Pitt Falls in NET Rankings After Tough Loss

PITTSBURGH — The Pitt Panthers lost their most recent game, which dropped them in the 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 lost a close matchup on the road to Wake Forest, 76-74 on Feb. 1, a Quad 1 loss, dropping them to No. 36 in the NET Rankings, falling three spots. They improved one spot to No. 35 the following day.

They came into the matchup with back-to-back Quad 2 wins over Syracuse (No. 133) on the road, 77-73 on Jan. 25, and vs. North Carolina (No. 44) at home, 73-65 on Jan. 28.

Pitt previously was on a four-game losing streak, as they suffered a blowout 76-47 defeat to then ranked No. 4 Duke on the road on Jan. 7, a close 82-78 defeat to Louisville at home on Jan. 11, ending a 15-game winning streak at the Petersen Events Center, a road loss, 82-70 to Florida State on Jan. 15 and a loss at home to Clemson, 78-75 in overtime on Jan. 18.

The road win over the Orange dropped the Panthers to No. 36, but they ended up moving to No. 33 following the victory over the Tar Heels.

Pitt has dropped 26 spots from the start of 2025 to after this most recent defeat, falling three spots to No. 13 after their 86-74 Quad 3 win over Cal (No. 130) on New Year's Day and moving down two spots to No. 15 after the 83-68 Quad 2 win over Stanford (No. 72) on Jan. 4, both home victories.

The Panthers also dropped five spots from No. 15 to No. 20, following their defeat to the Blue Devils (No. 2), seven spots after their loss to the Cardinals (No. 29) to No. 27, four spots to No. 31 after their loss to the Seminoles (No. 88), and then two more spots following their defeat to the Tigers (No. 30) to No. 33, all Quad 1 defeats aside from the Seminoles, which is now Quad 2.

They have three other Quad 2 victories along with Stanford, which includes a blowout win over rival West Virginia (No. 40), 86-62 at home in the Backyard Brawl on Nov. 15 and win against LSU (No. 74) in the Greenbrier Tip-Off, 74-63 on Nov. 22

Pitt has one other Quad 3 win, coming against on the road vs. Virginia Tech (No. 159) in their ACC opener on Dec. 7, 64-59.

They are 6-0 against teams in the Quad 4, all at home. This includes Radford (No. 183) in the season opener on Nov. 4, 96-56, Murray State (No. 161) at home on Nov. 8, 83-68, Gardner-Webb (No. 228) on Nov. 11, 83-64, VMI (No. 286) on Nov. 18, 93-48, Eastern Kentucky (No. 218) on Dec. 11, 96-56, and Sam Houston State (No. 196) on Dec. 21, 110-78.

Pitt faces Virginia at home on Feb. 3, where they'll have need the Quad 3 victory to stay on track for the NCAA Tournament.

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