The No.1 seed Pitt Panthers learn their first round opponent

UNC Asheville's Matt Dickey begins to celebrate his teams OT win over Arkansas Little Rock in last nights play-in tourney match-up. The Bulldogs will now travel to Washington D.C.  to play the No. 1 seeded Pittsburgh Panthers on Thursday at 3:10 est.

            Was it by design? With all of the recent trouble and disappointment in past years, did the NCAA selection committee put Pitt in the Southeast bracket on purpose. The talking heads on TV believe the Southeast bracket is by far the easiest. If the NCAA selection committee could hand over a final four appearance without directly doing so, this would be the year. But that doesn't mean much to Pitt, the gray rain clouds of March swirl above this very successful regular season program come NCAA tournament time.
          Pitt left for Washington D.C. early enough to arrive before the tip-off of the UNC Asheville v. Arkansas Little Rock game. The usually meaningless play-in games suddenly became meaningful to Pitt fans and followers.
           UNC Asheville and Arkansas Little Rock battled to the bitter end and needed overtime to decide before the Bulldogs pulled out a 81-77 win to punch their ticket to play the No. 1 seeded Panthers. I'm sure the UNC Asheville head coach Eddie Biedenbach informed his team of Pitt's less than stellar performances in the big dance.
          So who are these winners of the Big South Conference tournament? Who is their star player? How did they get here? The bulldogs, 20-13, finished third in the regular season and beat Coastal Carolina to win their conference title. The Bulldog's success seems to be centered around guard play. Matt Dickey averages 15.5 points per game and the other guard, J.P. Primm, averages 14.6 points per game. Both guards are juniors and stand 6-foot-1 tall. If one doesn't know a basketball team, the only real way to get to know them is through the numbers. Where do these Bulldog's rank? They rank No.147 in the ratings percentage index (RPI), 0-2 against top 25 competition,  score 74.4 per game, shoot just over 20 percent from behind the three-point line and 56 percent from two-point range,  shoot 71 percent from the foul line and average nearly 20 turnovers per game. All of this has the makings for a great first round match-up or tournament tune-up game for Pitt. But as we all know, Pitt has the ability to make something that should be really easy and turn it into something difficult. The last thing Pitt needs is to have this team hanging around with five minutes left in the game.
             The UNC Ashville's campus is approximately 478 miles, or 7.5 hours, away compared to Pitt's 247 miles or a four hour drive. Will the foaming at the mouth Bulldog faithful show up and become a force; and, does the Oakland Zoo have the confidence in their team make the relatively short drive and turn this game into a home court advantage for the Panthers? The Oakland Zoo taking over the Verizon Center would be a sight to see.