Whether or not it’s one that you simply agree with or not, everyone seems to be entitled to their very own opinion.

That’s very true on the subject of sports activities, which is without doubt one of the issues that make it nice.

Since getting TKO’d yesterday by Duke, many individuals, each domestically and nationally, have expressed an opinion on Pitt, debating whether or not they personal a reliable event resume.

Previous to Thursday’s 2:30 PM tipoff towards Duke, the nationwide consensus gave the impression to be that the Panthers locked up a bid the day earlier than towards Georgia Tech, which was win No. 22.

That opinion was shortly modified following Pitt getting destroyed by the Blue Devils and the flavour of the day now has Pitt as a bubble staff and presumably on the skin trying in.

Whereas I imagine in freedom of speech and the significance of being allowed to have an opinion, if you happen to suppose Pitt is a bubble staff and will miss the event, you’re loopy.

Jeff Capel’s staff, undoubtedly, has a event resume and in the event that they’re not one of many 68 groups chosen on Sunday evening, it’s a complete joke and the system is damaged.

Whereas this is only one man’s opinion and no approach am I all the time proper, if Pitt does miss the event, it gained’t be due to their resume, it’ll be due to one thing that’s modified the choice course of and adjusted it for the more severe: the impression computer systems and metrics have on who’s event worthy.

Increase your hand if you wish to throw up while you hear the words- KenPom, NET, Quad One/Two wins, and so on.

One person who clearly doesn’t share the identical opinion as me, is Alan Saunders, who wrote a column and has no problem with this method and appears to be campaigning for a job with Ken Pom and his staff (LOL).

I really like Alan and this isn’t the very first thing that we’ve disagreed about, however he’s completely improper when making an attempt to make a case that the metrics had been proper about Pitt.

The benefit of Alan is that once I clarify why I hate the system and don’t agree with 99% of his column, he gained’t block me on Twitter like Ken Pom did.

When these new pc/metrics based mostly methods have a lot affect on event seeding and whether or not a staff qualifies for a event, extra widespread sense must be used, extra taking a look at a staff along with your eyes must be executed as an alternative of simply merely plugging numbers into a pc.

If that was executed, Pitt wouldn’t be ranked No. 77 by Ken Pom and No. 67 by NET, which is at present the case.

Whereas the pro-metrics individuals will say ‘we’re not saying they’re the 77th or 67th greatest staff within the nation,’ they really are as a result of that’s the place they’ve them listed on their respective service. And since that’s the place they’re at present slotted, most nationwide bracketologists use this quantity when deciding the place to seed Pitt.

I’m not going to try to make the case that Pitt is at present one of many Prime 25 or 30 greatest groups within the nation however don’t try to insult my intelligence by saying that metrics are correct with their present place of Pitt.

Having them at both #67 or #77 is a complete joke and also you lose complete credibility by making an attempt to argue these rankings are okay or correct.

Listed below are probably the most egregious errors and why I can’t give an oz of credibility to what they’re making an attempt to spew out.

LATEST KEN POM RANKNGS
Pitt No. 77
Iona No. 76
BYU No. 73
Charleston No. 72
Yale No. 69
Seton Corridor No. 68
Central Florida No. 67
Drake No. 66
Sam Houston State No. 64
Texas Tech No. 61
Colorado No. 59
Oral Roberts No. 56
UAB No. 55
NC State No. 54
Ohio State No. 53
Oklahoma No. 51
Liberty No. 48
North Carolina No. 47
Michigan No. 45
Nevada No. 43
North Texas No. 41
Boise State No. 28
Florida Atlantic No. 27
Utah State No. 21

I’m not going to enter every particular person staff that I listed, however give me a break if you happen to’re going to try to inform me with a straight face that Florida Atlantic is 50 spots higher than Pitt, or that Liberty is 29 spots higher, or {that a} staff that Pitt BEAT TWICE is 30 spots higher or groups with general shedding data are higher than Pitt or that you simply’re going to rank a staff greater than Pitt that performs in a minor convention and performs little or no competitors all season.

After I say use widespread sense, that’s what I’m referring to. What do you suppose UAB’s document could be in the event that they performed within the ACC? I can confidently predict it wouldn’t be above .500. Similar with Iona, Charleston, Yale, Central Florida, Drake, Sam Houston State, Colorado, Oral Roberts, Liberty, Nevada, North Texas, Boise State, Florida Atlantic or Utah State.

Since they’d end underneath .500, they wouldn’t be ranked in any metrics system above Pitt, which makes the present rankings laughable.

None of these groups that play little to no competitors needs to be listed forward of Pitt and if they’re, your system is a foul one.

No matter what’s being written and mentioned, Pitt definitely has a event worthy resume. One thing that will get utterly neglected and an element that computer systems don’t contemplate is that at first of the season, this Pitt staff was making an attempt to develop chemistry with all the brand new faces on the roster and of their beginning lineup. That doesn’t occur in a single day, thus some struggles at first of the season. I’d recommend that if Pitt performed VCU, Michigan and Vanderbilt at midseason or on the finish of the season, outcomes would’ve been completely different.

That being mentioned, the competitors they performed and video games they gained is NCAA Match worthy.

Beating Northwestern (No. 2 seed in Massive 10), NC State on the highway, Syracuse (twice), Miami (No. 1 seed in ACC), North Carolina (twice) and Virginia ought to make Pitt event worthy and is definitely higher than any of the groups I listed above at present personal.

It’s arduous to imagine that individuals are saying that Pitt didn’t do sufficient this season to earn a spot however that’s the case and a cause Pitt followers and members of this system will likely be sweating till Sunday at 6 PM.

I’m going to shut with a reality that ought to enable Panther nation to sleep straightforward over the subsequent 2 nights.

Because the NCAA event expanded to 64 groups in 1985, EVERY ACC staff that gained 70% of its convention video games throughout the common season certified for the NCAA event. EVERY SINGLE ONE.

Pitt achieved that this season, which is another excuse this shouldn’t even be a dialog piece.

Regardless of what the computer systems are saying and them making an attempt to maintain Pitt out, that gained’t occur.

First the primary time since 2016, the Pitt Panthers will likely be dancing in March and it’s one thing that was earned.