Pitt Basketball
Pitt Now Outside of the Top-60 in NET Rankings
Pitt has now lost four-straight basketball games, and the Panthers have fallen far down the NET rankings.
The Panthers came in at No. 61 in the NET rankings on Friday. Pitt — which started the season 12-2 with wins over West Virginia, Ohio State, and LSU — is now 1-9 in Quad-1 games, 3-3 in Quad-2 games, and 6-2 in Quad-3 games. Pitt has lost recent games to NC State, Louisville, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame, squandering its chances to make this year’s NCAA Tournament with an automatic bid. Now, the Panthers will have to catch fire in Charlotte in the ACC Tournament and win the entire tournament to compete in March Madness.
Just months ago, the Panthers opened at No. 5 in the nation in the same NET rankings.
Check out this article from the NCAA explaining how the NET rankings are calculated. This season is the seventh year in a row that the NCAA is using the NET rankings instead of the RPI rankings.
“The remaining factors [in the NET ranking process] include the Team Value Index (TVI), which is a result-based feature that rewards teams for beating quality opponents, particularly away from home, as well as an adjusted net efficiency rating,” said the NCAA. “The adjusted efficiency is a team’s net efficiency, adjusted for strength of opponent and location (home/away/neutral) across all games played. For example, a given efficiency value (net points per 100 possessions) against stronger opposition rates higher than the same efficiency against lesser opponents and having a certain efficiency on the road rates higher than the same efficiency at home.”
