MINNEAPOLIS -There was no way to predict this, of course, no way to foretell all the prosperity that’s emboldened the Pittsburgh Panthers these last two years. There was no great influx of top-50 players. The new coach wasn’t a flashy, sexy hire, with TV-ready looks and a pitchman’s slick salespitch.

“It wasn’t like one day, everything clicked, everything made sense,” says Pitt point guard Brandin Knight. “There wasn’t one moment of clarity where we just suddenly started being a great team. These things just happen sometimes.”

That they have done, as well as any team in the country the last two years. Pitt’s 57-10 record (before last night) the past two years equaled Duke’s for the best in all of college basketball in that time.

Pitt and Duke, 1 and 1-A?

“I think that shows,” Pitt coach Ben Howland says, “just how possible things are when you believe in yourself more than other people doubt you.”

Yes, in many ways, it sounds like the back story to “Hoosiers,” and Butler’s Bulldogs were supposed to have cornered the market on all “Hoosiers” references in this NCAA tourne.

Yet Pitt, which took on Marquette in one semifinal of these NCAA Midwest Regionals last night at the Metrodome, not only embodies those traits as much as any team in college basketball, Butler included. Pitt’s rise has been as steady as it’s been spectacular. After years of wandering around the wilderness under past coaches Paul Evans and Ralph Willard, the school tapped Howland, an obscure but accomplished coach at Northern Arizona.

Two years ago, Pitt made a stunning rush to the Big East title game that fell short of attracting the NCAA committee’s attention. The last two years, they haven’t waited until late to make that push.