Pitt can win its final two games of the regular season and still not win the Big East Conference regular-season championship. And that No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament the Panthers are chasing is not guaranteed either, especially with Connecticut and Louisville battling for the same spot.

But the one thing the Panthers have going for them as the postseason approaches is their health. And considering what has transpired in the past few weeks to other Big East teams that are also eyeing a trip to the Final Four, the Panthers can count their blessings.

Connecticut and Marquette, the two teams Pitt will face this week to close out the regular season, had major season-ending injuries to starters within the past three weeks.

Jerome Dyson, Connecticut's second-leading scorer and best perimeter defender, sustained a knee injury in a Feb. 11 game against Syracuse. And Dominic James, Marquette's point guard, best defender and fourth-leading scorer, fractured a bone in his left foot last week.

Pitt had a few anxious moments Saturday night when sophomore center DeJuan Blair briefly left the game against Seton Hall with a hyperextended left knee, but he came back into the contest and helped the Panthers stave off an upset bid by the Pirates.

It was a piece of good fortune for the Panthers, who have been one of the healthiest -- and luckiest -- teams in the Big East this season. The Panthers have started the same lineup for all but one of their 29 games to date.

The only player to miss a game because of injury was Blair, who missed the non-conference game against Belmont in November as a precautionary measure because of a sore knee. Blair practiced yesterday and is expected to play in tomorrow night's game against Marquette.

Pitt knows how injuries can affect a season. The Panthers had two season-changing injuries last season that caused major upheaval on the squad.

Starting small forward Mike Cook had a major knee injury in December that caused him to miss the remainder of the season. A little more than a week later, point guard Levance Fields fractured a bone in his left foot that forced him to miss seven weeks.

"There's no explanation," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "There's no one to blame. It's part of the game and you deal with it."

Fields came back to play at the end of the regular season and in the Big East and NCAA tournaments, but it will never be known how the Panthers might have fared without the injuries to Cook and Fields. They wound up losing to Michigan State in the second round of the NCAA tournament after capturing their second Big East tournament championship a week earlier.

Connecticut is 3-1 without Dyson and regained the No. 1 ranking in the nation's polls yesterday, but the Huskies have had to juggle their rotation and ask for more minutes from other players who were not playing as much.

Marquette, for all intents and purposes, is 0-2 without James. The Golden Eagles lost James a few minutes into last week's game against Connecticut and eventually lost to the Huskies. They lost again Sunday at Louisville.

One of the reasons the Panthers were able to play well last season despite the injuries was their depth. Dixon had Ronald Ramon in the fold to replace Fields at the point and Gilbert Brown and Keith Benjamin assumed more minutes in the rotation.

"If something happens you have guys ready," Dixon said. "That's something we always try to keep in mind is our depth. That's how we dealt with it last year. We had our two most experienced guys down."

Connecticut and Marquette have capable players able to step in for their missing starters, but it's always difficult to lose starters so late in a season because players have little time to adjust. Pitt doesn't have that worry this season.

When the final two questions of his news conference yesterday capped a question-and-answer session that was dominated by health-related queries, Dixon didn't knock on wood, but he did his best to stave off the injury gods.

"A lot of injury talk," he said before exiting the podium. "I hope this is the end of that talk."

NOTES -- Dixon said Blair took part in most of yesterday's workout and reported no major problems with his injured left knee. "He felt pretty good," Dixon said. "There is some discomfort there. He needs to play himself into it mentally. It was a good day for us in that regard." ... Pitt fell from the top spot to No. 3 in The Associated Press poll and No. 4 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll. ... Pitt remained No. 1 in the Ratings Percentage Index before last night's games. ... Dixon is a finalist for two national coach of the year awards. He is one of 10 finalists for the Henry Iba Award, which is given by the United States Basketball Writer's Association. He is also one of 10 finalists for the Jim Phelan Award, which is given in honor of the former head coach at Mount St. Mary's College.