Saturday, January 26th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Pitt gains respect despite loss to Cincinatti
Pitt’s 62-59 loss at Cincinnati seems as if it should have damaged their rankings in polls. Instead, it moved them up in CBS’s Top 26, moved from 5 up to 4 in Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology, gained a spot in CNNSI’s Power Rankings, and kept the same 13 spot in ESPN’s Power 16. What all of this means is that Pitt’s victory over Georgetown meant much more than its loss to Cincinnati.
CBS, in moving Pitt up from 22 to 18, said, very simply:
The Panthers handed Georgetown its second loss of the season.
CNNSI was much more thorough, saying:
Texas and Pitt are the only teams in the Power Rankings (plus fringe) that sit behind two schools they’ve already beaten. In the ‘Horns’ case, it’s because they went on to lose three of five games in late December and early January, and barely beat Colorado at home last week. In the Panthers’ case it’s because they were soundly beaten by Dayton and lost two of their best players, point guard Levance Fields and forward Mike Cook, to injuries. The floor general is usually the most vital cog of a team, and Fields is an excellent one, but this story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette makes the case that freshman forward DeJuan Blair is Pitt’s most indispensable player. Blair’s foul trouble against Cincy — he played only 22 minutes — was a big reason for the Panthers’ debacle in the Queen City last week; he was in the same predicament during that loss to the Flyers. Said Sam Young of Blair, “It’s tough to play without the big fella down there. … It showed [against Cincy] how we played without him. We’re already short-handed with him.”
ESPN said:
Of all the things that make no sense in the Big East, the Panthers might be the biggest enigma. There is no reason Pittsburgh should be in the national picture, not with more suits than unis on the bench to choose from. Yet here they are, losing to Cincinnati on the road by only three and thumping St. John?s. If the patch-worked Panthers can hold it together until Levance Fields returns, they could be the toughest out come March.
All of this means that analysts are looking at Pitt’s situation as not the current team, but as the team they will be when Levance Fields returned, which will likely be one of the top teams in the nation. Fields’ absence has allowed DeJuan Blair to establish himself as one of the top freshmen in the nation, including a matchup against Georgetown where Blair outmatched 7′2 Roy Hibbert. Sam Young has also stepped up in a huge way without Fields, as the junior is the third highest scorer in points-per-game in the Big East at the moment, becoming that star, go to guy that Pitt has seemingly lacked during the Howland/Dixon era.
This Pitt team has all of the makings of something really special and analysts are recognizing that, keeping Pitt ranked high despite two stumbles in the state of Ohio, so that when the Panthers are back at full strength they will be willing and able to have a strong March.
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