DENVER -- Pitt completed its season Saturday night with a loss to Michigan State in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

But, in coach Jamie Dixon's mind, the Panthers completed three seasons in a topsy-turvy five months that saw them persevere through injuries to reach their seventh consecutive NCAA tournament.

Dixon has said that it was like coaching three teams in one because of the injuries Pitt suffered. The initial part of the season consisted of the first 11 games before senior starter Mike Cook was lost for the rest of the year with a knee injury.

Pitt played one half of a game before suffering its next injury. Junior point guard Levance Fields fractured a bone in his left foot Dec. 29 against Dayton and had to miss nearly seven weeks. The next 12 games, including the first 11 Big East games, made up the second half.

The Panthers were able to battle through without Fields and went 8-4, which kept the Panthers in contention for the NCAA tournament.

The third and final installment came when Fields returned to the lineup for the final 13 games. Pitt won eight of those games, including four in a row to claim the school's second Big East championship with a surprising victory against top-seeded Georgetown.

"I'm very proud of our team, have been all year," Dixon said in the moments after Michigan State's 65-54 victory at the Pepsi Center. "They've been through a lot."

Pitt would not have made a seventh consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament had it not been for its two remaining seniors. When Fields got hurt, guard Ronald Ramon moved from shooting guard to point guard and kept the team on the right track. Keith Benjamin, a career reserve, came off the bench to become the starting shooting guard, and developed into one of the team's most consistent players by season's end.

When the final buzzer sounded Saturday night, their college careers ended. Ramon and Benjamin won 101 games, went to four consecutive NCAA tournaments and won a memorable Big East championship.

"Now you can sit back and think about everything you accomplished," Benjamin said in a somber Pitt locker room. "I know everyone will say we accomplished a lot this year. It just doesn't feel like it right now. As the weeks go on, and we watch the rest of the tournament, we'll sit back and think about what we really did, what we had to go through as a team and how we stuck together. I'm pretty sure we'll end up in a special place."

As has been the case in years past, it figures to be a busy offseason. Junior forward Sam Young, the team's leading scorer, has been getting mentioned as a possible NBA draft prospect.

With his breakthrough season, Young put himself in position where he might be considered as a first-round selection in the draft. He is likely to go through the process that Carl Krauser and Aaron Gray went through the past couple of seasons.

They participated in pre-draft camps, performed in individual workouts for teams and received feedback on their draft status. Krauser and Gray decided to return for their seniors seasons when they were not assured of being a first-round pick. Only players drafted in the first round of the NBA draft receive guaranteed contracts.

If Young does return for his senior season, the Panthers will be one of the favorites in the Big East next season. Young averaged 18 points per game. Fields 12 and freshman center DeJuan Blair 11 points and nine rebounds per game.

There is also a small chance that Cook could be granted a sixth season of eligibility with a medical redshirt, but Pitt won't learn of his status until the summer in all likelihood.

Pitt could be a top 10 team in the preseason polls next season if Young comes back.

"Well, it's tough to think about that right now," Fields said. "But we have three potential starters coming back, pretty much our nucleus. As long as we work hard this summer, learn from this, get better, hopefully stay injury-free, we should be fine."

Young said the Panthers, who finished 27-10, should be proud of what they accomplished.

"Yeah, it's kind of tough right now," he said. "But at the same time, when you look back on the season, we'll be able to realize what we accomplished. I'm very proud of the team and I'm very proud of myself as an individual, the coaching staff, everybody.

"I feel like after a certain point in the season, a lot of people counted us out. For us to continue on strong, win the Big East championship, get to this point in the tournament. ... I think we showed a lot for ourselves."