It wasn’t long ago that winning 20 regular-season games as a member of the ACC made earning a trip to the 68-team NCAA Tournament a damn-near lock.

Those days are gone. The ACC isn’t considered as strong and formidable a men’s college basketball conference as it was in the recent past. Also, the selection committee has a new and puzzling way of deciding who gets to punch its ticket to the dance.

The 2023/2024 Pitt men’s college basketball team doesn’t appear to have the necessary metrics to be included in the field of 68 when Selection Sunday commences on March 17, better known as Saint Patrick’s Day.

Will the Panthers benefit from the luck of the Irish that day? They may have to, at least that became the popular sentiment following a close but disheartening loss at Clemson last Tuesday.

Pitt went into Saturday’s clash with Boston College at Conte Forum totally outside of the bubble in the latest NCAA bracket projections. How did the Panthers respond? By blowing out Boston College by a score of 90-65.

Freshman guard Carlton “Bub” Carrington led all Panthers scorers with 27 points. He was 10 of 18 from the floor–including an impressive seven of 12 from three-point range. Senior forward Blake Hinson rebounded from his six-point performance against Clemson by scoring 19 points vs. the Eagles. Hinson only attempted four shots from behind the arc but connected on three.

Speaking of which, Pitt attempted 30 shots from three-point range and made a robust 16 of them. It’s no secret that the three-point shot is the Panthers’ bread and butter, and they go how it goes.

Hinson opened the scoring with a three-pointer, and Pitt never trailed the rest of the way. The Panthers led by 15 at halftime and by as many as 32 points over the final 20 minutes.

The win didn’t get Pitt to 20 regular-season victories, but it did improve to 19-10, overall, and 10-8 in conference play. It was the final road game of the season for the Panthers, who ended the year with six ACC victories away from home.

Pitt finishes up its regular-season slate of games with back-to-back home dates at Petersen Events Center–including Florida State this Tuesday and NC State next Saturday.

The Panthers are now ranked 44th in the all-important Net Rankings and Quad Wins category. Saturday’s victory over the Eagles was considered a Quad 2 win (a Quad 2 victory is a road win vs. a team ranked anywhere from 76th to 135th). It doesn’t appear that Pitt’s final two opponents will help much, as both Florida State and NC State currently sit outside the top 80 (a Quad 2 win can be achieved at home if it comes against an opponent that’s ranked between 31 and 75).

The Panthers can still dance in March, but they certainly can’t stumble in either of their final two regular-season games at home. After that, a run in the ACC Tournament will likely be necessary.