Pitt Keeping Things Light, Loose Ahead of NCAA Tournament Opener

The Pitt Panthers are loose and confident ahead of their first NCAA Tournament game.

DAYTON -- The Pitt Panthers returned home with a blowout loss to Duke that knocked them out of the ACC Tournament not far in the rearview and and were forced to await their postseason fate from Pittsburgh without any opportunities to improve their resume. 

Head coach Jeff Capel didn't want his team to let the loss and their potential spot in the NCAA Tournament stew, so he gave his Panthers two days off in between the Duke loss and Selection Sunday. Capel made the call because he believes two things are common in teams that advance in the NCAA Tournament - "fresh minds and fresh legs" - and a couple of days off from practice might help his team achieve that. 

"The very first thing is we were just coming off getting our heads beat in, and I didn't want us to -- I wanted to move on to the next thing," Capel said. "I didn't want that to linger. So we took two days off."

Greg Elliot and Blake Hinson played Call of Duty with each other and one of the team managers. Nate Santos and Guillermo Diaz Graham took the time to catch up on schoolwork. Federiko Federiko engaged in some more focused recovery on his knee, which had been injured during the ACC Tournament. While they went through an abnormally basketball-less routine before returning to the court in the hours before the final bracket was revealed. 

Capel wanted to keep his team somewhat distracted as they returned to practice and killed the hours before the Selection Show began. Their first time back on the court was light, focused mainly on staying loose. They ran and competed in shooting competitions. Capel wanted to inject some joy into a group that had skidded to a 3-4 finish to the regular season. 

"I just really wanted us to have some fun because I knew that day was going to be fun We were going to watch the selection show. I always felt good that we were in, and I just wanted it to be an upbeat positive day, culminating with figuring out where we were going to be."

Players said it was tough not to think about their position in the postseason while away from the court, but coming up with their own distractions helped. It also helped that they were collectively confident. No one, least of all starting guard Greg Elliot, thought they weren't going to hear their names called. The former Marquette guard has been on the bubble before and this was a walk in the park, comparatively.  

"Me personally, I had been in positions where I had been on the bubble and our resume wasn’t as good as this team so I really had no worries. I knew it was out of our hands, but I knew the people was going to get it right for once and they did.”

That all translated to where the Panthers are now. They've carried that positive attitude with them to Dayton and as they await the Bulldogs in the First Four, Pitt is confident, loose and excited. They believe they've earned their spot in the NCAA Tournament and want to soak up every bit of the experience. 

“We expected to be here," Diaz Graham said. "So we're just enjoying the moment.”

Make sure you bookmark Inside the Panthers for the latest news, exclusive interviews, recruiting coverage and so much more!

Pitt C Federiko Federiko's Status for NC State Game Unclear

Recruiting Notebook: Elite 2026 QB Earns Pitt Offer

Pitt Aming Most Likely to Pull First Round Upset

Pitt Feels Disrespected by NCAA Tournament Seed

Pitt Players React to NCAA Tournament Selection Show

Pitt Earns First NCAA Tournament Bid in Seven Years

• Follow Inside the Panthers on Twitter: @InsidePitt