Pittsburgh basketball: Why is it okay to go winless in ACC play?

After scoring just 45 points in a loss to Syracuse, Pittsburgh basketball is now one-third of the way to a winless conference season.

The past two games for Pittsburgh 8-11 (0-6) may have represented the best chances for the team to get their first league win. Georgia Tech at home was a great shot, with the Yellow Jackets scoring as much as the Panthers have this season. Unfortunately, a 21-1 start to the game from them basically ended those hopes for the Panthers.

Then came Tuesday night, when Pittsburgh faced a Syracuse team that had lost four in a row coming in. Pittsburgh also has had recent success against the Orange. It was close in the first 30 minutes, with the Panthers trailing by four points, but 18 turnovers in a low possession game cost them in the end, 59-45.

Looking at the rest of the schedule, only two games stick out as possible wins – Wake Forest and Boston College at home. Even then, Pitt will be the underdog in every game for the rest of the season. Add that the team’s best player Ryan Luther is officially out for the season, 0-18 looks all the more likely.

That now leads to how Pitt fans like myself (born and raised in Pittsburgh) should treat the rest of this season. We all knew coming in that this was a legit possibility, but surprises happen all the time, and the hope was that one night the Panthers would be the positive recipient of that surprise.

But it looks unlikely that will happen, so there’s a couple of ways to approach the final dozen or so games, positively or negatively. Taking the negative approach and firing Kevin Stallings does nothing to help the program in the immediate future. The complete rebuilding process has already started and pressing the restart button won’t win the team any more games.

So let’s look at the bright side. For the past few games, Pittsburgh has had all freshmen in the starting lineup for the first time in school history. In addition, each of the six freshmen has shown signs of growth.

Rene Chukwuka has been playing very well lately, including an impressive performance against Duke. Sharpshooter Parker Stewart had a season-high 23 points on seven made 3-pointers against the Syracuse zone. Despite a very rough six games in conference play, Marcus Carr is getting valuable experience that will help him in the future.

And “future” is the key word, as that’s what all the efforts and decisions should be made for. Give minutes to the youngsters and, assuming Luther gets his medical red shirt, Pittsburgh will get all but one main rotation player back for next year. Plus, St. John’s transfer Malik Ellison will be able to play as well.

Now for those freaking out at going 0-18, let me ask you one question – who was the last power five conference team to do it? Many people including myself don’t know the answer to that question because really, it doesn’t matter. Yes, there will be the occasional shot at the program, but there are 351 schools to talk about. Once March comes around, all the talk will be the NCAA Tournament.

Next: How many Panthers are in the 2010-11 Big East top-50?

To be clear, of course, I want Pitt to win a game and maybe spoiler someone’s at-large chances. But the reality is, the Panthers could go 0-18 and I’m as upset about it as I thought I would be. And that’s because there really is no difference between 0-18 and 1-17. The team is who they are this season, but hopefully things will be different for the 2018-19 season.

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