Why Pitt's #2 'Seed' Doesn't Bother Me
The top of the bracket gets the attention, but it's the matchups that matter
Pitt has the nation’s best team, the nation’s best player… and the #2 overall seed.
And that’s okay with me.
It felt natural for the season Pitt Volleyball is having that the NCAA Tournament selection committee revealed its in-season Top 16 on ESPN, with Nebraska at #1 and Pitt at #2, right in the midst of Pitt *pummel-sweeping* #5 Stanford.
A rockin’ and sold-out Fitzgerald Field House didn’t know (except for the social-media-addicted among us in the crowd) that the #1 team in the coaches’ poll had been designated #2 by the committee. Still, the Panthers continue to look like the strongest group — they usually do at home — holding the Cardinal to scores of 17, 16 and 20 and .090 hitting.
“I know we had the same amount of people as Friday, but the environment just felt so much more electric today,” said sophomore Olivia Babcock. “Everyone had such good energy throughout, and I think it reflected on the court.”
Teams are not supposed to cruise against Stanford, but Pitt’s margin never got smaller than three points down the stretch in any set. There was hardly a moment all afternoon that felt like Stanford was getting the upper hand.
“The single biggest thing we wanted to do was be the long-rally, transition team,” said Pitt head coach Dan Fisher, who talks about wanting his Panthers to be the best ‘small ball’ team in the country. “Last time I checked, we won that battle pretty substantially. I think that was probably the biggest difference in the match.”
So here we are: Pitt has now swept the following teams, as ranked by the coaches’ poll:
#3 Penn State
#5 Stanford
#11 Oregon
#12 SMU
#16 USC
#17 Georgia Tech
Even strong programs are getting demolished in the path of the Pitt War Machine. Eye test? Best team in the nation. Committee? Not so much.
BREAKING DOWN THE “BRACKET”
This is okay in my book, a book titled Don’t Hate The Decision, Hate The Rubric. The committee has laid down its main criteria: strength of schedule, Top 10 wins and Top 25 wins. Nebraska wins by their rubric.
The chair of the committee acknowledged Pitt and Nebraska’s common loss to SMU (though not Pitt’s sweep of SMU) when asked about the distinction between 1 and 2.
“Nebraska has nine Top 25 wins. They have so many Top 10 and Top 25 wins that we went with Nebraska,” said Danielle Josetti, Marquette’s Executive Associate Athletic Director and this year’s committee chair. “You don't want to punish Pitt for a five-set loss on the road, but Nebraska, that's their only loss as well, and they just have more Top 10 and Top 25 overall wins.”
The Panthers picked up another Top 10 win on Sunday vs. Stanford and has the opportunity for another on Friday against Louisville. Pitt will have its chances to add to the résumé, and Nebraska will face the toughest part of its schedule in November, going on the road to Oregon, Penn State and Wisconsin.
But if this were the bracket in December, I would take it and run. Look at the matchups. Nebraska would get Texas or Wisconsin in a regional final, each a tougher foe on paper than SMU or Oregon.
Here are the three items that will matter the most to me when the final bracket is released:
Getting a Top 4 seed in order to host matches through the Elite Eight
Avoiding a matchup with Texas *in that* Elite Eight
Not getting Louisville on their home court in the Final Four
There are plenty of great teams that could line up against Pitt in a Regional Final with a Final Four spot on the line, but no team would be more frightening than Texas, which was not a Top 4 seed a year ago but still rode a generational performance by Madisen Skinner to a second straight national title. Texas coach Jerritt Elliott and his players work magic in December.
The difference between #1 and #2 won’t matter all that much. If Pitt and Nebraska take care of business, then seeds #3, #4 and #5 will likely be some alignment of Louisville, Penn State and Creighton — all great teams without much daylight between them — and you don’t want to draw Louisville at the KFC Yum! Center if you can avoid it.
In short: it’s not about the seeding, it’s about the potential matchups. Getting to a National Championship will not be easy, but I’ll be rooting for whatever route is favorable for Pitt.
BABCOCK TAKES THE LEAD FOR NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Babcock led the Panthers on Sunday with 17 kills, a serve that put the Cardinal on their heels, and 6 total blocks — and the blocking ability was particularly big for ‘Liv’ in the victory.
“Liv matched up against Elia Rubin, and that was a very good matchup for us,” said Coach Fisher. “[Rubin’s] one of the best hitters in the country, and Liv was able to make her really uncomfortable.”
Her teammates still have a case for National Player of the Year: Torrey Stafford continues to do everything right, wherever she is on the court, and is still hitting an absurd-for-a-pin .390 on the season. Rachel Fairbanks went toe-to-toe with another setter who has a case for being the best in the country (Stanford’s Kami Miner) and came out ahead.
“I say this a lot, but our hitters make it so easy for me,” Fairbanks said. “I feel 100% of the time I have everyone available and everyone wanting the ball — I can’t go wrong.”
Fisher said Fairbanks and Babcock “weren’t very happy with their connection a couple of games ago” and have worked on their timing in practice. It showed in the sweep of Stanford, with Fairbanks easily setting up her go-to hitter to score.
Speaking of timing, Babcock is playing her best volleyball just in time for Friday’s big matchup against #4 Louisville at the Petersen Events Center — a showcase game against a showcase opponent that is somehow only being “showcased” as a streaming-only game ACCNX. Guess that’s life as the #2 seed.