It's been a long time waiting since these two old Colonial Athletic Association coaching rivals and good friends last tested each others wits on the sidelines -- over seven years, to be exact.

Last night was the ice breaker. Pitt's Paul Evans and Penn State's Bruce Parkhill finally reunited in last night's NIT first-round game. Chalk up a victory for Evans as his Panthers rebounded to beat the Lions 67-65.

The two coaches have come a long way since their CAA days, when Evans coached David Robinson at the Naval Academy while Parkhill built William & Mary into a formidable CAA power. Parkhill's Indians were 4-0 against Evans' Midshipmen.

"We had some great games," said Parkhill of the pair's CAA battles. "When he was still at Navy and I was at Penn State (Parkhill came to Penn State in 1983) they beat us by a million points.

"I really like him. We get together in the offseason and talk basketball."

Parkhill fondly remembered a 66-63 win over Evans and the Midshipmen with Robinson in 1984.

"At the time no one really knew how big of a win that was," Parkhill said.

Evans then left Navy for Pitt and the Big East in 1986. Parkhill took on the task of building Penn State's program from scratch in the Atlantic 10. Still, the two Pennsylvania schools, only 140 miles apart, never played each other under Evans and Parkhill -- until last night.

In fact, Pitt and Penn State hadn't played each other on the hardwood since Jan. 16, 1982. The Lions won that game, 52-46, in a double overtime barnburner at Rec Hall. But why haven't they played each other since that game?

"In my second year I talked to one of their assistants," said Parkhill.

"They weren't real receptive. In ensuing years, I mentioned it but we didn't pursue it at that point."

So if the two schools couldn't work anything out between them, the NIT did -- ironically in a year when Evans, who was unavailable for comment, has come under the scrutiny of Pittsburgh's media and where Parkhill has endured a year of independence before the Big Ten.

The Panthers are a live example of schizophrenia. One minute they play like a talented young team rebuilding from the loss of four seniors -- they beat Kentucky -- and the next minute, they'll lose to Miami. "We've had some brilliant moments," said

Sean Miller, Pitt's all-time assist leader. "But we couldn't win on the road. The losing became contagious. When we went on the plane, it was like, 'Here we go again.' "

But a lot has happened to Evans and Parkhill since these two schools last met.

Evans rode with Robinson and Navy to the NCAA's Final 8 in the 1986 tourney and that fall he helped turn Pitt into an underachieving Big East powerhouse.

Penn State forward Matt Gaudio, however, doesn't really see it that way.

"I really wouldn't call them underachieving," said Gaudio, who was recruited to play at Pitt and lives less than an hour away in Follansbee, W. Va. "I mean, they are always in the Top 25. They have a good program."

"I followed Pitt," said Penn State's walk-on center Brian Anderson, who is from closeby Hermitage. "I have a couple of walk-on friends who play for them. It's all hyped up down there."

In retrospect, maybe the hype has hurt Pitt more than its helped the team.

Evans' top Pitt teams played in 1986-1988, going back to the days of Charles Smith, Jerome Lane and Rod Brookin -- that powerful 1988 team still didn't make it past the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In fact none of Evans' teams at Pitt have made it past the second round including the teams starring Bobby Martin, Brian Shorter, Miller, Jason Matthews and Darelle Porter. Pitt's 1990 team finished 12-17. Several of Evans' players have sat out a year under Proposition 48.

Whatever, the two coaches have found each other once again, and the proposition was simple. Win.