[EDITOR NOTE: Reed is going to be helping with spring football. So much happening. Even I have a finite amount of time available. Reed has been a longtime commenter here at this blog and has a great love of Pitt football. Much thanks to Reed for jumping into the breach.]

Hello folks, Chas has asked me to chip in and help out with this Blog’s coverage of the PITT football team’s spring practices.  Chas is busy with PITT basketball team’s NCAA tournament coverage and since we all hope that goes into April, I readily agreed to do so.

Some of you may recognize my name from other message boards.  I’m pretty opinionated but will try to make these entries as entertaining and helpful as possible without too much personal input — however, I am unemployed at the time and have nothing else to do so I can’t guarantee anything.  One other point — I have no access to any actual practices or meetings and I live 250 miles away from PITT, so whatever I pass on is gleaned from other published sources — news media, blogs, videos, etc.  No inside info here and if I state my opinion I’ll say so.  That said, here goes nothing…

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The 1st round was technically, last night. I don’t know anyone that actually calls it that. If the NCAA is so eager to avoid any stigma with “play-in” games, maybe just call it “The Opening Round” and still make Thursday/Friday “1st Round.” I think people might actually be accepting of that if you make just a small concession that the Tuesday/Wednesday games are not the same as the true start of the tourney. More like an introduction.

The point, which was quickly lost, was that Pitt will play UNC-Ashville on Thursday.

“We’re real excited, everybody’s ready to go,” Dixon said.

UNC Asheville (20-13) won the Big South Conference championship. The team’s first impression of the Bulldogs came from watching a first-round game live rather than film that had been edited and dissected.

“It changes a lot because you get a better feel for what the team is capable of doing,” senior Brad Wanamaker said.

When watching film, “It shows a lot of their strengths,” Wanamaker said. “It really doesn’t show their weaknesses. When you watch a game live you see little weaknesses in a team, and for us to watch it as a team [Tuesday night], it’s going to be great.”

UNC-Ashville will probably make Pitt (fans) a little nervous during the game. Simply because of a kid named Dickey, who showed he can bomb away from outside. UNC-Ashville can also play inside a bit, so Pitt will get challenged for rebounds.

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Thanks as always to Luke for setting things up and running the bracket. I’m behind in so many other things, it’s one last thing to try and get to.

Okay, here’s the prize set-up for the winner.

— $50 Barnes & Noble gift card

— a couple (cheap) Pitt t-shirts that I picked up at the Pitt Stop (Size L only).

This is in addition to the regifted schwag collection that carries over from the football bowl challenge since that was unclaimed:

– 8 GB jump drive in the form of Nike branded military dog tags

– Padded black Nike drawstring bag

– Jim Beam branded flask

– Brewzkey bottle opener

– Flying Dog branded pint glass (and if you are of legal drinking age, a good beer to pour into it)

— this t-shirt in size Large

So if you haven’t done your bracket. Head here to follow the instructions.

There’s a lot of stuff I have to get to. On the blog, elsewhere on-line, and of course in the offline world.

This is one of those things I’ve been meaning to get to for some time.

The next Big East TV contract looks to be better than the last. Of course, given how far behind the last contract was compared to all the other BCS conferences, that’s not exactly a huge stunner.

The Big East Conference may get as much as $460 million for multiyear television contracts to its college basketball and football games, media analysts said.

The conference, which has 16 members for basketball, may get an increase close to the 230 percent that the Atlantic Coast Conference received when News Corp. (NWSA)’s Fox and Walt Disney Co. (DIS)’s ESPN got in a bidding war, RBC Capital’s David Bank said.

The Big East’s six-year, $200 million contract with Disney’s ESPN network runs through the end of the 2012 season. Commissioner John Marinatto said in December that boosting television fees is a priority for the conference, which has hired former National Football League Commissioner Paul Tagliabue to help. Interest from ESPN and other broadcasters, including Comcast Corp. (CMCSA)’s Versus and Time Warner Inc. (TWX)’s Turner network, may increase the league’s income, analysts said.

Now this comes with a lot of caveats and needs perspective on the numbers.

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