Big East tough for Pitt women, too

On Saturday night at Louisville’s Freedom Hall, the Cardinals took it to the No. 1-ranked Pitt… On Saturday night at Louisville’s Freedom Hall, the Cardinals took it to the No. 1-ranked Pitt men’s basketball team to upset the Panthers 69-63 in a typical, competitive Big East matchup. Earlier that day at the Peterson Events Center, another hard-fought Big East showdown began. Almost halfway through the first half, South Florida led the Pitt women’s team 13-11, holding the Panthers to 4-of-15 shooting. The men’s side of the Big East has been described by ESPN analysts and armchair experts as the toughest conference in college basketball. But the women’s side might be just as strong from top to bottom. ‘If you look ahead in this league you will be frightened,’ said Pitt coach Agnus Berenato. ‘You can’t look ahead.’ After a 10-2 record out of conference, Pitt began conference play 2-2, losing to both Providence and DePaul ‘mdash; losses that showed Pitt that if it didn’t play its best basketball one night, it wouldn’t get the win. ‘The Big East is tough,’ said Pitt senior guard Shavonte Zellous. ‘We went through that with the two-game losing streak.’ In the Big East, top 25 teams like Notre Dame and Rutgers run through a gauntlet of upstart programs and conference powerhouses. Marquette felled the Fighting Irish, and the Scarlet Knights lost to No. 4 Louisville in a clash of ranked teams. Looming over everyone in the Big East is undefeated and No. 1-ranked Connecticut, which wins by an average of nearly 35 points. The conference also houses a talented Louisville team, which could challenge a lot of teams in March. Notre Dame and Rutgers also rank in the top 25. Only the Big 12’s seven ranked teams and the ACC’s five trounce the Big East. Though Pitt pulled away from South Florida on Saturday, winning 79-47, the Bulls were no different than the usual Big East competition. South Florida had averaged 85 points per game, and its defense succeeded in holding Panthers leading scorer Zellous to 8 for 21 from the floor. ‘This type of intense defense … it’s a whole different level on the Big East,’ said Berenato. The parity found in the 16-team conference leads to daunting schedules. Pitt will play its next two games on the road, traveling to Syracuse and Georgetown. It then tips off against the defending WNIT champ Marquette before playing three ranked teams ‘mdash; Notre Dame, Rutgers and Connecticut ‘mdash; all in a row. Every team in the Big East faces this kind of itinerary. ‘We opened up on the road at Marquette, we lose there by eight,’ said South Florida coach Jose Fernandez. ‘A day and a half later we play the No. 1 team in the country. Two days later we beat St. John’s in overtime. Two days after that we got the No. 7 team in the country, Louisville. And now we played another top 20 team [in Pitt].’ Heading into Monday, Big East teams had a record of 168-39 outside of the conference. To compare, the Big 12 with its seven ranked teams ‘mdash; a historically strong conference ‘mdash; has a record of 129-28. The stiffer competition in the Big East reflects a trend in women’s college basketball as a whole. More schools have built up their women’s basketball programs in recent years as the NCAA Tournament grew and interest bubbled. Pitt, one of these progressing programs, won just six games five years ago. And after struggling through the Big East in recent years, it has come a long way.