In addition to the search for a car — now approaching a conclusion — I spent the weekend wondering what my doctor wanted. Got sick a couple weeks ago, and in addition to the medicine, I had to get some bloodwork done. Procrastinated on the blood work for a week. And then missed a couple calls from my doctor near the end of the week. By the time I called the office was closed and I got to stew over why they were calling me for the weekend. Cancer, rare disorder. Something horrible.

Turns out I have a Vitamin D deficiency. Have to take a prescription vitamin for a while. Seems generally stupid until I googled it, and holy shit, rickets! Getting old sucks. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.

Moving on to other things. Which comes first, the Big East invites Temple, Temple’s board authorizes Temple to accept an invite, or Temple reaches a settlement with the MAC to move to the Big East this year? Given how ass-backward the Big East portion of expansiopocolypse has been, my money is on settling with the MAC first.

If there was any doubt that taking Temple now is done for saving the Big East money vs. what it would cost to get Boise out of the MWC a year early. This should clinch it:

The Owls will have to pay exit fees. Sources have said it would cost them $3.5 million to leave the MAC immediately, and $2 million to get out of the A-10. Less if they move later. But this stuff can be negotiated.

Boise would have cost at least $10 million more — and Temple could possibly settle at lower. I’m sure Temple has a tight budget, but that is chump change simply based on the TV deal of the Big East (even just for football) vs. the MAC.

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That has been my overall reaction to the final regular season game. That loss to UConn. Losing the game wasn’t a terrible surprise. It was on the road where Pitt has been 1-6 in the Big East coming into the game. UConn’s senior day. Jim Calhoun made an emotional and big return to the bench to help give UConn an emotional lift on top of it.

Heck, even much of the way the game went was familiar to both teams. Pitt got off to a rocky start. Struggling to score and to take care of the ball. My god, even UConn used a press on Pitt because they just haven’t handled it well. Pitt made a strong run in the second half, but couldn’t sustain it in the final minutes. UConn built a nice lead and managed to fritter it away. Just managing to get it together, and Napier coming up with 7 points and a steal in the final 2-and-1/2 minutes.

UConn’s one-and-done Andre Drummond was a big, intimidating defensive presence — but outside of that he didn’t do much rebounding or scoring. While Roscoe Smith had the late defensive play by drawing the charge on Moore, and helped save UConn in the second half; this was typical UConn with Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb creating most of the offense. And if they actually do get the offense from them, they win.

Pitt got nothing from the guards outside of Woodall. Gibbs had a late, meaningless three that taunted Pitt fans more than anything else.  Pitt was never going to beat UConn without getting three-point shots to go.

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This dam car search is really eating into my life. Stuck looking a little longer than I hoped.

DVR. delay for me. Let’s see if Pitt stays hot on offense.

In tomorrow’s battle of preseason disappointments, Pitt has a chance to make sure UConn goes on the wrong side of the bubble. Creating a scenario where the Huskies would miss two straight NCAA Tournaments — thanks to their ban for next year due to bad academics. Don’t let UConn fans tell you differently. The Huskies earned it the same way they earned their NCAA Championships. Recruiting talent only, not worrying about grades, and shoving non-producers out the door at a disturbing clip. Then when busted complain that the metrics are the problem, that it wasn’t Jim Calhoun’s fault, that the issues are being addressed, that it is unfair to the present kids and that it is so0oooo unfair.

But I digress.

Anyways, Jim Calhoun remains at home recovering from some surgery on Monday for his spinal stenosis. Being back for Saturday’s game was always a longshot, but hard to rule out because: 1) it’s the season finale/senior day — along with the expected departures of Napier, Lamb and Drummond; and 2) Calhoun is such a stubborn bastard there was every chance he would show up with an IV still plugged into him.

Now, it appears more likely he will try to be ready to coach in the Big East Tournament.

UPDATE: And naturally, Calhoun showed up at the Huskies practice today. Didn’t run it or anything. But he showed up. So, maybe he will show tomorrow just for the ceremonies and to provide an emotional lift.

God I love revisionism.

The comments about how Coach Dixon has wasted Taylor. Played him out of position and stunted his development are hilarious. Just because of the stars he had as a recruit, and the “All-American” designation. Or the comments from 2009, by his high school coach. An argument that entirely ignores Taylor’s poor defense, generally, and the potential nightmare of him trying to actually stay with power forwards moving around the court and dragging Taylor behind them.

For three years, we have seen Dante Taylor make incremental progress from his freshman year to the present. The opinion generally has been that he has been a bust. Call it semantics if you wish, but I think he’s been disappointing, not a bust. He still has another year, and I think he’s been weighed down by being designated as a McDonald’s All-American. It now is used against him as a pejorative

Still, maybe one side has a point over the other. Both sides believes Taylor should be better. The issue is, should he be better because the coaching staff failed him, and Dixon played him at center rather than power forward? Or is it that Taylor just isn’t as good as everyone thought and never was?

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Hell of a damning piece on Ben Howland and the turmoil at UCLA. No real scandal. No recruiting violations. Nothing really that I would consider outrageous behavior by the players — outside of Reeves Nelson — to suggest an institutional issue. And the defense from former players is underway. Nonetheless, it is a piece that makes Ben Howland look really, really bad. A piece that those UCLA fans who want Howland out are citing as evidence.

The first thing to note from a Pitt perspective, none of this touches Pitt. The issues surrounding UCLA and Howland are only for the last few years. It is pointed out that there were no problems at UCLA in the first several years under Howland. It has only been recently. What it suggests more than anything else is that Howland was too hands-off about what the players were doing, expecting them to all be self-starters who kept things in check. Go figure, not all kids — especially high-major talent — might be less disciplined.

The group he had at first was much like what he had at Pitt.

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That was needed. It doesn’t change the frustration and disappointment of the season. It doesn’t erase the problems this team still has — especially handling the press and turnovers. It was however a welcome game. A game that — especially in the second half — actually put smiles on the faces of the players and fans.

Hearing the chants for senior walk-on Nick Rivers at the end of the game, and then getting to the free throw line was just icing. As much disruption to the season. As many questions there were about the chemistry and cohesiveness of the team from this season, you could still see the affection they have for one another, Pitt and the fans.

The victory was career No. 100 for Gibbs and Robinson. Even though the Panthers finished the season a pedestrian 11-7 in their home building, they had the thrill of leaving the Petersen Events Center court winners one final time.

“Definitely a lot of memories,” Gibbs said. “We had a lot of great teams. Even though this was a tough year, there are some good memories. It starts with the fans. That’s one of the reasons I came to the University of Pittsburgh — the city atmosphere. This is a big sports city. The fans support the Pitt Panthers. I give credit to the Oakland Zoo and all the fans out there. It’s one of the reasons we’ve been so good for so long.”

Gibbs had reason to smile — as much out of relief as anything.

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