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03-04-2003, 01:00 AM
Finder on the Web: Pitt has a raucous and real homecourt advantage
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
The buzz around Pitt basketball emanated from your inner ears Sunday. After two hours inside the new palace otherwise known as the Petersen Events Center -- should we nickname it Ben's Den or the Howlin' House? -- your anvils reverberated and your stirrups were ridden hard. For one March afternoon, Oakland was rocking.
The scene was a veritable Seen column, this Connecticut-Pitt grudge match and nationally televised starter kit for the office pool crowd. Steelers Coach Bill Cowher was in the house. Mark Malone brought the wife and in-laws on a quick side trip north from Florida (shhhh, don't tell his ESPN employers). Even Mark Cuban, onetime Pitt student and current boy owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks, flew in to sit in the pricey sideline seats with a bunch of his old South Hills basketball buddies. This was Big East big. This was a new-kids-on-the-blocks party.
No, it is far too premature after this one Sunday, this one season, to call Pittsburgh a basketball town. First, Pittsburgh would have to understand basketball. It would need to know that Brandin Knight is the greatest point guard in Panthers history, even when he doesn't score. It would be required to pass a test about outside shooting opening up the inside, about good teams losing on the road to Top 25 opponents isn't cause for alarm, about depth and Big East brute strength and unselfishness.
Let's simply enjoy the scene for what it was: raucous, real college basketball fun.
"To see a thousand students here one and a half hours before the game, getting on the other team ... ," Knight marveled. "That's the type of atmosphere that makes college basketball special."
Pitt's 71-67 triumph Sunday was truly an adrenaline rush atop Cardiac Hill. The students' Zoo was courteous, offering warm applause upon the introduction of Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun, barely three weeks removed from cancer for prostate surgery. They and the rest of the sellout crowd of 12,508 encouraged the Panthers when they fell behind the fast and furious Huskies by 13 points. No less a source than Ben Howland, down on the court, wondered about getting a meter to measure the decibel level. No wonder they have won 20 consecutive home games, 12 in a row in the conference.
Yet know this: Pitt wouldn't have beaten Connecticut that day if it wasn't at home suh-weet home.
The Huskies' 28-15 start, their thrilling speed, their uninhibited (and unburdened by fouls) Emeka Okafor were too much for the Panthers early. They might have remained too much at Madison Square Garden or an NCAA tournament neutral site or someplace where the officials refused to allow such banging. So Pitt didn't necessarily prove it is better than Connecticut on Sunday. It merely showed it was better that game. It was more experienced, more calm under duress, more brawny and brainy.
Don't misunderstand, Pitt likely will continue its Grudge Week with a victory against Seton Hall inside Petersen Event Center Wednesday. Senior Night? With Knight's parents in attendance, a former Seton Hall star for a father and a 30-year Seton Hall secretary for a mother? No problem. And the Panthers may well shove their way into the Big East championship game the following week.
It's just that they may lose to Connecticut if they meet again.
"I would like to play them in the championship game," Calhoun said afterward, gauntlet thrown. "I'd love to see them again up there. Someplace else."
Know this, too: There aren't many teams Pitt cannot beat most days.
The Panthers are built for tournament success. They certainly can play hard ball, pounding bodies and throwing waves at opponents, if officials permit the same kind of rough style as they did Sunday ("I thought the Steelers were having a workout," Calhoun mused). They can play finesse, trading 3-pointers and passing fancily. They can play transition, although speed is the one advantage that Connecticut and a few others hold over them.
And one crucial thing: They play defense like crazy. Like "the old Bad-Boy Pistons," Calhoun remarked. "At least the Georgetown teams under John Thompson." Now that is the ultimate compliment, even if you -- like Howland -- chose to be slightly offended by Calhoun's attempted compliment about Pitt not being the most talented team in the conference, but being the best team.
After Wednesday, the rest of March will put deep and defensive Pitt on the road. No big deal. They proved they can play in hostile environs. "Thirty-thousand people rushing the floor? Twice?" Knight said of the last-second losses at Syracuse and at Notre Dame. Just watch what those teams do in the NCAAs.
Pitt will, like its fans now do with the Petersen Center roof, raise their game. This is the month they have long awaited since March's Sweet 16 flameout against Kent State a year ago. This is the tournament time when they won't even invade an opponent's home.
They'll be driving on neutral floors.
Which is something of a shame, considering that Pittsburgh has at least learned how to be a loud home crowd.
Maybe this has become enough of a basketball place to try to lure an NCAA first- and second-round bracket to Petersen Center.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Finder can be reached at cfinder@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1724.
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
The buzz around Pitt basketball emanated from your inner ears Sunday. After two hours inside the new palace otherwise known as the Petersen Events Center -- should we nickname it Ben's Den or the Howlin' House? -- your anvils reverberated and your stirrups were ridden hard. For one March afternoon, Oakland was rocking.
The scene was a veritable Seen column, this Connecticut-Pitt grudge match and nationally televised starter kit for the office pool crowd. Steelers Coach Bill Cowher was in the house. Mark Malone brought the wife and in-laws on a quick side trip north from Florida (shhhh, don't tell his ESPN employers). Even Mark Cuban, onetime Pitt student and current boy owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks, flew in to sit in the pricey sideline seats with a bunch of his old South Hills basketball buddies. This was Big East big. This was a new-kids-on-the-blocks party.
No, it is far too premature after this one Sunday, this one season, to call Pittsburgh a basketball town. First, Pittsburgh would have to understand basketball. It would need to know that Brandin Knight is the greatest point guard in Panthers history, even when he doesn't score. It would be required to pass a test about outside shooting opening up the inside, about good teams losing on the road to Top 25 opponents isn't cause for alarm, about depth and Big East brute strength and unselfishness.
Let's simply enjoy the scene for what it was: raucous, real college basketball fun.
"To see a thousand students here one and a half hours before the game, getting on the other team ... ," Knight marveled. "That's the type of atmosphere that makes college basketball special."
Pitt's 71-67 triumph Sunday was truly an adrenaline rush atop Cardiac Hill. The students' Zoo was courteous, offering warm applause upon the introduction of Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun, barely three weeks removed from cancer for prostate surgery. They and the rest of the sellout crowd of 12,508 encouraged the Panthers when they fell behind the fast and furious Huskies by 13 points. No less a source than Ben Howland, down on the court, wondered about getting a meter to measure the decibel level. No wonder they have won 20 consecutive home games, 12 in a row in the conference.
Yet know this: Pitt wouldn't have beaten Connecticut that day if it wasn't at home suh-weet home.
The Huskies' 28-15 start, their thrilling speed, their uninhibited (and unburdened by fouls) Emeka Okafor were too much for the Panthers early. They might have remained too much at Madison Square Garden or an NCAA tournament neutral site or someplace where the officials refused to allow such banging. So Pitt didn't necessarily prove it is better than Connecticut on Sunday. It merely showed it was better that game. It was more experienced, more calm under duress, more brawny and brainy.
Don't misunderstand, Pitt likely will continue its Grudge Week with a victory against Seton Hall inside Petersen Event Center Wednesday. Senior Night? With Knight's parents in attendance, a former Seton Hall star for a father and a 30-year Seton Hall secretary for a mother? No problem. And the Panthers may well shove their way into the Big East championship game the following week.
It's just that they may lose to Connecticut if they meet again.
"I would like to play them in the championship game," Calhoun said afterward, gauntlet thrown. "I'd love to see them again up there. Someplace else."
Know this, too: There aren't many teams Pitt cannot beat most days.
The Panthers are built for tournament success. They certainly can play hard ball, pounding bodies and throwing waves at opponents, if officials permit the same kind of rough style as they did Sunday ("I thought the Steelers were having a workout," Calhoun mused). They can play finesse, trading 3-pointers and passing fancily. They can play transition, although speed is the one advantage that Connecticut and a few others hold over them.
And one crucial thing: They play defense like crazy. Like "the old Bad-Boy Pistons," Calhoun remarked. "At least the Georgetown teams under John Thompson." Now that is the ultimate compliment, even if you -- like Howland -- chose to be slightly offended by Calhoun's attempted compliment about Pitt not being the most talented team in the conference, but being the best team.
After Wednesday, the rest of March will put deep and defensive Pitt on the road. No big deal. They proved they can play in hostile environs. "Thirty-thousand people rushing the floor? Twice?" Knight said of the last-second losses at Syracuse and at Notre Dame. Just watch what those teams do in the NCAAs.
Pitt will, like its fans now do with the Petersen Center roof, raise their game. This is the month they have long awaited since March's Sweet 16 flameout against Kent State a year ago. This is the tournament time when they won't even invade an opponent's home.
They'll be driving on neutral floors.
Which is something of a shame, considering that Pittsburgh has at least learned how to be a loud home crowd.
Maybe this has become enough of a basketball place to try to lure an NCAA first- and second-round bracket to Petersen Center.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chuck Finder can be reached at cfinder@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1724.