As expected there wasn’t much in the way of chattering about Pitt being dropped to a 9 seed on the bracket shows. Seeding issues and who got screwed, is generally reserved for the top 4 seeds in each region. That makes more sense, because seedings 5 through 12 are much more fluid and upsets aren’t terribly unexpected with those match-ups. Taking some time for reflection, I guess Pitt actually got dropped maybe one seed lower than the expected range. There is really no difference between 8 or 9 seeds. In the tournament, the 9 wins just as often (if not more) in that first round game.
As far as match-ups go, and I’m not trying to disrespect the Washington Huskies, they are the preferred #1 seed for Pitt to meet in the first weekend (assuming Pitt beats Pacific). Heck, look at the #2 seeds that Pitt could have ended up facing if they had been a 7 seed. Oklahoma St., Kentucky or Wake Forest. Yes, I’m probably rationalizing a bit.
On to the media takes. Maybe as there is more time to chew over the brackets there will be more commentary about where Pitt was placed. Right now, most of the space will be taken up with questions about the high seeds and teams snubbed. Still, here is one piece that mentions Pitt’s seeding:
Pittsburgh, No. 9 in the Albuquerque region: This is the fourth consecutive season in which the Panthers scheduled themselves into seeding purgatory. The first year, they had an excuse. They still were building. But their rosters the past three years have been powerful. Their opponents have not. Pitt certainly compares favorably to such No. 6 seeds as LSU and Texas Tech. How they climbed so high is hard to figure. But Pitt was good enough to earn four Top 25 victories; it should have been able to collect more than four against the rest of the top 100.
This has been the accepted reason. Pitt’s non-con did them in. Even AD Jeff Long admits they why.
“I think that’s probably what the committee was looking at,” athletic director Jeff Long said. “But people have to realize [we are] playing in the Big East and the way our conference is set up because of television. The best teams play twice. You know what? We have a difficult schedule. And we played some people in the non-conference schedule. … We’re not apologizing for who we schedule. Would I like to have another game of a higher quality? Yes. And Jamie and I will work to do that. But it’s not as easy as people think.”
He’s in spin mode, but even in that mode, he doesn’t get it. Or he won’t admit it. It isn’t just finding one good non-con game. It’s the scheduling of the absolute worst teams. There is no excuse to have Howard, Loyola-Md. and Coppin St. on the schedule. These aren’t just bad teams. They are consistently among the worst teams in the country. Scheduling teams in the high 200s to 300s of the RPI is what drags you down. Playing only one road game in the non-con, that is noticed.
Think about this. What is the difference in the schedules and records for ND and Pitt? 1 game. ND went 9-7 in the Big East and was firmly on the bubble going into the BET. Pitt was 10-6, and off the bubble. Both had horrible non-con schedules that meant they had to do well in conference. Even though ND ended up with the most brutal conference schedule, it wasn’t enough. There was no margin for error. That’s what a bad non-con does. It leaves no margin for error. So, if Pitt does the same again next season and once more spins the brutal Big East, it also means that Pitt better do real well in conference if it wants to go dancing.
Interestingly, the Pittsburgh Punditry seems to think Pitt got what it deserved in the seedings. Some are trying to spin the set-up as being very favorable in terms of match-ups.
One could even argue that Pacific is a more favorable first-round matchup than Central Florida was last year. Pacific plays in the ultra-weak Big West Conference, where it lost the tournament championship by 13 points to Utah State and didn’t have a scorer reach double figures.
That’s not to say Pacific is a pushover — it played Kansas tough on the road this season and knocked Providence out of the NCAA Tournament last year — but this appears to be an ideal matchup for Pitt.
University of San Francisco assistant coach Anwar McQueen told me last night that Pacific is not the stereotypical West Coast run-and-gun team but rather a physical club that favors a deliberate style — in other words, a team that plays right into Pitt’s hands. San Francisco beat Pacific, 67-64, on Dec. 18.
“I saw Pitt play Villanova, and Pacific is very similar to Pitt,” McQueen said. “They want to play half-court, and they have a strong inside game.”
Starkey, though, is completely underestimating this team and the conference. They are ranked and earned an at-large bid. This team shoots 50% on the season. Has a player who shoots better than 40% from beyond the 3-point line. And in the one stat that can be easily transferred from conference to conference, they shoot free throws well. Don’t get me wrong, I like the match-up, but this will not be an easy game. Last year, they dispatched Providence with ease in the first round.
For a real snub, consider that Pitt got dropped from the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll for the first time all year, with that loss to Villanova. Think about it. A neutral court loss to a higher ranked team got Pitt bounced.
The game will be among the first to tip-off for the NCAA Tournament (I don’t count that Tuesday night “play-in” game). Start time is 12:40 pm in Boise, Idaho.
The Pitt players are going to play the disrespected card to some degree to get up for this.
“We’re used to it,” senior forward Chevon Troutman said. “I don’t know how they do (the seeding), but we’ve seen this stuff before. Don’t you think we’re used to this stuff? We’re used to going to weird places and playing weird teams.”
Troutman did not get a sense the team was upset, saying “we look chilled,” but several other Panthers had a different spin on things, including junior point guard Carl Krauser.
“Since I’ve been here, I’ve realized that nobody in college basketball gives us respect,” Krauser said. “We’re used to it. That’s why, a lot of times, we upset people and mess up the bracket. So, we’re going to get ready for Pacific and thank the committee for putting us far away from home.”
Asked if the Panthers will have a chip on their shoulder, Krauser was quick with an answer.
“We have a lot of chips, not just one,” he said. “We’re ready to go out there and we’re ready to play hard and play like a family.”
Amusingly enough, the Pitt player reaction seemed to generate two different views. One suggesting Pitt players took the seeding as a snub. Well, the headline says it. The actual article doesn’t really convey that sense. The more widely disseminated player reaction is that Pitt just let it roll off of them.
That’s why, given the Panthers’ unaccustomed late-season struggles and four home-court losses, senior forward Chevon Troutman said they can’t complain.
West Virginia and UCLA, coached by former Pitt coach Ben Howland, are in Pitt’s region, but the Panthers can’t play either team before the regional final. West Virginia is seeded seventh after winning three games in three days to reach the Big East tournament championship game. Pitt had played in the Big East final in the previous four seasons.
“Everybody’s asking about West Virginia, but they deserve it because they swept us and went to the championship game,” Troutman said. “We played our way into a No. 9 seed, so we’ve got to work from there.”
This is the one most people in the country will see, because it comes from the AP and is picked up in other papers.
In Seattle, there is at least some sense of realism about what can happen to the Huskies.
The Huskies are good enough to up-tempo themselves all the way to St. Louis. Already they’ve beaten Arizona twice, Utah, Oklahoma, Alabama and North Carolina State.
But the field is strong enough that they could be eliminated by the weekend. This is the deepest, most talented pool of teams in the game’s history, an indication of the dramatic resurrection of college basketball.
Washington can ride its seed all the way to the Final Four. Or it could lose to Pittsburgh on Saturday. Think of Pitt, which should beat first-round opponent Pacific, as Stanford with more talent.
Stanford. Why’d it have to be Stanford?
