Conference tournaments are about basketball but also so much more: the fans, parents, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The ACC Tournament is taking place this week in Washington, DC, and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD will be covering all the angles so you can look forward to an abundance of articles in the week ahead. Jon Teitel continunes our coverage with an interview of Pitt dancer Kat Perkins.
You are from Alexandria, VA: what made you choose Pitt? It has a great social work program, which is what I want to do.
You are majoring in Social Work: why did you choose that subject? I want a career where I can help people…and science is not my strong suit, so this it the next best thing.
You are a senior: what is the post-graduation plan? I will be attending the University of Chicago to get my masters’ degree in social work while doing field education in a trauma and burn unit at a hospital.
How did you 1st get into dance, and what is the best part of being on the dance team? I started dacning when I was 3 years oldL it was a birthday gift from my parents. The experience I get to share with 6 of my closest friends by showing them around my hometown: I would not trade it for the world.
How excited are you to return to the DMV area? Always exciting! My family/extended family are on the way, as this is 1 of the few times they can see me in person.
What has been your favorite memory from this season: the win at Duke in January, the Senior Night win over NC State last weekend, other? Definitely Senior Night: it was such a good game!
How does your school decide who gets to go to the ACC tourney, and what will it mean to you to see your group doing its thing in front of a national TV audience? Our coach bases it on performance ability/crowd interaction. To do it on TV is so crazy to think about but so exciting to reach Pitt fans from across the country.
Does your squad have anything extra-special planned for DC this week? We have a really fun dance today and (hopefully) tomorrow: the dance tomorrow is 1 that I choreographed so i am keeping my fingers crossed.
Any predictions for today’s game vs. Wake Forest? I think it is going to be a close game because our teams are very evenly matched. I think it will be a long 1…so I hope Pitt ends up on top!
The Hoops HD Selection Committee – Initial Selection Board
We are now less than 72 hours from Selection Sunday when we will learn who will be selected for the 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Above is our initial Selection Board of teams that our own panel believes should qualify for the tournament. The 14 teams listed in blue have already won their automatic bids and are guaranteed entry into the tournament. There will be 18 other teams that eventually win their respective automatic bids in the other conference tournaments being played through the weekend.
You may have also noticed that we only have 20 teams listed in green – this is because the Selection Committee made a change to the selection process this year. Instead of a maximum of 36 first-ballot at-large teams (which would match the 36 at-large spots available) being selected, the maximum number of at-large teams selected on the first ballot was reduced to 24 teams. Each member of the Hoops HD Committee submitted two lists to our chairman Chad Sherwood – the first list contained up to 24 teams that were “locks” to make the tournament. The second list was teams listed Under Consideration; these were teams that would not be selected on the initial ballot but would be considered after the initial round of balloting.
Since our Committee has over 10 voting members; teams needed all but 3 votes (i.e. 9 out of 12, 10 out of 13, etc.) to be placed on the at-large board. There were 20 teams that received the prerequisite number of votes to make the field. There were 42 teams that received at least 4 votes for Under Consideration; this was a larger number compared to years past because of the smaller initial at-large field. There were 13 other teams that were automatically added to Under Consideration by virtue of winning the regular season titles in their respective conferences, but it is likely that they will be voted off the Selection Board when our committee begins our meetings tonight.
Our agenda for our first night of meetings will have two parts: the first will be to name our annual Centenary Award and Stallings Award winners as the worst team in Division 1 and worst major conference team, respectively. Both teams will remain on the Selection Board for the duration of the committee meetings. The second part will be to add up to 16 at-large spots to the Selection Board; for each round of voting, there will be a discussion of the teams Under Consideration and each committee member will rank their top eight teams in no particular order. After the votes are tallied, the top eight vote-getters will be ranked 1 through 8 by each individual panelist. The top four vote getters will be added to the At-Large board.
For each subsequent round of voting, there will be more discussion about the remaining Under Consideration teams and each panelist will once again name their top 8 teams to be added to the at-large pool. The top four teams plus the four carryover teams from the previous round of voting will then be ranked 1 through 8 by each individual panelist. The top four teams will also be added to the at-large board. (Should a team be forced to carry over twice, they will be added back to the Under Consideration board). Our goal will be to add 16 teams to the at-large board, but it is possible we may stop at 12 teams depending on how long the process takes.
Stay tuned later tonight/tomorrow morning to see which teams we add to our tournament field!