After the big win over Villanova on Saturday, Pitt will be 'treated' to the No. 1 seed in the Big East tournament. But that doesn't guarantee an easy path.
Sure, I didn't expect Pitt to have a gimme game for their opener. With a double bye, the bad teams will get weeded out pretty quickly. But the path (well, at least the first game) appears harder than that of other teams.
Pitt will face either UConn, Georgetown, or DePaul in their opener. So throwing out DePaul, it's coming down to either the Hoyas or Huskies. Ouch.
Look at some of these other pairings:
Syracuse will get either St. John's, Rutgers, or Seton Hall
Notre Dame gets either Villanova, Cincinnati, or South Florida
Louisville gets either West Virginia, Marquette, or Providence
Now, no disrespect to West Virginia, but Louisville as the No. 4 seed looks like they got a better draw than Pitt. I'd rather play the Mountaineers than Georgetown or UConn. And that's even assuming West Virginina advances - Louisville could end up getting Marquette or Providence. Obviously, the seeding comes down to records but giving this the 'sniff test,' I think the Cardinals have a pretty favorable first-round matchup.
Still, it all depends how far you even want the Panthers to go. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Pitt win one and be done so that they can rest up a bit. But if you want to see Pitt go all the way, it looks like the opening round game could have been a little easier.
And a cheap plug - be sure to check out our Big East tournament stream over at SB Nation Pittsburgh. Aaron Hawley, our WVU writer, and I will be posting recaps on the day's events each night. And if you head over there now, you can see his picks to win each game.