I will be doing a liveblog tonight.
I am just hoping that the Pitt players and coaches are no where near as tense and uptight as we Pitt fans seem to be.
One more scouting report on the East.
Big East Basketball report, breaking down the game.
Great, enjoyable read on CBS and ESPN analyst Bill Raftery.
Probably his best-known call came 21 years ago when Pitt’s Jerome Lane obliterated the backboard on a spectacular jam.
“Send it in, Jerome!” he said, shouting.
Late this season, Lane approached Raftery before a Pitt-Connecticut game. “With a big smile,” Lundquist said, “he said, ‘Thanks for making me famous.’ ” Raftery said, “It was the cutest thing, and the psychic reward for getting to know a kid a little bit.”
Somewhat connected sidenote, they mention that one of his daughters does PR work for Sports Illustrated. She’s the one who has been e-mailing me the cover images in the past few weeks. Did not make the connection until I read it.
Post-Gazette beat writer Paul Fittipaldo takes a question from a Xavier guy on the issue of point guards.
He even found time to do his weekly chat.
Where_is_Arvydas_Sabonis_: Pitt’s favorite ESPN analyst Doug Gottlieb said that this is the biggest game in Pitt basketball history? Do you agree?
Ray Fittipaldo: Yes, until the next one if the Panthers win. Then it becomes Saturday’s game. I agree with Gottlieb. Pitt has been on the threshold of the Elite Eight on four previous occasions and never got over the hump. This is the most talented of those teams, has the best offensive firepower and great experience. If the Panthers don’t get to a Final Four this year when are they are going to do it? The table is set. All they have to do is deliver.
Otherwise, no pressure. Speaking of pressure.
When Sam Young walks down the streets of Pittsburgh, he knows exactly what’s coming.
“All everybody asks you is whether we’re going to get past the Sweet 16,” the Panthers senior forward says.
“We’re sick of hearing it,” added Pittsburgh’s Gilbert Brown.
…
Pittsburgh is 0-5 in the Sweet 16 in the Howland-Dixon Era, and that’s all everyone wants to talk about.
“I tell them we’ll find out together,” Young said of his response to those on the street who ask him whether they can take the next step.
Dixon and his players are hoping this year is different, that this team is different.
That they can finally rid themselves of that dreaded Sweet 16 curse with a victory against one of their own — Xavier coach and former Pittsburgh standout Sean Miller.
If it helps, Pitt fans are sick of asking it and having to answer it to others. Boy are we sick of the latter.
