Back in April, ESPN.com released an early set of preseason college basketball rankings. Pitt wasn't in that one nor were they in the site's most recent Top 25.
With players declaring for the NBA Draft, ESPN.com threw out an updated set of rankings. One thing that was different in this round from the April rankings was that a group of schools were shown that just missed the cut. Pitt was not only not in the Top 25, but also didn't make the next group of nine teams to get consideration for the rankings. Among those schools? 20-15 Virginia Tech that missed the NCAAs and was relegated to the NIT last season.
I'm not here to demand that the Panthers should be ranked but it wouldn't exactly be a stretch. They were ranked and received votes last year and losing only James Robinson, return most of their core from a decent team. With Michael Young, Jamel Artis, Chris Jones, and Sheldon Jeter, they are senior heavy.
I can see Pitt being left out of some Top 25s at this point, but as I've said for the past couple of years, I expect this will be a pretty good team that will find its way into the rankings. Part of the X factor here is that the Panthers are missing long-time coach Jamie Dixon. How well they adjust to new coach Kevin Stallings is anybody's guess, but I expect they will be mostly fine.
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