Don’t have a lot today.

I mean, there is always the rehashing of Pitt decommits, but none of it is a revelation. Just a rundown on losses and possible losses. Honestly, the only one that I really wish wouldn’t have decommitted was cornerback Kyshoen Jarrett. Really could use the depth there. Jameel Poteat is annoying since he is a talented back and related to Hank Poteat, but I don’t feel too bothered. It’s wait and see on everyone else.

If you want to know why I don’t really like the idea of too many games at the Con for Pitt basketball, just check out the long-term effects of UConn’s cash grabs by playing in Hartford at the larger XL Center.

Jim Calhoun would like you to make it part of your party plans as you welcome in 2011. The Huskies just found out what life is like on the road, losing to Pitt at the rowdy Petersen Events Center. UConn would love to have a similar home court advantage for the 10 remaining home games.

“Clearly, a lot of people care about our basketball program,” Calhoun said. “They need to get out and we need to find out ways to make sure they get into the building. The building atmosphere becomes important. In Maui, it was a great atmosphere. 2,400 people, a great atmosphere. Other times, the places have become a little dead. … We need our fans to show up as much as they possibly can. Every home game becomes critical.”

None of their games in Hartford are sold out, with several thousand tickets remaining. The energy levels are that much lower. The students aren’t just marginalized. They are frustrated by having to make the trip and makes them less enthusiastic.

It’s the end of the year, so let’s hit the biggest topic on this blog all year long. Expansion.

This article looks back a bit on Big East expansion for basketball. Conclusion: it has been bad if you were in the lower half.

…There are no easy games, especially for the teams that annually reside in the bottom of the conference. The post-expansion Big East has established a new world order where two very different levels of success (see attached graphic) have emerged in what is unquestionably the deepest league in the country.

Life in the upper half — the Top Nine — of the conference remains unbelievably challenging but also very rewarding. The top of the conference has enjoyed glamorous TV matchups, big-time recruits and trips to the Final Four.

The flip side is what the remaining seven schools — including Providence College — have encountered in this brave, new world. Faced with schedules stocked with Top 10 teams nationally, the Bottom Seven always seem to be swimming upstream. The Top Nine have won more than 80 percent of their contests against the Bottom Seven. While most of the nine annually parade into The NCAA Tournament, only one of the seven (Seton Hall in 2006) has ever advanced to the Big Dance.

Unlike the football side of things, coaching stability with the best programs plays a role in things. The best 9 teams have only had 2 coaching changes since expansion: WVU and Marquette. The best teams haven’t had their coaches poached except for Crean and Beilein.

All seven of the lower-half programs have had at least one coaching change — all firings. There’s a whole chicken/egg thing to the winning and coaching stability. I lean harder on the winning creating the coaching stability. The top-9 programs were already winning before the expansion.

Speaking of expansion, Central Florida got a puff-piece in USA Today. The funniest thing was this bit of bull.

There is no question UCF has a lot of people watching. While rumors abound in the fall that UCF was about to join the Big East — Hitt was even stopped recently on campus and was told by a student the deal was done, news to him — those in the know are trying to calm the excitement. The Knights want to make sure they are ready for the sliders of the world and they are taking it a little slower than some would want.

“They want it so badly,” admits Hitt, of the attitude of UCF followers.

And he’s confident that time is coming. But there are other factors. The Big East looks inviting, and Tribble agrees getting into a BCS league is a priority. But the truth? There are other conferences showing interest in what’s going on in Orlando. There are even some discussions about possibly merging Conference USA with the Mountain West to form a BCS conference — something Hitt is not taking lightly, since he was one of the originators of such a plan.

A bowl win against Georgia, which would be the school’s first, could create even more of a frenzy around the young home run hitter who, for all BCS league considerations, is a free agent.

[Emphasis added.]

Yes, I’m sure the Sun Belt or MAC would love to have UCF. Another BCS conference? Not likely unless Texas decides to expand the Big 12/10 into Florida (something theoretically possible, but highly improbable). The ACC isn’t going to take a 3d Florida school. The SEC, Big 10/12 and Pac-12 aren’t coming calling.

The MWC-C-USA team-up. It’s possible, but unlikely now that Utah, BYU and TCU are out of the MWC. Combining both conferences just creates too many bottom-feeders and not nearly enough programs capable of being top-25 on a regular basis. Outside of Boise St., name a program that has shown it can do it consistently. Potentially? Sure. There’s Houston, ECU, SMU, UCF, Fresno, SDSU, and maybe even Nevada. But none of those teams have maintained to this point. And there is no way the BCS would bite.

UCF and everyone else knows that the only option/hope/possibility is the Big East. Everything else is merely blowing smoke.

On that note. Enjoy the New Year and Hail to Pitt.