Football separates Pitt, Villanova

Nasir Robinson. It made the tournament three more times in the next five years under Dixon but won just one game. Clearly stale, Dixon moved on after the 2015-16 season to TCU where, revitalized, he has done a fabulous coaching job and led his alma mater this season to its first NCAA tournament in two decades. Kevin Stallings took over at Pitt and will be remembered as one of the worst hires in college basketball history. He was fired last week after just two seasons, his second ending with an 0-19 record in ACC play. So how did we get here? How did the Villanova program soar so high and the Pitt program fall so low? The answer is easy for me. Football. Villanova doesn’t have a major-college football program and was able to stay in the reorganized Big East Conference in 2013. Its recruiting base remained the same. Nearly all of its best players come from the fertile Philadelphia area and the Northeast corridor. That includes star swingman Mikal Bridges, a likely NBA lottery pick in June, on this season’s team.

And Pitt? It had to move to the ACC in 2013 to make sure it had a spot in a Power Five football conference. It was the right move — the only move — because football pays the bills. But there’s no question it crippled the basketball program. Pitt lost much of its ability to mine its natural recruiting base, which was similar to Villanova’s. The next coach has to figure that out. It will be his toughest challenge. A tip: Enjoy watching Villanova’s greatness this weekend. It will be a long time before you see similar greatness from Pitt.

No need to thank me for the advice.