It’s been a long few days of watching lots of basketball.

Pitt got the 3 seed. No complaints about that part. I have no explanation how Villanova ended up with a 2 seed. Temple was screwed by 2 lines. I thought they had played to a 3 seed, but ended up with a 5 to face Cornell.

The Big East placed 5 teams on the first 3 lines. Another strong year and respect for the Big East.

As for the first round game with Oakland of the Summit League. I always worry, but this is a good match-up for Pitt.

They are not a strong defensive team. They don’t force turnovers. And they don’t shoot 3s real well. They do try to play more up-tempo than Pitt.

The one thing that they do, do well — or specifically what their center Keith Benson does well — is rebound. Benson. He’s a double-double and does grab offensive boards. He can also hit free throws at a 73% rate. Gary McGhee is going to have to put a lot of effort on the defensive end.

Beyond that I am not sure who Pitt will face after that. I really don’t have a strong impulse.

The Minnesota-Xavier game is close to a toss-up. Minnesota is playing great ball and they have an experienced coach in Tubby Smith. Xavier is just as good.

I’m thinking Coach Dixon should bench Gil Brown for the opening game and save his good game for the second round.

I don’t even know who Pitt would face if they got to the Sweet 16. BYU and K-State could be there. BYU would be having a home game if that happened. K-State has enough talent to win games. The one thing with them is they foul a lot. That could hurt them if they face BYU and the way they shoot.

Here’s the schedule for the first round (PDF).

Minnesota-Xavier tips around 11:25 AM 12:25 PM ET. Oakland-Pitt tips off about 30 minutes after their game ends. That is roughly a 2 PM 3 PM ET start.

Just so you know, I’ll be running the liveblog over on Fanhouse this evening to discuss the bubble, seeding and Selection Sunday. The fun will be starting around 5:30 and will probably go 90 minutes or so. Stop on by.

I’ll be posting later on what happens with Pitt and seeding and match-up.

There will be a Pitt Blather Tournament Pool. Complete with a top prize. I am looking for a volunteer to be the bracket manager — and by that I mean choosing which automated major sports site tournament pool, setting up the private group and doing summaries of the leaderboard to post. If you feel like you want to do that shoot me an e-mail at pittblather-at-gmail-dot-com