Pittsburgh (21-9, 14-5; NET: 55, SOS: 97): Retiring Notre Dame coach Mike Brey had his farewell at the ’Backer Wednesday night, the unofficial end of a long, successful, memorable, and ultimately now fully petered-out tenure in South Bend — but not before taking down Pittsburgh in the farewell game that preceded it. Thus Pittsburgh fell victim, one last time, to the anchor effect in the ACC this season, whereas the bottom of the conference has consistently pulled the league’s better teams under water, grave hands snapping out from the abyss. It’s not just Boston College you have to worry about this season. It’s Boston College and Georgia Tech and Florida State and Louisville and Notre Dame, the latter three of which are all typically much, much better. Carrying those horrid NET rankings into conference play wasn’t good for the league as a whole; there is probably an anchor effect thing happening with the NET here. But the lack of elite teams at the top of the league has only gotten more exposed. Because here’s the thing: If you’re a really good team, you beat the bad teams in your league easily and reliably. Houston does it all the time. Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s, too. This year’s ACC is not much better than either of those leagues, and the reason you can’t simply chuck away Pittsburgh’s middling metrics is that the Panthers have had the opportunity to beat teams in ways that demonstrate their superiority all season and haven’t exactly done it.
Anyway: Where does the loss leave Pitt? Right back on the bubble, in our view. We were fairly certain the Panthers would get in earlier this week; the Notre Dame loss isn’t disqualifying in and of itself, but it puts them at real jeopardy if something goes totally haywire at the ACC tournament. In the meantime they should maybe consider beating Miami on the road Saturday. You’d take this collection of wins and losses over a fair amount of what’s on the bubble, but it’s not remotely the done deal some Pitt fans have been claiming of late — especially now.
Pitt also remains a 9 seed in their updated bracket, as we head into the last weekend of the regular season.
Anyway: Where does the loss leave Pitt? Right back on the bubble, in our view. We were fairly certain the Panthers would get in earlier this week; the Notre Dame loss isn’t disqualifying in and of itself, but it puts them at real jeopardy if something goes totally haywire at the ACC tournament. In the meantime they should maybe consider beating Miami on the road Saturday. You’d take this collection of wins and losses over a fair amount of what’s on the bubble, but it’s not remotely the done deal some Pitt fans have been claiming of late — especially now.
Pitt also remains a 9 seed in their updated bracket, as we head into the last weekend of the regular season.
