Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports
The Pittsburgh Panthers have put together some very good teams in the past. With a lot of talent leaving, though, the Panthers will need all of the wins they can get before ACC play starts in the 2013-14 college basketball season.
The ACC will likely be the toughest conference in the nation this year. The Panthers will not enter the season as the favorites to win the conference. So, if it plans on making the 2014 NCAA Tournament, they will have to try and get some quality wins in their out-of-conference schedule.
There will still be enough talent to make some noise in the ACC, but it would take a miracle for this team to win the conference title. I could easily see this team finishing in the middle of the pack. However, the season hasn’t even started so who knows what will happen at this point.
Pittsburgh is coming off of a season where it won 24 games and made the Big Dance as a No. 8 seed. The only problem is that the team is losing its leading scorer and its big man in Steven Adams. Although Adams leaving for the NBA got the most buzz, Tray Woodall was the best player on the team and he will not be easy to replace.
Just like most Panthers teams in the past, this team will have plenty of talent. If that talent meets or exceeds expectations in the upcoming season, Pittsburgh could challenge in the ACC. However, it needs to win all of the games that it possibly can in its non-conference schedule to ensure that it makes the tourney.
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