There was nothing good about that loss other than Ashton Gibbs’ shooting. I don’t need to repeat all of that. A media recap will come later.

I’m going to chalk it up to Pitt having a really bad game. They happen in the course of the season. It is a reason for frustration but not panic. You would rather see them early rather than late, but definitely prefer it in the season to the post-season.

Pitt is still in fine position to claim a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.The room for a slip is now much smaller, but that is all. The team has to understand that in the final three games.

Not all computer numbers are necessarily updated, but rest assured Pitt will be in the top 3 or so in most computer rankings. In the RPI, Pitt still appears at the top.

Perhaps a bit of an overstatement, but the players see it correctly.

Senior guard Levance Fields added: “It is a compliment to us, but I think this time around it is not as big as it was the first time. We had it already. It is a good thing, but we’re over that part of it because we went through that phase already, so now it is about finishing strong and getting ready for March.”

In part because they already had confidnce in how they were playing.

“I think in our minds,” Sam Young said, “we were already No. 1 before yesterday.”

Added senior Tyrell Biggs: “We know that we’re No. 1.”

Not that Coach Dixon isn’t proud of his team and what being #1 at this point means.

“I think later in the year it reflects more of a long-term accomplishment, more on what you have done almost the entire season because there’s not too many more polls left,” Panthers coach Jamie Dixon said.

Consider this. UNC held the top spot the longest, then it has been Wake Forest, Duke, UConn and Pitt all taking turns. Pitt is the only one to reclaim the #1 spot this year. The rest have all been or gotten to the top but not back at this point.

Some of that is obviously timing. Winning at the right time with teams in front losing. Still, it speaks to just how well Pitt has played all season.

That said, it is about getting that #1 seed for the NCAA Tournament. Aside from that, the only other time it really matters about having #1 next to the team name is after the Tournament ends.

Why is a top seed so important? Last season, all four No. 1 seeds made the Final Four for the first time since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985, but even before that No. 1 seeds advanced to the national semifinals with greater frequency than any other seed.

But the top overall seed will help Pitt geographically. The Panthers will be the most protected team, meaning the NCAA Tournament selection committee will keep them as close to Pittsburgh as possible. That equals first- and second-round games in Dayton, Ohio, and regional games in Indianapolis. If Pitt isn’t the overall No. 1, they could be placed in any of the other three regionals — Boston, Memphis or Glendale, Ariz. — because of the other teams vying for No. 1 seeds, namely Michigan State and Memphis.

The Final Four, of course, is in Detroit, meaning the Panthers could play all their Tournament games within a six-hour drive of Pittsburgh.

I realize that more Pitt fans would show up in Philly and Boston, rather than Dayton and Indy. The flip side is that there will be less family and friend distractions. The philly kids wouldn’t be coming home. The NYC kids would not be dealing with as many making the trip down and up the Northeast (and ticket demands). Only Gary McGhee, as a Indiana native, would have the distractions.

In the end, the goal is clear from the head man down to the players.

“We need to win a national championship,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said last week. “That puts you on a different level. That separates you. We need to win one to put ourselves on the same level with those schools that have.”

It’s where we want to see Pitt.

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.

Once again, the teams ahead fall and Pitt will get to be #1 on Monday evening.

Amazing how that happened again. Big upsets that no one saw coming. Even on the road, for both UNC and Oklahoma they were expected to win. Heck, UNC had the game cold before Maryland forgot who they were.

Texas, well, there is no figuring the Longhorns. Obviously they benefitted from Getting Griffin in early foul trouble and then the concussion in the second half.  Still they had A.J. Abrams come alive and Damion James big until he fouled out. As has been the case with them all season. After James and Abrams, there isn’t much to Texas.

It’s nice for Pitt to be #1 again, I guess. All that matters, though is a #1 spot in the NCAA Tournament

The AP Writers Poll is out, and no surprise Pitt is #1.

“I think it means a lot to our fans and our city and it means a lot to our university, much more so than to me and our players,” Panthers coach Jamie Dixon said Monday. “But it is part of the reason why we play and work so hard so I am glad for them.”

The Panthers have a lot of familiar names in the Top 25 with them as they are one of a record nine Big East teams in the poll.

The 16-team league had a record eight schools ranked for three weeks earlier in the season, but the return of Marquette and the first appearance of West Virginia made it nine Big East teams.

“I know I said a couple of times when people mentioned that we didn’t play any ranked teams on our nonconference schedule that it’s hard to schedule any when a third and now more than a third are in our conference,” Dixon said, laughing. “I think it’s a good thing. People talk about how hard it is but we knew it was that way when we were signing up for it. You want to play against the best and we’ll have that opportunity a lot.”

The Panthers opened Big East play this week with road wins over Rutgers and Georgetown. They won’t play again until hosting St. John’s on Sunday and Dixon doesn’t think all that time with a No. 1 ranking will affect his players.

“We’ve talked about different things from the beginning of the year and how you can either use things as motivation or let them become a distraction and this is one of those situations that’s come up,” Dixon said. “We need to use this to make us better and it starts today at practice.”

That’s a solid talking point on scheduling teams. Jeff Goodman is sold on it.

The awesome Pollspeak has the rundown on AP Voters. The two voters who put Pitt at #2 and UNC at #1 are from Peoria and Dallas. Disturbingly, where they put Pitt, could be considered their more defensible decision.  How about not only keeping Louisville in the poll but a spot ahead of Minnesota who beat the Cards. Keeping Memphis ranked. Both had Georgetown below UConn. Heck, how about putting Illinois a couple spots ahead of Michigan right after Michigan beat the Illini? I’m certain both voters put in their ballots before the Arizona State-Cal game last night, which I is borderline since the game started 9pm central for them.

Here’s the Pitt press release with handy charts suitable for framing.

I suppose to programs that have done it multiple times and have National Championships, this might seem like a nice but relatively minor event. Arguably getting to number 1, even in early-January is as much about about being high enough in preseason rankings and attrition of those teams ahead.

The time that truly matters is at the end of the year.

That may be true. It does, however, matter right now. This is a big deal for Pitt. In the 101 years that Pitt has played basketball, and however many years that there have been polls Pitt has never been ranked #1. Not in NCAA Tournament seedings. Not in the polls.

Even in this period where Pitt has set itself as one of the top-25 teams of this decade, they have never reached higher than #2 for only brief periods.

The polls come out later, but teams ranked 1, 2 and 4 all lost (here’s a couple AP voters showing their ballots).

Just an ridiuclously awesome thing to enjoy the reflected glory of what the team has done. I mean, I know it’s silly, but I’ve had a big goofy grin on my face most of the day just thinking about seeing Pitt in the #1 spot.

The players know to say the right thing.

“We’re excited,” sophomore center DeJuan Blair said. “It means a whole lot for us. But we need to stay focused and keep our heads in it, stay humble.”

The first Pitt basketball team to ever accomplish it. At least one goal achieved.

UPDATE (1:33): Here’s the Coach’s Poll (ESPN/USA Today) story, Pitt got 30 of 31 votes — one coach kept UNC at #1.

Not a lot of movement, except for one team free-falling right out of the top-25. This despite the arrows, which didn’t seem to update from Week 14’s ballot.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Oklahoma	—
2	Florida	1
3	Texas	—
4	Alabama	2
5	Texas Tech	—
6	Southern Cal	—
7	Utah	—
8	Penn State	—
9	Ohio State	—
10	Cincinnati	1
11	Boise State	1
12	Oklahoma State	1
13	TCU	1
14	Oregon	1
15	Georgia Tech	1
16	Pittsburgh	4
17	Brigham Young	—
18	Georgia	—
19	Oregon State	2
20	Michigan State	2
21	Virginia Tech	5
22	Northwestern	2
23	West Virginia	2
24	Boston College	1
25	Missouri	6

So, with only a few games this isn’t surprising. Not sure even BC and Mizzou should stay ranked, but also unsure what teams should be there instead.

I might be too hard on Ball State, but then I also think I was too kind to them for the last few weeks. So, maybe it all balances out.

So, not a bad weekend.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Oklahoma	—
2	Alabama	—
3	Florida	—
4	Texas	1
5	Texas Tech	1
6	Southern Cal	—
7	Utah	—
8	Penn State	—
9	Ohio State	—
10	Boise State	—
11	Cincinnati	2
12	Ball State	—
13	Oklahoma State	2
14	TCU	3
15	Oregon	5
16	Georgia Tech	5
17	Brigham Young	2
18	Georgia	4
19	Missouri	4
20	Pittsburgh	5
21	Oregon State	5
22	Michigan State	—
23	Boston College	3
24	Northwestern	—
25	West Virginia	7

Texas and Texas Tech flip-flopped, but that was about it for my top-10. Really the Tech struggle against Baylor was  a classic hangover performance, but it does matter.

I know, the big meme is Oklahoma or Texas and how can anyone put Oklahoma ahead of Texas since Texas won head-to-head on a neutral field. I don’t disagree that it matters, but it isn’t the only factor. At least not in a poll where you are ranking the teams.  Not only do I think that Oklahoma is playing better than Texas and that Oklahoma is a better team. I’ll fall back on a favorite in college basketball: non-con strength of schedule.

Texas’ non-con: FAU, Rice, UTEP and Arkansas

Oklahoma’s non-con: TCU, Cinci, Washington, Chattanooga (1-AA)

Oklahoma at least challenged itself in the non-con. Yes, Washington and Chattanooga were worse than FAU and Arkansas. But that was more than offset with TCU and Cinci as compared to UTEP and Rice. I’ll reward putting a couple decent games with some risk on the schedule versus staying with all teams that are well below weight class and have little chance of something going awry.

The ACC is… something. The team playing and looking best — GT isn’t even playing in the ACC Championship game. Just like Georgia last year in the SEC. Must be a Georgia thing. Instead it is BC-VT again. The ACC officials must be thrilled with the Big East afterthoughts to get Miami meeting yet again. Really going to make Tampa a lively place this week.

Pitt didn’t disappoint by being ranked by me last week. Don’t blow it this week when everyone puts you in their blogpoll.

Just a seemingly random rotation in and out of ACC and Big East teams.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Oklahoma	4
2	Alabama	—
3	Florida	—
4	Texas Tech	3
5	Texas	1
6	Southern Cal	—
7	Utah	—
8	Penn State	—
9	Ohio State	—
10	Boise State	—
11	Oklahoma State	—
12	Ball State	—
13	Cincinnati	3
14	Georgia	—
15	Missouri	2
16	Oregon State	2
17	TCU	2
18	West Virginia	2
19	Brigham Young	4
20	Oregon	2
21	Georgia Tech	5
22	Michigan State	5
23	Florida State	3
24	Northwestern	2
25	Pittsburgh	1

Yes, after Pitt loses I rank them. Nothing to hold it back any longer.

Not that much movement near the top. Other than Texas Tech out at the top, and swapping in Oklahoma to the top spot. The two SEC teams will work themselves out soon enough.

There aren’t 25-top teams. There really aren’t. Way too many 3-loss teams on this list. But that’s because there aren’t that many 1-, 2-loss teams.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas Tech	—
2	Alabama	—
3	Florida	—
4	Texas	—
5	Oklahoma	—
6	Southern Cal	—
7	Utah	—
8	Penn State	—
9	Ohio State	—
10	Boise State	—
11	Oklahoma State	—
12	Ball State	—
13	Missouri	1
14	Georgia	1
15	Brigham Young	—
16	Cincinnati	2
17	Michigan State	—
18	Oregon State	3
19	TCU	—
20	West Virginia	4
21	LSU	1
22	Oregon	4
23	Maryland	3
24	Miami (Florida)	2
25	Connecticut	1

No, not a lot of movement this week. Just not a lot of shake-out in the top half.

Yes, especially this week am I not taking any chances.

It’s bad. That 3-loss teams are making it into the rankings just speaks to the lack of worthy teams.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas Tech	2
2	Alabama	1
3	Florida	2
4	Texas	—
5	Oklahoma	1
6	Southern Cal	1
7	Utah	1
8	Penn State	6
9	Ohio State	2
10	Boise State	—
11	Oklahoma State	2
12	Ball State	2
13	Georgia	1
14	Missouri	2
15	Brigham Young	4
16	North Carolina	10
17	Michigan State	6
18	Cincinnati	2
19	TCU	6
20	Florida State	6
21	Oregon State	4
22	LSU	7
23	California	5
24	West Virginia	7
25	South Carolina	1

You bet I’m not ranking Pitt. They haven’t shown they can handle the success of being ranked in the BlogPoll. Granted there is no rational reason not to rank them. Just irrational fear on my part.

UNC took the biggest leap. I actually like the way they are playing a lot. Butch Davis has gotten results quickly. I just get hesitant to trust them with all of their injuries and an erratic pass defense.

Now this is a fun little thing. It’s called Pollspeak.com. Find out how they vote. For example, this is how AP voters picked Pitt.

Interesting breakdown. Love the Transparency.

Roger Clarkson writes for a newspaper in Athens, Georgia. He puts Kansas at #8. He only has 5 Big East teams ranked and Pitt was behind Marquette.

Okay, here’s the latest in my initial ballot for this week’s blogpoll.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama	1
2	Penn State	1
3	Texas Tech	5
4	Texas	3
5	Florida	2
6	Oklahoma	2
7	Southern Cal	1
8	Utah	1
9	Oklahoma State	3
10	Boise State	—
11	Ohio State	—
12	Georgia	7
13	TCU	—
14	Ball State	—
15	LSU	—
16	Missouri	4
17	West Virginia	2
18	California	6
19	Brigham Young	2
20	Cincinnati	6
21	Georgia Tech	5
22	Northwestern	4
23	Michigan State	3
24	Maryland	2
25	Oregon State	1

I am simply scared to death to rank Pitt at this point.

This is the flattest season in college football I can remember. I can be convinced that any of the final six teams in the rankings shouldn’t be there. The problem is finding a team worthy of being there instead.

We are now 7-8 games into the season. Records really come into play, not just how a team looked in the last or past couple games.

There aren’t 25 teams worth ranking. Maybe 20 teams legitimately should be in the rankings, but then it’s almost random. Teams with horrible warts, bad losses, just big problems. I actually found myself weighing a ranking of Virginia and Maryland. Neither team should be ranked, but I had one spot I had been unable to fill. Ultimately it feels like a crap shoot.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Texas	—
2	Alabama	—
3	Penn State	—
4	Oklahoma	—
5	Georgia	—
6	Southern Cal	—
7	Florida	—
8	Texas Tech	—
9	Utah	2
10	Boise State	3
11	Ohio State	2
12	Oklahoma State	2
13	TCU	3
14	Ball State	3
15	LSU	3
16	Tulsa	7
17	Minnesota	3
18	Oregon	6
19	West Virginia	7
20	Missouri	1
21	Brigham Young	1
22	Florida State	4
23	South Florida	8
24	California	2
25	Notre Dame	1

Why does Pitt drop out and USF stay? Well, USF lost on the road and it was a close game.

Reasoned arguments always welcome. I drafted this late last night, so there’s a good chance I missed something obvious.