It’s that time of year again.

College basketball’s regular season is coming to a close and… It’s that time of year again.

College basketball’s regular season is coming to a close and March Madness is approaching seemingly faster than ever before – even golf is into it.

But, before the field of 65, including the imperative play-in game, is released weeks from now on Selection Sunday, there will be 31 mini-tournaments being played coast to coast to determine nearly half of the NCAA Tournament field with automatic berths.

What I’m referring to, of course, are the conference tournaments. In just a few weeks, high schoolers who feel it necessary to watch every single game of the Big East Tournament held at Madison Square Garden in New York will skip class to watch the opening rounds.

Since our beloved Panthers have been such a pleasant surprise this year and are currently standing in third in the Big East, many college basketball experts have considered Jamie Dixon’s young team as a lock for an at-large bid in the big dance.

But, nobody has mentioned the Panthers as a legitimate contender for the Big East Tournament championship. Granted, the Big East conference is stocked with national contenders, owning the top-25 with five teams ranked in both the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and the Associated Press Poll, but is the competition so stiff that Pitt isn’t worth a mention for the title?

Well, let’s take a look at the round-by-round matchups the Panthers would encounter, and what they need to do to bring home the Big East gold for the second time in four years.

First round: Marquette – Pitt has a first-round bye as the current third seed, and would play the winner of the six and 11 seeds. As it stands right now, Marquette is the six seed in the conference and would need to beat the 11-seed Louisville. Assuming they do, Pitt would start the conference tourney against a very dangerous team. The series this year has split 1-1, the home team winning each contest.

At a neutral site, the Panthers would rid themselves of the terrifying Bradley Center atmosphere that played a big part in the Golden Eagles’ upset of the Panthers last week. Aaron Gray stays out of foul trouble early and takes over the game, while Ronald Ramon leads Pitt’s perimeter defense in slowing down Marquette’s Steve Novak to earn a first-round victory.

Second round: Villanova – Coming off a huge upset of then-No. 1 UConn, Jay Wright and the Wildcats have proven that they are capable of winning six games come NCAA Tournament time. However, Villanova is one of two teams not on Pitt’s Big East regular season schedule, so it’s hard to tell how the Panthers match up.

Villanova is known for its four-guard offense, letting point guard Kyle Lowry slice blazingly down the lane for the layin or cut and kick it to guards Allen Ray, Randy Foye or Mike Nardi, who all average double figures in points. Pitt’s perimeter defense could either be fantastic as we saw against WVU, or slow and beatable as they displayed at Marquette. Pitt wouldn’t be able to run with Villanova and would need to get the ball inside to Aaron Gray, Levon Kendall and Sam Young-a lot.

Championship game: UConn – Interestingly, Pitt has played the Huskies and matched up very well with them. Gray had one of his best performances of the year against Connecticut’s highly touted big men Josh Boone and Hilton Armstrong Jr. As a matter of fact, if Pitt shot better than 2-20 from 3-point range, they would have left Storrs, Conn., with a win.

But UConn has Rudy Gay, the most talented athlete in the conference whom Pitt had absolutely no answer for the last time. Find a way to contain Gay, because you can’t stop him, and Pitt will be crowned Big East Tournament Champions once again.

Granted, upsets happen and lower seeds plant high seeds all the time, which is what makes March Madness so exciting. But as it stands right now, this is the road the Panthers have to the Big East Conference championship.

I can see why the experts might be skeptical.

Pat Mitsch is a senior staff writer for The Pitt News. E-mail him at [email protected].