Despite 22 victories, Pitt snubbed by NCAA Tournament, declines NIT invitation

Weeks of speculation, guessing games and bubble talk ended in frustration for Pitt on Sunday night when the Panthers did not receive one of 68 invitations to the NCAA Tournament.

So irritated were Pitt officials after receiving the NCAA snub, they immediately declined an invitation to the NIT for “what is best for our student-athletes,” according to a statement from coach Jeff Capel.

“I am incredibly proud of the performance, development, and fight of our team,” Capel’s statement continued. “We ultimately fell short of our goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament, despite ranking favorably in the computers, performing well in conference play with a fourth-place finish and an ACC Tournament semifinal appearance and playing our best basketball over the last eight weeks of the season.

“We made the decision to decline an NIT invitation as a team and with the support of our athletic department leadership. It was a difficult choice but ultimately what is best for our student-athletes.”

Pitt was close to securing an NCAA invitation and was one of the first four snubbed, despite coming through the regular season and ACC Tournament with a 22-11 overall record. It was the same mark as last year when Pitt was included in the field, but losses to inferior teams earlier this season were too much to overcome.

Jay Bilas on SportsCenter just now picks Pitt as the bubble team that should be in:

“Pittsburgh’s a tournament team. There’s no question in my mind. You’ve got guards like Bub Carrington and you’ve got a shooter like Blake Hinson. They make 9 threes a game.” pic.twitter.com/PI4eDOjJ4p

— Amanda Godsey (@AmandaFGodsey) March 17, 2024

Pitt won 12 of 16 games in the final three months of the season but also lost twice to Syracuse (one-and-done in the ACC Tournament), Miami (next-to-last in the ACC) and Missouri (winless in the SEC). Even with those losses, Pitt might have squeezed into the field, if not for multiple bid stealers that emerged from conference tournaments this weekend.

One invited team that will irritate Pitt fans is Virginia. The Panthers defeated the Cavaliers (23-10) by a 74-63 score on Feb. 13 at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va., during their run toward a double bye in the ACC Tournament.

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi called the bid-stealing scenario “the most chaotic Selection Saturday in the 30-year history of Bracketology.”

“The bad news, at least for bubble teams, is that the bid thieves got their licks in like never before,” he wrote on ESPN.com.

Teams such as Pitt, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Indiana State and Providence were left out after N.C. State and Oregon won the ACC and Pac-12 Tournaments. Otherwise, neither would have been included in the field.

Pitt defeated N.C. State twice during the regular season, but the Wolfpack won five games in five days in Washington, D.C., to win the ACC’s automatic bid. N.C State was the ACC’s No. 10 seed and finished 9-11 in the regular season, compared to No. 4 seed Pitt’s 12-8.

As a result of the Wolfpack’s stunning run — and other developments around the nation— Pitt couldn’t move into the field after being close, according to Lunardi’s “first four out … next four out” groupings.

New Mexico’s Mountain West Tournament championship and losses by the top four seeds in the Atlantic 10 Tournament also hurt the Panthers’ chance to advance. Duquesne won four games in five days to claim the A-10 title and its automatic bid, but the Dukes had little or no opportunity to go to the NCAA Tournament before this week. The same is true of American Athletic Conference champ UAB.

Pitt made a strong case for inclusion, with a No. 40 ranking in the NCAA NET and KenPom. The Panthers won nine of 18 games against Quad 1 and Quad 2 opponents, those considered the strongest on their schedule. They also defeated Duke on the road. Pitt’s seven road victories and its .600 winning percentage in road/neutral site games are among the best among power conference teams.

The intriguing aspect of Pitt’s season — sad, actually, for the team and its fans — is the real possibility that the Panthers are a better team this year than in 2022-23, when it reached the NCAA Tournament and won two games.

The Panthers of 2023-24 have one of the best players in the nation: first-team All-ACC forward Blake Hinson, who is one of only four in the conference who have scored more than 600 points this season (609).

Despite scoring only five in an ACC Tournament semifinal loss to North Carolina on Friday, Hinson is a better player than he was a year ago. He is averaging 18.5 points, with a 42.1% shooting percentage (110 of 261) from beyond the 3-point arc. Last year, he averaged 15.3 points, and his long-range percentage was 38% (97 of 255).

Hinson’s 110 3-pointers this season is a school record.

Pitt also has one of the nation’s top guard combinations: offensively aggressive freshmen Bub Carrington and Jaland Lowe, who combined for 41 points Friday against the Tar Heels, a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

With the exception of Hinson, everyone on Pitt’s roster is eligible to return to the team next season.