No. 8 in the country, but No. 5 Big East

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- No. 8 in the country. Only No. 5 in its conference?
Pittsburgh (21-5, 10-5 Big East) can complete its second unbeaten home season in the four seasons since it moved into the 12,500-seat Petersen Events Center by beating Seton Hall (17-10, 8-7) in its home finale tonight.
The Panthers are 16-0 at home, including a 7-0 record there in conference home games, and are looking to replicate the unbeaten inaugural season they had in going 16-0 at the Petersen Events Center in 2002-03 -- former coach Ben Howland's final season. They have gone unbeaten at home only three times previously in their 100-season history.
Despite that 15-0 home record to date, the 15-0 start they enjoyed to the season and their No. 8 national ranking, the Panthers may have to play a Wednesday game in the Big East tournament next week for the first time since 2001, even if they beat Seton Hall. And no team has won the Big East tournament under its present format after playing a Wednesday game.
Hoyas
If No. 20 Georgetown (19-7, 10-5) wins at South Florida (6-22, 0-15) on Saturday, the Hoyas will secure the fourth and final first-round bye. The Hoyas would own the fourth-place tie-breaker by virtue of their come-from-behind 67-62 win over Pitt on Feb. 5 -- a day most Pittsburghers were preoccupied with another game, the Steelers' Super Bowl victory over Seattle.
Pitt is a lock to make the NCAA tournament field regardless of how well it plays in New York, just as the Panthers were a year ago when they lost their only Big East tournament game but still played in the NCAA tournament.
But advancing deep into the Big East tournament could land Pitt a higher seeding in the NCAA tournament and, possibly, a first- and-second round site closer to Pittsburgh. A year ago, the Panthers lost to Pacific 79-71 in Boise, Idaho, in their only NCAA game after reaching the round of 16 the previous three seasons.
This year's subregional sites are Greensboro, N.C.; Jacksonville, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Detroit, Philadelphia and Dayton.
"But we've got to take care of what we can control," forward Levon Kendall said. "We can't do anything about any of the other games. We need to make sure we win, and then see what happens from there."
Pitt needs better games than it got from its two most influential players, point guard Carl Krauser and center Aaron Gray, in a 67-62 loss at No. 16 West Virginia on Monday that put its first-round Big East bye in jeopardy.
Their numbers
Krauser, averaging 15.5 points, was held to 10 points on 3-of-16 shooting and Gray was limited to seven points, or only about half his 13.8 average. He had scored in double figures in all but one other conference game this season.
Krauser obviously wants a better game in his final home game, one he felt he might have played a year ago.
Krauser announced after last season that he was turning pro, but chose to return to Pitt for his senior season after getting only minimal interest from NBA teams. So far, he's glad that he did, even though the Panthers have gone only 6-5 since their 15-0 start.
"I was just overanxious," Krauser said of his off shooting night in Morgantown. "In my mind, I'm a competitor and a leader, so the leader needs to step up and make big plays."
Pitt is 4-0 at home against Seton Hall since last losing to the Pirates in Pittsburgh during the 2000-01 season.
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