WTAE did a pleasant story on the Oakland Zoo. Here’s the video version.

At least one UConn beat writer has had a miserable trip to the ‘Burgh.

Flown from Hartford to Baltimore, a flight that included this announcement from the pilot: “Well, we missed the approach. We’re going to have to circle around. Sorry for the inconvenience.” … flown from Baltimore to the Steel City … scrambled to find a rental car at a reasonable price (Kia Spectra) … gotten lost downtown a handful of times before finally pulling up in front of the hotel … gotten out of the Spectra (navy blue), shut the driver’s side door, went to open the back and realized I had locked all four doors and left the keys in the ignition … called Enterprise to, um, apprise them of the situation … called AAA to have them bail me out of the situation … waited outside the hotel for an hour (thankfully, it was 68 degrees) … and finally got into my car and got my luggage, including my computer.

Plus he’s cranky about not being able to get some wings at Fathead’s tonight.

Doug Gottlieb sees this coming down to Blair-Thabeet once more.

UConn may try to take Thabeet off Blair so he can be free to roam and block shots, but Biggs and Young can both shoot it well enough to make it a difficult rotation. This matchup comes down to Thabeet continuing to try to play behind Blair and block his shots, but UConn would be smart to try and “dig” out the ball as Blair backs in.

Let’s face it, as much as Blair is key for Pitt, Thabeet is the same for UConn.

Calhoun brought up Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena” speech of 1910 when discussing Thabeet’s task in today’s regular season finale. It seems, if the former Rough Rider and president is to be believed, Thabeet’s face will be “marred by dust and sweat and blood.”

“He now is going to be thrust into a pivotal position as the pivotal guy on our team,” Calhoun said of the battle between top-ranked UConn and No. 3 Pittsburgh. “And if he were to be deserving of player of the year, All-American, all those kind of things, then a lot of what we do revolves around him.”

UConn (27-2, 15-2 Big East) can win the Big East’s regular season championship and secure the top seed in the upcoming league tournament with a victory today. But if they are to do so, the Huskies will have to correct a few of the problems which led to Pittsburgh’s 76-68 win on Feb. 16 in Hartford, and that resulted in Blair’s 22 points and 23 rebounds.

“A lot of what we do depends upon Hasheem. Sometimes it comes down to being that simple,” Calhoun said. “That’s the price tag you pay for being a great player.”

Levance Fields is apparently 50-50 for the game as insane rumors swirl.

As for the rumors that Fields suffered a season-ending lower back injury or a serious groin injury, those notions are completely false, multiple Pitt sources said.

Yay, insane crap.