Reader WVUColumbus offers some thoughts on the ACC's new deal. To write your own FanPost, use the links over to the right.

When Syracuse and Pitt announced they were departing the BEAST back in September, the remainder of the conference, including WVU, was thinking, "Here we go again". Thankfully, we have a proactive AD who called the ACC and SEC a number of times. He even used his connections w/ Deloss Dodds (AD at Texas.....Oliver Luck went to law school at UT) and inquired about the Big XII. While the former 2 weren't interested in adding an emerging football school, the Big XII was very interested and extended the invite. WVU fans were ecstatic because this meant a safe landing place (in a conference that just signed their media rights over to the conference for 6 years thus a guarantee of conference stability) from the dread of the Big East. However, AT THAT TIME WVU fans would have preferred the SEC (#1) and ACC (#2) before the far away land of Grapes of Wrath. Man, talk about how things change.

It all started earlier this week when Dennis Dodd(s)? of CBS reported that the Big XII had signed a 2.6 billion/13 year agreement that included only the T1/T2 rights. College football pundits were very impressed. This guaranteed 20M annually per school....and there's only 10 schools!! Therefore, the ability to grow this number is significant when you're talking about expansion (adding teams increases the annual amount per team if it's the right teams), conference championship game, etc. This conference could feasibly expand to 12 for a few years and then to 14, etc. and head back to the table w/ each step of expansion (w/ idea of added $ at each step). What great news if you were a Mountaineer fan, Sooner fan or Horned Frog fan. Then within 2 days the ACC announced the jaw-dropping deal with ESPN that unbelievably wasn't roundly ridiculed from the beginning. The press release made it sound like the ACC had kept up w/ the Big 4........hardly. In addition to the deal including the T3 rights the deal is extremely backloaded and there will not be an increase in $$ from the prior deal until 2021.

Here's a good link.

How did this all go wrong?

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Hey Pitt fans,

Buddy Jackson is getting quite a few Colts fans excited about his potential. He has the All Pro body and speed, but never seemed to be able to crack the starting line up. Did he end up in the dog house, were the starting corners that good, is he going to be a great gunner on special teams, or is just he going to fade away and never be heard from after this fall?

During the last rooky camp he was reportedly running the 1st team CB's, I know it is only rookies, but he was slotted ahead of the other UDFA CB's I know that some times the good players don't always make it to the starting line up, is there some inside info that you guys could enlighten me on? The Colts desperately need some Corner Backs and I am hoping Buddy can supprise everybody.

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks

Reader Pittboss04 gives some perspective after recently seeing Pitt recruit Steven Adams in person. To write your own Fanpost, use the links over to the right.

via fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net

I got to meet the big fella the other day and saw him play at the Kentucky Derby Festival in Louisville. If he's not a legit 7 footer, then he's 6'11". He was the tallest guy at the tournament. The first day was a dunk contest, 3 point shooting contest, and 2 on 2 contest. He didn't participate in the dunk contest, which was eventually won by hyper-athletic Marcus Smart (Oklahoma State) who went all Sam Young and did backflips and cartwheels down the floor before receiving the pass and finishing with authority. Adams did participate in the three point contest and he actually has a fairly good three point shot. It was slow in developing, but I'm not sure how many people would be able to stop him from taking it (besides Dixon of course). He ended up with about 10 or 13 points in the contest and finished in the middle of the pack. The winner of that was Phil Forte, who apparently went to high school with and will be going to Oklahoma State with Marcus Smart. Forte put up 22 in the first round of the three point shooting contest and then won easily with 19 in the finals. Forte, who is all of 3 feet tall (hyperbole added), may have trouble getting that shot off in college however.

Back to Adams. In the 2 on 2 contest, he was paired with Louisville recruit Terry Rozier. They won their first contest pretty easily against Andrew White (6'6 Kansas recruit) and Mekale McKay (6'6 Arkansas recruit) before falling short to Georgia Tech recruit Robert Carter (and I apologize, I forget who his partner was). Carter is a 6'9 ruggedly built PF and is quite polished offensively around the paint. I think he was a good matchup for Steven and showed that Steven will have to bulk up a bit before Big East play starts. That being said, he wasn't as physically dominated as Khem Birch was last year by DeJuan Blair. This was I think the longest 2 on 2 game of the contest and both teams had game point for 3 possessions before Carter's team won.

For the game itself, they played everyone in 6 minute stretches, and the only defense that was being played was opportunistic steals leading to fast breaks and dunks. I don't think that type of tempo is conducive to Adams's game and there was almost no attempt at running offensive plays to let him work down low. He had a couple of put back dunks (I wouldn't be surprised if he breaks a backboard or 10 while at Pitt). His outlet passing was very good, and he puts a lot of mustard on his passes. He had 3 blocks by my count (2 officially) and definitely alters the game with his presence. That being said, I don't think he'll have an Anthony Davis type impact his freshman year. He fumbled a couple of rebounds and passes and I think will have to develop softer hands when gathering the ball. Between the two days I think he was 5-6 or 6-7 from the charity stripe. Obviously we'll see if that changes once the games start to mean something, but it was encouraging. He finished with 11 points 10 rebounds in 23 minutes with 2 assists, 1 steal, and 0 turnovers.

I asked him after the first night if he was planning on bringing the haka to Pittsburgh.

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By Michelle, a contributing writer with Gold Star Games, your tailgating games company.

A lot has gone wrong for Jamie Dixon and the Pittsburgh Panthers this year. The Panthers are normally good, but usually make a disappointing run when March Madness rolls around. This year, the Panther's disappointed long before March. Here's a look at the top 5 things that may have led to disappointing season long before tournament time.

1. Ashton Gibbs is having a less-than-stellar season. If anything, you could probably call Gibbs performance this season subpar. Gibbs may hit an awesome three pointer, when wide-open. However, talk of Gibbs making it into the NBA may be on the down-low after this less-than-stellar season. That is of course, barring some sort of miracle this March. Is Gibbs an overrated player on the Panthers? Might just be. He's not a defensive player, not very athletic or tall for a basketball player. Gibbs also lacks leadership ability as well as consistency on the court.

2. The Panthers do not have talent when it comes to upperclassmen. Maybe in a couple of years underclassmen talent will shine, but for now seasoned-veterans are seriously lacking on the floor of the Peterson Event Center. Most would say that Gibbs along with Nasir Robinson are the two best players. However, there are many teams across the country that Gibbs and Robinson wouldn't have a chance of playing on -- think of your usual good Duke team year after year.

3. Pitt is missing some serious height! We are all used to basketball players being tall. Pitt has players under the six foot mark or hovering just above six foot tall.

4. The Panther are lacking elite guards. With a subpar season from Gibbs, Pitt is in need of some truly elite guards.

5. Perhaps, Pitt could use some work when it comes to player recruiting as well as player development. Pitt has gone hard on recruiting some players, but haven't really worked to develop their game. Additionally, Pitt has plenty of players on the court that need development despite the fact that they have been playing for a year or two.

Reader 8thlight adds his most recent Fanpost. To write your own, use the link over to the right - we may publish it on the front page's main section.

As this basketball season has spiraled down the drain. I have noticed that the local media has ignored the Panthers for the most part. I'll catch a score every now and then, but I rarely hear any serious discussion. About a week ago I happened to catch the Sports Showdown (fast forward to 28:53) where two of the three panelist felt Dixon had no hand in the failures that took place this season. My jaw just about hit the floor when I heard the blind defense of Dixon. Sadly basketball is a serious blind spot for 99% of Pittsburgh journalists.

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A GREAT post by Rivals.com on the college programs which have over and under-achieved in the last few years relative to their recruiting class. And, there is good news for Pitt in it. Wisconsin - which Pitt has raided recently in the coaching ranks - was considered a major over-achiever.

"By developing players like Blackmon from three stars to stardom while perfecting the ability to recruit players that fit their systems, teams such as Oklahoma State, Oregon, Wisconsin and Cincinnati have become college football's overachievers. They might not show up in the top 10 on national signing day, but they show up in the national polls at the season's end."

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At least one WVU fan thinks the Backyard Brawl should continue. Write your own Fanpost using the link to the right and we may publish it in the main section.

Losing the PITT game is a travesty. Every fan of PITT and WVU should be encouraging the AD’s to schedule this game ANNUALLY in football and b-ball. I can only imagine what Jack Fleming (WVU/Steelers legend) is thinking from above.

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A month or so ago, 8thLight wrote a Fanpost on Pitt basketball's impending irrelevance. This time, VoteforPedro goes the other way and discusses the newfound relevance of the program. To write your own Fanpost, use the link over the right and we may publish it on the front page featured section.

What a difference a few weeks makes eh? To quote Jon Hey, the announcer for NBA JAM, Pitt was heating up and is now on officially on fire. The Panthers, at 15-9 (4-7) should be entering a top 60 RPI for the first time in weeks and with a very very favorable remaining schedule, South Oakland's finest may not be done with 20 win seasons featuring 10 Big East wins after all. With 7 games remaining in conference and the big east tournament looming in the distance, it seems almost a given that the panthers can pull it off.

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We looked at several Pitt players in the NBA's D-League, and reader lturk has a FanPost on one of those players - Antonio Graves. To write your own Fanpost, use the link over to the right.

Nice story about Antonio Graves playing for the Canton Charge, the Cleveland Cav's D-League affiliate.

No matter what happens, Graves is glad to be playing professionally in his own backyard.

"I was overseas for four years and even when I'm back in the States during the summer, I'm never really in Ohio," he said. "It's been refreshing, first of all to be playing in America and second of all being close to home and able to see my friends and family."

Here is a link to the article: http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20120203/SPORTS/202030320

Reader 8thlight chimes in with his thoughts on the Pitt basketball program. Write your own Fanpost using the link over to the right and we might publish it here.

Jamie Dixon has been able to rack up regular season wins year in and year out, but have not seen those wins turn into lottery pick caliber recruits or Final Four visits. If Dixon can't eventually land one or the other Pitt basketball will quickly become irrelevant.

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