The madness. The madness. March is a harsh mistress when you write about college basketball. So much to cover. So little time. It’s great, but the hours get away from you. So, the next thing you know, those browser tabs with all the stories of yesterday’s game are still sitting open after trying to stay on top of today’s games.  And it’s the next day.

Sam Young took home Big East Player of the Week honors for the second time this year.

Starting local, Sam Young gives a little about his first offensive attack on Thabeet.

“They’re trying to take my joy, they’re trying to steal my thunder. That first bucket pretty much set the tone for the game,” said Young, who saved one of his best games for senior day. “It was ‘and-one,’ the crowd got into it, and I had that look on my face like, ‘Yeah, it’s time to go.’

“A lot of teams get intimidated by Thabeet blocking shots and how tall he is. When you look at that situation, it’s (him) or me. I’m definitely going to make sure that it’s me at the end of the day.”

Sophomore center DeJuan Blair, who had 22 points and 23 rebounds against Thabeet last month, said Young’s high-energy play was exactly what Pitt needed.

“It told them we ain’t backing down, we ain’t scared,” said Blair, who tangled with Thabeet near midcourt in the second half. “Thirty-one points and 10 rebounds. That’s an excellent game against the No. 1 team in the country.”

Senior day and the family coming to town did not hurt.

“I had a lot of family in the building,” Young said. “It was real emotional.”

And really, really good.

Just a thought, the first meeting had a nice impact on DeJuan Blair’s NBA draft profile taking a sizable jump. I’m guessing Young’s got a bump as well after this game.

The win snapped UConn’s road perfection and gave Pitt a perfect year at the Pete and the game had the largest crowd at the Pete with 12,908.

Then there’s Levance Fields’ great game running the show. Though, Ron Cook even while gushing over Fields maintained his man-crush on DeJuan Blair by running with the whole Batman comparison. Yeesh. I can’t even bring myself to quote from it.

Moving out of the ‘Burgh, Dick Weiss was there and he notes how much Sam Young is in the mind of UConn and Calhoun.

Sam Young has become the University of Connecticut’s unsolvable riddle.

The 6-6 senior forward torched the Huskies for 31 points and 10 rebounds Saturday as No. 3 Pitt rocked top-ranked UConn, 70-60, before an ear-shattering, standing-room only crowd of 12,908 at the Petersen Events Center.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said after this battle of Big East heavyweights. “When he graduates, I won’t be shedding any tears. We play pretty good defense but he’s scored 56 points on us in two games.”

Young scored 25 points against UConn in the Panthers’ 76-68 win last month in Hartford.

“There hasn’t ever been a player who gives us as many problems as he does,” Calhoun said.

The New York Times story notes that the UConn players put a brave front on losing twice to Pitt. That it doesn’t matter, and it means nothing. But…

But the grins on the faces of Pittsburgh Coach Jamie Dixon and his players revealed that the third-ranked Panthers had a different view.

“Senior Day is special and you want it to end the right way, and I’d say it certainly did,” said Dixon, referring to the ceremony before the last home game of the year.

Even though the Panthers have beaten most Big East teams in both games this season, beating UConn has become personal.

“Recently, it seems that when I see a UConn jersey, my eyes light up,” said Sam Young, Pittsburgh’s 6-6 senior forward, who had a game-high 31 points on a variety of 3-pointers and breakaway dunks. He scored 25 in the first game between the teams.

Now for the Connecticut media. Seems that whole Thabeet-Blair rematch was the focus, even if it wasn’t really the story other than that brief collision.

Early in the second half, Thabeet threw a bad pass to UConn’s Kemba Walker, forcing Walker to save the ball from going out of bounds by lobbing it up near midcourt. Thabeet then bumped into Blair as both were jumping for the loose ball, knocking the Pittsburgh center to the ground.

Both Blair and Thabeet, who said Blair tripped him after the foul, got up yelling at each other.

“Don’t nobody knock me over,” Blair said. “I ain’t going to let nobody knock me on the ground.”

Thabeet had a slightly different take on the exchange.

“He tripped me after I fouled him. I was just not happy with that,” Thabeet said.

“He punked me the first time and I didn’t do nothing about it,” said Thabeet, referring to the flip-over Blair he took in Hartford. “He got fouled and he wanted to trip me. I was just reacting to that. OK, I fouled you. I’ll let it go. I fouled him and he flipped me.”

Makes it seem like Blair was fired up and angry about it. Or, not.

“Don’t nobody knock me on the ground,” Blair said with a laugh. “Actually, I would have done that to anybody.”

[Emphasis added.]

And Jim Calhoun was calm after the game, conceding he didn’t want to have another YouTubed press conference. He instead tried to be positive.

”For me to blast my team today would be foolhardy,” Calhoun said. “We’ve got a whole postseason to play and we might see Pitt again. I wouldn’t mind that at all. I really wouldn’t.

”They’ve had two chances to prove they’re the better team. When you’re 27-3, I don’t think you should hang your head. You have to put the season aside and now we’re on to postseason play. Give all the credit to Pitt. They won the game.”

Build up, not tear down his team. Right?

Stanley Robinson has yet to show he can think with Young.

Jeff Adrien can’t run with Young.

Calhoun even tried Scottie Haralson briefly, as Young pointed out, and that didn’t work either.

“Young has a great up fake and it looks just like his jump shot,” Adrien said. “So you have to respect his jump shot, because he hits. He is very versatile, can play [the] three or four. He’s a tough player.”

Heck, one of these times Young (6 feet 6, 220 pounds) is going to up-fake Robinson so badly, Sticks (6-9) is going to knock himself out on the overhead scoreboard.

“Sticks should be able to guard him,” Calhoun said. “He should. He didn’t. We tried Jeff on him. That didn’t work.

Young’s work ethic gets everyone amazed. To say nothing of his conditioning.

After warmups Saturday, Young was feeling a little stiff. So he put on his headphones and stepped on the treadmill. Yes, he ran for 10 minutes — then went and ran over UConn for 37 minutes.

When the Huskies closed to 52-50 with 12-0 run, Young is the one who had all the answers. He scored off a tough drive to the basket. Then, in the moment that sent the Pete into delirium, Levance Fields found Young on the fastbreak for a thunderous dunk to make it 56-50. UConn never really threatened again.

“That dunk will be on Top 10 [plays] on ESPN,” Blair said.

“I came here [and] could barely dribble the ball and could barely shoot a three to save my life,” said Young, one of three Pitt seniors honored. “In my last performance here, to put up 31 and 10 — threes, mid-ranges, turnarounds, free throws, transition dunks and everything — I think I showcased a lot of my talents. I worked to get to that level.

“There’s a lot of muscle memory and getting the moves down pat. That’s behind everything I do. You see something spectacular; I’ve already practiced it to perfection.”

Damn. I feel so dirty for spending a couple hours rooting for WVU. And on top of that — Dick Vitale.

Here’s what the Cardinals winning the BE and being the #1 seed means:

Pitt is the #2 seed. They will play Thursday night at 7 pm (PDF).

In that game, they will face either the # 7, 10 or 15 seed. Or WVU, ND or Rutgers. Yes, that’s right. Pitt could be looking at a 3d meeting with the Hoopies for their first game of the BET. Rutgers and ND play on Tuesday. The winner faces WVU on Wednesday.

Oh, and it also means that if Pitt wins, the semifinal game will likely mean a 3d meeting with the #3 seed — UConn. So for Pitt to make it back to the BET Championship game, Pitt will likely have to beat WVU and UConn 3 times in one season.

Ugh.

I really see little point of having an opening round with the bottom feeders. Especially if the games aren’t even being televised. The best you can do, is watch free internet feeds at the BE site.

We have instant national punditry to note from Pitt topping UConn.

Andy Katz likes what he sees of this team.

Let’s skip ahead, though, to beyond New York. The Panthers are good to go with Fields into the NCAA tournament as possibly the No. 1 overall seed. And clearly this team is better prepared to handle the expectations.

Young, who finished with 31 points, was unstoppable, finishing Fields’ assists, running the floor, hitting face-up shots and working the offensive backboard.

Young is hardly a role player. He’s a star. Sophomore forward DeJuan Blair called Young “Superman.” He also had nicknames for himself (Robin), Fields (Batman) and senior Tyrell Biggs (the Joker). But this squad is hardly comical. Add wing Jermaine Dixon and solid bench players Gilbert Brown, Brad Wanamaker and Ashton Gibbs (a total of 15 points off the pine) and the Panthers are more experienced, have multiple scoring options, can defend, rebound and own enough depth to win the national title.

Gary Parrish at CBS sees no way Pitt doesn’t get a #1 seed.

But Pittsburgh’s 70-60 victory over Connecticut should be enough to secure a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament regardless of what happens going forward because it:

• pushed the Panthers’ record to 28-3 overall, 15-3 in the Big East.
• ensured the Panthers will finish no worse than second in the Big East.
• made the Panthers 7-2 against the top 25 of the CBSSports.com RPI.
• made the Panthers 9-2 against the top 50 of the CBSSports.com RPI.
• made the Panthers 15-3 against the top 100 of the CBSSports.com RPI.
• gave the Panthers two wins over another possible No. 1 seed (Connecticut).
• strengthened the Panthers’ hold on the top-rated RPI.

That last point is key because the school entering Selection Sunday with the top-rated RPI has been awarded a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament 10 of the past 13 seasons. The only times it didn’t happen were in 2000 when Cincinnati got a No. 2 seed despite being No. 1 in the RPI, in 2005 when Kansas got a No. 3 seed despite being No. 1 in the RPI, and last season when Tennessee got a No. 2 seed despite being No. 1 in the RPI. And when you consider that Cincinnati didn’t get a No. 1 seed in 2000 only because Kenyon Martin broke his leg in the C-USA tournament, the reality is that a No. 1 RPI has translated into a No. 1 seed 11 of the past 13 seasons.

In other words, book it.

Okay. So the pessimist says, unless Fields suffers a big setback.

Jeff Goodman at FoxSports.com hearts Levance Fields.

Last time it was DeJuan Blair who got all the accolades for his dominance against UConn’s tower of terror, Hasheem Thabeet. This time it’s Blair’s teammate, Sam Young, who had a 31-point, 10-rebound performance in a second victory against the top-ranked Huskies.

But the truth is this is just an average, run-of-the-mill Pittsburgh team without Levance Fields.

Fields doesn’t look the part. In fact, Young said it best when describing where he’d be chosen down at the local playground.

“Last,” Young said. “But you’d be regretting that decision all day because he’ll kill you.”

Tim Layden at SI.com has no doubt that Pitt is a No. 1 seed.

The numbers speak for themselves — 28-3 overall and 15-3 in the best conference in the country — but in beating UConn, 70-60, Pitt showed why it is even better than its stats. The Panthers are a terrific blend of steady point guard play (Levance Fields, more on him in point No. 2), perimeter scoring (the waayyyyyyyyy underrated Sam Young, who had 31 points) and reliable inside power (led by DeJuan Blair). The combination makes Pitt almost slump-proof and it’s hard to imagine the Panthers falling anytime before Detroit and the Final Four.

I try not to.

In quick summaries, SI.com’s blog notes this.

Prepare to be enlightened. Sam Young‘s giving a lesson in How To Go Out In Style 101. First order of business, drop 31 on the No. 1 team, Connecticut. While you’re at it, go ahead and grab 10 boards. Then, knock in a layup to halt a 12-0 run by the Huskies, and quickly follow with an alley-oop to teammate Levance Fields for a slam – one that will bring the house down. Next, to make sure Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun knows that no matter how much money his team brings in and no matter who he has defending you, they won’t be able to stop you. And finally, complete a season-sweep of the Huskies, with a 70-60 beating. Once you master those topics, you, too, can be like Young in his final home game as a Pittsburgh Panther.

Why didn’t the seniors come off before the game ended? Well…

Jamie Dixon stamped his right foot and turned angrily to the bench. This was not what he planned. He’d drawn up the ideal play: The Pitt Panthers would walk the ball up the floor, he’d call a 30-second timeout and seniors Levance Fields, Sam Young and Tyrell Biggs would stroll off the court to a deafening ovation from the Petersen Center audience.

“It seems to be the right thing to do at the time,” Dixon said, “and it didn’t end up as I wanted it.”

The Panthers turned over the ball twice in the last minute, so they missed their moment. And they missed a few too many 3-point shots. And, because of that puzzling loss to Providence late last month they missed the opportunity for this victory over the Connecticut Huskies to be a Big East title-clincher.

Honestly, though, they didn’t leave a whole lot left undone.

For the second time this season, they handled the No. 1 team in the country, UConn, by a 70-60 score. “Handled” is the perfect word for it. The Panthers didn’t blow out the Huskies, but they didn’t slip past them, either. There was no question which team was superior the two times they met.

“Do I think we can beat Pitt?” UConn coach Jim Calhoun asked himself. “Yeah. But we’ve played twice and we’re 0-2. So I don’t have any graphic evidence of that.”

I have to admit. I love that quote from Calhoun.

Night all.

Courtesy of Sports Illustrated

I have to say, SI.com seems to be getting it with the whole outreach thing. The above is the cover for this week’s Sports Illustrated. They e-mailed copy of the article and the cover. Sam Young included with the stars from the other seven teams they see as most capable of winning it all.

As noted by Steve G. and another reader who e-mailed, the WSJ had some features. One on DeJuan Blair, master of the offensive boards.

Mr. Blair isn’t just the best inch-for-inch rebounder in the college ranks this season; he’s also the best Mr. Pomeroy has ever measured by a margin of nearly five percentage points. How Mr. Blair does this isn’t entirely a mystery. He has a better than seven-foot wingspan, and at 265 pounds, he outweighs most NFL tight ends. He’s also built for rebounding with a backside roughly the size of a Nissan.

And the other feature discusses why homecourt advantage in college basketball is so vital compared to any other sport. The Oakland Zoo gets some much deserved love.

Although it’s impossible to prove, activist fans are convinced they’re responsible for their schools’ home records. Pittsburgh, which plays No. 13 Marquette at home tonight, has won 113 of its last 123 home games, due perhaps in part to the Oakland Zoo, the school’s infamous student section. (Oakland is the name of the neighborhood the university is located in.) True to the group’s name, students often don animal costumes for games, but they hardly stop there.

Opposition research has become a prerequisite. Pitt graduate student Dave Jedlicka, the president of the Zoo, proudly recounts how Pitt fans found personal pictures of West Virginia star Kevin Pittsnogle and his wife on Facebook and brandished them at a game in 2006. Mr. Pittsnogle missed all 12 of his shot attempts that day.

“We’ve gotten really good about being witty and effective but not vulgar,” says Mr. Jedlicka. “I’ve only had to do two written apologies.”

And Seth Davis at SI.com has his “glue guys” for ’09.

Jermaine Dixon, 6-3 junior guard, Pittsburgh
Panthers coach Jamie Dixon doesn’t recruit a lot of junior college players, and the last thing his team needed this season was another scorer. Yet, there was something he saw in Jermaine Dixon, even as Jermaine was averaging 18.1 points per game for Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College en route to being one of only two players in the history of that school to score more than 1,000 career points. “It was just the right fit,” Jamie said. “We didn’t have anybody in that class — he’s our only junior now — and we felt he was the right guy that had the mental and physical toughness both to be a good fit. We definitely found the right guy.”

Pittsburgh had an opening in its backcourt starting lineup this season, and Dixon seized the opportunity by giving the team exactly what it needed: a lockdown defender, an athletic finisher on the break, and a timely shooter who wouldn’t commit a lot of turnovers. He has especially excelled on the defensive end, shutting down such high-scoring opponents as Miami’s (Ohio) Michael Bramos (two points), Washington State’s Klay Thompson (seven), Georgetown’s Chris Wright (five) and Notre Dame’s Kyle McAlarney (10). He is also highly versatile, as he demonstrated at West Virginia on Jan. 25, when Dixon started off guarding Mountaineers guard Alex Ruoff, then had to switch to 6-7 forward Da’Sean Butler when his teammate Sam Young got into foul trouble.

As for taking care of the ball, Dixon has been especially remarkable in Big East play, committing just 10 turnovers (to 37 assists) in 16 games…

ANother tough draw tonight against Marquette for him.

Both papers had stories on the good health of the team this year.  Well, yeah.

Luke Winn isn’t picking a winner yet for the NCAA Tournament, but has a top-3 that you should lean towards.

4. Are you a Pitt person, a UConn person or a Carolina person? Those are the only three teams I’d advise picking to win the national championship in your bracket. Vegas still views it as the Tar Heels’ title to lose — it likes them more than three times as much it as it likes the Panthers — but all three are viable options. Which one you pick is a matter of taste: Pitt is a tough, offensive-rebounding monster that can look vulnerable if DeJuan Blair gets in foul trouble; UConn is an athletic, shot-blocking force that’s the stingiest team of the three, but is missing its best perimeter defender, Jerome Dyson; Carolina is a high-octane scoring machine that’s prone to huge lapses in its perimeter D. As of now I’m a UConn person, because I tend to side with the superior defense … but I reserve the right to change tastes before my bracket is filled.

Bob Knight breaks down Pitt’s poor rebounding when Blair is out.

Brandin Knight doesn’t want to hear crap from people.

Nevertheless, skeptics remain. When asked if Pitt needs to advance beyond the Sweet 16 for the season to be considered a success, Knight nearly recoiled from the question.

“Everybody now is like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m a Pitt fan.’ You might have been a Pitt fan up until Charles Smith and those guys left, and then when things got bad you weren’t a fan anymore,” said Knight, 27. “Now, when you come back when things are going well, as soon as things get a little rocky, those are the people that turn around and are like, ‘Same old Pitt.’

“Everybody has their opinions. For some people, we have to get past the Sweet 16. Well, we have to get past the first round and the second round to get to the Sweet 16. Just getting past the Sweet 16 wouldn’t take this program to the next level. We want to win every game, and we don’t focus more on the Big East Tournament and just throw away the NCAA Tournament. We’re dedicated to winning every game.”

Love that. It just tells you how much the program means to Knight.

For all those wondering what Pitt was doing to get ready to deal with the press and teams trying to strip Pitt.

Pitt has averaged 20.5 turnovers in its past two games, and handling full-court pressure was a focal point at Monday’s practice. The whistles were put away.

“Coach Dixon told the press team to hack us and see how we are going to react,” guard Jermaine Dixon said. “We know we’ve got to cut down on the turnovers.”

Coach Dixon was apparently annoyed that the team spent too much time after turnovers whining at the officials. Let a team like Seton Hall chirp constantly. All it got them was 3 technicals in one game.

I mean, it would have been nice, but nothing has been accomplished yet.

A planned story was scrapped after Tuesday’s 81-73 upset loss at Providence. The magazine planned to do a lengthy story on the Panthers for early March and, according to Pitt media relations director Greg Hotchkiss, there was a “95 percent” chance it was going on the cover.

Pitt basketball has made regional covers of SI, but never the national release.

Not that there isn’t an excellent story on Sam Young to read. Sure there’s the usual stuff about his poetry, gymnastics and work ethic. Yet, this really fleshes things out a lot more including a quite a bit more insight into his generally loner stance.

Upon receiving his poetry assignment, Young doesn’t roll up his sleeves per se, but he locks in all the same. After spending nearly an hour staring at his computer screen, he has mustered just a few lines of verse, but they offer a window into how he views both the promise and perils of unfinished success:

Having yet to meet our potential, I love my team’s current credential
Not any team can do it; we fought in the fire to finally get to it
Pitt is on a mission and it’s no mystery, we only halfway done and already made history
We’re giving the university faith and gave hope to this town, it ain’t no way we can let them down

…

Yet, it is off the court where Young continues to make his biggest strides. These days he lets his playful side show more readily for his teammates, who still crack up when he does back-flips during practice or in his hotel room. He has even become something of a media darling. During a preseason photo shoot, Young picked up a sombrero and struck a goofy pose, and he hounded Greg Hotchkiss, Pittsburgh’s sports information director, for weeks until Hotchkiss got him a copy of the photo.

Even at a program that has long been defined by the hardscrabble ethos of the Steel City, Young has carved out a unique and lasting legacy. “We’re always going to use him as an example as a guy who improved and did it by working,” Dixon says. “Even today, I’ll ask the guys, who works the hardest in our drills? Who’s our best perimeter scorer? It’s always the same answer. It’s Sam.”

It’s well worth reading the whole thing.

Let’s just get this done.

On the bright side for the Big East, Providence is back on the bubble.

A night of magic for the Friar side.

Could it get any better for the Friars than Tuesday night?

Not really.

It was a Friar fantasy sprung to life, the kind of night that was promised last April when new coach Keno Davis was introduced, the symbolic start of a new era in Providence College basketball. The kind of night when the building is buzzing and it can get so loud you think the next Friar 3-pointer is going to rip the roof right off the building.

It’s the script Providence College was built on, the little school that defied all of the odds, the little school that always would find a way to knock off the big-time team that came to town, the Friars as a basketball dragon slayer.

Yada, yada, yada.

The big theme from Providence was that it was a night the seniors on Providence made things happen.

All season, and perhaps through the previous three seasons as well, the players at the core of the Providence College basketball program have come tantalizingly close to the type of upset win that would make the college basketball world stand up and take notice.

Tuesday night, with their backs fully pressed against the wall, they finally came through.

Especially the big men going against DeJuan Blair.

For those first 20 minutes, the 6-8 Kale was dominant, grabbing several balls over Blair on defense and stuffing down powerful dunks on offense. He punctuated some of his more impressive moments with motions to the crowd, whooping and raising his arms, urging the Friar faithful to get to their feet.

Kale said the Friars just wanted to keep the pressure on Blair at all times, and they did.

“We just wanted to keep a body on him, contest his shots, limit his rebounds. Make sure someone was putting pressure on him at all times. He’s so physical, he’s so strong, he tries to move guys. We just wanted to make sure that we crowded him, make things tough on him,” Kale said.

When Kale was out of the game, Randall Hanke replaced him, and Blair was able to get some traction on offense against the wiry 6-11 Hanke. But Hanke’s quickness forced Blair to compensate on defense, and the Pitt center drew two fouls in 15 seconds while defending against Hanke’s moves. That gave Blair four for the game, and sent Pittsburgh’s big man to the bench.

Hanke said he knew Blair was already in foul trouble, and consciously tried to see if he could push him into further danger by making strong moves to the basket.

Aggressive moves against, being out of position and late swipes by Blair will not add up to good work.

It really was the best game I’ve ever seen from Providence. And the Friar players don’t disagree.

“I think this is the most complete game, ever,” was the seal of approval Xavier (six points) placed on the monumental win. “We played together, everyone was picking up the slack; no one was going 1-on-1.”

Echoed Hanke: “We’ve shown flashes of the past (regarding the Friars’ potential), but we played together and did whatever it took. Everyone of these seniors played their role.”

After getting feted with flowers and framed jerseys, the Friars quickly checked their emotions at the locker room. Perhaps stunning Pittsburgh, who moved into the top spot on Monday, Providence stormed out to a 15-4 lead left the Panthers. The Friars penetrated the Panthers’ normally staunch defense with ease, attacking Pittsburgh’s low post with a series of dribble drive penetrations that produced easy buckets.

Desperation and seeing careers end without doing anything finally got through to them. Great timing.

It didn’t help that Pitt answered their intensity, desperation and effort with — well, blech.

“We played terrible,” sophomore center DeJuan Blair said. “We gave them the game.”

This loss was uncharacteristic of Pitt in many ways. Providence shredded the Pitt defense with mystifying ease. The Friars scored more points than any other team had this season against the Panthers and shot 49 percent from the field. The Panthers compounded that problem by turning the ball over 18 times and looking ragged on offense for long stretches of the contest.

“I didn’t recognize us,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.

Join the club.

Another reminder that you don’t take anything for granted and you don’t presume you can turn it on and off.

“There is no one else to blame,” Jamie Dixon said.

Pitt trailed, 6-2, less than two minutes into the game, forcing Dixon to take a timeout. Three minutes later, Pitt trailed, 15-4.

Pitt trailed, 44-26, at halftime — its largest deficit at any point this season — and, 52-33, with 16:23 to play. But the Panthers went on a 9-0 run to pull to within 52-42 on Brad Wanamaker’s layup with 12 minutes left.

Blair picked up his third and fourth fouls in a 14-second span and sat for three minutes. Providence managed only one field goal in the final 6:20, but Pitt wasn’t able to pull off the comeback.

“I don’t know what happened in the first half,” Blair said. “The first half, we just played terrible. We dug ourselves a hole, and we couldn’t dig ourselves out.”

As expected, when you listened to ESPN analysis and anyone else, it was DeJuan Blair in foul trouble. Sure he fouled out. He also played 30 minutes and only had one foul in the first half when the Friars went up 18.

As I have said, this doesn’t take Pitt out of a #1 seed. Aside from Pitt, UConn, Oklahoma and UNC the other contenders for the #1 seed still are Duke, Memphis and maybe Michigan State. Two of those three will have to take it by winning their conference tournaments and having another top seed fail very early and badly. You might also put Louisville up there, but I don’t for a #1 seed.

The fact is, all teams are flawed and have a weak spot. Luke Winn makes this point and even goes through most of the issues for each team.

And while Louisville’s offense has been peaking in the past week and it may be the favorite to win the Big East regular season, the Cardinals did lose to Notre Dame — which might not even be an NCAA tournament team — by 33 points just two weeks ago. At the season’s outset, nearly everyone thought there was a perfect team. It was supposed to be North Carolina. Now there are none, and when brackets are filled in a few weeks, you’ll be forced to choose a champ whose flaws are the least troubling. Only if you worry most about whistles, you worry most about Pitt.

Really the theme generally for Pitt is, relax. These things really do happen quite a bit.

But the truth is all national champions go through this, often during the last week of February. It’s practically a rite of passage.

On February 26, 2006, Florida lost on the road to Alabama, a team that barely made the NCAA tournament as a 10-seed.

On February 24, 2007, Florida lost on the road to LSU, a team that didn’t even make the NCAA tournament.

On February 23, 2008, Kansas lost on the road to Oklahoma State, a team that didn’t even make the NCAA tournament.

Don’t fret too much about Pitt just yet. I’m not happy about it, and the performance made me ill.

Thanks to Rick for the bag.

Polls don’t phase me too much. Pitt is the #1 team. A few absurd votes shouldn’t bother me. Unanimous vote seems nice, but I fully expect/expected at least one coach or writer to vote for Memphis or Michigan State. And while I would totally disagree, it would at least have some flawed logic behind it. I can even get that Oklahoma might get a couple #1 votes with the rationalizing about not having Griffin (as some writers did).

Someone voting for UConn as #1, though? After Pitt beat UConn in Hartford? After UConn lost their second-leading scorer for the year?

One of these coaches is responsible:

Mike Adras, Northern Arizona;
Dana Altman, Creighton;
Tommy Amaker, Harvard;
Tevester Anderson, Jackson State;
Ronnie Arrow, South Alabama;
Randy Bennett, Saint Mary’s;
Eddie Biedenbach, North Carolina-Asheville;
Jim Boeheim, Syracuse;
Rick Byrd, Belmont;
Charles Coles, Miami (Ohio);
Steve Fisher, San Diego State;
Tim Floyd, Southern California;
Greg Graham, Boise State;
Tom Green, Fairleigh Dickinson;
Rob Jeter, Wisconsin-Milwaukee;
Jeff Jones, American;
Billy Kennedy, Murray State;
Dan Leibovitz, Hartford;
Fran McCaffery, Siena;
Mike McConathy, Northwestern State;
Bob McKillop, Davidson;
Phil Martelli, Saint Joseph’s;
Ron “Fang” Mitchell, Coppin State;
Matt Painter, Purdue;
Tom Pecora, Hofstra;
John Pelphrey, Arkansas;
Doc Sadler, Nebraska;
Scott Sutton, Oral Roberts;
Bob Williams, UC-Santa Barbara;
Gary Williams, Maryland;
Doug Wojcik, Tulsa.

None of them jump out as me as being the stupid coach. Off the top of my head, I don’t see any of these coaches with direct coaching ties to UConn or Calhoun. Of course, since they don’t have to reveal their votes we may never know.

As for the writers, the stupid ones are known. George Geise voted for UConn. He’s from Montana. Apparently they don’t have ESPN on weekdays.

With Oklahoma at #1 I’m stunned at one of the voters. Seth Davis at SI.com picked Oklahoma. His vote had some oddities. Syracuse at #16? Arizona at #18?

Ron Morris at The State (South Carolina) also went with Oklahoma. I won’t even pretend to make sense of his, other than this guy likes to group his votes by conference/region.

No one should expect any team other than Pitt to be ranked #1 tomorrow. Over at CBS Sports, Gary Parrish does not want to have any debate on the issue.

That’s the end result of a wild Saturday on which No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 North Carolina both lost (to unranked Texas and unranked Maryland), clearing the way for the Panthers — who beat top-ranked Connecticut last Monday — to rise to the top of the Top 25 (and one) late Sunday night, then the AP and Coaches polls on Monday. It’s the only logical move, so much so that I imagine Pitt will get all 72 first-place votes in the AP poll and all 31 in the Coaches poll. Anything short of that will be proof that somebody with a vote isn’t paying attention, and if such a person presents himself (or herself), that person will be Poll Attacked on Monday afternoon.

Here’s all you need to know:

• Pitt is 25-2 overall.
• Nobody has more wins or fewer losses.
• Pitt has compiled this record against a schedule rated 12th nationally.
• Pitt has six wins against the top 25 of CBSSports.com’s RPI rankings.
• Nobody else has more than four.
• Both of Pitt’s losses came on the road.
• The losses were to the schools ranked seventh (Louisville) and 12th (Villanova) in the latest AP poll.

So to summarize, the Panthers have more good wins (i.e., wins against the top 25 of CBSSports.com’s RPI rankings) than anybody, just as few losses as the other elite teams, and no bad losses (like Oklahoma’s loss to Arkansas, North Carolina’s loss to Boston College, Connecticut’s loss to Georgetown, etc.).

Best I can tell, that makes Jamie Dixon’s team the easy No. 1.

Any other opinion is a faulty opinion.

And a little more love for Blair in ESPN.com’s Weekly Watch.

DeJuan Blair emerged as the new front-runner for Big East player of the year with his dominating performance in the win over Connecticut.

Blair literally tossed Hasheem Thabeet around and wound up with 22 points and 23 boards in the Panthers’ 76-68 win.

Against overmatched DePaul, Blair put up a workman-like 20 points and 18 boards in a 19-point victory.

The first-team All-America spots seem to be getting crowded. Make room for Blair, next to Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin and Thabeet. It would be hard to push any of these three off this perch.

You know, it’s been such a hectic week, that I never even got a post mentioning that incoming  member of the 2009 recruiting class, Dante Taylor was named a hamburger All-American.

Dante Taylor, who will be a freshman at Pitt next season, was named to the 2009 McDonald’s All-American game last night, becoming the first Pitt player in 22 years to garner the honor. He is one of 24 players on the team and one of five who will play in the Big East next season.

Taylor, a 6-foot-9, 220-pound forward from National Christian Academy in Maryland, is Pitt’s first McDonald’s All-American since 1987 when Brian Shorter and Bobby Martin made the team.

Taylor is the fifth player in Pitt’s history to earn the honor. Charles Smith was a McDonald’s All-American in 1984 and Jerome Lane was in ’85.

When Coach Jamie Dixon abruptly showed up in Florida for Pirate training camp. Well, he was in Florida for another reason and went for a side trip.

Jamie Dixon showed up in Florida today to check in on ’09 big man Kyryl Natyazhko. The 6’10” Ukrainian is an offensively skilled post player that Herrion has been watching a lot lately. The fact that Dixon made a point to see him shows that the Panthers interest is very strong. Word is that since Dixon was in Bradenton, he wanted to quietly sneak in and see the Pirates in spring training. But when you have one of the marquee teams in the nation, sneaking is no longer an option, and he was immediately surrounded by cameramen.

Lastly, one name that recently came up with Pitt, since Herrion was spotted watching him play, is 6’11” junior college center Jarrid Famous. But word is, Herrion was checking out local high school players in the area so he took the opportunity to see Famous, too. However, the big man would only be an option if DeJuan Blair left early for the NBA, and by the time Blair’s situation is known, it’s expected that Famous will be out of play.

Natyazhko is a 4-star recruit at the IMG Academy with offers from FSU, Miami, Kentucky, Arizona State and Xavier.

How the universe sees Calhoun

Thanks to Rick for this image.

Lots of papers in Connecticut cover the Huskies. So, lots to run through.

First of all, the UConn players didn’t make excuses for what happened on the court. They showed class and admitted things.

The Huskies, who pride themselves on being physically and mentally tougher than anyone, met their match, losing 76-68. Gone is a 13-game winning streak and by next week so will their No. 1 ranking.

”It’s surprising,” senior Jeff Adrien said of Pitt’s physical superiority. “We haven’t seen anybody else do that this year. Pittsburgh is definitely one of the toughest teams in the country. I give them a lot of credit. They work hard. We do, too, but today they got the better of us.

”We have to move on. It’s going to be in my head, I know that.”
…
”I’m not in shock,” Price said. “I’m just disappointed. … We knew what type of game it was going to be. Whoever was tougher was going to win. We thought we were the tougher team, and I still think we’re the tougher team. They just out-toughed us tonight and beat us.”

Well, one player whined a bit.

“The coaches told me to play all out,” Thabeet said. “But it’s hard to play all out when every time you go out you get a foul call. I would go to the bench and get cold and then go back in the game. It was an adjustment for me.”

I guess he took the cue from his coach.

UConn coach Jim Calhoun made numerous intimations that the officiating was much of the reason why Thabeet was so ineffective. But the game didn’t appear to be any more physical than every other game against the Panthers.

There was one call that appeared to be bad, and it was an important one. Thabeet and Blair got tangled up as the Huskies moved down on offense, but official Mike Kitts emphatically called a fourth foul on Thabeet. The Huskies were in the midst of a run that gave them a brief lead and, realistically, they played better with Gavin Edwards on the floor and Thabeet on the bench.

Calhoun, in between making veiled references about the officials, seemed to understand that the Huskies needed more from Thabeet in such a physical game.

“One guy could have played better to help us win a basketball game,” Calhoun said.

Ah, yes the Calhoun post-game whinefest. I was more bemused than anything else when I watched it live.

“They played a particular style of basketball that we hadn’t seen this year,” said UConn coach Jim Calhoun, obviously referring to the physical nature of the play. “And it was very effective against us.” A.J. Price had a team-high 18 points and eight assists for UConn (24-2, 12-2 Big East) while Jeff Adrien and Kemba Walker had 13 points each. Sam Young scored 25 points for the Panthers (24-2, 11-2), who beat a No. 1 team for the first time in school history.

The way I took it was that it was typical Jim Calhoun. Knowing just how far he could go in complaining about the refs without actually taking a direct shot. So clearly trying to influence the way the next game gets called in a few weeks.

It was also typical Calhoun because he was calling out his players as well. He was saying, they didn’t respond to the challenge. They couldn’t match the play. And they didn’t.

(more…)

I would love to know how many press credentials were issued for the game last night. It must have been huge, because there is no shortage of different stories from the game. Usually, it’s a matter of weeding through all the AP wire stories. Not today. So, I may have to break this up into three different parts. Pittsburgh media, Connecticut media and then national outlets.

Obviously the focus of every story is — and with good reason — DeJuan Blair. It’s still a team. It starts with the trio.

As the national anthem slowly came to a close, the two teammates on either side of DeJuan Blair held him tightly by the collar of his jersey as he had both hands in the air and rocked quickly back and forth.

Then they let him go.

“They unleashed the dog,” Pittsburgh’s Levance Fields said.

Did they ever.

Sam Young claims he’s the toughest. Fields begs to differ and points to himself. Blair doesn’t hesitate before also saying he is the answer to the question.

In a program that has exemplified toughness, this trio has no peer. Not at Pittsburgh nor maybe anywhere.

But Blair stood alone Monday night. Believe it or not, above Connecticut’s 7-foot-3 big man Hasheem Thabeet.

“They’re like the Bad Boys,” UConn senior guard A.J. Price said after the No. 4 Panthers went into Hartford and dethroned the nation’s top team, 76-68.

“They’re the toughest team in the country,” he added. “It starts with Blair and trickles down to the whole team.”

Blair. Hasheem Thabeet will see him in his nightmares.

Part of the hype revolved around the battle of post men, UConn’s 7-foot-3-inch shot blocker, Hasheem Thabeet, against Pitt’s 6-7 DeJuan Blair, who has bulk and range to match Thabeet’s size.

That battle turned into a mismatch – in favor of Blair, who dominated from the start, posting a monster double-double of 22 points and 23 rebounds to Thabeet’s 5 points and four rebounds, the catalyst for Pitt’s 76-68 victory.

Considering the circumstances – facing the No. 1 team on the road, going up against a bigger center who has turned into one of the more dominant defensive forces in the game – Blair’s performance deserved the rave reviews it received from both sides.

“He’s a nightmare for every single opposing coach,” said Calhoun. “He’s just a man, a warrior.”

It also drew a sigh of relief from Blair.

“This was the most physical game I ever played in my life,” he said. “But for us, it’s just a game. This is the Big East. I can’t wait for the next time we play.”

Some of the credit goes to the coaches as well as the players. The coaches made sure the players knew that the best way to win was to get into UConn. Not to fade. Attack. Not let the mystique or fear of a block deter. Sam Young talked about it after the game as well.

Hasheem Thabeet scared away shots for most of this season. Not just blocked or altered the arc of the ball, but prevented attempts from ever being taken.

Forget about the missed opportunities to score by Providence, Seton Hall, Michigan and Syracuse of late. Thabeet’s 7-foot-3 inch towering presence — and that’s before he raises his arms up high — was frightful for some.
…
“I wasn’t going to allow him to re-arrange my shot unless I got a foul out of it,” Young said of Thabeet. “I think the intimidation was gone after he got flipped over DeJuan’s back.”

Yes. The flip. It was as physical a statement you could hope to see that any fear or intimidation would be held by Thabeet, not Blair.

Blair completely neutralized UConn’s 7-3 junior Hasheem Thabeet, who struggled with five points, four rebounds and two blocks before fouling out with 29 seconds left.

“That’s how I am,” Blair said. “I don’t care if you’re 4-8 or 7-8, I’m going to play hard regardless. I came out here with the mind-set of me being the underdog. I just went at it. He blocked a couple of my shots, but I got it right back and took it right to him. I tried to get into his chest and I did a good job of that.”

Blair took an elbow to the face in the second half, but it didn’t compare to the damage he did to Thabeet’s psyche earlier in the game, when he flipped the Huskies’ giant over his back after grabbing a rebound. Thabeet had to leave after landing hard on his shoulder.

So at the end of the game, it was fitting that Blair didn’t just block Thabeet, he took the ball from him.

As fourth-ranked Pittsburgh pulled away from No. 1 Connecticut in the final minute of their game Monday night, Panthers center DeJuan Blair snared a shot attempt out of the hands of 7-foot-3 UConn center Hasheem Thabeet.

Blair is eight inches shorter, but he had already proved that heft could overpower height. He heaved a full-court pass to a teammate for an easy layup.

It was a fitting end, as UConn surely lost its grip on the top ranking and Pitt showed that it could run past its biggest rival. With a 76-68 victory, Pitt loudly announced its arrival as a leading national-title contender by silencing UConn and its vociferous faithful at the XL Center.

It wasn’t just the way Blair shut down Thabeet. It was that Blair showed more than people outside of Pitt realized he had.

“Blair is a good player,” said Thabeet, who fouled out with 29 seconds remaining. “I didn’t have a good game, and he took advantage of it.”

Actually, Blair caused it.

Partly, at least.

I can’t begin to properly describe how good he was early, showing off an array of post moves that suggested he’s way more than the offensive rebound/stickback artist some have labeled him. He got position at will, called for the ball, out-maneuvered Thabeet and scored with ease. He had 15 points, 13 rebounds and zero fouls at the break, which represented the most dominant half of basketball anybody on press row could remember seeing this season and propelled him to his second 20-20 game in 16 days.

Blair slowed down in the second half some.

But really, how could he not?

And yet when Thabeet grabbed a rebound late that could’ve cut the lead to four points had he put it back in, there was Blair, ripping the ball away and throwing it upcourt for a breakaway layup by Jermaine Dixon that secured the win in the final minute and set the stage for the March 7 rematch at the Peterson Events Center.

No question in my mind, that Blair cost Thabeet some coin come June. The physical nature of the game and Calhoun’s less than veiled complaints afterwards were mostly ignored by the major media (I will get to them later with the CT media).

His eye nearly swelled shut, but no foul was called on this play, a fracas for a rebound under the Pitt basket. The whistles from the officiating crew of Mike Kitts, Ed Hightower and Tony Greene were, to say it nicely, erratic: Thabeet’s third foul, which came just 57 seconds into the second half, while challenging a Sam Young dunk, was legitimate, but his fourth, a whistle for a meaningless away-from-the-ball bump into Blair, was questionable.

How the teams responded to the physical style ultimately decided their fates: Pitt thrived in it, winning the rebounding war (48-31), and with that, the game, while UConn was knocked off-kilter, and lost. In the post-game interview session, Huskies coach Jim Calhoun replied to questions about the officiating by saying, “The game was played different than any other game we’ve played. … [The media has] got to come up the conclusions. I can’t. I’d like to, but I can’t.”

UConn guard A.J. Price, who kept his team alive until the final minute by scoring 18 points and dishing out eight assists against just one turnover, said “that was a Final Four-type game, how physical it was,” and admitted that the Huskies need to learn to handle such situations better in the stretch run. It was their first meaningful outing without junior wing guard Jerome Dyson, who tore a lateral meniscus in his right knee last week and is likely gone for the season, and they dearly missed his defensive toughness and ability to drive into the lane at will.

Later, when Pitt coach Jamie Dixon was asked about the bruising nature of the victory, it was telling that he didn’t find it all that remarkable.

“[The physicality] didn’t seem like too much of a surprise to us, or to them, I would think,” he said. (Obviously, he hadn’t heard Calhoun’s press conference.)

That ten minute stretch (roughly) to start the second half was maddening in that the refs seemed to be trying to make more calls — which was what Calhoun badgered to get — but it went against the officials’ nature. So it threw things off worse than letting them play. It went inconsistent and you know Calhoun was plenty ticked that he got what he wanted, just not the way intended.

The last two weeks we got a lesson in being No. 1 for the first time. It was fun while it lasted.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Pitt lost to Louisville on the road yesterday, 69-63. The Panthers are now 17-1 and no longer the chic media topic when it comes to college hoops. Wake Forest has taken that crown by knocking off Clemeson to become the only unbeaten team left standing.

Now Pitt fans, we get a lesson on whats its like to be knocked from the No. 1 ranking. That, however, will not happen until tomorrow when the rankings come out. Until then, lets continue to bask in the glow. Pitt’s No. 1 baby!!

In all seriousness, as you all probably know, one loss is not a big deal. I find it funny how publications are running headlines such as “Louisville stuns top-ranked Pitt.” Stunned? Probably not. This is the Big East.  I’ve also heard talk of Louisville ending Pitt’s run at perfection. Technically, that is what happened, but realistically, were any of us, some of the biggest Pitt homers included, remotely even thinking about a perfect run? Not when sober at least.

Knee-jerk reaction is to be upset with the loss. It definitely had its ugly points. The box score leaves plenty to be concerned with. Sam Young  (6 for 20) and Levance Fields (3 for 14) shot ice cold, which happens. It’s just not good when two of your stars shoot that poorly in the same game. Young was paticularlly hampered by a 2-of-10 performance from beyond the arc. Ron Cook latched onto Young performance, since in reality it was his third off-night from the field in a row.

If Young had talked, he almost certainly would have said something like this:

“I’d like to apologize to my teammates and to Pitt fans for costing us the game tonight. I was awful. It hurts bad because all of us wanted to go undefeated this season. All I can do now is promise to work hard to get better. And I will be better, starting Monday night against Syracuse.”

Cook makes some good points, but as usual his wording makes him sound like a prick. Don’t make up a quote for a kid saying that he cost the game. Even if its clear the quote is made up. Bush league, in my opinion. I would have been more impressed by the column if he wrote it a game ago, when it was already obvious Young was shooting poorly. It’s easy to pile on after a loss, but often times the negatives from a loss were already begining to reer their heads in the wins preceeding. This is an example of such.

The best point in the column was made by Dixon. Young was 0-0 from the free throw line, which from a player with Young’s athletisicm, you could argue is worse than going 2-for-10 from the free-throw line. Get to the hoop! Too many jump shots.

More troubling for the Panthers was the 20 turnovers. That is sloppy, regardless of how well Pitino’s teams press and pressure. Again, it happens.

My reaction to the loss will be determined by how Pitt recovers. The Celtics started the season on a remarkable run in the NBA, then after falling to the Lakers on Christmas day went into a tailspin that they are just begining to recover from. That could easily happen to the Panther’s given their upcoming schedule and the nature of Big East basketball. Pitt needs to bounce back and show that Saturday’s negatives were aberations and not trends.

Louisville is certinally a team to fear in the Big East. Good coaches like Boeheim of Syracuse and Pitino will always improve their teams exponentially as the season goes on and the Cardinals are doing exactly that. They have gone from a loss to Western Kentucky early in the season, to knocking off the No. 1 team in the country in mid January.

Five wins in 14 days that changed the Cardinals’ season? Probably too soon to know for sure. This is the Big East Conference, remember. Two weeks into the season we’ve already declared first Connecticut, then Georgetown and then Pitt The Team to Beat.

But if you beat UK and back it up with four Big East wins, you’ve earned a few minutes to holler and high-five adoring fans, the way the Cardinals’ players did as they danced off the court last night.

This is exactly what we expected from the Big East season. Louisville is the hot team right now, but trust me, there will be another. And probably another after that.

Time to look ahead to Syracuse on Monday. They are on a high right now after defeating previous hot team and current ice-cold team, Notre Dame.

Congratulations on win #148 and moving into 3d place on Pitt’s all-time win list. Here’s hoping he moves into 2nd place early next season.

I’m still waiting for the YouTube of his Bud Light commercial, but there is this interview after a game winning shot with the “best 6th man in the South West Conference.”

It is free candy week with ESPN’s Full Court package. Lots of extra games to watch without paying. Most importantly for those who don’t live in the Pittsburgh area for WTAE or the cable channels: SNY and MASN. Well, the game is on the Full Court package for everyone else to watch.

So no excuses not to be able to watch on Sunday at noon.

Speaking of video to watch, here’s Coach Jamie Dixon’s interview with Jim Rome.

I still marvel at how far Dixon has come at being comfortable in his own skin in these interviews. He started out so stiff and uncomfortable. I mean, he’s never going to be confused with a John Calipari or Bruce Pearl in personality and energy to an interview, but now he isn’t stumbling over words and doesn’t look like he’d rather be getting a discount vasectomy rather than do the interview.

While on the subject of Dixon, congrats, I guess on a mid-year coach of the year award. Really? There is a mid-year coach of the year award?

You may have heard something about it.

Like the rest of us, several of players were not even watching the UNC game.

Several members of the Pitt basketball team gathered inside an Oakland apartment Sunday evening to watch the Philadelphia Eagles NFC Wild Card game at Minnesota.

That’s when the text messages started to flood the players’ cell phones.

North Carolina, the unanimous No. 1 team in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls, trailed at home to Boston College.

“We saw (Boston College) was up 15,” senior point guard Levance Fields said. “That’s when we were like, ‘Whoa.'”

Which is essentially what everyone else said when they found out.

The players have been saying and doing all the right things.

When it became clear Pitt would be atop today’s The Associated Press Top 25 poll, the players gathered late Sunday night for a shootaround at Petersen Events Center.

Many of them returned to the gym early Monday morning.

“We could look at it two ways,” senior forward Tyrell Biggs said. “It could be a distraction, or it could be motivation. We want to look toward the motivation.”

Pitt is taking its newly minted No. 1 ranking in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll in stride. The coaches and players say it won’t inflate their egos or alter their underdog approach.

“Nothing has changed at all,” senior forward Sam Young said. “We’ve just got more people believing in us now.”

And recognizing there is now a bulls-eye.

“People are gunning for us now,” senior point guard Levance Fields said. “We’re the top dogs in the country. We have to play that way and practice that way.

…

“It’s something every basketball player dreams of, being No. 1 as an individual and as a team,” senior forward Sam Young said. “That’s what we work for. Now that we have it, we have to keep it. We’re here now, but we’re not done. We’re going to try to keep it as long as we can.”

Ron Cook embraced the moment.  Assistant coach Brandin Knight deflected the silly questions of comparing this team to his teams.

“To try to rank this team with the other ones … I say the same thing every year,” Knight said. “Let these guys be them. It’s not 2002, 2003 or 2004. This is a new era. This is Levance Fields, Sam Young, DeJuan Blair. This is their era. Let them shine as they may.

“We make comparisons in the locker room, and it’s fun to joke around. But, at the same time, I don’t talk about it with Levance. People always say talk about what you used to do. I say for what? I’m not playing anymore. I want them to do greater things than we did.

“Right now, it’s not something we can judge, is this team better? The [No. 1 ranking] doesn’t make this team great or better than ours. What makes them great is that they continue to compete and play well throughout the season.”

Comparisons come after the season. Hopefully, this team will rank at the top.

It’s a mad, mad, mad world. I know some won’t believe this but a bit of love from Luke Winn.

The argument for Pittsburgh as North Carolina’s prime title challenger is a strong one. The Panthers are the only team in the country in the top 10 in both adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency.

This follows an earlier post where he put Pitt as the prime contender to be the team that can challenge UNC for the national championship.

1. Pittsburgh

Optimistic View: The DeJuan Blair-and-Tyrell Biggs duo could go blow-for-blow with Hansbrough and Deon Thompson in the post, and Levance Fields is the nation’s only floor general with a steadier hand than Lawson. Last year’s Panthers wouldn’t have been able to defend Carolina’s offense, but this year’s Pitt D has been ratcheted up to an elite level, ranking seventh in adjusted defensive efficiency, 13 spots ahead of UNC.

Pessimistic View: Speed isn’t Fields’ strong point, and Lawson is the fastest end-to-end point guard in the country. The perimeter length of Danny Green and Marcus Ginyard might be able to bother Sam Young, whom most opponents struggle mightily to defend. Pitt also doesn’t have the quality depth to match Carolina’s.

Staying at SI.com, I’m a bit surprised that with Pitt ranked #1 Seth Davis still labels Pitt a “Buy” in his team stock report.

I still have some nagging suspicions about the Panthers’ ability to score quickly and easily enough to win a national championship, but their 16-point win over Georgetown left no doubt that when it comes to intelligence and toughness, they are as good as they come. Levance Fields has some physical limitations, but no point guard in America does a better job of distributing the ball to the right people in the right places. (Fields leads the Big East in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio.) I generally prefer teams that are more prolific from three-point range, but I also like that this team is not dependent on threes.

Plenty from Mike DeCourcy at the Sporting News to note. Even before the Pitt win over G-town, DeCourcy was high on Pitt in the Big East.

4. So how about your Big East power ranking right now, Nos. 1-16?

OK, so you went quickly from the easy stuff to the tough question. I’ll manage. Here we go, not in order of ability or performance to date but in order of potential to win the league regular season: 1. Pitt; 2. UConn; 3. Georgetown; 4. Syracuse. 5. Notre Dame; 6. Louisville; 7. West Virginia; 8. Marquette; 9. Villanova; 10. Cincinnati; 11. Rutgers; 12. Providence; 13. Seton Hall; 14. DePaul; 15. St. John’s; 16. South Florida.

After Pitt became #1:

One byproduct from my days covering Pitt basketball in the late 1980s and early 1990s for The Pittsburgh Press is a friendship with a man named Sammy D. He sits courtside at nearly every Panthers game and has for as long as I’ve known him. Sammy D’s expressed ambition through all of that time was not for his team to make the Final Four or win the national championship — but to be ranked No. 1 for at least one week of the college basketball season.

It’s never happened before at Pitt: not with Don Hennon, Billy Knight, Sam Clancy, Jerome Lane or Brandin Knight.

Sammy gets his wish now, but the No. 1 ranking may be more trouble than it’s worth for the Panthers. Although they’re closer than ever to having the talent to support such esteem, they still seem best suited for a role as a lovable underdog admired for effort as much as results.

Two things you hear constantly from broadcasters when watching Pitt play: DeJuan Blair grew up five minutes from the Petersen Center, and subtle condemnation regarding the Panthers not making it past the Sweet 16 this decade. (The flip side of that is the Panthers have made it to the Sweet 16 four times in seven seasons).

This team will carry that burden into the tournament in March, which could turn out OK. Remember how much pressure was on Kansas last year just to reach the Final Four?

As for when they could suffer their first loss?

4. When and why will No. 1 Pitt suffer its first loss?

With the next two games being at home against St. John’s and South Florida, perfection seems safe for a while.

The first real danger for the Panthers should come in their Jan. 17 road trip to Louisville, although the Cards have a long road to travel to bring their play to a level where they would be competitive in that game. If Louisville’s not ready, certainly West Virginia will be on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 25.

But the game that might be most intriguing in that stretch is at home on Big Monday — Jan. 19 against Syracuse. The Orange have played better at the Petersen Center than a lot of Big East opponents, and this is the best team SU has taken to Pitt in while.

I’m already getting edgy about the St. John’s game. D.J. Kennedy coming home, a young team that can just get streaky, decent defense, lots of hype around Pitt, a presumed gimmee. I’m so glad they knocked off Notre Dame. No excuse not to take them seriously after that.