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ESPN: Pitt Clinging to NCAA Tournament Bubble Spot

The Pitt Panthers' at-large bid hopes aren't dead yet.

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers have suffered two tough losses down the home stretch of the regular season, fumbling Quad 1 opportunities at Wake Forest and Clemson, but that hasn't sunk their hopes of earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament - at least not yet. 

ESPN's Joe Lunardi has the Panthers clinging to a bubble spot as the first team outside the Next Four Out. They join James Madison, Princeton and St. John's in that category of teams clinging to the bubble. 

Pitt got some help from elsewhere around the bubble, with few teams picking up major wins but more than a few suffering losses. 

James Madison and St. John's - both teams being considered by Lunardi, but still beyond the Next Four Out, like Pitt - have won this week. Next Four Out teams Butler and Ole Miss both lost. So did Texas A&M and Providence, who sit in the Last Four In. Seton Hall, a Last Four Byes team, fell to Creighton on the road in a game that likely won't affect their standing much. Virginia also hung on for a tight win over Boston College to shore up their spot as a Last Four In team. 

The ACC still has five teams in Lunardi's projected field - North Carolina, Duke, Clemson, Virginia and Wake Forest - tied for the fifth-most of any conference in college basketball. 

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