While Nate Byham was also invited to the combine — and I believe he will have a solid career in the NFL — Dorin Dickerson got most of the attention at the TE position at the combine. He raised his stock. His numbers impressed.

Pittsburgh’s Dorin Dickerson, at 226 pounds the lightest tight end at the NFL Scouting Combine, led the field with unofficial times of 4.40 and 4.43 seconds Saturday. NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks projects Dickerson, who played a variety of positions for the Panthers, as an H-back type of player in the NFL. Dickerson moves a little bit like current Jets TE Dustin Keller, who was here two years ago.

The projections still put him outside of the first couple rounds, but still possible (Insider subs).

The story of the day among the tight ends was the performance put on by Pittsburgh’s Dorin Dickerson (6-1?, 226), whose official 4.40 in the 40 illustrated the explosiveness, burst and separation skills that set him apart from the rest of the tight end class. Dickerson looked good all over the field, catching the ball well and performing well in all phases.

The excitement around Dickerson is tempered by his lack of size, however. He has long arms (34 inches) and big hands but still must find a niche with an offensive coordinator who can create a unique H-back role for Dickerson, one that will use his versatility to create mismatches. Overall, though, Dickerson solidified his third-round grade and is at least in the late-second round discussion.

Despite plenty of positive takes, there are those who are not so positive, because of his hips.

Pitt TE Dorin Dickerson ran a blazing 40 (unofficially 4.40 seconds) and produced a 43-inch vertical jump, both of which will likely improve his stock. When we evaluated him on film and at the Senior Bowl, however, he looked to be more of a straight-line athlete who does not show the fluidity in his hips, even as a tight end, to consistently gain separation against NFL linebackers.

I think I’m obliged to go with a “that’s what she said” comment there.

Pitt never quite put St. John’s so far down in the second half that there was no chance that they could not come back. At the same time time, Pitt never really let St. John’s close the gap enough to make it probable. Pico put it right.

Watching the game, it seemed like a deeper cut, a more thorough beating. But on the scoreboard and in the box score, it wasn’t.

It also did not hurt just how badly coached St. John’s is. I mean, I have never like St. John’s. Yet, I found myself ticked off at how badly these players have been coached and wasted. Anthony Mason, Jr. is an unfortunate victim of injuries that took away some great skill and ability. But the others, Kennedy, Burrell, Boothe, Hardy and some others. I could picture any and all of them thriving at Pitt. None being particularly huge recruits, but you can see that they have talent, work hard, want to improve and will play defense.

Unfortunately for them, Norm Roberts has shown no clue at how to be a head coach and actually make a team. It is no wonder the papers in NYC barely pay attention to them except to note the frustration and say that Norm Roberts time should be finished.

Here’s a story that has been written by so many, many times over this millennium: Pitt winning without stars.

Sam Young isn’t surprised one bit.The former Pittsburgh standout and current Memphis Grizzlies rookie isn’t shocked one bit at the success the Panthers are enjoying.

“Not at all. Even though they lost some great guys in the program, still this is a program. It’s a system and the system works,” Young said at halftime of No. 12 Pitt’s 71-64 victory over St. John’s (15-13, 5-11 Big East) at Madison Square Garden.

Young addressed the current players at the half. He was in town because the Grizzlies faced the Knicks Saturday night as part of a split college/NBA doubleheader at the Garden.

Despite losing four players who combined for 286 career starts — Young, DeJuan Blair, Levance Fields and Tyrell Biggs — the Panthers are now 22-7, 11-5 in the Big East and headed to the NCAA tournament for the ninth consecutive season, seven straight under head coach Jamie Dixon.

Pitts doesn’t have a single player who is likely to be named to the All-Big East First Team.

Aside from the interesting note that Young addressed the team, it would be that Coach Dixon seems to be pushing Gibbs for Most Improved Player.

After helping the Jamie Dixon-coached USA Under-19 team win the gold medal last summer at the FIBA World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand, Gibbs has 10 games of 20 points or more. “I haven’t really looked at it but the numbers kind of speak for itself,” Jamie Dixon said when asked if Gibbs deserved Most Improved Player honors.

In the last 11 years, five Pitt players have already won the award – Ricardo Greer, Brandin Knight, Carl Krauser, Aaron Gray and Young.

“[Gibbs] stepped up in a big way because last year he was just a role player but that’s what we needed him to be,” Young said. “He’s a very hard worker. Even last year when he first got in he was a hard worker and it’s paying off.”

As for the game itself, there isn’t a lot to say. The struggle to rebound has now reached multiple games and appears problematic.

The rebounding and fouls were what kept St. John’s in the game. Pitt executed its offense so much better. They hit open shots and got more going inside. Gilbert Brown continues to alternate solid offensive games with disappearing acts. This was one of the good games, and he said the right thing about coming off the bench.

Brown, the team’s third-leading scorer at 10.6 points per game, has embraced his role coming off the bench. The 6-foot-6 redshirt junior forward is a candidate for Big East Sixth Man of the Year, an award started last season.

“I really want to be on a winning team, regardless of whether I’m starting or I’m a sixth or seventh man,” Brown said. “Our success as a team is the most important thing.”

I have to wonder if Jermaine Dixon has reaggravated his ankle or his foot hurting. It wasn’t just that Dixon has been pulling up for jumpers a lot more and not penetrating to the basket. He took only a few shots — all jumpers. He had 0 rebounds. He only had one against Notre Dame. And despite Gibbs having more significant foul troubles that limited him, Dixon only played 22 minutes. His one-on-one defense was solid but he seemed to stay outside on both ends.

Nasir Robinson had a very solid game. Scoring on putbacks and finishing inside (5-7) — and at the free throw line (3-3). He was one rebound shy of a double-double with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Dante Taylor gave Pitt some good minutes and looked solid at the offensive end. Overall, Pitt’s efficiency on offense was impressive in a slow paced game.

Still, a road win is always a good win, and Pitt has managed to go 5-4 on the road in the Big East this season. That means Pitt finishes the season with two home games. Not that Pitt should or wants to lose either, but they only need one to clinch a minimum of 4th place in the Big East and the double-bye for the Big East Tournament. Pitt could end tied at 4th with Louisville and Marquette but holds the tiebreaker over both for the double bye.

I’m leaning towards a coffee stout for this game. Noon on Saturday. I really hope that Pitt isn’t feeling as lethargic as I am. It’s snowing again in the Cleveland area and I never shoveled out from the stuff that fell in the evening and night. I need Pitt to win so I can at least feel some motivation to shovel afterwards.

Quickly, Pitt’s struggling with rebounding and wants to finish strong down the stretch. The players knew they played poorly on Wednesday and paid for it on Thursday and Friday with “boot camp.”

Today is the 25th anniversary of the “sweater game” between G-town and St. John’s. There might be a little mention of this during the game.

LiveBlog around noon. ESPN360, ESPN FullCourt, MASN, MSG or FoxSports Pittsburgh have the game. Frustratingly, no HD.

If you need to break it out, Click Here. Otherwise, just look down.

The pain had barely started to set in for St. John’s after an OT loss to Marquette off of an off-balance jumper at the first buzzer by Jimmy Butler, whenPico Dulce at East Coast Bias contacted me about a short follow-up exchange (here was the one from last month). I think he just wanted to get me at a weak moment following Pitt’s performance at ND.

So here’s his responses to my questions. My answers to his questions are here.

1. You seem resigned to another year of Norm Roberts. Is it strictly the money at this point or is there some glimmer of hope?

I don’t know that the team is resigned to another year of Norm. No one knows, really. The money issues at college campuses all over will impact decisions made, and there is no guarantee that fans and donors will open their pockets right now. I don’t think there is a hefty (relatively) buyout, but St. John’s is buying out faculty and staff to cut costs. An attempt to save enough for a new coach, or a sign that the belts are really tight? I don’t know. There is speculation – not hope, yet.

2. The Johnnies have actually won 3 of their last 5. A blowout of Louisville and road wins at USF and ND — the latter two being games Pitt failed to win. Not to mention the excruciatingly painful loss in OT to Marquette. Is there any common theme to those games?

The team is just playing better and with more aggression and confidence. Malik Boothe, in particular, has been more aggressive and hitting jump shots – something the fans never thought they would see. Justin Burrell has been more active and involved in scoring and on the glass. Also, admittedly, all of those teams have flaws. But St. John’s has really attacked the teams’ weak points (except for Seton Hall. That was a disaster.) – Louisville is weak if you break their press, Notre Dame’s defense is soft like a pillow, USF is dependent on getting to the foul line and Dominique Jones getting the ball in his positions, Marquette is dependent on the 3-ball and small inside. I don’t know what Pitt’s weakness is (besides scoring), so I am less confident that they could pull something out against the Panthers (if you know, please illuminate me).

Mind you, they could definitely be better, and I think the opposition has been part of the recent surge.

3. NIT or CBI? Any feeling of optimisim?

NIT? (cue Jim Mora’s “playoffs?” rant)

I dearly hope they won’t prolong the season with the CBI. It’s hard to get excited about, difficult to follow, has no cachet and little reward. The NIT, I think, is far from this team. I think the league should get 7 teams in the NCAA Tournament (they’ll probably find a way to squeeze in U Conn or someone will go on a tear in the tourney). After that, you have Notre Dame, Seton Hall, Cincy, and likely USF in the NIT. I suppose I could see St. John’s getting in… but the NIT should be filled with the Pac-10 and flopping SEC teams.

And if they go to the NIT, that might be the progress that brings the current staff back. So if they go, it’ll be bittersweet; and since it’s the NIT, not that much of the “sweet.”

The game with St. John’s will be airing on Big East Regional on ESPN FullCourt, MSG, MASN and FoxSports Pittsburgh.

Something a little more lighter. Former Pitt walk-on basketball player and presently Director of Business Operations in the Pitt Athletic Director, Marcus Bowman, is getting married. He and his fiance are trying to win the “Ultimate Wedding” prize at Crate and Barrel (h/t David).

Help him out and make sure it is a Blue and Gold affair.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on the ND loss. Mainly because Pitt has to quickly put it behind them and head to NYC for a Saturday Nooner at St. John’s. But also because I expressed most of my thoughts afterwards and little seems to have changed in my  view.

Coach Dixon was irritated about the 3-point defense.

Instead, Notre Dame finished 10 for 18 (56 percent) on 3-pointers.”I didn’t think our defense was good enough but, at the same time, to their credit they made shots,” Dixon said. “We talked at the start of the game and really for the last three days we talked about stopping the 3s, that shooting the 3-pointer was what they would need to do to win the game and, sure enough, they came out and hit a 3-pointer on the first play of the game and was 6 for 8 on 3-pointers for the first half.

“That really set the tone, and then [with the lead in the second half] they obviously ran clock and held the ball and the times we did get a stop, it didn’t seem like we finished it off with the rebound. We need to play much better than we did.”

The players acknowledged their performance bit.

“We didn’t play good defense, we didn’t play average defense, we played bad defense tonight,” said Pitt senior Jermaine Dixon. “We let them get open looks at the 3-pointer and then when they did miss it, they got the offensive rebound, so it is disappointing. They outworked us, and that definitely hurt us.

“They run it down to the end of the clock, and coach Dixon told us to make sure they don’t rebound their misses, and that is something they did. That’s big because you don’t have a lot of time on the other end to play offense and then, when they make the shot after they get an [offensive rebound], that is demoralizing.”

Heck Coach Dixon was irritated at most of what Pitt did in the game.

“We got beat in pretty much every aspect,” Jamie Dixon said. “It’s one loss. It feels right now like a number of losses.”

And again the players couldn’t disagree.

“We didn’t have our stuff going today,” Pitt center Gary McGhee said. “We had a lot of mishaps on defense. We didn’t rebound as well as we wanted to. When those combinations go together, it’s usually a loss.”

Notre Dame feels a lot better about itself, believing it can now play defense. Sure it took all season, but they did it.

Onto MSG where Pitt will look to snap a 2-game losing streak — at the place not to St. Johns.

That was not pretty. It was not a good night — to be kind. The way Pitt was being blown out in the second half, losing 68-53 was disturbingly cosmetic.

It was a bad effort from Pitt. They were a step slow a lot of the game and way too many jump shots on offense. No patience or effort to work the ball inside. Nothing sums it up like Gilbert Brown’s night. 3 points, going only 1-3 at the FT line and 1-7 shooting. Most problematic, he took (and missed) 5 3s. He wasn’t trying to penetrate and attack the rim. He and Jermaine Dixon spent most of the night taking jumpers.

Pitt did not attack the basket. They did not work it inside. Consequently they did not get fouled and did not get free throw attempts. Pitt went 4-18 on 3s. Gibbs made 3(-6) and Wanamaker had 1(-1).

Fatigue and a letdown probably played a role. Not an excuse, but Pitt came off two games that were very significant and emotional. At Marquette on Thursday where they had never succeeded. Then beating #5 Villanova on Sunday on CBS.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame played last Wednesday and had plenty of time to prepare and rest. They were at home.  To say nothing of how much they needed this game to have any hope of making the NCAA. They played like it.

They were hitting their 3s. It made it that much harder to defend when Pitt had to keep extending the defense and Notre Dame was effectively moving the ball and penetrating. I mean, Carleton Scott has gone 6-29 on 3s all season goes 2-3 tonight from outside. That just added to the misery.

You just hope that this game serves more as a lesson and reminder for the team.

7 PM on ESPN2 and ESPN360. John Saunders and Fran Fraschilla with the call.

Well, at least I feel good about the telecast. HD. Very good analyst and solid play-by-play. Plus Saunders is Canadian so you know he’ll be on the Olympic Hockey updates.

Usual things. If you need to break the liveblog out of the site,  Click Here.

Otherwise, right below.

Just  22 days until spring practices commence.

Pitt starts spring practice on March 18 . The Blue-Gold Scrimmage or whatever they are going to do to mark the end is set for April 17. I really wish they would have started at least a week later.

I hate saying anything good about them, but West Virginia is doing it right. Start the spring practice on April 6 — the day after the NCAA Tournament ends. That’s just good planning. Attention fully on the football side. All basketball over.

A little more regarding Pitt’s first commit for 2011 and his visit.

Offensive lineman Cyrus Kouandjio and defensive linemen Darian Cooper and Kendall Patterson went with Collura to Pittsburgh. After touring the campus, they met with position coaches and went to the Panthers’ basketball game that afternoon.

“When we broke off into meetings, their tight ends coach was straightforward what he expects tight ends to do, blocking and running routes,” Collura said. “Right then and there, I had an idea. Coming in, I was thinking Pittsburgh where I wanted to go. That seemed perfect right there.”

On Monday, after reviewing Collura’s game films, the Panthers extended a scholarship offer and it did not take long for him to decide.

“Everything was going crazy in our household, my dad was calling all the family,” Collura said. “Two hours later, after talking with Coach McGregor and my dad, I decided to commit. It seemed like an obvious choice.”

The big name of note in the list of teammates that came with Collura to visit Pitt is Cyrus Kouandijo. Tons of offers for him already (including Pitt, USC and Alabama). A consensus 5-star recruit considered by Rivals.com as the #1 OT in the 2011 class — at a point when most recruiting evaluations are not ready. So that’s something else.

Another visitor from the weekend was Jameel Poteat (apparently the nephew of Pitt standout Hank Poteat — one of the few bright spots from Johnny Majors II) who had a nice time (h/t to Dan).

…Poteat was very impressed with Pitt.  Poteat told Peak that, “It was great.”  Poteat went on to say that he was very comfortable, especially with head coach Dave Wannstedt. Poteat got to also hang with former Bishop McDevitt and Pitt running back LeSean McCoy.

Poteat is rated by Rivals.com as one of the top running backs in the country and an indication of that was that he just picked up offers from USC and Florida. In the past 2 seasons, he’s rushed for close to 3,000 yards and scored 39 rushing touchdowns.

Poteat says that he hopes to come up with a final five by July.

Here’s some very encouraging that Poteat told Pike when talking about the Pitt program. “I had that feeling. It just feels like you’re at home and the coaches and the fans show so much love. My parents love it, too, and that’s a big thing for me. And I love what Coach Wannstedt is doing with the program and how everything seems to be going right.”

Poteat isn’t yet starred by Rivals.com but is listed as a 5-star and the #5 RB nationally by Scout.com. It could not have hurt to have a former BIshop-McDevitt RB, Pitt great and next year’s starting tailback for the Philadelphia Eagles, LeSean McCoy at the game as well.

It all seems to be building to that sort of incident. Team without its star player for another game. A Notre Dame squad that will be undersized inside that should let Gary McGhee go wild.

Notre Dame will likely continue to use the lineup it had against Louisville with Harangody out. Forward Carleton Scott made his first collegiate start against the Cardinals, finishing with nine points, five rebounds and three blocks.

The Irish will also likely continue to work in freshman forwards Jack Cooley and Mike Broghammer.

Scott is 6-7 and Cooley and Broghammer are in that 6-8, 6-9 size. The danger is that ND while not having a real big man, has size all over. Abromaitis is 6-8. Nash is 6-8

A team that already shoots tons of 3s,  forced to rely on it even more.

The Irish shot 24 3-pointers in their most recent loss, a 91-89 setback in double overtime against Louisville. In the other game without Harangody, a 69-68 loss at St. John’s, the Irish took 20 3-pointers.

The Irish were competitive in both games because they were making a lot of those 3-point attempts. They were 10 for 20 against St. John’s and 10 for 24 against Louisville.

It was not a two-game spurt. Notre Dame remains a dangerous team against Pitt because it is shooting 41 percent from 3-point range for the season.

Junior forward Tim Abromaitis is shooting 49.5 percent and senior guard Ben Hansbrough 45 percent.

Now Pitt is one of the best teams at defending the three, but when a team is on that doesn’t always matter. The Irish have enough shooters that they can spread the field. Guys like Tory Jackson can penetrate to help create space and draw in defenders.  Plus the Irish are at home.

As if those on-the-court things weren’t enough to make you nervous of a trap game, consider that there is starting to be a bit more of passive media snipes being taken at ND Coach Mike Brey.

The Panthers routinely win at least 20 games overall and 10 league games each winter. Look up the word “program” in the college basketball dictionary and the reference likely says, “See, Panthers, Pittsburgh.”

All the Panthers lost off last season’s team that raced to a 31-5 record were four starters, including staples Levance Fields and Sam Young. All coach Jamie Dixon did was plug in four new faces, albeit veterans, give a little tweak here and there and before many around the country noticed, Pittsburgh put itself in position for a first-round league tournament bye – and may challenge for the regular-season league title.

“They’ve been the best program in my 10 years,” Brey said. “They’ve been there every year. This year is no different.

“They just have a system that is good.”

Players too. Fields and Young and DeJuan Blair step out, and Gilbert Brown, Ashton Gibbs, Gary McGhee and Nasir Robinson step in. The names on the backs of the jerseys may change, but the M.O. seldom has, dating back to the days of Ben Howland and Fitzgerald Field House.

“They’ve got guys who just go out there and play and work,” Jackson said. “They figure out ways to get it done.”

As for Notre Dame, the search continues.

And just for bad karma, talk of how Pitt is among the elite.

Before last season, Dixon was widely criticized for not getting a team past the NCAA tournament’s round of 16. He’ll always be criticized by some until he gets Pitt to a Final Four.

“I don’t care about Final Fours. I care about national championships,” Dixon said. “People don’t remember who made it to the Final Four. They only remember who won the national championship. A national championship is what separates you. We don’t have that yet.”

Notice the man said “yet.”

“I’m going to work as hard as I can to make it happen,” Dixon said.

Pitt is one of the best and most consistent programs in the country. It takes more, though, to be considered one of the elite, top programs. Putting it simply you have to go to Final Fours. You have to win in March and April.

It isn’t a criticism or even suggesting that I have any problems with the program, and especially not at Coach Dixon. I don’t. The fact that he dismisses talk of Pitt as an elite team right now shows how much he gets it. He is proud of what the program has and is doing, but it isn’t good enough. Yet, he is not taking shortcuts to try and get there. I love the path the program and even this present team is taking. I want Coach Dixon here for a long, long time. I want the slower growth, not the flash in the pan.

Just one game at a time, and this one is starting to give me an uneasy feeling.

And so does the ranting over it when it goes wrong.

There was a question about Pitt’s seeding if in a hypothetical, Pitt finished 14-4 in the Big East and won the Big East Tournament.

Honestly, I don’t like to worry or think too much about seeding until the end of the regular season. Oh, I look at some of the projections. It’s just that things can change too quickly. Not just for Pitt, but the teams around them.

Really all Pitt can do is take care of business around them. They have one loss that haunts them.

The Hoyas are appearing in brackets as a three-seed, which one could suggest is generous for a team with the Big East’s sixth-best offense and, what do you know, its sixth-best defense. Meanwhile a team like Pitt, two full games ahead of Georgetown in the standings and equal to the Hoyas in per-possession terms, is popping up as a four-seed. Maybe that little “4” next to the Panthers’ name should be replaced with something more honest and direct: “They lost to Indiana!”

More specifically, “They lost to Indiana on national TV!” These are strange days when losing to Northwestern, Miami or *ahem* South Florida would be a better loss.

Honestly, if Pitt runs things, I think they will be no better than a #2 seed. Kentycky and Kansas look like locks. Syracuse would have to really stumble. As would Purdue and a few others. Really #2 or #3 would be amazing regardless.

One game at a time, though.

In some ways that is Notre Dame at this point. Luke Harangody really does appear to be very unlikely to play on Wednesday.

Feeling better after missing two games to let a bone bruise in his right knee heal, Notre Dame power forward Luke Harangody planned to participate in all 90 minutes of Monday’s basketball practice.

He barely made it through 15 before lingering pain forced him out of a simple halfcourt drill. After consultation with team medical personnel and coach Mike Brey, Harangody has been ruled out for Wednesday’s home game against No. 12 Pittsburgh.

“He kind of stepped out for a few minutes and wanted to come back in,” said Brey, whose team never got to a planned scrimmage with Harangody. “I said, ‘No, that’s it. We’re not going to play games with it.’ “

Well, as they showed in taking Lousiville to OT at Freedom Hall, the Irish can still play. Even more so at the Joyce Center. The Irish really enjoy a big homecourt advantage there — even with a stunning loss to St. John’s. In fact that makes it a little scarier. Only once in the past 4 years has ND dropped two straight at home.

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Okay, remaining stuff to get out before turning attention to Wednesday’s game — now with less Harangody (for now).

Harangody’s first full day of practice since suffering a bone bruise on Feb. 11 didn’t go as planned. With more persistent pain than expected, Harangody has been ruled out for the immediate future.

Irish coach Mike Brey, speaking on his weekly radio show, said he didn’t know when the All-American would return.

“There was pain there today that we aren’t going to play around with,” Brey told listeners. “I said, ‘Luke, I’m not going to let you play.'”

Of course if he practices with less or no pain on Tuesday, things can change.

Ray Mernagh at NBE Basketball continues to be impressed with Pitt.

At some point soon I’m going to write 800 words on how impressive Nasir Robinson is in what he does for this team as he battles in the paint defensively and fights for rebounds, deflections etc.

A few weeks ago some were wondering if Pittsburgh, after a fast start, was in danger of missing the NCAA’s for the first time in nine years. Now I’m still amazed at the number of new wrinkles getting put in offensively — cuts you haven’t seen before, Dixon and Woodall finding people for layups. Woodall springting to the line and sinking pressure free throws down the stretch.

Post-Gazette beat writer Ray Fittipaldo responds to some grief now given for stating that it had appeared that Woodall was a recruiting error. It’s a tad defensive, but it is fair to point out that most looking in on the program were seeing this as conventional wisdom up until a couple weeks ago.

When Nova loses, they foul even more than usual. The tempo Pitt imposed on Nova seemed to be a jarring thing for the Wildcat faithful.

You want to take something more away from the game than just a win? Covered.

Chris Peak at PantherLair suggests notice has been served.

First there was the 82-72 win at Syracuse on January 2nd. Next came the triple-overtime 98-95 win against West Virginia 10 days ago. And then on Sunday Pitt mounted a toppling of the No. 3-ranked Wildcats.

Consider it an overthrow of the Big East’s trilateral leadership.

Of course, Pitt’s not making any proclamations on the throne – “We’re just one step closer to winning the Big East regular season. We’re just trying to do our part,” was the most senior guard Jermaine Dixon would offer after the Villanova game – but no other team in the conference can claim a set of wins against the Orange, the Wildcats, and the Mountaineers this season.

In fact, outside of Pitt, no team in the conference has won more than one game against that trio of teams; with two weeks left in the season, the other 12 teams have combined for a 4-28 record against Syracuse, Villanova, and West Virginia.

Well, UConn can now claim wins over Nova and WVU — plus a really tough loss to Syracuse. So, take from that what you will.

Kevin Gorman wants everyone to know that it is the players not the place.

It wasn’t so much the intimidation of the Oakland Zoo and a standing-room-only attendance of 12,920 – the largest on-campus crowd in Pitt basketball history – that made it a miserable afternoon for Villanova.

“The toughest thing,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said, “is their team.”

To say Pitt is tough to beat at the Pete is an understatement. The Panthers are 130-11 all-time there. But it’s not because of the Pete. It’s because of Pitt.

Eric Hall seems to have given up trying to figure out the secret to this team. He just wants to enjoy it.

Brandin Knight was still dressed in a dapper black pin-striped suit as he walked through the halls of the Petersen Events Center hours after Pitt’s latest shocker, a 70-65 win over No. 3 Villanova Sunday, his ear-to-ear smile completely his impeccable wardrobe.

The Pitt assistant has seen his share of success in this building. He helped open the place in a season that begat a second straight Sweet 16. His retired number whistles in the rafters every time the fans cheer. His rise from video coordinator to Jamie Dixon’s coaching staff coincided with an Elite Eight season last year.

But he even couldn’t explain this team and its uncanny knack of doing the unexpected.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged.

Enjoy.

And the honor goes to Sam Collura, a TE from DeMatha in Hyattsville, Maryland.

Not a high-starred prospect at either recruiting site, but there seemed to be a lot of interest — without offers. He is part of another loaded group at DeMatha.

Pitt’s junior weekend just happened to coincide with a Nike Football Combine in Pittsburgh.

More than 500 prospects from states as far away as Tennessee and Kentucky in addition to Canada came out to compete.

Corey Jones of Penn Hills (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Jermaine Thornton of Erie East (Erie, Pa.) posted the top 40-yard dash time and vertical jump respectively at the event.

A 5-foot-8, 158-pound rising sophomore, Ross Douglas of Avon (Avon, Ohio), was another underclassman that turned heads on Saturday.

There’s a list of the top-7 standouts from the event.

Hopefully Pitt will nab a few more early commits from the weekend.

You know this really annoyed me. I was thinking after the Pitt win yesterday how Gary McGhee could very well be Pitt’s most improved player and be in play for the Big East’s award. Unfortunately, Bob Smizik beat me to it and went to hyperbolic extremes in extolling McGhee’s virtues.

If McGhee doesn’t win the award, there should be an investigation. In fact, if he doesn’t win it unanimously there should be an investigation.

Furthermore, after this season they should name it the Gary McGhee Award.

McGhee, a 6-foot-10 junior from Anderson, Ind., was the proverbial guy who couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time during his first two seasons at Pitt.

What were those first two years like? Here’s what the Pitt media guide says about McGhee‘s career prior to this season:

“. . . his most memorable contest was a six-point, four-rebound performance at South Florida.’’

In his first two season, McGhee played in 52 games, averaged six minutes, 1.5 rebounds and 1.3 points.

Anyone who expected to see significant changes in those numbers this season simply isn’t telling the truth. McGhee looked to have no future at Pitt other than sitting on the bench.

But look what’s happened to Gary McGhee.

He can shoot, he can pass, he can rebound and, brother, he can defend.

I’m not arguing with it. Not only has McGhee vastly improved from his first two years, his improvements from the start of the season to this point have been incredible. Or have they?

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