Pitt’s basketball team will need to earn its respect on the floor this season.
The Panthers were picked to finish 14th in the 15-team ACC in a preseason poll of 101 media members who attended the ACC Tipoff meetings last week. Only Georgia Tech finished behind the Panthers in the voting.
Also, coach Jeff Capel’s team was not represented on the All-ACC preseason first- and second-teams or in player and rookie of the year voting.
On a positive note, Pitt made the third-largest improvement in the KenPom rankings from 195 in the final list of 2022 to 84 to start the new season. Only Duquesne (280 to 133) and Georgia (219 to 93) made bigger jumps.
Biggest jumps from KenPom’s final 2022 rankings to the initial 2023 rankings:
Duquesne: 280 to 133 (+147)
Georgia: 219 to 93 (+126)
Pittsburgh: 195 to 84 (+111)
James Madison: 227 to 127 (+100)
Marshall: 238 to 140 (+98)— Trilly Donovan (@trillydonovan) October 16, 2022
The talent may be spread throughout the ACC this season. A total of 10 schools had players receiving at least one vote for first and second team, player or rookie of the year.
North Carolina was chosen to win the ACC, receiving 90 first-place votes while the Tar Heels’ Armando Bacot was an almost equally overwhelming choice for player of the year with 82. Eight other players received votes, led by Miami’s Isaiah Wong (five).
Duke was picked to finish second, with two first-place votes. Other schools receiving votes to finish first were Virginia (six), Miami (two) and Virginia Tech (one).
Four Duke freshmen — Dereck Lively II, Dariq White, Tyrese Proctor and Mark Mitchell — led the voting for rookie of the year while the Blue Devils’ Kyle Filipowski was eighth.
