Thanks a lot, Pitt. Now you're gonna go and get my hopes up: Panthers down Hoyas at the Pete

This is normally the time of year (if the Steelers aren't making a run to the Super Bowl) where I begin to focus on Pitt men's basketball and start to dream about a possible deep run in the NCAA tournament and that long-sought after Final Four appearance.

Unfortunately, thanks to an eight-game losing streak--including an 0-7 mark to open their Big East schedule--I allowed myself to disengage my emotions from the team.

I mean, let's face it, after the emotional let-down that was the end of the Steelers' 2011 season, I needed a reason to decompress the passionate sports side of myself just a little.

Well, now with point guard Travon Woodall back in the lineup after being sidelined for weeks with a strained abdominal muscle, the Panthers are on a modest two-game winning streak, including a 72-60 upset of the Georgetown Hoyas yesterday afternoon at the Peterson Events Center.

Normally, a home (or even road) victory over a top ten Big East team wouldn't be big news for the Panthers, and certainly wouldn't be considered an upset, but this year it is, and now people are wondering if Pitt will start to resemble the top 10 team it appeared to be before Woodall's injury and Khem Birch's sudden transfer to UNLV.

I can almost guarantee you they'll resemble their preseason projection down the stretch. Freed of his point guard responsibilities with Woodall back in the lineup, sharp-shooter Ashton Gibbs has found his 3-point stroke again and is starting to look like the player many thought he would be when he was selected as the Preseason Big East Player of the Year.

Right now, the Panthers are 13-9, and if they can go 7-2 in the second half of their Big East schedule, they'll finish the year with 20 victories and a .500 mark in the conference.

Will that be enough? I don't know, but I am certain that they will be a bubble team. The Panthers' postseason chances will be talked about ad nauseum as the team approaches the Big East tournament, and Jamie Dixon will be RPIing everyone to death. The local radio stations will have the bracket experts on, and they'll start building up the hope by saying stuff like, "hey, if you can go 9-9 in the very elite Big East, in my opinion, you're one of the top 68 teams in the country."

My brother will start to call me every day in early March to discuss the possibilities. Pitt might even be seeded 12th or 13th on one of those daily bracket projection websites.

At 9-9, Pitt will need to win at least a couple of games in the Big East tournament, and maybe they will. Will it be enough?

I don't know, but I am certain that I'll be watching Selection Sunday with a level of emotion usually reserved for a Steelers playoff game.

Over the past decade, it was just a matter of where Pitt would be seeded, and when and where they would play.

Not this year.

Thanks a lot, Pitt. Now I'm emotionally invested again.