Jay Wright on Pitt’s turnaround; Penn State’s NCAA tough opener; West Virginia’s showdown with Maryland
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This will be the most exciting week of college basketball in Western Pennsylvania in a long time. Pitt, Penn State and West Virginia have all qualified for the NCAA Tournament in the same year for the first time since 2011.
The action gets going Tuesday night as Pitt takes on Mississippi State in Dayton for a First Four game. The right to be an 11-seed against sixth-seed Iowa State is on the line. The winner will play the Cyclones on Friday afternoon in Greensboro, N.C.
Penn State is a 10-seed in Des Moines, Iowa. They will face No. 7 Texas A&M in the opening round at 9:55 p.m. Thursday. Meanwhile, WVU is a 9-seed battling eighth-seeded Maryland, Thursday (12:15 p.m.) in Birmingham, Ala.
Jay Wright retired after coaching Villanova to the Final Four last year. During his 21 seasons, Wright won two national championships and went to the Final Four four times. He is going to be a CBS studio analyst during March Madness this year.
Wright was part of a national video conference call with college basketball media members Monday, and I asked him to assess all three local teams heading into this week’s tournament action.
Regarding Pitt, Wright said Panthers coach Jeff Capel deserves accolades for turning his team around from an 11-win team a season ago to a 22-win club this year. Not to mention, he did so with a lot of transfers and new players.
“What he’s done this year is incredible,” Wright said. “Putting together that many new players, older players. Getting them to play at the level they did in the ACC is incredible to me. It shows you really what coaching is now. I would struggle putting that many new guys together and getting them to play at the level that he did. I think he did an amazing job.”
That said, Wright has concerns about the draw Pitt has in Dayton with Mississippi State.
“I did a game this year when they played Mississippi. They are one of the best defensive teams in the country. I kind of compare them to TCU. That is a tough physical team,” Wright said.
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Fittingly, the Bulldogs are just a year removed from having been led by former Panthers coach Ben Howland. And TCU is currently coached by Howland’s former assistant and ex-Pitt coach Jamie Dixon. So the residue of Pitt toughness that both of those coaches embraced in Oakland seems to have carried over to the two teams Wright mentioned.
The Bulldogs are now led by Chris Jans. Wright says if Jans’ defense can rise to the occasion, Pitt may be in for a tough night.
“Offensively I think (Pitt) is a lot better. Mississippi State, defensively, is a lot better. It’s going to be a matter of if Pitt can hit threes, they can get them,” Wright said. “But if Mississippi State goes on lockdown — which they are capable of doing — that can be a really tough matchup for Pitt.”
To Wright’s point, Pitt made 9.2 three-point field goals per game this year. That was the second-most per game in the ACC. Their 76.1 points per game were fifth best in the conference.
The Bulldogs allowed just 61 points per game this year, second best in the SEC. Their 65.9 points per game on offense were second worst in that conference.
Speaking of teams willing to grind it out, Wright says that is what we should expect when Bob Huggins’ WVU Mountaineers take on Kevin Willard’s Maryland Terrapins.
“An incredibly physical matchup here in the first round,” Wright said. “Those two guys know each other really well. But both of them are great defensive teams. That could be like a 55-54 game. The team that comes out of that thing alive has the chance of advancing.”
That may be true from Maryland’s standpoint. The Terps only yielded 63.2 points per game, fourth best in the Big Ten this year. However, the average score of a WVU game this year was 76.3-71.0. And Maryland averaged 70.4 points per game.
So perhaps that one has a little bit more potential for offense than what Wright is predicting. The winner will likely face No. 1 seed Alabama in the second round. That’s barring a major upset from either Texas A&M-Corpus Christi or SE Missouri State. They are squaring off in Dayton before the Pitt-Miss St. game for the right to be the 16-seed in the south.
As for Penn State-Texas A&M, Wright says that game should be close the whole way.
“They are probably where they have to be with seeding. But both of them are teams that could be four seeds. They’re two great teams. I picked that as my best game in the first round. It’s two really talented teams that can both advance,” Wright said.
Whoever survives that showdown in the Midwest Region will draw the winner of No. 2 Texas and No. 15 Colgate.