Pitt Redshirt Diaries : Villanova

Pitt-Villanova pregame

Ray Fittipaldo — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 20:36:00 GMT

Five hours from now (barring overtime) Pitt will be getting ready to go to the Final Four for the first time since 1941 or the season will be over.

A couple of things to keep in mind as you watch the game:

*Villanova’s penetrating guards against the perimeter defense of Levance Fields and Jermaine Dixon. Scottie Reynolds and Co. got to the basket way too much in Villanova’s 67-57 victory in Philadelphia in January. The Panthers can’t allow that to happen.

*Because the Villanova guards are hard to defend and because the Panthers could be susceptible to foul trouble again in the rematch, Jamie Dixon could go to a zone defense to protect his players and to throw a monkey wrench into Villanova’s game plan. The danger in that is the Wildcats shoot 36 percent from 3-point range. The top shooter is Corey Stokes (42 percent).

*Tyrell Biggs is due for a good game (would you accept a decent game?) Biggs did not score in 11 minutes against Xavier. He had six points and one rebound against Oklahoma State and three points and two rebounds against East Tennessee State. That makes his line in three NCAA tournament games: nine points, six rebounds.

PITT-VILLANOVA II

Ray Fittipaldo — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:06:00 GMT

Villanova's victory over Duke tonight sets up the first Regional Final between two Big East teams since 1987, when Providence beat Georgetown to go to the FInal Four.

Pitt and Villanova will play tomorrow night with the Panthers attempting to reach their first Final Four since 1941.

It will be the second meeting between Pitt and Villanova this season. The Wildcats won the first game, 67-57, in the final college basketball game played at the Philadelphia Spectrum.

Pitt turned the ball over 17 times against the Villanova press in that game.

DeJuan Blair could only play 23 minutes because of foul trouble. He scored just seven points and had eight rebounds.

Tyrell Biggs only played 15 minutes. He did not score and only had three rebounds.

Villanova outscored Pitt, 41-26, in the second half to erase a five-point halfitme deficit.

It should be fun.

Big East tournament live blog -- Marquette blows it after Villanova almost did

Ray Fittipaldo — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:01:00 GMT

Great comeback by Marquette, buy why did Jerel McNeal take the ball to the hoop with 12 seconds remaining? He didn’t have to shoot until five seconds remained. That would have forced Villanova to rebound, get the ball up court and get off a shot.

Not a good moment for McNeal, who was crying to the officials all game about not getting calls.

I’m sure it would have been better if Marquette would have won for its NCAA seeding, but with that spirited 16-comeback I can’t imagine the committee making the Golden Eagles anything less than a No. 7 seed. That team can win a couple of games in the NCAA tournament.

As for Villanova, the Wildcats were lucky to have Dwayne Anderson flash open underneath the basket with the clock winding down. Another poor play by Marquette for letting him get so wide open. That was the only field goal of the game for Anderson.

“I’d rather be lucky than good,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “We’ll take it.”

Villanova won without receiving much from leading scorer Dante Cunningham, who only contributed seven points. Scottie Reynolds and Corey Stokes carried the offense with 21 and 20 points, respectively.

Villanova will play No. 1 seed Louisville tomorrow in the 7 p.m. game. Louisville beat the Wildcats, 61-60, back in January.

Big East tournament live blog -- Marquette stops the bleeding

Ray Fittipaldo — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:50:00 GMT

NEW YORK – Marquette desperately needed a victory after losing its final four games of the regular season. The Golden Eagles got it emphatically this afternoon with a 74-45 win over St. John’s in a Big East tournament second-round game.

The 29-point margin represented the eighth-largest margin of victory in Big East tournament play. The largest margin of victory occurred in 1999 when Syracuse whipped Boston College, 96-55 (41 points).

Marquette not only needed this win for its confidence but to stop the slide down the NCAA seed line. Before Dominic James was injured, the Golden Eagles had been on the second or third seed line. Because the NCAA selection committee takes injuries into account as well as the way a team finishes the season, the Golden Eagles were slipping, perhaps all the way down a No. 7 or 8 seed before yesterday.

Marquette has another opportunity tomorrow to impress the committee. The Golden Eagles move on to play Villanova. The Golden Eagles and Wildcats split two games during the regular season, with each team winning at home. In the most recent game, Villanova won in a blowout, 102-84, on Feb. 10.

Bye bye bye?

Ray Fittipaldo — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:29:00 GMT

Pitt is ranked No. 4 in the AP and coaches' poll and is No. 1 in the RPI, but the Panthers might not even get one of the four coveted double byes at next month's Big East tournament. For those who are unfamiliar with the new Big East tournament format, the top four teams in the standings get double byes and don't have to play a game until Thursday. Teams seeded five through eight get a bye and don't have to play until Wednesday. All other teams play on Tuesday.

Pitt (9-2) is currently tied for third place with Marquette, but Villanova (8-3) is dangerously lurking in fifth place. And the Wildcats own the tiebreaker over Pitt based on its victory over the Panthers in Philadelphia last month. Villanova also has the benefit of playing an easier schedule. The Wildcats play only two teams with winning records in league play the rest of the season -- Syracuse (on the road) and Providence (at home).

Pitt and Marquette have much tougher schedules. Of Pitt's final seven games, five have winning records in Big East play, including two matchups with No. 1 Connecticut.

Marquette has four games remaining with teams with winning Big East records, including a game against Pitt at the Petersen Events Center on March 4. It could come down to that game to decide which team gets the double bye.

Not that winning four games in four days to get to the championship game is in impossibility. Pitt has done it twice in the past three seasons. The Panthers won three games in three days before losing to Syracuse in the title game in 2006. And last season they won four games in four days to win the championship.

Five-star guard arrives to Pitt for recruiting visit

Ray Fittipaldo — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:13:00 GMT

Five-star shooting guard Dominic Cheek, one of the top unsigned high school prospects, has arrived in Pittsburgh and will be in attendance for tonight's game against Belmont. He will spend the next few days in Pittsburgh with the team before departing to his home in New Jersey.

Pitt is one of four or five schools still in the running for Cheek's services. He also is considering Rutgers, Villanova, Memphis and Kansas. Cheek is not expected to make a decision until the spring signing period in April.

If Pitt does get him to sign on the dotted line come spring an already highly touted recruitng class gets much better. The class Dixon signed to letters of intent last week was rated as a consensus top 25 class. With Cheek, it could vault all the way to a top 10 class.