Since 1985, Phil Pergola, the California Area athletic director-basketball coach, has made a habit of attending at least one NCAA regional basketball tournament every year.
This year he lucked out because he's headed to Washington, D.C., where Pitt is the top seed in the Southeast Regional.
"It was almost a year ago that we got our tickets," said Pergola, who will be accompanied by nine others. "You can't wait until the last minute, so we base our choice on the area and we've never been to Washington, D.C."
It will be the third time he has seen the Panthers in the NCAA event.
The first time was in 2002 at the Mellon Arena, where the Panthers beat Central Connecticut State and California in the quarterfinals.
Four days later, Pergola was in Lexington, Ky., where he saw Pitt lose in overtime to Kent State.
He didn't get to see Pitt again until 2007 in Buffalo, N.Y., where the Panthers downed Wright State and outlasted Virginia Commonwealth in overtime.
Two of the few regionals Pergola missed in the last 25 years were in 1990 and 1995 when his Ringgold basketball teams were in Hershey for PIAA championship games in March.
It doesn't hurt that one of Pergola's college basketball contacts is a good friend and one of his former Mon Valley Catholic students, Ron Bertovich.
Bertovich, a Bentleyville native, is the Colonial Athletic Association's deputy commissioner for basketball.
• California University is second to Shippensburg in the Dixon Trophy race as the PSAC's top athletic program entering the spring.
After taking the top spot in men's and women's indoor track and field, Shippensburg has 140 points for a 12 1/2-point lead over California.
West Chester is third with 123 points, followed by Indiana (120 1/2), Edinboro (119), Bloomsburg and East Stroudsburg (both 112), Slippery Rock (109), Kutztown (108 1/2) and Clarion (97) in the top 10.
California leads all schools on the women' side with 79 1/2 points, with Shippensburg's 66 1/2 points topping the men.
The final seven league championships up for grabs are in men's and women's tennis and outdoor track and field, baseball, softball and women's lacrosse.
California, however, doesn't field teams in either men's tennis or women's lacrosse.
Teams are awarded 16 points for conference championships, with the best six men's and women's finishes being used.
Shippensburg is the defending champion and all-time leader with six trophies.
California won the award once, two years ago. Last year the Vulcans finished second by two points.
• Former California University women's basketball coach Darcie Vincent has Appalachian State University in the post-season for the second straight year.
The Mountaineers are in the Women's National Invitation Tournament, where they'll face South Carolina Wednesday on the Gamecocks' floor.
Vincent repeated as Southern Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Mountaineers to the regular season title, but they lost 57-54 to Samford in the conference's championship contest.
Appalachian State is 25-6 this season, giving Vincent 323 career victories. She picked up 201 of those wins in eight years at California.
• And thanks to Stan Raymond, of Belle Vernon, who says a shady business never yields a sunny life!
