Pitt Suffers Massive Drop in NET Rankings

PITTSBURGH — The Pitt Panthers put on their worst performance of the campaign, which resulted in a big drop 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 to Virginia, 73-57 at home on Feb. 3, a Quad 3 loss, their lowest defeat of the season so far. This dropped Pitt from No. 35 to No. 45, a 10 spot drop, their biggest fall from a loss this season.

They have lost six of their past eight games, including back-to-back, with a 76-74 defeat to Wake Forest on the road on Feb. 1, a Quad 1 defeat, dropping them down to No. 36, before they rose to No. 35 prior to Virginia.

Pitt came into the matchup vs. Wake Forest with back-to-back Quad 2 wins over Syracuse (No. 134) on the road, 77-73 on Jan. 25, and vs. North Carolina (No. 44) at home, 73-65 on Jan. 28.

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 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.

Pitt has dropped 35 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. 131) on New Year's Day and moving down two spots to No. 15 after the 83-68 Quad 2 win over Stanford (No. 73) 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. 39), 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. 160) 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. 165) at home on Nov. 8, 83-68, Gardner-Webb (No. 229) on Nov. 11, 83-64, VMI (No. 288) on Nov. 18, 93-48, Eastern Kentucky (No. 219) on Dec. 11, 96-56, and Sam Houston (No. 203) on Dec. 21, 110-78.

Pitt will have back-to-back road Quad 1 opportunities over the next seven days, facing North Carolina on Feb. 8 and SMU on Feb. 12.

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