DAYTON, Ohio — The ACC has been a puzzle awaiting an answer in March. That started with Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. The team picked to finish 14th in the conference clawed and scratched and survived and advanced, and you wonder if that was as good an omen for the ACC as it was for the Panthers.
Twenty-one lead changes. That’s how many Pittsburgh and Mississippi State battled through before the matter was finally settled in the last 10 seconds 60-59. They went for nearly a 26-minute stretch never separated by more than a possession, and the Panthers found a way despite missing their injured 6-11 center and getting owned in rebounding 49-28. They’re off to Greensboro next to play Iowa State.
“We showed toughness, resiliency,” coach Jeff Capel was saying afterward. “We were who we’ve been all year and it wasn’t pretty, but it was beautiful.” It was a terrific game for spectators, same as last year’s two-overtimer in Dayton between Notre Dame and Rutgers. Those who belittle the First Four haven’t been
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