City Game in the NIT? Could happen if Pitt, Duquesne don't make NCAA Tournament

Remember the City Game? It wasn’t long ago — 2018, to be exact — that Pitt was continuing its dominance over Duquesne in the intracity college basketball series, which is on pause.

Neither of the school’s current coaches — Pitt’s Jeff Capel and Duquesne’s Keith Dambrot — has had much history with the once-popular Western Pennsylvania showcase, but they might just find themselves again on opposite benches next week for the chance at a March consolation prize in the NIT.

“I hope not for him,” Dambrot said Monday, referring to Capel. “I hope he gets in the NCAA Tournament. I hope we do, too.”

But, he added, “I would love the opportunity to play in the NIT if we can’t get in the NCAA Tournament. It would be a great experience for our team. There’s good teams in it, only 32, so it’s elite.”

There is growing interest in a possible NIT matchup between Pitt and Duquesne, provided neither earns an NCAA Tournament bid Sunday, when the 68-team NCAA and 32-team NIT fields are revealed.

Dambrot, for one, hopes the game won’t happen, and it has nothing to do with the rivalry, a series that Pitt leads 55-32.

“I’d love to play the City Game,” he said, “but by the same token, I’d rather see him get what he deserves, which is an NCAA bid, because he’s done an unreal job.”

Dambrot has coached in two City Games and Capel in one, with the two facing one another in the most recent meeting, a 74-53 Pitt victory on Nov. 30, 2018, at PPG Paints Arena.

Pitt and Duquesne have played just once in the NIT, resulting in a 65-63 Duquesne victory on March 8, 1980, less than a month after the Dukes edged the Panthers, 67-66, in an Eastern 8 regular-season game on Feb. 10.

Both contests were played at Civic Arena.

“I think they deserve to be in the NCAA Tournament,” Dambrot said of Pitt. “They’ve played unbelievable basketball over the last two, three months. They’re fourth in the ACC. That should get you in the NCAA Tournament, especially with the way they’ve played.”

Both teams, having secured their second straight 20-win seasons, approach their respective conference tournaments this week with a shot at an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with a victory in the championship game.

Pitt (21-10 and with a NET ranking of 44 among 362 Division I teams) heads to Washington, D.C., for the ACC Tournament. Duquesne (20-11, 98 NET ranking) will be in New York for the A-10 Tournament.

“All we’ve talked about is we have to keep winning. We’ve had a 1-0 mentality,” Capel said after Saturday’s 81-73 victory over N.C. State at Petersen Events Center in the regular-season finale.

The Panthers enter the ACC Tournament at Capital One Arena seeded fourth and have earned a double bye. They open play in the quarterfinals in better position than Duquesne to grab their second straight at-large bid to the NCAAs.

“People argue their nonconference schedule wasn’t great, but he should be up for national coach of the year, really, quite honestly,” Dambrot said of Capel.

“He’s done an unbelievable job just turning that program completely around. I don’t know what they were picked to finish (ninth in the ACC), but they certainly weren’t picked fourth.”

Duquesne’s chances of inclusion in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 47 years rest on its ability to win the A-10 Tournament’s automatic bid.

The sixth-seeded Dukes, who survived a scare from George Washington before securing a 67-65 victory in their A-10 finale Saturday at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, own a first-round bye. They will play their first game Wednesday at Barclays Center in the second round against No. 11 Rhode Island or No. 14 Saint Louis.

“I just think we should go out there and just let our hair down and have fun,” Dambrot said. “Let the chips fall where they may. We’ve put in our hard work. We’ve battled back.”

Duquesne (10-8 A-10) finished 10-3 in its final 13 conference games after losing the first five.

“We’re certainly good enough to win it,” Dambrot said. “We just have to play four good games (in five days).”

We have to play one good game, then another good game, then another good game, then another good game. We don’t have to play a great game, just a good game, good game, good game, good game.”