The one thing for certain is that things can and do change daily for teams on the NCAA March Madness Bubble.
One day you look like you’re out of it and the next day, you’re back on the bubble.
That’s certainly been the case for Jeff Capel and the Pitt Panthers over the past few weeks. The only thing for certain is that if you’re able stack wins and avoid losing streaks, you’ll have a chance and that’s where the Panthers currently find themselves.
As we sit two weeks away from Selection Sunday, Pitt made another big move in the metrics on Saturday following a dominating win at Boston College.
Prior to their 25-point win over BC, Pitt found themselves at No. 49 in the NET Rankings and No. 52 in the Ken Pom Ratings.
Pitt helped their cause out plenty last night and now Pitt’s chances to make the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season is a lot clearer.
ENTERING SUNDAY’S GAMES (March 3rd):
Ken Pom Ratings: No. 44 (moved up 8 spots from yesterday)
NET Rankings: No. 44 (moved up 5 spots from yesterday).
**Biggest NET Movers on Saturday:
Western Carolina +11 (No. 107)
Notre Dame +9 (No. 125)
Villanova +6 (No. 26)
Texas +6 (No. 27)
South Florida +6 (No. 79)
UC San Diego +6 (No. 111)
PITT +5 (No. 44)
Duquesne +5 (No. 98)
Arkansas +5 (No. 120)
USC +5 (No. 96)
Duke +4 (No. 9)
Utah +4 (No. 46)
Drake +4 (No. 48)
Texas A&M +4 (No. 54)
**A very interesting tweet that caught my eye and puts some perspective into where Pitt stands in terms of their chances of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. Pitt beat writer Jim Hammett from Pantherlair.com reminds everyone that Pitt is actually in a better spot in the NET Rankings than they were one year ago.
**MOST IMPORTANT BUBBLE GAMES OF THE DAY
UConn vs. Seton Hall
Bradley vs. Drake
Murray State vs. Indiana State
Michigan vs. Ohio State
UAB vs. Memphis
Rutgers vs. Nebraska
Stanford vs. Colorado
Better W’s than we had last year too, but we always get F’d come selection time. 1st round vs. Pacific still gives me nightmares.
Need to improve their inside game. More to defend. Especially when teams can play defense against the 3 point shot.
Playing Federicko and Graham at the same time seems to help.
If they win their last 2 and don’t have any bad losses in the ACC tournament I think they have a really good chance to make it.
Guard play has been phenomenal.
Our “Big” men need to step up and in particular Diaz-Graham. Pitt’s definition of “BIG” men are you must be tall, weak, lanky, and skinny.
Diaz Graham, Federico, etc
If you don’t like it then prove the doubters wrong and play like you want to be perceived.