Pitt's Wanamaker eager to take on Villanova

PITTSBURGH IS the only Big East team that's won 10 conference games in each of the last 10 seasons. In that stretch, the league has had six different teams get to the Final Four seven times. The Panthers weren't one of them. In fact, they've made it to the Elite Eight only once.

And Villanova Nation can tell you how that turned out.

Now the Panthers (22-2, 10-1), who haven't made it past the second round of the only tournament that anyone remembers in 4 of the past 6 years, are ranked fourth and appear to be, as projected in the preseason, the best-equipped squad to make a postseason statement from the country's most rugged neighborhood.

"Our expectations are just as high as everyone else's," said senior guard Brad Wanamaker, who played his high school ball at Roman Catholic. "A lot of us got to the Final Eight as sophomores. We really thought we were going to make it that year. But it just didn't work out. We think we have another strong group, that's just as capable of getting there. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as you don't let it weigh on you. We still have a long way to go yet before March.

"The leaders just have to do a good job of not letting anybody lose sight of what's next. Keep a level head, and worry about the task that's right in front of you. If you do that, and play the way we know we can, then all that stuff can take care of itself. But you can't be afraid of setting your goals high. That's why you come to a program like this, to achieve great things."

Tomorrow night at the Pavilion, the Panthers get No. 9 Villanova (19-5, 7-4), which is coming off a brutal last-second loss at Rutgers. But the Wildcats have won 46 straight on their campus. ESPN's "College GameDay" will be there. The teams will meet again on the other side of the commonwealth in the regular-season finale.

Pitt supposedly will be without leading scorer Ashton Gibbs (knee). Yet it won without him on Monday, at West Virginia.

Wanamaker, who almost went to Temple, was recruited by Jay Wright. This is his sixth game against the Wildcats. He's 2-3, 0-2 in Philly and 0-1 on the Main Line.