Make no mistake about it. The run Pitt went on throughout the regular season and into the ACC Tournament was unforeseen by most and subsequently doubted by the same crowd into Selection Sunday.
Now that the Panthers are in the big dance, the mission to continue to prove themselves right is at the forefront.
No. 11-seed Pitt will make its return to the NCAA Tournament when it tips off against No. 11-seed Mississippi State Tuesday at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio, in the First Four round. The winner will advance to Greensboro, N.C. to oppose No. 6 seed Iowa State in the Round of 64 at 3:10 p.m. Friday at Greensboro Coliseum.
It would be a fitting return for a team out to continue this program-changing run to have that opportunity to rectify what happened in Greensboro just a few days ago.
Let the captain's voice describe those emotions as Pitt found out it made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016:
"It was joy with a mixture of hunger if you could imagine that," Jamarius Burton said Sunday at the Petersen Events Center.
Knowing this Pitt team -- one laden with veterans led by a head coach in Jeff Capel who has NCAA Tournament experience -- Burton's simple assessment of his team's feeling about making the NCAA Tournament is on par.
Leave it to this team which has fought through adversity at every corner to have the tools to overcome it once again. The 27-point loss sustained to Duke in Thursday's ACC Tournament quarterfinal round was the worst since Pitt lost by 31 to Michigan in the Legends Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y., back in November.
Perhaps a bit of history can repeat itself? Pitt embarked on its run out of that Brooklyn trip and hit its groove with wins over NCAA Tournament teams NC State and Northwestern not long after that.
"I would say the tone has been pretty good," Burton said. "Nobody's deflated when we lose. Nobody's deflated. For us it's about the next opportunity, and it's 0-0 with the next opportunity coming up (Tuesday) playing against a good team in Mississippi State."
The Panthers are 5-5 against teams in the NCAA Tournament field of 68, with wins over Virginia, NC State, Miami, Northwestern, and Fairleigh Dickinson and losses to West Virginia, VCU, Miami, and two against Duke.
Those wins over NC State and Northwestern have been pointed out as turning points for this team, which had to continuously work to earn the respect from the outside.
Not that the players were searching for it, but as Greg Elliott said, this Panthers team is aware of the doubt from the outside.
How does he want the national audience to see Pitt come Tuesday?
"Tough. Gritty. Disciplined," Elliott said. "They better see the same stuff we said we wanted to prove in the ACC. I feel like we did a pretty good job of proving people wrong this year. Now it's time for the next step: Proving people wrong nationally."
History bodes well for First Four teams. In 10 of the 11 years in which the First Four has been played, one team has advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Two reached the Final Four (VCU in 2011, UCLA in 2021), and three others reached the Sweet 16.
"We want to definitely make it a point and go out in that first game because we felt like we should have gotten a higher seed, for sure," Nelly Cummings said.
If Pitt wants to be the group which fits that bill, it will have to quickly wash away what ever the loss to Duke from Thursday could be considered.
"For us we've just got to be more connected than we've ever been," Burton said. "Understand that the games we've lost has been more so about our defense and trying to pick that back up leading into the Tournament."
Burton's point resonates. The Panthers (22-11, 14-6 ACC) have surrendered at least 80 points in four of their last five games, with the exception being the 78 allowed at Miami to close the regular season. Mississippi State (21-12, 8-10 SEC) scored 80 or more points three times this season, though it is averaging 65.9 per game.
"Defense. Play harder," the often-succinct Blake Hinson said.
Mississippi State surely will bring defense. The Bulldogs are allowing 60.4 points per game, good for a tie for seventh in the NCAA, and their 91.3 points allowed per 100 possessions (in KenPom terms, adjusted defensive efficiency) is sixth in the NCAA. They hold opponents to 30.8% shooting from 3-point range, which is tied for 27th in the NCAA.
"I love watching college basketball, so I'm not going to say I know the team, but I know, somewhat, a little bit about Mississippi State," Elliott said. "It won't be a huge surprise for me. We're going to go watch it. Me and Nelly are getting ready to go watch (tape) after (the press conference) for sure. We're going to have a little bit of insight on whatever our coach is getting ready to bring to us.
"... I know their leading scorer is big. (Tolu) Smith. I know he's going to get a lot of touches. He loves to cause a lot of havoc on the offensive glass, so we know we've got to keep him off of it. Basically he's going to try and attack all of our weaknesses that we've had the majority of this year. It's going to be a matchup."
Pitt brings more NCAA Tournament experience than just from the coaching staff and from Capel, who guided Oklahoma to the Elite Eight in 2009. Burton experienced the NCAA Tournament and won a game while at Texas Tech in 2021. Elliott was injured and wore a redshirt during Marquette's NCAA Tournament appearance in 2019, but played on last year's team which lost to North Carolina in the Round of 64, and Cummings nearly led Colgate to an upset over Wisconsin in last year's NCAA Tournament.
Those four will be instrumental voices and resources for the complimentary younger core this team will need to lean on for key stretches.
"Just go out there and give it everything you've got," Elliott said. "Just the same thing I'd tell them before any other game. Of course there's going to be more pressure because of what game it is and the magnitude of the game, but I'd tell my teammates to go out there and do the same thing I've been telling them before every other game."
This is the final run for Cummings, Elliott, Burton, and ACC Sixth Man of the Year Nike Sibande before their respective college careers come to a close. So, while there is the goal of pushing forward and continuing what that core four has built this season, there is also the perspective of the final stretch for this team which has individually and collectively put Pitt basketball back on the map.
"Because it's all of our last games, our last moments, we're going to come out and play desperate as we should," Cummings said. "We're not going to have that chance again."
Pitt has had to battle throughout the season with the deck stacked against it. Will Jeffress had foot surgery in December and missed the season, Dior Johnson dealt with legal troubles and took a redshirt, John Hugley IV -- the player which Capel has said this whole operation was built around -- took a redshirt to work through his mental health and to rehab his sprained knee.
Then there was the 1-3 start to the season. Now is the remnants of the 1-3 finish to the season.
Still. Here Pitt is.
"Throughout all of the adversity we've faced this year, all of the different things. the highs, the lows, the good, the bad, and the ugly, I knew we'd be in a similar position as this towards the end of our year," Cummings said. "We're just really thankful to be here, but like JB and Greg alluded to, we're very hungry, and we're really excited for what's next."
But there is, no doubt, this Panthers team is aware of the strides made over the course of the year. The first-team All-ACC player Burton has been here through the bad and has been the leading reason why Pitt has been able to achieve the good this season.
"I'm extremely grateful, so are my teammates, to be here to have this opportunity," Burton said. "When you look back at the beginning of the season, us being picked 14th in our league and to be here, sitting today with this opportunity to play in March Madness I'm pretty sure all of us are grateful and blessed, but like I said, we have an opportunity right in front of us."
