The best draw possible

Sunday, 04 March 2012 09:42

Written by Ray Fittipaldo

Good morning from Bradley International Airport. I am waiting for my flight back to Pittsburgh, where I'll have 24 hours to unpack and repack my suitcase before heading out to the Big East tournament in New York Monday night.

We had to wait until after 10 p.m. last night to find out Pitt's draw at the tournament, but for the Panthers it turned out the wait was worth it.

For a Pitt team that lost 13 times in Big East play during the regular season it figured that almost any path for a deep run at the conference tournament was going to be filled with bad matchups. However, Pitt received about the best draw it could hope for when the bracket was unveiled last night.

No. 13 seed Pitt will open the Big East tournament Tuesday against No. 12 St. John's. The Panthers beat St. John's by 20 in the home finale Wednesday night.

If they win that game the second-round opponent will be Georgetown, a team the Panthers also beat convincingly at the Petersen Events Center.

Should the Panthers get to Thursday the opponent would be No. 4 seed Cincinnati. Pitt lost to Cincinnati by three at the Pete in January without Tray Woodall.

And then if they won that game the opponent Friday night likely would be No. 1 seed Syracuse, a team the Panthers always play well against. The meeting this season was won by Syracuse by eight points, but the Panthers played the Orange tough at the Carrier Dome.

It would have been much worse. Had Pitt finished 14th – a head-to-head tiebreaker advantage over Villanova prevented this – the Panthers would have drawn Rutgers in the opening round. Rutgers handed Pitt a 23-point loss at the Pete in January.

If the Panthers managed to win that game they would have drawn No. 6 South Florida in the second round. South Florida twice beat Pitt convincingly during the regular season.

Coach Jamie Dixon continues to believe in his team and the players remain positive. The draw is a good one. Now it's up to the Panthers to take advantage of it.

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