Sorry to be absent. I’d love to say I’ve been busy working sources for Big 11 rumors… but I, uh, don’t really have sources. Just offline stuff that had me busy.

As the Rutgers win over ND, and even DePaul scaring the crap out of Syracuse should remind everyone there are no gimmees on the road.

USF has some weapons and can fully pull the upset.

1pm start. The game is on  the Big East Network which includes: ESPN FullCourt, MSG, MASN, FoxSports Pittsburgh and BrightHouse Sports for today.

Liveblog below. If you want to break it out, Click Here.

2pm start. The game is on FoxSports Pittsburgh, MASN, MSG+ and the ESPN FullCourt package. For those on a computer and the right provider, it is on ESPN360.com.

Another road game, and Pitt puts its perfect conference road record at stake. Nice bit on Wanamaker adjusting his game as needed in the Big East.

The 6-foot-4 junior has gone from Pitt’s second-leading scorer to its leader in rebounds (6.6) and assists (4.1) since the return of senior Jermaine Dixon and junior Gilbert Brown to the lineup.

“It’s a sign of improvement for him,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “I’m really happy with what he’s doing offensively. He’s getting other guys shots, and he creates a problem for some teams to match up with him because of his ability to go off the dribble as the third guard for us.”

Part of the reason Wanamaker’s scoring average has slipped is a result of his field-goal percentage dropping from 48 percent to 33 percent — he was 4 of 12 from the field against the Hoyas — but he also has more assists (39) and less turnovers (19) in the past seven games than he did through the first 11, when he had 34 assists and 30 turnovers.

“He’s a great penetrator and a great passer,” Dixon said. “Just getting him to have a little more patience offensively has helped him increase his assists and cut down his turnovers.”

Facing a Hall team with a ‘Quip boy (sort of) who other than major foul problems is thriving in Gonzo ball. To the point where he’s running his mouth just a bit.

“I get to show everybody in the City of Pittsburgh what they missed out on,” Aliquippa, Pa. native Herb Pope said. The Seton Hall redshirt sophomore forward verbally committed to Pitt as a high school sophomore, but eventually re-opened his recruitment.

Pope eventually went to New Mexico State for one year before transferring to Seton Hall. He thought about Pittsburgh that time, too. Although the Panthers might not have wanted to deal with all the drama that has followed Pope the previous 3-4 years.

“It was an option for me,” Pope said after Seton Hall’s 80-77 victory against Louisville Thursday night. “I just never wanted to sit down and meet with Coach (Jamie) Dixon and put a game plan together.”

Now, Pope said he couldn’t see himself playing Pitt’s more deliberate style.

“I can’t hold the ball for 32 seconds,” he said with a smile.

Some of that much talked about new-found maturity it seems. Coach Dixon, to no surprise, sticks to the high road. The Seton Hall frontcourt has size, but no one seems to be seeing the girth.

Despite receiving his formal charges for his wrong-way on the highway incident, Keon Lawrence is expected to play.

LiveBlog around 2 pm. If you need to break it out, Click Here.

The liveblog may start a couple minutes late. I have the morning shuttle duties for my daughter’s activities. Her soccer practice ends at 11:45. It will be close. I already told the wife that I will quite literally run in the house and straight to the basement (pausing ever so briefly to grab a beer) for the game.

As usual if you need to break it out from the site, you can Click Here.

Otherwise it is below and kicks off noonish.

I have been giving serious thought to bagging a liveblog or even open thread after Pitt’s win over Syracuse when I never had a chance to post ahead of it. Yeah, but that is a coincidence (or at least that is what I am telling myself).

Cinci is looking to do something it has never done in the Big East, start out 3-0 in conference play.

A win over the Panthers would leave Cincinnati 3-0 in conference play for the first time since the 2004-2005 season, when coach Bob Huggins’ last Bearcats team opened its Conference USA schedule with wins over DePaul at home and St. Louis and East Carolina on the road before losing at home to Louisville.

The Bearcats followed a last-minute win over UConn with a gritty (read: struggling) win over Rutgers.

For Pitt, this would be a tough road game at any point in the season. To have it happen 2 days after a big road win makes it harder as the young team has to avoid a classic letdown.

Cincinnati has perhaps its best team since the Bearcats joined the Big East five seasons ago. Coach Mick Cronin’s team is led by senior guard Deonta Vaughn and 6-5 wing Lance Stephenson, a New York City phenom who was named the Big East Preseason Rookie of the Year.

Pollsters have taken notice. The Bearcats were ranked as high as No. 19 in the AP poll in early December.

“We’ve got to be focused on Cincinnati,” Pitt guard Brad Wanamaker said.

Stephenson has started every game and has made an immediate impact as his team’s leading scorer. He is averaging 13 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists and a team-high 29.4 minutes per game.

Vaughn has struggled with his shot for a good portion of the season but in the last two games has put up 17 points in each. Really, there is no doubt that this is the best team in the Mick Cronin era. It is also the first team to have some depth since the Huggy-Bear demolition. Yancy Gates is strong inside. Rashad Bishop is still there. Cashmere Wright is healthy. Ibrahima Thomas is eligible. Plus players like Dion Dixon (cripes 3 Dixons in one game), Larry Davis and Steve Toyloy.

On top of playing in Cinci, Pitt officially gets a target (beyond the one they have earned in the Big East for being one of the dominant teams of the aughts) for being ranked #23 in the AP poll.

The good news is that while Pitt is still offensively challenged, they have an identity. They are back to stifling defense. And they have a coach that won’t let them use their inexperience as an excuse (even if it is given its own chart for the media to use in the game notes, pg 5, PDF).

“The freshmen aren’t freshmen anymore,” Dixon said Saturday after Pitt upset No. 5 Syracuse in the Carrier Dome. “I declared them sophomores over the break. I took that away from them. I advanced them a year.”

It was another subtle reminder that his young players have to perform beyond their years if the Panthers are going to compete well in Big East Conference play. And two games into the conference schedule some of the young players are heeding their coach’s advice and growing up in a hurry.

More love and attention for Ashton Gibbs who takes home Big East Player of the Week Honors, along with ESPN.com’s Weekly Watch’s POY.

Ashton Gibbs should thank UConn’s Kemba Walker for staying home instead of playing for the United States on the Under 19 national team that won gold for the first time since 1991.

Gibbs was tabbed as the starter once Walker decided against returning to the squad for a second summer. Gibbs was the lead playmaker for U-19 (and Pitt) coach Jamie Dixon, and it is paying huge dividends for the Panthers this season.

And this bit about Pitt and Coach Dixon.

…Pitt is 2-0, and if the Panthers win eight more Big East games, assuming a few are against the upper echelon, Pitt is once again an NCAA tournament team. Never doubt coach Jamie Dixon and pick him ninth again, Big East coaches. Never.

Anyways, LiveBlog is around 7pm. The game is on ESPN. I need Pitt to win this game so I can reclaim some bragging rights from my wife.

You can break out the liveblog when you Click Here.

Otherwise it will be below.

A fun, fun, fun day of post-holiday cleaning and snow shoveling. Wheeeeee.

It’s the DePaul Blue Demons coming to the Pete to play Pitt on Monday night on ESPN—–U. To kick off the start of Big East play for Pitt. True Big Monday games don’t start until the Mouse Monopoly runs out of MNF NFL games.

Consider this the warm-up,

Liveblog around 7pm.

If you need to break it out Click Here.

Otherwise, right below.

Happy day after after Christmas. I’m in Central Ohio for the weekend with the wife’s family. That means posting will be lighter. That does not mean there won’t be a liveblog, though. Just because the in-laws lack a wireless set-up, only menas that it s the excuse I needed to head to a local watering hole with wi-fi.

So, for however long the battery lasts (or if I can find a convenient outlet) I’ll be live blogging the Meineke Car Car Bowl .

You can break it out from Here.

Or join in right below.

Sorry about getting the post out last minute. Out of the house for the afternoon and evening. Having a teeming distaste for humanity after being ordered to get last minute gifts for my wife’s boss and co-workers.

Join the fun below right around 7pm.

It has been a bad 2 week stretch for Pittsburgh versus Ohio. Not since the Penguins beat Columbus in a shootout at the end of October has there been a win. It’s a bad streak at the moment. (Even for those of us who are not Steelers fans.)

Hopefully Pitt can end it against the Kent State Golden Flashes.

Offline stuff has been a bit hectic this week, so this is last minute. Gametime at 2pm on ESPNU.

You can break out the live blog by Clicking Here.

Or play right below.

Late game. Fun. Fun. Fun.

Trying to get the kids to bed. Just me, my beer, computer and the big screen.

The fun will start sometime between 9 and 9:30 depending on how long Butler-Georgetown goes.

Click Here if you want to break the liveblog out from the site. Other wise, it is below.

Okay, you all know my feelings on the venue. The game is something different. This is probably Duquesne’s best chance to beat Pitt. They have more experience and probably better chemistry at this point.

If you want to break the liveblog out from the site. Click Here.

Otherwise, you can play along right down here. The fun starts around 7pm.

Hoping for a shocker. Will settle for a performance that encourages.

ESPN2 somewhere around the 10 pm spot.

If you like to break out the liveblog from the site, Click Here.

Otherwise it is below.

UPDATE: The epic MAC football battle that is still going on ESPN2 has pushed the start time ot around 10:25.

Okay, so facing MVC opponents can be a scary proposition. Especially when Pitt is in what could reasonably be considered a “neutral-road” game in Kansas City.

Live blog below. If you want to break it out from the blog, Click Here

Fun starts at 7:30. The game is on ESPN2.

Special LiveBlog for those of you unable to get to the game. Yes, I’m at the game, but Lee in Altoona will be running the show tonight. Lee is an original poster to this site back when it started.

He’s stuck in Altoona because it was his son’s birthday today and, well, he’s whipped. Still he’s going to run the show tonight.

I’ll be tweeting, and set up the live blog to show my tweets during the game. I’ll also be tweeting during the tailgating — provided I’m conscious. I’ve yet to see Pitt win against ND while tailgating on the North Side. That needs to change.

Fifth time’s a charm, right?

Today kicks off Cleveland Beer Week, as well as the Pitt-Rutgers game on ESPN. Coincidence? My liver does not think so.

The embed should be fine, if it isn’t working, Click Here.

Recapping the rules. It is a moderated liveblog. I approve the comments unless you are a trusted commenter. In which case I will put you through as unmoderated. Repetitive comments will not be posted. So if everyone essentially says, “oooooh, great play.” I’m not putting them all out there. If you feel like your comments aren’t getting posted, it’s probably for that reason. That or excessively profane language — unless absolutely justified.

Whining about, “why aren’t my comments getting posted,” most likely will subject you to some sort of sarcastic comment from me.

I’ve added feeds from some twitter accounts that might be commenting on the game.

The fun starts around 8pm.

It is great that the embed is working. In case it doesn’t Click Here.

Recapping the rules. It is a moderated liveblog. I approve the comments unless you are a trusted commenter. In which case I will put you through as unmoderated. Repetitive comments will not be posted. So if everyone essentially says, “oooooh, great play.” I’m not putting them all out there. If you feel like your comments aren’t getting posted, it’s probably for that reason or excessively profane language.

Whining, “why aren’t my comments getting posted,” most likely will subject you to some sort of sarcastic comment from me. Nothing personal, but like the old Tony Kornheiser radio show where if a caller got through and wasted time by starting with “how are you doing?” the caller got disconnected right away.

I’ve added feeds from some twitter accounts that might be commenting on the game, so we will see how that goes.

A continuing issue from the last liveblog is that I’m still trying to figure out a way to sell/convince the wife to let me stick a mini-fridge in the basement to spare me the arduous trips upstairs to get beer or ice. Her contention is that combining a fridge with the other basic basement amenities in place — the HD big screen, bathroom and bar — I would not emerge from the basement between September and April. Apparently, arguing that this would be a good thing has not flown.

Anyways, the liveblog will start at 8(ish).