Pitt basketball struggles when it is the hunted
By Michael Boytim,mboytim@altoonamirror.comDAYTON - The Pittsburgh Panthers have accomplished a lot this season.
Pittsburgh ascended to the No. 1 spot for the first time in both the AP and USA Today/ESPN polls, and it did it twice. The Panthers also made history by bumping off a No. 1 team for the first time, and they accomplished that twice too.
Sunday, Levance Fields, Sam Young, DeJuan Blair and company made history again, earning the school's first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
While the distinction of being No. 1 comes with many advantages, such as drawing the sacrificial lamb known as No. 16 seed East Tennessee State being served up today, Pittsburgh must caution itself on believing its own hype.
For as much as the Panthers have thrived as a team on the hunt, both this season and last, they have suffered as the hunted.
Pittsburgh won four straight games to capture the Big East Championship a year ago and quickly became a sexy pick as the winner of the NCAA Tournament only to fall in the second round to Michigan State.
This season, Pittsburgh reached No. 1 by winning its first 14 games but was tripped up in game No. 17 on the road by Big East champion Louisville. Pittsburgh regained the top spot by upending Connecticut Feb. 16 but lost its first game in its second run as the nation's top team at Providence.
Neither loss should be considered a bad one, but in the NCAA Tournament, one loss is all it takes.
The senior trio of Fields, Young and Tyrell Biggs, along with Blair, will likely be reminded not to take things for granted when they step into the University of Dayton Arena today for the first time since the Panthers suffered their worst loss in the Jamie Dixon era Dec. 29 last season.
Pittsburgh was 11-0 and coming off an overtime victory against Duke at Madison Square Garden when Dayton pounded the Panthers, 80-55, and Fields suffered a foot injury that sidelined him until Feb. 15.
The Panthers won't need much to defeat ETSU today, but must be on guard starting Sunday against the winner of Oklahoma State and Tennessee. Pittsburgh seems to have a clear path to at least the Elite Eight where it will likely take on Duke or Texas, but it's that kind of thinking that Pittsburgh will need to avoid.
Pitt has proven it could win the NCAA championship by winning six straight conference games from Jan. 31-Feb. 21. Considering the strength of the Big East and the fact the Panthers will play at a neutral site in its tournament games rather than in the opposition's gym, that six-game stretch may be even tougher than the road they'll have to take to get to the Final Four.
Pittsburgh defeated 10 of the 65 teams in the NCAA Tournament earlier this season and has 12 total victories against teams in the tournament making the goal in this year's foray into the Big Dance clear.
Pitt should settle for nothing less than an appearance in the Final Four.
The Panthers will lose Fields, Young, Biggs and possibly Blair after this season. With a brutal Big East schedule, Pittsburgh will likely be scraping just to make it into the field of 65 next year with four new starters.
If Pittsburgh approaches each game with the urgency of a program that has a 10-year window of opportunity about to possibly slam shut, perhaps the Panthers will find themselves in Detroit April 4.
Mike Boytim can be reached at mboytim@altoonamirror.com or at 949-7521
