For some reason it took them quite a while but Jamie Dixon’s Pitt Panthers basketball team has finally cracked the Top 25 rankings.
In the latest AP Poll, the Panthers come in ranked No. 22, after going the entire season thus far without sniffing the Top 25.
That alone is a bit shocking for a Pitt team who has started the season 15-1 and 3-0 in ACC play. It’s hard to think if Pitt were still in the Big East that they would have gone this long without being ranked, however that’s something that Dixon doesn’t pay much attention to.
“We are young came into the season with five new players,” Dixon said after Pitt’s home win against Wake Forest on Saturday. “Typically those aren’t the type of teams that garner a lot of attention nationally.”
The ACC in general is a bit down as they only have three teams ranked in this week’s Top 25. Coincidently the conference highest ranked teams are former Big East teams in Syracuse (No. 2) and Pitt. After a couple losses on the week, Duke has fallen all the way down to No. 23.
Led by former Panthers’ point guard Sean Miller, Arizona holds onto the top spot once again.
Syracuse, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Wichita State, Villanova, Florida, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and San Diego State round out the Top 10.
Pitt will resume play Tuesday night at Georgia Tech before heading to Syracuse on Saturday for what is the ACC’s early biggest game of the year.
Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire/ USA Today Sports
