The Sports Monitor

We've read it before. We've heard it from the players and coaches before, too. Now, there's validation to all the talk surrounding the Pitt basketball team. This is the best team in a long, long time in Pittsburgh. All of this, of course, wouldn't be possible without Levance Fields' huge 3-point shot to give the Panthers the lead late Thursday against Xavier. Then, Fields' steal and basket all but wrapped up the 60-55 win. It wasn't a pretty game. It was one that the Panthers (31-4) nearly let slip away. But it doesn't matter. Fields changed all that with his big bucket. And, boy, was it a classic. The moment the ball left his hand, I muttered, "What's he doing?" Then, the moment it dropped though the net, I exhaled with relief, "Clutch shot." It takes a special team to get this far in the tournament. With special players like Fields, DeJuan Blair and Sam Young, they don't have to stop in the regional final against Villanova....

If you didn't watch the Pitt Panthers' first-round NCAA basketball tournament game Friday afternoon and just saw the final score of 72-62, you might have thought it wasn't a that bad game for the Panthers. You'd be wrong. The game was much, much closer than the final score indicated. In fact, East Tennessee State thought an upset was brewing. One quote, in particular, stood out after reading the game stories. "We had them. We just couldn't get over the hump," ETSU guard Kevin Tiggs told reporters after the loss. They were a pretty confident bunch and realized an opportunity slipped away. Pitt escaped, to put it mildly. And if it wasn't for DeJuan Blair's monster game (27 points, 16 rebounds), the No. 1-seeded Panthers might have made history for all the wrong reasons. Now, a matchup against Oklahoma State looms Sunday. Maybe the close call against East Tennessee was a wake-up call. Maybe the Panthers just needed to shake off the rust after a layoff...