Then there is the Big East releasing the Conference schedule match-ups. Not the when. Just who and where.

For Pitt, well given the pure unknown quantity of the team, the schedule seems challenging enough.

Home opponents at the Petersen Events Center will include DePaul, Georgetown, Louisville, Providence, Rutgers, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova and West Virginia.

The Panthers’ 2009-10 road opponents include Cincinnati, Connecticut, Marquette, Notre Dame, St. John’s, Seton Hall, South Florida, Syracuse and West Virginia.

Pitt’s three repeat opponents are St. John’s, Seton Hall and West Virginia.

Notice a theme with the repeat opponents?

Sure WV is there. Rival and all. But St. John’s and Seton Hall? It’s a double-double dose of Western PA kids against Pitt. D.J. Kennedy gets two cracks as does Herb Pope.

I like to believe these storylines aren’t pre-planned when they set the schedule, but that just seems like quite the double coincidence.

Just eyeballing it, I really don’t know what to expect. I see Villanova and WVU as the top teams in the conference. The next tier is probably UConn, Louisville and Georgetown. Then a big wide-open middle that could include Pitt, Cinci, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Syracuse, and maybe Notre Dame.

After that it’s Providence and Marquette with USF, Rutgers and DePaul at the barrell’s bottom.

I could honestly see Pitt as anywhere from 12-6 in the conference to 6-12.

About early starts for home football games this year? Pitt has 7 home games. 4 in the conference. No times for any of them have been confirmed, but it looks like up to 3 conference home games could be noon starts.

The Big East announced the 2009 Big East Game of the Week schedule. These are games that get the noon start. Well, they sort of announced it. ESPN gets first dibs on most of the games, so we won’t actually know for sure until a couple weeks before each game. That said, three of Pitt’s home conference games are potential BE Games of the Week.

Sat., Oct. 10 *    Connecticut at Pittsburgh or West Virginia at Syracuse

Sat., Oct. 24 * Louisville at Cincinnati or Connecticut at West Virginia or USF at Pittsburgh

Sat., Nov. 7 * Connecticut at Cincinnati or Louisville at West Virginia or Syracuse at Pittsburgh

I guess the good news is that Pitt is under consideration for plenty of ESPN network appearances if they do well enough in the non-con.

Of course, it is looking like those of us going to the games may be slaves to the early start to feed the bitch goddess of TV revenue.

A slight exaggeration for the new Big East Commish. After all, he’s only been on the job for a couple days now. That said, could you plan the info dumps a little better?

This is July 2. Half the country is starting their July 4 holiday weekend tomorrow. That means today is a getaway day. People traveling. Trying to pack. Organize. Run errands. Generally, just not working or in a position to sit down and get information.

So, naturally the Big East chooses today to release not just the conference opponent list for men’s basketball, but also more times for the football games.

Here’s the deal with days like this. It’s when you dump the bad news. Not the good and interesting stuff.