The polls have been a little hit or miss when it comes to Pitt. Earlier in the year, it took a while for the basketball team to get any sort of respect and overall, the voters haven't known quite what to do with this bunch. One thing is clear, though - losing pretty is better than winning ugly in their minds.
Right or wrong, Pitt was actually rewarded more by the pollsters for losing than they were for winning.
Pitt lost earlier this season to Syracuse on the road but actually rose several spots in the ensuing polls because they played well, nearly knocking off the undefeated Orange. This week was a different story. The Panthers won both of their games against Miami and Virginia Tech, but in unimpressive fashion, even needing overtime to knock off the Hokies ... at home, no less.
The pollsters didn't react kindly to that and despite a 2-0 week, Pitt actually remained at No. 25 in the AP poll and dropped one spot in the Coaches Poll, from No. 22 to No. 23.
Now, for the record, I didn't have much of a problem with either ranking - the Panthers looked pretty bad each night (as well as the two games before that against Virginia and Duke, to be honest) and if you saw them in both games, you know it wasn't all that encouraging. It does, however, provide an interesting thought that some voters would actually prefer a team look good and lose over playing poorly and winning, as Pitt did this past week.
As a fan (and I'm sure the players feel this way, too), you can give me the win every time. But poll voters seem to feel differently about that.
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