by Brett McMurphy Filed under: Notre Dame , Pittsburgh , Big East Tournament NEW YORK TABLOID HEADLINE IRISH LIVE TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY START SPREADING THE NEWS NEW YORK -- The winningest senior class in Notre Dame history is not quite done winning yet. The seventh-seeded Fighting Irish defeated No. 2 seed Pittsburgh 50-45, in Thursday's quarterfinals of the Big East tournament. And, once again, it was Luke Harangody coming off the bench to lead the Irish. Harangody had 12 points in only 22 minutes. His biggest contributions came with 16 seconds remaining when he rebounded a Pittsburgh miss, was fouled and hit both free throws giving Notre Dame a 49-45 lead. On the Irish's previous possession, Harangody committed a turnover giving the Panthers ...

NEW YORK (AP)--Luke Harangody came off the bench and hit three key free throws in the final two minutes, helping Notre Dame hold off No. 16 Pittsburgh 50-45 in the Big East tournament quarterfinals Thursday night for its season-best sixth straight victory.Harangody and Tory Jackson each had 12 points in a bruising, defensive struggle. When the dust finally cleared, the Fighting Irish (23-10) had consecutive wins in the Big East tournament for the first time since joining the league for the 1995-96 season.Seventh-seeded Notre Dame will play Cincinnati or No. 7 West Virginia in the second semifinal Friday night at Madison Square Garden.Brad Wanamaker scored 16 for Pittsburgh (24-8), knocked out in its Big East tournament opener as the No. 2 seed for the second straight year. Before that, the Panthers reached three finals in a row and seven in a span of eight seasons.   procad("http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/CSTV.PITT/SPORTS.MBASKBL.RECAPS;sect=mbaskbl;pos=story;sz=300x250;dcopt=ist;",0);  

NEW YORK -- For the second consecutive season Pitt is one-and-done at the Big East tournament.No. 7 seed Notre Dame knocked No. 2 seed out, 50-45, tonight in a quarterfinal round game at Madison Square Garden. Pitt also was eliminated from the conference tournament last season as the No. 2 seed.Five days after scoring 83 points in the regular-season finale against Rutgers, the Panthers were held to their lowest point output of the season.Pitt had a chance to tie the score with 40 seocnds left, but Brad Wanamaker missed a layup. The Panthers got the ball back after tying up the Irish, but Jermaine Dixon missed badly on his shot attempt.Pitt fouled Luke Harangody, who made two free throws to give the Irish a four-point lead with 15.9 seconds remaining.Wanamaker led Pitt with 16 points.Notre Dame had never been accused of playing good defense under coach Mike Brey, but the ...

Life interrupted things. Rest of the family got sick which put all the crap on me. In addition, this is the start of the busiest time for me with Fanhouse. So very little time the last couple as you can see by the lack of posting.Things are somewhat sorted out. At least to the extent that there is no way in hell, there won’t be a liveblog tonight. I agreed with Gil Brown about wanting to see ND again, and after the beatdown they put on Seton Hall, I feel a little more trepidation. Holy hell, they suddenly know how to play defense and are being incredibly efficient on offense.Fun starts at 7 with the game on ESPN.BET Qtr: ND-PittIf you need to break it out from the site, Click Here

Leave a Comment by PAT STEVENS – A pair of Big East recruits capped off their seasons with a New England championship and now a national title as CJ Fair and Austin Carroll helped Brewster Academy defeated Northfield Mount Hermon in the finals of the National Prep Championships. Brewster would rally from down 15 points in the first half and trade the lead in the second half before heading to overtime where they pulled away for the 79-76 win. BIG EAST SIGNEES IN ACTIONCJ Fair (Syracuse/6-7 WF/Brewster Academy) – Fair saved his best for last as he scored a number of big baskets in key moments. He’s a zone-buster for the Brewster team with his ability to operate consistently in the gaps and finish around the rim. Often times he elevated over the defense for scores with his high, slingshot release that goes well with his lift and size ...

Since we're going in reverse alphabetical order for this spring superlatives series, Rutgers should be up now. But there has been a lot of Scarlet Knights' content on here of late, so I'm going to flip flop and have Pittsburgh go today. Let's look at where the Panthers are strongest and weakest among position groups heading into spring practices: Strongest position: Defensive end Key returnees: Greg Romeus (eight sacks, 11.5 tackles for loss) and Jabaal Sheard (five sacks, 10.5 tackles for loss). Key departures: None. The skinny: Pitt has several strong groups, not least of which is running back with the return of Big East offensive player of the year Dion Lewis , plus Ray Graham and Henry Hynoski . But I'll give the slight nod to defensive end, where Big ...

PITTSBURGH - The Pitt gymnastics team (8-7, 3-4 EAGL) travels to Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday night for a 7 p.m. dual meet with seventh-ranked Arkansas.Pitt is paced by sophomore all-arounder Alicia Talucci (Coatesville, Pa./Bishop Shanahan), who earned wins on the beam with a career-high score, and in the all-around competition against Western Michigan, George Washington and Penn last weekend. The all-around title was the seventh for Talucci this season.The Razorbacks are led by senior all-arounder Casey Jo Magee, who is fourth overall and is ranked No. 1 on the balance beam with a regional qualifying score of 9.920.Pitt and Arkansas have met just one other time with the Razorbacks earning the 196.250-193.350 victory.Pitt's projected lineup for the dual meet is as follows:Vault1. Molly Moyer2. Jessica Byich3. Shannon Vafiadou4. Alicia Talucci5. Meaghan Biros6. Dani BryanExh. Jessica ByichUneven Bars1. Jessica Byich2. Dani Bryan3. Alicia Talucci4. Jen Liberato5. Meaghan Biros6. Sarah ThompsonExh. Molly ...

Submit your Pitt basketball questionA quick programming note: I will chat live during tonight's Pitt-Notre Dame Big East Tournament game on PG Plus, and I'll be blogging from New York exclusively on my Pitt basketball blog on PG-Plus. Membership in that site is only $3.99 per month or $36 per year. Q: It looks like Notre Dame is playing a more team-oriented game since Luke Harangody returned to the lineup. Are the Irish a much better team now than they were when they beat Pitt without Harangody in February?Scott, Washington, Pa.FITTIPALDO: It certainly appears so, Scott. The Irish played a very impressive game in their second-round victory against Seton Hall. The Irish are the best 3-point shooting team in the conference, but they were able to win when they only made three 3-pointers against the Pirates. That was due to the fact that Harangody was a dominant force inside, scoring ...

Notre Dame is fast becoming one of March's big stories, thanks to their new slower pace. The Fighting Irish have won five consecutive games, and tonight they'll face Pitt at Madison Square Garden in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament. Better still, Mike Brey's team is currently projected as an 11-seed in the NCAA tournament. Not bad for a group that had NIT written all over it as a foregone conclusion just three weeks ago. What caused the turnaround?That's a rhetorical question, of course. By now I'm sure you've heard about the Eureka moment Brey had while talking to assistant coach Anthony Solomon five games ago. ESPN's Dana O'Neil has the goods: "Luck of the Irish not because of luck."Anthony Solomon, who played on the Virginia team that nearly stunned Phi Slamma Jamma Houston in the Final Four, started talking about the Cavaliers' famed run from lousy regular season ...

Leave a Comment *********Follow NBE Sports on Twitter: http://twitter.com/NBESports*****The 2010 Big East Tournament has reached the quarterfinal round and what better way to tip-off the action than with a match-up between Syracuse and Georgetown at high noon in Madison Square Garden. I am sure many fans will be joining Digger Phelps on a long lunch today. If you can get to NYC, there are still tickets available to be purchased and the links below provide the resources to find seats with Stub Hub’s guarantee for fans to have their tickets in hand prior to the game, even at this last minute…The remaining Big East Conference Tournament Schedule…QUARTERFINALS: THURSDAY, MARCH 11th:Big East Basketball Tournament Tickets – Session 5 March 11 2010 1) Syracuse vs. 8] Georgetown, 12 noon.4) Villanova vs. 5) Marquette, 2 PM.Big East Basketball Tournament Tickets – Session 6 March ...

Leave a Comment by RAY FLORIANI and MATT WHITFIELDNEW YORK CITY – Day two at the 2010 Big East Tournament is complete and one thing is definitely certain, we will have a new champion. The scores: Georgetown 69, South Florida 49Marquette 57, St. John’s 55Notre Dame 68, Seton Hall 56Cincinnati 69, Louisville 66 Ray’s ten points of emphasis from Wednesday… 1. Georgetown did it the old fashioned way. They defended the heck out of South Florida. Dominique Jones of USF had 21 points to lead all scorers but the Bulls outstanding junior talent had no one to lend a helping hand. Credit the Hoya defense that forced South Florida into a 29% afternoon from the field. 2. Stan Heath said after the DePaul game where USF missed all 8 three point attempts, his club can hit the outside shot and would have to against the Hoyas. For the record USF’s first ...

NEW YORK -- Cincinnati rebounded quite well in getting comfortable in the Big East Conference tournament at Madison Square Garden.The 11th-seeded Bearcats again used a huge advantage on the boards to beat sixth-seeded Louisville, 69-66, Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals. They are the only team to play in the opening round still playing, and it was rebounding that keyed both close wins."We can rebound the ball when we get shots off," Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said. "When we get the ball in the paint, we get it on the rim, we can rebound the ball."The Bearcats (18-14) outrebounded Rutgers, 49-31, Tuesday in their 69-68 victor.The numbers were even more impressive against the defending champion Cardinals (20-12). The Bearcats outrebounded Louisville, 54-33, including 28-9 on the offensive end."The point of emphasis was to rebound the basketball," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "We rebound, we win. We knew that. We didn't, ...

NEW YORK -- Notre Dame easily handled Pitt without its leading scorer two weeks ago. Now the Fighting Irish will face the Panthers with their superstar looking like he's 100 percent healthy again.Luke Harangody, the Big East Conference's leading scorer who has been slowed by a bone bruise in his knee, scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Wednesday to lead No. 7 seed Notre Dame past No. 10 seed Seton Hall, 68-56, in a Big East tournament second-round game at Madison Square Garden.The Irish will face No. 2 seed Pitt at 7 p.m. today in a quarterfinal-round game.Harangody missed the first game against Pitt, but the Irish handed the Panthers one of their worst losses of the season, 68-53. Notre Dame had an easy time with Pitt because its shooters were able to get open for uncontested shots. The Irish shot 50 percent from the field, 56 percent from ...

NEW YORK -- Seton Hall was spanking Providence up and down 7th Avenue the other night, almost in the exact way that Pitt should have been deep-frying the Friars late last week, when Herb Pope abruptly fouled out.Up by 29 at one point, the Hall prevailed by a scant three points, and Pope, the Aliquippa kid who now avoids his hometown due in part to an acute aversion to being shot, settled for a sterling, 27-point, 11-rebound, 5-assist Madison Square Garden debut.As it happens, it was during Pitt's shockingly unnecessary Providence entanglement last Thursday, which required a last-second game-winning shot by Ashton Gibbs, that a certain Steelers quarterback, watching in a Georgia saloon, jumped ecstatically into a lake of O-bombs -- allegedly -- and crawled out dragging a second sexual misconduct charge in eight months.Hey, ya think they call this March Madness for nothin'?With the Panthers waiting in Manhattan for ...

Boca Raton, Fla. - The Pitt baseball team (7-4) could not withstand a late-game push from Florida Atlantic as the Panthers saw a 7-1 lead disappear as the Owls went on to take the 10-7 win over the Panthers Wednesday afternoon.First baseman David Chester (Collinsville, Okla./Seminole CC) led the Panthers offensively hitting 3-for-4, while adding three RBI and a run scored. Third baseman Joe Leonard (Dawson, Pa./Connellsville) was 3-for-5 with a run scored.In the first inning, Pitt's bats were hot, as the first three hitters in the rotation reached base on a single. Junior Sean Toole (Edwardsville, Pa./Lackawanna CC) reached on a fielder's choice and drove in leadoff hitter Danny Lopez from third for the 1-0 lead.Florida Atlantic answered back, tying the game at 1-1 at the end of the first as Pitt starting pitcher Josh Smith (West Lawn, Pa./Wilson West Lawn) gave up one run on one hit.Pitt again ...

NEW YORK -- Notre Dame easily handled Pitt without its best player two weeks ago. Now the Fighting Irish will face the Panthers with their superstar looking like he's 100 percent healthy again.Luke Harangody, the Big East's leading scorer who has been slowed by a bone bruise in his knee, scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Wednesday night to lead No. 7 seed Notre Dame past No. 10 seed Seton Hall, 68-56, in a Big East tournament second-round game at Madison Square Garden.The Irish will face No. 2 seed Pitt at 7 p.m. Thursday in a quarterfinal round game.Harangody missed the first game against Pitt, but the Irish handed the Panthers one of their worst losses of the season, 68-53. Notre Dame had an easy time with Pitt because its shooters were able to get open for uncontested shots. The Irish shot 50 percent from the field, 56 percent ...

PITTSBURGH - Pitt’s wrestling team will send six to the upcoming NCAA Championship to be held March 18-20 in Omaha, Neb.The Panthers earned five automatic qualifiers following its Eastern Wrestling League Championship, and picked up an at-large bid to redshirt senior Eric Albright at 149.Joining Albright (York, Pa./Red Lion Area/Virginia) will be Anthony Zanetta at 125, Tyler Nauman at 141, Zac Thomusseit at 184, Matt Wilps at 197 and Ryan Tomei at 285.Zanetta (Pittsburgh, Pa./Keystone Oaks), a true freshman at 125, has recorded a 33-8 record on the season. In his first championship, he will meet up with Andre Gonzales (22-11) of Cal State Fullerton in the first round.At 141, Nauman (Middletown, Pa./Middletown) will be making his second consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament. As a sophomore, Nauman (33-3) is seeded No. 10 and will face Cole Schmitt (20-16) of Wisconsin.Albright (20-15) picked up Pitt’s lone at-large spot and will ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Junior Cory Berliner earned Big East Weekly Honor Roll accolades, after posting a perfect 2-0 weekend on the mound. Berliner recorded the first nod of the season for the Panthers.Berliner (3-2) tossed two complete games and gave up just two earned runs in 14 innings, as Pitt returned from the Morehead State Invitational with a 3-1 record. Berliner also held her opponents to a stingy .160 batting average and struck out six batters.On the season, she leads the squad with eight appearances in the circle and has put in 42.2 innings of work.As a whole, Pitt’s pitchers lead the league with a 1.71 team ERA, and are third overall in holding opponents to a .212 bating average.The Panthers travel to Tampa for the USF Under Armour Classic, March 12-14. The Panthers will face Drake (9:30 a.m.) and Quinnipiac (11:30 a.m.) on Friday. Then, they have games against Central Michigan ...

Ray Fittipaldo:Welcome to the Pitt basketball chat live from the Big East tournament. Fire away with questions.PittFanDave:Hi Ray. I saw your Q&A post today regarding Dixon's use of timeouts. When I saw the topic, I thought for sure it would be in reference to his end of game timeouts against Providence. The Friars tied the game with 35 seconds left, and Dixon calls a timeout with the ball under the opposing basket. A move that I hate since it allows the defense to get set up. I much prefer to see them get the ball past half court before calling that timeout to set up a play. Ok, not the end of the world, we still have shot. I was blown away when he called another timeout after we got the ball past half court. Now we are at risk of a 5 second call if we have trouble getting ...

Butler saved a spot by waxing Wright State, which made any number of teams on the bubble happy. Well, not Charlotte and Connecticut, who removed themselves from consideration with bad losses that capped ugly ends to their seasons. Cincinnati and Seton Hall tried, very hard, to reach the same fate by managed to pull out wins in at the Garden over bad teams, and live to see another day.Finally, North Texas and Oakland won their conference championships and the automatic bids that go with them. This changes nothing on the bubble, but congratulations just the same.Here?s where we stand through Tuesday?s action:Automatic Bids (12): East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun), Winthrop (Big South), Old Dominion (Colonial), Butler (Horizon), Cornell (Ivy), Siena (MAAC), Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley), Murray State (Ohio Valley), Wofford (Southern), North Texas (Sun Belt), Oakland (Summit), St, Mary?s (West Coast).In (1): Gonzaga.Locks (28): Duke, Maryland, Wake Forest, Clemson, Florida ...

Leave a Comment by PAT STEVENSNEW HAVEN, Conn. – Gerard Coleman (Tilton/Providence) had the day’s high of 43 points as the fourth annual National Prep Championships are underway, this year from Albertus Magnus College. Big East signees Isaiah Epps (Pittsburgh), CJ Fair (Syracuse) and Austin Carroll (Rutgers) all helped their teams to victories that have them slated for Wednesday’s semifinals and potential championship game. Epps and No. 1 seed Hargrave Military Academy meet No. 5 Northfield Mount Hermon and Fair and Carroll lead No. 2 seed Brewster Academy against No. 6 St. Thomas More, with the championship set for 7:30 p.m.Read on for more on the opening day of the National Prep Championship, including recruiting updates on Cleveland Melvin, who has plenty of Big East interest and plans a Big East visit in the near future, and Bryon Allen, who is likely to take a Big East official visit this ...

Leave a Comment *********Follow NBE Sports on Twitter: http://twitter.com/NBESports*****After a thrilling doubleheader Tuesday to close the first day of action of the 2010 Big East Tournament, we roll on into Wednesday with four more games as the action will continue to heat up into the weekend at Madison Square Garden.Here is Wednesday’s schedule (and your chance to get tickets to the games):9) South Florida vs. 8] Georgetown, Noon.13) St. John’s vs. 5) Marquette, 2 PM.Big East Basketball Tournament Tickets – Session 3 March 10 2010 (USF vs GTown & SJU vs. MU)10) Seton Hall vs. 7) Notre Dame, 7 PM.11) Cincinnati vs. 6) Louisville, 9 PM.Big East Basketball Tournament Tickets – Session 4 March 10 2010 (SHU vs. ND & UC vs. UL)The rest of the schedule this week (and your chance to buy tickets to see the ...

NEW YORK -- The first four games of the Big East men's basketball tournament took place Tuesday afternoon and evening. Four more games are on tap today and two more Thursday afternoon before Pitt finally takes the court for its quarterfinal-round game at 7 p.m. Thursday.More than half of the tournament's games will be played and 10 of the conference's teams will be eliminated before the Panthers even set foot inside Madison Square Garden. But don't expect the Panthers to get stale or lose focus. Not after what happened last season.Pitt was the No. 2 seed for that tournament and a prohibitive favorite to advance to another Big East championship game. The opponent in the quarterfinal round was West Virginia, a team the Panthers had easily handled twice during the regular season.But a lackluster effort led to an uncharacteristic early exit from the tournament for Pitt after being upset by ...

Submit your Pitt basketball questionA quick programming note: my weekly live Pitt basketball chat will not be on Tuesday next week, and will instead take place Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. live from New York, site of the Big East tournament.And I'll be blogging from New York exclusively on my Pitt basketball blog on PG-Plus. Membership in that site is only $3.99 per month or $36 per year. Q: Jamie Dixon called timeouts after Pitt scored and just before the under eight-minute media timeout in the last two homes games. Against Providence it seemed to be a bit of a momentum killer and it really didn't matter against Rutgers. Our group of three at the games believes it is to add additional rest at this part of the game. He took one of the timeouts with approximately three seconds left before the media timeout. Have you ever talked about this with ...

This is a Pitt blog and we will certainly get back in the swing of things around here next week when Pitt Spring Football begins, but in the mean time, let me take a few moments to expand the parameters of this to include one of my other beats - women's basketball.The Pitt women's team will, for the first time since 2006, not be in the NCAA Tournament and it isn't because they aren't talented enough to be there. They are and they should be there but they aren't going to be there because they lack a very critical intangible that every championship level team has - call it toughness, call it leadership, call it heart, grit, desire - whatever you want to call it, the Panthers - unlike their counterparts on the men's side - wilted every time things got tough this year.That's a shame because the last two seasons, ...