Tim Benz: For Pitt basketball — seize upcoming chances to win and play ‘blame game’ later
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For fans of the Pitt Panthers basketball team, complaining about the poll voters has proven fruitless.
Blaming flawed computer-ranking models — or at least flawed interpretations of them — is doing no good.
Jeff Capel’s attempt to take a jab at the ACC Network for weak promotion on Monday was a new twist. Let’s see how that works.
I mean, encouraging the further blurring of the lines between what’s sports journalism and what’s public relations wouldn’t exactly be the route that I would encourage. But Capel certainly has different priorities in front of him than I do.
At this point, however, if the Panthers don’t make the NCAA tournament, they should probably just end up blaming themselves.
Let’s face it; if Pitt wins three of its remaining four games — especially if one of those three is at No. 13 Miami on March 4 — the Panthers have to get a berth on Selection Sunday.
If they don’t, forget seeking blame. Start an investigation.
After all, if Pitt does win three of four to close out the regular season (even if one of those games isn’t against Miami), that’d give the Panthers 22 victories, 15 in the conference, and a double-bye going into the ACC Tournament.
Pitt’s other three games are at home against Georgia Tech on Tuesday night, at home against Syracuse on Saturday and at Notre Dame on March 1. Those three teams are a combined 14-34 in ACC play this season. Even if the Panthers should lose their first game in the ACC Tournament, that worst-case scenario puts them at 22-10 overall and a third-place 15-6 record in ACC play.
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At ESPN.com, Joe Lunardi’s most recent bracket from Feb. 17 (prior to Pitt’s loss at Virginia Tech on Saturday), included seven ACC teams — the six listed above and Clemson. Pitt was forecast as a nine seed by Lunardi as well.
If Pitt can’t get in as a second- or third-place team with a 15-6 or 16-6 conference record (if they win at least one conference tournament game or sweep the rest of the regular season), then there is an intellectual disconnect taking place.
Either Pitt will deserve a bid, and it’d be a criminal oversight if they don’t get one. Or the ACC simply shouldn’t be worthy of consideration for five to seven bids at this stage of the regular season.
Period. It’s got to be one or the other.
For a 15-team conference such as the ACC, it does seem a bit thin to just have potentially five teams into the bracket, especially with the league’s history and reputation. I suppose that’s why the pollsters and committee members are leaning more and more toward computer formulas and analytics in recent years to determine seeding and rankings.
“You don’t hear it when you talk about Virginia,” Capel said on Monday of the ACC’s diluted perception in 2023. “Maybe it’s because of what Virginia has done nationally in the time (coach) Tony (Bennett) has been there. They have maybe been the premier program if you look at accomplishment throughout definitely the last eight to 10 years.”
To be fair, Palm doesn’t even have Virginia listed as a “lock” to make the tournament yet. That’s despite the Cavaliers being 21-4 and ranked sixth in the country.
“When you look at the success we’ve had in the NCAA Tournament, when you look at the success we had in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, if you look at what our guys have done nationally as far as coaching, as far as players, as far as talent, as far as draft picks, all of those things. It’s more than anyone,” Capel continued on the weekly ACC conference call.
In terms of creating a bracket, though, apparently that doesn’t mean much now. Nor does Pitt’s 29-point win over Northwestern, a projected six seed. To say nothing of victories over Miami and Virginia.
I get why Pitt fans are frustrated. It’s not just a matter of wanting to be more secure in the Field of 68 than is the case right now. It’s also about seeding. In Palm’s bracket, for instance, Duke is a six seed and gets 11th-seeded Boise State in the first round. Virginia is a three seed and gets No. 14 Yale. A fifth-seeded Miami club draws No. 12 Charleston.
Pitt gets perennial Big Ten power Michigan State in the 8-9 game.
All the Panthers need to do to validate their cause moving forward is win. If they do that in each of the next three games — maybe four out of five — then if they get screwed over, start playing the blame game.
And maybe aim a little higher than the ACC Network.