Pittsburgh [22-8 (10-7), RPI: 49, SOS: 92] It's one thing to lose close games to good teams. You can lose to Virginia on a last-second shot, or Syracuse on a 35-foot buzzer beater, and discerning basketball minds can still recognize your team's inherent quality. But when you fail to win any of the big close opportunities you have, and you have a bad nonconference schedule, and you start mixing in bad home losses to bubble teams, well, why would anyone stand a chance to defend Pitt's tournament honor? We're now at the point where Pittsburgh, a putative ACC title contender in the first half of the season, is at serious risk of missing the NCAA tournament. The Panthers were a No. 10 seed in Joe Lunardi's Thursday bracket projections, which is dangerously close to last-four-byes territory. A loss at Clemson on Saturday would be cause for alarm. An early loss in next week's ACC tournament could put them at genuine risk of missing the tournament. If that happens, Pitt will have no one to blame but itself.