It was a tale of two tournaments for the Panthers in 2007-2008. Pittsburgh entered the Big East Tournament as the No. 7 seed but won four games in four days to earn the championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. That brought a squad that was previously looking at a seed probably in the No. 7-10 range up to a No. 4 seed in the Big Dance, and a trendy pick to make the Final Four.

Ultimately, however, the Panthers were denied a fifth trip in the past seven seasons to the Sweet 16 by a Michigan State squad that put the clamps down on the Panthers' offense. The 65-54 defeat ended the season in the second round, and torpedoed the NCAA pools of folks like Bobby Knight, who had picked the team to go much farther.

Those expectations, however, may have been too much for a Pittsburgh team that was talented but vulnerable all season. A lot of that was due to some key injuries that plagued the team all year.

Pittsburgh had a number of strong guards but just one who was consistent. Levance Fields emerged as the unquestioned star at the point, and when he was on his game, the offense flowed. When he wasn't, or when he missed seven weeks because of a broken bone in his foot, everything bogged down. That was a bigger problem than many would have expected in the preseason, because Mike Cook was also sitting in street clothes, lost for the season with a torn ACL suffered against Duke.

That put a lot of pressure on guards Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin, and swingman Gilbert Brown, to succeed in expanded roles. Each had his moments, but none was able to provide the consistency that Fields and Cook could offer.

The frontcourt was always solid, with Sam Young emerging as a force and a no-brainer selection to the All-Big East first team, and DeJuan Blair sharing honors as the league's top freshman with Syracuse's Jonny Flynn. But when both were stymied by the Spartans, the team's offense faded. Nobody could make a shot at key times, and that proved fatal against a tough Michigan State squad.

Still, an up-and-down regular season will go down as a success because of the Big East Tournament championship. Despite the loss of Ramon, Benjamin and Cook to graduation, as long as Young returns for his senior season, the Panthers can make some serious headlines again in 2008-2009.

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