Pitt Basketball Silences Critics with National Championship

Things are a lot calmer around the Pederson Events Centers these days.  School's out so there no reason for things not to be.  I guess we're talking more about the Pitt Basketball team.  A team that got caught in a storm, but was able to sail for calmer waters. 

Critics of Pitt Basketball say many things.  Jamie Dixon is a bad hire, Jamie can't recruit, and Jamie is living off the Ben Howland era.  Nearly ten years later, Dixon is still at Pitt. Ben Howland has been gone for a long time and we can say this is Jamie Dixon's program.   As for recruiting, Dixon has landed his share of great players such as Levance Fields, Sam Young, Dejuan Blair, Gilbert Brown, and the list will go on. 


The biggest question Dixon faced from his critics is would he ever be able to reach a Final Four let alone win a national title with his system? 

It didn't look that way at the start of the 2011-2012 season.  Pitt's season started with a loss to Long Beach State in just the third game of the season.   The Panthers would recover to win the next 8 games to be at 11-1.  Their world would turn upside down starting late December when they lost 8 straight games to be at 11-9.  During that time, Pitt would also lose a player and be without another.  Freshman Khem Birch would leave Pitt taking his blonde streak and diva-like attitude with him.  Tray Woodall was hurt most the season putting Ashton Gibbs in a bad spot and no depth at point guard. 

Despite all that, Pitt was able to pull it together and earn another spot in postseason play.  An upset over Princeton, gave Pitt their first Final Four since the 1940's.  This would silence the critics about the Final Four, but they would also question if Dixon could bring home a national title to Pitt.  To reach that debate, Pitt would face Butler in a rematch from last year's second round matchup where Nasir Robinson fouled that hippy looking douchebag with seconds left on the clock.

 Pitt and Butler played two brutal halves where both teams kept exchanging punches.  They would end up in overtime where Pitt eventually pulled away.  Players like JJ Moore and Talib Zanna stepped up their games.  Lamar Patterson would have his coming out party.  Along with Travon Woodall, these players would lead Pitt to a National Championship by dismantling Washington State.

You can see why it's so calm at the Pete.  No critics, No drama, No hair dye, and No divas.  The only noise you may hear is from the practices at Pitt Basketball.   They are gearing up for another storm and this time they will be bringing it...and hopefully a back-to-back National Championship.   

NAMBLA Offers to Sponsor Big Ten Title Game

The Big Ten is picking up where it left off after a captivating title game that sent Brett Bielema and the Wisconsin Badgers to choke in another BCS Bowl game.  After the events that surfaced at Penn State regarding Jerry Sandusky and the recent events of a sex offender stalking...err recruiting young football players, NAMBLA has offered their support for the Big Ten Conference and would like to sponsor next year's title game. 

One Big Ten spokesperson said that "We have not heard anything from NAMBLA, but if it involves money we will talk.  No one thought we would expand to 12 members without Ohio State and and Michigan bitching about attention being taken away from their stupid rivalry game." 

Pitt, Cincinnati Form Bowl Partnership

With Pitt possibly heading to the ACC after 2012, there was concern that their annual rivalry game against Cincinnati will also end as well.  Well, think again.  The River City Rivalry Trophy will not find its way at yard sales, people basements, etc.  Instead, it will become an innovator to another premium ticket in the post season wars of College Football.

Pitt and Cincinnati have agreed to form a bowl partnership starting in 2013.  This means if neither team is in the BCS Bowl, both of these teams will meet in their own bowl game.  The payout is rumored to be 50 million dollars.  Home Field will be rotated yearly.   If neither team meets that year, that money gets pooled into next year's bowl game if they meet. 

Pitt released this statement this morning in regards to the bowl game:

"With the landscape of College Football changing everyday with conference expansions, conference bowl partnerships, and superconferences, it is in the University's best interests to look out for their athletic programs.  This is why we have formed a bowl partnership with Cincinnati.  We were in discussions with West Virginia, but we decided if we wanted to deal with a bunch of drunken hicks we'd go to a Toby Keith concert instead." 

Cincinnati released this statement:

"We're exited to keep the River City Rivalry going.  Pitt has given us every opportunity to stay nationally relevant in someway and they have come through for us again."

There's been concerns of where they the money will come from to host this game.  Bowl Officials are in talks with WKRP, Skyline Chili, Krogers, Giant Eagle, Heinz, and others to fund this Bowl game.  All feel they will get a positive investment from one of the greatest games in College Football.