to look to the future with the team we have.”

…

But his remarks speak to this team’s expectations. After a disappointing loss in the second round of the NCAA tournament in March, Young and the Panthers have their sights set on making the Final Four for the first time in 67 years.

It may very well be the best team of Dixon’s tenure, but he’s not thinking undefeated in the Big East.

The consensus is that getting through this league unblemished isn’t possible. As well as Connecticut and Pittsburgh are playing, no one in either camp, as well as the rest of the league, truly believes either team could run the table.

“I’ve said all along that we’re going to lose a No. 1 or 2 seed because we’re all going to lose games,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “This conference is too good and we play 18 games. We’ve got too many good teams and we’re going to have losses. It’s a given.”

No one is safe from getting beat, at home or on the road, according to Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim.

Oh, yeah. No house is safe this year. Not the Pete. Not the Bradley Center. Not the Joyce Center. It will be tough in the Big East on every game.

That’s not to say that the team shouldn’t be shooting for winning the conference as well. If you want to flash back to the last game, from over a week ago, the reassuring thing was that they still won even as I am sure their minds were elsewhere.

“I can’t cancel Christmas,” he said. “We’re going to go ahead and let them get with their families. I don’t want to be the Grinch.”

Many of the Pitt players started their break after the team’s first road game of the season, leaving from Tallahassee to spend the holiday at their homes.

The good news for Pitt, is that even if the offense isn’t there on a particular night, they still do the other things.

The Panthers’ recipe for success — defense and rebounding — remains the same as they stay undefeated in a season holding as many high expectations as any in the program’s history.

“That’s what we do,” said Pitt center DeJuan Blair, second in the nation with 13.0 rebounds per game. “If the shots go down, they are going to follow. If they don’t, we have a good rebounding team. If we keep doing that, we are going to win a lot of games.”

Still rather avoid many of those nights.

Now, after years of complaints that Pitt lacks a dominant player. One player who definitely can and will take over the game when needed, rather than always trying to have purely balanced scoring. Well… you knew it was coming.

…so why in the world does 70% of the offense go through Sam Young? It seems that Dixon does not give any of his players except Young an opportuntity [sp] to find there shooting groove which I think will come to haunt them late in the season. Dixon leans on Young too much and he will be beat up tournament time…

You just have to laugh. Really, that’s all you can do.