This is the time of year when the chants begin.

It happened in Providence on Saturday night when, as the Friars were heading to their fourth consecutive loss, contingents in the crowd began yelling, "Fire Welsh!"
 
Tim Welsh won't be the only one hearing it around the country the last month of the regular-season. Trust me.

I'm not saying these guys are necessarily on the way out, but plenty of coaches are feeling the pressure.

Here are 10 of them:

LSU's John Brady

St. John's coach Norm Roberts

Northwestern's Bill Carmody

Oregon's Ernie Kent

Maine's Ted Woodward

Sacramento State's Jerome Jenkins

Jacksonville State's Mike Laplante

Mount St. Mary's Milan Brown

Florida State's Leonard Hamilton
 
Rice's Willis Wilson

PITT WAITING FOR FIELDS

Its doubtful anyone would say it publicly, but Pittsburgh has to be happy with a 6-4 mark in the first 10 games since playing without Levance Fields and Mike Cook.

Fields remains out indefinitely with a broken left foot and Cook is out for the season with a torn ACL. Remember, this is the same team that handed Duke its only loss on a neutral court in Madison Square Garden prior to losing 40 percent of its starters.

Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon refuses to put a timetable on Fields' return, but don't be surprised if his starting point guard is back for the Feb. 21 road contest at Notre Dame.  

"The biggest challenge we've had to face is foul trouble," Dixon said after his team's road loss at UConn. "Every loss - and it's surprisingly been our guards."

RANDOM NOTES: My favorite player to interview in the entire country may be West Virginia's Joe Alexander. Not sure what it is about the program, but Mike Gansey took the honor a couple years ago. Both are blunt, articulate and terrific players. Runner-up may go to Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair. ... Providence's versatile forward Geoff McDermott had his knee drained for the second time this season and while he said he felt OK on Saturday night, he didn't look it. ... How about the fact that the team's most talented player, Weyinmi Efejuku, didn't even play a single minute in the loss to Notre Dame last week.