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This was surely the year that Pittsburgh was not going to get back to another Big East final. As a No. 7 seed and having to play on the first day of the tournament, the odds were against Jamie Dixon's team. But the Panthers played the odds like experienced Vegas bettors and will again play on the last day of the Big East Tournament after a 68-61 win over Marquette on Friday night.

On Saturday night, the Panthers will play in their seventh Big East Tournament final in eight seasons -- an accomplishment almost impossible to imagine in and of itself, but even more so considering what Pittsburgh has been through this season.

Each season is its own story, and while this Panthers team is part of a decade-long tradition of excellence at this venue and in this conference, this team faced unique challenges over the last four months that deserve special discussion.

The story is well-worn by now. Two players -- guards Keith Benjamin and Levance Fields -- were arrested in the offseason. Then, at the pinnacle of its season -- at least before Friday night -- senior guard Mike Cook tore up his knee in the overtime of a thrilling win over undefeated Duke at -- where else? -- Madison Square Garden on Dec. 20. Cook hasn't played since and won't again this season. In the subsequent game against against Dayton, point guard Levance Fields, who made the game-winning 3-pointer against Duke, broke his foot as his team lost its first game of the season.

The rest of the campaign was a mixed bag of wins against teams like Georgetown and losses against teams like Rutgers. When Fields finally returned for a Feb. 15 matchup with Marquette at the Bradley Center, the Panthers looked as inept as they had all season, getting blown out by 18 while Fields struggled.

"A lot of people thought it was going to be easy to come back and be ready to go right away," Dixon said, referring to the recovery of his point guard. "Even probably Levance thought it would be easier than it was. We talked about it, but still I don't think you're ever prepared for it. Usually guys are out for the season when they're out that long."

The three weeks leading up to the Big East Tournament saw Pittsburgh play no better and no worse than it had before Fields' return, leading most to consider the Panthers only as an afterthought in this tournament. How soon we forget.

After defeating Cincinnati in the first round, Pittsburgh knocked off No. 2 Louisville in overtime on Thursday using a terrific defensive scheme that neutralized David Padgett and forced the Cardinals' schizophrenic shooters into a bevy of ugly jumpers.

On this night, Pittsburgh got its revenge after the embarrassing proceedings in Milwaukee exactly four weeks ago. The Panthers held Marquette to just eight field goals in a first half that -- as in Georgetown's win over West Virginia in the opening semifinal -- determined the outcome of the game. Twenty-six percent shooting and 13 turnovers sent the Golden Eagles into halftime down by 13.

Pitt's offense also caught the usually alert Eagles asleep on backdoor looks for easy buckets in the first half. And there was no one on Marquette who could defend Panthers forward Sam Young one-on-one as Marquette Coach Tom Crean chose to defend him on Friday.

Crean started with Jerel McNeal on Young, but the junior quickly got into foul trouble thank to charge-happy referree Tim Higgins. Wesley Matthews gave it a shot on Young, as did Lazar Hayward and Lawrence Blackledge, but none had much success neutralizing Young's mix of pump fakes, high-arcing jumpers and swoops to the hoop. Young had 12 of his team's 33 points at halftime and finished with a game-high 22 on 9-of-14 shooting.

"We have to put our best defenders on their best players, and we felt like we did that," said Crean. "But he earned his baskets. Obviously there are a lot of things when a guy gets that many points you'd like to do over again. We try to do our best in a one-on-one situation, but it's very hard to guard him one-on-one.

The 35-22 first-half hole prevented Marquette from using its superior depth to its advantage. Jamie Dixon determined to use just seven players in the game, and that included freshman forward DeJuan Blair who played just nine minutes due to foul trouble and strategic decisions.

Even though MU shot just 31 percent from the field in the second half, the Eagles cut down on their turnovers and continued to pound Pittsburgh on the glass. This way, when the shots began to fall for the Eagles, they were within striking range of a win.

"We were a little surprised that they chose to play as fast as they did in the first half, and we felt that was in our favor," said Crean. "It ended up being in our favor as the game went on. We never felt like we weren't going to be able to come back, but we really didn't make enough shots to get us over the hump."

Marquette got the margin to less than five on two occasions late -- first when Dominic James converted two free throws to make the score 56-52 at the 7:03 mark and then when James rebounded and put back his own alley-oop miss to bring the Eagles within three at 62-59 with 1:19 to play.

But this was Pittsburgh, and this was Madison Square Garden after all.

"It's one of the greatest places to play, especially growing up in New York City," said the Bronx native Ronald Ramon, who scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds and is one of four New York-area players on Pittsburgh's roster. "You always want to play at the Garden. You want to go out there and play. Now that it's presented to us, you want to go out there and compete and do the best to play in front of your family and friends."

Fields, who grew up in Brooklyn, drained two free throws after James fouled him with 50.9 seconds left. Then Matthews missed a 3-point attempt and Young grabbed the rebound from a levitating James. Ousmane Barro fouled Young with 34.2 seconds remaining and Young too made both free throws. The seven-point lead essentially iced the game and sent the arena into chants of "MVP!" for Young and "Let's go Pitt!" for the resilient Panthers.

"We love playing in New York," said Dixon, whose team is 22-8 at the Garden since the 2000-01 season. "We have New York guys. We'll do anything we can to play in the Garden."

As good as they have been here since the turn of the millennium, the Panthers have won just once in their previous six appearances in the final, a 74-56 win over eventual national champion Connecticut in 2004. Seniors Keith Benjamin and Ramon will each be making his third appearance in the final and both have yet to win it. Pittsburgh has a reputation as big game scattershots, one reinforced by an awful shooting performance in a 65-42 loss to Georgetown in last year's final.

The rematch a year later will be no easier. Georgetown is playing its best basketball of the season; the Hoyas are deeper, fresher and more talented. Even though there is no better coach in the Big East than Dixon when it comes to preparing his team on short notice, the task that faces him in the next 20 hours or so is probably too tough.

"We were able to handle them pretty well without me," said Fields of his team's 69-60 win at the Petersen Events Center on Jan. 14. "I'm just hoping we'll be able to do the same thing tomorrow. They're a tough team. They have a 7-footer in the middle and a lot of perimeter shooting."

Regardless of your perspective on Saturday night's final, the focus on this Friday night shouldn't be on a journey that is likely to end in defeat in 24 hours but on the perseverance and fortitude that has gotten Pittsburgh to the last day of the Big East season once again.