DENVER -- Amid the Madison Square Garden pandemonium that was Pitt's midcourt celebration at the Big East Conference tournament Saturday night, freshman center DeJuan Blair called the Panthers the toughest team in America.

Here's the really neat thing about that: Absolutely no one blinked at the pronouncement.

They don't talk much about Pitt coach Jamie Dixon even though he has averaged better than 26 wins in each of his five seasons. They don't talk much about Pitt's star players even though Sam Young played magnificently at the Big East tournament and was the MVP. But everybody talks about Pitt's toughness. Oral Roberts coach Scott Sutton mentioned it repeatedly yesterday on the eve of his team's matchup with Pitt this afternoon in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The coaches of the four teams that Pitt licked in New York last week made a big deal of it. All of the talking heads on national television and radio have raved about it. One -- our new media brother, Bob Knight -- picked Pitt to win the national championship because of it.

Toughness.

I asked Dixon as he walked through the bowels of the Pepsi Center on his way to practice yesterday if he could imagine a better compliment.

"Toughness and unselfishness," he said. "Those are the two words that make me most proud when they talk about our team because those say a lot about our guys as people, not just as players."

So how did the Pitt team -- the Pitt program, really -- get so tough? Do they sell toughness at the Pitt student union? Does Dixon buy it by the case?

"I think it all starts with the neighborhoods we come from," said Blair, who's Pittsburgh-born-and-raised. "We've got a lot of guys from New York, Philly, The Hill ... I know I grew up around a lot of toughness."

Dixon said he puts a priority on recruiting tough and tough-minded players. But he also works hard to develop that mentality. Pitt's practices are regarded as among the most intense and physical in college basketball. They make the hard jobs in games -- playing defense, rebounding, diving for a loose ball, taking a charge, pushing back harder when the opponent pushes you -- that much easier.

"I'm sure it all started [at Pitt] with coach [Ben] Howland," Sutton said. "They've just instilled that toughness in their kids that no one is going to go out there and physically whip 'em."

Pitt senior forward Keith Benjamin agreed.

"If we get beat, we want it to be because we're out-talented or out-skilled, not because someone pushed us to the floor and we didn't get back up ...

"Toughness doesn't guarantee that you won't get beat. But it always gives you a chance -- even against teams that are more talented."

We're talking physical toughness here, sure. It enabled Pitt to win four difficult games in four days last week. But this also is about mental toughness. Everybody knows how the Pitt team hung together after it lost starters Mike Cook and Levance Fields to serious injuries in late-December. But what it overcame from game to game in New York was just as impressive. It beat Cincinnati despite getting two points from Blair. It beat Louisville despite getting no points from Benjamin. It beat Marquette despite getting two points and nine minutes from Blair and being outrebounded, 47-32. It beat Georgetown despite missing 22 free throws.

I still can't believe Pitt won the whole shebang despite clanging 55 free throws.

This seems like a good time to bring in Benjamin Disraeli for a few words of wisdom.

Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.

Young was huge at the Garden, averaging 20 points and seven rebounds and leading Pitt's defensive resurgence by blocking 10 shots, one spectacularly when he pinned a layup by 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert of Georgetown against the backboard. Ronald Ramon shot lights out, making 17 of his 33 shots, including 11 of 23 3-point shots. Fields, despite making just 10 of 41 shots, was a star with 20 assists and only three turnovers. Gilbert Brown and Tyrell Biggs gave Dixon surprisingly productive minutes -- and plenty of 'em -- off the bench.

"It seems like with us that if two guys are playing bad, three will step up," Blair said. "That's what a team is supposed to do, right?"

Exactly.

"This team is the best team Pitt has had in a long time," Blair said. "I think it's a one-of-a-kind. They'll be writing stories about us one day."

Perhaps you're blinking at that. I'm not. Maybe you're thinking that kids say the darnedest things. I'm not.

Not after what happened in New York.

"Toughness goes a long way," Dixon said.

It took Pitt to the Big East tournament championship.

There's no reason it can't carry Pitt deep into the NCAA tournament.