So there are issues. Don’t worry, Coach Wannstedt has carefully examined the WVU debacle and knows what went wrong.

It’s not a secret what happened in that football game against West Virginia. When you turn over the ball as many times as we did, you have no chance to win and that’s exactly what the film showed. I thought we had a good game plan, and the turnovers will kill you every time. That was the difference in the game. Now we have to get focused for Cincinnati this week.

Um, uh, any reason for all the turnovers and near turnovers? Some common theme? The preparation? Focus? Anything? Surely in Game 11. A rivalry game. It wouldn’t be simply bad breaks and youth trotted out as an excuse. Right?

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I don’t see any way to avoid continuing the Dave Wannstedt pile-on.

For all the talk of wanting/hoping Wannstedt is fired/resigns/politely bumped upstairs to a fake position; I don’t see it. I expect that Wannstedt will return. Even before the latest loss, DC Bennett was going to be gone. For his own reputation, he needed to leave, now he also becomes a fall guy.

What is scary is that I don’t see many positional coaches tossed over this year. OC Frank Cignetti, Asst. HC Greg Gattuso, OL Coach Tony Wise, RB Coach David Walker, TE Coach Brian Angelichio should be safe in view any combination of their unit’s performance, recent performance and reputation of the coach.

The others should be under fire. But will they?

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If you are following me on Twitter, then you know that I am pushing for the BIG EAST to rename itself the BIG SPRAWL conference. Since BIG EAST no longer fits, and the geography is, uh, awkward. I’m not letting this go anytime soon.

Here’s the press release from the Big East.

Texas Christian University has accepted an invitation for full membership into The BIG EAST Conference, it was announced today.  The BIG EAST, by a vote of its Presidents and Chancellors, extended the invitation for membership.

Notice that the vote to extend the invitation lacked the descriptor, “unanimous?” I’m looking at you DePaul, Seton Hall and Providence.

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Between holiday traveling, sick kids, and all that is swirling (much like a flushed toilet) around the football program; the stuff on basketball has gotten a short shrift. Time to skip ahead. Past beating Robert Morris and Penn, but before the City Game’s debut at the Con on Wednesday night.

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Okay. I’m willing to believe this story.

Texas Christian University has accepted an invitation to become an all-sports member to the Big East Conference, industry sources told FanHouse.

The Horned Frogs will join the league beginning on July 1, 2012 and begin play in the Big East in the 2012-13 school year.

The addition of the Horned Frogs will immediately bolster the football league. It also would increase the basketball membership to 17 teams.

Nothing else at this point. No announcement is forthcoming — yet. Brett McMurphy, though, has been a solid writer and one that really likes to line up his facts. Plus, it fits with everything that has been building to this point.

Final call, Villanova.

UPDATE: TCU has announced a 2pm press conference.

Traveled home today. Lots of traveling around the last few days has kept me from having time to post (kind of obvious, huh?). I’ve had time to think about all of what I saw. Both yesterday and all season.

I think the worst thing, is that I can’t even muster the anger. I’m down. Despondent. Frustrated. Not surprised, though. It seemed that I checked out emotionally on the season before this game.

Bryan at PittScript has the summary of the media turning on Wannstedt. This, sadly, has been Wannstedt’s history with his headcoaching gigs. He has everyone willing/wanting to believe. He says all the right things. Appears to do all the right things. Everyone is charmed. Especially the media and decision makers. He’s so accessible. So likable. So genuine. You want to believe. They want to believe. You want him to succeed. They want him to do it. Everyone really does…

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Finally got my account set up. No clue how to embed into the thread so just break it out.

For all intents and purposes this is for the Big East Championship. A PITT win means UCONN needs to win out and PITT lose to Cincy for Connecticut to go to the BCS.

Game starts slightly after noon on ABC. I’ll open it up just before that.

Click Here to break it out

Nike Pro Combat Hemets and seal

It’s been a less than thrilling season. Lots’ of frustration. More losses than expected. A fanbase that is dealing with increasing dissatisfaction with the head coach. None of this is going away. Not going to pretend otherwise.

Still, this is the Backyard Brawl. Those things should be put aside to focus the hate where it properly belongs: on the Hoopies.

Not going to be (or at least shouldn’t be) a lot on basketball this week. Should be a liveblog tomorrow for the Robert Morris game (right, Luke?), but then focus on football and the Backyard Brawl. Hopefully tonight I can get some of my thoughts from the two games posted.

Lots of stories from the Friday event as you would expect. Travon Woodall was named to the all-2K Tournament team. Woodall had a solid performance in both games. While he missed that crucial free throw at the end, he more than made up for it by showing defensive smarts on Corey Joseph.

“He’s a freshman, so I was trying to get him out of control a little bit,” Woodall said. “At the end of the game, I kind of had an idea that he would try to take the shot because he hadn’t gotten (much), so I just tried to get up in there and bother him.”

Now keep in mind that Joseph isn’t just a random freshman forced to start. Joseph was one of the top guard recruits in the country. High basketball IQ (allegedly) and very likely will be jumping to the NBA before is eligibility is up. Pitt shut him down all game and then in the end, Woodall stayed with him and forced him to curl away from the basket rather than letting him drive. He stayed between him and the basket the entire time. Joseph was not prepared to look for anyone else by that point and hoisted a poor, poor shot.

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That’s the first thing and most important. Pitt won the football game. It’s not like they stole it from USF. The Bulls did nothing to show they were the better team or really play the” but for X they would have won” card. It was ugly on both sides. Both teams gave a great effort to give the game away at points. So while the Big East was bathed in more stench and you can’t claim that things are rolling now, Pitt has the win and still sits atop the Big East.

Just to hit on a few things without looking at media or quotes after the game. Just the box score for accuracy. I know most of what follows will be negative, but I’m having a hard time finding that many positives without pointing out the problems that continue.

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This constitutes an interesting twist on things.

After weighing his options and trying to figure out the best path for his development, Khem Birch has decided to forgo his year of post grad at Notre Dame Prep, and instead head to Pittsburgh next year. “I decided that the best thing for my development was to begin my college career next year” said Khem. “I’m going to go to college where I will be a 3/4. I just feel that I have a better chance to develop my skills on the perimeter at the next level than I do with another year of high school.”

According to the story, Birch has already signed his LOI with Pitt. Evan Daniels at Scout.com finds the source credible, so this isn’t someone pulling stuff out of their ass.

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Noon start. Bad. Airing on ESPN2. Good.

Luke of course is handling things as is now the new normal. Yeah. I think that will be first and last time I ever use that phrase. I’ll be stuck finishing some things up with my kids, so I’ll probably be a little late to the liveblog.

I’ve been informed that the twitter feed with a #pitt hashtag has sucked in liveblogs lately. So that is out for today. Still have a few twitter feeds from relevant Twits, but not too many.

As usual moderated chat below the fold. Let’s hope there isn’t too much reason for moderation. Maybe a little less frustration today. Dare to dream.

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Luke is running the show. I’m on DVR delay yet again.

Gametime is 7pm on ESPN2, give or take the length of the Maryland-Illinois game.

Everything is below the fold.

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I wish I had more time. I don’t, so rather than break things down from the game — for now — I’m just going to hit a link dump.

Talib Zanna’s impact seems to have been a big theme from the write-ups. Here. Here. Here. Here. A double-double on a national stage will do that.

From a Maryland perspective, the first thing they are bemoaning are — unsurprsingly — the missed free throws. Any mention of all the missed bunnies and open drives by Pitt — especially in the first half that kept things equal? Of course not.

That and Pitt’s depth wearing down the Terps late in the game. Something that could also be a factor with a potentially tired Texas team tonight.

Inside the defense focused on shutting down Jordan Williams — and they did a solid job of that. Other defense was a little shaky at times, but taking out the primary threat and getting rebounds.

Pitt’s depth got a little, um, deeper with Nasir Robinson returning. In limited time, he provided his energy and toughness inside. Easy to forget that he plays a lot bigger and stronger than he appears.

A couple other write-ups and a bit of a puff piece referring back to the Ireland trip.

Looks like there should be another liveblog tonight. Gametime 7pm on ESPN2. Though, since it follows the Maryland-Illinois game, it may start a little later.