ARE THESE PITT PANTHERS LEGIT?

Last night, the Pittsburgh Panthers went to Hartford, CT and beat the top team in the country, the Connecticut Huskies, 76-68. It was the first time in 14 attempts that the Pitt program defeated a current number one. They outlasted UConn in a very physical battle, and were lead by a career performance from DeJuan Blair. The sophomore forward scored 22 points and posted a career-high 23 rebounds. This victory sets the Panthers up favorably for the Big East regular season championship and a potential #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Pittsburgh has become one of the elite programs in college hoops since 2002. They have consistently been among the top 10 teams in the country, and their seeding in the NCAA Tournament has been reflective of that. However, the Pitt program has yet to cash in on their regular season success in the big dance. The furthest they've advanced is the Sweet 16. I think it's safe to say if they don't make it to at least the Final Four this year, it will be a bitter pill to swallow, and after last night, they are clearly thinking championship.

After watching a good portion of this game last night, I believe the Panthers are absolutely capable of making the Final Four or even possibly winning it all. That isn't a bold statement, but they are as physical a team as college basketball has ever seen. Blair dominated the much taller Hasheem Thabeet last night. He took the ball right at him and pretty much scored whenever he wanted. Their great defense ties right into their physical play. They are very aggressive on the defensive end of the floor. They contest every shot, they step into passing lanes, and they gobble up every rebound. UConn is a tremendous team in getting second chance points, but last night the Pitt defense held them to only six offensive rebounds. That is tremendous against the tall and long Huskies team. A team is going to have to get down in the trenches with this Panther team if they want to knock them off come tourney time.

However, I still have my doubts that they'll get it done when they need to win six straight to win it all in the NCAA Tournament. While they do many things right, they are not a very good offensive team. While they are better offensively than previous Pitt teams, they still should have beaten UConn by 15-20 points last night. Give some credit to the solid UConn defense, but Pitt missed a lot of easy baskets and were very sloppy with the ball at times. That comes with the territory with an aggressive team, but as great as they were last night, they left the door wide open for UConn to win the game. I give them a lot of credit though for coming back after they lost the lead briefly late in the game.

I'm not sure they have a player who is going to hit the bucket in the big spot. Now Levance Fields hit two big threes to ice the game for Pitt, but he was 0-for-8 prior to those two buckets. Sam Young might be the answer as he scored 25 last night, but only two of those came in the final five minutes. I would say they have to hope Blair isn't in foul trouble late in tournament games, so he can force the issue down low. Maybe I'm nitpicking, because they shot 40% last night and still won on the #1 team's home floor. As I said though, they left the door open for UConn to creep by them and steal the game. That inability to blow teams out may cost them against a really good team in the tournament. Say Wayne Ellington from North Carolina goes off against them from beyond the arc? What is Pitt going to do to counter that? Do they have someone that can? I don't think so.

They are a likable team, and I was rooting hard for them last night. I would love to see this team make a deep run in the tournament as they are certainly overdue for it. They also have a likable coach whose younger sister died just three years ago at 28 due to a heart condition. So there are plenty of storylines to throw around. However, if I had to predict right now, I say they will advance to the Final Four, but lose to a more explosive offensive team that can handle them somewhat physically.

Pat Morgan