PSR Showdown
Sports Story of the Year
By Rob Cochran
#1 Cochran

Pitt Basketball

For 14 years, we had been making the annual trek. A group of high school buddies using the Big East men's basketball tournament in New York City as a reunion of sorts. With busy schedules, our group of six has generally traveled on Thursday morning, foregoing Wednesday's opening round. For many years, the running joke was whether or not we'd even have the opportunity to watch Pitt play a game – after all, that would require a victory on Wednesday. Most years, we wound up just cheering for any team since Pitt was often not around long.

How satisfying was it, then, to be standing in Madison Square Garden after the Big East championship game watching and listening to other Pittsburgh fans standing and cheering. Yes, our Panthers had finally won the title – giving us the bragging rights, at least for this night and this weekend.

While they would go on to win two more games, this victory ended up being the culmination of Pitt's season. A season that saw the team go undefeated in the new Peterson Events Center . A season filled with outstanding team defense and an unselfishness on offense that is rare in today's game. A season that included many fans wincing every time an otherwise brilliant Brandin Knight had to shoot a free throw. But, most importantly, a season that had the city of Pittsburgh talking about, of all things, basketball. This one magical evening in Manhattan in the "World's Most Famous Arena" gets my nod as Pittsburgh 's sports story of the year.

Of course, the story fizzled a bit at the end with Pitt's Final Four hopes dashed by Marquette and Dwayne Wade's soft touch. Donatas Zavackas refused to play. Shortly thereafter Ben Howland left for his home, the California sun, and the lure of rebuilding UCLA's legacy. But what they gave us before the end was special – very special – to my group: the Panthers celebrating in New York City .

In another three months or so, our group of six will again make the journey back to Manhattan and the Garden – hoping for a repeat performance. Ah, the anticipation.