The polls came out yesterday, and somewhat surprisingly Pitt came very close to being #1 in the AP Writers poll. Of the 71 voters, 33 put Pitt at #1, 35 had UNC, 2 chose Memphis and 1 went to Louisville. Gary Parrish at CBS Sports decided Pitt was #1.

The Coaches were a bit more static about not changing their #1 team.

That’s all right. I don’t think anyone really wants to be the #1 team in the polls at this point.

The only thing Pitt wants with a #1 next to itself will be the seed lines.

“I think it’s almost certain to happen,” he said. “There will be two from Pitt, UConn and Louisville.”

Lunardi, who held a national conference call last week, predicted Pitt is a lock to receive its first-ever No. 1 seed when the brackets are announced Sunday, especially with wins over Marquette and Connecticut in the past week.

But he feels there is almost no chance three Big East teams will receive three No. 1 seeds, regardless of what takes place at Madison Square Garden this week.

“Some people are trying to paint whether all three (Pitt, UConn and Louisville) should be on the top line,” he said. “I don’t see that happening. Maybe it’s political, but even if you take all that out, it’s hard for people to fathom that three of the best four teams are in the same conference.”

By location, Pitt is almost certain to be at Dayton. That would have their first round opponent be the winner from the play-in game.

As for the announced All-Big East teams, Sam Young repeats putting him in a limited company.

This is only the second time Pitt placed two players on the all-Big East first team — Charles Smith and Jerome Lane in 1986-87 were the originals — and the third time that three Pitt players received all-Big East honors in the same season.

Young becomes only the fourth Pitt player to earn all-Big East first-team honors twice. The others were Aaron Gray (2005-07), Brian Shorter (1988-90) and Smith (1986-88).

A total of 16 players received all-conference honors — six on the first team and five on the second and third teams — in voting by Big East coaches. Coaches were not permitted to vote for their own players.

“I think it was a tough call for the coaches (to determine) which of our three to vote for,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “I’m glad they all got honored.”

Not that seeing Fields all the way down on 3d team wasn’t a shock. Even Coach Dixon — while trying to be neutral about it — seemed to be taking a shot at his fellow coaches.

The biggest surprise was that Fields was named to the third team. Fields leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.1), is second in assists (7.6 per game) and averages 10.9 points per game. His assist-to-turnover ratio is almost twice as good as Marquette’s Dominic James (2.7), his closest competitor in the Big East.

Two other point guards made second-team all-conference ahead of Fields — Connecticut senior A.J. Price and Syracuse sophomore Jonny Flynn.

“It’s not a surprise,” Dixon said. “Sometimes, I think I value what point guards do more than other coaches. I look at what they do more than the scoring. I put more value on assists than the fans, coaches and media do. His assist-to-turnover ratio should be a bigger story than it has been. But then again, he’s a senior and it’s an old story.”

Roughly translated:  they are shortsighted, clueless fools.

NBE Basketball Report gave their awards.

DeJuan Blair took POY honors. Sam Young was 1st team All-Big East, Fields was 2nd. Coach Dixon was COY and they gave Ashton Gibbs honorable mention for freshmen.