And by approaches, I mean in the next 72 hours. Not the next 6.

I’ve been enjoying the hell out of the NCAA Tournament this weekend. The wife and oldest are on a Girl Scout camping trip. Just the boy and I binging on basketball. Well, I’m binging. He’s casually watching every now and again while playing video games or with Legos.

The UMBC upset of Virginia was mind-blowing. And as much as it was presumed, that eventually a 16 would take down a 1. That was not the one anyone expected, and certainly not like that. The close calls over the years.  All the #1 seeds that may have struggled, even late into the second half, put it together to pull it out. Instead, to watch Virginia implode. It’s not just simply the way UVa panicked on offense and started rushing things.

It was their vaunted packline defense being shredded. Yes, UMBC was great on their 3-point shooting, but the way the guards just blew past them to the basket. That just doesn’t happen very often. Plenty of teams have tried, but rarely succeed.

Their head coach, Ryan Odom, once presumed to be the guy targeted by ECU as their next head coach might have other options (probably not Pitt, though).

The other thing that game drives home is how much the NCAA Tournament defines the entire season. Fair or not. Virginia was predicted to be mid- to upper-tier in the ACC. Instead, they rampaged through the conference and the conference tourney. Winning both. The #1 team in the country. The #1 seed overall. And that all means nothing.

Instead, it’s a disappointing season. Tony Bennett is being questioned as a coach who can’t win in March. The speculation as to whether the system they run is such built only for the regular season.

On the other hand, Go Retrievers! Go Ramblers! And of course, We Are Marshall!

As for the Pitt coaching search. Two of the three presumed top targets — Dan Hurley and Nate Oats — saw their teams finished by large margins against two teams that sure seam likely to be in the Elite Eight at a minimum. The other, Eric Musselman, has his Nevada squad playing at 6:10 pm EST tonight. So, go Bearcats.

Interestingly, Thad Matta is possibly not out of it yet. Despite publicly rejecting Georgia.

Pitt has interviewed Thad Matta for its vacant men’s basketball head coaching position, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation.

Sources said the interview occurred in the past two days, and Matta, the former head coach at Ohio State, is said to be interested in the job.

…

Matta’s emergence as a candidate for open positions – first Mississippi and Georgia, now Pitt – has raised awareness of a section in his contract with Ohio State. As he was fired without cause, Matta is owed most of the money remaining on his deal, but, according to Cleveland.com, he “is required to mitigate Ohio State’s obligations by making reasonable and diligent efforts to obtain a comparable employment position as soon as practicable.”

After declining the offer from Georgia, Matta told ESPN’s Jeff Goodman that while the job presented a good opportunity, “I just don’t feel that I am completely ready at this point to give [Georgia athletic director] Greg McGarity and Georgia what they deserve.”

Honestly, from a money standpoint, Matta would work well for Pitt. Backload his contract, so Pitt doesn’t have to pay as much immediately — meaning Matta gets more from Ohio State on the remaining years — and allowing Pitt to pay the Stallings buyout (which they inevitably will).

The issue remains Matta’s health. Otherwise, I still think he would be a great hire.

The focus of Pitt (and UConn) fans, though, is Dan Hurley. No, Football coach Pat Narduzzi isn’t going to try and recruit him.

After being dismantled by Duke, Hurley got the inevitable questions about his future. Which, of course, he avoided as all coaches do.

“I couldn’t give a crap about who’s got an opening anywhere,” Hurley said after Duke’s 87-62 victory over Rhode Island Saturday at PPG Paints Arena. “I haven’t thought about it for a second. I couldn’t care less about any other school in the country that’s looking for a coach or talking about me on social media. I could give two craps about that.

“My heart is with the program and these players that just lost a brutal game after having an amazing last couple seasons. For me, it’s easy. These are long and hard. I’m just going to go into hibernation for a day. Physically and emotionally, I’ll try to recover. You know, these five-month journeys take a lot out of you.”

When asked by the Tribune-Review if he’s been contacted about any openings or has directed schools to contact his agent, Hurley sidestepped the question.

“We all have agents in this business and my agent was smart enough to have no contact with me while my season is going on because he know who I am and what type of people my family is,” said Hurley, whose father, Bob Sr., is a legendary high school coach in New Jersey and whose brother, Bob, coaches Arizona State. “That is not typical of this business.”

And he made sure Rhode Island was listening as well.

“There’s a whole lot more room for this program to grow around these players, and that’s absolutely essential if the university and if the athletic department and our fans want us to be able to get beyond this point as a program,” Hurley said. “But that’s like that with any program that’s trying to get better. You know, you have to rely on your expectations with your investment, and these players, you know, deserve to operate at the highest level of our league, if you want to stay there.”

Rhode Island can’t give him too much more as far as direct salary. He knows that. The question is could they find room for more money for the program overall? Then he may have a choice to make as to staying another year.

Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure almost every player who saw minutes this year has asked for their release to at least explore other options. I can’t say I’m too worried. Mike  DeCourcy at the Sporting News echoes my thoughts.

There is a story that goes back more than half a century here about the time slugger Ralph Kiner led the National League in home runs and received a huge pay cut in advance of the subsequent season. When he objected, general manager Branch Rickey pointed out the Pirates’ failure as a team and said: “Son, we can finish last without you.”

It was easy to recall that legend when ESPN reported Friday morning that seven members of the Pitt Panthers basketball team had requested releases to transfer, joining Parker Stewart, who had done so late Wednesday.

With Kevin Stallings as coach, the Panthers played 19 Atlantic Coast Conference games this past season and lost every one of them. This is the apotheosis of Rickey’s enduring quote. It literally is impossible to do worse than these players did during the 2017-18 season. They lost every game they played against major competition. Every one. They scored seven points in a half against Virginia.

There is concern among Pitt fans that this development will make it more difficult for the university to attract a new coach. It will not — not in the least. The challenges at Pitt are not short-term.

DeCourcy is absolutely right. This is an absolute minimum 2-year rebuild. 3-4 years is the more realistic time frame.

Without hesitation, I compared Pitt’s current situation to what Tom Crean had to begin the 2008-09 season after the Kelvin Sampson debacle (no returning scholarship players) or Mick Cronin when he followed the botched dismissal of Bob Huggins (a single returning senior).

Crean and IU had to endure three poor seasons before getting the Hoosiers to the Sweet 16 in 2012 and then Big Ten titles in 2013 and 2016. Cronin didn’t get Cincinnati back to the NCAAs for five years, but has been there every year since.

I effectively compared Pitt to “empty-gym” programs even before the transfer requests made this a reality. Because it was true already. A team full of players who lose 19 games by an average of 18 points – sorry, but their absence can be managed. Pitt might be starting over, but it starts with membership in an elite conference, with an attractive city campus and with a terrific home arena. There is work to be done to make the circumstance better, and the new coach has to have a plan to create a flow of talent because of the relative absence of high-level players in the region. But it’s a better situation than, say, what drew the gifted Kermit Davis to Ole Miss, and quite likely better now than Connecticut despite its four championships in 20 years — perhaps better because Pitt fans won’t expect that sort of achievement.

Pitt isn’t going to recruit a top-5 recruiting class for 2019. No matter who is hired. It will take some time. It’s frustrating. At times rage inducing. I already bought a dental guard to deal with grinding my teeth during basketball games for next year, after what I learned from this season.

I think one of the most annoying things about this whole mess of Pitt basketball is that the person responsible skipped town before he could even begin to face the fallout.

Because athletic directors do dumb things all the time, that’s why. Someday, perhaps, I’ll assemble a list of moronic decisions, at which point we can all laugh and cry together. And, believe it or not, that Iowa story will not top the list because this Pitt story will forever top the list.

Pitt’s decision to lower Jamie Dixon’s buyout in March 2016 to encourage him to leave for TCU after making 11 NCAA Tournaments in 13 years was dumb when it happened. It became even dumber when the school replaced Dixon with Kevin Stallings, who had made fewer NCAA Tournaments (seven) in more years (17) at Vanderbilt and was on the verge of getting fired in Nashville. Then it became even dumber when Dixon spent this season leading TCU to the NCAA Tournament while Stallings finished 0-18 in the ACC. Then it became even dumber when Pitt had to pull the trigger on Stallings earlier this month at the cost of what’s expected to be $9.4 million. And then it became even dumber Friday when eight players were reportedly granted releases to transfer, if they so choose.

Scott Barnes is the man responsible. He’s now the athletic director at Oregon State.

Here’s hoping he doesn’t screw things up there as much as he screwed things up at Pitt because, man, he really screwed things up at Pitt. He let a fanbase frustrated by a lack of deep NCAA Tournament runs forget that simply being relevant and making the NCAA Tournament nearly every year isn’t to be taken for granted, and rather than publicly back his coach Barnes made it easier for Dixon to leave. What Barnes should’ve done is explain to Pitt fans that he’d love to be in the Final Four just like everybody else, but that moving on from one of the nation’s best coaches in pursuit of that would be dumb and counter-productive. Instead, Barnes lowered Dixon’s buyout and nudged him to TCU. And though I realize it’s possible Dixon might’ve left no matter what, all that means is that it was doubly stupid to lower the buyout because it literally cost Pitt money it now needs. Barnes should’ve said, “Jamie, if you want to return to your alma mater, I understand. But I’m offering you a raise to stay. And if you still choose to go, I’ll wish you all the best, but you’ll be responsible for the full buyout as stipulated by the contract you signed.” Instead, Barnes basically said, “Jamie, forget about some of that money you owe us. And good luck at TCU. Because you leaving is good for us. You leaving is good for Pitt.”
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Yes, ADs do dumb things all the time.

But what Scott Barnes did was the dumbest.

Nothing personal to Oregon State, but I hope for their ongoing failure with Scott Barnes as their AD. And if they do get back to the NCAA Tournament, make sure it is a year Pittsburgh is hosting once more and send them there. Just so we can see Scott Barnes find that he has to be elsewhere that weekend.