After firing Ben Braun, Cal wasted no time in pursuing a replacement. They just found out they aren't that attractive.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon was contacted about Cal's vacant coaching position within 24 hours of Ben Braun being fired on Wednesday, but has no interest in the job...

When a coach isn't even willing to bother using the interest from another school as leverage for a raise and extension before rejecting, well that's telling. Either the money they were talking was so low that it deserved an immediate dismissal or the job didn't even reach the status of "lateral move."

Either way, Cal looks like a program that thinks higher of itself than others do.

Whether fatigue caught up to them or simply an off night shooting, Pitt struggled miserably on offense. The Panthers shot under 33% and was only 2-17 on 3s as they lost to the Michigan State Spartans 65-54. Bob Knight, who picked Pitt to win the whole thing, has his bracket officially wrecked.

Michigan State struggled holding onto the ball, but when they did, they scored. Drew Neitzel was on this evening with 21 points. He shot 5-8 on 3s which opened things up for Kalin Lucas to attack the basket and Goran Suton was able to clean things up inside (14 points, 9 rebounds).

Both Pitt and Michigan State only had 3 options on offense. Neitzel, Suton and Lucas provided 54 points on 21-38 shooting. Fields, Young and Blair could only counter with 44 points on 14-35.

Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo now improves to 12-2 in second round games. On the short turnaround, Izzo is arguably the best coach to have on the bench.

Conference: Big East
Record: 22-9, 10-8 in conference
RPI: 15
How They Got In: Conference Tournament Champs
Seed/Bracket: #4/South

Mascot: Panther. The Panther was adopted in 1909. Obviously the alliteration of the name was appealing. The other part of the reason was that at that point there was no other college that called themselves "Panthers" -- forget that catamounts, mountain lions, pumas and cougars are all merely different names for the same cat, felis concolor. Despite being a common nickname for high school teams, only 5 other D-1 schools use Panthers as a nickname.

Big Wins: Duke, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette

Notable Loss: Rutgers

Player You Should Know: Sam Young was the Big East's Most Improved Player and the Big East Tournament MVP. The forward can shoot from the perimeter and get inside. He has a very good mid-range jumper and one of the best shot-fakes in the country.

Outlook: The injuries to Pitt are well-documented. They play a short bench and rely on controlling the tempo of the game -- they are one of the slowest teams in the country -- to create efficiencies on offense and defense. Their play has picked up at the end of the season, but it is hard to see them getting much further than the Sweet 16 -- again.

Georgetown had looked really, really good heading into the Big East Tournament Championship game. They dominated and seemed to be doing everything right. They were the #1 seed in the BET and the Hoyas had never lost a game when seeded first.

Pitt was coming into this game having been there 6 of the previous 7 times. Yet, with only 1 time getting over the hump and winning the whole thing. Pitt also had to play an extra game since they were a 7th seed. Only Syracuse in 2006 had won the BET after playing 4 games (beating Pitt who also had to play 4 games).

The Hoyas jumped out quickly. Taking a 6-0 lead as Pitt turned the ball over twice and put up a single wild shot. Georgetown was hitting their 3s early and it looked like they were going to keep Pitt from even having a chance. Pitt regrouped quickly, though, and kept it close. Pitt was simply more active on the glass. Completely dominating in rebounds.

Pitt Coach Jamie Dixon claimed that Pitt was starting to play its best basketball coming into the Big East Tournament. Hard to believe since Pitt was only 3-4 in its final 7 games. Pitt's defense had been getting torched, and the offense had been inconsistent.

Turns out that Pitt is playing its best basketball of the season. They won their 3d straight in the BET knocking off Marquette 68-61. Pitt became only the second team in the history of the Big East to win an OT game and win their next game. The only team to do it was Syracuse in 2006, which won the Big East Tournament that year.

This is Pitt's 7th trip to the Big East Tournament Championship game in 8 years. Pitt has only won it once, and this is also a rematch of last year's BET Championship game that Georgetown won by 23.

It's going to be a big question about just how much Pitt has left. The Championship game will be their 4th in 4 days. Pitt rarely goes much deeper than 7.

Georgetown had a first round bye and goes about 9 deep. They have looked very strong and only Jonathan Wallace has played 30 minutes or more in their first 2 games.

Going into the Big East Tournament, there were two historical themes. Georgetown has never lost a single game -- ever -- in the Big East Tournament as the #1 seed. The other being that only once in the 27 years of the Big East Tournament has a team won the BET playing 4 games in 4 days.

After Thursday's action, Georgetown looks like it is in great shape based on those two trends. The Hoyas are the #1 seed in the BET. They are also the only team that didn't play on Wednesday that will play on Friday. The 2, 3 and 4 seeds all lost on Thursday.

Georgetown actually blew an 11 point halftime lead against Villanova, before exploding late to crush Villanova 82-63. Villanova falls back on the bubble with a bad, ugly loss. Georgetown won going away despite Roy Hibbert finishing with 0 points and only 4 rebounds. Hibbert was saddled with foul troubles the whole game, and only played 14 minutes. Georgetown won big because they were unstoppable on the perimeter. They shot 17-28 on 3 point shots. Mind-boggling to watch.

I complained about it last year, so I'll spare everyone the rant on how the Big East pretty much puts everyone on their All-Big East squads. Seriously? 11 players on the 1st team, 10 on the 2nd team, and there was still a need for 5 more on "honorable mention?

Fine. Here's my All-Big East team with an eye to a real team:

• A.J. Price, Guard, UConn
• Kyle McAlarney, Guard, Notre Dame
• Roy Hibbert, Center, Georgetown
• David Padgett, Forward, Louisville
• Luke Harangody, Forward, Notre Dame

I feel somewhat guilty for not having a small forward on the squad, so what the heck, let's add a 6th:

• Sam Young, Forward, Pitt

As for an All-Big East rookie squad, again it isn't too hard to limit it to just five:

• DeJuan Blair, C-F, Pitt
• Donte' Green, F, Syracuse
• Austin Freeman, F, Georgetown
• Dominique Jones, G, South Florida
• Jonny Flynn, G, Syracuse

The Big East individual awards had little that surprised. And little to disagree -- though I do on "Coach of the Year." The awards below are my views on it, with a couple other awards added.

At this point in the season, with 1-2 games left the power poll looks a lot like the conference standings. All but two teams are playing for seed. Some are playing for NCAA Tournament seed, others for Big East Tournament position -- or just to make it into the field.

Rutgers and South Florida are eliminated from the Big East Tournament. There are 3 teams fighting for the last couple spots.

Up at the top, Louisville and Georgetown meet on Saturday in D.C. The game will decide the Big East regular season championship and the #1 seed for the Big East Tournament.

Syracuse was up 11 at home with a little over 3:30 to go. Pitt had just used its second last timeout. Syracuse had this game cold. Pitt had fallen behind steadily in this game. The Orange offense was clicking and Pitt wasn't showing any ability to stop them. Then Syracuse executed a perfect team collapse from the players down to the hall of fame coach to lose 82-77.

Pitt's point guard Levance Field s-- shooting 2-9 in the game -- attacked the basket and drew a foul from Center Arinze Onuaku. Fields hit both free throws. Onuaku then missed inside and Pitt ran. The ball came out to a trailing Gilbert Brown who stopped and hit a 3 pointer. Brown's first 3-pointer since January. Remarkably, Syracuse then committed a turnover right under their own basket which Pitt converted to a quick and easy lay-up. Suddenly it was a 4 point game in a little over a minute.

The 18-game Big East schedule is nearing its completion. Just 3 to 4 more games remain for the teams. For some it's about solidifying seeds. Others trying to get off the bubble or into the conversation. Then there are those just trying to get to Madison Square Garden for the Big East Tournament.

After the first 5 teams, the next 5 are on varying degrees on the dreaded NCAA Tournament bubble. After that there are 4 teams fighting to make it to the Big East Tournament. The remaining 2 aren't mathematically eliminated, but have no realistic shot of playing a conference tournament game.