Pitt beats up UConn

There's no truth to the rumor a member of the XL Center janitorial staff in Hartford picked up Hasheem Thabeet's ulna bone off the court after Monday's game against Pitt but it was a little scary to see the ferocity with which Pitt's Dejaun Blair ripped down a rebound with Thabeet's arm caught in the proverbial cookie jar. The sheer force of Blair securing the ball lifted Thabeet completely off the ground, up and over Blair's head where he landed, hard, on the other side. Free advice to Big East big men: if you're contesting D.Blair for a rebound and he gets his hands on the ball, scream "you, you, you" and run down to the other end.

Blair finished with 22 points and 23 rebounds and Sudden Sam Young led the Panthers with 25 points to help the Panthers upset #1 ranked Connecticut on the road 76-68, the first time Pitt had beaten a #1 ranked team.

Levance Fields, held scoreless most of the game, came to life with back to back treys late in the game. Fields leads the nation in assist to turnover ratio, an underappreciated statistic ignored by the casual fan. The form on Fields jumper is far from perfect but the senior never fails to rise to the occasion. He had a couple of shaky possessions down the stretch yesterday but he also hit the aforementioned three pointers. The fact is the ball will end up in his hands down the stretch of a close game and he's proven time and again he'll make the right decision.

The difference though between Pitt now and Pitt early in the season is the maturation of junior college transfer Jermaine Dixon. Dixon has gotten better in Big East play and he's just what Pitt needed, a ball handling athletic shooter who can take some ballhandling pressure off Fields and/or hit a big three as he did late against the Huskies.

Right now, this Pitt team looks like a #1 seed but with games against Marquette and UConn again before heading into the Big East tournament, their work isn't done. Still, I can't help but imagine a Pitt-Oklahoma game with Blair and fellow sophomore Blake Griffin flexing their games with the national championship on the line. Don't bet against the man who will most likely be the mayor of Pittsburgh when his playing days are over. Pitt's first local recruit in years, Blair is a great teammate according to Coach Dixon, but he is absolutely not a great opponent, just ask Hasheem Thabeet.