There's a pretty good chance Pitt will sit out the NCAA tournament if it loses to the Florida State-Georgia Tech winner on Wednesday afternoon in its first ACC tournament game. The bracketologists have made it clear they have little respect for Pitt's body of work or the ACC's in general. ESPN's Joe Lunardi has Pitt as a No. 10 seed, getting one of the last four byes into the field, after its losses last week at Notre Dame and Miami. At best, it would appear, another loss on Wednesday would put it in Dayton in one of the play-in games for the NCAAs.
It doesn't seem right.
It's true a loss to Florida State or Georgia Tech would be an unsightly blemish. Neither team is very good, although Florida State did beat Pitt at Petersen Events Center on Jan. 21, the game before Pitt went on a roll and won six in a row and eight of nine.
It's also true the loss at Notre Dame on Wednesday night was hurtful, even though the timing of the game was unfortunate for Pitt because it was the final home game for Notre Dame's all-time winningest coach, Mike Brey. Notre Dame was 2-16 in the ACC at the time and was crushed at Clemson in its final regular season game on Saturday.
But Pitt's performance in the loss at Miami on Saturday was impressive even though it was outrebounded, 42-20. It trailed by seven points with 30 seconds left and roared back, coming within a 40-foot desperation heave at the buzzer by Blake Hinson of winning the game, finishing with a share of the ACC regular- season championship and getting the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament.
No matter what happens against Florida State or Georgia Tech, I find it unfathomable that the NCAA tournament selection committee won't look at Pitt as worthy of one of the 36 at-large bids.
But even if Pitt fails to get in, this 21-win season should be remembered as a smashing success. In some ways, I would rank it as one of the best in school history. The program is no longer an embarrassment the way it had been since Jamie Dixon left as coach seven years ago. It is back to being relevant in this discerning sports city. It is an amazing story.
I'll admit, I didn't see it coming after Pitt lost by 25 points to West Virginia at home and by 31 to Michigan in the Legends Classic in Brooklyn in consecutive games in November. Credit goes to Jeff Capel for keeping things together and blending his team into a winner despite losing one of his top players, John Hugley, to a mental-and-physical break in mid-January. Capel should be recognized as ACC Coach of the Year when the conference hands out its awards this week.
Maybe you were at that West Virginia home game or watched it on television. It also had to be difficult for you, at that point, to imagine sellout crowds at Petersen Events Center later in the season. But Pitt did sell out its game against Miami on Jan. 28 and rewarded the crowd by scoring the final 11 points in a 71-68 win. Pitt also sold out the Syracuse game on Feb. 25 and blew out Jim Boeheim and his Orange, 99-82.
I go back to the Ben Howland/Dixon glory days of Pitt basketball. They were wonderful times. The best crowd I ever saw at Petersen Events Center was on the final Big East regular season Saturday of the 2008-09 season when Pitt beat No. 1 Connecticut. The place absolutely rocked. I would put the scene for the Syracuse game right there with it.
It's enough to make you hope this Pitt season doesn't end anytime soon, that it continues into the NCAA tournament.
It's nice to think it won't take a win against Florida State or Georgia Tech to ensure that happening.
