Several things for this post, but let’s start with a press release from the Big East announcing the bowl line-up. Take it away Commissioner Marinatto:

“By all accounts the BIG EAST bowl lineup is stronger than it’s ever been.” said Marinatto.  “We have aligned ourselves with great bowl games in first-class destinations.”

So let’s go to:

BCS Bowl – BIG EAST Champion
Champs Sports Bowl – BIG EAST vs. ACC
Meineke Car Care Bowl – BIG EAST vs. ACC
New Era Pinstripe Bowl – BIG EAST vs. Big 12
Papajohns.com Bowl/AutoZone Liberty Bowl – BIG EAST vs. SEC or C-USA
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl – BIG EAST vs. C-USA

Yes, instead of going to Birmingham, Alabama to play someone from the lower-half of the SEC. A Big East team could find itself in Memphis to play something from C-USA (or possibly a different lower-half SEC team).

This might well be the best bowl line-up for the Big East in terms of pay-outs and compared to the last deal. But it hardly serves as a reason why any Big East team would say to a Big 11 offer, “no thanks, we’re good.”

The Indy Star spoke to ex-Purdue president and 1954 Pitt grad, Dr. Steven Beering about Big 10 expansion:

When Penn State joined, Beering was optimistic a 12th school would come along.

“There were a number of us that were hopeful of adding the University of Pittsburgh as well,” said the 77-year old Beering, a 1954 graduate of Pittsburgh. “We had, at that time, a number of new presidents who were not secure in what they knew about the situation to cast a vote. They abstained and we never got a unanimous vote to add a 12th member.”

Beering said the same schools being discussed today – Notre Dame, Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Rutgers — were the ones talked about nearly two decades ago.

You know, given the way Pitt was being run at that time, I’m not totally convinced the Pitt administration wouldn’t have still botched it.

Ray Graham is happy at Pitt.

Now, though, Graham has had a full offseason to digest the playbook and work on his technique. He’s also bulked up considerably, going from 170 pounds when he reported to campus to a sturdy 194 this spring.

“I’m not second-guessing myself now,” he said. “When I hear the call on a play, I’m like, ‘OK, I know that. I know my reads.’ And now, I can run through people to get where I’m going.”

Where Lewis excels in bouncing off tackles, Graham is more of a home-run threat with a great stutter step who thrives in open space. Picture them both in the backfield at the same time. Then picture a nervous defense.

“Teams can’t just focus on one type of running back because we’re both different kinds of runners,” Lewis said. “That’s going to help us out a lot.”

There’s no question who the No. 1 tailback is, but Graham is staying patient for his turn in that role. It could happen as soon as next year, since Lewis will be eligible to enter the 2011 draft because he attended prep school. Wannstedt has told him to have faith, because his time will come.

The Panthers don’t have to worry, though, about Graham going somewhere else.

“I’m here to stay,” he said. “Pitt is like my family.”

Unless the middle of the O-line gels a lot more than I expect, Lewis’ style is going to accomplish more. Lewis has an easier time bouncing through and outside to where Pitt’s O-line is stronger.

Graham is a strong back, but getting to the open space may be more difficult, unless Pitt follows through on the spring practice talk of using Graham out in space to catch passes.

Well, writers seem to think Pitt “looks” like a football team.

Finally, the ACC commish Swofford offers BC and WF to the Big 11.

The little brother of Ashton Gibbs, Sterling, committed to Maryland last night. I can’t say I’m particularly disappointed over this.

A year ago I would have, but both sides have not seemed overly interested in the other. Especially since Pitt has a PG in the 2010 class and a verbal from John Johnson — another PG in 2011.

Sterling has seemed interested in finding his own place, not simply being Ashton’s little brother.

Interestingly, like Ashton, he seems to have fallen in recruiting rankings after his junior year.

Gibbs is rated as a three-star recruit and the No. 22 point guard in his class by Scout.com. Rivals.com also lists Gibbs as a three-star recruit and the No. 135 overall prospect in the Class of 2011.

This after Sterling being considered a top PG prospect as early as his freshman and even in his sophomore year. His stock seems oddly down. Of course, just look at who was after him: Pitt, Indiana, Wake Forest and others. That suggests a little better than a 3-star kid. Not to mention he was a top player on the USA U-16 team last summer.

He did have Ashton’s support.

Despite Ashton’s ties to the Panthers, Sterling said that his older brother helped him out throughout the entire recruitment.

“He was on the phone with coach [Chuck] Driesell and coach Williams trying to set everything up,” Gibbs said. “He felt like it was the right decision.”

If he had gone to Indiana, then I might have been annoyed. Maryland, though, doesn’t bother me so much.

Meanwhile a little more on Jaylen Bond. He’s nursing a groin injury that is limiting his AAU playing time. While he plays power forward on his HS team — because he’s the biggest player on the squad — he plays more small forward when it comes time for AAU ball.

Bond is projected to play more of a swingman role at Pitt and not power forward, a role he plays for Plymouth Whitemarsh. It will be an interesting transition for Bond, who plays exceptional defense, but will be working on extending the range of his jump shot and ballhandling over this summer.

It’s almost going to be a different world for Bond, who does play small forward for his AAU teams.

“I am used to playing away from the basket, and it’s something I obviously feel I can do, and it’s something Pitt’s coaching staff feels I can do, too,” Bond said. “I’ll be lifting on the off-season, I want to try to play at around 230, 235 next year.”

Coach Dixon was directly involved in his recruitment and it impacted on Bond.

“I knew I wanted to go there the week before, but I wanted to talk it over with my family a lot and think about it a lot,” he said.

“When I went up there, there was no other reason to wait. I knew where I wanted to go.”

Bond had made an unofficial trip to the campus last weekend, also swinging by to check out West Virginia.

“We liked the coaching staff, the surroundings,” he said of Pitt. “They made it clear I was their No. 1 choice for that position.”

…

Dixon had to like what he saw of Bond when he was in attendance for the Colonials’ 71-47 state semifinal victory over North Allegheny on March 24. As the runner-up in the District One Class AAAA tournament, PW (30-2) was in the western half of the bracket, the semifinal game taking place at Chambersburg High. Dixon, whose Pitt team had just been knocked out of the NCAA Tournament by Xavier, witnessed Bond’s 26-point, 15-rebound performance against the Tigers.

“He said he saw me a couple times,” Bond said of Dixon, “but I remember him being at that game.”

Sort of the silver lining of not making the Sweet 16. I guess.