There is a lot changing with the landscape of college sports with the transfer portal and NIL. When it comes to college basketball, teams all have their sights set on the NCAA Tournament, but there is also the NIT for teams that don't make the 68-team field.
Last season, Pittsburgh went 22-11 and out of spite, the declined their NIT bid, instead looking ahead toward the future and getting into the NCAA Tournament. This season, the Panthers began the sell well, but tailed off in ACC play and went into the ACC Tournament this week needing to win five games in five days like North Carolina State did last year to get in.
They lost their first game of the tournament, 57-55, to Notre Dame on what was a questionable foul call at the buzzer. On Friday, Pittsburgh announced once again that it'll decline playing anymore basketball in the NIT and begin focusing on 2025-26.
“Coach Capel and I are fully committed to positioning Pitt Basketball for sustained success in the ACC and NCAA Tournament,” Greene said in a statement. “Our responsibility is to relentlessly evaluate and enhance every aspect of our program, ensuring it reflects the championship spirit of our city. Because that work is already underway, we’ve determined that the best path forward for our program is to forgo postseason tournaments this year as we build for the future.”
Call me crazy, but you would think that playing more basketball, in any tournament, would benfit your program for next year for the players returning. Last season, Virginia Tech was in the same boat as Pitt, missing out on the NCAA Tournament, but head coach Mike Young was not even thinking twice about playing more basketball for his kids.
“To play in the postseason? Sign me up,” said Young after the Hokies were eliminated in the second round of the ACC Tournament against Florida State last March. “… We all want to play in the big one, but to coach these guys again and make a run at that thing. … I don’t care what anybody says, (it’s) not what all of us want to do, but it is still a great tournament, and I’d like to do that.”
The Hokies beat Richmond in the opener before falling to Ohio State in the second round. After the loss to the Buckeyes, Young had a mass exodus in the transfer portal. This season, Virginia Tech finished the season at 13-19, but if Young had a chance to play more basketball in the NIT or any other tournament, you bet he would. Pitt, on the other hand, will not play in a postseason tournament for a second straight year, and that's sending the wrong message to their players, who I would guarantee sign up to play in a second.