I was looking at this week's rankings and noticed that Pitt (11-4) still has votes in both polls despite a few recent losses. First Long Beach State knocked them off at home in what we all initially thought was a huge upset. After that they lost at home to Wagner by 5. After losing at Notre Dame by 13 and at home vs. Yancy Gates-less Cincy by 3, they're now riding a 3 game losing streak.

Looking at their schedule, their best wins this season appear to be a 5-point victory @Tennessee and a 6-point win vs. Oklahoma State (neutral site). Upon closer inspection, though, Tennessee is just 6-6 and really has no impressive wins (though they only lost to Memphis by 2 in double OT). Oklahoma State is only 7-6, is 0-5 against power conference teams, and has not played any outstanding mid-majors.

If you compare Pitt to the Terps, you see some similarities. Pitt has more wins by double digits but has also lost more games at home and overall. What stands out on the Terps schedule are the two 20-plus point losses in Puerto Rico but other than that, they've been pretty solid. And most of that was done without Pe'Shon and Alex Len while Pittsburgh hasn't really had any such personnel issues.

This made me think that if the Terps can handle Cornell and then pick up a win in Raleigh, they very well could be ranked or at least receiving votes next Monday. For whatever reason, most people would consider winning @NC State a minor upset, although I'm not really convinced it should be. After that game, we get Wake and Georgia Tech at home. Both of those should be wins. If the Terps do all of that, I could definitely see them ranked going into Tallahassee on 1/17.

Thoughts?