ALTOONA, Pa. -- Pittsburgh is a pro sports town, and DK has built a site that does an absolutely phenomenal job of giving Steelers, Penguins and Pirates fans the best possible coverage. Even before I began working here in August of 2021, I had always marveled at this site's coverage of the pro teams.
We are, however, in the midst of an outstanding run of success for the college programs we cover here at DKPS. I know I speak for Corey Crisan when I say we are loving being able to bring you guys terrific coverage of the colleges, and also thankful that DK has made such a commitment to covering the college programs.
Both Pitt and Penn State are in the NCAA Tournament! At the same time!
No, this is NOT a dream. It's not a test. We're not living in the Matrix -- I don't think, at least.
Furthermore, both Pitt and Penn State finished in the top 25 in football AND made the NCAA Tournament in the same year. WOW!!!! It's not exactly like winning the lottery, but it's akin to a substantial little prize hitting one of those scratch-off tickets. I guess, anyway, since I've never actually won one of those substantial prizes.
If that's not enough, we've got a lot of cool story lines involving several college programs.
Let's take a look:
PITT BASKETBALL
Jeff Capel deserves any and all credit he gets for this year's amazing turnaround. He hit the transfer portal hard, and then hit the jackpot when this collection of players meshed and started winning.
The Panthers slumped down the stretch but were still a tournament team, and I'm glad they made it in. Then they won a thrilling First Four game over Mississippi State in the final seconds in Dayton.
Crisan is now down in Greensboro for Friday night's first-round game against Iowa State. I know Corey is loving all this, and he's crushing it with his great coverage. I had him on my radio show in Altoona on Wednesday, and you could just hear the excitement in his voice getting to go through all this madness.
I know Pitt fans everywhere feel the same way.
PENN STATE BASKETBALL
This is a very dangerous Nittany Lion team, one that could make a nice little run if they shoot the ball well. Or, if they struggle shooting, they very well could lose tonight against a very good Texas A&M team in the first round.
The tournament is all about matchups. It's not about finding the best team. It's about how well you match up with any given opponent and whether or not you can find a way to beat them.
I absolutely want to give Micah Shrewsberry a lot of credit for getting Penn State to the tournament in just his second season, doing so by banking on a bunch of transfers. He has done an excellent job.
Then again, part of me thinks Penn State got kind of lucky by putting together a nice winning streak at the perfect time. Desperation can do that to a team.
Regardless, with Jalen Pickett doing his "booty ball" thing, Penn State is a tough matchup because he can usually score on most other guards in the paint, or kick out to open shooters for 3s. Pickett is the first AP All-American ever for the Lions, which is astounding.
Penn State has only made it to the Sweet 16 once during the modern era, back in 2001, and this team could have a chance to repeat that feat.
Then what will happen with Shrewsberry, who admitted Wednesday that he doesn't know if he'll be back coaching Penn State next season? Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there after the Lions are eliminated from the tournament.
PENN STATE WRESTLING
The Lions are going to win their 10th national championship this weekend in Tulsa. Bank on it.
This team is loaded, and Cael Sanderson has done an incredible job building the best dynasty in college sports.
DUQUESNE BASKETBALL
The Dukes (20-12) won 20 games for just the third time in 42 years and earned a berth in the CBI. They'll play Rice on Sunday.
After going 6-24 last season, Keith Dambrot brought in a bunch of transfers and turned things around in a hurry. He's a good coach, and while Duquesne may never quite reach the top of the Atlantic 10, he's now reached 20 wins in two of the past four seasons. That's quite an accomplishment at Duquesne.
By the way, have you noticed that Pitt, Penn State and Duquesne all built their success this season through the transfer portal?
When done right, the portal can be a quick fix for whatever ails a program.
Now, is it sustainable to pull a rabbit out of the hat through the portal every season? No, it's not. So, all three programs will have to be wary of that next season.
ROBERT MORRIS BASKETBALL
The Colonials had a nice year, going 16-17 overall, but more importantly 10-10 in the Horizon league. That is a significant improvement after finishing 3-12 and 5-16 during the first two seasons in the Horizon.
Robert Morris closed the regular season with wins over the league's two best teams -- Youngstown State and Cleveland State -- then went 1-1 in the conference tournament.
Andrew Toole did a really good job this season, and we'll see if the Colonials can continue to progress up the standings in the Horizon League in the coming years.
OH YEAH, COLLEGE FOOTBALL
I've gotten all the way down here before mentioning the bread and butter of what we do in our college coverage -- football!
That just goes to show how much good stuff is going on with the other programs.
Penn State and Pitt both started spring ball this week. The Lions will be ranked in the top 10 to start next season, while Pitt is coming off back-to-back top 25 seasons.
I'll have a lot of Penn State spring coverage coming up, and Corey will have the Pitt stuff once basketball is done.
Hopefully it'll be a while before basketball is done for both the Panthers and Lions.