A Friday night game that didn’t end until close to midnight means much media coverage — beyond ESPN — results in not nearly the number of news stories this kind of game would usually produce. Add in the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics and it goes down furthe. As a further aside, I am so glad I didn’t get talked into DVRing the game to let the wife watch the opening ceremonies on the big HD TV. Even with a 1/2 hour extension of taping, it would have been short.

Was this the game of the year (at least to this point)? I’m inclined to doubt it since there are too many games left. Plus you never make that judgment right afterwards. That said,  I sure won’t argue against it.

Fun fact. Bob Huggins is yet to beat Pitt at the Pete. Before the game, Huggins did his best to play the, “no game is bigger than another,” card.

“All (a win) means is we still have three losses and we’re still two games behind (Syracuse and Villanova in the standings),” Huggins said. “We don’t try to get too up or down or make any game bigger than the other.”

And after the triple-OT loss?

“I’ve done this for 30 years, man,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said, asked if he could remember a game with so many swings. “There isn’t much I haven’t seen.”

A very interesting little factoid in that article.

Butler also scored 13 points in the first half. During the liveblog, it can be easy to miss some of the individual defense being done. I know I was more frustrated with Dixon’s offense. When Dixon fouled out, Butler caught fire again. Butler went and scored 12 straight points for WVU in the second and third OTs to carry the ‘Eers. I’m so glad he’s a senior.

WVU players were less jaded than their coach after the game.

“This is definitely one of the toughest losses I’ve had,” Bryant said.

Go on…

“The feeling in my stomach is sick; it is disgusting,” said West Virginia point guard Darryl “Truck” Bryant. “We’re up seven points, with a minute left — that’s a game we are supposed to win every single time and we didn’t. We missed free throws, turned the ball over, there is no reason for it — we’re supposed to win that game.”

That much, Huggy-Bear can agree.

“When you miss free throws and fumble it around like that, you allow the other team to stay in the game,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “And then, we turn it over and everybody in the gym knows they want Gibbs to shoot it — including our guys — and we let him shoot and tie the game.

“Give Pitt credit, they didn’t fold and continued to play hard, but they couldn’t have won this game without a lot of help from us. I mean, when a team comes back like that, they have to get some help from the other team, and we gave them a lot of help.”

The biggest help was the missed free throws late in regulation that could have made it impossible for Pitt. The turnovers, missed baskets and bad defense by Hoopies hurt them, but that all still required Pitt to do what it needed to do. Missing three straight front end’s of one-and-ones in the final minute.

No doubt, if Pitt had been on the other end we would be totally on the issue of how Pitt gave the game away. However, since Pitt came out on top, we can go with the good stuff of how the team dug deep, never quit and just through the superior will and character of being Pitt, beat the Hoopies.

“I’m very proud of our guys and how they battled,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “Hopefully, we can learn something from this and build off it.”

In front of a sold-out crowd and a national television audience, Pitt, which trailed the entire second half, rallied from a 66-59 deficit in the final 50 seconds to force overtime.

…

“I didn’t think we would never have a game like Louisville in the same season,” junior forward Gilbert Brown said. “But we did it tonight. It’s the greatest comeback ever since I’ve been at Pitt. The way we fought back at the end of regulation was just huge. This goes down as one of the greatest.”

Perhaps just as importantly, the game helped the players get some of their swagger back.

“We needed a win like this to make us believe we could do this again,” said Pitt’s Gilbert Brown, talking about a recently snapped stretch in which the Panthers lost four of five games.

Briefly, about the fans. There really wasn’t much of a concern it seemed. So, the praise for behaving seems a little silly. Even sillier, before the game, WV homers pretended to be concerned because Pitt was not concerned. The winner, though, goes to a WV writer who actually wondered aloud if Hoopies would try to make Pitt fans look just as bad.

Quick question: Does a WVU fan buy a Pitt shirt and attend tonight’s game and pick a moment to throw stuff on the floor? Hypothetical, that’s all.

Outstanding.

…Before I collapse

You know, I just looked up at SportsCenter to find out DeJuan Blair had a 20-20 night in the Rookie-Sophomore NBA game. That’s nice.

Good luck to the rest of college basketball on Saturday in topping tonight. Odds are it won’t be coming from the Big 11. In a hilarious scheduling quirk, there are three games on Saturday. 3 of the 5 teams tied for 1st in the Big 11 against the bottom 3 teams in the conference: Mich St-PSU; Ind-Wisc; Iowa-Purdue. To quote the Big 11 Network’s own commercial, “Never, never, leave the couch!”

Man, it is a good thing Pitt has 6 days before the game against Marquette. Playing at the Bradley Center was going to be tough enough. If this game took place just a few days after tonight, Pitt would still be too drained mentally and physically.

I still can’t get over the night Woodall had. I’ve been so disappointed and hard on him. He was terrified to shoot early, but was so composed in the second half and the OTs. He finished with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 0 turnovers. If this gets his confidence back, it would be huge.

Wanamaker had a double-double. 24 points and 10 assists. Gilbert Brown and Ashton Gibbs provided points — especially late. McGhee didn’t score a lot, but was a strong force inside.

A strong finish and never giving up — even if we started to — was inspiring.

Complete stomach punch to WVU and the Hoopies. They had the game. Then they didn’t.

Whee.

2-year old’s first trip to the dentist this morning. You can only imagine how much fun that was for all involved. Next time one of us is going to get anesthetized. I’m volunteering but may have to fight the wife for that one.

There will be a live blog here for tonight’s ESPN counter-programming to the opening ceremonies to the Winter Olympics. Which started another, uh, discussion with the wife when I let her know that there was a game tonight that I intended to watch on the big screen.

Most of the attention is on how the Oakland Zoo will behave. It seems like a non-story, because there is no real concern.

Pitt’s done well at home against top-5 teams. Which really means nothing since the sample size at the Pete is all of five games.

This is the start of another brutal stretch for Pitt. WVU, a trip to the Bradley Center against Marquette, home to face ‘Nova and then to South Bend — the only place where ND can win. Pitt needs to manage a 2-2 stretch.

This is the game that matters right now. No one believes Pitt will play as badly as they did in Morgantown, when afterwards Coach Dixon treated the team like children after they got in trouble while out with the parents.

Dixon had much more important things on his mind during that 75-mile bus ride home.

Not that he did much talking. Nobody did.

“It wasn’t pleasant,” said senior guard Jermaine Dixon. “Coach Dixon said he didn’t want to hear us talking. He didn’t want to hear anything. It just wasn’t good.”

Good news, Seth Davis at SI.com is picking the Hoopies.

LiveBlog kicks off right around 9pm.

If you need to break it out from the site, Click Here.

Otherwise, it is below.

Odd that Pitt never got around to putting a press release out on the hiring of Bernard Clark as LB coach. I know it isn’t hiring a new coordinator, but it seems standard to put something out even when a position coach is hired. Guess too distracted by signing day, hall of fame and the new schedule — non-con and Big East.

Well his hometown paper in Tampa puts out a story on Clark’s hiring by Pitt. He seems, er, energetic.

“Every now and then, I’ll put on the helmet and the shoulder pads, not to show my players that I’m better than them, but to show how I want things done,” said Clark, the well-traveled coaching veteran, one of the all-time greats at Leto High and the University of Miami. “You can’t ever say I lacked for enthusiasm.”

Now Clark is taking his passion to the University of Pittsburgh, who hired him this week as linebackers coach. Clark will work for Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt, who was his defensive coordinator at Miami in the late 1980s.

“I can’t wait to get started,” said Clark, replacing Joe Tumpkin, who became defensive coordinator at Central Michigan University. “I’ve been to a lot of places the last few years, all over the place, really. I’m excited that it has led to this.

“You won’t find many places with the rich tradition of a place like Pittsburgh. We’ve really got something special to sell. They won 10 games last season and we’re very close to winning the Big East championship (losing in the final seconds against Cincinnati). I’m glad to be part of it.”

Clark was a big part of the famed Miami Hurricane teams of the late 80s, and was apparently featured in the recent ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, “The U.” Now required viewing for the Pitt linebackers to get a sense of their new coach. I have heard excellent things about the documentary. It is on my DVR, but I haven’t had time to sit down and watch.

Clark — obviously — expects to be recruiting in Florida.

A coupleeftovers from last week (and I still have  a few more after this). Go figure, trust is a big deal in recruiting (please stifle your snickers). Pitt commit T.J. Clemmings is quoted talking about how the first impression mattered most to him — good thing Pitt was one of his first visits.

Pitt secondary coach and NJ recruiter Jeff Hafley gets nice love in the piece as it is noted that he has brought 8 players from NJ to Pitt between this year and last.

In the four seasons before that, Pittsburgh had just three commits from New Jersey.

The 30-year-old Hafley started from humble coaching beginnings at the college level, first at Albany before accepting a job as the graduate assistant on Dave Wannestedt’s staff in 2006. He slept on an inflatable mattress for two years in the coaches’ office on campus, dedicating himself to earning his spot.

His ability to connect with recruits almost immediately — especially those from North Jersey — has served Pittsburgh tremendously well.

“From the first time I met Jeff, I just knew he was a genuine guy, and that’s what I was hoping for,” Clemmings said. “What Coach Hafley didn’t do was bash other schools.

“He talked about Pittsburgh and nobody else, and that meant something to me. He really sold me on the reality.”

He was a grad assistant. He was sleeping on an air mattress in the office because he was homeless.

Hafley got a bit more attention again in a generic piece on finding overlooked diamonds-in-the-rough at Pitt, WVU and PSU.

The Big East put out the full schedule.

Here’s Pitt’s:

2010 Pitt Football Schedule

Good news. No Friday night game (for now). A Thursday nighter at UConn.

5.5 games on national TV at this point.

Between the February doldrums and the snow that continues to fall, the fact that I am not quietly drinking in a corner while the kid is playing with cleaning supplies is a decent victory for me.

It also means I’m letting a lot languish. So, it is time to just clear out some of the browser tabs.

Spurs.com has a pleasant puff piece on DeJuan Blair and wanting to give back to the Hill District.

The Hill claimed Blair’s best friend and closed his school. It also provided inspiration. Before he arrived at the University of Pittsburgh — just 600 yards away from his home — Blair began lifting his community. As a senior, he led Schenley High to the state championship. He announced his decision to attend Pittsburgh at a recreation center in The Hill. After his first season at Pitt, Blair became larger than life on The Hill.

He visited schools, hung out at the rec center and gave motivational speeches. Recalls Dixon, “His freshman year I said, ‘Hey DeJuan, you are not going to be here for four years. What I want from you is to impact this city, I want you to be a person of stature because of the things you do beyond your playing career.'”

Blair took the charge seriously, so seriously he often showed up at schools without telling officials at Pittsburgh who arrange such events.

“He’d go out and speak to a high school on his own,” says Pittsburgh media relations director Greg Hotchkiss. “He’d go out and do community service on his own.

The ever-continuing question of whether Gilbert Brown should be in the starting line-up and bringing Nasir Robinson off the bench is not likely to end. The last couple of games has seen Brown come in by the first TV Timeout (around 16 minute mark) as opposed to around the 14 to 12 minute mark. He’s also playing more minutes lately. Personally, I don’t think it matters that much. He is seeing plenty of minutes and doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.

I think three other things work in favor of keeping Robinson in the starting line-up. Robinson is not the scorer Brown is, but he is a little more consistent — for good and ill. With Brown, he is up and down from game to game. It is probably good for Robinson’s confidence to still be a starting the game. Plus, keeping Brown on the bench to start may be better in protecting him. The last thing that Pitt needs is Brown in early foul trouble. Being on the bench early gives him a chance to gauge the way the game is called/played. Nothing would suck more than seeing him pick up a foul in the first couple minutes and have to play more tentatively.

J.J. Richardson has been given a chance in recent games and has embraced the opportunity even out of position.

Richardson is not a trained center. He played power forward in high school and expected to play power forward at Pitt. But shortly after he arrived on campus, he was told he would be playing center this season.

For Richardson, the transition has been difficult at times, but he is finally starting to feel comfortable. That was evident in his performance against the Mountaineers.

He likely earned more minutes with his inspired play, but he knows he must continue to produce to warrant more time in the rotation.

“I think I did prove something to [the coaches], but I think I have to prove more to them,” he said. “I did have a good game, but I think I can show them more. I can come out and rebound better and do a few other things better. I think I can do more in that sense.”

Coach Dixon sounded almost Wannstedtian in his explanation as to why Richardson had not seen much action until the WVU debacle.

“That’s something we’ve talked to him about,” Dixon said. “I thought we’d have more situations with foul trouble with our big guys. He’s working hard and showing improvement. He has a better understanding on the defensive end. He’s rebounding well. Those are the things that stood out to me. Guys get better at different rates and he’s improving. Our players have seen him work hard and he deserved the opportunity.”

The whole Dante Taylor matter should have everyone weary and done discussing it now — whether it is the issue of playing power forward or center, his overall minutes, his conditioning, declaring a bust or disappointment, etc.  Sure, some people just can’t let it go.

I indicated last week that he is more in line with most other freshmen big men. I never got around to commenting on potentially provocative/threatening column on Taylor that had his high school coach talking. Questioning why Taylor was playing Center, and making an implied threat.

This isn’t to place the blame squarely on Dixon, as Taylor deserves his share for failing to take advantage of his opportunity. Overwhelmed or not, there’s no excuse for lacking intensity or playing soft. But Taylor is Pitt’s first McDonald’s All-American in 22 years and, after watching his struggles, it might be some time before the Panthers land another.

“The way it’s going right now, it would be really hard for me to send a McDonald’s All-America up there again,” Brown said. “People call me and say, ‘Why isn’t he playing? Why is he playing the center spot?’

You know how seriously that implication should be taken? Not at all. He follows that supposedly provocative statement with this.

“I can’t question Jamie Dixon’s coaching because Jamie Dixon is one of the best coaches in the country. All I can do is trust him with what he’s doing. He’s pretty successful. I’m just a high school coach. We played against Sam Young two or three times a year and, coming out of high school, he was nowhere as skilled as Dante Taylor is. We saw how they developed him, and that’s what attracted Dante — and me as a coach — to Pittsburgh.”

Brown called Taylor a “loyal kid” who isn’t complaining or talking about transferring, but emphasizes that his production would increase with more playing time.

Now obviously he is questioning the decision, but he’s also smart enough to hedge. He wants Taylor to succeed because it helps the coach at a private school to be able to recruit more talent by pointing not just to the players who get McD accolades but to how players from his program go to the major programs all over. He’s not about to blacklist Pitt and Jamie Dixon over Taylor playing center instead of power forward in Taylor’s first year. He’s also smart enough to note the history of Coach Dixon in developing players and Taylor needs developing — in skills and conditioning.

He also wants to protect his former player (and himself). That’s why he stresses that Taylor is a PF, and not a C. That’s fine, but Taylor to play PF in the Big East — and really in any of the BCS conferences — needs to be able to play, rebound, pass and bang inside. He has to be able to operate inside. It will happen, just not as fast as anyone wishes.

Damnit. I still ended up spending too much additional pixels on this.

A couple other things. Another article on how Jermaine Dixon wasn’t able to practice during Pitt’s slump.

An article on Gary McGhee not getting the touches early against RMU, but Pitt went to him later in the game.

I feel a little conflicted about how much I should read into this game.

It’s February, so every game seems to take on a deeper meaning. That there should be so much subtext and things to analyze.  Yet… if this took place back in November or December, I would essentially view this game as about what I expected. Ultimately, that is the way I feel like looking at this. There’s a danger in trying to read too much into a non-con game against a noticeably inferior team.

RMU came out firing and hard charging as a scrappy local team would want to do against the big cat in the area. Pitt was caught off guard at first, but slowly in the first half began to to take control. The Panthers blitzed RMU in the first five minutes of the second half to make sure the outcome would never be in doubt.

“We did a lot of switching and we weren’t closing in the first half,” Jermaine Dixon said. “Coach got on us at halftime, and they shot 26 percent in the second half.”

Pitt also started going inside against the Colonials in the second half. Gary McGhee, who was held scoreless in the first half without a shot, scored the opening two baskets of the second half as Pitt went on an 8-0 run. McGhee scored eight points in the second half.

“I was afraid they’d go to him early,” Robert Morris coach Mike Rice said. “He sets up so close to the basket, he’s like a wall.

“We were able to play with them. We probably played our best basketball of the season in the first half and we were still down six at halftime. They made adjustments and made it more difficult for us in the second half.”

There was the obligatory run by RMU to try and salvage pride coupled with a bit of a letdown by Pitt’s play. Then reassertion and in the end a 77-53 dismantling.

The best you can say about it, is that coupled with the Seton Hall rout, it furthered the confidence re-building on offense.

Dixon tied a season-high with three 3-pointers and scored 18 points.

For Gibbs, it was his first 20-point game in more than two weeks. He had not scored more than 14 points in any of the previous four games.

“It felt good,” Gibbs said. “It’s something I’ve been working on consistently. I knew they would fall sooner or later. I was finally connecting. My teammates did a good job of finding me in open spots and I took advantage of it.”

Dixon came into the game shooting 22 percent from 3-point range, but he made three of his first four 3-point attempts Monday night.

“I don’t think I was shying away [from taking 3-pointers],” Dixon said. “I’d rather drive to the paint. With someone closing out on me, I feel like I can beat them to the basket. But I have to take that 3 sometimes to keep people honest. Today, knocking them down, it felt good for me. I’m knocking them down more in practice. I had some confidence coming into the game with my shot.”

Of more interest, and maybe a little more of a coincidence than the story paints, Jermaine Dixon hadn’t been involved in a lot of team practices for the past few weeks.

Pitt’s recent slide — the Panthers lost four of five games before beating Robert Morris 77-53 Monday night for their second straight win — coincided with Dixon’s absence from practice. Certainly, sitting out the South Florida game directly resulted in 37 points from Dominique Jones. But Dixon wasn’t practicing before that injury because of twice-broken metatarsals in his foot.

“For three weeks,” coach Jamie Dixon said, “he didn’t practice but played. It’s not good to play once or twice a week and not to practice between games. We did that with Levance (Fields two seasons ago). It’s not good.”

Jermaine Dixon’s ability as a shutdown defender didn’t seem to be affected much. What was evident was his offense in particular and the team’s in general. Since a career-high 21 points in that January upset of Syracuse, Dixon shot 25 of 72 (.347) in his next seven games, not scoring more than 14 in any of those.
…
“He’s a different player and we’re a different team when Jermaine practices,” Coach Dixon said. “Him practicing makes us a better team.”

RMU Coach Mike Rice still doesn’t like to have played the game in February, disrupting the NEC schedule, and being little more than a warm-up for Pitt before WVU.

Not sure I see it that way for Pitt. Yes, WVU had the far more difficult game in their loss to ‘Nova last night. But the WVU-Pitt game isn’t until Friday night. Plenty of time for both teams to get much more meaningful action in practice and forget about Monday night’s games.

Last week Deadspin had a bit about trademarks and they brought up how Robert Morris likes to go as “Bobby Mo” at times. Yet the university does not own the trademark. Honestly, I never knew they went by that. You would think in the storied rivalry that is Pitt-Robert Morris, I would know these things.

Liveblog in a couple hours. As usual, right below, or you can break it out by Clicking Here.

I am concerned that Pitt is slacking off on its ‘stache quotient in the coaching staff. The departure of Tumpkin meant Pitt lost a fine pencil-thin stache. Hiring Scott Turner didn’t change things. Now Pitt went and hired another stache-less guy.

2010 will be [Bernard] Clark’s 13th season coaching college football. He most recently served as the defensive coordinator for Hampton University in 2009. Prior to last season, he was a defensive assistant Florida International in 2007 and 2008.

2006 saw Clark coach the defensive line at South Florida, and he spent 2004 and 2005 as the defensive coordinator at FIU. He got his start in college coaching in 1998 when he coached the defensive ends at James Madison for two years, after which he coached linebackers and special teams are Liberty from 2000-03.

Clark’s connection to Pitt comes through his college playing career, as he was as standout linebacker – nicknamed “Tiger” – for the University of Miami in the late 1980’s. In the 1987 national championship game, Clark started at middle linebacker in place of a suspended player and went on to earn Orange Bowl MVP honors for his performance.

It’s not a Pitt connection so much as a Wannstedt connection. That fits Coach Wannstedt’s general approach to go with guys he knows and trusts.

The official line in recruiting this year has been that Pitt didn’t demphasize Florida, they were just focusing on other areas. Since Pitt was the only Big East school without a Florida recruit finding a guy with Florida ties made sense.

“To be a part of a program so rich in tradition as that, it’s huge,” said Clark, 43, a Leto graduate who coached at USF for the 2006 season. “It’s a great opportunity for me.”

Clark is reunited with Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, who was defensive coordinator at Miami when he played linebacker there in the late 1980s. Since his year at USF, Clark spent two seasons as defensive line coach at Florida International before going to Hampton last summer.

Clark doesn’t know his exact recruiting territory yet, but he’ll use his state ties to help recruit Florida for the Panthers, especially the Tampa and Miami areas.

We’ll just pencil him in for recruiting most of Florida.

I’m still concerned about the lack of staches in the last two hires.

Usually a late-January or February non-con game takes place because ESPN or CBS wants to carry it. Pitt has had a couple of these in recent years. This year it is Robert Morris. Not sure if this is some sort of placeholder or to replace something that fell through. Whatever the reason, RMU Coach Mike Rice says he won’t do it again. Either schedule in November or December to get all the major conference beatings out of the way at once or not at all.

Robert Morris is on top of the NEC with an 11-1 record and boasts a 9 game winning streak. They have non-con wins over Cleveland State and Ohio and an RPI in the 150s. Of course RMU also lost to Penn State, Duquesne and Kent State.

Pitt, though, has yet to lose to Robert Morris in 27 tries. Still, there is familiarity by the players so intimidation is not going to be in the equation.

Freshman guard Karon Abraham said he believes the Colonials have a better chance of beating Pitt than Syracuse.

“Everybody knows their role now,” Abraham said. “We’re together. We don’t break down anymore. And we’ve played under pressure.”

Freshman guard Velton Jones said he and his teammates relish the opportunity to compete against teams from the Big East, which is considered the best conference in Division I this season.

“Playing a Big East team is pretty big,” Jones said. “I think a lot of people are really looking forward to it.”

RMU opened their season at Syracuse, losing by 40.

The Colonials have had season long distractions of sorts with their coach coming up for many NY-area jobs. Fordham — his alma mater — already fired their head coach, and has been the biggest name at this point. Not sure what his ties truly are to Fordham, but that seems like a graveyard job these days.

Just as a sidenote, Pitt commit for next year (grades willing), J.J. Moore looked very impressive at the National Prep School Invitational, dropping 30 points in a game.

Game tonight is 8pm. There will be a liveblog.

Well, unless you were a Seton Hall fan. It sure didn’t help the Hall’s chances that one of the few players on the team that plays defense like he actually enjoys it — Keon “wrong-way on the highway” Lawrence was still back in New Jersey (very vague reasons that SHU Coach Gonzo swears are minor and personal).

What amazes me about this Seton Hall season is that it isn’t going anywhere near their two expected scripts. The first was that they would rip themselves apart with the assembled transfers and all the baggage brought with them. At the very least it would be entertaining theater. The other scenario would be that the team would gel and with that talent finish in the upper-half of the conference and be a NCAA Team — they were a trendy BE darkhorse darling.

Instead it is neither. Just like the past couple years under Gonzalez. They are unpredictable with effort and how good or bad they play. Part of it is that they remain an undisciplined team that can’t control their emotions. The whole team is like that starting with their coach. He can’t control himself, the players act the same way.

Little factoids about the reason to go forward with the game was the Big East rules enforced to the letter.

“It is Big East policy that as long as the opposing team is in town and can arrive at the arena safely and the officiating crew is in town and can arrive safely, you play the game,” Pitt associate athletic director E.J. Borghetti said.

The game was played with two officials, the NCAA minimum, because one of the scheduled refs, Evon Burroughs, was reportedly stuck on the turnpike en route from the eastern part of the state.

Seton Hall arrived on a chartered flight from the New York metro area Friday afternoon, beating the brunt of a storm that piled nearly two feet of snow on Western Pennsylvania and prompted Gov. Ed Rendell to declare a state of emergency.

“Taking off was fine,” Seton Hall sports information director Matt Sweeney said. “Landing, we really couldn’t see much until we were about 150 feet off the ground.”

The weather conditions forced the entire Seton Hall contingent — coaches, players, managers — to walk about five blocks in the snow to their downtown hotel when the chartered bus got stuck after a yesterday morning shoot-around.

On the return trip later in the afternoon, the chartered bus needed a couple of tries before making it up the steep hill to its parking spot at the Pete loading docks.

As for the lack of TV, it was all on the hill.

We’ve been told ESPN Regional did send its people to Pittsburgh but that the production truck could not make it up the hill to the Petersen Events Center due to the icy road conditions. ESPN can rule the world but it can’t rule mother nature.

I’m sure that the hill was eventually cleared — or the SHU bus would never have made it — but not early enough.

Pitt did a lot of things right in the game. They shared the ball, played strong defense — stifling and frustrating Pope which encouraged bad shooting and dumb fouls, but most importantly — scoring. The assists come when Pitt makes baskets. Frankly, Pitt has been horrible at scoring. They’ve had a chances, but haven’t finished or done anything on the perimeter.

You don’t get many assists when you shoot between 30 and 40%. When much more of the offense seemed to come from just driving to the basket. You get a lot more when you shoot over 50%. The offense showed much more flow and there was a lot more movement without the ball.

“The main focus was running our motion, setting screens and creating shots for other people,” Brown said. “The last couple of games we hadn’t been getting many assists on baskets. We had a lot of one-on-one plays. Coach emphasized that the last couple of days and that improved our offense.

“I think we really struggled the last couple of games when our offense was stagnant. You didn’t see a lot of movement and that really hurt us. Even in the games we won we got away from what we do best. Tonight was a prime example of what we need to do on offense.”

One example of that was in Pitt’s assist total. The Panthers had 20 assists on 31 field goals. Pitt had a season-low five assists in the West Virginia game and had only 13 in the previous two games combined.

“I thought we moved the ball better today,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “That was something we emphasized the last two days. I think that was the key. That got us going. We were smoother.”

Watching the game on the computer video feed makes it hard for me to give fair evaluations of individual players. For live-action computer video, it wasn’t bad. But it was still a computer feed. Choppy, blurry and a small screen do not lend to seeing details.

So, there isn’t much more I can add to this and the box score.

Here’s what we know.

— Pitt is saying to stay away if you can’t walk to the Pete.

— The Big East Network (ESPN Regional) canceled the telcast for the safety of their contract hires.

— The Big East is still making this game happen. After all, Seton Hall is already here and the refs have been paid for their appearance.

— If you are a student and not in the Oakland Zoo, you can go to the game free of charge as long as you remember your student ID.

— PittPanthers.com is offering a free video feed of the game (allegedly). Check under the “live events” tab to find the game.

— Streaming radio broadcast should be found at 970.

— Pitt really needs this game.

This flat out blows.

Pittsburgh vs. SetonHall BIG EAST Network broadcast has been cancelled due to inclement weather.

Now, the way I am reading all of this. The game itself is on. There just won’t be any broadcast of the game. Not on FoxSports Pittsburgh. Not on MASN, SNY or Altitude. Not on ESPN360.com.

Just cancel the whole game if they can’t even get a TV crew there. That means it is too unsafe for anyone to make the trek.

UPDATE 1:49 pm: Here’s the official weasel statement from the Big East.

ESPN Regional Television (ERT) has had to cancel this evening’s “Big East Network” production of the Seton Hall at Pittsburgh game scheduled for 6 p.m. (ET) tonight.  Although the game is still scheduled to be played, the weather and road conditions throughout the area prohibit ERT from assembling production facilities and personnel in a timely fashion to originate a telecast.  We regret the inconvenience, but the safety of our staff and employees is always a primary concern.

Safety of fans in the area. Not so much. If you want to see the game you paid for, gut it out.

Just wondering. Since the Pitt Athletic Department is encouraging anyone who can’t walk to the game to stay home, any chance they are going to offer refunds? Any chance? Any?

/crickets chirping

UPDATE 3:00: Just for fun, here are some other locations that got hit by the storm, yet managed not to have their telecasts canceled:

State College (Minn-PSU), Big 10 Network

Charlottesville, VA (WF-UVa), Raycom

Richmond, VA (Temple-Richmond), ESPNU; and (ODU-VCU) Comcast

Blacksburg, VA (Clemson-VT), Raycom

UPDATE 3:33: Here’s how ESPN Regional works. They are based in Charlotte, but have production facilities in various areas that are dispatched. One of them is located in Huntington, WV. They pull in people — usually w/in driving distance from the region to do the job. For example, John Sanders (“bending, bending…) who regularly calls games for the Big East also shows up on Big 11 Network broadcasts and MAC because he lives in the Cleveland area and can drive to a lot of the games (or catch quick flights).

ERT didn’t plan or adjust. They just hoped that it would work out.

I still blame the Big East for deciding to push the game through. ERT knows they can’t safely have their people come in for the game. Pitt is saying that if you can’t walk to the Pete, don’t come.

Yet the Big East is saying that the game has to take place. That’s on the conference for screwing fans in Pittsburgh and outside.

UPDATE 4:50: I suppose it’s better than nothing, but apparently there will be a free video feed at Pitt’s web site. Here’s the direct link.

Also, all Pitt students get in free with a valid student ID. Lots of seats available.

No it isn’t particularly original, but it had to be done.

Wow, the issue of Dante Taylor has become a raging point of debate.

Let’s stipulate that we don’t actually know anything for certain. And by that I mean, what is really going on in Taylor’s head. How things are going in practice. Whether he can really handle playing power forward better in the Big East. All of that. We do not actually know. We observe, we speculate. we perceive, we believe.

Let’s put aside the issue of being a McDonald’s All-American. It’s a very high honor for high schoolers, and yes it indicative of the talent and expected success the kid will have in the college level. It is not a guarantee, or a clincher that the player is a future NBA-talent.

We can agree that Taylor was considered a consensus top-30 player under the RSCI (Recruiting Service Consensus Index) nationally coming out of high school.

Using the RSCI here, in order of rank were the top PF and C’s:

• Derrick Favors –Georgia Tech
• DeMarcous Cousins — Kentucky
• John Henson — UNC
• Renardo Sidney — Mississippi St.*
• Keith (Tiny) Gallon — Oklahoma
• Mouphtaou Yarou — Villanova
• Dante Taylor — Pitt
• Ryan Kelly — Duke
• Wally Judge — Kansas State
• Alex Oriakhi– UConn
• Mason Plumlee — Duke
• Daniel Orton — Kentucky
• Milton Jennings — Clemson
• Thomas Robinson — Kansas

(*Sidney has yet to play for MSU because of eligibility issues)

I think we can all agree that Favors and Cousins are both one-and-done. They are and should be the only ones on this list aside from perhaps Sidney. After that, well it is a little more interesting.

Henson (McDonald’s All-American)is averaging under 11 min/game and until last night’s VT game had played 10 min or less for 5 straight games.

Yarou was out with Hepatitis, so measuring him might be iffy. He’s playing 13 minutes averaging a 3 and 3.

Duke’s two 6-10 freshmen, Kelly and Plumlee (both McDonalds All-American)  are combining for 6.5 pts and 4.8 rebounds in a combined average of under 23 min/game.

Thomas Robinson, who Pitt was also after as an either/or with Taylor, is down to 8.8 min/game and has played 8 minutes total in the last three (admittedly on a loaded Kansas team)  with a 3-and-3 average.

Daniel Orton is playing 13 min/game and a 3.5-and-3.6 guy for Kentucky.

Wally Judge (McDonald’s All-American) at K-State is similar to this list. 12 min, 3.6 pts, 3 boards per game.

Milton Jennings was Clemson’s biggest recruit ever — yes another McDonald’s All-American. Guess what? 11.5 min, 3.5 pts, 2.6 rebounds per game as a 6-9 forward.

The only two players (aside from Favors and Cousins) having significant impact this year are Tiny Gallon for Oklahoma (24 min, 10.6 pts, 8.4 rbds) and Alex Oriakhi for UConn (27 min., 5.4 pts and 7.8 rbds). Both were also McD’s. Neither of whom will likely see their teams in the NCAA at this point.

I pointed out in December, an article from Luke Winn about what to legitimately expect from the “elite” freshmen.

Turns out, Taylor is not doing much too different from a lot of others.

Pitt signed more kids out of Ohio than at any time since the Walt Harris era — at least by my faulty memory.

St. Ignatius teammates TE Brendan Carozzoni and QB Mark Myers signed together on Wednesday.

Playing at the same college never crossed either player’s mind until Carozzoni mentioned his friend to the Panthers’ coaching staff.

“I told them about Mark, then they saw him at their summer camp and they liked him a lot,” said Carozzoni, who resides in Rocky River. “So I guess I’m kind of his agent.”

Myers estimated he hooked up with Carozzoni for “about 4-5 touchdown passes” during their careers as Wildcats but said they don’t have a specific goal at the next level.

“I just want to throw as many TD passes as possible to him while we’re at Pitt,” said Myers.

They plan on maintaining their bond and being able to privately display Browns gear by being roommates.

Carozzoni will have competition in time at the TE spot from another NE Ohio signee, Dan Schneider, who was named AP All-Ohio 1st team.

One of the more significant aspects of his visit to Pittsburgh was a lunch meeting with senior tight end Nate Byham. Byham came into Pitt as one of the top tight end prospects in the country, was named to the All-Big East Team and was able to give valuable insight to life as a Panther.

“It was good to hear from a player,” Schneider said. “Sometimes coaches say things that might not turn out being true, but players will always tell you how things really are.”

While Schneider loved the fit of Pitt right away, he took time to look at a lot of schools.

“It’s been a great process and I feel very fortunate,” said Schneider, who expects to play tight end. “I knew at the beginning of August. It was kind of a perfect storm. I knew it came together after visiting.”

Schneider and his parents, Kevin and Mary Kay, said they spent the summer visiting numerous schools, including Ohio State, Michigan, West Virginia, Illinois, Florida State, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. Even after orally committing to Pittsburgh, there were still some feelers.

“Some Big Ten coaches called and wondered if he would reconsider,” said Kevin Schneider. “I told him once he committed, you don’t look back. You could see the tension leave.”

Finally, WR Andre Givens out of Hubbard liked what Pitt had to offer rather than the ITT School of Criminal Justice.

Givens looked at academics as much as football when making his choice. He wants to study criminal justice.

“I want to be a detective, and they have a lot of hands-on programs with that,” Givens said. “What amazed me the most was that some of the Pitt players are in the secret service now.”

Hopefully none were on the security detail for a White House dinner.