It's painful? No it isn't. It's actually simple arithmetic. The numbers don't need to be translated. We won 8 conference games. Clemson won 6.
Yeah, that's the right way to look at it. If we played Clemson's ACC schedule there's no way we win more than 6. If they played our schedule of DePaul twice and Gtown 3 times, they win more than 8.
We won 14 games, they won 17. They played in a better conference than we did. They played a tougher non conference schedule than we did. They are way better than us which is why they made the NIT and we would have been laughed at if we thought we were an NIT team
BE has 7/10 teams in the dance. Sorry, the ACC may have more teams, but they have more shitty teams, too. And sorry, their schedule isn't tougher than ours. They played Duke and NC a combined 3 times. We played Nova 3 times. Clemson gets zero credit for losing a close game to a very good team. All that means is that they know how collapse at the end of the game.
The ACC is WAAAY better than the Big East. Keep in mind Virginia, arguably the 6th best team in the ACC lost at the buzzer AT Nova after leading by 10 in the second half. You can't simply dismiss these as all losses count the same regardless of point differential.
Having 7 teams get in is nice, but a majority are weak seeds, 4 at 9 or lower. With 2 being barely in.
ACC had 6 teams seeded 5 or better, 4 teams seeded 3 or better, 3 teams in the top 8.
In addition they had 3 more teams make the NIT, the BE remaining 3 teams were never in the discussion.
I think the depth in the dance is meaningful. Doesn't matter if you're barely in. All 7 games are winnable and come on, 7/10 is badass for the BE. It's better than 9/15. It just is. Even Providence could go to the final four. So could Marquette. So could Seton Hall. I think for us, going 8-12 is meaningful considering our experience level as a team the value of 4 strong wins that weren't cup cake wins like Depaul and Georgetown.
Dude the 4/5 ACC Quarterfinal game was Duke vs Louisville. 2 potential Final Four teams. Followed by a semifinal between Duke and UNC, another game pitting two legitimate Final Four reams.
The 4/5 BE Quarterfinal was SHU and Marquette. Seriously there is no comparison
Furthermore Pittsburgh finished 14th in the ACC this year. This is a program that from 2002 thru 2016 went to the NCAA's in 13 out if 15 years, winning 4 regular season BE titles and winning more BE games than any program from 2002-2011. And they were an afterthought in the ACC this year. BE equivalent is DePaul. You want to compare DePaul to Pittsburgh not even close.
The Big East had three legit Final Four contenders mid-January before the injuries hit
(and will have three next year). Coaches make programs, so Pitt's past is irrelevant at this point. They would have battled us and Gtown for 8th or 9th.
That's utter nonsense, Creighton and Xavier were not Final Four contenders anymore than Butler is.
Duke lost more talent to injuries than Creighton and Xavier COMBINED and Duke is better than they are even without Bolden and Giles.
Louisville lost Quentin Snider for a large part of the season and they ripped off like 4 straight wins WITHOUT HIM.
Sumner is not the difference between Xavier barely making the Tourney (their last two regular season wins over the last month were against DePaul) and being a Final Four contender. Some of you are completely clueless. Sumner makes a difference no doubt.
And Pitt is a better job than SJU, Georgetown, Seton hall, Marquette, DePaul etc. period. There is no one in college basketball that will tell you otherwise.
And if Pitt had not left for the ACC instead was still in the BE Jamie Dixon would not have left Pitt to begin with. The whole reason he left was Pitt was slipping in recruiting especially against the likes of Duke, UNC, Louisville etc. He knew the unreal expectations of the fan base at Pitt were starting to take its toll int hat conference. Geez look at NC St, they alone have more talent than most BE schools and they are the bottom of the ACC and fired their 4 time NCAA in 6 year coach.
Get a clue, the conferences are not even close and no one in college basketball would disagree with that notion.