by Brian Herman, The Valley Independent, Monessen, Pa. , The Valley Independent

Don't expect the Panthers to be in the same spot come March and April when the NCAA tournament steals the spotlight.

Led by seniors Sam Young and Levance Fields and sophomore DeJuan Blair, coach Jamie Dixon's sixth team is good. Real good.

It could turn out to be good enough to be the best team in the school's history.

However, I think playing in the country's toughest conference, the Big East , will take its toll.

There's no way the Panthers are going to finish unbeaten while having to play a murderous schedule with the likes of Connecticut, Georgetown, Syracuse, Villanova, Louisville and West Virginia.

There's also the grueling Big East tourney.

Regardless of where the Panthers finish in the rankings, Dixon has proved a lot of his critics wrong as Ben Howland's successor.

Dixon's career 146-40 record speaks for itself.

Speaking of Pitt, isn't it ironic that on the day the Panthers made history by being ranked No. 1 for the first time ever, highly touted running back LeSean McCoy reiterated that he will return to college and not take the money and run to the NFL.

I'm just hoping coach Dave Wannstedt can come up with a big-time quarterback.

Redshirt junior Bill Stull showed in the Sun Bowl that he's not the answer.

- It was nice to see the Pittsburgh Steelers' James Harrison named the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year the other day.

Hopefully it won't be a bad omen.

If you didn't notice, the NFL's MVP (Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning), Offensive Rookie of the Year (Atlanta's Matt Ryan), Comeback Player of the Year (Miami Dolphins' Chad Pennington) and Coach of the Year (Atlanta's Mike Smith) were all first-round losers in the NFL playoffs.

Getting back to the Defensive Player of the Year, anyone else surprised the Dolphins' Joey Porter didn't get one vote despite being second in NFL quarterback sacks with 17 1/2?

- It looks like Steelers fans can start making plans to head for Canton, Ohio, in August for pro football's next Hall of Fame induction.

Among the 15 finalists named yesterday were former Steelers players Rod Woodson and Dermontti Dawson and former Steelers assistant coach Russ Grimm.

Woodson, who's eligible for the first year, also played for San Francisco, Baltimore and Oakland after10 seasons in Pittsburgh. He would appear to be a shoo-in. Dawson also has a good chance, but Grimm is a long shot.

The last Steeler to be inducted was John Stallworth in 2002.

- And thanks to Angelo Spagnolo, of Fayette City, who says the best mirror is an old friend!

Brian Herman can be reached at bherman@tribweb.com or 724-684-2667.

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