So the question must be asked.

How far can this year’s Pitt basketball team go?

The Panthers have adapted to the Atlantic Coast Conference just fine, thank you, appearing to be one of the best teams in that well-respected, traditional circuit.

Monday night’s home game with Duke is an anticipated clash at the Petersen Events Center, reminding one of the days old Big East powers Syracuse, Connecticuit and Georgetown paid visits there.

Pitt suffered a four-point loss at No. 2 Syracuse last weekend — and still went up two sports to No. 20 in the AP Top 25 poll. That shows how respected this team has become.

And why not?

The Panthers won 17 of their first 19 games this season, including five of their first six in the ACC. That elevated coach Jamie Dixon’s won-loss record to 144-68 in 11 seasons at the helm. That’s a winning rate pushing 70 percent.

Lamar Patterson and Talib Zanna — the only two seniors on the team — have developed into true leaders. And sophomore point guard James Robinson has become as good at his position as anybody in the country.

Through 19 games, Robinson had accumulated 81 assists while turning the ball over only 14 times. Such numbers are downright ridiculous.

When you have a point guard of that quality to go with the 6-foot-5 Patterson and 6-9 Zanna in the front-court, you have the makings of something great.

Even losing sophomore guard and sixth-man Durand Johnson for the season hasn’t affected this group all that much. The depth is there and so is the youth.

Eight players on Pitt’s roster are either freshmen or sophomores.

So the question remains. How far can they go?

The Panthers’ failures to reach the Final Four in recent years have been well-documented. Whether they enter the NCAA Tournament as a high seed or middle-range seed hasn’t seemed to matter.

Last year’s team won 24 games — then promptly lost 62-59 to Syracuse in its Big East Tournament opener before suffering a 73-55 thrashing by Wichita State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Three years ago, Butler eliminated the Panthers, 71-70, in the second round of the NCAA’s after Pitt took some incredibly foolish fouls in the closing seconds.

Xavier beat the Panthers in the second round in 2009-10. The year before that, as a No. 1 seed, Pitt suffered a heartbreaking 78-76 loss to Villanova in the Elite 8 as Wildcat guard Scottie Reynolds drove the length of the floor to lay the ball in before the final buzzer.

Enough of the bad memories. This is a new season in a new conference with new hopes.

The NCAA Tournament is a crap-shoot by its nature. Any team can be eliminated at any time. But with the balance in college basketball today — including the ACC — Pitt has as good a chance as anybody to make a run. For Dixon, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle