NCAA Basketball: Kentucky is back, LSU is coming, and more weekly takeaways

6) Pitt is a good team worth paying attention to

Last year, Pitt and former head coach Kevin Stallings were the laughingstock of the country, going 0-18 in ACC play while having multiple impact players transfer out of the program.

This year, first-year head coach Jeff Capel has turned the program around sooner than anyone anticipated, as shown by their victories over Louisville and Florida State.

Freshmen guards Xavier Johnson and Trey McGowens combine to form one of the nation’s most promising frontcourts and each has led Pitt to big wins. They’re stars in the making who have turned this program into one

Thanks to those wins, the Panthers are starting to sniff around the NCAA Tournament bubble. They aren’t they yet and are going to have a hard time getting over their earlier loss to Niagara, but it’s not insane to think this team will be playing meaningful games in late February and early March.

And that would’ve sounded absolutely ludicrous in November. Give Capel and this young team a lot of credit for what they’ve been able to accomplish.