Sorry, very late start this morning. Missed the first few minutes trying to finish other things.

Hmm. The Pitt white jerseys. Don’t really like those gold shoulder accents.

McCoy looks good running so far.

12:27: Aargh. Damn, that was a gift that Phillips dropped.

12:33: Oh, my god, a sack. A real sack. Clermond got there. The MSU O-line not exactly assertive early.

Crap. Soft coverage allowed nearly 20 yards to at least give them a FG or even go for it. Going for it. Wow. No trying to draw offside, but Cox jammed receiver 3 yards and he dropped it.

Mick Williams can’t stay healthy can he?

12:38: (^^$&#$@%@%. Interception. Smith threw that poorly right to the defender.

Was that Smth’s first pass attempt?

12:40: Then Hoyer scrambles to buy time and hits a receiver down at the 3. End of the 1st Q and MSU has 1st and goal. If there’s any silver lining to what I’m seeing to this point is that MSU will stay conservative and that will keep the score close. That, at least will give Pitt a chance.

12:44: Almost a big stop inside the 5, but no. Instead the Caulcrick just busted through the arm tackle of Phillips for the score.

7-0 MSU 14:15 left in the half.

12:49: Holy crap! McCoy blew past a sealed block to the outside. An actual, goddamned block. And then he really hit it and went 64 yards for the TD

7-7 13:54 to go in the 1st half.

1:00: Aiigghhh! Interception. High and away from Turner, off his hands. Returned for a TD. 0 passing yards.

14-7 MSU 11:00.

1:04: Wow. McCoy gets outside and nearly 20 yards.

Dare I suggest to help Smith, that they roll him out and let him run? Give him a chance to use his athleticism to do something and maybe get his head back into the game.

Have to admit, Andre Ware is dead-on with his observations from the booth with Smith. He just got happy feet about the pocket and didn’t look downfield at all.

1:10: Tough decision for Cavanaugh. He needs to have Smith get his confidence, and maybe throw in something other than on 3d and long — when the Spartans know it’s coming. But that would mean not giving the ball to McCoy .

1:11: Jeez. Pitt has its 3d sack. What the hell? I’m seeing the line and the linebackers getting into the backfield? How is that happening?

Berry has a nice return on the punt to get it to about mid-field.

1:13: Yeah! A reception by Pestano for positive yards in the passing game. Great Pinkston “shaken up.” Just what the O-line needs.

1:17: I’m surprised to see Smith struggle mentally so much. His head/confidence seems so shaken.

1:20: Ergh. Screen worked beautifully for MSU. Picked up the 1st down on 3d and 10.

There! What Hoyer did for MSU on the roll-out. Just run a little. I’d like to see Smith give that a shot just to feel like he is actually contributing to the offense.

1:30: Two straight false start penalties, just as Pitt moves a little in the two minute drills.

Then Smith sacked. That ends the half.

14-7 Michigan State.

Wannstedt was asked about whether Bostick will be coming in for the second half. Completely non-committal.

2 INT. One returned for a TD and the other leading to the score.

(more…)

7:33: Portland is on the clock.
I’m starting this with one hand. My son is out cold on my lap.

Question: Who would you want to give a free kick to the nuts more? Steven A. Smith or Dick Vitale?

7:36: Shocking Oden goes first. Stunned I tell you. Stunned.

7:41: Naturally Durant to Seattle/Oklahoma City. Easiest draft pick ever.

7:42: Awesome. The Celtics are apparently going to swap the #5 pick (or pick Jeff Green of Georgetown) along with Delonte West and Wally Sczerbiak to Seattle for Ray Allen. I’m with Mark Jackson who has been blasting this deal for the Celtics all day. That’s why I love it. Hate the Celtics.

7:46: Okay, Atlanta and Pitt’s Billy Knight have the #3 pick. Heard that the Hawks because of their pathetic and infighting trinity of ownership blew a chance to get Amare Stoudamire in a deal that would have involved the #11 pick. Yeep.

They go with Al Horford from Florida as expected. Best player left. I have no problem with it. That means they’ll take Acie Law IV at #11.

7:50: Those Adidas Draft/NBA hats bother me with that narrow piping. Makes it look like everyone has a pointy head.

7:52: Predictable draft so far as Conley, Jr. goes #4 to Memphis. I see him as a slightly better Dominic James with more mystery creating the nebulous “upside.”

7:57: Yes! The Celtics do take Jeff Green. That means Boston will just be inadequate and not have any potential growth in the future.

(more…)

If you are watching the Spring Game and want to comment on what you are seeing. Fire away.

2:07: For whatever it’s worth in the spring game and this being it, I’d say that Stull is looking a lot more comfortable in the offense and much more accurate.

Moved up from the comments, with thanks to Dan35 for the observations:

A cheerleader got drilled right on the noggin with a booming punt during pre-game drills. I don’t know if it’s a bad omen, a good omen, or just plain tragic.

Play of the Day:
Gus Mustakis chasing down Bill Stull and forcing a fumble. It looked like a grizzly chasing down a deer. Great stuff.

Ouch:
Kevin Smith had a day to forget. It was a big step backward from what I saw of him in the scrimage 2 weeks ago. He fumbled 2 snaps, almost lost a couple others, got tripped up at least twice by his linemen, and had a couple near-fumble exchanges. Not very crisp. Not all his fault, though. He never got into a rythm. Stull didn’t set the world on fire, either.

Ready to Rock:
Mustakis, Clermond, & Fields all looked great throughout the day. Shane Murray and McKillop seem to work well as a tandem in the linbacker corp. I think Murray will surprise some people. LSH showed his usual fleetness afoot.

Overall:
The coaches are gonna be pissed about the performace. The stupid mistakes that they did not want to see were everywhere. The offense definitely wasn’t clicking on all cylinders. They kept it pretty conservative. The defense played well (with help from the O). The secondary forced a couple coverage sacks, the linbackers were largely in position and making plays, and the linemen were getting penetration. I think the defense is in decent shape at the moment. The offense needs to get everyone healthy and on the same page.

Miscellaneous:
When the coaching staff tells you that they have high hopes for Romeus, but that he needs some experience/work: believe them. He made some great athletic plays and batted down a pass or two. He also got sucked into a couple fakes and failed to keep contain. That stuff will come.

Pinkston is a monster. He is a huge scary monster. He’s listed at 280, but looks closer to 310. He’s very good news for the O-line.

Dorin Dickerson had a pick and a couple tackles, including one where he tossed Pelusi out of bounds with one arm. He’s definitely going to contribute somewhere. Part of me still can’t help but wish it was running over defenders.

Again, thanks for letting us know what you saw. Hard to judge much from the internet broadcast.

Not much news on Pitt. Hope a lot of students went to “Blue Chip Day.”

The only story was on the Center position. I’m betting Vangas will be the starter. Bachman is still learning and it just seems that he is going to need more time with that ankle.

This evening, of course will be the Final Four. I’m going to be providing the live-blog for the games at AOL Fanhouse tonight around 6. Michael David Smith (also of Football Outsiders) will also be adding additional posts and thoughts as the game goes on.

This means pacing myself on the beer. I will be starting with Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Tripel. It’s a Belgian I picked up yesterday. Given the high alcohol content (9%) and the flavor, I should be able to go at a slower tempo.

After that, it will be nursing the New Castles.

Kansas gets barely past SIU with a 61-58 win and now awaits the winner of Pitt-UCLA. One thing is certain, SIU HC Lowery is about to make more money. Either because he will get a nice raise from his alma mater or he will be snatched by another school.

9:53: Here we go.

10:02: Pitt down 8-4, 15:52 in the half. As expected, banging and tight. Mbah a Moute already forced to sit with 2 fouls. The Bruins are now bringing at least 2 guys at Gray with MaM out.

10:08: Good timeout by Graves. That was a good trap, and he didn’t try to do anything stupid.

10:20: Man, Pitt is not hitting shots, still only down 3.

10:35: Not making shots is starting to catch up with Pitt as halftime nears. UCLA is now bringing at least two — even three men — on Gray and daring Pitt to make an open jumper. It’s not happening right now. There won’t be any way for Gray to get chances if the shots aren’t being knocked down.

10:47: Pitt down 32-26. Hate to say it, but that’s good. Pitt shot horribly and only encouraged UCLA to gamble more on defense and make it harder on Pitt.

I think Young will have to play more in the second half, even if Kendall is better on defense. Pitt needs Young’s scoring more at the moment. They need penetrators and anyone else to help take the defense off of Gray. Fields and Ramon are at least taking care of the ball even if they aren’t providing much on offense.

UCLA is shooting better then Pitt and even out-rebounding them. The startling thing is that UCLA is turning the ball over more and fouled more.

Naturally, UCLA is hitting all of their FT shots.

11:12: AUUGGHHH!! How is Pitt making it that much harder by missing some of these shots? I’m trying to remain calm but that’s at least 2 lay-ins to start the second half that Pitt has managed to mangle.

11:25: Grife! I don’t know what to say. Pitt has shots. They are getting looks. They are simply missing them. I had hoped that the shots would start falling, but they still aren’t. Now you can see some of the players getting tighter when they have to shoot. Some players hesitating and others thinking they have to shoot right away. They are frustrated because they know the shots are there.

11:30: 5 points in almost 9 minutes?

11:52: Small run and then that was it. 3:27 UCLA up 54-42.

Nothing. I can’t believe the poor shooting. Pitt’s shooting has somehow managed to be worse in the second half then in the first.

12:09: 64-55 UCLA wins.  Credit UCLA. They did it without getting the turnovers. They shot incredibly well on free throws. They out rebounded Pitt (it helps when Pitt misses that many shots on the defensive rebounds) and converted more open shots.

What can you say? Pitt got nothing inside. Gray only had 10 points and Kendall — while he had 3 assists — had 0 points. Young provided a brief spark with 9 points but on only 3-10 shooting. Cook hit 3-4 to start then was 0-5 the rest of the way.

Right now I’m very disappointed in the way they shot. The defense was sound. Good god, did they get open looks. They just shot like absolute crap.

It’s not just the guys inside. They had no chance to get free when most of the game the perimeter wasn’t doing much to help them loosen double teams.

Shame Sean Miller and Xavier couldn’t get the upset — not to mention OSU’s Greg Oden avoiding being called for a flagrant for shoving the Cage into the second row on that foul. It absolutely deflated the Musketeers in the OT.

Butler-Maryland was a lot of fun (and a Butler 62-59 win was nice) — seriously, does the ACC offer a special camp that teaches flopping — but thankfully it’s over and now just a little time before the VCU-Pitt tip.

5:55: I may be a little late on the liveblogging. I need to stick with the L-ville-TAMU game.

5:58: Not that it matters. The Pitt game is being shown locally in my area (meaning it’s blacked out for the PPV package) and they are sticking with L-ville.

6:54: Okay. Nice 41-26 at the half. Still, VCU has been a second half team. Especially Maynor. Graves has been tremendous in stopping him. Has him frustrated and pissed. That’s good.

The weakness of VCU is their defense and Pitt has taken advantage of it. Beautiful to see everyone scoring — no one in double digits.

If VCU goes on a run to start, I will be going silent. Hey it worked in the first half.

8:28: Survive and advance.

I’ll say this, VCU did it 3 straight games. I would call that a trend. Coming back from deeper and deeper deficits. George Mason, Duke and then Pitt.
As much as Pitt nearly lost it, VCU mounted a tremendous comeback and did everything right. Not just the tremendous defensive pressure and effort — but hitting those shots. There were a bunch of deep, hands in the face 3s and circus shots. That was impressive.

Now, Pitt seemed so close to wilting and breaking. After Fields missed 2 FTs at the end of regulation, they regrouped. They lost Kendall to fouling out and they still did it.  The team got the win in the OT. When momentum, the crowd and everything had turned against them.

What is important is that Pitt is in the Sweet 16.

This is it. VCU upsets Duke 79-77 and sends them home after the first round for the first time since 1996.

As the last game of the night, of course the prior game would run long. Jeez Maynor is a killer. I don’t know how many of you saw what he did to George Mason in the CAA Championship. He scares the hell out of me, assuming Pitt wins.

Tip time is 10:10.

10:14: Looks like this game will be called loosely. That benefits Pitt. So does the score. 13-0 Pitt. 17:05 still to go in the half.

10:32: Well, looks like Wright St. has some fight in them. 21-15 with under 11 minutes. Gray took an extended break. Solid WSU game plan to take their time on offense and then drive when presented the opportunity.

10:39: Call a TO. Pitt just stopped playing team offense. Everyone just started launching, sloppy. Tied at 22.

10:50: Fields has really struggled lately. He seems to be trying to hit the homerun in his passes and shooting too much lately. I don’t know what it is. He just is making reckless passes, way too often.

10:53: Speeding the game up actually helped get Pitt back the lead. Not running and gunning, but getting out ahead of the defense. The bright side, assuming Pitt wins, they won’t be taking VCU lightly.

11:00: 43-30 Pitt at the half. Everybody breathing. Just a little bit of highs and lows in the first half.

11:16: Anyone else notice that Eastern Kentucky has closed to within 5 early in the second half. After leading by 27. Fire Roy Williams.

11:52: Looks like Buffalo has cleared out as the game has remained a blowout throughout the second half. Graves did a fantastic job on making DaShaun Woods a non-factor for most of the game. Ramon had a good game. The cynical view is that, of course he did, he was shooting over guards that weren’t as tall as him and played too far off. Still he hit the open looks — just hope he still does that on Saturday.

12:06: Well, after watching Ramon get stripped twice in 10 seconds, I think he won’t be getting too cocky despite his solid shooting night.

12:07: Jeff Rizk hits 1-2 at the FT line.

Final score. 79-58 Pitt wins.

Now it’s VCU. Start reviewing what worked against Marquette and Louisville in the BET and really emphasize protecting the ball and getting it inside.

Getting close to game time. I’m starting to sweat once more. Great.

9:11: Pitt down 6-2, 15:57 to halftime. Gray has missed three shots already.

9:21: No, not a great start. Still, only down 4.

9:37: Okay, now down 11. Gray shooting playing poorly. The whole team shooting poorly. Just 24-13 with 4:37 left.

9:47: Hibbert had his way with Gray and anyone else forced to go at him on offense. Otherwise, the G-town offense was it’s usual efficient self.

Just didn’t expect Pitt to just have no offense. Gray 0-9 and 1 point. 7-28 shooting overall. Shots are just not going down. Some of it is the G-town defense, but a lot of it is just not making the shots or taking the opportunities.

10:13: Gray now 0-10. On defense, he has let himself be abused by Hibbert. Either he is having his worst game ever, he is worn out physically in the 3d game in 3 days, or he’s got other things on his mind.

10:35: Don’t know what to say. Pitt is simply not hitting shots. I don’t think it’s fatigue. Just an absolutely pitiful shooting performance. When your best player doesn’t make a basket until halfway into the second half, it takes a toll. The rest of the team seemed to start press even more.

Pitt was able to overcome Gray as a non-factor for one game, but this was actually worse.

10:44: Credit Georgetown for their great energy and not stopping. They are still fighting and pushing Pitt.

10:55: Congratulations to Georgetown. They were the best team in the Big East this season and in the BET.

Pitt will have to wait for the seed tomorrow. I’m still thinking Pitt doesn’t do worse than a 3.

After that, Pitt has to be disappointed in the ending. It was a poor game. Still, they essentially have to forget it and get ready for the NCAA Tournament.

Well, another close game before hand. I wouldn’t object to another OT.

I’m curious to see how Pitt will adjust to Louisville this second time around.

9:45: Well, whatever the original plan was, it just got altered with Gray out early with 2 fouls.

10:20: Gray on the bench for all but 3 minutes. No 3s hit. And Pitt is right in this game.

10:26: Bad gamble by Dixon to put Gray in for the final minute. Pitt couldn’t do anything on offense to make it worthwhile and then Gray had to essentially stand far from the basket on defense to avoid any more fouls.

Totally disrupted Pitt’s spacing on defense. It ended up costing 6 more points. Up to that point, Pitt wasn’t in bad shape considering the situation.
Now Pitt down 37-26 at the half.

I’m not saying Pitt should be relying on the 3, but they have to knock some down. 0-6 is not promising.

10:44: To: Antonio Graves

Re: hitting some 3s.

Thank you for those first two.
37-32 Louisville in less than a minute into the second half.

10:53: Seems Antonio Graves found his stroke. Thankfully.

Can’t believe they called Gray for that foul.

11:04: More consistency from the refs, as Padgett keeps getting away with wrapping and yanking players. When did Cook get his nose bloodied?

11:22: Well, this has just gotten ugly. Has anyone scored in the last couple minutes? Gray has missed 3 straigh FTs. Still 52-51 Pitt, 3:29 left.

11:37: 65-59 PITT WINS!!!

WHOOO-Hoo!!!!!!!!!

11:39: Here’s the added bonus. What are the odds of seeing Burr and Higgins again tomorrow?

12:06: Some postgame thoughts. Gray had 8 points and 0 rebounds in 14 mintues, and Pitt won. Yeah, I saw that coming.

Graves found his stroke and his confidence in the second half. 23 points, 2 blocks, 4 assists and a steal.

Mike Cook had 13 points and 8 rebounds along with 2 steals.

Pitt only had 6 turnovers in the game. A second straight low turnover game against teams that got Pitt to fumble the ball away.

17 assists on 20 baskets.

20-31 on FTs. It could be better, but it has been worse.

It wasn’t that Pitt wasn’t getting whistles. It was the sheer unpredictability of what  would be called that gets on the nerves.
Big thanks to Louisville for panicking early in the second half, launching shots without any real plan. Forcing your coach to burn all but one of your timeouts in the first 5 minutes.

Really, I don’t know what happened to Louisville in the second half. They seemed to panic the minute Pitt sank a 3. May not have been Pitino’s best halftime speech.

Hello all. Big thanks for everything Dennis has been doing here the last couple of days. It’s been a little chaotic. I actually had a post this morning that got swallowed by the ether. I was too frustrated to recreate it, but might try again later next week.

Any how. Not sure when this game will start with the WVU-L-ville game going like this.

9:19: Double OT for WVU-L’ville.

10:09: Well, Pitt is definitely playing with a lot of energy. Right now, they are clearly controlling the pace and forcing Marquette to play a slow. Good things so far.

10:17: Pitt up 17-16. I’m not exactly the picture of calm right now. This is going to stay tight. It just feels that way.

10:23: Pitt now down 20-18. Ugh. Ramon just panics when he sees a press.

10:26: Some good news. Lazar Hayward committed his 3d foul, and Dominic James has 2 fouls with 9:05 in the half.

10:33: Not the worst strategy, just foul Gray and make him shoot FTs.

10:41: Idle thought, does Fields think that he has to show he’s as good as Dominic James or something at times. It’s probably just the fact that he’s nailing 3s against Pitt, but there’s something about Dan Fitzgerald’s narrow face that annoys the hell out of me.

10:50: Pitt leads 40-37 at the half. The first time this year, Pitt has led against Marquette at the half.

10:53: Kendall is having a fine game. 6 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 0 turnovers and 4 assists.

Young is looking pretty good on offense with 9 points. His defense, though, urgh. He is just impatient and hates to wait and guard, so he keeps leaving and drifting from his guy.

Gray is playing solid. Just wish he could hit a free throw — granted he’s no Terrence Roberts of Syracuse.

Not getting much from the guard play, but on the bright side only 5 turnovers. That’s an improvement.

11:16: Dan Shulman, “Aaron Gray is single-handily getting Marquette into foul trouble here.” Yep.

By the way, they took one of the fouls away from James, so he only has 1 foul (I don’t know).

11:29: Pitt still leading. They keep talking about how Marquette isn’t getting to the line like they usually do. The difference is Fitzgerald rather than McNeal. It’s one less perimeter threat to penetrate. And it seems they are settling for more jump shots in general. It’s also — obviously — the presence of Gray inside to change shots and force more pull-ups.

11:37: 69-57. It’s not over. Marquette’s got one more run at Pitt in them. Pitt just has to stay patient on both ends. Let the Golden Eagles get frustrated.

11:49: Pitt up by 12, still with under 4. Great night for penetration and going inside. Not just Gray, but Cook and Young are having great nights. Just attacking.

11:55: Okay, I’m going to say Pitt has this. 83-69, 1:32 left.

15 straight FTs by Pitt.

I didn’t want to jinx it, but I felt confident Pitt would win, when marquette had the steal and Barro was ahead of everyone and missed the lay-up because he looked back. Like what Fields did in the loss at Marquette.

12:01: Did I speak too soon? They missed 3 straight FTs before Fields made his second.

Well, Gray got his 10th Rebound for a double-double.

Gray, Graves, Fields, Cook and Young all in double digit scoring.

12:06: Is it worth mentioning that the streak of the games being decided by 6 or less points appears to be about over? I think it is.

12:09:

89-79 Final
Yeah, that felt good. I’ll say that win takes a lot of the sting out of losing twice in the season to knock Marquette out of the Big East Tournament. Heh.

12:27: Post-game on ESPNews Coach Dixon was pretty much stock answers.

Mark Jones was feeling Gray up, poking him and checking him for scraps and scratches on his body. Awkward!

This thread will be updated a few times throughout each game of today’s Big East Tournament. I’m not sure where this will lead to — I assume I’ll just go with the flow of the day. Feel free to comment throughout the day on any thoughts you have on today on the BET.

Today’s schedule looks like this (all games on ESPN):

Wednesday, March 7:

#8 DePaul vs. #9 Villanova, 12pm

#5 Syracuse vs. #12 UConn, 2pm

#7 West Virginia vs. #10 Providence, 7pm

#6 Marquette vs. #11 St. John’s, 9pm

Game 1: #8 DePaul vs. #9 Villanova

12:22 pm — So the tournament tips off with a good matchup, and for the record I have ‘Nova in this one. The ESPN coverage began with what can best be described as a “strange opening rap/dance montage” with people wearing a jersey from each team. The Pitt “representative” was wearing a #11 jersey and at first you’d think it was Carl Krauser; it’s the newer style jersey though that Krauser never wore therefore meaning it was…a Gilbert Brown jersey?!?

By the way there’s a game going on too and although ‘Nova jumped out to an early 8-0 lead, DePaul cut it to 12-8 with 12 minutes left in the half.

12:53 pm — Villanova went to a zone for the final few minutes of the half and Curtis Sumpter (13 pts. at the half) sat out the last few minutes because of foul trouble. DePaul closes the lead to 2 points because because BE RoY Scottie Reynolds played less than stellar.

1:03 pm — Don’t underestimate the fact that it’s pretty tough to play in this time slot. Neither team seems to have a huge contingent there and it’s definitely odd for those guys to play in a 20,000 seat arena that is only half full.

1:17 pm — DePaul is down 11 now with about 16 minutes left in the second half. Maybe if their jerseys didn’t resemble Penn State’s then they’d be much better.

1:33 pm — I know I said earlier that I picked Villanova to win but I’d rather see DePaul win if it means these teams go into three or four overtime periods. Anything to prolong the time before the impending doom that is Syracuse’s new unis.

1:49 pm — Villanova has had the lead for the entire game and DePaul has been able to pull close and then fade away a bit and then pull back in a continuing cycle. Scottie Reynolds isn’t playing his best game and still has 19 and counting. A five point lead for the Wildcats with seven left in the game.

Jay Bilas throws kind words towards Pitt’s way for the second time today, basically saying the same thing he did on Cold Pizza.

2:03 pm — If Nova wins they’ll have a tough time against a rested Georgetown team tomorrow now that two of the Wildcat’s key players have come up limping. Still have to win this one though. Villanova leads 63-59 with 1:20 left.

2:13 pm — Nova doesn’t miss foul shots which should lead them to the win. I won’t be able to watch the UConn-‘Cuse game but feel free to make your comments on that game. I should be back in action for the 7:00 game though.

6:02 pm — I’m back and just saw the SportsCenter highlight of Nichols and Devendorf destroying UConn. WVU-Providence coming up in about an hour.

Game 3: #7 West Virginia vs. #10 Providence

6:52 pm — If you take a look at my professionally made Big East bracket I filled out for the poll at BigEastHoops.com you’ll see I’m 2 for 2 so far today and looking for WVU to make it 3 of 3. Yeah I took Pitt all the way, and had it been for money I might have thought a bit more rationally, but it’s a free deal so I can be as big of a homer as I want.

7:03 pm — So everyone who missed the dancing intro during the day session got a look at it as they moved from SportsCenter into the game broadcast. Both teams NEED this game (and probably a few more) if they want to avoid the NIT.

7:15 pm — Is it just me or does the BET logo at center court get bigger every year?

7:37 pm — This game has been full of each team going on 7-8 point runs and then having the other team do the same.

I really wish we’d have clinched the 2nd seed for this tournament. I think the drop off from Marquette (6 seed) to WVU (7 seed) is pretty great. In my opinion, Louisville got the best draw.

8:05 pm — Patrick Beilein, son of Coach John, is in attendance and looking as fruity as ever.

8:14 pm — Dominic James struts into Madison Square Garden carrying his shoes in his hands and his jersey over his back. MU can’t afford duffel bags?

8:26 pm — Herbert Hill has trouble carrying this Providence team on his back and yet they’re still in the game. This game is beginning to look like the Villanova/DePaul game though. Like Depaul, Providence has been making runs at coming back but when it gets to within a point or two then WVU pulls away.

9:01 pm — WVU was just too tough for Providence but neither team’s defense was spectacular. Final score of WVU (92) to Providence (79).
By the way, I just found this hilarious post by Chas on Syracuse’s shorts over at the FanHouse.

Game 4: #6 Marquette vs. #11 St. John’s

9:15 pm — The game that affects Pitt the most at this point in time is coming up in about ten minutes or so. Not sure if I’ll make it through the entire game — I don’t think I would be able to stay awake if Marquette blows SJU out of the water.

9:43 pm — It’s not too hard to see that Marquette is the better team. For SJU to pull it off they’ll need someone to play the game of their life.

Let’s get started.

7:04: Any question as to the importance of this game to Pitt. Dixon didn’t start Hudson on Senior night.

7:11: Gray now 0-4 on FTs.

7:18: 10:49 until the half, Pitt now behind 11-9. It’s not going to be a blowout. Both teams playing tight.

7:20: Fields may have to play the whole game. Pitt handles WVU on both ends much more efficiently with him in there. I’m not kidding. When he went out, Pitt fell behind. As soon as he got back in there, Pitt got the lead right back. The whole team looks to flow much smoother.

7:34: Good grief. Fields is out, and sure enough Pitt fall behind again. Graves may have hit a 3 or a 2, 2:51 left to the half, Pitt down 27-26 or 25.

7:47: Pitt trails 32-29 at the half. All things considered, not horrible. Both teams are 13-24. The difference is quite literally 2 free throws and 1 more 3 made (though the same shooting % — 4-12 vs. 3-9).

The bad news is that WVU is shooting over 50%. While the 7 TOs by Pitt isn’t great, against WVU it isn’t horrible.

Good news, only 4 fouls by Pitt — no one has more than 1 foul. WVU actually has fouled more — a rarity. Smalligan and Ruoff each have 2. Pitt has the edge on rebounding 17-9 (6-2 on offensive boards). Gray and Kendall are doing some damage inside and from short-range (14 points combined, 3 assists and 12 rebounds). Ramon has his stroke so far; and after starting shaky and not looking confident, Graves seems a little more settled. 12 assists on 13 scores — Cook and Fields each have 3.

Obviously I’d prefer a lead, but I like most of what I’m seeing from Pitt. Just keep Fields out there a lot more. Pitt does need to be better on the passing, and they have to go to the ball, not wait for it to get to them. WVU can reach.

8:07: Pitt up 38-32, 16:19 remaining. If Gray could hit free throws… Ah, well that’s kind of an old complaint. Pitt has been in their faces on defense, and driving the basket. Getting the Mountaineers in early foul issues. 4 fouls on WVU in under 4 minutes. For WVU, that is a big deal. They just don’t foul.

8:10: Oh, Gray wants this game. He hit the floor to save the ball and tossed it off a Mountaineer’s shin to keep it at Pitt’s end. He already has a double-double.

8:28: Pitt up 54-51, just under 8 minutes left. Nothing to really say. This game will go down to the end. Just hope Smalligan fouls out soon.

8:40: Pitt up 66-53, 3:38 left, though the Hoopies heading to the FT line. Levon Kendall in the first half, Biggs was great on offense in his spell (if he could just match it on the defensive side) and then Mike Cook with 12 second half points.

8:51: under a minute. Chants of “We want Doyle!”

8:55: Pitt wins 80-66.

9:00: Now that’s the way to rebound from a tough loss on the road. That’s the way you want to close out the season at the Pete for the Seniors.

Jamie Dixon: We played a lot better in the second half. Guard and penetration wasn’t very good in the first half.

Dixon just mentioned RPI and that he checked. Heh. Tell me coaches don’t pay attention to all that stuff.

Dixon said that Young was little banged up and couldn’t go in the second half.

Fields needs to know he’s the guy that is the catalyst and has to know that he makes the team go.

9:03: Safe to say, that Pitt came out angry and ready to play in this game. The defense really picked up in the second half.

The unofficial stats show that Pitt had an astounding 24 assists on 29 baskets. Graves with 6 and Fields and Cook each with 5.
I would have liked to have seen Kendall get one more rebound to get a double-double.

If Gray could have hit the FTs everyone would feel even better about this game. The good news, besides him going 5-7 with 12 points and 13 rebounds was that he only played 26 minutes. As much rest as he can give that ankle is always a plus.

Barring OT in the OK St-Texas Tech game, it looks like the Pitt-G-town game will start on time and without any delay of TV coverage. Of course, with the Cowboys, there is no guarantee of that.

2:07: Tip-off and Kendall was the center. They are saying Gray might still play.

2:14: 6-5 Pitt. Problem is I think Graves just picked up his 2nd foul.
Pitt has gotten Georgetown being a bit sloppy. Forcing turnovers and getting Hibbert playing further from the basket.
Cook has 4 points.

Hibbert has 1 foul.

2:22: Gray in the game. A little slower (hard to imagine), but able to run and play. Pitt leads 11-7, 11:50.

2:33: Pitt struggling horribly to get a basket at this point. Hell, just struggling to score. Now down 16-11. It’s been at least 6 minutes since their last FG. Some missed looks, blocks, and good defense has frustrated the offense. It’s not G-town has looked that good. They are just able to convert a few more now, and not turning the ball over as frequently.

2:43: 3:56 to the half, Pitt trails 20-19. Ewing, Jr. is a pest in the best possible way — if he’s on your team.

Gray looks decent. The size of Georgetown is more of a problem for Pitt as they try to get guys driving to the hoop. The only good thing, they are drawing fouls against the Hoyas.

3:06: Sorry, my network crashed for a bit. Interesting to look at who’s missing in the box score.

Young 2-6, 5 points, 2 rebounds

Fields 0-2, 4 assists, 1 TO

Graves 0-2, 1 assist and 1 TO

Kendall 0-1, 1 rebound

Gray 3-5, 7 points, 4 rebounds

Cook 2-5, 4 points, 1 assist, 1 steal and 3 TOs

3:18: Just the way they drew that up with Fields airballing a 3 that Cook read grabbed and put back. 33-33

3:30: Pitt leads 44-36. 11:49 remaining. An 18-3 run. Wow.

Seeing something from everyone right now.

3:51: I hate typing it, as it sounds like whining, but these refs suck.

It’s 49 all with under 5 minutes left. Both Pitt and Georgetown have played great on defense.

4:20: Pitt lost this game. I’m disappointed, but not upset. 61-53.
Gray looks like he’ll be playing the rest of the season. Even before the Gray injury, this was going to be a tough game for Pitt to win.

Both teams played great defense, Yes the Hoyas shot close to 50%, but they only had 36 attempts. Pitt’s defense severely limited their possessions. That was huge when you are talking about the most efficient offense in the country. You don’t expect to hold them to under 40% as much as limit their opportunities.

Do I think Pitt could have shot better than they did? Hell yes. Once again, the Pitt guards struggled with their shooting — all of them. Ramon was the most “accurate” at 3-9. Benjamin missed all 3 of his shots. Graves was 1-5. Fields, 2-8. Some shots were just bad luck — halfway down before coming out. Others were some missed open looks. But the majority of them came in the teeth of some great defense.

I think at times it is easy to forget how much it matters how the other team plays. Simply, Georgetown did play great defense against Pitt. Staying out on the guards to keep them on the perimeter and really battling inside.

Pitt worked hard in this game. They out rebounded the Hoyas and got more chances to shoot.

I’m still bothered by the refereeing. Not for the foul disparity. 29-16 in difference of attempts is not nearly so bad since Pitt missed several front ends of 1-and-1s to skew it a little higher. And, when you’re on the road, you should never expect the foul calls to go your way. What bothered me was the sheer randomness of the calls.

That said, Pitt was 8-16 on FTs (Gray and Young 3-10) while the Hoyas shot 22-29, to really win it at the line.

After this G-town-‘Nova game, it should be interesting.

2:13: Pitt trails 9-7, 14:52 to the half and Cook heading to the line. Washington has a good start. Hate to sound like sour grapes, but at least 2 of their shots looked like junk going up, but just fell. Pitt looks decent. Like what I’m seeing defensively so far.

2:22: Frustrating on the offensive side. The guards just are struggling with teams playing tight on them on the perimeter. Clearly, no respect for them to take them off the dribble. If Ramon, Fields, Benjamin and even Graves refuse to drive inside, there’s no reason not to play up on them. Washington can risk doing it, despite not necessarily having quick guards because of the size inside.

2:37: In case you are wondering, Sam Young played barely more than a minute before picking up 2 fouls. Like what I’ve seen from Cook in this half. He’s played good defense and is the only one scoring. Gray is shying from contact on offense. Just don’t understand that. He usually responds to the chance to go straight at an opposing big man.
5:47 left, 23-18 Washington.

3:00: Pitt leads at the half 31-28. Hasn’t been pretty at times, but Pitt survived a bad start to get the lead. Cook really kept Pitt in the game early. He has 10 points. Naturally the guards for Washington showed up for this game. Huskies shot 4-6 on 3s. Pitt only 2-8. Pitt struggling on the rebounds — on both sides.

Pitt only shot 9-27, but they have gotten Washington to be sloppy — 10 Husky turnovers, Pitt threw away 4 early but none the rest of the way. Plus, Pitt did finally get the memo about aggressive to the basket — or at least Fields did. The team has already shot 13 FTs (11-13 and Fields was 6-6).

3:15: I can’t believe some of the shots Pitt is managing to miss. The irrational part of my mind is hoping that this will balance out with some stuff that will go down later in a game Pitt needs (not that this is some sort of payback for shots earlier in the year). Pitt leads 39-37.

Gray took a shot to the face getting the rebound, but no call.

3:24: Scary thing. Cook and Young are the only Pitt players with more than a single basket at this point. That seems impossible. 45-45, 11:09 in the game.

3:33: Sean McDonough used to be good as a play caller. Maybe he’s having an off game. Maybe it’s because he’s paired with Wenzel. He is doing poorly with this game. Missing players, not seeing plays and just not calling the action.

3:48: Considering how poorly Pitt is shooting, it’s astounding that Pitt is winning. If they hold on, it will be on the defensive effort.

4:02: So, Pitt wins while being out-rebounded and poor 3-point shooting and not exactly great shooting overall? Instead they get the win with free throw shooting and  getting a slew of turnovers from the other team.

A 65-61 win. I’ll take it.

Just made it. Pregnant wife craved pancakes and fruit for dinner. Yeesh.

7:10: 8-2 L-ville, 15:55 to the half. Horrible start. Bad ball handling — 4 straight turnovers. Louisville has opened well shooting 4-6.

7:20: Pitt now trailing 17-7, 11:47. 0-5 on 3s, 2-10 shooting overall and 6 turnovers. Pitt has come out unprepared tonight. Can’t say I’ve seen much to like from anyone on the court.

7:26: Frustrating to watch this game with the inconsistent refs. It’s screwed on both sides, but I have no sense about when a foul will be called. They’ve allowed shoving and hits on both, but at the same time they have called some real cheapies.

It isn’t the reason why Pitt is doing so poorly. It just adds to the frustration.

7:38: Safe to say, this has been the worst Pitt has looked all season. Sloppy play. Bad passing, poor effort to get to the ball. Bad shooting. Team effort to look this bad.

7:47: On the bright side, they can only play better after this.

7:53: Pitt down 36-19. I’m blown away. 19 points, 19 rebounds, 15 turnovers. 5-21 shooting and 0-9 on 3s. That’s just too many 3s.
This is a team effort at this kind of bad play. No one player, the whole team shares this opening 20 minutes.

8:31: And now Fields is shaken up. What a tremendously bad game for Pitt. Sloppy. Poor execution, poor play, and even good shots aren’t going down.

Everything is coming together to go absolutely wrong in one game.

8:52: Geez. 61-46, 3:52 left. The team will have the rest of the week to stew and get angry over this performance. Even with all the turnovers (19), the piss-poor shooting was astounding. 14-39 overall and 2-16 on 3s.

9:24: Pitt loses 66-53. Louisville from the very start wanted it more. They played harder. They went after it.

Their defense was tremendous. Not simply pressing up court. It was the way they flew to the ball. There was no space for shots. They swarmed and kept Pitt from getting good shots. The early slew of turnovers, also made Pitt timid about moving the ball around. Afraid of screwing up again.

I mean it’s insane. You look at the stats and if you didn’t see the game you would just assume Pitt had a bad shooting night, and that was the main culprit. Note, these are unofficial stats and may change slightly.
Turnovers: 19-Pitt; 16-Lousiville
Rebounds: 34-Pitt; 33-Louisville

Free Throws: 16-22-Pitt; 10-18-Louisville

Fouls: 21-Pitt; 21-Louisville

Shooting:  17-48-Pitt; 26-54-Louisville

3-point shooting: 3-21-Pitt; 4-12-Louisville

All you can do is tip your cap to Louisville for playing far better then Pitt. For playing their best game of the season — and they did. This was not the same team that lost to Villanova a week and a half ago.

Nor was this the same Pitt team that took it to WVU last week.

It’s now up to Pitt to get up and deal. They can’t expect to win just because of who they are, who they are playing or where they are playing.