No, brackets aren’t available yet – although I am sure Joe Lunardi is on his fourth edition of his braketology by now – but yesterday, Pitt released the 2006-2007 basketball schedule. Much of this had already been reported, but this put a bit of a final stamp on it.

The University of Pittsburgh released its entire 31-game 2006-07 men’s basketball schedule on Thursday. Pitt will play a school record 15 national television games and host 18 contests at the Petersen Events Center.

Overall, Pitt will play 12 games against opponents who advanced to NCAA Tournament play in 2005-06, 18 contests against teams advancing to either the NCAA Tournament or NIT last year, 14 games against teams that won 20-plus games in 2005-06 and 17 games against opponents that won at least 18-plus games last year.

The 15 national games are awesome for me – since I’m in Maine – and enough to make me stop thinking about buying a CBB package from my cable company. Thanks again for coming back Aaron Gray. The national exposure can’t hurt recruiting either.

As we already knew, Pitt’s schedule is much tougher this season, thus creating a nightmare for guys like Doug Gottlieb who will need to find something new to write about the Panthers.

Pitt opens the season at West Point Nov. 12 against Western Michigan, which is sure to be both amazing and heart wrenching at the same time. I am going to look into buying tickets to that game, but I am sure they will be next to impossible to get.

Here’s my little schedule breakdown, highlighting some of the big games (this is not an entire schedule):

Dec. 3 @ Auburn – First semi-tough road game (way earlier than the last few years)

Dec. 16 @ Wisconsin (ESPN) – First big test (comes a bit earlier this year).

Dec. 21 @ Okalahoma St. (ESPN2) – This is Pitt first huge test. State will have already been tested earlier in December in the Jimmy V. classic, where they open play against Syracuse, plus it’s on the road. Note: I had this as home at first. My mistake.

Jan 4 @ Syracuse (ESPN) – A little revenge perhaps.

Then there are three HUGE home games in eight days:

Jan 13 vs. Georgetown (ESPN College Gameday) – Big East regular season game of the year.

Jan 16 vs. UConn (ESPN2) – A down year for UConn? I’ll believe it when I see it.

Jan 21 vs. Marquette (CBS) – A budding rivalry continues.

After playing Louisville (ESPN), which I am not labeling as a big game because it is at home, making it a game Pitt really should win, Pitt has a bit of an anomaly:

Feb. 16 vs. Washington (ESPN) – I love this game. It boosts the non-con a bit later in the season, and get some the team some exposure to non-Big East basketball before heading into the NCAA Tournament. Pitt always gets caught off guard by officials and style of play once the Big East season ends and NCAA Tournament play begins, this game will help prevent that.

The end of the schedule is road heavy – three of the last four are on the road with the lone home game coming against Div. IAA West Virginia. I like having the road heavy bit come late, better then early in my eyes. I also like that Pitt faces tough teams like Georgetown and Marquette at home before having to face them on the road. Here are the final three road games:

Feb. 19 @ Seton Hall – Down year for the Pirates, but a possible trap game on the road. New coach Bobby Gonzalez will have them playing tough by this point in the season, and Seton Hall may be fighting for a post season spot, giving them a lot to play for.

Feb. 24 @ Georgetown (CBS) – Could decide the Big East regular season title and who gets the No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament.

March 3 @ Marquette (ESPN) – A possible trap game to finish the regular season.

Oh, and the Final Four is scheduled for March 31-April 2. Mark your calendar.