Despite being a successful night on the basketball court, the Pitt Panther basketball team didn’t make much progress in the all-important basketball metrics.
Following Tuesday night ACC action, Pitt (20-10) finds themselves tied for 4th place in the conference with one-game remaining.
Pitt sits with a conference record of 11-8, which is tied with Clemson and are just one game behind 3rd place Virginia. The Panthers close out with the regular season with a home game against NC State, Clemson ends with a game at Wake Forest, while Virginia will be at home against Georgia Tech.
Bottom line is Pitt has a good chance of finishing in 4th place, with an outside chance of being tied for 3rd place. That’s a pretty impressive accomplishment considering the national preseason predictions pegged Pitt anywhere from 9th to 12th place in the ACC.
Starting the day, here are the latest NET Rankings, where Pitt remains at where they were to start Tuesday. We’ll take a look at the middle of the pack and the teams that Pitt is battling with to earn a bid to the tournament.
NET RANKINGS (MARCH 6TH)
24) Clemson (dropped 1 spot)
25) Villanova (went up 1)
26) Florida (went up 8 spots)
27) Boise State (dropped 3)
28) Texas (dropped 1 spot)
29) New Mexico (dropped 1 spot)
30) Indiana State (dropped 1 spot)
31) Colorado (dropped 1 spot)
32) Nevada (went up 8 spots)
33) Mississippi State (dropped 1 spot)
34) St. John’s (went up 4 spots)
35) Texas Tech (went up 7 spots)
36) Colorado State (dropped 3 spots)
37) Florida Atlantic (dropped 2 spots)
38) Utah State (dropped 2 spots)
39) Washington State (dropped 2 spots)
40) TCU (dropped 1 spot)
41) Wake Forest (dropped 10 spots)
42) Oklahoma (dropped 1 spot)
43) Nebraska (stayed same)
44) PITT (stayed same)
45) Cincinnati (stayed same)
46) Utah (stayed same)
47) South Carolina (stayed same)
48) Drake (stayed same)
49) Virginia (moved up 1 spot)
50) SMU (dropped 1 spot)
LATEST KEN RATINGS (MARCH 6TH)
PITT is ranked No. 42, moving up 2 spots following the win over Florida State.
35) Colorado State +17.06
36) New Mexico +16.94
37) Oklahoma +16.88
38) Nevada +16.87
39) Washington State +16.63
40) Florida Atlantic +16.59
41) Boise State +16.43
42) PITT +15.81
43) Cincinnati +15.51
44) South Carolina +15.41
45) Utah State +15.37
IMPORTANT GAMES TO WATCH TONIGHT
Villanova at Seton Hall
Northwestern at Michigan State
Tennessee at South Carolina
TCU at West Virginia
Mississippi State at Texas A&M
Utah State at San Jose State
Fresno State at New Mexico
Keep winning, that is the key, and they will get in. Lose Saturday or in first round of ACC tournament and hopes are gone. Early season loses are killing them. Missouri in particular. But, they had to find their rotation. They are a tournament team today, but they have to win as Cinderella teams edge out those with better records.
I agree with you Bob 100%.
Pretty imprssive if you think they were 1-5 in conference at one point.
Question. Would you rather Pitt have a double bye, and lose that first game or have a single bye and win at least a game?
And you would hope that the committee will look at the last 15 games or so. I think I heard last night they have won 10 of the past 13.
Agree with your comment as well. They not don’t deserve a spot, the teams they let in from big 12 and the Big Ten, half are garbage. And Alabama a potential four seed is laughable. You mentioned the early season loss to Missouri didn’t help, then how do you explain Wisconsin has lost seven of their last nine games, some of them to poor teams and their projected at six seed in a conference who only strong team is Purdue? And we all know what happened to them in the last tournament. Just sayin…..
Well said
Syracuse dropped two spots after beating Louisville on Saturday. Unfortunately I think the metrics see a 15 point win at home against a quad 3 Florida State squad as the likely outcome. No extra points for that. At least Pitt didn’t lose any ground.
The loss at Miami that really should have been a win is looming large. That would have been another quad 2 win and likely have us in the top 40, if not the top 35. Unfortunately wins at home vs Florida State and NC State are unlikely to move the needle as they are quad 3 wins. The overall body of work, especially on the road, and acing the “what have you done for me lately” section of the test really should be enough to get us in if we beat NC State… but it always is nerve-wracking to leave… Read more »
It’s about how team is playing in March rather than February. This is a team where if they can just get in they could make a run in the tournament.