Comment away. Hail to Pitt!!!

I am a big fan of effiency rankings for college basketball so before previewing any game I give them a look. If you still need a lesson on effiency rankings, here is a good source.

Today when I jumped over to KenPom.com I noticed something that helped explain Saturdays loss and Pitts shooting woes. Louisville is No. 1 in college basketball when it comes to adjusted defensive efficiency. They force teams into a low shooting percentage, block shots and cleanup on the boards. That formula certainly worked against Pitt.

Will Syracuse be able to do the same? According to the numbers, no. They are decent at making opponents miss, but not nearly as good as Louisville. They are much worse at keeping opponents off the offensive glass and are close to the bottom when it comes to forcing turnovers. The numbers may be a bit deceiving here as Syracuse uses the 2-3 zone which just keeps opponents on the perimeter instead of putting any real pressure on them.

Syracuse’s best statistical category is its ability to keep opponents OFF the free throw line. Pitt, not surprisingly, is one of the worst teams in the country at getting to the line. This is described on the stat pages as FTA/FGA or free throw attempts to field goal attempts. Now, if you are a whiner and like to complain about officiating, there is your ammo. I, on the other hand, think Pitt isn’t going strong to the hoop enough. Seriously, what goes around comes around when it comes to officiating. Argh. I really don’t like it when people complain about officials, sorry guys.

Local coverage on the Panther’s is a bit thin this week and probably will be for a few more. Not sure why. Yes, I know why. You don’t need to comment and tell me.

With only one day off between Louisville and Syracuse, Pitt doesn’t have much time to over think the loss.

Coach Jamie Dixon said he is happy his team does not have time to dwell on the Louisville loss.

“Our guys always want to play,” Dixon said. “They want to play in a game, so either way — win or lose — they want to play a game shortly. We’ll be ready to go. We’ll learn from this. You learn from everything. You learn from wins and you learn from losses. We learned from our 16 wins and we have to learn from our one oss.

Again, my opinion of Pitt’s loss will not be complete until I see how they play tonight. Turn it around, and it was a fluke. More of the same, and its the beginning of a trend.

Tonight’s match up puts last years co Big East rookies of the year against up against each other, Johnny Flynn and DeJuan. Well, not really. It’s more of a Flynn v. Fields match up.

Flynn, who last season shared Big East rookie of the year honors with DeJuan Blair, ranks third in the conference at 5.7 assists per game. He is averaging a team-best 16.3 points per game and shooting 49 percent from the field.

Fields leads the conference in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio despite a career-high six turnovers against Louisville. Fields needs five assists to become only the sixth player in Pitt history with 1,000 points and 500 assists.

For those who have not noticed, Pitt dropped to No. 4 in the polls while Syracuse is now No. 8. The Big East has six teams ranked in the top 12.

I just finished shoveling out the snow drifts up here in Maine where 16 to 18 inches of snow fell yesterday after they had forecast about half the amount.

Larry Fitzgerald positioned himself as one of, if not the, premier wide receiver in the NFL last night. Three touchdowns and over 150 yards receiving in the NFC Championship Game will get you noticed. If casual football fans didn’t know who he was prior to last night, they do now. And if they still don’t, they surely will after the next two weeks of media hype.

The New York Times wasted no time in featuring Fitzgerald, penning a piece so full of compliments you can’t help but be giddy to have his name associated with Pitt.

The best receiver in football, Fitzgerald doesn’t come with a flamboyant nickname like Plax, or a surname changed to Ocho Cinco, or fancy initials like T. O. He apparently isn’t much for hugging in public, or mugging for the cameras.

How can you not love that?

For the sake of full disclosure amongst high praise, there was a story around the new year that Fitzgerald was involved in a bit of a domestic dispute and his long-time girlfriend and mother of his child was hitting him with a restraining order. There were no chargers filled, but there was a bit of pushing and shoving involved which is never a good thing.

Back to the NFC Championship game. How do you think all the Eagle fan/Pitt Alumni felt watching one of their own light up their own. That must have been a good time. I have to admit, I hope it is more of the same against the Steelers. Whoops.

Last night’s game was a perfect display of what makes Fitzgerald so great (again, from the New York Times story).

He bounced off three tacklers to score the Cardinals’ first touchdown. He hauled in a 62-yard rainmaker from Warner after a lateral from J. J. Arrington, leaving Eagles safety Quintin Demps on the ground in a twisted heap. He caught a 1-yard pass for his third touchdown when poor Sheldon Brown was inexplicably left isolated on Fitzgerald, who goes to Tampa having already blown the great Jerry Rice out of the record book, with 419 postseason receiving yards.

He was powerful. He was fast. And he showed great hands. And at least during this post-season, he was better than Jerry Rice.

The USA today has a nice piece on Fitzgerald and the story of his mother, who died of Breast Cancer in 2003.

When asked his power source, Fitzgerald reaches into his locker for his wallet after practice last week and pulled out his late mother’s 2003 Minnesota driver’s license.

Carol Fitzgerald, who died of breast cancer in 2003, is the inspiration fueling the talented wide receiver on his postseason Super Bowl title mission.

“She never leaves my side,” Fitzgerald says. “I always have her with me.

“Whenever I’m having a tough day and I think things aren’t going well for me, I just look at my mom’s picture. She has that smile on her face.

Whether your talking on the field talent, or off the field values and personality, I’ll take Fitzgerald over any receiver in the NFL without question.

Expect Fitzgerald’s Pittsburgh ties to come up multiple times during the longest two weeks in sports. After about 10 days I can’t wait for the Big Game just so the media hype will come to an end. However, Larry may be the one player I wont mind hearing about over and over again.

And try this on for size. I know it’s way early to speculate, but if Larry were to get a ring and continue on the track he is on, could we all be meeting up in Canton for a HOF ceremony someday?

I’ll try and be back later today to preview Syracuse and post an Open Thread unless Chas’ beats me to it. Thanks for reading.