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4-1-Zoo: Big East Tourney Guide, Day One

PITTSBURGH — No. 3 Pitt is fresh off a Big East Conference regular season title and now sets its sights on a conference tournament championship as well.

It all starts today at Madison Square Garden.

The first round schedule is as follows:

2011 Big East Tournament – First Round – March 8th, 2011

#16 DePaul vs #9 UConn — 12:00 p.m. ESPN2
#13 Rutgers vs #12 Seton Hall — 2:00 p.m. ESPN2
#10 Villanova vs #15 USF — 7:00 p.m. ESPNU
#11 Marquette vs #14 Providence —  9:30 p.m. ESPNU

Pitt fans should keep an eye on the first game of the day — Depaul vs. UConn. The Huskies are a heavy favorite in the game and Pitt may have to face one of these two teams down the road.

The winner of Depaul-UConn moves on to play No. 8 seed Georgetown in the second round on Wednesday at noon. That winner plays the Panthers Thursday at noon.

Pitt went 1-0 against all of its possible quarterfinal opponents. The Panthers defeated UConn, 78-63, back on Dec. 27 when the Huskies were ranked No. 4 in the country. Three games later, they traveled to Washington D.C. and beat No. 22 Georgetown, 72-57.

Pitt went on the road to DePaul Jan. 22 and won that game as well, 80-50.

The winner of Rutgers-Seton Hall will move on to play No. 5 seed St. John's in the second round at 2 p.m. Wednesday. The winner between Villanova and South Florida will play No. 7 seed Cincinnati at 7 p.m. Wednesday, and the winner of the Marquette-Providence game advances to play No. 6 seed West Virginia at 9 p.m. Wednesday.

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Chris Gates | Area 4-1-Zoo Blog
Twitter.com/Chris_Gates
Chris.Gates@cbsradio.com

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