Dayton/First Four would NOT be a bad thing. Here's why.

[GaryMcgheeForThree]

History of Overperforming Seeds

Dayton is not a death sentence for the non-16 seeds that end up there. There is a long history of teams playing in first four games since the field expanded to 68 completing first round upsets, and even advancing far beyond expectations:

• 2011- #11 VCU made to the final four.
• 2012- #12 USF upset #5 Temple.
• 2013- #13 La Salle made it to the S16.
• 2014- #11 Tennessee made it to the S16.
• 2015- #11 Dayton upset #6 Providence.
• 2016- #11 Wichita St. upset #6 Arizona.
• 2017- #11 USC upset #6 SMU.
• 2018- #11 Syracuse made it to the S16.
• 2019- The only year there were no upsets.
• 2021- #11 UCLA made it to the final four.
• 2022- #11 Notre Dame upset #6 Alabama.

Teams clearly use the momentum provided from winning here as a jumping off point for the first weekend. No reason Pitt can't be one of those teams, if they were to get sent here.

Media Attention

Pitt would get the full singular attention playing in the first four, instead of getting swallowed up in coverage being thrown on say TruTV against a B10 team in Denver or Des Moines with 3 other games going on. This board is so concerned with media coverage all the time... Well here's a chance to show folks you belong on center stage with everyone watching, including future recruits.

Location

Dayton ain't that far folks. Do you want to support the team? Drive to Dayton (if you can get off work). For those of us who like Pitt road trips, this is great. Pitt, even in our good years, often ended up in the strangest locations, often west coast. I'll take this.

An Extra Game? Pitt will be Tired!

Well, we didn't exactly make a deep run in the ACC tourney, so any arguments for having to play an extra game would be silly, especially when compared to most teams that have played 3/4/5 games in the span of a week. And again, teams do pretty well that get sent here when it's all said and done.

 

[BreakingPitt]

yeah we know.
love the freaking intensity sir.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

History of Overperforming Seeds

Dayton is not a death sentence for the non-16 seeds that end up there. There is a long history of teams playing in first four games since the field expanded to 68 completing first round upsets, and even advancing far beyond expectations:

• 2011- #11 VCU made to the final four.
• 2012- #12 USF upset #5 Temple.
• 2013- #13 La Salle made it to the S16.
• 2014- #11 Tennessee made it to the S16.
• 2015- #11 Dayton upset #6 Providence.
• 2016- #11 Wichita St. upset #6 Arizona.
• 2017- #11 USC upset #6 SMU.
• 2018- #11 Syracuse made it to the S16.
• 2019- The only year there were no upsets.
• 2021- #11 UCLA made it to the final four.
• 2022- #11 Notre Dame upset #6 Alabama.

Teams clearly use the momentum provided from winning here as a jumping off point for the first weekend. No reason Pitt can't be one of those teams, if they were to get sent here.

Media Attention

Pitt would get the full singular attention playing in the first four, instead of getting swallowed up in coverage being thrown on say TruTV against a B10 team in Denver or Des Moines with 3 other games going on. This board is so concerned with media coverage all the time... Well here's a chance to show folks you belong on center stage with everyone watching, including future recruits.

Location

Dayton ain't that far folks. Do you want to support the team? Drive to Dayton (if you can get off work). For those of us who like Pitt road trips, this is great. Pitt, even in our good years, often ended up in the strangest locations, often west coast. I'll take this.

An Extra Game? Pitt will be Tired!

Well, we didn't exactly make a deep run in the ACC tourney, so any arguments for having to play an extra game would be silly, especially when compared to most teams that have played 3/4/5 games in the span of a week. And again, teams do pretty well that get sent here when it's all said and done.

If you win your Dayton game then yea, that's a great situation. An 11 seed is a great seed. But the problem is you basically have a 50% chance to lose that Dayton game.

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

Yeah most know the jump they made from last year was remarkable but it’s morphed into something more. I think they’re gassed and maxed out. If they don’t make it ,the season basically will be viewed (definitely locally) as going in toilet. Same with a Dayton loss. Same with another boat racing anywhere.
Avoiding Dayton would help.

 

[PittPoker]

Dayton would be terrible. And the way Pitt is playing, no defense and no rebounding um we could very well lose that game.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

I don't know if I want the national attention, with the way we're playing. I thought it was cool how much they were showing the highlights of the GT game and how it was on the Bottom Line, etc. It got uncool pretty quickly after yesterday's game.

 

[GaryMcgheeForThree]

Dayton would be terrible. And the way Pitt is playing, no defense and no rebounding um we could very well lose that game.

No. Not making the tournament would be terrible. Dayton wouldn't be.

And by that logic, yes, we could lose any game if we play bad. Ok?

I'll take my chances to "get right" vs. a fellow 11 seed, maybe work out the kinks we've had for about 3 weeks now and build some good will/momentum, vs. getting tossed against a 6/7 seed in the R64 that no one will remember.

 

[Gep Dawg]

I think at this point I'd be happy either way as long as we make the tournament I don't care when we start. But I agree Dayton is not as bad as people make it out to be. as an 11 seed its a better chance to win a game than starting out against the 6 seed.