Jeff Capel Believes Pitt Earned NCAA Tournament Bid

Jeff Capel thinks the Pitt Panthers have done enough to earn a place on college basketball's biggest stage.

PITTSBURGH -- Still trying to process the emotions of his team's tight loss to No. 16 Miami in a battle that would decide who shared the ACC regular season title, Jeff Capel was optimistic about what his team can accomplish in the postseason. 

"I thought we did a really good job during the first part of the season," Capel said of his Panthers. "Didn't close it the way we wanted to, but now we'll head to the second portion of the season and hopefully we can learn from all these things that we've been through and be better in the second part."

When asked if he believes they've done enough to earn a bid to college basketball's biggest stage, Capel was said in few words that he was confident this team has earned such consideration. 

"Yeah, I do," Capel said.

The Panthers have racked up 21 wins during the regular season and seven wins against Quad 1 and 2 opponents. They sat at 55th in the NET immediately following their regular season-ending defeat. Two blowout losses to Michigan at the beginning of the season, a Quad 4 loss to Florida State and the relative weakness of the ACC are some of what might hold them back. 

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