Ever the pragmatist, Blake Hinson answered with an emphatic “No” when he was asked if he or his Pitt teammates are bubble watchers.

“We’re basketball players,” he said. “We don’t spend much time doing that, as far as I know. What we do know is you get in the tournament if you win games.”

Asked Tuesday about the analytics that often determine who’s in and who’s out of the NCAA Tournament, Hinson said, “That’s a foreign language to me. What I do know (is) the teams that typically win get in there. All I preach is winning.”

Hinson and his Pitt teammates appear to be singularly focused on their next game Thursday against either Wake Forest or Notre Dame in an ACC Tournament quarterfinal game in Washington, D.C.

The Panthers are close to their second consecutive NCAA Tournament berth but not there yet, according to ESPN bracket prognosticator Joe Lunardi.

In his most recent release Tuesday, Lunardi, who has expanded bracketology to a numerical science, put Pitt atop his list of teams classified as the “next four out.”

What does that mean?

Pitt needs to jump over five teams, four labeled the “first four out” and the last of the “last four in.”

Let’s take a look at each of them:

• The last of the “last four in” is Indiana State. The Sycamores (28-6) were upset by Drake in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship game, taking a spot from a possible at-large team (such as Pitt). They have no more games to play before Selection Sunday. Indiana State was briefly in the Associated Press Top 25 this season for the first time since 1979 when its star player was Larry Bird.

• Texas A&M, coached by the well-dressed Buzz Williams, will take an 18-13 record into its first SEC Tournament game Thursday against Ole Miss. The Aggies don’t have a great record, but they own victories against No. 5 Tennessee (by 16), No. 7 Iowa State and No. 9 Kentucky.

• New Mexico (22-9) is in sixth place in the 11-school Mountain West and opens its conference tournament Wednesday against Air Force. The Lobos were 12-1 before the calendar turned to 2024 and have lost four of their past six games. But they have defeated No. 18 Utah State and No. 23 Nevada.

• If Wake Forest (19-12) defeats Notre Dame, the loser of the Pitt/Wake Forest game is out. The winner could be in, no matter what happens in the semifinal Friday against (most likely) North Carolina. But there are some who believe Pitt needs to win twice in Washington, D.C.

• Villanova, another sixth-place team in an 11-school league, is 17-14, but it has defeated No. 8 Creighton, No. 4 North Carolina and No. 25 Texas Tech. The Wildcats play their first Big East Tournament game against DePaul on Wednesday.

All four, plus Pitt, are out if they lose their next game.

Keep an eye on how those teams progress through their respective conference tournaments. Don’t expect coach Jeff Capel or his players to do the same, however.

“I don’t think they’re looking at metrics,” Capel said. “I think they probably see stuff that’s out there. It has to be on social media. They’re not actively looking for it. It’s not something we have talked about.”

Said Ishmael Leggett, “Looking too far ahead never ends well.”

At this point, Lunardi slotted only four ACC teams in his projected field: North Carolina, Duke, Clemson and Virginia. Five reached the field last year, including Pitt in the First Four.

“More are deserving,” Capel said.

Capel said he is in favor of expanding the field from its present 68 teams, a move that could yield more money for the NCAA.

“I’ve never seen anyone not want to make more money,” he said, laughing, “especially the NCAA and especially all the lawsuits that they have against them. I couldn’t imagine it not expanding at some point.

“I get some of the purists, you don’t mess it up. I wonder if people felt that way back when it was at 16. When it was 16 and went to 32, it probably was a thing and it got better.

“The NCAA Tournament is the greatest sporting event. If you give more young people opportunities to experience it, what’s bad about that? I never understood the argument with that. Every time it’s expanded, it’s continued to get better.”

Hinson said the tournament is the “perfect size.”

“Some people get missed and that’s part of it. That’s what makes it exciting,” Hinson said.

He said he doesn’t understand why the ACC teams aren’t viewed as highly as teams from other conferences, but he respects those people deciding his team’s fate.

Blake Hinson, on the NCAA Tournament selection committee: “They’re going to make the right decisions.” pic.twitter.com/pIuse83EmM

— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) March 12, 2024

“At the end of the day, the people who pick these teams, I feel like they know their sports. They know their basketball. They’re going to make the right decisions.”

Hinson’s faith is admirable. If Pitt is left out Sunday, will he feel the same way?

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