2009-2010 Pittsburgh Basketball: Pitt vs West Virginia

Well, that was fun... unless you're a West Virginia basketball coach, player or fan.

In a game that produced half the overtimes of the Syracuse-Connecticut classic from last year's Big East Tournament - but which featured a review of a buzzer-beating shot, just like Eric Devendorf's rainbow last March in New York City - two teams needed "only" three extra periods to settle a Backyard Brawl for the ages. In one of the very best basketball games played all season, a heaping helping of haymakers created a showstopping spectacle inside the Petersen Events Center on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh.

When the final shot bounced off the rim and the last rebound had been cradled, the Pittsburgh Panthers - trending steadily downward in their conference over the past few weeks - had pulled out the kind of victory that turns a likely NCAA Tournament bid into "lock" status. And while the sons of the Steel City secured a precious triumph, both teams were responsible for creating an epic event that will be hard to top as the 2009-2010 college basketball season continues.

Right now, the sting of defeat is too fresh in West Virginia's locker room, but when time passes and these current collegians become 50-year-olds, they'll still remember what they did on the night of February 12, 2010, all while the Winter Olympics began. Such sentiments might be hard to come by admist the disappointment of dropping a crucial conference contest, but when the losing Mountaineers and the victorious Panthers grow older, they'll be able to recall the time when college basketball - not the high school variety - took center stage on a Friday night.

Indeed, when today's athletes become tomorrow's misty-eyed storytellers, they'll have no shortage of events to explaining to their little ones, no paucity of reasons why "West Virginia-Pittsburgh 2010" ranked as a college basketball classic for all times and seasons.

Today's Mountaineers and Panthers will be able to tell their children about WVU forward Da'Sean Butler's remarkable 32-point, 11-rebound effort in a hostile visiting arena as lasting proof of this game's five-star quality.

They'll be able to talk about how a seven-point deficit with 50 seconds remaining in regulation time didn't deter a fearless Pittsburgh roster that was being guided by its relentless and resourceful coach, Jamie Dixon.

They'll mention how West Virginia's best imitation of Houston in the 1983 NCAA national championship game against North Carolina State - two missed front ends of one and ones - enabled Pittsburgh to stay close heading into the final 20 seconds.

They'll recall how Pittsburgh's Nasir Robinson turned into Larry Bird and Panther guard Ashton Gibbs became Dennis Johnson in a wild steal-and-score sequence that enabled the Pitt to tie the game at 68 in the dying moments of regulation time.

They'll marvel at the fact that Gibbs - the Big East's leading free throw shooter in terms of percentage - missed a foul shot with under 10 seconds left, giving West Virginia, down by three, a chance to tie. They'll shake their heads in wonder and describe Pittsburgh's refusal to foul, all while WVU guard Darryl "Truck" Bryant hit a tying 3-pointer to create a 78-all logjam with three seconds left in the first overtime.

Today's Mountaineers and Panthers - when they regale their offspring many decades from now - will smile in amazement when they talk about Pitt big man Gary McGhee's brain-dead foul of Butler on a 3-point attempt with 20 seconds left in the second overtime, a terrible error which enabled West Virginia - trailing 88-85 at the time - to make three foul shots and force a third overtime, half the total of the six extra stanzas Syracuse and Connecticut crafted on a March evening in 2009 at Madison Square Garden.

And last but not least, these basketball brothers - though enmeshed in a hate-filled rivalry - will express admiration for the plucky Panthers, who ultimately took hold of this titanic tussle by making five foul shots in the final 68 seconds of the third overtime, thereby sealing a trip to yet another NCAA Tournament.

It was a night for craziness and crunch-time courage at the Petersen Center, a plot-twist parade so sprawling and head-spinning that none of its participants will ever be able to forget the many indelible moments of a college basketball classic.

Three thrilling overtimes. Two dogged teams. One epic encounter.

Not bad for a Friday night fight that completely upstaged the opening of the Winter Olympics. Fun times will live on for decades after this latest and greatest Backyard Brawl, which will be remembered for generations in Appalachia and Western Pennsylvania.

Pittsburgh vs West Virginia Basketball Recap