PITTSBURGH - When Pittsburgh's Ronald Ramon took a Keith Benjamin pass and drilled a 3-point field goal against West Virginia, it was great theater for the masses watching ESPN.

The host Panthers won 55-54 on the last-second shot. The crowd of 12,508 in the Petersen Events Center jumped up and roared.

But one very bad loss for the visiting Mountaineers.

Forget the final play. Heck, forget the free throws that were taken away from the losers. Those who were here, those who saw the game close up and personal can tell you: It was a game just waiting to be placed in the West Virginia win column. And the Mountaineers kicked it.

Again, this is not about the final play. Ramon canned the sucker. Nice play by the little senior. Yes, Wellington Smith shouldn't have left him uncovered. ("He was the guy we talked about that we couldn't let beat us,'' said WVU's Bob Huggins. "Him and Sam Young.")

The bigger picture, though, is West Virginia - especially if it is NCAA tournament caliber - should have won this game. The Pittsburgh team that Panthers coach Jamie Dixon put on the court Thursday is no more a Top 25 team than Syracuse or Cincinnati - or WVU. The team Pitt put on the Pete's court had less talent than unranked Louisville, Cincinnati or even 13-8 Villanova.

And that's not as much of a knock as you might think. See, two of Pitt's best players - small forward Mike Cook and point guard Levance Fields - have been shelved by injuries. Without those two, Pittsburgh entered the game with a 6-4 record.

The tallest starter for the Panthers? Six-foot-7 DeJuan Blair.

Oh yes, and Blair is a freshman. In fact, of Pitt's top eight players, four are freshmen.

In other words, the Panthers are a Top 25 team in name only. They're wearing a sheepskin. And WVU couldn't imitate the fox.

Pitt had lost three of its last five games heading into the Backyard Brawl. It was the perfect time for the Mountaineers to visit the Steel City and steal one. Pitt had racked up some nice wins with Cook and Fields healthy. The Panthers' Rating Percentage Index points were sitting there, waiting to be sucked up.

Instead, WVU's RPI is heading toward RIP.

The host Panthers won 55-54 on the last-second shot. The crowd of 12,508 in the Petersen Events Center jumped up and roared.

Great TV. Great finish to a Rivalry Week game.

But one very bad loss for the visiting Mountaineers.

Forget the final play. Heck, forget the free throws that were taken away from the losers. Those who were here, those who saw the game close up and personal can tell you: It was a game just waiting to be placed in the West Virginia win column. And the Mountaineers kicked it.

Again, this is not about the final play. Ramon canned the sucker. Nice play by the little senior. Yes, Wellington Smith shouldn't have left him uncovered. ("He was the guy we talked about that we couldn't let beat us,'' said WVU's Bob Huggins. "Him and Sam Young.")

The bigger picture, though, is West Virginia - especially if it is NCAA tournament caliber - should have won this game. The Pittsburgh team that Panthers coach Jamie Dixon put on the court Thursday is no more a Top 25 team than Syracuse or Cincinnati - or WVU. The team Pitt put on the Pete's court had less talent than unranked Louisville, Cincinnati or even 13-8 Villanova.

And that's not as much of a knock as you might think. See, two of Pitt's best players - small forward Mike Cook and point guard Levance Fields - have been shelved by injuries. Without those two, Pittsburgh entered the game with a 6-4 record.

The tallest starter for the Panthers? Six-foot-7 DeJuan Blair.

Oh yes, and Blair is a freshman. In fact, of Pitt's top eight players, four are freshmen.

In other words, the Panthers are a Top 25 team in name only. They're wearing a sheepskin. And WVU couldn't imitate the fox.

Pitt had lost three of its last five games heading into the Backyard Brawl. It was the perfect time for the Mountaineers to visit the Steel City and steal one. Pitt had racked up some nice wins with Cook and Fields healthy. The Panthers' Rating Percentage Index points were sitting there, waiting to be sucked up.

Instead, WVU's RPI is heading toward RIP.

"Winners find ways to win,'' Huggins said afterward.

"That was a very big win,'' said Pitt's Benjamin. "To get it in the last few seconds is what a championship team does.''

Or one striving for an NCAA berth.

The cold, hard, February fact right now is West Virginia shouldn't be in consideration for the NCAA field. Not today. The losses to Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisville and Georgetown are forgiveable. But the stench from the loss at home to Cincinnati still lingers. And when a team has an opportunity like WVU had Thursday against a hobbled Pitt team, it has to grab it - and throw it in the victory pile.

Instead, the Mountaineers have dug themselves a deeper hole. Joe Alexander converted on 2-of-11 field goal attempts. For the season, he's hitting at a 44 percent rate. Da'Sean Butler was 1-of-9. Alex Ruoff, who Huggins calls his best shooter, took all of one shot.

And, of course, West Virginia's free-throw shooting has been terrible. Had the Mountaineers just gone 9-of-17 Thursday night, they win. Instead, they are now converting at a 67 percent rate for the season.

Yes, the officials took a pair away. After Alexander converted two, the officials wiped the points off the scoreboard and sent Cam Thoroughman - who the zebras said should have been shooting - to the stripe. He missed the front end of the one-and-one. ("I've never been involved when that happened,'' said Huggins, who has now coached in 824 games.)

Pitt sports information director E.J. Borghetti tracked down the officials. One gave this explanation: "It was a correctable error situation and it was corrected within the parameters of what the officials were allowed to do by rule.''

So there you have it. Do with it what you will.

But the bottom line on Thursday's game is WVU matched up well with the homestanding Pitt team.

Very well.

And blew a prime opportunity for a victory on prime-time television.

To contact sports editor Mitch Vingle, send e-mail to mitchvin...@wvgazette.com or call 348-4827.