By Maggie Samole / Sports editor

Being a Pitt basketball fan, I’m used to letdowns.

The team is pretty much guaranteed to make the Big East tournament final every year, but only once during the span of my time on the Pitt bandwagon had they cut down the nets in Madison Square Garden.

That is, until this past Sunday when they upset top-seeded Georgetown 74-65.

I can still remember the last time they won the title.

Living out in the middle of cow country, I grew up a deprived child without satellite or cable TV. I listened to Bill Hillgrove and Dick Groat call the game on 96.9 FM and imagined what was happening in my mind’s eye. When the final horn blew and the Panthers pulled out the victory over the UCONN Huskies, I ran outside to holler in celebration. I’m sure my neighbors thought I was crazy.

I thought I was going crazy on when I got home from work on Sunday to find Pitt beating Georgetown. Would I really get to SEE a team celebrate a Big East championship victory?

I remembered the heartbreak of Pitt’s 2002 double overtime loss to UCONN when Brandin Knight (my favorite of all time) nearly won it on a half-court shot. Honestly, I resigned myself to accepting a loss with the team’s history of blow it in the big game.

Ronald Ramon made me regret my decision to accept defeat, however. His (mostly) steady hand at the charity stripe helped put the Hoyas on ice. The Oakland Zoo erupted with cheers of “Let’s go, Pitt!” solidifying the fact that Madison Square Garden is Pitt’s second home.

The win helped the Panthers to secure a number four seed in the South region of the upcoming NCAA tournament. ESPN’s newest basketball analyst, former Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight, even picked them to win the whole thing.

I wish I could do the same, but I’m a Pitt fan. I know better.

The Panthers haven’t advanced any further than the Sweet Sixteen since the 1973-74 season. They might be riding a five-game winning streak and upset three nationally-ranked opponents in the past four games, but I’m not going to be skeptical. I’m going to be realistic.

Pitt’s atrocious foul shooting is going to catch up with them. They don’t have the heavily physical teams of the past (Do the names Donatas Zavackas and Ontario Lett ring a bell?). DeJuan Blair and Sam Young can be physical when they see fit to be, but their finesse style of play is going to be challenged the farther they get into March Madness.

A word to the wise: When filling out your brackets, don’t take Pitt going the whole way to the title game. I made this mistake the last time they won the Big East tournament and what did I get? A lousy three-point loss to Marquette in the Sweet Sixteen.

I’m not going to risk jumping off the Panther bandwagon. I’ve had enough sports-related injuries this year to last me for a while. However, being a Pitt fan, I’m going to swallow my pride (and my fanhood) and be cautious when I fill out my brackets.

All that being said, LET’S GO, PITT!

One last thing. Did you know that “Hoyas” are rocks?