Pitt's Jeff Capel Criticizes NCAA Tournament Predictions
PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers' resurgence in ACC play has done little to shift Jeff Capel's mindset regarding all things Bracketology.
During The Jeff Capel Show on Thursday, he demonstrated his disinterest and disdain towards the entire concept while implying that he prefers to avoid any sort of discussion surrounding Pitt's current status.
“I do not look at Bracketology,” Capel said. “I just don’t look at it. I hear about it because I hear people complaining about it. I don’t understand it and I don’t necessarily agree with it.”
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This stance has been reiterated by Capel quite a few times recently as he has stated that he feels the ACC has been disrespected when it comes to NCAA tournament conversations as the conference's reputation has seemingly taken a hit in recent years.
Despite having eight teams in the top 75 of both the NET rankings and KenPom, ESPN's Joe Lunardi and CBS Sports' Jerry Palm each currently project the ACC to have only four teams in the NCAA tournament field, a total that is significantly lower than other power conferences such as the Big 12 and the SEC.
There have been plenty of detractors of the selection committee's process in placing teams within the tournament field due to the ambiguity of the actual science behind it as well as an apparent emphasis on a bevy of different stats and analytics.
Capel raised an issue with that formula, stating that he believes the eye test should be of higher value and that the numbers shouldn't be prioritized over other factors.
“I don’t understand all these numbers, I don’t understand how they get to them,” Capel said. “I think numbers are important and analytical stuff, that’s important, but in our game it’s not everything. The eye test is, and so the people that are making these decisions, that are doing this stuff, I think they’re all analytical, I think they’re just literally looking at numbers.”
Part of Capel's frustration stems from the Panthers' status on the bubble and as one of the eventual last four teams let into the dance, where he felt like the whole operation didn't add up or take the happenings of the season into account.
“It bothers me that last year we were sitting in this room, it was Selection Sunday, and I’m sitting there and I’m watching how this thing is unfolding and I’m sweating,” Capel said. “I went into it confident, then I’m looking at this thing and I’m like ‘wait a minute man, something’s not right about this,’ and it’s just stuff that doesn’t make sense. We won at (NC State) last year, they’re in comfortably, we’re in the First Four. Clemson beat NC State three times, finished two spots above them in the ACC, NC State’s in above them.”
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