DENVER -- When he was coaching Texas Tech earlier this season, Bobby Knight did not have much time to watch teams other than the ones in the Big 12 Conference. But when he left the Red Raiders in midseason and became a college basketball analyst for ESPN, the Hall of Fame coach started watching more national games.

The team he has grown to like the most is Pitt.

Knight raised some eyebrows when he picked the Panthers to win the national championship Sunday night. Yesterday, Knight explained his reasons behind picking a program that hasn't been to a Final Four since 1941, let alone one that has never even played for a national championship.

"As I sat here and watched teams play, I felt that most of the really good teams were playing were in the Big East," Knight said yesterday by telephone.

"When Pitt went through those four days and won those four games against those four teams, that was as impressive as anything anyone has done in college basketball this season.

"To be able to do that, you have to be able to defend, and they did that for four days. Plus, their big guys do a really good job of rebounding, and [Levance] Fields has gotten better and better.

"They're not spectacular on offense, but their defense enables them to win. Their coach is tough-minded and their team is tough-minded."

Pitt has not made it past the Sweet 16 since 1974, but Knight said history won't play a role in how this team fares.

"That has absolutely no bearing on this team," Knight said. "I haven't been able to determine why this team would be affected by that."

Knight said the NCAA tournament should be easy compared to the taxing effort they had to put forth to win the Big East Conference championship. Pitt had to win four games in four days and beat three ranked teams to achieve that.

"They played awfully well at the Big East championship," he said. "Now, the NCAA tournament will be a [heck] of a lot easier with one day's rest between games."

Knight concluded by saying: "This is a team and a coaching job that I really appreciate."

The Panthers did not need any extra motivation, but they gladly accepted the bulletin-board material Oral Roberts provided Wednesday. Oral Roberts guard Moses Ehambe said: "Expect a miracle. We're here to shock the world." Pitt players said they used the comments to get focused.

"I think they underestimated us, to be honest," junior forward Sam Young said. "The comments they made before the game. ... The first couple of shots they made, I saw it in their eyes. They thought they had the game."

"Coach [Jamie] Dixon mentioned it," senior guard Keith Benjamin said. "It's kind of fun when guys do stuff like that, when they guarantee stuff. But there's 40 minutes to be played after that guarantee."

It took Pitt a while to adjust to the thin mountain air. The Panthers could be seen gasping for air in the early parts of the game but got used to it as the game went on.

"The only bad thing about it is the air up here, man," freshman center DeJuan Blair said. "It's crazy. I think I need some oxygen."

Pitt coaches did not have time to savor the victory. They went back to the team hotel to study videotape of Michigan State, the opponent tomorrow in the second round.

The coaches got the game plan ready last night and will implement it today in practice.

"I really don't know too much about them," Dixon said. "I've seen them play a couple of times during the year. Obviously, I have great respect for their program, for coach [Tom] Izzo. We know how good they are. I'm sure a lot of people will be interested to watch the game on Saturday."