Vukovcan: Pitt Shouldn’t be Considered a Bubble Team, It Should Be in the Field

I’m not going to waste time getting to my point of this column.

The fact that we wake up this morning still wondering if Pitt will get a bid into the NCAA Tournament is laughable.

Furthermore, Pitt even being labeled as a ‘Bubble Team’ is equally as bad and an indictment of its flawed selection process.

I don’t need to know how many Quad One/Two/Three wins Pitt holds. Don’t care what their offensive efficiency is or about a couple games they played four months ago. If you think Pitt is even close to being the same team they were four months ago, or that they should be penalized for West Virginia being pathetic this season or feel that the ACC is an average conference then your part of the problem in college basketball.

Pitt isn’t and shouldn’t be viewed as a ‘Bubble Team’ anymore and shouldn’t have been prior to their beat down of Wake Forest on Thursday.

Pitt has 22 wins, 13 of which came in a major conference. Those 13 ACC wins are more important than anything and should trump anything that happened in November. The ‘experts’ can talk all they want about Drake, Indiana State and teams in the Mountain West, but they’re not winning 13 games in the ACC.

The so-called strength of the Mountain West is a complete media fabrication and of the metrics that have ruined March Madness.

This isn’t just my opinion; the proof is in the pudding. If you exclude San Diego State, the mighty Mountain West Conference is 0-11 in NCAA Tournament games since 2019. Moral of the story is that Nevada, Utah State, Boise State, UNLV, New Mexico and Colorado State are good teams but aren’t the juggernauts they’re made out to be and in no way should that conference be receiving 4, 5 and 6 teams on a yearly basis. Start winning some games that matter and maybe my opinion will change. In other words, in last year’s tournament, Pitt won more games than the other Mountain West teams combined (minus San Diego State) over the last 5 years.

Despite the BS narrative that the ACC is down, if the top teams in the Mountain West were in the ACC, they wouldn’t be finishing with 20+ wins.

Second point about Pitt that isn’t getting discussed at all and that’s because this is something that the all-important computers can’t measure.

Jeff Capel lost four very important members from last season’s tournament team and replaced them with transfers and freshman. It takes a few weeks or maybe a month for a group of players to gel and develop chemistry together. Plus, Jaland Lowe’s insertion into the starting lineup coincided with the Panthers winning 12 of their last 15 games. Bottom line is that this isn’t even close to being the team that started the season and over the last 3 months, Pitt has gotten really good and have played liked one of the Top 25 teams in the country.

If the committee just uses their eyes and looks at the results, they’d be discussing what seed Pitt should be instead of whether or not they deserve to receive a bid.

The 3rd factor that should carry some weight is Pitt’s amount of road wins. Winning away from home isn’t easy for anyone, yet Pitt has done it as well as anyone in the country.

MOST ROAD WINS THIS SEASON:

9 Road Wins: St. Mary’s (weak conference), Indiana State (weak conference)

8 Road Wins: UConn, Tennessee, North Carolina, Creighton, Gonzaga, Utah State, Nevada

7 Road Wins: Pitt, Boise State, Kentucky, Marquette, Duke, Arizona, Purdue, Houston

The good thing for Pitt isn’t that they still have a say in their tournament future. If they’re able to upset top-seed North Carolina, even someone like Joe Lunardi should move right to the right side of the tournament bubble. But with Lunardi, that’s not a guarantee.

Speaking of Lunardi. I know that everyone lives and breathes on every projection he puts out, but since everyone is so into metrics and computer rankings these days, here’s something to consider.

The website Bracketmatrix.com keeps track and ranks the media members that puts out Bracketology.

Here is the last 5-Year Bracket Matrix Bracketology Rankings:

1) Bracketometry
2) 1-3-1 Sports
3) Jake Liker’s Bracktology
4) YAGO Brackets
5) Crazy Sports Duke
6) Bauertology
7) March Madness 2023
8) D Ratings
9) Bracksketblogs
10) Scott’s Bracketology

98) ESPN Bracketology- Joe Lunardi

Take that for what it’s worth.

My gut tells me that at this moment, despite all the evidence that I’ve listed and from what anyone’s that paying attention and not looking at a spread sheet should be able to see, Pitt isn’t currently in line to get a bid.

If that’s the way it ends up unfolding that will be a shame because this team worked hard to get themselves in this position and their hard work will have been ignored.

Because of a screwed-up system and a group of men that will ignore common sense, the country will likely miss out on a chance to see a really good team, a great young backcourt and one of the most exciting players in the country.