Isn’t everyone glad, my vote didn’t count for Big East Player of the Year ( and to steal from Bill Simmons, “the answer, as always, I’m an idiot.”)?

Connecticut’s Hasheem Thabeet and Pittsburgh’s DeJuan Blair, two of the nation’s top centers, have been named BIG EAST Co-Players of the Year by a vote of the league’s head coaches who were not permitted to vote for their own players.

The sharing of Player of the Year honors is the first since 2001-02 when two players from the same schools, Connecticut’s Caron Butler and Pittsburgh’s Brandin Knight, were tabbed by the BIG EAST coaches.  Splitting the award between two players has occurred five times in the 30-year history of the BIG EAST.

Both players helped their respective teams to 15-3 BIG EAST records which tied for the second place in the conference.

This season, Thabeet was the defensive anchor to Connecticut’s success.  The 7-3 junior averaged 13.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and a blocked shot mark of 4.5 that is second in the nation.  With 89 blocks in league games this season, Thabeet is already second on the all-time BIG EAST blocks list with 243, trailing Patrick Ewing by only five.  Thabeet has been named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year for the past two seasons.

Blair was the force in the paint for the Panthers.  The 6-7 center averaged 15.6 points and a league-leading 12.4 boards.  He shot 59.6 percent from the floor and posted 17 double-doubles.  The sophomore was the only unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team.  Last year, Blair was named BIG EAST Co-Rookie of the Year.

No tally of the final votes to see if Sam Young (arguably) took any votes from Blair. The ballot had to be in on Friday — before Sam Young overpowered UConn again.

The Pitt press release notes that Blair is the third Pitt player to get BE Player of the Year honors with Knight and Charles Smith.

Blair was also named the District II POY by the US Basketball Writers Association. District II encompasses NY, NJ, DE, DC, PA and WV. Coach Dixon took Coach of the Year honors. On their all-D-II team Blair, Sam Young and Levance Fields were all included.

Gary Parrish at CBS Sportsline lists his picks for Conference POYs and COYs. He gives the Big East awards to DeJuan Blair and Coach Dixon.

Parrish  also likes Blair enough to name him to his list of 1st-team All-Americans. And he put Sam Young on the 3d team.

Talib Zanna is 6’8″ that’s good size in the college game. In the pros that’s average. In high school he looks like a friggin’ giant as he throws it down.

Hat tip to the MoshPitt for finding this.

Technically, it is underway, but since the Big East Tournament is a pure TV event if it isn’t being aired anywhere but over the internet I’m not so sure that it has really started.

Anyways, just for quick scanning, here’s a sampling of some of the Big East Tournament previews.

Philly paper, no surprise, is pulling for a run from ‘Nova.

This one is just capsules on each team. Grouping by favorites to teams likely to be gone before the favorites even arrive.

Capsule summaries are popular things. Especially with 16 teams to have to preview.

This preview piece thinks Pitt won’t make it the championship game, because this year Pitt should be going deeper in the NCAA. At least that seems to be what it is saying.

Still, Pitt has to be considered the favorite, both because of what they keep doing in the BET and the way they are playing.

In Mike DeCourcy’s preview, he doubts that Pitt will be looking to do anything but try to win the whole thing.

Following Pitt’s victory Saturday over the Huskies, coach Jamie Dixon was asked how the Panthers would approach this tournament. They won it a year ago and spent so much energy they hadn’t much left for the NCAAs. And with a shot at a top seed and the kind of NBA-type talent they’ve lacked in the past, this could be their best chance in years at NCAA Tournament success.

Dixon said the Panthers would go to New York looking to improve. He figures they’ll have to keep getting better to excel in the NCAAs, and he doesn’t see how that’ll happen if they don’t deliver the best possible effort at Madison Square Garden.

Of course, the mantra this year is that Pitt wants more than just the BET.

“We’re looking at the Big East,” senior forward Sam Young said Saturday afternoon after Pitt defeated Connecticut in the regular-season finale at the Petersen Events Center. “We know it’s here, and we’re focused on it. But at the same time we’ve got our eyes on the prize. Pitt has had trouble getting past the Sweet 16, and we feel like we’re the team that can finally do it. The sky is the limit for us.”

Oh, yeah.

The polls came out yesterday, and somewhat surprisingly Pitt came very close to being #1 in the AP Writers poll. Of the 71 voters, 33 put Pitt at #1, 35 had UNC, 2 chose Memphis and 1 went to Louisville. Gary Parrish at CBS Sports decided Pitt was #1.

The Coaches were a bit more static about not changing their #1 team.

That’s all right. I don’t think anyone really wants to be the #1 team in the polls at this point.

The only thing Pitt wants with a #1 next to itself will be the seed lines.

“I think it’s almost certain to happen,” he said. “There will be two from Pitt, UConn and Louisville.”

Lunardi, who held a national conference call last week, predicted Pitt is a lock to receive its first-ever No. 1 seed when the brackets are announced Sunday, especially with wins over Marquette and Connecticut in the past week.

But he feels there is almost no chance three Big East teams will receive three No. 1 seeds, regardless of what takes place at Madison Square Garden this week.

“Some people are trying to paint whether all three (Pitt, UConn and Louisville) should be on the top line,” he said. “I don’t see that happening. Maybe it’s political, but even if you take all that out, it’s hard for people to fathom that three of the best four teams are in the same conference.”

By location, Pitt is almost certain to be at Dayton. That would have their first round opponent be the winner from the play-in game.

As for the announced All-Big East teams, Sam Young repeats putting him in a limited company.

This is only the second time Pitt placed two players on the all-Big East first team — Charles Smith and Jerome Lane in 1986-87 were the originals — and the third time that three Pitt players received all-Big East honors in the same season.

Young becomes only the fourth Pitt player to earn all-Big East first-team honors twice. The others were Aaron Gray (2005-07), Brian Shorter (1988-90) and Smith (1986-88).

A total of 16 players received all-conference honors — six on the first team and five on the second and third teams — in voting by Big East coaches. Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own players.

“I think it was a tough call for the coaches (to determine) which of our three to vote for,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “I’m glad they all got honored.”

Not that seeing Fields all the way down on 3d team wasn’t a shock. Even Coach Dixon — while trying to be neutral about it — seemed to be taking a shot at his fellow coaches.

The biggest surprise was that Fields was named to the third team. Fields leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.1), is second in assists (7.6 per game) and averages 10.9 points per game. His assist-to-turnover ratio is almost twice as good as Marquette’s Dominic James (2.7), his closest competitor in the Big East.

Two other point guards made second-team all-conference ahead of Fields — Connecticut senior A.J. Price and Syracuse sophomore Jonny Flynn.

“It’s not a surprise,” Dixon said. “Sometimes, I think I value what point guards do more than other coaches. I look at what they do more than the scoring. I put more value on assists than the fans, coaches and media do. His assist-to-turnover ratio should be a bigger story than it has been. But then again, he’s a senior and it’s an old story.”

Roughly translated:  they are shortsighted, clueless fools.

NBE Basketball Report gave their awards.

DeJuan Blair took POY honors. Sam Young was 1st team All-Big East, Fields was 2nd. Coach Dixon was COY and they gave Ashton Gibbs honorable mention for freshmen.

You can have that silly official list of All-Big East and POY (coming tomorrow) stuff. Made up of votes from coaches in the conference.  What do they know?

Here’s the results of a Big East Bloggers roundtable. A big thanks to the East Coast Bias for deciding to pull this together.

DeJuan Blair took home player of the year honors amongst BE Bloggers. Lots of good stuff in the polling. Including a lot of underrated/overrated things. On the all BE-team. A fun read.

Meanwhile, John Gasaway at Basketball Prospectus picks DeJuan Blair over Blake Griffin for national POY (hat tip to Joe).

Sure enough, Blair is the more efficient offensive weapon, but the magnitude of the difference here (keeping in mind that Griffin’s offensive rating is of course excellent in its own right) can’t be attributed to workload alone. Part of it is Blair’s superiority on the offensive glass. Another factor helping Blair in this comparison is that he commits fewer turnovers than Griffin does, even when adjusted for each player’s prominence in their offense. At least one part of this difference in efficiency, however, can be explained even more simply: Blair shoots fewer free throws. With these two players, that’s a good thing.

That being said, throw Griffin at any of ten recent seasons and I’d wager you’d find me supporting him for POY in six or seven of them. Alas, this year is different.

DeJuan Blair is both one of the most efficient offensive players in the nation and the second best defensive rebounder in major-conference hoops over the past five seasons. His unprecedented offensive rebounding has played a major role in making his team quite possibly the single most effective offense in the country. When he’s in foul trouble, Pitt fans get visibly nervous. When he’s not, they have the sense that their team can do anything, up to and including beating Connecticut twice. He flipped Hasheem Thabeet over his head. He wears what appear to be headbands on his biceps. He even commits steals.

It’s enough to make him my Player of the Year. Congratulations, DeJuan.

Nice.

The madness. The madness. March is a harsh mistress when you write about college basketball. So much to cover. So little time. It’s great, but the hours get away from you. So, the next thing you know, those browser tabs with all the stories of yesterday’s game are still sitting open after trying to stay on top of today’s games.  And it’s the next day.

Sam Young took home Big East Player of the Week honors for the second time this year.

Starting local, Sam Young gives a little about his first offensive attack on Thabeet.

“They’re trying to take my joy, they’re trying to steal my thunder. That first bucket pretty much set the tone for the game,” said Young, who saved one of his best games for senior day. “It was ‘and-one,’ the crowd got into it, and I had that look on my face like, ‘Yeah, it’s time to go.’

“A lot of teams get intimidated by Thabeet blocking shots and how tall he is. When you look at that situation, it’s (him) or me. I’m definitely going to make sure that it’s me at the end of the day.”

Sophomore center DeJuan Blair, who had 22 points and 23 rebounds against Thabeet last month, said Young’s high-energy play was exactly what Pitt needed.

“It told them we ain’t backing down, we ain’t scared,” said Blair, who tangled with Thabeet near midcourt in the second half. “Thirty-one points and 10 rebounds. That’s an excellent game against the No. 1 team in the country.”

Senior day and the family coming to town did not hurt.

“I had a lot of family in the building,” Young said. “It was real emotional.”

And really, really good.

Just a thought, the first meeting had a nice impact on DeJuan Blair’s NBA draft profile taking a sizable jump. I’m guessing Young’s got a bump as well after this game.

The win snapped UConn’s road perfection and gave Pitt a perfect year at the Pete and the game had the largest crowd at the Pete with 12,908.

Then there’s Levance Fields’ great game running the show. Though, Ron Cook even while gushing over Fields maintained his man-crush on DeJuan Blair by running with the whole Batman comparison. Yeesh. I can’t even bring myself to quote from it.

Moving out of the ‘Burgh, Dick Weiss was there and he notes how much Sam Young is in the mind of UConn and Calhoun.

Sam Young has become the University of Connecticut’s unsolvable riddle.

The 6-6 senior forward torched the Huskies for 31 points and 10 rebounds Saturday as No. 3 Pitt rocked top-ranked UConn, 70-60, before an ear-shattering, standing-room only crowd of 12,908 at the Petersen Events Center.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said after this battle of Big East heavyweights. “When he graduates, I won’t be shedding any tears. We play pretty good defense but he’s scored 56 points on us in two games.”

Young scored 25 points against UConn in the Panthers’ 76-68 win last month in Hartford.

“There hasn’t ever been a player who gives us as many problems as he does,” Calhoun said.

The New York Times story notes that the UConn players put a brave front on losing twice to Pitt. That it doesn’t matter, and it means nothing. But…

But the grins on the faces of Pittsburgh Coach Jamie Dixon and his players revealed that the third-ranked Panthers had a different view.

“Senior Day is special and you want it to end the right way, and I’d say it certainly did,” said Dixon, referring to the ceremony before the last home game of the year.

Even though the Panthers have beaten most Big East teams in both games this season, beating UConn has become personal.

“Recently, it seems that when I see a UConn jersey, my eyes light up,” said Sam Young, Pittsburgh’s 6-6 senior forward, who had a game-high 31 points on a variety of 3-pointers and breakaway dunks. He scored 25 in the first game between the teams.

Now for the Connecticut media. Seems that whole Thabeet-Blair rematch was the focus, even if it wasn’t really the story other than that brief collision.

Early in the second half, Thabeet threw a bad pass to UConn’s Kemba Walker, forcing Walker to save the ball from going out of bounds by lobbing it up near midcourt. Thabeet then bumped into Blair as both were jumping for the loose ball, knocking the Pittsburgh center to the ground.

Both Blair and Thabeet, who said Blair tripped him after the foul, got up yelling at each other.

“Don’t nobody knock me over,” Blair said. “I ain’t going to let nobody knock me on the ground.”

Thabeet had a slightly different take on the exchange.

“He tripped me after I fouled him. I was just not happy with that,” Thabeet said.

“He punked me the first time and I didn’t do nothing about it,” said Thabeet, referring to the flip-over Blair he took in Hartford. “He got fouled and he wanted to trip me. I was just reacting to that. OK, I fouled you. I’ll let it go. I fouled him and he flipped me.”

Makes it seem like Blair was fired up and angry about it. Or, not.

“Don’t nobody knock me on the ground,” Blair said with a laugh. “Actually, I would have done that to anybody.”

[Emphasis added.]

And Jim Calhoun was calm after the game, conceding he didn’t want to have another YouTubed press conference. He instead tried to be positive.

”For me to blast my team today would be foolhardy,” Calhoun said. “We’ve got a whole postseason to play and we might see Pitt again. I wouldn’t mind that at all. I really wouldn’t.

”They’ve had two chances to prove they’re the better team. When you’re 27-3, I don’t think you should hang your head. You have to put the season aside and now we’re on to postseason play. Give all the credit to Pitt. They won the game.”

Build up, not tear down his team. Right?

Stanley Robinson has yet to show he can think with Young.

Jeff Adrien can’t run with Young.

Calhoun even tried Scottie Haralson briefly, as Young pointed out, and that didn’t work either.

“Young has a great up fake and it looks just like his jump shot,” Adrien said. “So you have to respect his jump shot, because he hits. He is very versatile, can play [the] three or four. He’s a tough player.”

Heck, one of these times Young (6 feet 6, 220 pounds) is going to up-fake Robinson so badly, Sticks (6-9) is going to knock himself out on the overhead scoreboard.

“Sticks should be able to guard him,” Calhoun said. “He should. He didn’t. We tried Jeff on him. That didn’t work.

Young’s work ethic gets everyone amazed. To say nothing of his conditioning.

After warmups Saturday, Young was feeling a little stiff. So he put on his headphones and stepped on the treadmill. Yes, he ran for 10 minutes — then went and ran over UConn for 37 minutes.

When the Huskies closed to 52-50 with 12-0 run, Young is the one who had all the answers. He scored off a tough drive to the basket. Then, in the moment that sent the Pete into delirium, Levance Fields found Young on the fastbreak for a thunderous dunk to make it 56-50. UConn never really threatened again.

“That dunk will be on Top 10 [plays] on ESPN,” Blair said.

“I came here [and] could barely dribble the ball and could barely shoot a three to save my life,” said Young, one of three Pitt seniors honored. “In my last performance here, to put up 31 and 10 — threes, mid-ranges, turnarounds, free throws, transition dunks and everything — I think I showcased a lot of my talents. I worked to get to that level.

“There’s a lot of muscle memory and getting the moves down pat. That’s behind everything I do. You see something spectacular; I’ve already practiced it to perfection.”

After a couple years of being mocked for 11 player deep 1st team All-Big East squads. And a system that would have some 33 players chosen for the various levels, the Big East went to a more traditional style. Here’s the All BE-teams.

ALL-BIG EAST FIRST TEAM
Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut, C, Jr., 7-3, 263, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Terrence Williams, Louisville, F, Sr., 6-6, 210, Seattle, Wash.
Jerel McNeal, Marquette, G, Sr., 6-3, 200 Chicago, Ill.
Luke Harangody, Notre Dame, F, Jr., 6-8, 251, Schererville, Ind.
DeJuan Blair, Pittsburgh, C, So., 6-7, 265, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Sam Young, Pittsburgh, F, Sr., 6-6, 215, Clinton, Md.

ALL-BIG EAST SECOND TEAM
A.J. Price, Connecticut, G, Sr., 6-2, 181, Amityville, N.Y.
Wesley Matthews, Marquette, G, Sr., 6-5, 215, Madison, Wis.
Jonny Flynn, Syracuse, G, So., 6-0, 185, Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Dante Cunningham, Villanova, F, Sr., 6-8, 230, Silver Spring, Md.
Da’Sean Butler, West Virginia, F, Jr., 6-7, 225, Newark, N.J.

ALL-BIG EAST THIRD TEAM
Deonta Vaughn, Cincinnati, G, Jr., 6-1, 195, Indianapolis, Ind.
Jeff Adrien, Connecticut, F, Sr., 6-7, 243, Brookline, Mass.
Earl Clark, Louisville, G/F, Jr., 6-8, 220, Rahway, N.J.
Levance Fields, Pittsburgh, G, Sr., 5-10, 190, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall, G, So., 6-5, 185, Bronx, N.Y.

BIG EAST HONORABLE MENTION
Weyinmi Efejuku, Providence, G, Sr., 6-5, 210, Fresh Meadows, N.Y.
Dominique Jones, USF, G, So., 6-4, 205, Lake Wales, Fla.
Scottie Reynolds, Villanova, G, Jr., 6-2, 195, Herndon, Va.
Alex Ruoff, West Virginia, G, Sr., 6-6, 220, Spring Hill, Fla.

BIG EAST ALL-ROOKIE TEAM
Yancy Gates, Cincinnati, F, Fr., 6-9, 255, Cincinnati, Ohio
Kemba Walker, Connecticut, G, Fr., 6-0, 175, Bronx, N.Y.
Greg Monroe, Georgetown, C, Fr., 6-10, 240, Gretna, La.
Samardo Samuels, Louisville, F, Fr., 6-8, 240, Trelawny, Jamaica
Mike Rosario, Rutgers, G, Fr., 6-3, 180, Jersey City, N.J.
Devin Ebanks, West Virginia, F, Fr., 6-9, 205, Long Island City, N.Y.

DeJuan Blair was the only unanimous selection for the 1st team. Mildly surprising that Thabeet was not unanimous.

I’m stunned good and bad. Understand, that this was voted by the coaches and the ballots had to be in by Friday — in other words before Sam Young blew through UConn on Saturday.

I cannot believe that Levance Fields was only 3d team. That’s ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

I know Harangody’s numbers are as good as last year, but forget the fact that ND is worse. The fact is, that Harangody plays just as minimalist defense as the rest of the Irish. It’s not like he’s a force at both ends.

The East Coast Bias is in the process of putting together a bloggers All-Big East awards set.

Here’s how I voted for an All-Big East team. I opted to do it with the idea of making a complete starting five.

1. Levance Fields, PG, Pitt
   
2. Jerel McNeal, SG, Marquette
   
3. Hasheem Thabeet, C, UConn
   
4. Terrance Williams, SF, Louisville
   
5. DeJuan Blair, PF, Pitt

I agonized about leaving off Sam Young off the vote, but with only 5 spots, wanting a complete team and trying to be somewhat un-biased I had to go with this group.

Damn. I feel so dirty for spending a couple hours rooting for WVU. And on top of that — Dick Vitale.

Here’s what the Cardinals winning the BE and being the #1 seed means:

Pitt is the #2 seed. They will play Thursday night at 7 pm (PDF).

In that game, they will face either the # 7, 10 or 15 seed. Or WVU, ND or Rutgers. Yes, that’s right. Pitt could be looking at a 3d meeting with the Hoopies for their first game of the BET. Rutgers and ND play on Tuesday. The winner faces WVU on Wednesday.

Oh, and it also means that if Pitt wins, the semifinal game will likely mean a 3d meeting with the #3 seed — UConn. So for Pitt to make it back to the BET Championship game, Pitt will likely have to beat WVU and UConn 3 times in one season.

Ugh.

I really see little point of having an opening round with the bottom feeders. Especially if the games aren’t even being televised. The best you can do, is watch free internet feeds at the BE site.

We have instant national punditry to note from Pitt topping UConn.

Andy Katz likes what he sees of this team.

Let’s skip ahead, though, to beyond New York. The Panthers are good to go with Fields into the NCAA tournament as possibly the No. 1 overall seed. And clearly this team is better prepared to handle the expectations.

Young, who finished with 31 points, was unstoppable, finishing Fields’ assists, running the floor, hitting face-up shots and working the offensive backboard.

Young is hardly a role player. He’s a star. Sophomore forward DeJuan Blair called Young “Superman.” He also had nicknames for himself (Robin), Fields (Batman) and senior Tyrell Biggs (the Joker). But this squad is hardly comical. Add wing Jermaine Dixon and solid bench players Gilbert Brown, Brad Wanamaker and Ashton Gibbs (a total of 15 points off the pine) and the Panthers are more experienced, have multiple scoring options, can defend, rebound and own enough depth to win the national title.

Gary Parrish at CBS sees no way Pitt doesn’t get a #1 seed.

But Pittsburgh’s 70-60 victory over Connecticut should be enough to secure a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament regardless of what happens going forward because it:

• pushed the Panthers’ record to 28-3 overall, 15-3 in the Big East.
• ensured the Panthers will finish no worse than second in the Big East.
• made the Panthers 7-2 against the top 25 of the CBSSports.com RPI.
• made the Panthers 9-2 against the top 50 of the CBSSports.com RPI.
• made the Panthers 15-3 against the top 100 of the CBSSports.com RPI.
• gave the Panthers two wins over another possible No. 1 seed (Connecticut).
• strengthened the Panthers’ hold on the top-rated RPI.

That last point is key because the school entering Selection Sunday with the top-rated RPI has been awarded a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament 10 of the past 13 seasons. The only times it didn’t happen were in 2000 when Cincinnati got a No. 2 seed despite being No. 1 in the RPI, in 2005 when Kansas got a No. 3 seed despite being No. 1 in the RPI, and last season when Tennessee got a No. 2 seed despite being No. 1 in the RPI. And when you consider that Cincinnati didn’t get a No. 1 seed in 2000 only because Kenyon Martin broke his leg in the C-USA tournament, the reality is that a No. 1 RPI has translated into a No. 1 seed 11 of the past 13 seasons.

In other words, book it.

Okay. So the pessimist says, unless Fields suffers a big setback.

Jeff Goodman at FoxSports.com hearts Levance Fields.

Last time it was DeJuan Blair who got all the accolades for his dominance against UConn’s tower of terror, Hasheem Thabeet. This time it’s Blair’s teammate, Sam Young, who had a 31-point, 10-rebound performance in a second victory against the top-ranked Huskies.

But the truth is this is just an average, run-of-the-mill Pittsburgh team without Levance Fields.

Fields doesn’t look the part. In fact, Young said it best when describing where he’d be chosen down at the local playground.

“Last,” Young said. “But you’d be regretting that decision all day because he’ll kill you.”

Tim Layden at SI.com has no doubt that Pitt is a No. 1 seed.

The numbers speak for themselves — 28-3 overall and 15-3 in the best conference in the country — but in beating UConn, 70-60, Pitt showed why it is even better than its stats. The Panthers are a terrific blend of steady point guard play (Levance Fields, more on him in point No. 2), perimeter scoring (the waayyyyyyyyy underrated Sam Young, who had 31 points) and reliable inside power (led by DeJuan Blair). The combination makes Pitt almost slump-proof and it’s hard to imagine the Panthers falling anytime before Detroit and the Final Four.

I try not to.

In quick summaries, SI.com’s blog notes this.

Prepare to be enlightened. Sam Young‘s giving a lesson in How To Go Out In Style 101. First order of business, drop 31 on the No. 1 team, Connecticut. While you’re at it, go ahead and grab 10 boards. Then, knock in a layup to halt a 12-0 run by the Huskies, and quickly follow with an alley-oop to teammate Levance Fields for a slam – one that will bring the house down. Next, to make sure Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun knows that no matter how much money his team brings in and no matter who he has defending you, they won’t be able to stop you. And finally, complete a season-sweep of the Huskies, with a 70-60 beating. Once you master those topics, you, too, can be like Young in his final home game as a Pittsburgh Panther.

Why didn’t the seniors come off before the game ended? Well…

Jamie Dixon stamped his right foot and turned angrily to the bench. This was not what he planned. He’d drawn up the ideal play: The Pitt Panthers would walk the ball up the floor, he’d call a 30-second timeout and seniors Levance Fields, Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs would stroll off the court to a deafening ovation from the Petersen Center audience.

“It seems to be the right thing to do at the time,” Dixon said, “and it didn’t end up as I wanted it.”

The Panthers turned over the ball twice in the last minute, so they missed their moment. And they missed a few too many 3-point shots. And, because of that puzzling loss to Providence late last month they missed the opportunity for this victory over the Connecticut Huskies to be a Big East title-clincher.

Honestly, though, they didn’t leave a whole lot left undone.

For the second time this season, they handled the No. 1 team in the country, UConn, by a 70-60 score. “Handled” is the perfect word for it. The Panthers didn’t blow out the Huskies, but they didn’t slip past them, either. There was no question which team was superior the two times they met.

“Do I think we can beat Pitt?” UConn coach Jim Calhoun asked himself. “Yeah. But we’ve played twice and we’re 0-2. So I don’t have any graphic evidence of that.”

I have to admit. I love that quote from Calhoun.

Night all.

UConn-Pitt. Thabeet-Blair. Price-Fields. Robinson-Young. Walker-Dixon. Adrien-Brown. And so it goes.

It’s time for the liveblog.

Let’s get it on!

There will be a liveblog for this game.

Good column, summarizing a key aspect of the game.

Maybe it will be in the first possession, or maybe the second. To be sure, at some point in the opening couple of minutes, a call or a non-call will arrive that will signal how this one stands to play out.

Blair will get the ball down in the blocks. He’ll drop his shoulder. He’ll drive toward Thabeet’s chest. And tweet! Or no tweet. A foul on Thabeet? A charge on Blair? No call? Hmm.

Or maybe it’s on the other end. Thabeet and Blair will engage in an elaborate dance of give and take, both battling to establish position. And tweet! Or no tweet.

Can’t wait to find out who the refs are. It’s been on everyone’s mind.

“I think Calhoun got in their heads,” Blair said.

Blair, who jokingly said he would bring in cupcakes and cookies for officials, made a plea earlier this week for the game to be called without a lot of unnecessary whistles.

“DeJuan thought [Calhoun’s comments] had an effect in the games after that,” Pitt junior Jermaine Dixon said. “We’ll see. Calhoun is a legendary coach. I’m pretty sure referees respect him. So, we’ll see how it turns out.”

The players talking about it like this makes me more than a little nervous.

I’d rather see them just wanting to focus on the big game aspect.

Let’s blow the Connecticut-Pitt basketball game today at the Petersen Events Center into perspective, one that every Pittsburgh sports fan can understand.

“Someone who’s in a position to know tells me it’s a tougher ticket than the Super Bowl,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said the other day.

Everyone’s fired up.

”I’m excited,” coach Jim Calhoun said. “(My playiers) should be excited. It’s an opportunity to win a championship. One game. One afternoon. Twelve to 2. Two hours. After all the practices and all the trips and all the tough places that we went, they have a chance to win a neighborhood title, which is really nice.”

The Huskies (27-2, 15-2) had a week to prepare for a chance to claim at least a share of the program’s 11th Big East regular-season title. They dissected the last meeting with Pitt – a 76-68 loss on Feb. 16 – and formulated a game plan.

Motivation also comes in the form of trying to go undefeated on the road for the first time since the 1998-99 national championship season. Pittsburgh (27-3, 14-3) is determined to finish its season unbeaten at home, also needing a win for a shot a conference title.

To accomplish its goal, UConn has to be mentally and physically tougher than the last meeting when they got beat up on the boards (48-31) and lost a five-point lead with seven and a half minutes remaining.

”We’ve definitely got to match their intensity,” senior Jeff Adrien said.

And of course more is expected from Hasheem Thabeet this time.

Blair expects Thabeet to come out with something to prove.

“He’d better,” Blair said. “I’m ready for it. My team is ready for him.”

Thabeet, who averaged 17 points and 11.7 rebounds in three consecutive wins as Connecticut regained the nation’s No. 1 spot, said he has nothing to prove.

“It’s not about me proving myself that I can play ball,” he said. “I can always play.”

UConn senior guard A.J. Price, as well as Adrien, said one lesson they learned in the first game is nobody in the country — not even Thabeet — can be expected to guard Blair straight up.

“We just can’t allow (Thabeet) to be physical and man-up with Blair one-on-one the whole game,” Price said. “We need to help him out as a team and not expect him to block every shot that goes up.”

The one thing I really hope will end up on YouTube, are the ceremonies before the game to honor the seniors.

Pitt’s seniors — Tyrell Biggs, Sam Young and Fields — will be honored during a pre-game presentation today. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at roughly 11:40 a.m. Tipoff is noon. The seniors, who are 108-29 in their career, can become the winningest senior class in Pitt history with a win over UConn. “The four years have been great,” Biggs said. “The last one, playing my last game here in front of everybody, is going to be tough. I’m going to try to leave a real good impression.”

Pitt is favored by 3.5 points.

Oh, and courtesy of Chris Dokish:

…I did some checking to see who will definitely be visiting this weekend for the UConn game and verified to attend thus far are Dante Taylor, Talib Zanna, Tom Droney, and Kyryl Natyazhko. Isaiah Epps, Adreian Payne, and Sterling Gibbs have also been invited.

See everyone at noon.

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.

Apparently there was something of a theme. That the rematch of Thabeet-Blair would also decide the Big East Player of the Year race.

“It will be the same as last time,” Blair told reporters Wednesday. “It’ll be a celebrity death match.”

“Starring,” Jeff Adrien added Thursday, “him and Hasheem.

“Whoever can win that battle will definitely be on top of the celebrity status.”

It seems that many are undecided between Blair, Thabeet and McNeal. Confession time. I didn’t pick any of the three. My choice for BEPOY is actually Louisville’s Terrance Williams. His defense. Playing essentially a point-forward on the team. Scoring inside and out. His leadership. He’s been everything you could want. Without Williams, Louisville is just a better looking version of Providence.

Yet the media seems to love Blair (and I’m not coing to complain, I’m just admitting he wasn’t my pick in the conference).

If it indeed has come down to this week, then Blair has now got to be in the driver’s seat. Against No. 13 Marquette Wednesday night, he had 23 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the floor and 9 of 12 shooting at the line. He added nine rebounds, three assists and four blocks in the Panthers’ 90-75 win. More importantly, he stayed out of foul trouble (this is our concern, dude) and logged 35 minutes of action.

Rival POY candidate, Jerel McNeal, also had 23 points, but he got his on 8 of 24 shooting (4 of 12 from three) as the Golden Eagles lost their third straight (all against top 6 competition). To win POY, McNeal needed to carry his team without Dominic James, and in his first game attempting to do so, he shot 3 of 19 from the floor. Although he’s been extremely reliable all year, this 11-for-43 stretch could cost him the award.

It’s Blair, however, that has the distinctive edge come Saturday. If he does anything close to what he did last time against the Huskies (22 and 23, one block, one reverse arm-bar suplex), he’ll take home the hardware. He’s certainly a deserving winner, despite the fact that he’s only a super-soph. The Bilastrator calls him the best offensive rebounder in the nation.

Back to the game on Saturday, Thabeet is saying it’s not about him.

“It is not about Hasheem against Pittsburgh,” he said Thursday. “It’s about UConn basketball.”

Yet, those ways of thinking are not mutually exclusive — especially now, especially under these circumstances. Top-ranked UConn closes the regular season Saturday at No.3 Pittsburgh, a game that presents the Huskies (27-2, 15-2 Big East) with an opportunity for an 11th conference title.

We’ll see.

A couple other things. A list of 3 reasons each way why Pitt  or UCon can win.

And finally a video preview from CBS.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Here’s the 2009 Pitt football schedule.

Date	Opponent / Event	Location	Time / Result
09/05/09	vs. Youngstown State	Heinz Field	TBA
09/12/09	at Buffalo	Buffalo, NY	TBA
09/19/09	vs. Navy	Heinz Field	TBA
09/26/09	at North Carolina State	Raleigh, NC	TBA
10/02/09	at Louisville	Louisville, KY	8:00 p.m. ET
10/10/09	vs. Connecticut	Heinz Field	TBA
10/16/09	at Rutgers	Piscataway, NJ	8:00 p.m. ET
10/24/09	vs. USF	Heinz Field	TBA
11/07/09	vs. Syracuse	Heinz Field	TBA
11/14/09	vs. Notre Dame	Heinz Field	TBA
11/27/09	at West Virginia	Morgantown, WV	TBA
12/05/09	vs. Cincinnati	Heinz Field	TBA

I’m sure some more games will be added to TV. The NC State seems like a good possibility.

There are two Friday night games on the road this year — Louisville and Rutgers.

It’s going to be interesting from a standpoint of getting people to the games. While 2 of 3 games to start the season are at home, the first is a 1-AA warm-up. The Buffalo trip seems a more than a little scary. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would do to interest and attendance if the Panthers blow that one.

Luke Winn’s power rankings in SI.com put Pitt in the #2 spot. It also gave a little love this way, which is always appreciated. Fox Sports.com also had Pitt at #2.

Meanwhile the ESPN.com power poll still keeps Pitt at #3.

By every count, UConn-Pitt  is the biggest or second biggest game of the weekend.

Only a Duke-North Carolina showdown for the ACC title could knock a game between No. 1 Connecticut and No. 3 Pittsburgh off the top line. But the good news is you don’t have to choose. Why? Because UConn-Pitt is Saturday! And it’s an early tip! So what we have are four possible No. 1 seeds playing against each other in the same weekend on opposite days, and isn’t March Madness just great?

My couch has already indentations from my rear over the course of this season. Saturday, alone, will be a marathon.

It also led the list for USA Today’s weekend.

1. Déjà vu: Stop us if you’ve heard this one. In the weekend headliner, Connecticut puts its No. 1 ranking on the line Saturday at No. 4 Pittsburgh. OK, it was a Monday before and it was in Hartford, but the shuffling at the top in recent weeks gives the Panthers the rare opportunity to knock off the same No. 1 team twice in less than a month. The two could definitely meet again next week in the Big East tournament final, and both would almost certainly be No. 1 regional seeds in the NCAA tournament should that occur. But neither of these teams will treat this as a mere exhibition. An epic battle inside could develop between Huskies big man Hasheem Thabeet and Pitt’s DeJuan Blair if they can avoid early foul trouble.

Useless factoid.

Based on the coaches’ poll, the game between No. 1 UConn and No. 4 Pitt is the fifth matchup of top-5 Big East teams in the past 10 years. The fourth-ranked team has won all four games, including Pitt’s win at UConn in February. The others winners include: No. 4 UConn over No. 2 Villanova in ’06, No. 4 Villanova over No. 1 UConn in ’06 and No. 4 Pitt over No. 5 UConn in ’04.

Just not sure if this number coincidence counts. Pitt is #3 in the AP and #4 in the ESPN/USA Today sponsored Coaches. The game is on CBS, so they will be using the #3 ranking for Pitt.

It’s as scientific as any other system.

Hat tip to UConn Blog, which feels extremely betrayed by the lack of canine solidarity.

It’s no more reliable than “expert” picks.