The new Big East tournament format is somewhat ridiculous – four play-in games were played today, four second round games will be played tomorrow (at least those are on TV) and then the premiere teams suit up Thursday. Here’s where it gets lame – Louisville finished 16-2 and at the top of the conference … but the unbalanced schedule meant it got to play Pitt and Connecticut at home (split).

The Cards have a waltz into the semis – they’re not losing to bubble teams Providence or Cincy. Meanwhile, Pitt could play WVU in the quarters while Conn could play Syracuse. And then Pitt and Connecticut could play in the semis, while Louisville gets a good but certainly not great Villanova team. This is probably why a few prognosticators have been hyping Louisville as a potential No. 1 seed in March.

Two teams NCAA dreams died earlier today: Cincy gave DePaul its first (!) Big East win of the season, and the committee should laugh the Bearcats out of the room; and Georgetown ended its NCAA hopes – the season began so beautifully with the win at Connecticut! – with a loss to St. John’s.

Tonight the premiere game is Notre Dame against St. John’s. The Irish need to win this whole thing – getting to the Final probably wouldn’t cut it – for Luke Harangody to extend his collegiate career in a tournament people will actually pay attention to. Although he’s just a junior, three other starters are seniors, and even though transfer Ben Hansbrough is eligible next year, and the recruiting class is decent, this was the year he was supposed to carry the team to the Final Four. It seems unlikely next year, although due to attrition, Louisville, Pitt and Connecticut will all be less awesome.

Tomorrow we should debut the 2009 Culture Bracket, assuming there are no more computer snafus.