Matt Freed, Post-Gazette West Virginia's Frank Young grabs Mike Cook's face as Cook pulls down a rebound in the first half last night at the Petersen Events Center. Click photo for larger image. More Coverage: Victory rings loud and clear for Panthers

As the final seconds ticked off the clock of Pitt's 80-66 win against West Virginia at the Petersen Events Center last night, the Pitt student section began to taunt the Mountaineers with chants of "N-I-T, N-I-T."

Brutal?

Indeed, but the Pitt students might be on to something. West Virginia, which led by three at the half, let another prime opportunity to move off the NCAA tournament bubble slip away and, as a result, the Mountaineers are looking more and more like a team that is headed for the National Invitation Tournament.

West Virginia (20-8, 8-7 Big East) can still earn an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament, but, with an RPI of 58, it faces a difficult road.

Because 58 is historically dangerous territory, the Mountaineers desperately needed a road win last night against a high-profile team like Pitt. Instead, their three best road wins are against bottom-feeders Seton Hall, Rutgers and Duquesne, which leaves them with a huge hole on their NCAA resume.

Additionally, the Mountaineers played a fairly weak non-conference schedule, something the committee frowns on. In fact, in the eyes of the NCAA selection committee, they still have only 19 wins because one of their victories was against Division II Slippery Rock.

West Virginia has one signature non-conference win -- a 70-65 upset of UCLA at home -- as well as one conference win against a likely NCAA tournament team (67-56 vs. Villanova at home Jan. 3).

The Mountaineers can still get their 20th Division I win and finish with a winning Big East record Saturday when they play host to last-place Cincinnati (10-18, 1-13). But even that could be trouble: the Bearcats beat West Virginia, 96-83, for their lone conference win.

All of which means West Virginia likely needs to win at least one and perhaps two games at the Big East tournament to put itself in a position to receive a bid.

West Virginia senior Frank Young, who played an important role for the Mountaineers in their NCAA runs the past two seasons, knows a win against the Panthers would have been huge.

"We kind of felt coming up here that if we could win this one, it would put us over the top and get us in," Young said. "Losing this was a blow to our chances, but we know we still have an opportunity to get into the tournament because we have a game on Saturday and then in the Big East tournament. But the margin is slim.

"Tonight hurts because it was an opportunity to go on the road and get a win against a highly ranked team like Pitt. That could have opened some eyes."

West Virginia coach John Beilein echoed Young's sentiments. He said had this game been played in December, it would have carried a lot less weight, but the importance of any game this close to March is going to magnified.

"This would have certainly been a significant win for us," Beilein said. "But this doesn't mean that our season is over. Every team in the country is going through this right now. Some teams have won their league and yet they still have to go win their conference tournament just to get in. So that is what it is all about right now.

"There is just a lot of pressure at this time of year and that's why we are playing in front of packed houses every night from here on in. There is a lot of drama left."