For 1st time since 2015-16 season, Pitt is a top-25 basketball team

The only part of Pitt’s season more consistent than solid performance on the court was fans’ outcry and indignation over their team’s exclusion from the Associated Press Top 25.

That so-called disrespect ended Monday when Pitt (21-8, 14-4) slipped into the AP and USA Today Coaches polls at No. 25 after beating Syracuse and climbing into first place in the ACC. The Panthers were most recently ranked in those polls Jan. 11, 2016 (AP), and Jan. 25, 2016 (coaches).

Before that, Pitt was part of the AP poll at some point for 13 consecutive seasons (2001-02 to 2013-14). In that time, Pitt was a top-10 team in the final poll four times: 2003, 2009 and 2011 at No. 4 and 2002 at No. 9.

Coach Jeff Capel consistently has downplayed the significance of what others think of his program, although he did say a month ago that Pitt deserved to be ranked.

“It doesn’t bother me, man,” Capel said in late January. “I would love it for our guys. Don’t get me wrong.

“Are we deserving? I think we are. But sometimes, as a coach, you have to play the game with these people, and I’m not playing the game. I’m not kissing their butt. I’m not returning every text.”

Pitt has won 20 of its past 25 games and eight of the past nine. The 20 victories since Nov. 20 are tied for 11th in the NCAA in that time.

On the last ACC coaches conference call of the season Monday, Capel spoke before the new rankings were released and was not even asked about them.

But he said his focus is solely on the game Wednesday at Notre Dame, the last at home for Irish coach Mike Brey, who is stepping down at the end of the season. With a victory, Pitt would claim a share of the ACC regular-season championship and earn the coveted double bye for the ACC Tournament next week in Greensboro, N.C.

“The thing we try to do after each game is reset,” Capel said when asked about a possible letdown after the big victory against Syracuse. “And let that be in the past and focus on what’s ahead of us.

“We need to have good practices and really be focused on what will be an emotional game.”

Notre Dame (10-19, 2-16) is on a seven-game losing streak, but four of those defeats were by either two- or four-point margins.

Brey has challenged Capel to a game of HORSE while Pitt is in South Bend, Ind. It would be a continuation of their competitions from the mid-1990s when Brey was a Duke assistant and Capel the team’s point guard.

“We should do that pregame,” Brey said. “I still can get in his head with some of those bank free throws and left-handed stuff.”

Seriously, Brey said he is proud of his former pupil.

“He had to have a big year, and he has. He’s the ACC Coach of the Year. I think it’s brilliant how he’s re-invented his team. Jeff is like a son to me because I coached him and watched him grow. I know his father is so darn proud of him, looking down. He deserves it.”