UP-Close with Pittsburgh Sports Report
ESPN Analyst and former Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps

Digger Phelps joined ESPN as a basketball analyst in 1993 after a long career as the head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. During his 20 seasons at Notre Dame (1971-1991), his teams went 393-197, with 14 seasons of 20 wins or more. In 1978, he led Notre Dame to its only Final Four. He is probably most remembered, however, for what took place on Jan. 19, 1974 in South Bend, when the Fighting Irish scored the last 12 points of the game to defeat top-ranked UCLA 71-70, ending the Bruins' record 88-game winning streak. PSR Editor Tony DeFazio caught up with Phelps at the Petersen Events Center earlier this year.

PSR: You're in your third year of College Gameday. It's a hectic schedule, it's a long day, it's loud as heck and you have to be focused the entire time - are you guys having fun up there?

Digger: We usually get in here for morning meetings at 7:30 or 8. Then I like to get out on the floor early, around 9:15, to warm the students up. I usually look for a captain of sorts, you know, whoever's in charge of the student section. Like today, that kid Smitty, who actually plays in the band. So I have him give me their four best cheers, then I get with Jack (Anderson), the band director, and we coordinate signals for certain cheers at certain times during the show. So I'm the choreographer, director and producer of the Gameday crowd and that makes it fun.

We just have a blast. It's great to get to the college campuses. Since football made it such a success, the students just can't wait for you to get to their campus. And what we've noticed is that there's a carryover effect to the game that night.

A couple years ago we were in Lawrence for a Kansas-Texas game. Now I've coached against Kansas in Lawrence and coached in the NCAA Tournament in Lawrence-that's when we beat DePaul to get to the Final Four-so I have a great feel for Lawrence. We did Gameday in the morning and that night Allen Fieldhouse was louder and more electric than I've ever seen it and they blew out Texas. The next day one of the writers said the same thing. It's really amazing what Gameday did because it carried over to the crowd that night and they were just so involved for the game.

Now the guys on the floor crew, Monday they were in Phoenix. They got out of there Tuesday, took a day off and were in town here by Thursday. It's amazing - 75 people travel with us on the road with at least four tractor trailers. One trailer is full of just generators, another has the sets, and then there are two TV production sets, one for the game production and the other for our production.

We started in Louisville then we went to Norman, Oklahoma; from there, Tallahassee; then to Spokane for the Zags; from there to Syracuse; Syracuse back to Austin; Austin to Durham.

PSR: Are there a few teams that stand out to you right now as having separated themselves from the pack?

Carolina is legit. Florida is legit. They're like the Yankees and just show up in October. They're just waiting for March to start. They'll obviously take care of business. But when they lost to Kansas Nov. 25, they weren't ready to play. Then they lost to Florida State. But when Ohio State came in, they weren't going for the hat trick and they weren't going to lose to a bunch of freshmen. That was their statement: "We're the defending National Champions." They're dying to play in those types of games.

So you have Florida, Carolina, UCLA, Wisconsin - Bo Ryan coaches such great defensive teams and Alando Tucker may be the best player in the country. Kansas is legit and Ohio State as well.

And look out for teams like Texas and Kentucky; they could be in the Sweet 16. Tubby's teams always play good defense.

PSR: What prevents Pitt from being in that category?

I think consistency on the perimeter. It's almost got to be automatic for Ronald Ramon to come off the bench and make those threes like he's done in some games this season. The big kid off the bench, Sam Young, he's got to get you double figures. He's got to take care of the inside and Ramon's got to take care of the outside off the bench. They've got to come off the bench and make the opponent adjust. Who do they sub when Pitt brings these guys in?

(Aaron) Gray will take care of business, but more importantly, they've got to have the depth to get points off the bench.

Jamie has those kids playing well; he always does.

Listen, when WVU went out to UCLA last year and beat the Bruins, that's when Ben Howland was finally able to say to his guys, 'Look, that's what I've trying to tell you about how physical the Big East is, and how aggressive those teams are defensively.' And from that moment on, those teams got the message. What's happening now is that about four other teams in the PAC-10 got that message. Southern Cal, Arizona, Washington and Washington State. Washington has struggled but they're young.

PSR: A lot of media have said the Big East is down this year, yet they have more teams in the Top 25 than any other conference. Is it a down year for the league?

What's been amazing about the Big East this year is when you have a lot of new players, it takes time for these guys to adapt. The reason I think it's still the best conference in the country is the coaching diversity. By the time you get through the Big East regular season and then the postseason tournament in the Garden, you've seen so many coaching styles that you're usually not going to get many surprises once you get to the NCAA Tournament.

It's only a so-called down year because there have been so many changes in personnel, with UConn losing all those players to the NBA and Villanova losing three guards. But look at Marquette with their three guards, James, McNeal and Matthews and they're only sophomores. So maybe in November it's a down year, yeah. But by the middle of February, not anymore. By then your freshmen are sophomores and your sophomores are juniors. And Florida won with four sophomores and a junior last year.

PSR: Pitt lost on the road at Wisconsin and in Oklahoma City earlier this year. Will those losses ultimately help Pitt?

Wisconsin but on a clinic. Tucker with 32, Butch with 27 and they combined for 26 rebounds. Gray was a factor for Pitt but no one else was.

Fields has to be more consistent going to the hole. Because when he does, he can either go inside to Aaron or find open guys on the perimeter. But that comes from leadership and if he's going to be the guy to lead the team, then he's got to step up and lead the team with the ball in his hands. I think that was a wake-up call.