DeJuan Blair’s younger brother got on his case after halftime.

“I walked out and my little brother (Greg) said something to me,” Blair said. “He said, ‘It’s the Sweet 16 and you’re an All-American. What are you playing like this for?’ I thought about what he said.”

Nice piece on Levance Fields.

Another story on gritty Pitt not winning style points. Just winning.

Recap from USA Today.

“They pushed us around in the first half but we responded in the second half as we usually do,” said Pitt coach Jamie Dixon. “I never get tired of watching Levance take big shots. He’s made them year after year.”

Blair finished with 10 points and 17 rebounds for his 20th double-double of the season.

“It’s great, the first time; it kind of gets the monkey off your back,” Fields said of getting to the Elite Eight. “But we came here to win two games, so we’re going to go back to the locker room and get focused for one of these two teams for the next game.”

When Fields jumped onto Coach Dixon and mussed up his hair, well Coach Dixon was more focused on other things.

“He was still mad, telling me the game wasn’t over,” Fields said. “I was excited for Coach. As good as he’s been for this university and picking up where Coach [Ben] Howland left off . . . the biggest knock has been not a Final Four appearance and not getting past the Sweet 16. So this is just a step towards that. And I just wanted to embrace him because he deserves it.”

I’ve mentioned Bob Ryan writing stories from the Boston regional a couple times. He’s a BC grad, who was one of the loudest voices opposed to BC leaving for the ACC. He preferred the Big East style and the geography. So, he likes to take the shot.

This used to be a Big East town, remember?

It will be once again tomorrow when Pittsburgh and Villanova meet right here in our town for the right to play in the Final Four.

…

No. 1 seed Pitt was in great peril in the opening game, but this is like saying J.D. Drew is going to get hurt. They’re always in peril of late. It’s who they are. The Panthers seem constitutionally incapable of seizing control of a game until they are on their backs and the referee is about to call it a pin, and then, well, then Levance Fields thinks it’s time to do something dramatic.

Young Mr. Fields is the Pittsburgh point guard, and among his other athletic charms he has a highly, and I mean highly, developed sense of the dramatic. His particular specialty is the backbreaking, you-know-what-busting moonshot three to break open a game.

Then there are the puff pieces.

John Feinstein does (yet another) piece on Coach Dixon and his sister. It’s a nice piece, but I’m more aggravated at Feinstein for mailing it in. I mean there were already a couple just as good pieces on this done just this year. Plus the recent HBO Real Sports segment. So he was able to regurgitate old stuff and toss in a few extra quotes from an interview on Wednesday with Dixon.

Associate head coach Tom Herrion is a Massachusetts native and rumored to be a possibility for the Boston U job. He gets a local story.

His two seasons at Pittsburgh have been a great experience. Herrion loves the school, the players and staff and he and his wife, Leslie, and their 3-year-old son, Robert James, have made a home in the area. A diehard Red Sox and Patriots fan, he’s even learned to tolerate Steelers’ supporters.

Herrion would like to be a head coach again.

“I did it at Charleston and had success so I feel confident about myself,” Herrion said. “It’s got to be the right situation. I’m at a different stage in my life and my career and you have a different perspective on things. When I was younger, it was how fast could I be a head coach. I’ve learned the best job is the one you have and I’ve got a really good job.”

Herrion’s name has been mentioned as a candidate for the vacant Boston University position. Herrion said he has not been contacted by BU and declined comment on the situation, saying, “I’m just focused on helping Coach Dixon right now.”

Send in the reserves for local pieces. Brad Wanamaker gets one from the Philly area.

Over the summer, everything changed.  A series of one-on-one meetings between Wanamaker and Dixon led to Wanamaker reasserting himself.

“I had confidence that I could play for this team, so I just put in the work and effort,” he said.  “I think I earned the minutes that I play.”

All 18.6 of them.  Wanamaker has even played 20-plus minutes in 15 games this year.  Not surprisingly, the more he’s played, the better he’s performed.

Those errant jumpers of a year ago suddenly started splashing.

“I don’t care about you making it.  You’ve just got to shoot the outside jump shot, which will open up the rest of your game,” said Dixon, recalling what he told Wanamaker in the summer.  “I think that was the biggest thing.  I didn’t put pressure on him to make the shot, just shoot it.

“Sometimes he was over-penetrating and using his strength.  That’s what he did in high school.  Just taking the open shot is going to open up a world of things for him offensively.”
…
“He’s going to be like three-quarters of the way to graduating after (this) year,” Dixon noted.  “He’s just a great, great kid.”

Ashton Gibbs gets some love in New Jersey.

“You look at what he has done, hitting that 3-pointer against Xavier, and that’s something you dream of. You dream about hitting that big shot as a kid,” said Gibbs. “Hopefully, I’ll get that chance when my turn comes.”

For now, the leading scorer in Seton Hall Prep history is content to watch and learn in a reserve role as a freshman with Pittsburgh, which faces Villanova Saturday night at 7:05 for the East Regional championship and a trip to the Final Four — thanks in large part to Fields’ clutch 3-pointer with 53 seconds to play in the Panthers’ 60-55 victory over Xavier Thursday night.

Gibbs, a 6-2 guard who has become a key spark off the bench for the 31-4 Panthers, knows his time will come.

“It’s been a big adjustment for me this year,” said Gibbs, who scored 1,882 points at Seton Hall Prep. “But coming in I knew we had three big seniors (Fields, Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs), and I knew we were going to be a good team. We were top 10 preseason.

“So I knew this team was already good and that I would have to sacrifice something, so I sacrificed my scoring abilities to help. I’ve always been team-first and me second. I’ve been playing well when I’ve had my chances.”

Hopefully both will have a good game tomorrow to help the team.