Men’s basketball: Nobody’s overlooking Oakland

One year after their most successful season in recent memory, the Panthers find themselves in… One year after their most successful season in recent memory, the Panthers find themselves in an eerily similar situation.

Last year, Pitt earned a double-bye in the Big East tournament by way of a strong regular season but lost in the quarterfinals to West Virginia and left the Big Apple with a whimper.

That didn’t affect Pitt’s seeding as it earned a No. 1 seed for the first time in school history, and the loss gave the team a week off before its first round game against East Tennessee State.

But despite the week off, Pitt struggled against East Tennessee — the Panthers were only up by two points with 4:27 remaining in the game. The Panthers managed to survive and defeat ETSU 72-62 and Oklahoma State 84-76 in the second round two days later.

This year, Pitt faces the same obstacles.

The Panthers once again bowed out of the Big East tournament Thursday after earning a double-bye — this year losing to a surging Notre Dame.

But the Panthers still nabbed a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and will travel to Milwaukee to face No. 14-seed Oakland Friday.

That gives Pitt more than a week off, much like it had last year when it struggled against ETSU.

But Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said he is certain the Panthers will be ready.

He avoided comparisons to last year and said the week off isn’t why the Panthers struggled against ETSU.

Dixon repeated his statements from a year ago when he said ETSU was a good team and it deserved more than a No. 16 seed. Though, the selection committee must not have listened, as ETSU is again a No. 16 seed this season and will face No. 1 Kentucky Thursday.

Dixon said he is simply focused on improving.

“We’ve got a couple good practices in this week, and we can improve this week,” he said.

Brad Wanamaker played an important role on last season’s team, and he echoed his coach by saying the week off isn’t why Pitt struggled against ETSU.

“It’s just something that happened,” he said. “ETSU was just a great team.”

Still, he is determined to stay sharp throughout this week, because “Oakland is a good team, too.”

“Coach Dixon has us scrimmaging,” Wanamaker said. “We are motivated to get back on that court after losing.”

Gary McGhee said the recent practices keep the team in the right frame of mind.

“We have been scrimmaging to keep the feel of things, and it was just like a game,” McGhee said.

This might be a younger team than last year’s, but Dixon and some of the returning players bring valuable experience from last year. Familiarity with the situation entering the NCAA Tournament might give them an edge that Dixon is determined to use to his advantage.

“We have the opportunity to get better at some things,” Dixon said. “We can be as good as we want to be.”

If ETSU taught the Panthers anything, it’s not to overlook the first round.

Regarding the West Region, Dixon said he didn’t even know who Pitt would play after Oakland.

Gilbert Brown was also on last year’s team, and he will also take that experience and learn from it.

“We need to maintain focus this week,” he said.

He then gave his team some advice: “Don’t take Oakland lightly.”