It’s been a while since I’ve done a Volvo Challenge. This one comes with a little synergy. It is another Volvo Challenge. Remember to go and vote for me in Volvo’s Biggest Fan in the Big East. Volvo, a Big East corporate sponsor for the Big East, wonders what the Biggest Fans in the Big East think constitute the Garden 30, that the Big East itself is asking in honor of the 30th year at MSG.

What is the Garden 30? It is the 10 best moments. The 10 best players. And the 10 best teams in the Big East Tournament.

If you look over the list, Pitt doesn’t get much run. Except for being at the other end of some of the moments the Big East chose. The moments being widely defined as anything from a  moment, a single game, a tournament run and even back-to-back titles.

Well, if they are going to cast that wide of a net, there is no way Pitt doesn’t enter into the discussion.

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The last couple of road games have kind of smacked Pitt and us back to the truth that this is only a slightly above-average team even with Tray Woodall back in the line-up. A team capable of going against the top-four teams in the conference, but just as likely to fall on the road to teams in the middle.

Overall, with a healthy season, this team would have finished with 10-12 conference wins and been a 5-8 seed in the NCAA Tournament depending on what happened in the Big East Tournament. Disappointing based on preseason expectations, but realistic based on which players have and have not developed this season. It doesn’t matter the team, coach or pedigree of the player. It happens. Syracuse, Florida, UConn, Villanova, UCLA, Ohio State, Georgetown, UNC, Texas, Washington, Cal, and so on. It sucks when it happens to your team. No one wants to hear excuses or that it happens to others as well.

The NCAA Tournament is not happening this year. The injury to Woodall messed that up. Any goodwill that the team might have been building with the selection committee over Woodall’s injury being a mitigating factor has gone out the window with these road losses. The only glimmer would be to win 5 straight (including at Louisville and at UConn), and then win at least two games in the Big East Tournament. Even then, Pitt would be sweating the bubble — worrying about how other teams finish.

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