Panther's get their tails kicked by 'Eers, 74-60

Pitt stunk up the joint last night at Da Gahden versus hated rival West Virginia, going down in the first round of the Big East Tournament for the first time since the 2004-2005 season, a season in which they also lost their first round NCAA Tournament game to Pacific. That team, though, was the worst team of the Dixon head coaching era, and this team is the best of the Dixon coaching era. What this team does in the next tournament will be decided soon.

West Virginia is a good team and they have a great coach, but there is absolutely no excuse for being dominated by them at MSG. It's your team's home away from home in the tourney that you have dominated for so many years. You're coming off two of your best games all season. Where their heads were is anybody's guess, but it's tough to say that they were focused on this game.

WVU led at halftime, 36-34, and came out in the second half in a 1-3-1 zone, reminicent of John Belein's recent WVU teams, and Pitt was rather clueless from that point on. (Post-Gazette story here: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09072/955341-175.stm )

After the game, Levance Fields and Sam Young refused to speak with reporters, which was a very poor showing of sportsmanship. DeJuan Blair did speak to the media, but he said the referees were out to get him. He fouled out with 14 points and only 5 boards, and he sat the final 16 minutes of the first half after picking up two quick fouls. Brad Wannamaker also fouled out. We can only hope that their level of "upsettedness" carries over into the NCAA tournament and they make a deep run. After such a bad loss... the worst loss and the worst showing of the season, in fact... nothing less than an appearance in the NCAA Tournament final will help bring me solace.

Jamie Dixon said they got what they deserved. He's a master of halftime adjustments, but he couldn't get the team to counter the 1-3-1 that WVU came out with in the second half.