Joe Lunardi's College Basketball Bracketology Projects Pitt As Out

When it comes to Pitt basketball, things have gone from bad to worse with the team's loss to DePaul last week. No, in case you were wondering, that wasn't a dream.

National experts are starting to notice, starting with Joe Lunardi, ESPN's resident Bracketologist.

Lunardi, in his most recent NCAA tournament projections released on Monday, has Pitt as out of the tournament. And not only out, but not even one of his first teams out.

That shouldn't come as much of a surprise as Pitt has now managed to lose four straight games and the team hasn't even faced the meat of its Big East schedule. The Panthers have 15 games left and the season is past the midway point. The bad news? Of those 15 games, they've got Louisville twice, and games against UConn, Marquette, West Virginia, surprising 14-2 Seton Hall, and No. 1 Syracuse all on the road. Then there's a ranked Georgetown team at home for good measure.

After losing to DePaul, face it, even games against teams like South Florida can't be counted as gimmes. Pitt has 11 wins and likely needs to at least seven more to get a sniff at getting in, depending on who they beat. But after what we've seen over the past four, that's easier said than done.