GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Pitt has not won two games in the same NCAA Tournament since 2009, when it won three before bowing out to Villanova in the Elite Eight. If the Panthers want to continue to make history in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, it will have to go through on the of the best powers to come from college basketball's best conference.
"You know, I think everybody in the program, everybody around the team really is excited about (Tuesday's) win, but I think after we got a chance to digest it, we're just focused on our next opportunity because there's no point in looking at the history now until we can finish it, so let's go do as much as we can until we can't play anymore," Nelly Cummings said during Thursday's open locker room at Greensboro Coliseum.
The Big 12 has widely been recognized as the best and deepest college basketball conference this season, a mantle which the ACC has held throughout parts of the sport's history.
Friday's NCAA Tournament Midwest Region First Round matchup between No. 11 Pitt (23-11, 14-6 ACC) and No. 6 Iowa State (19-13, 9-9 Big 12) at Greensboro Coliseum is not just a clash of styles on the floor; it can be chalked up as a clash of power conference versus power conference in a world where supremacy is often pop-corned around.
"I would say the Big 12 is certainly over the last few years solidified that standing as the best league in the country," Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said. "Whether you look at metrics, percentage of teams in the tournament, all those sort of things, it seems apparent that the Big 12 is at the top. We've played 20 games against Big 12 teams over the last three months, and that helps prepare you for an opportunity like this."
The Big 12 sent seven teams to the 2023 NCAA Tournament: No. 1-seed Kansas, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Baylor, No. 3 Kansas State, No. 6 Iowa State, No. 6 TCU, and No. 9 West Virginia.
The ACC sent five teams to the 2023 NCAA Tournament: No. 4 Virginia, No. 5 Duke, No. 5 Miami, No. 11 Pitt, and No. 11 NC State.
Coincidentally, the first two results of the weekend's NCAA Tournament first- and second-round action resulted in a loss for either conference. West Virginia lost to No. 8 Maryland, and Virginia was eliminated by No. 13 Furman in the South Region. The juxtaposition of those eliminations are nearly par for the course with respect to the perception around the conferences during this season. West Virginia was the Big 12's lowest-seeded team while Virginia was the ACC's highest.
Kansas, a Big 12 team, beat the ACC's North Carolina in last year's national championship game, giving the Big 12 two straight national champions after Baylor won the title in 2021. The 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Virginia claimed the ACC's most-recent title by winning it in 2019. An ACC team had won the national championship in every other season dating to 2013 and ending with Baylor's title. Louisville was the 2013 national champion, Duke won it in 2015, and North Carolina won it in 2017.
The last Big 12 team to win a national championship prior to Baylor's was Kansas in 2008.
The ACC also took three teams to last season's Elite Eight -- North Carolina, Duke, and Miami -- while Kansas was the Big 12's lone representative in that round. The Hurricanes lost to Kansas, while North Carolina and Duke advanced to play each other in the Final Four.
Nobody has carried the torch for his conference this season like Jeff Capel, who is looking for his two-plus-win NCAA Tournament since the same 2009 season in which he took Oklahoma to the Elite Eight before losing to eventual national champion North Carolina in that round.
(Also coincidentally, if Pitt and Oklahoma each would have won their Elite Eight games in 2009, they would have met in the Final Four, in a national semifinal. Michigan State beat UCONN in the other national semifinal, and North Carolina beat Michigan State for the national championship.)
Capel has gone as far to call out the ACC Network and ESPN for their coverage of the conference at one point this season. He has played in the ACC, spent time as an assistant coach in the ACC, and is now in his fifth season as a head coach in the ACC.
The Panthers spent a good chunk of time as the No. 1 team in the ACC standings this season, and Capel and his players have spoken about the 87-58 win over Northwestern -- a No. 7 seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament -- in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge back in November as a turning point for their season after starting 1-3.
"I mean, it's not our sole responsibility as a program, but it's certainly something that we have great pride in," Capel said. "You know, I thought that -- I think our league is way better than the computers think or maybe some of the media thinks. Hopefully we were able to prove that this year. I think we've proved it every year in the Tournament. The teams that have gotten here have done an outstanding job for the most part. I saw a stat yesterday: We have by far the most wins, most Final Fours. It's not even close. Hopefully we can help do that this year."
Pitt's 60-59 win over Mississippi State in Tuesday's First Four in Dayton, Ohio, was the program's first NCAA Tournament win since it beat Colorado March 20, 2014. The Panthers have a bit of history on the line with potentially earning a second win and advancing to Sunday against either No. 3 Xavier or No. 14 Kennesaw State, which would continue the mission Capel's retooled roster set out for in the final runs of the collegiate careers of Cummings, Jamarius Burton, Greg Elliott, Nike Sibande, and Aidan Fisch.
For now, of course, the Panthers are dead set on keeping history alive and potentially being fit for a glass slipper as the 2023 NCAA Tournament's Cinderella team.
"I haven't really sat down to reflect," said Burton, whose jumper with 10 seconds left gave Pitt the go-ahead points in Tuesday's win. "I'm pretty sure I will later on, but for me I'm just trying to be where my feet are and continue to embrace these moments, and that's really the only thing I can focus on right now."
Capel is aware of the significance of the win, of course, but is also laser-focused on Iowa State.
"When you are in the midst of it and you are still going, you focus on the next thing that's in front of you," Capel said. "You know, one of the things I've talked about is right now we have to remove all the rear-view mirrors. We're just looking straight out the front and what's ahead of us. When we're finished -- and hopefully it's a while before we're finished -- then we'll have time to look behind us and, really, you know, talk about what we've accomplished. But right now we're just focused on Iowa State and what we have to do to try to beat really a good basketball team."
Otzelberger has led Iowa State to wins over North Carolina (back when the Tar Heels were still ranked No. 1), Baylor (three times), TCU (twice), Texas, Kansas State, and Kansas.
However, in the dog-eat-dog conference that is the Big 12 and with some tough nonconference scheduling to go along with it, Iowa State has also lost to UCONN, Iowa, Oklahoma State, West Virginia (twice), and Oklahoma.
"We take a lot of pride to represent our conference, and to do it in such a way that represents all the effort-based things that the teams in our league do: getting loose balls, taking charges, rebounding the basketball, playing with tremendous passion and enthusiasm," Otzelberger said. "That's what we experience night in and night out in our conference, and that's what we hope to carry forward into this game tomorrow."
Pitt has two players with Big 12 experience. Blake Hinson spent a year a half at Iowa State before leaving the program shorty prior to the start of the 2021-'22 season, Otzelberger's first as a coach. Hinson dealt with a non-COVID-related illness and never played a game for the Cyclones prior to his transfer.
Hinson was not up for talking Thursday about his experience at Iowa State.
"I would rather not say," Hinson said.
He later added he does not keep contact with any of Iowa State's current players, and that Pitt is "my favorite location I've ever been."
"The group is special all the way," Hinson said. "Like outside of the teammates, you know what I mean? I've made connections with a lot of people out in the city and the team, in the locker room, and the coaching staff. I'm thankful beyond belief for these people, these teammates and everybody here. I would need a whole hour special of an interview to talk about the love I got for everybody here."
When I asked Otzelberger about his previous experiences around Hinson, he made a point of how there is not much to make out of Hinson leaving his program.
"Blake is a terrific young man, and he signed up to play for the coach prior to us," Otzelberger said. "You know, I think it's something where he felt like it wasn't the best fit for him, and I think both sides have done all right with it. It's neat to see Blake continue to play well and elevate his game, and at the same time, you know, we're proud of where we're at with our program. So it's one of those situations where I think everybody wants to make something out of it, and at the end there's a young man who is playing really well on an NCAA Tournament team, and then it's our group that's playing well also. So everybody came out OK in that situation."
Hinson's former roommate, Cyclones forward Aljaž Kunc, said during Iowa State's open locker room session there were no hard feelings from him or the team on Hinson for leaving.
"He was with us a whole summer session and practiced with us the beginning of the fall session before he decided to transfer," Kunc said. "It's worked out. It’s going to be a fun matchup on the court.”
Added Cyclones guard Jaren Holmes about Hinson: "Blake, last year in the summer, he competed hard. He was a fun guy to play with. I mean, this is a new team, and, I mean, we're excited to play Pitt. Our focus is on them and what they do well and what areas we can attack. I feel like we match up really well against them, and we're excited for it."
Burton is the other Pitt player with prior experience playing in the Big 12, playing in 23 games and making it to the NCAA Tournament with Texas Tech in the 2020-'21 season. Burton scored nine points on 4 of 8 shooting while playing 23 minutes off the bench in his lone matchup against Iowa State Jan. 9, 2021.
Now an All-ACC player at Pitt, Burton said there are contrasting styles in playing ball in the Big 12 versus in the ACC.
"I think it will be a great challenge, a great game between two great conferences," Burton said. "They have the respect of being one of the top conferences in the country. I've played in that league, I've played in this league, so for me it's just coming down to competing. ... I would just say in that league they're a little bit more physical, and I would just say in this league the skill's a little bit different, as well. The skills, the coaching schemes, the type of players that are being thrown on the floor. At the end of the day it's going to come down to competing, and that's what we like to do most."
