PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The talk of Pitt and the NCAA Tournament is not something limited to the most optimistic Panthers fans. It’s something being talked about with a number of basketball experts, even a former head coach of a Big East, now ACC foe.
It isn’t a throw away. It isn’t a hot take. The experts projecting NCAA brackets from veteran Sporting News writer Mike DeCourcy to Jerry Palm at CBS Sports to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi all have Pitt in the mix at 14-7, 7-3 in the ACC.
Even the former coaches who work as analysts have been impressed with a Panthers team 5-2 on the road this year. On Wednesday, ESPN’s long-time studio analyst Seth Greenberg was part of the call of the Pitt-Wake Forest game. He then discussed what he saw on the Jeff Capel Show on the Pitt Panthers Radio Network and 93.7 The Fan.
“I love their team,” Greenberg said. “You can see the trust they have in each other. You see those faces. You see how they share the ball. See how hard they play. When Wake made that run in the second half, to me it was so impressive that instead of coming apart, you could see them come together.”
“That’s the sign of a team that’s preparing itself to move forward, compete and earn a NCAA bid.”
“I think the urgency is there for everybody in the locker room,” said forward Blake Hinson on the Jeff Capel Show. “I feel like we need to get something done now. We’ve all been in different programs, some of us have had success, some of us haven’t. We are all trying to get to the same goal, March. Once you get to March, everybody knows it’s anybody’s game.”
“The poise, being able to get to the next play, to sustain a run or being able to get that stop you need to answer a run,” Greenberg added of the Panthers. “Those things are really important. When you have a team that doesn’t have maturity. When you have a team that doesn’t have good leadership, that’s hard to establish and make happen. You saw with those guys, the huddles are tight, they lift each other up. It’s a focused group.”
“You’ve got guys on the team now that have been to the NCAA Tournament. They understand what it takes. You got guys now that have a toughness and maturity and stick-to-itiveness to deal with the adversity that goes along with the month of February, the end of January. I was impressed with the character of the players, how hard they played.”
“It starts in the preseason,” Capel said. “It starts in practice. It starts with guys holding each other accountable. If you can learn how to do that every day, it becomes second nature.
That’s the thing we teach and preach and talk to them about. Our team this year has done a really good job of moving on to the next thing, concentrating on the moment. We are at the midway point. At this time of year, everyone is a little bit banged up, got bumps and bruises. Who can stay healthy? Who can be at their best when the lights come on?”
The lights are on for a big matchup Saturday afternoon against 16-4 and 20th ranked Miami. Pregame at 3:30 with Bill Hillgrove, Curtis Aiken and Cale Berger on 93.7 The Fan.