Bucs' draw: Pitt

BY BRIAN T. SMITH
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – It’s the Bucs and the Panthers. And the East Tennessee State University men’s basketball team is heading to a likely prime-time fight against one of the top programs in the country.

ETSU learned Sunday evening it will play the Pittsburgh Panthers in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The No. 16 seed Buccaneers will face the No. 1 seed Panthers in East Region action Friday at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio. Pittsburgh (28-4) is the second-ranked team in the country in the most recent Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls.

Game time for the Bucs-Panthers first-round contest is to be determined.

“It’s a tough matchup,” ETSU coach Murry Bartow said. “But going in, you know you’re going to get a top-10 team.”

In the days leading up to Sunday’s pairings announcement, many college basketball analysts had predicted the Buccaneers (23-10) would earn a No. 14 or 15 seed. Bartow said he thought the same.

“I really thought we were going to be a 14 or 15, to be honest,” Bartow said. “But I wasn’t in the [selection] room.”

Asked why he thought ETSU received a lower-than-expected 16 seed, Bartow said he did not know.

“Just looking at the [ratings percentage index] numbers, I really thought we were a fairly solid 14 – maybe slipped to a 15,” Bartow said. “I don’t know. I don’t want to speculate on that. And I don’t want to make a too big of a deal out of it.”

Bartow said he also saw benefits to the Bucs’ imposing first-round matchup. The primary one being that the 410 miles that separate Johnson City from Dayton is a drivable distance for blue-and-gold fans, a reported 1,000 of whom Sunday packed the Millenium Center, located near the ETSU campus, to take part in a Selection Sunday celebration.

“We always travel a lot of people,” Bartow said. “We’ve got great support.”

Bucs fans shouted “It’s great to be a Buccaneer!” as the East Tennessee State team walked through a banquet-style room before the NCAA Tournament pairings were announced. Bartow received a standing ovation.

“We’ve got great, great, great fans,” Bartow told the crowd.

But when word of ETSU’s first-round draw was announced live on national television, a room filled with anxious, excited Bucs fans immediately quieted down.

The realization that ETSU had drawn a No. 16 seed – the same position former Southern Conference-foe Chattanooga (18-16) was given by the NCAA Tournament selection committee – and would be forced to compete against a Pittsburgh team many consider one of the best in the country was a setback.

But the party-like atmosphere quickly returned. And while Bucs coaches and players fielded media questions in the glow of television lights, ETSU senior forward Kevin Tiggs said it didn’t matter who the Bucs were playing. East Tennessee State is playing a game in The Dance, Tiggs said, and the Buccaneers would be ready.

“I [am] excited,” Tiggs said. “It’s just another team. … I’m glad to be here this year, and thank God, just for the chance.”

Tiggs said neither he nor his Bucs teammates had a preference who ETSU played in the first round.

“[We were hoping] we’d get somebody we could match up with,” Tiggs said. “But we got this.”

ETSU earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Atlantic Sun conference tournament championship. The Buccaneers knocked off the Jacksonville Dolphins, 85-68, March 7 at Allen Arena in Nashville, Tenn.

The NCAA postseason berth marks the eighth time in the program’s history the Bucs have won a trip to the prestigious NCAA Tournament. ETSU last appeared in The Dance on March 19, 2004, when the Bucs fell to Cincinnati, 80-77, in first-round action. East Tennessee State’s most-recent NCAA Tournament victory was in 1992, when the Buccaneers knocked off Arizona, 87-80.

The Bucs are riding a five-game winning streak and have outscored their last five opponents by an average of 19.6 points per game.

Bartow said Pittsburgh’s size and athleticism were immediate concerns, while ETSU coach Scott Wagers praised the Panthers’ defense – Wagers said he partially modeled the Bucs’ revamped defense off Pittsburgh’s system.

The Panthers have won 10 of their last 12 contests and were ranked as high as No. 1 in the country as recently as Feb. 28.

Pittsburgh is led by forward Sam Young (18.7 points, 6.1 rebounds per game), forward DeJuan Blair (15.6, 12.2) and guard Levance Fields (10.7, 7.6 assists).

The NCAA Tournament matchup will mark a first-ever meeting between ETSU and the Panthers.

“First-round games are a bear, whoever you play,” Bartow said. “But we got a pretty big bear.”

btsmith@bristolnews.com|(276) 645-2569