Pitt basketball has finished in last or tied for last each of the last two years. Three years ago they finished second to last in Kevin Stallings first year. The year prior to Capel’s arrival Pitt lost 19 straight ACC games by an average of 19 points per game.
The reason I bring this up is to illustrate how slightly surprising today’s ACC Media Preseason Poll is. Pitt was picked to finish 10th, ahead of Clemson, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest. That means in two years Pitt went from getting destroyed in virtually every conference game to two years later being a pretty respectable team.