2 pm ESPNU

St. Bonaventure is off to a strong start. Coming off a NCAA Tournament appearance last year, they are 6-1 with a nice road win over Ohio U. It’s a team with a good deal of confidence. They are run by former Robert Morris head coach Mark Schmidt.

Pitt, meanwhile, gets their first game back at the Pete in a month. Not to mention a healthy Cameron Wright. Coach Jamie Dixon isn’t fooling around on making sure the players know there is some pressure to play well from the start.

In his mind, there might be legitimate reasons the Panthers have struggled to start the season, but they aren’t relevant now — especially since they got their most experienced player, Cameron Wright, back in the mix after he missed 10 weeks with a broken bone in his foot.

“We need to get right into this,” Dixon said. “I mean, we can make all the excuses we want, but we have to get right into it and get going. We have had five practices, we can’t have any more excuses.

“We can’t have any more reasons for coming up short; we have to figure it out. I think we are fine. It can’t be a thing of ‘Well, we aren’t playing good because Cam has only been playing with us for five days.’ That can’t be a thought, a reason — it can’t be an excuse, it has to be seamless.”

A little more public bite from Dixon this year.

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Folks, I know that there are a lot of comments flying with the football stuff. Emotions are tending to rise and fall — mostly rising at this point. I also know there are a lot of new people trying to comment.

With that in mind…

1. Don’t be an ass. You are not speaking truth to power. You are not the only one who sees things clearly and the rest are idiots and blind sheep. I have to be honest. It’s been a long season, and I’ve tried to let things go, but several people are coming up to the line where I have had enough of it and will start banning people to bring things under control.

2. If you are new and you don’t see your comments showing up in discussion it is because I missed them or haven’t approved them. New comments are held for review to make sure that they aren’t spam, from previously banned commenters trying to slip in under a different email, and just for appropriate content. Drop me an e-mail if you are concerned: pitblather-at-gmail-dot-com

3. In that vein, insulting me or any of the other writers, slash complaining in the comments that you are being banned or censored won’t help you in getting the comments approved. I’m more than happy to let you believe you are a victim.

4. Sock-puppetry will almost certainly result in being called out and immediately banned.

Hopefully that will cover it.

Justin had the run down/recap of where things stand. It’s… weird. And a bit uncomfortable.

We were all certain Chryst was gone yesterday morning. Now we are mostly certain. Thanks to the job posting laws for what is ostensibly a state job in Wisconsin, the hiring of Chryst can’t happen until at least Wednesday, December 17 — Happy Hanukkah everyone. (Yes, I know it starts the evening before but it is the first full day so roll with it.)

That means Chryst and Pitt is in a weird place. Pitt can’t fire him, because then they lose whatever buyout remains on his originial five-year deal. Not to mention, they can’t take the chance that somehow the Wisconsin thing falls through and suddenly they have to keep paying Chryst.

Conversely, Chryst can’t really resign because he doesn’t really have a job yet. He may have assurances and belief that the Wisconsin job is his, but there is nothing smart about giving up the present job until is a reality. So both sides have to pretend that the status quo is as it was a week prior. Even if everyone just wants a quick resolution so things can move forward.

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