Men to host Seton Hall in season finale tonight

Only the strong survive.

The tattoo on senior Carl Krauser’s arm has embodied everything… Only the strong survive.

The tattoo on senior Carl Krauser’s arm has embodied everything about his game and personality that he’s carried through a tough childhood in the Bronx, N.Y., to Pitt.

Conveniently, the same motto can be applied to basketball in the Big East Conference. Tonight, the Panthers look to burst the NCAA Tournament bubble of visiting Seton Hall on Senior Night and Krauser’s last game in the Petersen Events Center.

“We have the pin for the bubble,” Krauser said. “We’re not going to let these guys come in here and ruin Senior Night. I can’t believe this is my last game at Pitt. Being [as] emotional as I am, it’s going to be an incredible feeling.”

Coach Jamie Dixon can’t believe it either. Pitt’s third-year head coach has a hard time remembering when Krauser wasn’t a part of the program.

“It’s been a long time,” Dixon said. “Counting recruiting him and the redshirt year and the four years now-it’s been my whole career [at Pitt] pretty much.

“It’s been a ride. There’s never been a guy with a bigger heart. That’s just how he does things.”

Krauser and the Panthers (21-5 overall, 10-5 Big East) need to bring all of that heart against the Pirates tonight to avoid the same spoiled Senior Day Pitt saw last year. Seton Hall (17-10, 8-7) sits in seventh place in the conference, just three spots behind the Panthers, who dropped to a fourth-place tie with Georgetown after a loss at West Virginia on Monday.

The Pirates are coming off a big home win against Cincinnati on Tuesday, and a win at Pitt is practically essential to secure them a bid in the big dance.

“They look pretty tough,” junior Levon Kendall said. “I think they’re going to come out fired up because they need the win just as badly as we do.”

“We’re very familiar with them because we recruited almost the whole team,” Dixon said. “They’re a very good team. They’ve surprised some people.”

The North Carolina State Wolfpack would fall under the “surprised by Seton Hall” category. The Pirates walked away from Raleigh with an 18-point victory over the 14th ranked team in the country. Four days later, they upset No. 24 Syracuse in the Carrier Dome.

“They play good man-to-man defense,” Dixon said. “They move the ball very well-they can score inside, they can score outside. They’ve got pretty good balance. I think that’s why they’ve done so well this year.”

The Panthers have also done well and surprised many this year, but recently have been in a funk. Dixon’s team has dropped two of their last three including the critical loss that could potentially keep Pitt from grabbing a first-round bye in the Big East Tournament next week.

But the Panthers will keep doing what they’ve done all year, focusing on the game at hand.

“We can’t really do anything about the other games,” Kendall said. “I think we’ve been pretty good in bouncing back after losses and I think our guys are hungry. After you lose a tough game like that, you’re pretty fired up.”

But a big part of success in the present is learning from the past. The Panthers’ two offensive anchors, Krauser and center Aaron Gray only combined for 17 points in Monday’s loss. Krauser shot a dismal 3-for-16 from the field.

“I watched film on myself on how I can get better,” Krauser said. “I’m going to focus on ways to get better and get this team past the Sweet Sixteen.”

“You can’t lose confidence in yourself. You always have to stay ready.”

Whether or not Krauser is ready to leave the friendly confines of the Petersen Events Center – where Pitt is 16-0 this season – the Panthers want to send him off properly.

“He’s been huge,” Kendall said. “The amount of work and effort and his competitiveness-all that stuff’s been huge in building the program and establishing ourselves in the national scene.”

“I think he’s going to be hyped up, and we’re going to try to have some fun with it and obviously honor all his accomplishments.”

Nothing, however, would please the 6-foot-2 guard more than leaving the place he’s called home for the last five years with a victory.

“I don’t know if anybody else understands how much I appreciate being here,” Krauser said. “When you come from a place where I come from and you don’t have too much opportunity out there and you fight and claw for everything you have, this is like paradise.”

“I’d like to go out with this game as a win.”

The game will be covered regionally by Fox Sports Network. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.