March Madness: After a strong regular season, Pitt earns a No. 3 seed in NCAA Tournament

The wait is finally over. The selection committee announced the field of 65 last night with… The wait is finally over. The selection committee announced the field of 65 last night with Pitt getting a No. 3 seed in the West Region to advance to its ninth straight NCAA Tournament.

Its bracket is highlighted by No. 1 seed Syracuse, along with second-seeded Kansas State and strong mid-major teams such as Butler and Gonzaga.

But up first for the Panthers as they travel to Milwaukee are the No. 14 seed Oakland Golden Grizzlies, the champions of the Summit League. They come into this game riding an 11-game winning streak.

The two teams share one common opponent in Syracuse, who Oakland lost to 92-60 in December. But Pitt won’t be overlooking any opponents in this Tournament, especially not after last year when the team narrowly avoided being upset in the first round by East Tennessee State — a No. 16 seed.

“You can’t take any game lightly, and that’s something we learned especially from the first game [last year],” sophomore guard Ashton Gibbs said.

Oakland is led by its 6-foot-11 center Keith Benson, who averages 17 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. While the Panthers don’t know much about their first-round opponent yet, they know that they will need to stop Benson down low.

“I know they got a real big guy, and he’s pretty good in the post,” redshirt freshman guard Travon Woodall said.

The Golden Grizzlies are also led by guard Johnathon Jones and forward Derick Nelson, who each average 12.4 points per game to give their team several scoring options.

“They’re a versatile team, have pretty good size and come from a pretty decent league,” Gibbs said. “So now it’s just about not taking them lightly and acting like we’re playing against a Big East team.”

The Panthers’ last game against a Big East team didn’t go so well, as they lost 50-45 to Notre Dame in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. They struggled to get in a rhythm on offense and hope to rectify that with a week off before they play again on Friday.

“It’s just about execution, and that’s defensively and offensively,” Gibbs said. “We have to execute defensively more and more and if we do that the offensive flow will be much better.”

While the Panthers finally earned some respect by getting a No. 3 seed in a season when not many people gave them respect and were picked to finish ninth in the Big East, they have all the motivation they need in this postseason.

“I’m motivated because we lost our last game,” Gibbs said. “Now it’s just about executing in practice and carrying it over to the game.”

If they are able to win their first-round game, the Panthers will face the winner of the matchup between No. 6 seed Xavier and No. 11 seed Minnesota on Sunday. Xavier is no stranger to Pitt, as they met last year in the Sweet Sixteen with the Panthers winning 60-55.

Pitt is one of only seven teams to have advanced to the last nine NCAA Tournaments. But it hasn’t been able to make it to the Final Four any of those years. If the team were to make it there this season, it would have to go through Salt Lake City in the regional finals

But Pitt isn’t resting on its laurels or looking ahead as it will direct all of its attention towards Oakland in the next few days.