PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – What did Pitt think of finally getting back into the NCAA Tournament but having to go through a play-in round in Dayton on Tuesday?
“It was joy with a mixture of hunger,” said Pitt leader Jamarius Burton.
What a great way to say we’re glad to be in, but ticked off to have hours to prepare for your first game Tuesday night against Mississippi State. Also having to play one more game than 64 other teams.
“It’s not secret we are in the First Four,” said graduate student Nelly Cummings. “That’s something that we talked about as a group. We wanted to definitely go out and make a point in that first game because we felt like we should have gotten a higher seed for sure.”
“They say margin of victory or defeat is not supposed to be part of the criteria, maybe it is?” wondered Pitt head coach Jeff Capel when asked if the blowout loss to Duke on Thursday affected their seeding. “I wish they would have weighed the Northwestern win more if that’s part of the metric.”
Capel then pointed out some of their resume of four Quad 1 wins, seven wins against Quad 1 and 2 teams, tied for fourth in road wins among all Power 5 teams. The veteran coach also thought about it more, big picture.
“I’m excited and honored that our name was called,” Capel said. “There are a lot of coaches and players right now that would give anything to have heard their name. So I’m definitely excited about that. I don’t think our league gets the respect we should get, but there is nothing I can do about that except for us to go out and play well and all the teams in our league to perform well.”
“That’s something we can’t control,” Burton said of the seeding. “We aren’t the committee. We don’t place the teams and the seedings. We can’t be up in arms about where we are located, it’s about our matchup and who we get put in front of us.”
“I’m extremely grateful, so are my teammates to be here and have this opportunity. When you look back at the beginning of the season us being picked 14th in our league & to be here sitting today with this opportunity to play in March Madness. We are grateful and blessed to have an opportunity in front of us.”
“We were excited for all the work we put in to this season,” said guard Greg Elliott. “The reason we came here was to get here.”
“I’m really just happy for these guys,” Capel said. “They’ve worked. They’ve fought and we won. It’s something that is earned. For this group to be the group to get back to the Dance is a pretty cool dog-gone thing.”