MPM: I've not followed Pitt's women's team as closely as I should being an alum. However, with Marcedes Walker and Mallorie Winn being seniors, do they have the depth and the incoming recruiting class to maintain this level of play next season?

Paul Zeise: I think to be honest they have a chance to be better next year, even with losing Marcedes and Mallorie. For one thing, their three freshman, Chelsea Cole, Taneisha Harrison and Shayla Scott are outstanding players with great potential so I'd expect them to take a big step ahead with a good offseason and a year under their belts. Pitt will also get Jania Sims, their point guard who is out with academic issues, back and she was probably their best player the first half of the season when she was still eligible. She'll be a big part of it. And the Panthers also have Selena Nwude, who is 6-foot-5, out with an ACL and she'll be back plus two more big post players coming in. They should be very good again.

Terrelle: Looks like the best BB team on the Pitt campus is the woman's team? I give them no chance against Stanford-what do you think?

Paul Zeise: I think they'll have a chance just because they play very aggresive and physical on defense and a lot of teams can't handle that. I think Stanford is better and the Wiggins kid is really special but you never know how they'll react when Pitt's guards are on the perimeter bumping them and pushing them around. Some teams -- like Baylor for instance -- get frustrated and it throws them off their game.

93PittEngineer: Paul I have a question about Pitt's beginning of game and halftime performance. They shoot so poorly so much of the time at these points. I know when I play big games, I have a lot of adrenaline at these times, that affects my play. Do you think the Pitt players had trouble with this and forced them to miss a lot of shots?

Paul Zeise: No I just don't think that other than Ramon the Panthers have had a lot of shooters. That is really what it is -- most of their guards whether it be Ramon or Benjamin or Julius Page or Brandon Knight -- have been streak shooters and more scorers than anything else. Also, adrenaline doesn't seem to hurt them in MSG for the other tournament, so I just think they aren't as good as most of the teams they have lost to in the NCAA Tourney

Terrelle: I think you're right that they aren't yet as good as their opponents in the dance. But I'm happy with the season. Don't you think it was a success?

Paul Zeise: yes, absolutely it was. There is no way you could label it anything but a success.

93PittEngineer: What I was thinking about the adrenaline is how it really gets you up and forces muscles to work without as much effort, thus shooting too far, then after it wears off a bit and you get into the game, too short. Seems to have happened so much this year. Very frustrating to see the year come down to Ramon and Young missing shots short. Speaking of that, why doesn't a good coach sub-out for players missing so many shots? Don't get me wrong, I think Dixon is a fantastic coach, but I didn't understand that.

Paul Zeise: I think that is a big part of it for any team, though. You never know how pressure and adrenaline will affect performance -- just ask the WVU football team against Pitt. That was, for lack of a better term, a choke job of all choke jobs -- but it had a lot to do with the combination of the pressure and the adrenaline forcing the Mountaineers to be very tight and that was clear. It affects people differently and it happens at different times. I think one thing about subbing out -- we don't know the Panthers or any other teams game plans, matchups and substitution ideas going into a game, only the coaches and players do so if a kid isn't coming out -- it could be just because it is a matchup thing -- perhaps he is the best defender for a certain situation. It isn't always as simple as it appears.

Terrelle: Do you know if Pitt recruits overseas? I'd like to see a nice 7'3" European kid come in.

Paul Zeise: Not as much as some other schools, it hasn't been their priority. They did have the Zavackas kid a few years ago but really, if you think about the way they play -- do European kids really fit into their system? Would a 7-footer shooting from 20 feet and playing soft defense really factor into what Pitt is trying to do, especially on defense? I don't think so although that would be a way to get some shooters.

matt: If you would have told me before the game that we would make 18 out of 19 free throws, I would have guaranteed a victory.

Paul Zeise: It is amazing isn't it, that some times stats don't tell the whole story. Pitt didn't shoot well enough to win, period.

Terrelle: Had Cook not gotten injured, do you think they would have had a better year? I'm not so sure, and him being out allowed some of the other kids to get a lot more playing time.

Paul Zeise: How much better of a year could they have had? I think if Cook and Fields stay healthy they win a few more games, but they won the Big East, got a good seed and lost in the second round. I don't think Cook puts them over the top in that game, so I'm not sure how much of a factor he would have been

93PittEngineer: I think maybe it was the "faith in our guys" all year long. Which, admittedly, got them to an very successful season. I am very proud of what they accomplished. Its so easy in Pittsburgh to "expect" a championship.

Paul Zeise: They did win a championship -- the Big East tournament. So that's what Pitt fans can celebrate.

Scuba_Steve: Do you agree with Smizik on the way Dixon ran the team in the Big East Tournament?

Paul Zeise: I agree with his overall point -- that the Panthers put way too much emphasis on playing in MSG (and I mean on the broader scale, their team is recruited to play Big East basketball and they try to play the same game even outside the Big East and they don't seem to get nearly as up for the NCAA Tourney as they do the chance to get to MSG) and not enough on the real tournament. in the grand scheme of things, the Big East tourney is not much different than the hundreds of meaningless preseason tourneys that are played because the winner of it is almost always a tournament team anyway so the automatic bid is meaningless (I know, Syracuse saved its ship a few years ago) -- but that being said -- I think you play every game to win so I don't agree that Dixon should have substituted differently or played guys less minutes. As Herm Edwards said -- you play to win the game. I just think there is an overall philosophy at Pitt about which tournament matters most that needs to change. I com

93PittEngineer: Point taken, they sure did win that. I have already watched that Georgetown game 3 times and recorded it on DVD. That was a game I will remember a long long time. ;)

Paul Zeise: It was a great day for Pitt fans -- and for the university and the program. I'm sure Pitt football fans are starving for a moment like that.

matt: Cook not getting hurt certainly would have helped with their depth and in their rotation.

Paul Zeise: Yes, it would have, which is why I said they would have probably won a few more games down the stretch -- but would that have translated into a win over Michigan State -- my gut is, no. He wasn't an impact player like that, just a good complimentary player.

matt: In your opinion, will Pitt ever be a Final Four team? I heard one expert say that, until Pittsburgh is able to produce more than one Blair every twenty years, he did not think so. He felt that Pitt being a Big East power and annual NCAA team was pretty much the standard and the best that we could hope for.

Paul Zeise: Ive said it -- and research backs it up and numbers don't lie -- before and I'll say it again -- you want to get to the Final Four -- you need first round NBA talent. The overwhelming majority of teams who have made it there -- I think in the last ten years Wisconsin and Oklahoma were the only two teams devoid of NBA talent who have made it that far -- are led by future NBA players, and usually stars. There is no secret to it -- Pitt hasn't made it there because Pitt hasn't had legit NBA players. The good news is the program is young still -- it has only been a seven-year run -- and those players will eventually start coming if they continue to have success so no, I would say that Pitt can make the Final Four some day if they continue to upgrade their talent level and recruiting level. Someone asked me who I like in the regions now that we are down to the Sweet 16 -- I say, just follow the NBA talent ...

93PittEngineer: Pitt Football is still looking for a "coach Berenato". Maybe with Pederson's help things will start turning around. Its is great to see the women's team doing so well. They make all Pitt Alums proud. I have watched every game I could. Can't wait for the next game.

Paul Zeise: Agnus is something special and really a miracle worker -- that program was dead and was going nowhere before she arrived. But she had a lot of help in resurrecting it. Carol Sprague has been a driving force and she has a great staff and she has recruited very well.

matt: I would not be surprised to see Michigan State in the Final Four. Unfortunately, I did not pick them in my brackets.

Paul Zeise: I think they'll have a tough road -- they could beat Memphis -- though, has there ever been a 33-1 team that gets less respect than the Tigers - I know they play in Conf. USA -- but their non-conference schedule was excellent and they beat a lot of good teams -- but I'm not sure that either team is beating Texas, a team I called a sleeper (as much of a sleeper as No. 2 seed can be) to win it all. That team is talented, though there is the Rick Barnes factor as his teams always seem to come up short ... Well this has been fun but I really have to run. We'll chat soon about Pitt football.