Guess who has two thumbs, but has been without power in their house since 6am?

Yeah, it’s been a day. A bit overly optimistic that things were settling down last week. Now, I’m being pessimistic and saying it might not be until the end of next week.

Anyways, precious power on my phone is being used so it’s time to keep it simple. A Pitt win and they clinch 5th in the ACC and are relatively safe into the NCAA Tournament. A loss can drop them as low as 7th and puts them legitimately in bubble talk.

Hopefully power comes back soon so I can watch some of this. It’s on the ACC network syndication along with ESPN3.com and ESPN Full Court package.

How did Pitt lose last night? One simple chart:

As for why? That’s a different discussion.

Final game at the Pete for the season. Aaron Donald will be there.

Game is on ESPNU at 9pm. Mike Patrick and LaPhonso Ellis calling the game.

Not sure what kind of effort will be coming from the Wolfpack. Obviously not the effort they gave versus UNC last week. Or Syracuse the week before. They likely won’t be as pathetic as they were in the games immediately after those losses.

N.C. State (17-12, 7-9 ACC) will play at Pittsburgh on Monday after a sobering letdown in an 85-70 home loss to Miami on Saturday.

The Wolfpack poured everything into Wednesday’s game against North Carolina, an 85-84 overtime loss, but couldn’t duplicate the effort against the struggling Hurricanes.

Gottfried understood those challenges before the season. He had talked to his team about the danger of Saturday’s game with Miami.

He saw the same pattern after a difficult loss to Syracuse on Feb. 15. The Wolfpack couldn’t avoid some of the same issues that cost it a 73-56 loss at Clemson after the Syracuse game.

At this point, the goal for NC State is to finish at .500 in conference play. They end the season at home against BC, so this should be a big deal for them.

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Shortly after I finished watching the game, my son looked over at me and asked, “Did Pitt lose daddy?”

“No, Kian they won.”

“Then why are you lying on the floor?”

I uncurled from the fetal position with no really good answer other than, “It’s Pitt, son. It’s Pitt.”

Had to DVR delay the Pitt-ND game. Which may have been for the best in terms of avoiding the community meltdown with 2.8 seconds left in regulation. But I’ll get to that.

The good news about that game, other than the win. No “burn” offense from the Irish.

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2 pm on ESPN2. Dave O’Brien and Doris Burke on the call.

Even if Pitt wasn’t struggling and a bit beat up, I’d be worried about this game. Losing five straight to a team will do that to you.

It just seems that much in the same way Pitt matches up well and knows what to do against Syracuse, Notre Dame does the same to Pitt.

“Whenever we play against Pittsburgh, it’s one of our biggest games of the season,” said Atkins, who leads Notre Dame in assists and steals. “I don’t think it’s going to be any different, another tough game on Saturday.”

Asked about Notre Dame’s success against the Panthers — Pitt hasn’t beaten Notre Dame since January 2009 and hasn’t won in South Bend since March 2005 — Atkins credits coach Mike Brey’s game plan.

Last season, Notre Dame limited the Panthers to 34 percent shooting and won the rebounding battle, 40-25. No Pitt player scored more than 11 points.

“We do a good job of scouting them and trying to take away their easy looks for their better players,” said Atkins, who contributed 10 points and seven assists in last year’s victory. “Also, limiting them on the backboards because they usually beat up teams offensive rebounding.”

Their defense has been solid, but the problem has been dealing with their offense. The Irish aren’t too far from Pitt’s adjusted tempo, but when they play Pitt they take it to the next level down.

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