Still Not In The Polls

Despite winning this weekend, Pitt made no movement in the polls this weekend.

The Panthers remained at 30th in the USA Today Poll and even fell a spot in the AP Coaches poll, being leapfrogged by idle 0-1 Oregon State.  Not sure I get that one.  I guess if voters were more impressed with Boise State, some may have taken that into account when considering Oregon State's loss to them. But meanwhile, Pitt's loss to Utah is looking less terrible as the Utes are now up to #14 in both polls.

ESPN.com's Brian Bennett found room for both Pitt and WVU in his poll.

It's hard to understand the logic of voters sometimes, but again, those are the perceptions of the Big East.  I wrote a brief post on this over at SB Nation Pittsburgh.

It will be interesting to see how the bye week treats Pitt in the rankings.

Pitt Stumbles Right Out Of The Polls

Despite losing this past week to Utah, I was a bit surprised to see Pitt fall out of the AP poll completely.

I figured they'd drop down to near the bottom, but didn't think a loss to a top 25 team on the road would make them fall more than ten spots. Utah, for the record, rightfully moved into the polls at #20. Pitt came in third in the dreaded "Others Receiving Votes" category, good for 28th overall.

Frankly, I don't see how an overtime loss to a now top 20 team on the road should bump a team down 13 spots, but so be it. The rankings don't necessarily mean all that much to Pitt now and the goal is to win the Big East.

Still, it was a big shock to me that they fell that far.

That said, maybe it's just me - ESPN.com's Big East blogger Brian Bennett also thought Pitt should have fallen out as he didn't rank them in his top 25, either.

Pitt 15th In First AP Poll

Pitt came in ranked 15th in the AP's preseason 2010 college football poll. That was the exact same spot the team finished last season.

The Panthers were the top-ranked Big East team. West Virginia came in at #25 and were the only other Big East team ranked.

Thanks For Playing - We Have Some Nice Parting Gifts For You

I don't know - maybe it's just me.  But when I saw this article on ESPN.com (must be an insider to view), I got a little crazy.

Supposedly, ESPN The Magazine polled 135 college football players on various topics. Out of that, a certain number of Big East players (unidentified) was asked their thoughts on things like best player and best coach. Then came the kicker - What team will win the conference?

Just over 55% of the players voted for Pitt.  Now based on what I can determine and the percentages allocated for each team, I'm guessing that the Big East had nine total voting representatives (5/9 comes out to the 55.6% that is shown for Pitt, for example).

Is it a surprise that Pitt is considered the favorite in the conference?  Not really.  What I did find shocking was that unless the numbers of representatives from each team was uneven, there were players not voting for their own team.  Going into camp with the season not even begun, how can you not vote for your team?  I don't care if you're on Syracuse or Louisville - as a coach, do you really want your players thinking that way?

Further, UCONN, who has been touted by some as having one of the better teams in the conference didn't receive a single vote. So assuming they had a representative in the poll (and one can only assume they did), whoever it was didn't even vote for the school.

It reminded me of a story back in college when I went to Pitt. In my freshman year, I met a kid who was a walk-on through a mutual friend and had lunch with him once. He practically went out of his way to tell me (the very first time I met him, no less) how they had no shot against schools like Notre Dame and the like.  Granted, the kid may never have seen the field - heck, I don't even remember his name.  But even though he was only a walk-on, it showed in his attitude.

Granted, this was a confidential poll, I'm sure. But STILL. This isn't the middle of the season we're talking about here - it's preseason.  If you don't have faith in your team now, there's no way you can win a conference.

Pitt Ranked #15 In Preseason USA Today Coaches Poll

Pitt came in at #15 in the preseason USA Today Coaches Poll, recently released, meaning they will begin with the exact ranking they ended with last season. The Panthers, preseason Big East favorites, were the highest-ranked Big East team.

Immediately ahead of Pitt was Penn State at #14.  WVU came in tied for 24th with Pitt's opening opponent, Utah.

This is right around where I figured Pitt would end up - in the 12 - 15 range.  I'm a little surprised PSU was ranked ahead of them based on the other preseason polls that have been out there all summer.  But then again, they're preseason polls, so it's hard to complain.

Pitt is in a much better spot than last year.  When you start out unranked or near the bottom of the polls, it can be an uphill battle to climb up.  Even if Pitt begins its season with a loss, it still may remain in the polls and in the public's consciousness.  It's particularly good to see Utah ranked as a loss wouldn't look so bad, being it was to a ranked team.

I know - optimistic, aren't I?

Pitt Named Preseason Big East Football Favorite

Pitt came in first in the media poll at the Big East's Media Day, receiving 22 of 24 first-place votes. WVU and Cincinnati tied for second.

For more on this and continuous updates on the activities of Big East Media Day, catch our stream over at SB Nation Pittsburgh.

UPDATES:

Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant squashes the pretty ridiculous rumor about Memphis joining the conference today.

Dave Wannstedt plays down the expectations.

Noel Devine missed the media day due to food poisoning.

Dom DeCicco talks to ESPN.com's Brian Bennett.

This year, the Big East will issue weekly injury reports.

In case you missed it, the Big East is not expanding.  John Marinatto feels the need to continue issuing ridiculous statements:

"The Big East is stronger today in every way than it has ever been," commissioner John Marinatto said during Big East media day Tuesday in a seaside resort town not far from the league office in Providence.

It's statements like these that make me fear for the future of the conference. Instead of being proactive, it seems the status quo is fine with everyone. The Big East needs to face the hard fact that if it loses three teams, the conference has a strong chance to be kaput.  Saying foolish things about the conference being in a position of strength borders on lunacy.

Marinatto is a tough guy to figure out.  One minute he's talking big about utilizing the New York market for all sorts of things and the next, he seems perfectly willing to sit back and do nothing...unless this is all some sort of smokescreen.  I hope it's the latter.

By the way, he's still talking Big East network:

“We may create a television network of our own or maybe a hybrid of the two,” Marinatto said. “Everything is on the table.”

Meanwhile, the schools are happy to survive.

Finally, Paul Zeise of the PG is up at Big East Media Day and has a good column with some news and notes.

Highest Ranking Yet

Yet another website I've never heard of gets a brief mention, strictly for their ranking of Pitt in their preseason top 25. Sports-central.org gets a shout out for placing Pitt eighth in their top 25.

That's probably the highest ranking I've seen for Pitt so far. Not sure if I'd place them that high in my top 25, but I won't complain. This kind of stuff, no matter on how small a scale, is good for the school.

Plus, any poll that doesn't have Penn State ranked is alright by me.

MORE Spring Football Notes

Another preseason football poll is out and Pitt is again ranked in the top 20, coming in at #16 in SI's post-Spring poll. They name Dan Mason as their Spring star in the process and point to Pitt's heavy hitters:

Mason, who started two games at middle linebacker last year in place of injured Adam Gunn, could be the next star on a team loaded with them. The Panthers don't bring back a ton of starters, but some of the players they do return are elite. Romeus was the Big East Defensive Player of the Year in 2009, and Lewis and Baldwin might be the nation's best back/receiver tandem.

Brian Bennett at ESPN.com names Pitt as one of the Big East's most impressive teams in the Spring along with a surprise team:

Based purely on what I saw on the field, Pitt and Connecticut were the two most impressive teams. They were the deepest and most well-rounded clubs.

UCONN gave Pitt all it could handle last year and has to face them on the road in one of those types of games in which you can't pencil in an automatic win.

Bennett also gives us his Post-Spring Big East Power Rankings, placing Pitt at the top, also citing the stars:

The Panthers have some questions, notably on the interior offensive line. But they've also got Dion Lewis, Greg Romeus and Jonathan Baldwin and more answers on both sides of the ball than any other Big East squad.

Sticking with the Spring theme, the Sporting News declares Pitt cornerback Antwuan Reed as one of the players who helped himself the most in the Spring. Reed will be needed big time this Fall.

Pitt Baseball Still on the Move

After going 2-1 last week, Pitt baseball is still on the move, climbing up to #20 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll just out yesterday. The team remains unranked in the ESPN/USA Today and Baseball America polls. The #20 ranking is the highest in school history.

Also in baseball-related stuff, head coach Joe Jordano is headed to the...wait for it...Erie Hall of Fame. He ranks second in school history with 359 wins and with another good season next year, could catch the all-time leader, Bobby Lewis, who has 402. As one of the top teams in the Big East, he could be up for his second conference Coach of the Year award this year. Like most, I don't follow the baseball program all that closely. Still, great to see the school really starting to excel in several sports.

Pitt's best player? That would be Joe Leonard.

And if you can believe it, ESPN actually runs a baseball version of Bracketology. Seriously. Pitt is projected to make the tournament in the regional with #1 overall seed Texas.

Basketball Rankings

As expected, Pitt fell a bit in the polls this week after their loss to Notre Dame.

They dropped five spots to 17th in the AP Poll, but only two spots in the ESPN/USA Today Poll to 18th.

Sounds about right.

Giant Leaps

Pitt deservedly moved up seven spots in the AP poll this week, up to #12. Still a bit underrated, in my opinion, in the ESPN/USA Today poll, sitting only #16. Andy Katz seems to agree.

This is the time of year when I really start paying attention to the polls. Unlike football, college basketball actually determines its national championship by, you know, a playoff. Still, it's foolish to think that because of that, seeding doesn't matter. You only have to look back to 2004 when Pitt was a #3 seed and UCONN was a #2 seed. In its three games, Pitt had to play against the highest possible seed each time. UCONN played against a 7-seed DePaul team, and because of upsets, got to play a 6th-seeded Vanderbilt team and an 8-seed in Alabama. Their fairly easy path landed them a trip to the Final Four. UCONN went 27-6 in the regular season, while Pitt went 29-4. They split the regular season series 1-1, but UCONN won by three in the Big East Conference final. If Pitt pulls that game out, perhaps the seeds are reversed and they get to the Final Four that year.

Just goes to show you how much you need to break your way. You not only need the seeding, you need some breaks along the way.

The rankings play a part in this beacuse of perception. Pitt has a chance at winning each of their last four games before the tournament. If they can somehow find ways to win each of those, they might be able to enter the Big East Tournament as a top five team. Win a game in that tournament and Pitt would likely be looking at a #2 seed. If Pitt can slide in as a #2 or even #3 seed, I'd feel a lot better about their chances.

And for the record, Joe Lunardi has them as a #4 seed right now (though I'd love to be in that region).

Little Movement

In this week's rankings, Pitt did jump six spots in the AP poll up to #19, but moved up only two spots in the ESPN/USA Today poll to #23. I was actually expecting them to get up a bit higher.

West Virginia continued their trend of barely dropping in the polls. They lost both games last week (albeit to two good teams), but only dropped three spots in one poll and two in another.

Hanging On

Pitt clung to a spot in the top 25 rankings in both polls this week, coming in at #23 in the ESPN/USA Today poll and #25 in the AP poll. Gary Parrish of CBSSportsline.com also kept the Panthers in at #21.

Moving onto Joe Lunardi's Bracketology, Pitt holds steady with a #5 seed. It's also a bit interesting that as of now he only has six Big East teams in, but five more are on the bubble.

Movin' On Down

Pitt took a >slight tumble in the latest basketball polls released yesterday following their loss to South Florida on Sunday. They dropped from #17 in both polls to #21 in the ESPN/USA Today Poll and #22 in the AP Poll.

A loss at WVU this week could drop them out of both polls.

With the latest loss, the whole 'Sky Is Falling' talk has officially begun with talk of Pitt not making the tournament. I think Pitt has too many winnable games left not to get in and I expect them to pull off at least one more 'upset' along the way.

Slight Drop in the Rankings

After Pitt lost twice in the same week, they fell to 17th in both polls today. Not bad considering they're still the 2nd highest ranked team with four losses (just behind Wisconsin). With games against St. John's at home and South Florida on the road, they'll have another chance to move up this week.

More Respect

Pitt got some much deserved respect when the polls came out this afternoon as they were moved up to #9 in the AP Poll and #11 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. They're in a spot that no one could have really predicted after the Wofford game and Indiana loss. And how on earth does North Carolina or UCONN with six losses stay in the top 25? Please.

More rankings as Gary Parrish over at CBSSportsline.com bumps Pitt up to eighth. Gary also had time to mention Nasir Robinson's career day.

The players, of course, are doing their best to not buy into the hype.

Joe Lunardi also did right by Pitt as he moved the team up to a rising #2 seed. As much as North Carolina and UCONN have underachieved, I'd still hate to face either as a #6 seed in the first round.

And just as it's a surprise to many to see the team ranked so high, it's also been surprising to see Ashton Gibbs develop the way he has - at least so quickly. Obviously with the depature of a huge chunk of the offense there are more opportunities, but I didn't expect this kind of leap in production. I figured as a three-point shooter with more shots, he could get up to maybe around 10 per game. But he's exceeded those expectations - and then some. For Gibbs, its all about confidence.

Anyway, reverting back to Saturday one final time, Jermaine Dixon has a theory on why Pitt didn't see the press as much as it typically does from Louisville:

"I can see why (Pitino) didn't press and decided to stay in the matchup zone. But I was surprised they didn't press us because they had a lot of success with it last year. I think they felt they could press Levance because they wanted to wear him down because we ran a lot of our sets through him."

I don't know how much sense that makes. I would think there are more sets for Gibbs to get open as he's a more potent scorer than Levance was. But for whatever reason, there was certainly less pressing going on than normal.

Meanwhile, Ron Cook of the PG is probably correct in this assertion about Gary McGhee:

McGhee is hardly a star, but Pitt would not be 15-2 and knocking on the door of the top 10 without him. He had the difficult challenge this season of taking over in the post for All-American DeJuan Blair, who, you might have heard, is showing off his game quite nicely in the NBA. He hasn't backed down from it, giving Pitt a big body and a better-than-expected physical presence inside as a defender and rebounder.

Also, Jermaine Dixon is also still working out his game after the injury.

In other news, Pitt missed out on Andy Katz's team of the week and lost to...Virginia? Virginia beats Georgia Tech and Miami at home while Pitt beats UCONN on the road and Louisville at home. He also dissed Pitt a bit by not even declaring Pitt/Georgetown as a 'place to be', instead opting for games the same day such as Temple/Xavier and *gag* Utep/Memphis. Seriously? I think I just threw up in my mouth.

Georgetown up next.

Links Du Jour

Long, long day today - just getting to some links:

Looking ahead to the NFL draft, Dorin Dickerson and Nate Byham get combine invites.

After a year of shutting down some of the top receivers in the game, former Pitt cornerback Darrelle Revis finishes 2nd in the voting for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

The Pitt women have tumbled out of the polls after losing their last three games.

Gary Parrish over at CBSSportsline.com has the Pitt men all the way up to 12th in its most recent poll.

And in the Post-Gazette's weekly Pitt basketball chat, Ray Fittipaldo discusses a number of topics including prospect Maurice Walker, his updated over/under on Pitt's Big East wins, and the likelihood of Ashton Gibbs leaving early for the NBA, and

Jumping ahead to the basketball game tomorrow:

Pitt is 4-0 since the return of Jermaine Dixon and Gilbert Brown.

Ol' Sourpuss, Jim Calhoun, actually gives a compliment that's not backhanded.

UCONN's coach and one of its players can't quite decide on the importance of the game tomorrow night:

"It's not a critical game for us," said UConn coach Jim Calhoun, downplaying the importance only slightly. "It's an incredibly important game for us, as every single game is."

Meanwhile...

"I think for us it's a must win," UConn guard Kemba Walker said. "We need it. I think we need a win right now."

And if you think you needed another reason why tomorrow's game may be a difficult one:

No. 16 Pitt will shoot for a three-game Big East road sweep -- an unprecedented feat for the Panthers since they joined the conference 27 years ago.

Pitt Up To #16

Pitt moved up in the rankings today, as expected. The Panthers moved up seven spots to #16 in the AP Poll and six spots to #20 in the ESPN/USA Today poll.

The team also got some love from Joe Lunardi in the latest Bracketology rankings as a rising #4 seed.

Final CBSSportsline.com Blog Poll

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama
2	Boise State	3
3	Florida	3
4	Texas	2
5	TCU	2
6	Ohio State	2
7	Cincinnati	3
8	Iowa	2
9	Penn State	2
10	Brigham Young	2
11	Oregon	4
12	Virginia Tech	1
13	Georgia Tech	4
14	Pittsburgh	3
15	Wisconsin	10
16	Utah	3
17	LSU	2
18	Nebraska	6
19	Miami (Florida)	5
20	Central Michigan	3
21	Mississippi
22	Texas Tech
23	Southern Cal
24	West Virginia	8
25	Navy
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Oregon State (#18), Houston (#20), Oklahoma State (#21), Arizona (#22).

I had to give Boise a bit more credit for finishing undefeated AND beating an undefeated TCU team that was pretty good. Also ranked Florida ahead of Texas due to their thrashing of Cincinnati.

Also, Navy gets into the rankings for a 10-4 season and after their win over Missouri.

Pitt Finishes 15th

Pitt football finished 15th in the final AP and ESPN/USA Today polls. I was a little disappointed to see a four-win Nebraska team finish ahead of them, but not a big deal. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that this was Pitt's highest poll finish since 1982.

One thing I noticed, whether right or wrong, was Boise State's finish of 4th behind both Texas and Florida.