Jamie Dixon’s Pitt Panthers have become accustomed to playing in March and other than last season’s disappointing season which saw Pitt miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time in Dixon’s tenure; they usually are assured a spot in the “Big Dance.”
That should hold true this season as well as baring a major collapse down the stretch, Pitt should be one of the 68 teams selected to compete for the National Championship. Sitting at 3-3 in the Big East, they will likely have to win seven more games through the Big East Tournament to garner a bid, something that thy should do very easily.
But even though there is a lot of work left to do for Dixon’s Panthers, it can’t hurt to look forward to the tournament and where the Panthers will likely be seeded.
That’s usually an easy thing to do with some teams, but it is rather difficult with this Panthers team as through 19 games (15-4) this season, we still don’t have a solid grip on who this Pitt team really is.
How good they are is really a matter of opinion.
For instance I talked to ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi at the Marquette game and as of last week he had Pitt penciled in as a No. 10 seed right now, something that will change as the season goes on. After back-to-back conference wins over Villanova and Connecticut, he has since bumped Pitt up to a No. 9.
That’s real hard to argue against right now, given Pitt’s soft non-conference schedule and losing two early conference games at home does not look good. If you are going strictly on how the committee would view Pitt’s resume right now, the somewhere between a seven and a 10 is about right.
However, Pitt shows up very well in the advance metrics, which is something to be considered as well.
KenPom.com has Pitt ranked at No. 9 overall and ESPN’s Basketball Power Index page has the Panthers at No. 18, while the LRMC Bayesian rankings have them No. 13. Both advanced metrics and unadjusted per-possession statistics tells us that Pitt is one of the top teams in the country, something that is a little hard to buy right now.
But the advance metrics usually get it right in the end and they are suggesting that Pitt is much better than the No. 9 seed that Lunardi currently has them at. Yet when it comes to predicting the tournament, few do it better than Lunardi.
All that means is that Pitt is a curious team, one that people don’t quite have a handle on just yet.
When the calendar turns March, Pitt will be an NCAA Tournament team. What type of team they will be though is simply a matter of opinion.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
