I've been spending so much time writing and talking about the Steelers playoff prospects lately that I haven't had much time to spend watching and following the Pitt Panther's men's basketball team. There normally isn't much reason to pay attention to them during this time of year because they've been so unbelieveably consistent over the past decade. It's very rare for a Jamie Dixon team to have even one loss in early January, but the 2011/2012 Panthers just suffered their 5th loss of the season last night to Depaul. That's right, I typed Depaul, and it wasn't an error.
Going into last night's game, Depaul was 2-53 over the last three seasons in Big East conference play. Pitt led by as many as 12 points in the game, and four with just over 17 seconds left, but because of poor foul shooting, Pitt blew the lead, and ultimately, the game, 84-81.
I better hope the Steelers give me another month or so of distractions in the form of an epic Super Bowl run, because Pitt is 0-4 in the Big East, and unless there is a huge winning-streak real soon, the team might miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2000/2001 season.
Oh well, all good things must end, and as a Pitt fan, I knew the team's run at making the tourney would have to end sooner or later. And that's certainly nothing to be ashamed of--after all, perennial powerhouses like UConn and Syracuse have missed the tournament in recent years--I just didn't think it would happen this year. Not when the Panthers were ranked in the top ten at the beginning of the year.
I'm not necessarily saying Pitt's run will end this season, but it's certainly not going to be easy, that's for sure.
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