Pittsburgh Panthers
Head coach: Jamie Dixon (11th season)
Record: 23-8
Season summary: Pittsburgh opened the first 20 games of its season on fire, starting 18-2 with its sole losses coming against Cincinnati and then-No. 2 Syracuse. The Panthers hit a rough patch in the backend of ACC play, losing five of seven games at one point. But behind the play of redshirt senior guard Lamar Patterson, Pittsburgh finished the season on a 5-2 run, good enough to place sixth in the ACC and earn a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament. Patterson—a second-team All-ACC player—proved himself to be one of the conference’s best all-around performers, as he posted nine games in which he knocked down four or more 3-pointers and averaged 4.8 rebounds per contest.
How they make a run: Patterson is able to work his magic in the lane and gets hot from behind the arc and Talib Zanna continues to play as he did in the ACC tournament—51 points and 39 rebounds in three tournament games—making the Panthers a deadly inside-out team.
How they falter: If Pittsburgh makes it past Colorado, it may fail to put up points against a Florida defense ranked third in the nation in points allowed (57.9). The Panther offense ranks 125th in points per game (72.5).
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