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Q: Is Jamie Dixon Pittsburgh's new version of Bill Cowher? I just read your response to "Lamenting another early exit ...", and I really couldn't disagree more. Jamie's teams exit early every year because they allow (or he allows them) to be drawn out of the game they've played all year and into the other team's game. Couple that with the fact that they always play tight in the tournament (see the 10-plus layups they missed yesterday or shooting 61 percent from the line instead of their season 70 percent) and it's easy to see why Pitt is a disappoinment in the tournament again. As for the Cowher tie-in, Cowher was below .500 in the playoffs prior to the Super Bowl run, 3-5 in championship games (1-4 at home). And in most years his team was more talented than the opponent. Jamie's record is nearly as bad if not worse, especially if you look at his record in Big East Championship games and the NCAA tournament. I love Jamie as our head coach and I hope he's here for the long haul, but the only way we'll ever see a championship here is if Jamie gets lucky with one strong class that stays all four years as Cowher was with his Super Bowl team.

Kevin Peck, Chambersburg, Pa.

FITTIPALDO: You make some strong points, Kevin, but I could make arguments against each of them. You mentioned the missed layups in the Xavier game. I believe some of those were due to Pitt's lack of size in the post and the players being worried about their shots being blocked. Not all of them but some of them. And it's hard to say one bad free-throw shooting performance was due to nerves. But the point I will argue most is the one about Cowher having more talent than the Steelers' opponents in the playoffs all of those years. You are right about that, but wrong when you try to say the same is true for Dixon and Pitt. I have made the argument the past few days to anyone who will listen that all of the teams Pitt lost to in the NCAA tournament were better teams nad had more talent. Don't just look at the seeding. Watch the games and make a honest assessment of what you see. Xavier sophomore Jordan Crawford was the best player on the floor. Xavier center Jason Love is better than Gary McGhee. And does anyone not think that Xavier point guard Terrell Holloway is a Big East-caliber player? I can say the same things about Pitt's previous NCAA opponents, even No. 13 seed Bradley in 2006. I watched that game in person and Patrick O'Bryant was better than Aaron Gary. Bradley's guards were quicker than Pitt's guards and posed many problems. I appreciate your points and some of them might be true, but I strongly disagree that Pitt was better than the teams it lost to in the NCAA tournament.

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