2pm.

ACC Network Affiliates (if lucky) or ACCNetwork Extra/WatchESPN.

As you know by now, Ryan Luther is out for the season. Pitt seems confident that he will be given a medical hardship waiver for an additional year, as the NCAA seems to have gotten a little more relaxed over the years (still bitterly seething over the rejection of Mike Cook’s waiver).

“It hurts not to be out on the court and in practice with my teammates,” Luther said in a statement. “We have a good young core of players that I believe are going to continue to improve each day.

“I was hopeful that the latest MRI would show solid improvement in the foot, but it was pretty clear that it has not responded well enough to return to action without the threat of it becoming a stress fracture like last season.

“I am going to apply for a medical hardship and hope to remain at the University of Pittsburgh for another season. I love my coaches and teammates and believe in what we are building. This university and the city of Pittsburgh are home to me. I am anxious to get healthy and look forward to doing something special here next season.”

Said Stallings: “Ryan’s injury has not responded as well as we had hoped, and our medical team has recommended shutting him down for the remainder of the season. I know Ryan is frustrated with the injuries to the foot the past two years, but everyone involved agrees that it is in his best interest to rest the foot and allow it adequate time to make a complete recovery.”

It makes sense for the program as far as this year to next. It also makes what was already a tough, transition season filled with losses all the worse.

Pitt going 0-ACC is back on the table. As is the likelihood of finishing as the worst team among all the P5 conferences. Right now, Cal (#197) is bringing up the rear per KenPom but Pitt keeps falling lower (down to #192).

By shelving Luther, the Panthers are effectively punting on what was already devolving into a lost season, one in which they are tasked with competing in the ACC with a roster featuring seven freshmen and nine first-year Division I players. Through 17 games, Pitt is 8-9 and 0-4 in the ACC, and has gone 3-4 in its games without Luther. Statistician Ken Pomeroy projects the team to lose its remaining 14 ACC games, which would make it the third team since 1987 to go winless in the conference.

Saving him for next season, though, could be the smarter long-term play for Stallings, who will be in desperate need of some positive momentum in what would be his third season with the program.

Without Luther, Pitt would have had a woefully small number of options on the low post for the 2018-19 campaign, with Golden and four returning players taller than 6-foot-6 who average a combined 7.6 points per game. Now, he will be paired with what will be a promising quartet of sophomores — Marcus Carr, Shamiel Stevenson, Parker Stewart and Khameron Davis — leading scorer Jared Wilson-Frame, who will be a senior, and St. John’s transfer Malik Ellison, who is sitting out this season in adherence to NCAA transfer requirements.

If you want to be really calculating and cynical — and really, that’s a hallmark here — this move almost guarantees Kevin Stallings a third year. A very young, and new team loses its best player to a previous injury.

Next year, Luther would return along with a very good, experienced transfer in Malik Ellison being eligible. The team would be set up with better depth overall and some more size inside.

It also means that a significant improvement would have to happen. Not necessarily making the NCAA Tournament jump, but the team has to be in the conversation at the end of the year. As in somewhere around the “bubble.”

In a vacuum that may seem like too big a step for a team that might finish this year with only 8 wins. But realistically, Pitt can’t wait much longer then next year. Attendance took a big tumble last year. This year, in a rebuild, it has cratered (hopefully). There will be hope for next year, but the team will have to prove itself quickly to give fans a reason to believe they can go to the Pete and think Pitt is going to win.