PHOTO COURTESY PITT ATHLETICS

The return of March Madness to PPG Paints Arena no doubt feels a like a healthy helping of salt applied to a still-open wound for a Pitt program convinced it was unjustly excluded from the NCAA Tournament.

But the Panthers could still be playing had they reacted with perspective rather than petulance.

Instead, a statement was quickly released once Selection Sunday came and went without Pitt’s name being called. The Panthers had no interest in the NIT. They were apparently either too proud to accept a consolation prize, too hurt to continue competing or both.

That’s unfortunate because of how well Pitt had been playing and because of all that might have been gained by continuing to play, even in the NIT.

Pitt had an NCAA argument, to be certain.

ESPN’s Jay Bilas was among those, before and after the NCAA field was revealed, convinced of Pitt’s bonafides.

“Pittsburgh’s a Tournament team,” he kept insisting.

But Bilas’ colleague at ESPN, long-time Bracketologist Joe Lunardi, was just as adamant the Panthers hadn’t met the NCAA Selection Committe’s criteria.

In advance of Sunday’s revelations, Pitt had taken to social media and posted what it maintained was “a worthy resume.”

Lunardi’s response on Twitter/X/Whatever was a sarcastic, “The line with a 343 NonConf SOS must have gotten cut off on my screen.”

We can debate whether the non-conference strength of the schedule and “body of work” should still be applicable.

But in the eyes of the Committee, there’s no such argument to be made.

“For 30 years they have consistently banged bubble teams on NonConf SOS,” Lunardi subsequently added. “You can dislike that as a criteria, but that’s what happened.”

In retrospect, this might not have been the year to play North Carolina A&T (7-25 overall, 5-13 in the Coastal Athletic Association), Binghampton (15-15 overall, 7-9 in America East) and Jacksonville (16-17 overall, 5-11 in the Atlantic Sun).

This might have been a better year to play Purdue rather than Purdue-Fort Wayne (a representative of the Horizon League, Robert Morris’ conference).

And as it turned out this would have been an outstanding year to play NCAA Tournament-qualifier Duquesne, something Pitt used to do annually in an event that was once known as “The City Game.”

Pitt needs to schedule better, it has for a long time.

It’s the Selection Committee’s tournament.

Refusing to play by the Selection Committee’s rules doesn’t make much sense.

Reacting as the Panthers did to this year’s perceived injustice, meanwhile, was as misguided as it was short-sighted.

It’s understandable that no one aspires to play in the NIT, especially teams that consider themselves NCAA-worthy.

But by continuing to play the Panthers could have proven their point.

They also could have gained invaluable tournament experience, the kind you can’t manufacture in anything but a win-or-go-home scenario. They could have continued to build chemistry, cohesion, camaraderie.

For a team that’s eligible to bring back all but one player from this year’s roster next season (in the era of the transfer portal returnees aren’t as certain as they used to be), that’s an opportunity that shouldn’t have been so easily dismissed.

Such experiences might have come in handy next March.

By season’s end, Pitt was indisputably passing the “eye test.” The ACC quarterfinal against Wake Forest was epic, as was the conference semifinal against North Carolina. The Panthers played with skill and heart and grit and resolve. They were playing at a level that had them believing they weren’t just NCAA-worthy but capable of inflicting so damage once getting there.

Beyond that, they were fun to watch.

Not just for Pitt fans, but for college basketball fans.

We all lost when they decided to take their ball and go home.