No Tennessee is not a particularly good team. They aren’t some low, mid-major either. Nor are they USF bad (have to adjust since DePaul looks kind of frisky this year). What they are is a major conference team, playing at home while struggling with a coaching change and departed talent. Pitt has higher aspirations, but played that game without their starting point guard for the first time this year.

In other words, this game was tougher for Pitt — not because of the opponent or being on the road — but because they were playing their first game with an adjusted line-up. John Johnson and Cameron Wright found their minutes upped significantly and Ashton Gibbs rarely left the court. Aside from Lamar Patterson getting a few extra minutes, because Pitt didn’t go to a 3-guard line-up with Woodall out, the rest of the line-up and minutes did not vary much more from normal.

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In case anyone thought I was just making stuff up regarding Pitt getting sent to the BBVA Bowl in Birmingham, solely for TV. There is this bit of information.

…the BBVA Compass Bowl pitting 6-6 Pitt against 6-6 SMU. That last one’s particularly interesting because, according to multiple sources, the Birmingham game didn’t want the Panthers back for a second straight year, and Pitt was so opposed to the idea it threatened to boycott. Seriously.

So how did that matchup still end up happening? One word: ESPN. Its subsidiary, ESPN Regional, owns six of those low-rung bowls, including the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s and BBVA Compass games. And lest anyone tell you otherwise, head honcho Pete Derzis ultimately decides who plays where. He’s the reason Marshall is playing in St. Pete instead of Pittsburgh and why SMU is in Birmingham instead of … somewhere else.

The bowls are purportedly for the “student-athletes,” and arguably they still are in places like Pasadena and Orlando. In Birmingham or St. Petersburg, however, they’re for three hours of television programming, and the teams are ancillary figures.

And as Zeise noted, it is not like the Big East was going to do anything to help Pitt.

The bottom line is Pitt was trying to work something out with the Beef O Brady’s Bowl but the Big East made it pretty clear that they weren’t going to help Pitt’s cause and they basically told Pitt it was headed to the BBVA Compass Bowl because that bowl needed someone who might actually attract a television audience. (Believe it or not, Pitt might not be good at selling tickets, but people will watch the Panthers on TV which makes them attractice to a bowl like this, which exists almost exclusively as cheap programming for ESPN.

That’s part of why Pitt kept ending up on weeknight ESPN showings. We like sitting in our couches — not burning them.

This is the second challenge from Volvo for the Biggest Fan in the Big East. I got a lot of great feedback when I posed the topic last week. The losses of so many old haunts had me step out on the porch and pour one out for the collective losses. The Decade, Calicos, Zelda’s, CJ’s, Thirsty’s, Upstage, Electric Banana, Syria Mosque, Graffiti, and so many  others — all gone.

When my wife and I were still dating, we took a trip to Pittsburgh for a weekend. A friend was graduating from law school, and there was already plenty of reminiscing happening with my friends. As we were driving around on the second day there, I was pointing out another place — along with an anecdote of why I mentioned it — she asked me, “Why do all of these stories start with, ‘One night we were so…’?”

“Um, just the good ones,” was the only response I could offer.

And she still married me.

Here’s the question as a refresher.

Pick 5 or more things that you have to do when you return to you’re Alma Mater (places to see, best bars, best food, cool places on campus etc.).

The trick is “have” to do versus time to do. There’s only so many places you can go to have a bite or get a drink in a day — or even two. Still, when I have a chance to be in Oakland for a little while there are certain things I feel that must be done or that I get ticked that I missed a chance to do.

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After two liveblogs, a 12 hour binge of college football and basketball, and a minor case of alcohol poisoning. I had to take Sunday away from the computer and TV. Something about family time. That always ends well. Add in the fact that my phone choked on an operating system update — sending it into perpetual reboot — and I am feeling quite deaf and blind for the next couple of days until the replacement arrives.

Well, Pitt is heading back to Birmingham for the BBVA Bowl and will face SMU. Present (soon enough to be past) Big East versus future. I noted yesterday that the one advantage for Pitt of getting sent to Birmingham for a bowl: no one expects any fanbase to travel for a bowl in Birmingham. Factor in that Pitt played in it last year, and it should be quite the local crowd. More good news, Pitt basketball doesn’t have a game the same day this year.

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It’s a rematch from last year’s SEC/Big East Challenge. Only the event has been rejiggered so that there are 12 games at actual home arenas rather than sterile, semi-neutral sites.

Pitt and Tennessee at 5:15 on ESPN.

Pitt has had all of two days to prepare for this game and being without Travon Woodall. Who will get the start in his place? How will the minutes be divided? So many questions. I’m sure Pitt fans will be calm, rational, not pass snap judgments, and not at all overreact to what unfolds.

Have to expect that Tennessee will look to put some extra pressure on the guards. Ashton Gibbs will probably see double teams all game. It will be up to whoever is used to run point to find the open man, and most importantly make good passes. Even before Woodall was hurt, Pitt’s passing has been less than crisp.

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It’s the final home game (but hopefully not the final game) of the season. The Big East has to love that this game is the one that gets on ESPN2 at noon today. Not only featuring two 5-6 teams trying for the Beef. But featuring the two teams that set off the insanity of finding new teams for the Big East with their announcement of heading to the ACC. Of course, the actions of Syracuse and Pitt look oddly polite and decorous compared to the temper tantrum actions of WVU trying to leave for the Big 12.

This could be a long day. Pitt basketball plays at Tennessee at 5:15 on ESPN. I’m planning a second liveblog for that game. Depending on how this one turns out, I may be blackout drunk by the end of the second liveblog.

As you know, this is a moderated chat. The liveblog is supposed to be a chance for us to gather and share thoughts on the game, hopefully share in the joy/relief of a win (I know, those have been in short supply this year). Commiserate if need be, perhaps a little venting. Not every comment gets through. Especially duplicative, trolls, overly vulgar, personal attacks, or general stupidity as defined by me. Here’s a hint. If you do nothing but post “Tino sucks” or some variation over and over again, I’m probably not going to waste time approving it. That’s why your comment isn’t showing up. I think we got it the first thousand or so times it has been said to this point.

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Well, in the past Pitt has survived spells of not having Levance Fields. Now Pitt will try to manage with Woodall. The reports are that Travon Woodall suffered an abdominal tear and will miss the next month.

There’s no sugarcoating that this is a big loss. He was playing 32 minutes a game. Shooting real well from the perimeter. The leading assist man on the team — a better than 2-1 A/TO ratio — and clearly the floor leader.

I can see Lamar Patterson getting some of the time running things as a point-forward type player like Brad Wanamaker. Patterson has good court vision and has 20 assists to only 8 turnovers. This could create times where both Patterson and J.J. Moore are on the floor at the same time. I would be somewhat intrigued to see that. Like it or not (and I don’t), Ashton Gibbs will get some more chances to play point.

Most of the minutes, though, should end up going to John Johnson, Cam Wright and Isiah Epps. The latter has not gotten much playing time after redshirting last year and still struggling to get on the court. He’s an actual point guard, but most stories are that his defense is lacking to be kind.

Going to be a hell of a first test with a road game on ESPN.

I would love to simply call it the “Battle for Beef” but there are some other potential permutations that could send the winner of tomorrow’s Syracuse-Pitt game somewhere other than the Beef O’Brady Bowl in St. Petersburg. Either way, the winner of this game at least gets to a bowl. Salvage a little pride from the season of disappointment.

Let me get this out of the way. Screw the talk of deserving or not deserving a bowl bid. Screw the debate over whether 15 extra practices really mean anything or not. Screw the issue of whether fans will travel to the game and how it looks. Those are all meaningless discussions.

There’s an overabundance of bowls, yet we can’t get enough of them on TV. The ratings for the crappiest, poorly attended bowl games are still solid enough that ESPN and others line-up to help prop them up. Will I watch the Motor City Bowl, the Potato Bowl (or whatever it is in Idaho), the Las Vegas Bowl and nearly every other minor bowl? You bet. So, why wouldn’t I want to have one of these superfluous bowls to include my school?

The coaches stress the extra practices as a way of getting a head start on the future — even as the seniors who won’t be there — are still there. The value is probably more for the coaches to know they are staying on top of the kids.

But even that is getting ahead of things.

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If you haven’t, by all means read the USA Today article on three St. Anthony players in college. Travon Woodall featured, and I hope finally puts to bed that long-running criticism of Woodall playing at Pitt because he wasn’t even a starter as a senior in high school.

Fontan and Woodall became the only St. Anthony players to be named season captains, because of exemplary leadership and punctuality, Hurley says. They always were on time despite commuting 20 miles, sometimes by train and light rail from Paterson.

“Both those kids brought the whole package,” Hurley says of their work ethic in the classroom and basketball.

Woodall wants to show that leadership at Pitt alongside senior Ashton Gibbs, one of the country’s top shooters. Nationally, Woodall is one of the most improved players since last season when the 5-11 point guard averaged 6.4 points and 3.4 assists while playing 21.6 minutes a game as a reserve.

This season, he is averaging 15 points and 8.5 assists, third in Division I, heading into Wednesday’s game vs. Duquesne. He’s a starter now, but starting never has been important to him. As a senior at St. Anthony he came off the bench because “emotionally he could handle it,” Hurley says. “Travon had less ego than other players.”

What matters most to Wood-all is finishing games, having teammates count on him to help put away an opponent. He can’t recall ever being nervous and says he steeled his nerves in middle school when classmates, including rival gang members, once beat him up after taunting him for weeks.

Woodall will be one of those players in the future we look back on with pride that he went to Pitt.

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It was a sloppy affair, as has become typical, and some absurd differentials. Turnovers and rebounds were absurd. Pitt outrebounded Duquesne 39-15. Pitt outrebounded the Dukes just on offensive boards with 16 of those. The flipside, Pitt turned the ball over 23 times while Duquesne kept theirs to only 12. So depending on how you look at it, the Panthers could have destroyed the Stage Magi if Pitt was better with their passing — because that was the bigger issue than ball handling with regards to the turnovers — or Duquesne might have pulled off the upset if they just could have grabbed some rebounds.

Since this is a Pitt blog, and we’d rather be much more concerned with Pitt’s flaws, let’s take a look at the turnover issue.

Get this out of the way, now. Pitt turning the ball over a lot against Duquesne should not have been a surprise. To anyone. This was the City Game with Duquesne operating under Ron Everhart. Only twice has Pitt kept the turnovers to something that would not create the, “this team can’t play this sloppy against better teams” style angst.

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