You really didn’t think I’d skip liveblogging this did you?

One slight change, I’m going to be a little more aggressive at moderating comments. What I mean by that is, when there is a play and say six people all type “wow” or “tackle” or essentially the same comment within a couple seconds of each other, I’m not going to approve them all. It’s nothing personal, it just creates clutter. I’ll approve one or two but not all of them. Hopefully it will allow things to flow better.

Still haven’t figured out why CIL’s “iframe” won’t embed on my blog. If anyone has any skill with this send me an e-mail to explain how I can make it work.

Otherwise, you will find the liveblog starting around noon right here.

Last minute links and some other stories I never posted.

Nate Byham actually played a role in the offense last week. After a season of the TEs being little more than extra blockers in the offense, he gives a lot of “it’s all about the team” answers.

Most of the “Buddy Morris really worked these players into shape and changed their mentality over the summer” stories were written last year. So this year, where the impact is so much more visible, there haven’t been as many. Here’s one from the past week. It ties in to the UConn game, since Coach Wannstedt made the decision to change the strength and conditioning program after the 4th collapse against UConn at the Rent. (Not that I disagree that the players ran out of gas and a change was needed, but it is still worth remembering and not giving in to total revisionism that the horrid playcalling by the offense in the 4th Q had more than a little to do with things as well.)

It’s hard to believe Pitt has only played (and lost) two games at the Rent. It already seems like a house of horrors.

Connecticut was 7-0 at home last season – a feat matched in the Big East only by West Virginia in 1993 – and had an 11-game home winning streak snapped Nov. 1 in a 35-13 loss to the Mountaineers. This marks the final home game for the Connecticut’s 20 seniors, who have played in three bowl games and helped the Huskies win a share of a Big East title.

Not that Pitt needs any extra incentive.

“They’re all tough places to play, but we have had some success on the road this year,” Pitt middle linebacker Scott McKillop said. “They present some problems when you play them, but it’s a good atmosphere. It’ll be cold, but we’re used to that from the past couple of games, so we have to go up there and take care of business.”

UConn is 11-1 in the Rent over the last couple years. Of course, Pitt only has one road loss this year.

Getting to 9 regular season wins would be something Pitt hasn’t achieved since 1982. Counting a bowl game Pitt has not won 9 games since 2002.

Paul Zeise is sick of QB questions. Here’s why the topic is such a rager — beyond simply Stull’s performance at the Brawl — it’s the talent around the spot. Dickerson and Byham at TE. WRs like Kinder, Baldwin and even Wright, McGee and Turner. Add in a talented backfield and an O-line that has improved during the season. That puts the attention on the QB spot to make it all work along with the offensive coordinator figuring out all of this out.

Back, briefly to UConn, they do have injuries and issues. Their best corner, Darius Butler, has been out with an injury. Back-up tailback Andre Dixon was suspended after his arrest for a DUI. Starting MLB Greg Lloyd, Jr. (yes, he is that Greg Lloyd’s son)  is out with “personal reasons” so walk-on Aaron Bryant will be the starter.

In case you weren’t aware this is a match-up between the two best running backs in the country that aren’t finalists for the Doak Walker Award.

“It’s hard to figure out,” Connecticut coach Randy Edsall said. “In college football, everybody just goes by the name, or sometimes, personalities get involved.

“Here you have the leading rusher in the country doing what he’s doing and what he’s meant to his team, and he’s not a finalist for the Doak Walker? I don’t know. To me, it’s more the prestige of the school you’re at maybe more than the numbers you put up.

“(Brown’s) put the numbers up better than anybody so far.”

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt could make a similar argument for McCoy, who ranks eighth in rushing at 118.91 yards per game this season and is the NCAA’s active career rushing leader at 114.6 yards per game.

“Unfortunately, I only get one vote for those things,” Wannstedt said. “I think LeSean and Donald Brown are deserving to be on any final list that has to do with running backs. I don’t understand that one.”

It’s tough to cut it down to just three. Javon Ringer garnered a lot of early attention and that seemed to carry him. I really have no argument against Shonn Greene after seeing him this season. He has been an absolute stud all season. Knowshon Moreno has a great yards/carry average but after that, it seems more preseason hype carrying him to the finalist stage (yeah, yeah, I know he did it against ESS-EEE-SEE defenses). Donald Brown in my mind, really deserved it more than Moreno.

If either team wants to win, they’d be best served by keeping the other team’s stud RB in check. UConn is 0-3 this season when Brown is held to under 110 yards (7-1 when he runs for 130+). Pitt has had more success, going 3-2 when McCoy has been held to under 100 yards. Still, I know I’m more comfortable at the thought that McCoy exceeds 100 yards.

More McCoy and Brown talk.

As for comparing the two, that’s not easy.

“Donald’s probably a little more powerful. LeSean’s probably more shifty,” Edsall said.

McCoy is more of a slasher but Brown can play that role, too. And McCoy certainly has plenty of strength.

“I think there are a lot of similarities between the two,” Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt said. “The both have good size and strength.

Both can catch the ball well. LeSean is probably more of a make-you-miss by bouncing the ball, outrunning you or giving you a little fake. Donald Brown — when he gets in the clear — he’s got a great stiff-arm and he’s powerful. He probably breaks more tackles than LeSean and LeSean probably makes more guys miss. They’re both good players who play to their strengths.”

Expect this storyline to be completely and utterly be beaten into the ground by Bob Wischusen and Brock Huard on ESPN.

Beyond simply the running backs, there are more similarities with UConn on the defense.

“They don’t do a whole lot of things different than what we do,” Wannstedt said. “They rush four and do a nice job up front. They’ll do a little bit of pressure stuff with the linebackers but not a ton. They’ve got four-down linemen that I remember watching through the course of last year that have the same philosophy that we have.

“The one defensive end was a linebacker who put his hand on the ground. The one starting defensive tackle was a defensive end and they moved him inside. They’re trying to put as much speed on the field as they can.”

The Panthers can pick up a few extra tips about how to attack the Huskies by watching film — of their own team.

“I think if you’re a 4-3 [defensive scheme] team as we are, and they are, you have a tendency to study each other on tape,” Wannstedt said.

Good god, ultimately it could come down to who can make plays passing.

Really we should just be worried about the UConn game and not look to the bowls. Still…

Oregon State’s beat writer is not enthused about the Beavers’ chances if Pitt is in the Sun Bowl.

… exhaustive digging has brought me to the conclusion that Pitt is not a good matchup for Riley’s guys unless the OSU defense regains consciousness.

If the Beavers gave up 219 yards rushing to Jeremiah Johnson, how many yards will Pitt’s LeSean McCoy go for?

While UConn isn’t even being mentioned for the Sun Bowl, they are holding out hope.

The UConn-Pitt game Saturday at Rentschler Field in East Hartford is seemingly getting bigger by the minute.

Sun Bowl officials will be in attendance.

They may want to see No. 23 Pitt (8-3, 4-2 Big East) in person but they’ll have to keep a watchful eye on UConn, too. If they win, the Huskies (7-4, 3-3) would have the same record as Pitt and would have to become a part of the conversation when it comes to playing in El Paso, Texas, against the third-place finisher in the Pac-10 on New Year’s Eve. Some other things would have to break in the Huskies’ favor as well.

I’m not seeing it, but I suppose it would be possible if UConn really runs roughshod over Pitt and WVU loses badly to USF. Oh, and the crowd at the Rent would have to be loud, big and in their seats before kickoff. The latter is something they are even worse at doing than Pitt fans.

So, um, at the risk of looking too far ahead I figure this needs to be pointed out.

The Brut Sun Bowl airs at 2pm on CBS on December 31

In basketball, Pitt plays Rutgers on December 31 at 2pm on FSN Pittsburgh, ESPN Regional and Full Court.

Rutgers has taken care of their end of things. The pasting they have put on Louisville was disturbingly brutal. Cards fans are having a hard time, as you would imagine. I have to say, that I agree with the philosophy that it is not running up the score when done in the first half. Louisville showed no heart as they gave up 49 first half points. In the second half, RU laid back and only scored 14. A 63-14 whupping that cements Steve Kragthorpe’s status as the worst coach in the Big East now that Greg Robinson is gone. Can’t coach, can’t motivate, has recruited for crap. Not much to endorse him other than the fact that a top flight AD still likes him.

Now, if Pitt wants to go to the Sun Bowl, it has to hold it’s end and finally beat UConn at the Rent. Then the Sun Bowl goes with Pitt.

Pitt has twice played in the Sun Bowl, beating Kansas in 1975 and Texas A&M in ’89, when the game was sponsored by John Hancock. Pitt tailback Tony Dorsett and quarterback Alex Van Pelt were selected to the Legends of the Sun Bowl 75th anniversary team, and Wannstedt’s name resonates in El Paso, Texas, because of his days as Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator when they won Super Bowl XXVIII.

The Sun Bowl will be played Dec. 31 and nationally televised on CBS.

“I think that would be our choice, if Rutgers wins,” said Sun Bowl executive director Bernie Olivas, who attended Pitt’s games at South Florida and Notre Dame and will be in East Hartford with chairman John Folmar. “They’ll be the highest-ranked team available to us. They’re a pretty good football team. They’ll be the highest-ranked team in the Big East. That’s important, as well.”

Sun Bowl 1989. The scene where Paul Hackett had the interim label removed and ushered the dark-90s. Urp.

The fallback if Pitt craps it against UConn becomes much more muddled and mixed-up.

Pitt could go to Charlotte for the Meineke Car Care Bowl and face UNC. But that would not be a lock. WVU could get the pick — depending in part on how they do in their finale against USF. UConn seems to be a heavy favorite for the International Bowl in Toronto. Rutgers seems stuck in Birmingham — they won’t get the Meineke Bowl because they already played UNC.

Honestly, I haven’t concerned myself too much with the bowl stuff because it has been so fluid up until the past week. It’s really hardened with after tonight. Most likely scenario:

Pitt goes to the Sun Bowl with a win over UConn and/or WVU loss. WVU to the Meineke Bowl.

Pitt goes to the Meineke Bowl with a loss to UConn and WVU win. WVU to the Sun Bowl.

Rutgers to Papajohns.com Bowl.

UConn to the International Bowl.

USF to the St. Petersburg Bowl.

Cinci to the Orange Bowl.

That is all.

A rough start gave way to a blow-out. Is it wrong that I was a little annoyed that Pitt let Duquesne get to 51 points in the final 20 seconds? So close. When Duquesne failed to score another basket for nearly 4 minutes it was like Pitt really was putting some effort into denying them.  This Dukes team came in averaging just over 80 points/game. Pitt completely shut them down 78-51.

Pitt held Duquesne to 36.4 percent (20 for 55) from the field — its fifth consecutive opponent under 37 percent. The two teams combined for 43 turnovers, including 25 by Duquesne.

Trailing, 20-19, nearly 14 minutes into the game, the Panthers went on a 26-10 run that spanned the first and second halves, turning a tight game into a runaway win.

Pitt ended the first half on a 17-8 run and then opened the second half with a 9-2 surge to go ahead, 45-30, on an alley-oop dunk from junior guard Jermaine Dixon to Young with 16:25 to play.

Pitt led by at least 12 points the rest of the way.

Coach Dixon wasn’t pleased with the slow start to the game for Pitt (neither were the players), but the overall performance was good.

“Our offense has been pretty good,” Dixon said. “I don’t think we’ve taken lot of bad shots. Offensive rebounding, as I’ve said all along, is a byproduct of good offense. By sharing the ball and taking open shots, by moving the defense, scrambling the defense, they have to recover late.

“Our guys know they’re shooting it. When they know it’s going up, they’re going to the glass. The bottom line is [Blair] goes and gets them. He has great hands. He’s got a knack. It’s something we really emphasize in practice and something we continue to work on.”

Right now, Pitt is one of the most offensively efficient teams in the country.

Pitt unlike, say Boston College (with Holy Cross), recognizes that playing the City Game and even going to Duquesne’s campus every other year is a good thing for the City of Pittsburgh. It is a low return, high risk game. If Pitt wins, they are supposed to; lose, and it is a big blow to the team’s national profile. It is a tradition, even if not much of a rivalry right now.

“We’re doing the right thing by playing the game,” Dixon said.

Why else would a match-up like this bring public officials and members of the Steelers to the game?

Finally, a puff piece on Blair.

Someone actually asked the question in the Zeise Q&A before the Brawl?

Q: What happened to Bill Stull? I thought after having a very shaky start to the season he played very well against Rutgers, too bad the ‘D’ stunk, and L-Ville. But against Cincinnati, he looked like a dear in head lights, his passes all looked like floaters in the first half and he had no pocket awareness. He took some bad sacks and down the stretch it only got worse. Was he just nervous in his first “Big Game?”

ZEISE: No his first big game came against Iowa, and then South Florida and then Louisville – and he did well enough. I don’t think he was nervous, I don’t think he was panicked, I think he just didn’t play well. He clearly held the ball too long a few times and he missed some easy passes, but that is what happens sometimes, guys just don’t play well for whatever reason. I do think this — he didn’t get a lot of help from his receivers in that game as they dropped too many passes for anyone’s good. Stull will be fine and like I’ve written before, he is what he is — I don’t think by any stretch he is a great quarterback, but he is by far Pitt’s best option so the Panthers fate is in his hands.

Then came yet another shaky (at best) performance by Stull.

…Bill Stull had his worst game of the season. He threw two really bad interceptions and both were just terrible throws. He fumbled once, he missed Conredge Collins on a fourth-and-short, and he had one of the worst attempts at a quarterback draw we’ve ever seen. He has to be better. There is just no way around it. He wasn’t terribly accurate and, outside of an early touchdown throw to Derek Kinder, he didn’t do much to contribute to the win.

He just hasn’t been the same since he got concussed. Maybe it’s a coincidence. I don’t know. Before the concussion he was acceptable with moments where it seemed that he was making significant progress. Since coming back, he just doesn’t seem to have it. I sincerely doubt that it is a lingering physical effect. It seems more psychological. Hesitant when dropping back. Completely messed up footwork. Staring down the receiver even more than before. I don’t know if he’s thinking too much or what. It was masked in the Louisville game, with the Cards selling out completely to stop the run. Louisville does not have a particularly good secondary, and being stuck without help made it easier.

Zeise, then faced a slew of people questioning Stull and accusing Zeise of defending him.

…But here is what I’d like to know — when did I become the great defender/apologizer of/for Bill Stull? The only thing I have maintained through all of this is that Stull has limitations, but he is a gritty guy, a guy with leadership ability and most importantly the best option Pitt has. That’s what I have said all along. I don’t think he is a great quarterback, I don’t think he is the second coming of Dan Marino, Rod Rutherford, Alex Van Pelt — or for that matter John Turman. He is a serviceable quarterback with limitations who plays with some heart and grit and can make enough throws to give Pitt a chance to win. That’s it. But the more important part of the equation is this — there is NO better option on this team right now. Yes, I get it, he didn’t play well the last two weeks, and that’s probably being too kind. He made bad decisions, bad throws and bad turnovers…

There is no other option right now. I don’t think anyone is sincerely or rationally disagreeing with that. It’s just that it is such a glaring issue… well people are trying to make sense of it and want some sort of answer.

Really, this seems more like an off-season argument/debate/discussion, but people are already talking. So much, that Coach Wannstedt had to take a question on it during his weekly press conference.

On Bill Stull’s recent play:

“I think it’s a little bit physical with Bill. Everything comes with success. We had success — I’m going back here now against Louisville. All it takes is one game. We go up and struggle against Cincinnati for several reasons. Unfortunately the quarterback is, as we say, going to get more credit than he deserves when the team plays well and more negativity and blame than he deserves when things don’t go well. That’s part of being a quarterback. I think that when you have a first-year starting quarterback like Billy is — he’s dealing with that right now. He’s trying to work his way through. He is more than capable of hitting the fullback in the flat but we don’t hit him (against West Virginia). He has to set his feet and get the ball up. He makes that throw ten times a day in practice. The other thing of course is making good decisions. Not forcing the football and managing the team are things he has to do and he understands that. He made some good plays though early on. He opens up and makes a good throw to Derek Kinder and a great pass to Nate Byham. He starts off the game hot and he has confidence. All of a sudden he throws some incompletions and a pick down on the goal line and his confidence is shaken. He has to get it back. Is he struggling right now? I would say no. I don’t think he’s struggling, I think he’s just working extremely hard to get better. West Virginia has a pretty good defense. So does Cincinnati and Connecticut for that matter. He’s going to need to step up this week.”

Stull, to his credit, has admitted that he hasn’t played particularly well.

“If [the passing game] is out of sync, I take that on my shoulders,” he said. “I have to make sure we are in sync because I am the one who is responsible for distributing the football to all of our talented receivers.

“I am not sure if we are or aren’t in sync but we are looking pretty good so far during practice this week and hopefully this weekend you will see us be more in sync.”

The good thing for the team about having a bowl bid. Nearly an extra month of practice.

I expect this to be a very loud and cantankerous issue in the offseason when there is nothing to do but speculate.

Personally, I see little difference between Stull and Bostick other than the coaches having greater confidence in Stull. So if those intangibles and leadership factors are really there, then yeah, he has to be the starter.

[If you want to play devil’s advocate on Stull or Bostick for next year, consider this. Bostick came in last year as a true freshman, definitely not ready, had a worse receiving corps, was without the best WR, and a patchwork, porous O-line, took a beating but kept getting up. Bostick had to come in cold for the Rutgers game this year and then had to prepare for his first full game being on the road at ND — the game after the starting center went down and the O-line had to re-shuffle. No he wasn’t that good, but he was no worse than Stull has been the past few games, and not that far below Stull for most of the season.]

Plus, there is no way that this coaching staff would even contemplating a change at QB without an injury. And if you want to start looking ahead to the spring and next year, well Zeise is all about killing that dream.

Q: Throughout the season you have maintained that there will not an open competition at quarterback in the spring or next fall but after Bill Stull’s last two performances do you think that is still true?

ZEISE: What I have maintained is this: Given what we know about the way this coaching staff views experience and given how hesitant it has been to playing less experienced players regardless of their talent level — it will take an absolutely magical performance in the spring by Tino Sunseri, Kevan Smith or Pat Bostick for it to become a competition. There will be a competition and I’d love to tell you it will be wide open and Sunseri — who many people within the program and other observers will tell you is the best of the bunch in terms of throwing the football and doing so with velocity and accuracy and delivering it on time — will have a legitimate chance. But what has this coaching staff done in three years to suggest that it will put a redshirt freshman out on the field, even if he’s more talented, over an experienced fifth-year senior and that’s especially true at quarterback. I just don’t see it happening. …

Again, this really should be an issue of debate for the offseason. Right now, I’m just going to hope that Bill Stull is right and these are correctable mistakes on his part.

Cold sweats and all.

(Pittsburgh) -- Paul Rhoads was re-introduced today as the defensive coordinator of the University of Pittsburgh Panthers.
Rhoads replaces defensive coordinator Phil Bennett, who left after one season to take the defensive coordinator position at
Kansas State under Bill Snyder -- a position he previously held from 1999-2001. Rhoads had previously been the defensive
coordinator at Pitt from 2001-2007 before taking the same position at Auburn for the 2008 season. Following the resignation
of Auburn Head Coach Tommy Tuberville, Paul Rhoads was let go. 

At the press conference, Athletic Director Steve Pederson cited Rhoads' close relationship with himself, Head Coach Dave
Wannstedt and Chancellor Mark Nordenberg as being a vital reason for the hiring. "I have known Paul for many years and have
been impressed with him as a coach and a person. Pitt has had great success on defense under Paul's watch."

When asked about the sudden hiring of Rhoads, with no other candidates interviewed, Pederson explained, "We knew early in the
interview process that Paul was one of our top choices. We really didn't see a reason to look any further, and things just
came together." Dave Wannstedt was not at the press conference because he was out on a recruiting trip.

This past season, Auburn finished 26th nationally in total defense. The season before, Auburn was 6th.  Rhoads expressed his
gratitude to Athletic Director Pederson and Chancellor Nordenberg for the opportunity. In his opening remarks he spoke of the
need to play with passion, and that he will coach that way. When asked about what kind of defense he wants from Pitt, Rhoads 
stated that he thinks that Pitt's defense just needs to hit more. "Really, I liked what Pitt was doing, so I don't see a lot
of major changes on the defense. Perhaps, playing off a little more and giving the pass defense a little more support. The
defense should show a little more flexibility to what the other team is doing on offense."

...

That couldn’t really happen. Could it?

Reminder, go here to participate or lurk on a chat among and with some of your favorite Big East bloggers.

There won’t be a liveblog for the City Game. I just don’t trust that between the streaming video feed and trying to do a liveblog, I wouldn’t spend half the game rebooting and re-launching. That or my laptop might just fry itself.

Assuming the game ends around 9 tonight, head over to the Syracuse blog, Orange 44. Brian will be hosting a confab of some of the Big East bloggers. Tonight’s line-up consists of:

— Brian Harrison of the aforementioned, Orange 44.

— Sean Keeley, another Syracuse fellow from the recently rennovated Troy Nunes.

— John Radcliff, the man from Mountainlair.

— And myself (though, unless Pitt is killing the Stage Magicians, not until the final whistle).

It will be about all things Big East. From the wrap-up of football season to the emerging Armageddon of Big East basketball.

We will be discussing things and taking questions in a moderated (so keep it clean) chat. Expect plenty of snark, sarcasm, bitterness and maybe even an insight or two.

Well, I am guessing the Duquesne basketball team will be finding the article that goes with this picture all over their lockers this morning.

Why not just come out and tell Duke they are approaching Robert Morris levels of competition?

There is considerably less buzz surrounding the 77th game between the two schools tonight at the Petersen Events Center. Rivalries stay stoked because of competition. And this series has been mostly one-sided for the past couple of decades.

The Panthers will carry a seven-game winning streak into the game and have won 26 of the past 29 contests.

The article also suggests that the lack of local players on both sides, not being in the same conference any longer and WVU now a full Big East member are factors that have helped diminish the rivalry. Those are minor contributions. The primary is and remains the fact that Pitt has dominated the series over the last 3 decades.

I don’t know how it was for people from Pittsburgh at the time, but even when I was in school at Pitt in the late-80s/early-90s the game had little meaning or importance to me. It wasn’t a Big East game and it wasn’t a major non-con game. It was just a game against a subpar local team that Pitt should beat.

Duquesne will be entering the City Game with a winning record for the second consecutive season, but only the fifth time in the past 23. The Dukes were 5-4 on Jan. 6, 1992; 4-1 on Dec. 19, 1992; 3-2 on Dec. 18, 1993; and 6-1 on Dec. 5, 2007.

The Stage Magicians get a couple pieces in the Trib. The focus is on senior guard Aaron Jackson and freshman forward Rodrigo Peggau.

DeJuan Blair and the Pitt coaches expect to see a lot of double-teams on Blair by Duquesne in the game. It’s what they did with good success against him last year.

Blair had 10 points in that game, but was only 3 of 8 from the field in the first half. He played only nine minutes because of a pair of fouls.

“I was getting frustrated,” Blair said.

In the Panthers’ most recent game — a 57-43 defensive struggle over Washington State — Blair, who missed the win over Belmont last week with slight knee inflammation, had only two shots as the Cougars clamped down on him underneath.

Opponents doubling down on Blair will be a safe bet this season. He proved he was a more-than-capable replacement for Aaron Gray along Pitt’s front line with a dynamic freshman year last season.

Actually, thanks to Duquesne, that strategy began very early last year. That’s why Blair and his teammates went “red” at practice Monday. It’s their code word for a double team on Blair.

“We worked on it (Monday), real good,” he said.

Beating the double team is simple, at least in theory. When Blair feels the heat, he has to make good decisions and good passes to get the ball back to the perimeter. At that point, the guard can decide which option is better: a shot, a drive, a reset or, as Blair put it: “hopefully they pass it back inside.”

Pitt is a 17.5 point favorite in the game.

Damn Penguins game meant Fox wouldn’t pick it up, so that means it can be viewed at the Pitt website.

DeJuan Blair explained how much it means.

“What do they call it, the Backyard Brawl or something like that?” Blair said with a serious tone.

That seemingly points to how much this game means to the No. 3 Panthers.

But Blair was likely kidding. Brown apparently challenged Blair not to comment on anything Duquesne in his remarks to the media Monday.

Gilbert Brown, also was a bit nicer about it.

“I wouldn’t say it’s as mean as the West Virginia rivalry,” Brown said. “But it’s just as big. It’s an inner-city rivalry. They are right down the street. We want to go out there and show something.”

At the same time, Brown indicated that he didn’t want the game to be as close as last year’s game.

The early dominating performances in games and Pitt’s defense keeps the team coming in for puff pieces.

What separates the Panthers, what makes them more than just an intriguing team as this season unfolds, is their bread-and-butter, backbone defense.

It’s as reliable as an old pair of sneakers, the foundation on which coach Jamie Dixon has built his program. Unintentionally, Dixon has modeled his team on the city it calls home. Pittsburgh citizens wear just one sort of collar — down-and-dirty blue. Their hometown team likes its basketball just the same.

And because the defense is indoctrinated like another strand of DNA upon arrival freshman year, it doesn’t go away and doesn’t take nights off. It’s in your face, unforgiving, downright nasty, and because of it, on nights when shots don’t fall, neither necessarily will Pittsburgh.

Not every team in the top 25 can say that.

“It’s the Steel City,” Levance Fields said. “That’s the place we call our second home and that’s how we play.”

Never was that more obvious than in the Legends final. In an avert-your-eyes, hide-the-children ugly game against similarly minded Washington State, the Panthers looked perfectly comfortable. They shot poorly the entire game — 35 percent from the floor, 23 percent on 3s — and never looked rattled. There was never a flinch or even so much as a grimace as one clang led to another against a Wazzu team that would have been perfectly happy to play this game in the 30s.

The annual concern of making free throws is well underway, though.

Once again it appears the Panthers will not be a premier free-throw shooting club. They are shooting 67.1 percent from the free-throw line, which is about on par with their percentages from the past several years.

…

Still, it has to be disconcerting for Dixon that his two top scorers are the ones having the most trouble at the line.

Sam Young, a career 67 percent shooter from the line, is making 61.8 percent of his attempts through the first seven games. And Blair, who shot 62.4 percent last season as a freshman, is shooting 53.3 percent this season.

“I try not to think about it,” Blair said. “I just shoot them. I work on them. I come in at nighttime and shoot some with my friends and brother. They’ll eventually start falling. It’s not all that stressful on me.”

For those of us watching him take those FTs, however, it is more than a little stressful.

Gilbert Brown has been back playing for about a week. The rust started to shake off of him in the Legends Classic.

“It’s great to have him back,” senior forward Sam Young said. “We need him.”

Brown scored 10 points and matched his career-high with eight rebounds. He shot 4 of 6 from the field and added two assists and a steal in 25 minutes of action.

“He’s a big spark,” center DeJuan Blair said. “He’s our boost guy.”

Brown’s return gives the No. 4 Panthers a versatile sixth-man, shutdown defender and improving rebounder.

Last year he was starting after Mike Cook went down with the ACL injury. This year, he’ll be backing up Sam Young, but he’s fine with it since he knows he’ll be getting minutes.

“I’m playing 20-25 minutes a game,” Brown said. “I’m worried about when I get in there, that I’m contributing to the team.”

…
Brown’s versatility means he can play three positions — shooting guard, swing and power forward, in a pinch. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon likes moving starting swingman Sam Young down to the power forward spot (replacing starter Tyrell Biggs) when he brings Brown in the swing because “it’s a little different match up.” Young creates from the perimeter, meaning he can stretch defenses and pull players taller than he out of the interior. He’s also good enough on defense to hold his own underneath.

Brown, meanwhile, is a long, athletic player who can shoot or drive like Young from the swing, where he expects he’ll get most of his minutes.

Brown contends he’s physically healthy — “When I wake up is when I feel the most pain in my foot. As the day progresses and I walk around and get into the shootaround, the pain goes away.” — and mentally stable despite a constant on-again, off-again injury situation. He actually said watching the team helped him learn a few things about playing defense.

Not the most promising thing that he’s still feeling pain. Great that he’s playing through it and says it fades during the day. Bad that there is still pain.

Sam Young keeps getting noticed by those national writers assigned to college basketball (and not just moved over from college football after the season ends). Andy Katz at ESPN.com puts him #2 on top players for the past week.

2. Sam Young, Sr., F, Pitt: The race for Big East Player of the Year will be quite a chase. Young is definitely in the mix. He’s leading the Panthers with 20.2 points a game and is becoming the team’s go-to guy. The senior forward had quite a week with 33 points against Belmont and 24 against Texas Tech in the semifinals of the Legends Classic in Newark, N.J., then capped off his week with a solid 15 points and 8 boards in the title victory over Washington State.

Right now the early race is between Hasheem Thabeet of UConn, Sam Young and Luke Harangody from ND (assuming he can get healthy from pneumonia in a reasonable time period).

I have been in the minority, I think, in believing that Luke Winn at SI.com does not dislike Pitt. I think he is drawn to two things that Pitt has tended to lack: NBA-caliber star players and outstanding tempo-free stats. So that has had him peg Pitt slightly below where it seems they should be.

Winn did predict, even before the season started, that Pitt would win the Legends Classic with ease. It seems he was there to watch the Washington State finale. He jumps on board the bandwagon of loving Sam Young’s shot-fake. He also makes a good point for Pitt’s hopes this year.

2. Pitt can’t afford to let post-trapping teams take DeJuan Blair out of games. The double-teams in Wazzu’s Pack-Line Defense are well-known for frustrating big men — see what happened to Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody in the second round of the last NCAA tournament — but how can’t you get Blair, who came into the game averaging 17.0 points, more than one shot attempt in the first half? With about 6:40 left in the first half, a Pitt fan stood up and yelled at Fields, “Hey Fields! Put the ball in the paint! Give it to the big man!”

It didn’t get much better in the second half: Blair had just one field-goal attempt then, too, as the Cougars continued to collapse on him in the blocks. He found other ways to contribute, grabbing seven-half rebounds (to finish with 10), blocking three shots, and setting high ball-screens to let Fields get in the lane, but still, Pitt needs more than seven points out of Blair to compete with elite teams. The Panthers survived, on Saturday, by getting decent nights out of Young and Fields, and holding the Cougars to just 24.1 percent shooting in the second half. Against a better opponent — particularly one that could create more of its own offense off of penetration, and had a decent perimeter defender to counter Young — the result might not have been the same.

This is wear Blair’s lack of height works against him. He can’t get the ball over defenders then pass out of the double team to open teammates as easily. He has to find lanes to get the ball through.

I would love to talk about these past two games. How Pitt won the series. They won it with strong offense. They won it mainly with shut-down defense. Of course I was out of town and I don’t have HDNet anyways.

It started with taking Texas Tech 80-67. A slow start, but strong finish on offense. The defense, though, was there throughout.

Pitt turned to its defense, harassing the Red Raiders into 8 for 25 from 3-point range and – three days after being outrebounded by Belmont – dominated under the boards with 49 rebounds (to 31 for Texas Tech).

Along the way, Pitt started playing better defense against the Red Raiders, whose quick play led to many easy first-half baskets.

“Our transition defense was terrible,” Young said. “It seemed like we could score on them anytime we wanted. They really didn’t play good defense. At the same time, we would score, and they would come right back down and get an open 3. We were just being lazy on defense. Once we found out the problem as a team, we came out much better in the second half.”

Pitt set the tone for the game late in the first half, going on its 13-0 run

“I thought we did what we wanted to do,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “We did some good things.”

Levance Fields cut an interesting figure to many who observed him at the the games. Though, at least some understood why.

Dixon was concerned because Fields isn’t genetically blessed with a LeBron James body. With three months on the mend just prior to the start of a season with high expectations, Dixon worried his leader and point guard might balloon and wouldn’t exactly return in tip-top shape.

That’s exactly what happened.

Fields is listed at 190 pounds in the team’s media guide, but he’s probably realistically playing at around 215 pounds.

“I can’t tell you,” Fields said of his current weight. “Undisclosed.”

Then came the finale with Washington State. This was going to be a defensive battle no matter what. And it was, but Pitt still prevailed 57-43.

“They definitely toughened up on us, especially in the second half,” Washington State coach Tony Bennett said. “We had some looks, but we missed our shots. I also think we were pretty dog-tired by the end of the game. I think we learned a lot about toughness. They didn’t allow us anything down the stretch. … They just defend everything at the rim and protected the paint.

“They’re men. It was like boys against men.”

Pitt did start slow.

The Panthers trailed for most of the first half, largely because of a 4-of-18 performance from the field. But Washington State could not break down Pitt’s stout defense enough to take advantage of it. For the first 15 minutes, the Cougars never led by more than 2.

That was Young’s cue to take over, devastating ball fake — “It’s going to work forever,” he said — and all.

The Pitt defense killed Washington St.’s guards. Naturally, Coach Dixon sees room for improvement.

Pitt Coach Jamie Dixon said he is encouraged with the Panthers’ early-season progress.

“I think we can become a really good defensive team that plays a lot of guys,” Dixon said. “Those teams are hard to beat.”