Picking This Weekend's Winners

My schedule has been kinda crazy lately (as you've noticed), so the weekly football preview is getting a little abbreviated this week. But there are still picks to be made - I've gotta make up that two-game gap you're holding on me. Our five spotlight games: Steelers-Fins, Packers-Vikes, Pitt-Rutgers, WVU-Syracuse, and PSU-Minnesota. Let's do it:

PITT FALLS IN NEW RANKINGS

You win one, you lose one, you fall in the rankings. At least that's the story today for the Pitt Panthers, now #17 in the AP and #18 in the USA Today/ESPN polls after a win at St. John's and a loss at Notre Dame last week. And for those of you into RPI, Pitt comes in at #10, with a strength of schedule of #6. Not bad for a rebuilding year.

The Big East has three of the top 10 teams in the nation, with Syracuse jumping to #1 after last week's top three teams all lost this past weekend. Villanova (23-5) comes in at #9, while West Virginia (22-6) ranks 10th. The conference once again has a fifth team in the top 20, with Georgetown (19-8) placing 19th.

This week signals the end of conference play, and the Panthers wrap up with two home contests, facing Providence on Thursday night at 9 PM and Rutgers on Saturday at 4:30 PM.

Pictured below is a quick briefing on the Big East picture as we head into the climax of the regular season. A quick look illustrates that the Panthers won't exactly have their hands full to close things out (their opponents are a combined 9-23 in conference play) but must keep focused for tournament seeding purposes.


NCAA College Basketball Polls [ESPN.com]

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PITT PULLS THE UPSET

No other sports organization has toyed with my expectations like the Pitt Panthers, be it in basketball or football. When you're ready for them to take the next step, in steps Scottie Reynolds. When you're prepared for the worst, 13-9 comes along. They play head games like none other.

Keeping that in mind, this season has so far been one of greatly lowered expectations for the Pitt Panthers basketball team. They lost Dejuan Blair, they lost Sam Young, they lost Levance Fields, they lost Tyrell Biggs. They were missing Jermaine Dixon and Gilbert Brown for the early portion of the schedule. The program that was #1 in the country at one point last year has not gotten a vote in the AP or ESPN/USA Today polls through seven weeks. Reality had set in. Or so we thought.

As far as reality-checks go, a trip to the Carrier Dome usually lets you know where you stand, but who knows what to expect for this Pitt team after an 82-72 win over the 5th-ranked Syracuse Orange on Saturday.

The surging Ashton Gibbs scored 24 points, Dixon added a career-high 21, and Brad Wanamaker contributed 12 to lead the Panthers to their highest point output of the 2009-10 season.

Syracuse was a woeful 1-for-13 from three-point territory, including a 1-for-6 effort from guard Andy Rautins. Wes Johnson, with 19 points, was the only Syracuse starter who scored in double figures, although guard Scoop Jardine did add 15 points off the bench.

The Orange got into foul trouble in the second half, and that would eventually contribute to their downfall. The Panthers would hit 24 of 32 free throws over the final 20 minutes, a time span in which Syracuse committed 19 fouls.

Pitt, the Big East's top defensive team at 55.9 PPG, held Syracuse, the league's highest-scoring team, 15 points below their average. They also held the Orange to 42% shooting from the floor - 12% below their season average. As Gibbs said, "We played as a team. We played tough defense and we rebounded the ball towards the end of the game. That's what we needed. Coaches stressed that in pregame."

The 12-2 Panthers will be back in action on Monday night at 10-3 Cincinnati. Two of the three Bearcats losses this season have been in overtime, to Gonzaga and Xavier. Hopefully the Panthers can enact a bit of revenge on behalf of their football-playing classmates.

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PITT REBOUNDS NICELY, AND OTHER NEWS

If I may interrupt our Super Bowl obsession for a few moments, there are a few other sports notes around our city today that are worth mentioning:

--The Pitt Panthers are no longer the #1 team in the nation. It sure was a fun two games while it lasted. But they rebounded from the Saturday night loss nicely with a 78-60 win over #8 Syracuse last night at the Pete.

As we've seen numerous times and most recently against Louisville, this team's going to have to keep Dejuan Blair out of foul trouble, and keep him out they did against Syracuse, as Blair contributed 20 points and 12 rebounds to the cause. Sam Young found his shooting touch and lit up the scoreboard for 22 points in front of a crowd of 12,508 and one basketball-loving two-time Super Bowl QB.

Next up for Pitt is a Sunday matchup with Huggy Bear and the West Virginia Mountaineers.

--Adam LaRoche just re-signed for one year, $7.05 million, a raise of over $2 million from his .270, 25 HR, 85 RBI 2008 season. Because if anyone deserves a $2 million raise in this economy, it's Adam LaRoche. [PG]

--Headline from Sunday's previously-discussed Pirate Winter Caravan: Nutting: Pirates must improve in 2009. I agree with Nutting. I expect nothing less than at least 95 wins in 2009. [PG]

--It's another Staal Bowl tonight at the Igloo as the Pens take on the Carolina Hurricanes, trying to build on the little two-game win streak in which the team has allowed just one goal. This town loooooves defense. [Pittsburghpenguins.com]

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