This is when the madness started: March 28, 2003.

What were you doing that day? Chances are if you were a Pitt basketball fan, you were bemoaning the Panthers' early exit from the NCAA tournament. That was the day after second-seeded Pitt lost to third-seeded Marquette, 77-74, in a Sweet 16 game.

It was the second consecutive season Pitt had lost in the Sweet 16 to a lower seeded team and the fans were starting to get restless. The rabid Panthers fan base wanted to know when their team would get over the hump and take the next step of getting to a Final Four.

It is a question that has dogged the program ever since. In 2004, Pitt was a No. 3 seed and lost to Oklahoma State in the round of 16. In 2005, as a No. 9 seed, it lost to Pacific in the first round. And last year, as a No. 5 seed, it lost to Bradley in the second round.

Five NCAA tournament appearances: no Final Fours.

If that's frustrating to Pitt fans, maybe they ought to look at some college basketball history for perspective. Some of the most successful coaches in the sport's annals needed more time to get their teams to Final Fours. Two of them coach in the Big East against Pitt and are in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

It took Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim 10 years before he got the Orange to a Final Four. It took Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun 14 years.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon is entering his fourth season. If you want to start Pitt's clock coinciding with Ben Howland's arrival, this is the eighth year that Pitt's current system has been in place.

"It took me 14 years to get there," Calhoun said. "In the meantime, we were winning Big East championships and getting to final eights. Quite frankly, you have to play well and be fortunate."

Calhoun took over Connecticut in 1986-87. The Huskies did not reach the NCAA tournament until 1990. They did not get to the Final Four until 1999, when they won their first national championship. From 1990-99, the Huskies won six Big East championships.

That mirrors what Pitt has been doing under Howland and Dixon. The Panthers have won four Big East regular-season championships since 1999-2000, Howland's first season, and one conference tournament championship. They have played in the conference title game in five of the past six years.

Calhoun said the key is persistence.

"If you keep being good, one of those years you'll be placed in a bracket that is just perfect for you," he said. "We've had great teams not make it. The 30-2 team that lost to Mississippi State was a great team. Mississippi State was playing great basketball. That's what's been happening to Pittsburgh. If they keep knocking on the door, it'll open."

Boeheim's first season at Syracuse was 1976-77. He did not make a Final Four until 1987, when the Orange lost to Indiana in the national title game. Syracuse had nine 20-win seasons in the first 10 years under Boeheim, but the Orange always fell short of the Final Four until '87.

"You just don't know what it's going to take or when it's going to happen," Boeheim said. "It's obviously very difficult to get to the Final Four. You can have a very, very good team and not get there. Duke has been No. 1 or 2 in the preseason four years in a row and they didn't get to the Final Four. It's very hard to do. If you have a bad night and someone else has a good night, you don't get there."

Boeheim said the worst thing Pitt can do is change its approach for the NCAA tournament. Like Calhoun, Boeheim said there is no secret to getting over the hump. It's just a matter of plugging away.

"The only thing I learned is you play the same way you played all year long," said Boeheim, who subsequently went to two more Final Fours and won his first national championship in 2005. "If you're successful to that point, you certainly don't change anything. You have to keep playing, and eventually, you get there a couple of times. Florida had five or six years in a row where they were bad in the tournament -- out in the first or second round -- and then they won. There is no way of predicting it anymore. The best teams during the regular season sometimes don't get there at all. At the beginning of the year Florida was not picked in the top four or five in their league last year. That's the way the tournament is. There is no way to figure it out."

The message to Pitt fans: Stay patient and hope for the best.