CSS (Comcast) has it schudled to be on in upstate South Carolina.

Hoops anyone?

I’m amped! Who are we playing?

But I have the feeling Greg McElroy, the Jets QB, trumps the sawbucks.

blackedout on ESPN# in NY. Supposed to be on SNY but showing Jets postgame instead.

Gameplan only for a while. The Jets post mortem prevails.

Who cares anyway?

I meant Gamecast.

Missing all of the 1st half because of another downtrodden NY team.

Yip yip yip.

Blather indeed.

Woodall 2 personal fouls, 2 turnovers. Not good.

So far I’m not impressed. Especially with Woodall, his 3 notwithstanding.

Getting out-scored in the second so far…

11 pt lead with 12 minutes to go. Is this the way we get ready for undefeated Cincy?????

ugly playground game

Robinson a lefthander. My idol.

A nice win against another mediocre team.
Now the season starts. Merry Christmas to all…

Hail to Pitt!

Is it me or has Root Sports covered more wvu hoops games than Pitt ones. What is up with that? Anyone know why they dont cover these games?

I hope Zanna can keep playing as well once the Big East starts. He teased us the last two years then dissapeared. If he can continue this team could go a long way.

Gotta say I was expecting a lot bigger beatdown, since this team was torched by even IUPUI and other assorted lightweights.

Perimeter defense sucked as K. State went 9 of 15 from 3. While PITT only hit one 3. Only 1 player in double figures, Zanna with 12 or so.

The rotation today seemed a little ‘out of whack’. imo Any other thoughts on that ?

Off for over a week now before the big game with #11 Cincy Bearcats.

UC however has a really good tuneup game before that on the 27th. They play, currently #16 New Mexico. Hope our layoff doesn’t work against us.

On the other hand Taylor & Johnson probably could use some more healing time. Although those two don’t play real significant roles atm.

Either Oregon or us will be in the Top 25 come Monday, unless they pull a fast one and plug Temple in there, which even though they beat Syracuse, Temple lost by 10 at home the game before that to…..Canisius. So how does that work !

Who cares where we are ranked Monday? It’s meaningless in every way. Really, a coach or sportswriter vote who likely hasn’t seen Pitt play? Pomeroy already has Pitt as a top 5 team. Feel better?

Pitt has to beat Cincy to have credibility. That’s the bottom line.

Just watched the replay on ESPN3….looked like Dixon was just throwing players in and out like practice.

Can’t wait until next Monday. Merry Christmas…

Well for one, your scores are reported nationwide, on EVERY RADIO STATiON IN aMERICA, if you’re in the Top 25. So it’s great pub for the program.

Need anymore reasons ?

I can list plenty if you wish. lol

FYI, nobody in any media, radio or TV reports on KenPom ratings. You should know better, lol

So you don’t care if PITT was ranked in the Top 10 come Monday. Really ?

Gotta wonder sometimes if some of our posters are really PITT ppl.

I know a lot of them are NOT !

#Jackagain,

That’s what it looked like to me. The substitution pattern was quite random and very chaotic as to not let any one unit get much of a flow going.

Maybe he was trying to confuse Cincy.

What will being ranked for one extra week do? If we beat Cincy we’ll be ranked. If we don’t we won’t.

Just looked at Cincy’s schedule, they have played no one. Not even one (1) ranked team. At least we played, let me see….. the #2 ranked team in America. So why do we have to beat THEM to gain credibility ?? Aren’t we the program with the best record in the BigEast for the last decade.

Answer…..cause they are RANKED.

What don’t ppl understand here, if we’re already ranked BEFORE we play them and then beat them, we will MOVE UP HIGHER IN THE POLLS, say #15 or #17. As opposed to not being ranked and when we beat them, they will just put us in at around #22 or #23.

This concept is not hard to understand, especially for ppl with college degrees. 🙂

Do you understand Tony C ?????

Emel, I understand where you are coming from regarding the pub that comes from being ranked. I think it also affects recruiting. Kids want to play for programs that they see on Sportscenter. Pitt is most certainly underrated at this point. Dixon needs to play on this to his advantage with the kids. Hopefully Pitt will be come out stoked and take it out on Cincy.

Don’t get too hung up on the rankings. If Pitt beats Cincy, Pitt moves into the top 20 and maybe closer to 15…who knows. Again, rank near the end of season is more important for seeding. Pitt needs to start playing better in the tourney. Frankly, I could care less what Pitt ranks as long as they get into the tourney and make some noise unlike most years. Maybe being underranked will help them come tourney time since teams may overlook them and the media won’t give them respect so that motivates the players. I’m looking for positives.

Win the games…ranking will take care of itself.I too, am anxious to see how good we are and playing Cinncy will show that. I think we are very good!

Merry Christmas to all the Blatherites!!!

Coach Dixom taking heat for the schedule.
Generally speakimg Most BE teams have played similar
opponents plus natural rivals from
other conferences.

Let the real games begin. The Pete should
be rocking next week.

Syracuse but plays no one, but patsies an doesn’t leave the Carrier Dome untill after Christmas and no one says anything. Georgetown dosn’t typically play onoe either. As good as Pitt has been over the last 10 years, they don’t get the respect and the benefit of doubt. It’s almost as though one bad season erased the performance over the last 10 years. All I can say is, keep winning.

Rather be under ranked than over ranked..which Pitt has been in the past as well..(see beginning of last year.)

Dixon has had every team he has coached in top ten at some point in the season…I believe that streak will continue this year. And hopefully, for the first time for a Dixon lead team, their highest ranking will be the last poll of the year.

Justian..you hit the nail right on the head…until Dixon gets to a Final Four (or two) that is going to be the case…not saying it is right…just the way it works in college hoops.

Any pre-conference predictions? I’ll say 12-6, 3rd or 4th place. You never know how it will shake out – the BE schedule is a grind for sure – but at the moment, I think only L’ville and Syracuse look to be superior to Pitt, primarily due to a LOT of returning experience. Next tier is Pitt, Cincy, ND. I don’t think the Hoyas deserve their #15 ranking, I’d put them in the next tier with UConn and maybe Marquette. Overall, I don’t think the conference is as strong top to bottom as other years.

With hockey on strike, no playoffs for the Steelers, I think Pitt hoops gets a lot of focus in the Burgh this winter, which is awesome, and even better if they do well. H2P!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year everyone. I’m not worrying about the b. ball rankings, the bowl game or recruiting. I think all of these are going to be alright. Santa stops by Pitt. HTP.

ID, I think you have the top 5 in the Big East about right although I am not to sure on the order. Below that Don’t overlook Providence or DePaul as they both could shake things up a bit. Yesterdays game was a very sorry affair.The attendance was an embarassment and the performance matched the support.This team has big time potential but is a work in progress.At times our team(like most) has played very well but often we seem to fall into a funk.Funks like the 10 minute lapse against Michigan and 3quarters of the Oakland game. We haven’t shown an inclination for playing 40 minutes at our best yet. I get the feeling that when if that happens we might be surprised how very good these kids are.That being said the Cincinatti game looms big and could well set the tone for our conference schedule.Hopefully we can see our seniors step up and lead this team with atop effort.Though Woodall and Taylor have less responsibility on this years team they will need to bring their best if we are to win.Zanna has been the most consistant contributor,but leadership is needed and Robinson has played great but being only a dozen games into his career I think we have to look to others to step up.We need a jam packed Pete and fan support we can give too.

AP #24

Coaches #24

Ditto OPFIM, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy 2013 to all!! Stay safe on the roads!!!

HTP

Merry Christmas and Merry Chrystmas to all, HTP.

The Pete will be packed on Monday. It’s what us season ticket holders have been waiting for. My wife has to work but my son (a PSU grad) will be going with me. Good to see JJ Moore playing better again. Merry Christmas to all.

Big game next week for this team. I cannot wait. It will be awesome to have an actual crowd for the game for once this season. Other than the last 10 minutes and OT of Oakland, I haven’t experience an electric atmosphere at the Pete for a long time.

Happy Holidays to everyone on the blog. This is great place to talk Pitt sports. Thanks Chas!

I too am looking forward to a big enthusiastic crowd on Mon., although I hope our noise is for a well-played game; not because the team needs encouragement.
Merry Christmas to all Blatherers.

New Rankings are out. Merry Christmas

PITT is #24 in both polls !!!

link to rivals.yahoo.com

As predicted both New Mexico & North Carolina fell OUT of the polls. Appreciate it Lobos & Tarheels. Cincy is up to #8, very nice.

New Mexico, Kentucky, and North Carolina each face ranked opponents while Pitt has a week off… can we drop back out of the top 25 before even playing Cincy?

When was the last time UConn, North Carolina & Kentucky were unranked? I’ll bet CBS is really pissed…

HTP, great to be rated. Big test coming up. We will see which guys can elevate their play.

IMO, In our only test, Michigan elevated their play and we couldn’t hang with them. This is the test they will have to learn how to pass. They certainly have the talent and the schedule gives them the opportunity. Glad the first big one is at the Pete.

Happy Holidays everyone, I am hoping to have something extra to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

New Mexico is playing Cincy on Thursday…..I guess it would be best if Cincy wins that one. It would help our anemic RPI.

link to statsheet.com

@ Jackagain.

Aaaaaaa yes we definitely want Cincy to win that
game vs the Lobos.

Btw, Kentucky is ranked #23 in the USA/ESPN poll.

RPI isn’t that bad at #55 considering.

Others of note: Cincy #26, Mich St. #30, Mizzou #33, Ohio State #37, G-Town #41, UNC #50, Kentucky #51, PITT #55, Oregon #56, Notre Dame # 71, UCLA #79, K State #83, Marquette #95, Ga Tech #99, Villanova #100, Wvcc #111, FSU #129, Ped State #133, Va TEch #141, Wisconsin #143, Clemson #193, Wake Forest #200.

So actually Pitt’s isn’t that bad.

We’re #65 in the RPI…Kentucky is 55. We need a win next Monday.

The ESPN poll is a joke BTW 🙂