University Of Pittsburgh

Virginia Commonwealth was looking for a little more last-moment magic, and almost got it. The team that upset Duke trailed Pittsburgh by 19 points Saturday, then used a tenacious trapping press to come back, landing in overtime after Pittsburgh's Levance Fields missed two free throws with 2.1 seconds left in regulation. Then Pittsburgh grabbed back the game it nearly gave away, and the third-seeded Panthers escaped with an 84-79 overtime victory over 11th-seeded Virginia Commonwealth.

This is how close UCLA Coach Ben Howland is to Pittsburgh Coach Jamie Dixon. Dial the number for the home Jamie and Jacqueline Dixon share with their two young children in the Pittsburgh suburbs, and Ben and Kim Howland's 22-year-old daughter, Meredith, might answer the phone. A nursing student at Pittsburgh -- and a cheerleader at the school when her father was coach -- Meredith is a regular baby sitter for the Dixons.

A U.S. scientist collaborating on now-discredited South Korean cloning and stem cell research accepted questionable payments for his work on the project and engaged in "scientific misbehavior," according to a University of Pittsburgh review panel's report. Gerald P.

He still talks to her. He touches his reddened eyes, smiles softly, shakes his head, of course he still talks to her. Late at night, driving home from the gym, traveling from recruit to recruit, the coach of the nation's top-ranked college basketball team still talks to his younger sister. She was also a basketball coach, remember? She once took a team to the NCAA tournament in the same year he did, remember? There's a lot they can still share. There's a lot he can still learn.

Pittsburgh is back in the Elite Eight for the first time since 1974 after an ugly 60-55 win over Xavier that might be described, in NCAA tournament parlance as: survive and Levance. Senior guard Levance Fields scored two key baskets in the final minute Thursday night -- a long three-pointer and a layup off a steal -- to lift top-seeded Pittsburgh to the East regional semifinal at TD Banknorth Garden. "I never get tired of watching Levance take big shots," Pitt Coach Jamie Dixon said.

Scottie Reynolds of Villanova joined Tyus Edney of UCLA in the annals of NCAA tournament last-second dribble-drives toward camera flashes and forever. Reynolds' floater with 0.5 seconds left Saturday lifted Villanova to a 78-76 victory over Pittsburgh in the East Regional final at TD Banknorth Garden. "Oh man," the junior hero said afterward, "there's so many emotions going through my head. It's something you think about as kid."

Utah Coach Urban Meyer didn't want to hear the word "unbeaten" from the Utes last summer. Meyer was angry when a few Utes let the word slip when talking about the upcoming season and what the Utes could be in a position to do. But this week, he's liking the sound of it. "To think that there's four or five teams in major football undefeated, I never thought that would happen because teams are too good," Meyer said. The Utes are one of four Division I-A unbeatens.

It didn't take long after Ben Howland became the men's basketball coach at Pittsburgh for a Big East coach to seek a scouting report from Howland's former boss. "Jim Boeheim wanted to know about this Ben Howland," said Jerry Pimm, who coached at UC Santa Barbara for 15 seasons, with Howland as his assistant for 11. "I told him, 'He's a winner. He's going to make a splash in the Big East,' " Pimm said.

California dreaming ... Ben Howland gets a faraway look in his eye when UCLA is mentioned, a daily occurrence because the coaching position is open and he is a leading candidate. He is flattered. The name UCLA is magical to him, the way it is to so many who grew up learning basketball in the long, splendid shadow the program cast over the Southland for decades. He wants the job.