Pitt Falls in NET Rankings Following Defeat

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers lost a close matchup vs. Louisville at the Petersen Events Center and fell in the latest NET Rankings.

The NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) uses a Team Value Index (TVI), that rewards teams for winning tough matches, especially away from home. It also uses an adjusted net efficiency that values facing tougher opponents, getting wins on the road and defeating lower-ranking opponents by large margins.

This replaced the RPI ahead of the 2018-19 season, as the NCAA wanted a way to simplify how they look at teams' performances heading into the NCAA Tournament. The RPI used five-components, compared to the NET's two.

The NET breaks down wins and losses in four quadrants, with the best wins are in Quad 1 and the worst losses are in Quad 4.

Quad 1
Home: 1-30
Netural: 1-50
Away: 1-75

Quad 2
Home: 31-75
Neutral: 51-100
Away: 76-135

Quad 3
Home: 76-160
Neutral: 101-200
Away: 136-240

Quad 4
Home: 161+
Neutral: 201+
Away: 241+

Pitt dropped from No. 20 down to No. 27 after their loss to Louisville. They went down two spots before the game on Jan. 11 and then five more places after their defeat.

The defeat to the Cardinals is a Quad 2 loss for the Panthers, as they rank No. 36, their lowest defeat of the season.

This makes it a drop of 17 spots since the start of 2025 from No. 10, falling three spots to No. 13 after their 86-74 win over Cal (No. 125) on New Year's Day and moving down two spots to No. 15 after the 83-68 win over Stanford (No. 79) on Jan. 4, both home Quad 3 wins.

Pitt also dropped five spots from No. 15 to No. 20, following their 76-47 blowout to No. 4 Duke (No. 2), a Quad 1 road loss.

The Panthers are 1-3 against Quad 1 teams along with their loss to the Blue Devils, as their strong non-conference schedule put them at No. 5, when the initial rankings came out.

Their two losses came vs. then ranked No. 19 Wisconsin (No. 24) in the Greenbrier Tip-Off Championship on Nov. 24, 81-75, and a 90-57 road blowout vs. Mississippi State (No. 16) on Dec. 4 in the ACC/SEC Challenge.

Pitt cameback for their 91-90 overtime road win over Ohio State (No. 31) on Nov. 29, their sole Quad 1 victory.

The blowout win over rival West Virginia (No. 33), 86-62 at home in the Backyard Brawl on Nov. 15 and the win against LSU (No. 69) in the Greenbrier Tip-Off, 74-63 on Nov. 22 are both Quad 2 wins.

They have three other Quad 3 wins as well, vs. Murray State (No. 116) on Nov. 8, 83-68, on the road vs. Virginia Tech (No. 176) in their ACC opener on Dec. 7, 64-59 and Radford (No. 159) in the season opener on Nov. 4, 96-56, moved up from Quad 4 to Quad 3.

The five other victories they have are against Quad 4 teams. This includes Gardner-Webb (No. 245) on Nov. 11, 83-64, VMI (No. 310) on Nov. 18, 93-48, Eastern Kentucky (No. 216) on Dec. 11, 96-56, and Sam Houston State (No. 173) on Dec. 21, 110-78.

These wins also aren't set for the rest of the season. If a team improves, their NET ranking will do the same and so will the quality of the win/loss. If a team gets worse, then their NET ranking will also get worse and the quality of the win/loss.

A strong non-conference schedule and performance, 9-2, got Pitt high in the NET rankings to start out with.

Pitt will face Florida State (No. 71) on the road, giving them a chance for a crucial Quad 1 victory on Jan. 15.

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