Pitt gets 20

Jamie Dixon's Panthers won 20 games for the sixth consecutive season. Antonio Graves came up huge with 13 points including a clutch 3 pointer to help Pitt pull away in the final minutes. Aaron Gray had 14 points and 10 boards but he struggled to find his groove as Villanova ran a lot of plays to the outside to try and neutralize Pitt's big men. With their number 7 ranking in tow the Panthers aren't in competition till next Wednesday when they travel to Morgantown to play Dub V. In order to keep its top ten ranking Pitt must win games like this one when their big men are taken out of play. They need to be able to rely on Graves and Levance Fields to hit the outside shots and to control the perimeter on the other side of the ball. When LeVon Kendall and Gray are just reduced to rebounding because of perimeter shooting by their opponent, Fields and Graves must be able to put pressure on the outside shooters. With Gray struggling on offense Pitt must stay sharp shooting the threes. They are averaging at 40 percent from behind the arc which is best in the Big East but if they want to run with the likes of the Tar Heels, Gators and Badgers they must be able to bomb the three consistently. If they can do that, they are going to be very good in March.

A Weekend Recap

Notre Dame got revenge over Villanova this weekend after the Wildcats upset the Irish just ten days earlier. The game was the first win for the Irish since losing freshman star Kyle Mcalarney. Mcalarney was dismissed from the university and the team after being arrested for possession of marijuana. You could see the Irish struggling without him. In order for this team to keep its top 25 ranking they will need to get big games out of Russell Carter. Carter must be able to control the tempo of the game. His rebounding numbers must pick up and he needs to stop taking low percentage shots. He is already a solid candidate for conference player of the year but he needs to pick up his play for the Irish if they want to be a solid contender in March. Pitt pounded St. John's to improve to 19-3 and their best start in conference play. Louisville nudged Syracuse to spoil Jim Boheim's 1,000 game. Georgetown, Providence, and Rutgers all won this weekend as well. Marquette beat South Florida for their fourth straight victory. A solid week ahead with Pitt at Villanova on Monday. Notre Dame plays Syracuse on Tuesday and the weekend has Providence at Marquette.

A Weekend Recap

Notre Dame got revenge over Villanova this weekend after the Wildcats upset the Irish just ten days earlier. The game was the first win for the Irish since losing freshman star Kyle Mcalarney. Mcalarney was dismissed from the university and the team after being arrested for possession of marijuana. You could see the Irish struggling without him. In order for this team to keep its top 25 ranking they will need to get big games out of Russell Carter. Carter must be able to control the tempo of the game. His rebounding numbers must pick up and he needs to stop taking low percentage shots. He is already a solid candidate for conference player of the year but he needs to pick up his play for the Irish if they want to be a solid contender in March. Pitt pounded St. John's to improve to 19-3 and their best start in conference play. Louisville nudged Syracuse to spoil Jim Boheim's 1,000 game. Georgetown, Providence, and Rutgers all won this weekend as well. Marquette beat South Florida for their fourth straight victory. A solid week ahead with Pitt at Villanova on Monday. Notre Dame plays Syracuse on Tuesday and the weekend has Providence at Marquette.

Let College Teams Play at College Venues

While watching the DePaul vs. Georgetown game on Wednesday night something just seemed off. No it wasn't the coverage or hearing Rick Majerus call the play by play, no something was missing. I know it's the fact that the Hoyas were hosting the Blue Demons at the Verizon Center, a professional facility. Home to the Washington Wizards and Capitals, it hosts 26,000 fans. A normal college basketball facility seats somewhere between 7 and 9 thousand. That is bout three times that amount. Playing at home, especially in the Big East is supposed to give your team a tremendous advantage. Cameron Indoor, the home of the Duke Blue Devils seats just over 9,000. Playing Duke at home is like speaking a foreign language fluently the first time you hear it. It is impossible. Why is it impossible? Because the fans are right on top of you. You can't set up offenses, you can't think while foul shooting and you certainly cannot hear what your coach is saying during a timeout. Fans are so close at Cameron, that they have often be told to back up. Georgetown you need to pay attention to this. I'm sure it's fun and exciting to play at a pro arena with all the facilities and amenities but that's not what college ball is. Iowa painted the visitors locker room at their football stadium bright pink just to get in their heads. In the Illni field house everything is orange. I mean everything. This is to psych out the opponent. Georgetown by playing at a pro venue you are not playing to this advantage. you are a rich enough school with a rich history and enough important alumni to pull together the resources for a basketball facility on campus. This will give your team a facility that teams will fear. With your rich basketball history, the prestige of Georgetown University and Washington D.C., and Michael Jordan designing your uniforms, everyone will dred a trip to the nations capital.

A Question of Character

This is the statement posted under NCAA.org page of the core values of any NCAA athlete. It says, "The collegiate model of athletics in which students participate as an avocation, balancing their academic, social and athletics experiences." To sum this statement up it says go to class, be a good sport and learn as much as you can both on the athletic fields as well as social and classroom environment. In order to learn from class you have to go to it. Derrick Character this is to you. You are one of the most promising athletes that was recruited this year. You chose a historical program with a great reputation and you have failed them. You are a freshman. You don't make the rules, you follow them. If you have class at 8 a.m. then you should be there at 7:50. If practice is at 4:30, show up at 4:15. You chose to play NCAA Division 1 college basketball at a great academic and athletic institution. You are taking advantage of it. Dick Vitale, Denny Crum and Rick Petino all coached there. Pervis Ellison, Darrell Griffith, Charlie Tyra, Jim Price and Billy Thompson all played there before you. If you want to be remembered as the kid who never went to class, violated a written contract with coaches almost immediately after you signed it, go ahead keep doing what you are doing. But if you want to be remembered for your tremendous basketball abilities, go to class, go to practice. it is your responsibility to the University, to the alumni, to your coaches, to your team, to the fans and most of all to yourself. Take Art 101, take cooking, take ballroom dancing, just take something and show up. I am sure that your teachers will cut you some slack for being apart of the basketball team. After all you are a basketball school filled with a rich history and a tremendous future.

AI and MELO

The NBA's number one and number two scorers will finally join forces on Monday night when the Denver Nuggets do battle with the Memphis Grizzlies in Denver. Allen Iverson, (Georgetown) who's ego might have driven him out of Philly is about to join forces with one of the most talented players in the game. Carmelo Anthony (Syracuse) isn't too shy either, he sucker punched the Knicks Mardy Collins 36 days ago in what was one of the worst on the court incidents in NBA history. In order for the two to coexist they must work together and find a way to incorporate the other players on the team. Never have two players been on the same team that average 60 points a game. JR Smith will have no problem fitting into the mix as his superior shooting skills and rebounding talent will make him the number three man on the Nuggets roster. Marcus Camby and Steve Blake must have significant roles in each game or they will go to waste and teams will learn how to play defense against a three man team. AI and Melo must become better team players if they want to go far in the playoffs. The teams that win titles as of late are deep teams, not teams loaded with superstars. AI must become a point guard that passes, shoots and screens, as well as plays defense. AI needs to be able to control the tempo of the game while having, in his own words, the best player that he ever played with on the floor at the same time. Melo must ditch his selfishness and realize that he doesn't have to be the one doing it all for the Nuggets anymore. He must look to AI and realize somebody is now there to help him. When AI was the man at Georgetown he didn't have anybody near his talent to play with him. Neither did Melo at Cuse. But they played on teams that made them make it work. In order to be a team that other teams fear they must take the team game aspect of college ball and apply it to the professional game. They must do the same thing at the professional level in order to achieve the same success they did in the Big East.

PITT'S BIG MEN OBSOLETE

Marquette pulled an unbelievable overtime upset against number six Pitt on Sunday. Dominic James had 21 points for Marquette, who struggled early to hit any free shots but ended up hitting their last 15 in a row to ice the Panthers. Marquette kept both Aaron Gray and Levon Kendall out of the game by attacking the perimeter. Three Golden Eagles had three or more buckets behind the arc and that helped erase the three turnovers they had in their final three possessions. Pitt had it's home crowd going crazy all game and they helped keep them close and bring them back. Pitt was down by nine three times in the first half and was down by eleven twice in the second. This is Pitt's first loss at home this season and in the Big East as well. Marquette has now beat Louisville, UCONN and Pitt at their venues. If Marquette wants to take the next step and make themselves a contender in March they need to all become better free throw shooters. Hitting only 64 percent this season is not going to win them games at the big dance. Dominic James and Quismine Barro are going to be the life force of Marquette and the two of them alone can run away with the Big East title. Barro had several key blocks in the game but no one was bigger than the one he had with about four minutes left. He told Antonio Graves to "Stop looking at his lemonade," and his block led to another key three by Dan Fitzgerald. Gray sat on the bench with under two minutes to go because he would be of no use to the Panthers. If this kid wants to go somewhere his is going to need to improve his foul shooting ability and grab some defensive boards. To be a top 10 team you need to have a big man that can do it all, block, rebound and shoot. this game might have been a great opportunity for Gray to showcase his skills, but America learned another big man's name, Barro. This kid is going to turn some heads.

A Big Weekend Ahead

Many Big East teams will be tested this weekend as the first leg of the conference schedule gets underway. #6 Pittsburgh will face Dwayne Wade's alma mater Marquette on Sunday, with both teams having something to prove. Pitt must win to show they belong back in the top-5 and if Marquette pulls the upset, they will finally get the national attention they feel that they deserve. The Irish play a key interconference game against South Florida. Notre Dame is still hurting from their upset loss to Villanova earlier in the week so this might be the game to get them back on track. VNOVA is going to have its hands full this weekend as the number 23 Texas Longhorns travel to meet them in Pennsylvania. Texas is coming off a triple overtime loss to Oklahoma State and they are hungry. In a game that might have looked good in the beginning of the season, has turned out to be two unranked teams hoping for a turnaround, when West Virginia meets Cincinnati on Saturday. Dub V was dropped from the top 25 last week and they have been struggling, a win over the Bearcats might help correct their recent wrongdoings. Two teams with great histories meet on Saturday as Indiana travels to Connecticut. UCONN has been in the top 25 in every poll since 2003 and after they were dropped last week they are in unfamiliar territory. The game would probably be on national television if both teams actually played as well as they should be, but since they are not good luck trying to see it. Jim Calhoun must get his Huskies in order soon if they want to have any chance in that month they love so much, March. Finally to the great New York rivalry. Syracuse travels to Queens on Sunday to battle St. John's. Although both these teams are having less than stellar seasons so far, this has a big game rivalry written all over it. Cuse has been floating around the high 20's all season and a big interconference win on Sunday can help them to get back on track. Sit back, relax and enjoy some good basketball.

Alive and Kickin'

Well here we go. The cold of January has just settled in, so kick back, relax and crack open a tall frosty one, because the best basketball conference in the nation is just getting started. In this blog I will discuss both the old and the new, the great games of the past to the instant classics of the present.This is strictly from a fan's point of view,I'm writing as I see it.If you see it differently, well then good for you. Now onto the good stuff. The beasts in the east are all fired up and ready to go, and with Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Marquette all seeded in the Top-25, and UCONN, West Virgina, Georgetown and Syracuse are all knocking on the door.Right now it looks like Jaime Dixon's bunch are firing on all cylinders they are going to be tough to beat.But the Huskie's are always trouble in March, and the Golden boys are turning some heads in South Bend. But as we all know ANYTHING and EVERYTHING can happen in The Garden. It's going to be a fun winter.Enjoy.