No one should expect any team other than Pitt to be ranked #1 tomorrow. Over at CBS Sports, Gary Parrish does not want to have any debate on the issue.

That’s the end result of a wild Saturday on which No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 North Carolina both lost (to unranked Texas and unranked Maryland), clearing the way for the Panthers — who beat top-ranked Connecticut last Monday — to rise to the top of the Top 25 (and one) late Sunday night, then the AP and Coaches polls on Monday. It’s the only logical move, so much so that I imagine Pitt will get all 72 first-place votes in the AP poll and all 31 in the Coaches poll. Anything short of that will be proof that somebody with a vote isn’t paying attention, and if such a person presents himself (or herself), that person will be Poll Attacked on Monday afternoon.

Here’s all you need to know:

• Pitt is 25-2 overall.
• Nobody has more wins or fewer losses.
• Pitt has compiled this record against a schedule rated 12th nationally.
• Pitt has six wins against the top 25 of CBSSports.com’s RPI rankings.
• Nobody else has more than four.
• Both of Pitt’s losses came on the road.
• The losses were to the schools ranked seventh (Louisville) and 12th (Villanova) in the latest AP poll.

So to summarize, the Panthers have more good wins (i.e., wins against the top 25 of CBSSports.com’s RPI rankings) than anybody, just as few losses as the other elite teams, and no bad losses (like Oklahoma’s loss to Arkansas, North Carolina’s loss to Boston College, Connecticut’s loss to Georgetown, etc.).

Best I can tell, that makes Jamie Dixon’s team the easy No. 1.

Any other opinion is a faulty opinion.

And a little more love for Blair in ESPN.com’s Weekly Watch.

DeJuan Blair emerged as the new front-runner for Big East player of the year with his dominating performance in the win over Connecticut.

Blair literally tossed Hasheem Thabeet around and wound up with 22 points and 23 boards in the Panthers’ 76-68 win.

Against overmatched DePaul, Blair put up a workman-like 20 points and 18 boards in a 19-point victory.

The first-team All-America spots seem to be getting crowded. Make room for Blair, next to Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin and Thabeet. It would be hard to push any of these three off this perch.

You know, it’s been such a hectic week, that I never even got a post mentioning that incoming  member of the 2009 recruiting class, Dante Taylor was named a hamburger All-American.

Dante Taylor, who will be a freshman at Pitt next season, was named to the 2009 McDonald’s All-American game last night, becoming the first Pitt player in 22 years to garner the honor. He is one of 24 players on the team and one of five who will play in the Big East next season.

Taylor, a 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward from National Christian Academy in Maryland, is Pitt’s first McDonald’s All-American since 1987 when Brian Shorter and Bobby Martin made the team.

Taylor is the fifth player in Pitt’s history to earn the honor. Charles Smith was a McDonald’s All-American in 1984 and Jerome Lane was in ’85.

When Coach Jamie Dixon abruptly showed up in Florida for Pirate training camp. Well, he was in Florida for another reason and went for a side trip.

Jamie Dixon showed up in Florida today to check in on ’09 big man Kyryl Natyazhko. The 6’10” Ukrainian is an offensively skilled post player that Herrion has been watching a lot lately. The fact that Dixon made a point to see him shows that the Panthers interest is very strong. Word is that since Dixon was in Bradenton, he wanted to quietly sneak in and see the Pirates in spring training. But when you have one of the marquee teams in the nation, sneaking is no longer an option, and he was immediately surrounded by cameramen.

Lastly, one name that recently came up with Pitt, since Herrion was spotted watching him play, is 6’11” junior college center Jarrid Famous. But word is, Herrion was checking out local high school players in the area so he took the opportunity to see Famous, too. However, the big man would only be an option if DeJuan Blair left early for the NBA, and by the time Blair’s situation is known, it’s expected that Famous will be out of play.

Natyazhko is a 4-star recruit at the IMG Academy with offers from FSU, Miami, Kentucky, Arizona State and Xavier.