Zebras take-over Butler vs Pitt, try to undo whistle-damage

The zebras almost screwed up the Pitt vs Butler game, but they ended the game with a second crazy whistle in the last few (nearly) milliseconds of the game. It came down to free throws, and Butler won! Right now, the co-ordinator of NCAA officials is discussing this on CBS with Ernie Johnson.

Villanova rewarded with a trip to the Final Four!

Despite the zebras and the NCAA trying to "punish" Nova with phantom fouls for humiliating their precious Dookies, the Wildcats were able to persevere and manage to take the "W" out of the hands of the Pitt Panthers and make it the Final Four! Go Nova Go! Thank you Nova for beating the Dookies!

Pitt, Pitt, Pitt! This was the year, with space-eater DJ Blair and versatile Sam Young and seasoned fattie LaVache Fields to make a run to the Final Four. The versatility of Nova across the board and the coaching skills of Jay Wright and his ability to make adjustments at critical junctions of the game, showed once again how the Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon success story is inflated based on their ability to foul teams and get away with it.

We love DJ Blair and Sam Young but the rest of the Pitt team just sucks. It's not enough for your four-year point guard to just wake up at the end of the game and hit miracles threes. Because those don't always drop in, and that's certainly not how you win championships.

Bob Thuggins outpunks the Pitt Slugfestors

"Take that", Bob Huggins fans would say to his critics. He took over a "wine and cheese" team in the Big East and he has managed to make the most out of their talent level. And not only that, he managed to stone and dethrone the Pitt Panthers, the team that terrorized everyone in the Big East.

Granted, his team lost to them twice during the regular season, but this was a single-elimination game, and the Pitt Panthers were simply not competitive. And it just goes to show, that when they are not allowed to out-muscle the other team, and they have to beat them purely with basketball plays, well, Pitt is just not that good.

Another group of fans celebrating the result of this game, for a different reason, are PitinoVille fans. Pitt bounced the Cardinals out of the Big East tournament that last few years, so without Pitt in the way, the sky is the limit for Louisville ;-)

I love you Providence!

Thank you Providence for putting the overrated fouling-non-stop Pitt Panthers in their place! Great job Donuts! Go Friars Go! And a season-saving win for the Friars, which means another mid-major bid may have disappeared! This was senior night by the way at Providence which makes this win even sweeter for the Donuts! And they storm the court!

You can watch the post-game show live on ESPN360.com, and you can rewatch the game there as well!

Pitino strikes again, beats Pitt Nemesis

Three years in a row the upstart Jamie Dixon and the non-stop-fouling Pitt Panthers kicked the celebrated PitinoVille out of the Big East tournament. Three years in a row. Finally, the Cardinals get revenge by beating the #1 and undefeated Pitt Panthers and kicking them out of the both ranks.

Pitt of course is yet another team that can make the case for six fouls or unlimited fouls as their beastly DJ Blair was riddled with fouls. Come on now, we want the players to play, not sit on the bench and watch! This is one of the many rules that really need to be looked at and CHANGED. Change we can believe in!

Without being able to foul on every possession and without their space-eater, the Pitt Panthers were "exposed" as yet another Big East team. However, DJ Blair is the game-changer. As long as he is in the game, Pitt is transformed into a Final Four potential team.

Pitino on the other hand added another line in his Hall of Fame resume, beating an undefeated #1 team, five seasons after the December 2003 victory over #1 Kentucky. But it's not a bed of roses for the Cardinals either. This was a hard-fought victory, and the team has its issues (and moods). Despite the fact that Louisville has strung a few wins in a row, they don't look as good as their recent record may seem to indicate.

Exposing the reality of Pittsburg's non-conference record of the last few years

While Pitt has had a solid win over the Dookies, can we please stop singing the praises of their 61-3 record in November and December? While it's not easy to win that many games, the record and the impressive RPI is a factor of "who did you play" and "where did you play them". And the historical RPI/SOS numbers don't lie. They are there for everyone to see :-)

Pitt's 2008 current out of conference SOS is 120, thanks to the Duke game giving it a big boost. This year's schedule is a little bit of an upgrade, but not by a whole lot. They barely beat a weakened Washington team in Seattle. And barely is really barely. One of the little guys of Washington had a winning basket but it was fractions of a second after the buzzer showed 0:00. So this was as close of a "W" you can get as any. The home game against Oklahoma State was another "fudging the numbers" attempt. Everyone knows that OKi State does not do well on the road. Their "road" game was a few thousand inches down the road, still in Steeltown against "powerhouse" Duquesne. Everything else was winnable games at home. So let's not forget that!

But let's look at the previous years to see how Pitt has managed to assembly this "impressive" record. The numbers are the out of conference strength of schedule:

2006-07: 23 non-conference Strength of Schedule (SOS). Record: 13-2

2005-06: 227. Record: 11-0

2004-05: 262. Record: 10-1

2003-04: 234. Record: 13-0

2002-03 : 226. Record: 10-1

As you can see it's a lot easier to pile up the wins if you play cupcakes at home. It's no rocket science. And while the victory over Duke at MSG was HUGE for Pitt, and they will earn my first Top 25 vote in the next BlogPoll Top 25 blogger's poll (week #7 is next), it doesn't mean that that victory "legitimizes" all the cupcakes they beat in the non-conference the last few years. Sorry Pitt fans, the numbers don't lie :-) And you can't fudge them. They SCREAM :-)

Pitt vs Duke

Move over over-rated Pitt big men (yes, you Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall), here comes a really effective big man, the new Big Baby, DeJuan Blair, or DJ Blair. And he sure was mixing it up on the court last night, getting close to a 20-20 in points and rebounds. And a big thank you to DJ Blair for being instrumental in defeating the Dookies! Thank you DJ Blair!

As I had predicted in my game preview earlier (master of the obvious prediction), Duke "won the zebra game", as they got the majority of the calls, but perhaps not as many as they usually do. But that did not phase the Pitt Panthers who made a comeback after they got punched in the mouth by the Dookies.

The game was supposed to be a high scoring affair because both teams are allegedly playing fast this season, but instead it was a high-stakes wrestling match, interrupted by basketball moments. Mike Cook can attest to that as he had what looked like a serious knee injury.

LaVance Fields won the game in overtime with a step-back three in the face of the Dookies, and that couldn't make fans of Pitt and anti-fans of Duke any happier! Thank you LaVance Fields!

More on this game from Pitt Blather, Pitt Rivals, CSTV's Slogville (CSTV uses the term "slogs" to describe "sports blogs").

Even more coverage by 850 the Buzz (a blog that uses a radio format?), the News Leader, Pitt Live, College Hoops Journal, and Sportsocracy.

Be sure to plan your weekend of college hoops using our December TV Guide!

Speaking of TV, the game was called by Jay Bilas, standing in for Dick Vitale. It looks like Bilas will also do the Georgetown at Memphis game as well. More on this in the random college hoops thoughts post.

Pitt vs Duke, previewing the big game tonite at MSG

Just two hours before tip-off of a big game to be played at MSG on ESPN tonight. The Dookies are playing injured, as their #1 Bestest cheerleader, Dookie Vitale is on the injured reserve with a vocal chord injury. How can the Dookies adopt and play without Vitale? Watch tonight and find out!

Previews of the game from the Pitt perspective: Pitt Blather, Pitt Rivals, Pittsburgh live, Bill White.

Some previews of the game from the Duke perspective: , ACC Basketball blog.

And some more previews at Us vs Them, Doubt about it, blog hype, Vegas Watch.

Also, CNN SI interviews Pitt's Sam Young and the Charlotte Observer (link via Blog Hype via the ACC Basketball Blog) discusses Duke's D'Antoni D'AntDookie offense.

For all the upcoming tv listings, be sure to check our college hoops TV schedule.

My prediction: Duke wins in overtime while getting 70% of the 50-50 calls. Normally this would be considered unfair, but given that Duke normally gets 80% of the 50-50 calls, Hank Nichols sings the praises of his officials for "fair and balanced officiating" ;-)

My Preference: Pitt beats the Dookies by 20. DJ Blair has a triple double with 24 points, 22 rebounds and 11 blocks. Taylor King goes 0 of 8 from the three point line, Greg Paulus has 12 turnovers, Coach K gets caught by the cameramen mouthing filthy obscenities at the zebras, Kyle Singler gets in early foul trouble, and Jon Scheyer cries on the bench because he got benched for not playing good defense. Just about the only Dookie I do not dislike is De Marcus Nelson. Nelson, there is still time, the spring semester has not started, there is still time to transfer out of Coach K's SmugNest!