NEW YORK -- Maybe a few of the officials' calls were bad last night. That blocking foul on Pitt center DeJuan Blair four minutes into the game? It could have been a charging call on West Virginia's Alex Ruoff instead of Blair's second personal. The elbow that referee Jim Burr said Blair threw on his way up the court in the second half when he nailed him with a critical technical foul that also counted as his third personal foul? Maybe it was a ticky-tack call, especially in a Big East Conference tournament game when hand-to-hand combat generally isn't just tolerated but encouraged.

But those are the kinds of calls Blair and Pitt easily could get in the NCAA tournament when officials from other conferences might call an even closer, tighter game. If Blair and Pitt don't handle them better than they did in their horrid 74-60 loss to West Virginia, they can kiss their dreams of a national championship goodbye.

The calls didn't beat Pitt.

The Pitt players let the officials get in their heads and that beat them.

That's no knock at West Virginia. This was a tremendous win for the Mountaineers, who -- in Pitt coach Jamie Dixon's words -- "outplayed us in every aspect." The Panthers never did find an answer for West Virginia's suffocating 1-3-1 zone defense. They looked unprepared for it, actually, which might be the second-most alarming part of the defeat.

"We understand we got what we deserved," Dixon said.

Better here at this tournament than the next one.

That's the beauty of this loss, at least in the big picture. In other years, it could have cost Pitt positioning in the seeding for the NCAA tournament. Not this year. Because of Pitt's 28-4 record, including two wins against then-No. 1 Connecticut, the Panthers remain a lock for a No. 1 seed.

But Pitt sure had better learn something from this awful night.

Blair wasn't especially encouraging in that respect after the game.

"The refs, they have it out for me, I guess," he said. "They want to get DeJuan Blair out of the game."

That's not exactly the attitude you want to see the kid take into the NCAAs.

Sure, Blair's frustration was understandable to a point. He played just four minutes in the first half and was a non-factor after Burr hit him with the technical with 11:06 left in the game and Pitt still in it, down just 53-47. But that still was an absurd observation. The Big East officials allowed Blair to play his physical game enough during the season that he shared the league's player of the year award with Connecticut's Hasheem Thabeet. They hardly were out to get him.

It's hard to say Pitt would have won this game even if Blair had played 40 minutes instead of 18. The Panthers shot just 34.8 percent in the second half and, for the game, were 0 for 8 on 3s. They also were outrebounded, 33-27.

Seniors Sam Young and Levance Fields didn't play well. Young shot 6 for 17 with five rebounds, Fields was 3 for 10 with an uncharacteristic five turnovers.

Who knows what Young and Fields -- supposedly the team leaders -- are thinking about their performance, the game, the officials, the team, the NCAA tournament or anything else for that matter? Shamefully, they refused to meet with the Big East media after the game. It's funny, they're generally available to discuss the game after the wins. Pitt had to send Blair and Tyrell Biggs -- two guys who played a combined 38 minutes because of their foul trouble -- to the podium to face the music and answer the questions.

That's another thing Dixon should be embarrassed about.

You knew Pitt's marvelous run here was going to end one day. Seven trips to the conference tournament championship game in the past eight years made for a remarkable achievement, especially against the brutal competition.

But this wasn't how you could have imagined the ending -- with Pitt being soundly outplayed by a lesser team and being so out of the game mentally. The truly great teams are mentally tougher than what the Panthers were last night.

At least Dixon and the Pitt team have about a week to get things right for the NCAA tournament.

"We're going to use this as motivation," Blair said. "I hate to feel like this. I felt like this after we lost to Providence and we bounced back. We're an excellent bounce-back team."

That was encouraging to hear.

So was this:

"I don't know what to do about the refs," Blair said, quietly. "I guess I have to handle them better."

That's at least a start, right?