Well this was bound to happen. I will say that I was unconvinced of the outcome until Chris [several expletives deleted] Wright scored with under a minute to go for his 27th points. That did it. 1 second left on the shot clock, Pitt’s best defender, Jermaine Dixon, on him. He just makes a little feint away and Dixon bites. Wright goes straight to the hoop for an easy lay-up on the inbound.

In a way this game was like being on the receiving end of the Pitt-Syracuse game. Remember that game? Pitt was killing on 3s. Syracuse was 1-13 out there. That played a role.

About halfway through the first half, I made a note that Georgetown’s jumpers were falling while Pitt’s just were not.

This was the game where Ashton Gibbs wasn’t just shut down, he had a bad night shooting — 3-16 overall, 2-8 on 3s). Yes, Georgetown was blanketing him most of the game. Heck, they kept him from getting good shots and blocked 2 shots of his. So that had a major impact. It’s also a game where we saw Gibbs miss 3 open 3s. He had the time. He had the space. They just were off. It happens. It doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

I thought Jermaine Dixon had one of his toughest games on defense. He just was not as crisp. He was late helping on switches. Got bumped off a lot of plays. He had the tough night. Austin Freeman he could handle, but Wright was having a hell of a game and Dixon could not contain him. Heck on offense, he may have had 14 points but he was 4-11 doing it. I don’t know what kind of spin he is putting on his shots but it was really a problem They rolled all over the rim but out.

It’s a shame Nasir Robinson couldn’t stay out of foul trouble. He looked sharp and confident on offense. But with only 16 minutes not a lot of time to act upon it.

Gilbert Brown’s career high 20 points went for naught. Wanamaker grabbed 13 rebounds and had 7 assists.

Gary McGhee looked good and bad at time. I mean, he was not a good match-up with Monroe, but still had to got at him with Robinson in foul trouble. That made it easy for Vaughn. The good was on offense, where on 3 slams he handled the passes cleanly and went straight up. No putting the ball on the floor. No bending over to gather. He just finished clean on all 3. Just from where he started in the beginning of the season this is significant progress.

More after I have consume more adult beverages — and then get sober.

As I wrote earlier. I’m on DVR delay. Kid has karate tonight and I’m stuck taking her.

Trying to keep the home winning streak alive. Georgetown has really looked like it is getting better further into the season. They were beaten by a ‘Nova team that is playing well and Scottie ‘effing Reynolds has been insane for the last couple games.

Should be a very good one. I’ll post thoughts later tonight after watching it.

I just have been plain lax on the football side. What with the minimalist drama of this offseason. No one leaving early for the pros. No arrests. Recruiting at this point is pure maintenance, not some late snag.

There is some coaching stuff. I’ll start with the newest. Pitt needs a linebacker coach.

Central Michigan filled the defensive coordinator position on Monday, by hiring Joe Tumpkin to fill the defensive coordinator position at CMU.

Tumpkin spent the last two seasons as the linebackers coach for the University of Pittsburgh. He held the same position for three years at Southern Methodist before taking the position at Pitt.

Congrats to Tumpkin on a big opportunity. While very low profile at Pitt, he has done a very good job with the linebackers. Considering the importance in Wannstedt’s defense of the LBs, Tumpkin gets high marks for developing the LBs this past season.

Losing Tumpkin was somewhat expected. Albeit, becuase, everyone assumed that DC Bennett was gone to somewhere in Texas and he would bring Tumpkin with him.

Bennett at this point, still appears to be staying for another year. He hasn’t landed the gigs closer to Texas, so it appears Pitt has him for another year. I’ll defer to Coach Wannstedt on this one, but it seems that maybe it might have been better to let Bennett go.

Bennett clearly — and understandibly — wants to be closer to his family back in Texas. At some point there are going to be questions of whether he is too distracted or how effective he can be with one foot seemingly perpetually out the door.

In a move where the timing could have been better, graduate assistant Scott Turner was promoted to WR Coach. So on the same weekend that dad, Norv, gets bounced once more in the NFL Playoffs, the son is promoted to a full gig by the close friend in charge.

I don’t have really strong feelings one way or another on this one. If he can do the job and develop the WRs (and probably more importantly) show he can recruit then it’s a good move.

I shed no tears for the departure of Bryan Bossard — who wasn’t bad, but certainly did not seem like an impact position coach. Add in his less than outstanding recruiting ability and well, buh-bye.

There are some position changes and minor transfers (Shariff Harris heading to somewhere in 1-AA). The interesting one is redshirt freshman Kolby Gray going from QB to Safety.

Gray hurt his shoulder early. He was a dual-threat, athletic QB. I think everyone is aware of the likelihood he was going to get out there in that capacity. As a safety, it makes sense. I remember Tyler Palko was actually recruited by some schools (like Ohio State) with the idea of moving him to safety. It is not the most unusual conversion in football with a particularly strong and athletic QB. Eric Crouch, the Nebraska QB and 2001 Heisman and Davey O’Brien winner was converted to WR and safety in the NFL.

No liveblog for tonight’s game. I’m on DVR delay with other things that I have to do. I will have a post for an open thread later.

I’m sure everyone saw the Sunday feature on DeJuan Blair. Not a lot to add to it. I didn’t expect him to have any regrets, and he does stand to make even more money with playoff paychecks. Unlike a lot of other rookies on crappy teams.

Slam had a review of some top players from top NE Ohio teams that faced off. This included Pitt commit, Cameron Wright.

Cameron Wright | 6-5 | SG | Cleveland Benedictine | 2010
Killa Cam had a bit of an off night, not really getting too many shots to drop and doing the majority of his damage from the foul line. The athletic wing didn’t get to show off his nasty bounce and wasn’t shooting the ball especially well from the perimeter, but as usual, straight up put the clamps on people defensively. Wright finished with 14 points, in what was a bit of an off night offensively for the Pitt recruit.

He made plays on both ends down the stretch. The defense is what will allow him an opportunity to crack the rotation at Pitt sooner than with just offense.

A mention in Pat Forde’s rundown column at ESPN.com listing teams and people who were not on lists to start the season.

Why we used to care: The Panthers have been models of hard-nosed consistency, winning 25 or more games seven of the past eight seasons.

Why we stopped caring: They lost their leading scorer of the past two seasons (Sam Young). And their leading rebounder of the past two seasons (DeJuan Blair). And their leading assist man of the past two seasons (Levance Fields). Then they lost in December to rebuilding Indiana.

Why we care now: Look who is 5-0 in the Big East, with road victories over Syracuse, Cincinnati and UConn. The Panthers are characteristically among the best in the nation defensively and on the glass, and are sharing the ball beautifully on offense.

While Omar seethes, Gene Collier writes another column on how surprising Pitt is/has been at this point.

For the moment, Pitt seems to revalidate itself every time the lights go on. It has been a short road and somehow an incredible distance from a place where this team was beating Wofford at home by three on Nov. 13. That Pitt has advanced all the way to serious national scrutiny and throbbing local enthusiasm is a wonder, but, further, an unexpected challenge.

“There’s definitely been a lot of support, which is the great thing about Pittsburgh in general and especially from the Oakland Zoo,” Gibbs said. “It’s been great to have that support system. The thing is, you don’t want to get too confident. My parents have always taught me, if you stay humble and work hard, good things will happen. It’s exciting right now; I’m getting a lot more texts, but you can’t lose focus on what we’re trying to do. It’s all about winning games.”

Pitt will lose games (hopefully not tonight), and as I keep repeating, they will stumble. They will even look lost at points. That would happen regardless of whether Pitt was overachieving with a reloaded/rebuilt team or a veteran group. That happens to every team at some point in the season.

SI.com preview of tonght’s game sees the deciding issue being which backcourt plays better.

Jim Calhoun taking a ten day break for medical reasons. No official reason from the school other than to say it is for “temporary medical issues, none of which involve any previous medical conditions.” The unofficial reason is stress related.

Calhoun has previously had bouts with cancer (prostate and skin), heart problems and broken ribs. I realize it is supposed to reassure in recruiting that the more serious issues haven’t re-occurred, but is it that much better to not disclose the reason other than to say, “Hey, he’s got new health issues, but really they are just temporary.”

That said, I hope he gets well and we can get back to hating him.

In case you missed it, dealing with and stopping Greg Monroe will be the big task for Pitt.

“Different players, completely different,” Dixon said. “Monroe is playing more on the perimeter and [Julian] Vaughn is their inside guy. We were going to leave Samuels isolated and contain the 3-pointers. We could have done a better job defensively. But he made some tough shots looking back on it. A number of those he made we felt comfortable with him taking at the time. He just made them. He’s a very good player, one of the best low-post guys.

“But Monroe is a different matchup. He’ll play two different spots for them, but mostly he’s a face-up guy with an unbelievable skill set for a guy his size.”

Normally, the tallest player, especially at 6’11” would be playing center and draw Gary McGhee as the defensive match-up. Pitt, though, as already said that it won’t just be McGhee given how Monroe plays as much at the power forward spot, and does not play exclusively inside.

McGhee won’t be asked to chase Monroe all over the floor. Pitt will switch to forwards Nasir Robinson (6-5) and Gilbert Brown (6-6). But McGhee is ready for the task.

“We will probably switch it up, depending on what the situation it is,” McGhee said. “I am going to have to defend him well at the perimeter.”

Given Monroe’s size and skill set, there is always speculation as to whether he goes pro after this season (heck, there was speculation last year as well). He’s not saying, and while he has been a beast in some games  — especially Sunday’s loss to ‘Nova — he can look a little too passive and unassertive.

As for his on-court skills, Monroe shares the assessment of Coach John Thompson III, who believes his center is “far, far away” from reaching his potential.

Says Monroe, who’s averaging 14.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game: “I definitely think I’ve made strides on the court and off, but I think I can get a lot better still. There are a lot of things I have to work on, physically and [in terms of] learning more about the game. I don’t think I’m close to being as good as I can be.”

…

Monroe carries 247 pounds on his 6-11 frame. For a big man, he’s agile racing up and down the court. And with his length (Monroe boasts an 86-inch wingspan), he can be an effective shot-blocker.

What intrigues NBA scouts most, insiders say, is the talent he possesses at such a relatively young age: his skill as a passer and his overall basketball smarts.

Monroe is also developing greater range as a shooter under Thompson’s system, which is predicated on movement.

Monroe isn’t going to light it up from beyond the arc (he’s taken 15 shots in 16 games and made only 4). Monroe, as Casual Hoya noted for the entire G-town team, does seem to play up or down to the competition. So I’m expecting Monroe to be a force tonight.

The guy who gets missed in Georgetown with all the attention on Monroe is Austin Freeman. The latest wing player that is thriving in Georgetown’s offense. Freeman has become more assertive this year and has been the go-to guy on offense.

Senior guard Jermaine Dixon will be the next Big East defender who tries to slow down Austin Freeman of Georgetown. Freeman, a 6-foot-3 junior guard, is averaging 20.5 points in Big East play, highlighted by his 28-point, second-half outburst in the comeback win over Connecticut on Jan. 9.

“Freeman is playing about as well as anybody in the conference,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “He has gotten better off the dribble and without the ball. He’s always been an unbelievable shooter.”

Freeman is shooting 57.7 percent from 3-point range in the Big East, but is only 4 for 15 from behind the arc in three career games against Pitt.

Freeman has only been held to single digit scoring in 2 games this season.

The guy that G-town will be looking to stop will be the same guy everyone in the Big East has been trying to keep from getting clean looks from the perimeter — Ashton Gibbs.

It’s not like he won’t be out there — almost the entire time.

After each game Pitt’s coaches will study the box score and look at the number of minutes that each of the players logged. It is becoming a running joke among the coaches about the unusually high number of minutes that sophomore guard Ashton Gibbs has been playing.

“A couple of times I’ll look and say he played 39 minutes,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “And I’ll say, ‘I didn’t hear any of you guys tell me to take him out.’ ”

Translation: Gibbs is playing too well for the coaching staff to want to take him out of a game.

Gibbs, who is averaging 17.5 points per game in his breakout season, has not played fewer than 35 minutes in any of the first five Big East Conference games. He played all but one minute of a thrilling 82-77 overtime victory Saturday against Louisville.

Gibbs has been too important to take out of the game — especially on offense. His presence means that the defense has to stay after him and make sure there is no collapsing inside to clog and make penetration from the other guards and wing players. Plus, he has become more than a set shooter. He can come off of screens and curls and even drive and pull-up.  The final factor is that Gibbs is one of the most players least likely to turn the ball over.

It has meant that Travon Woodall and Chase Adams are having a hard time getting on the court. Arguably, both are as good if not — in the case of Woodall — a little better on defense than Gibbs. But neither can match the offense and taking care of the ball.

With Gibbs’s defense, substantially improved from last year he isn’t a liability at that end. It’s one of the things he has worked hard at from last year to this.

Along the way, Gibbs improved his defense — “He was a bad defender last year,” Dixon said — and his rebounding (he had eight at Syracuse) and off-the-ball movement.

“You talk about the work,” Dixon said. “Some people will work on the same things over and over again and not work on their weaknesses. Ashton has addressed things that we’ve talked with him about.”

…

“Ashton is one of those guys that likes to be by himself and shoot,” Dixon said. “That’s a comfort zone for him. Some guys need a guy to work out with them. He doesn’t. That’s the type of guy he is.”

Dixon said Gibbs’ work ethic compares to Sam Young’s, the legendary gym rat who is Pitt’s No. 4 all-time scorer and a rookie forward with the Memphis Grizzlies.

“(Gibbs) works just as hard as Sam,” Dixon said. “He came with it. With Sam, it developed.”

That work ethic and willingness to do whatever is needed to help a team is arguably part of what has made him a vocal team leader. Coach Dixon spoke of how Gibbs became a team leader on the U-19 team over the summer because he knew what Dixon wanted and no one else on the team was speaking up. That has carried over to the Pitt team.