Where will Pitt end up in the Big East Tourney?

Jamie Dixon said after Tuesday night’s win over West Virginia that the Panthers were “right… Jamie Dixon said after Tuesday night’s win over West Virginia that the Panthers were “right where they wanted to be at this stage in the season.”

I’m not going to say Dixon is lying, because he’s a nice guy and lying carries negative connotations. I’ll just say that I don’t believe him and few can refute that – Pitt would rather be one game ahead of where it is now.

The Panthers (24-5 overall, 12-3 Big East) sit in a first-place tie with Georgetown, but they need a Hoya loss and a win on the road Saturday against a very determined Marquette team to win the regular season title. Winning the Big East regular season championship is always a goal for Pitt, as it should be.

Not winning this year’s crown, though, is nothing short of a disappointment for a team that was once 10-1 in conference play and looked to be the class of the conference.

Will Pitt’s unlikely winning of the title affect the team’s postseason play, though?

Will Pitt win the Big East Tournament?

See, here’s what I hate about picking tournaments, especially the Big East Tournament where teams play three or four games in as many days – it’s all matchups.

There are two teams I don’t think Pitt can beat this season, Marquette and Louisville. The Cardinals have the athletes, as we saw, to press Pitt enough to force the mistakes that usually lead to the Panthers’ rare losses. Marquette, meanwhile, just seems to have Pitt’s number. The Eagles’ guards prove to do just enough each time to offset the bigger Panthers’ offensive game plan. If Pitt has to play either of these two, then I’m not sold on their chances.

As it stands, Pitt is the likely two seed and Louisville the probable three. Pitt could play anyone from Providence to DePaul, and the Cardinals are likely to face Syracuse if this is the case. That means that should the two advance, then I might take the Cardinals. Even if Pitt gets past Louisville, it might take enough out of the Panthers to prevent a championship win the next night.

So if the seeds hold, then I’ll say no, but if Pitt snags the top seed, then the decision would probably change. I still like Georgetown to win it all.

What will keep Pitt from getting past the Sweet 16?

There’s any number of reasons why a team could fail. We’ve seen the obvious trends in Pitt basketball all season, but it is almost always the recent problems that lead to a team’s downfall in March.

The biggest reason for failure, as of late, has been shooting. Pitt shot worse than 36 percent in four of its five games leading up to Tuesday’s win over West Virginia, and that one win was a close road victory over Seton Hall, which won’t even play in the Big East Tournament. Teams just can’t shoot the ball like the Panthers have recently and get far in the tournament.

Despite those recent struggles, though, I’d still have to say turnovers could be an issue. Pitt is still very good at taking care of the ball, and that goes a long way in the tournament. The Panthers’ depth ensures that fewer mistakes occur because of fatigue, which always helps when playing two games in three days.

If Pitt doesn’t turn the ball over, it is almost a lock to get to the third round. From there, the Panthers just have to start shooting the ball like they are capable. As a likely three seed, they will have to beat a Kansas or even a Florida to get to the Elite Eight and 36 percent won’t get it done against either of those teams.

Who should win Big East Player of the Year?

It’s actually not that great of a race this year, which is surprising.

There aren’t as many obvious candidates as in years past, and that leads me to believe that the winner will come from a team with a solid showing in the conference standings. The likely winner is Georgetown’s Jeff Green, who’s 19.4 point-per-game average over an eight-game stretch vaulted the Hoyas into the conference lead and put them on the track to a likely Big East title.

The next best candidate, in all likelihood, is Green’s teammate Roy Hibbert. The big man’s improvement inside has been incredible this season. He shoots around 70 percent from the floor and controls the inside against nearly every team. I also just love that running jump hook. No matter how you slice it, the top two candidates are wearing grey this year.

Other candidates are Pitt’s Aaron Gray, Syracuse’s Demetris Nichols and Providence’s Herbert Hill, but I wouldn’t expect any of them to come too close to winning.