PITTSBURGH—Big East regular season champion Pittsburgh will enter the 2004 Big East Tournament as the No. 1 seed and will play the winner of the Virginia Tech-Rutgers game on Thursday at Madison Square Garden. Tipoff is at noon for the ESPN2 nationally televised contest. No. 8 seed Virginia Tech (14-13, 7-9 Big East) and No. 9 seed Rutgers (16-11, 7-9 Big East) will play Wednesday at noon in the tournament’s first round.

Pittsburgh (27-3, 13-3 Big East) claimed the Big East regular season crown outright when Syracuse defeated Connecticut 67-56 on Sunday. Pittsburgh earned the No. 1 seed with a 59-45 victory Saturday against Villanova. The Panthers earned their third straight Big East regular season title and finished 13-3 in league play for the third consecutive season. Pittsburgh’s 39-9 league record over the last three years ranks tied for second all-time among the Big East’s all-time best three-year spans.

In other news, freshman center Chris Taft was named the Big East Conference Men’s Basketball Rookie of the Week Sunday by the league office. Taft earned the honor for the second consecutive week and for the sixth time this season. His sixth honor ties for the fourth most selections in league history. Additionally, Taft has also earned the honor more times than any other Big East player this season. Taft has been named the Big East’s Rookie of the Week on Dec. 22, Dec. 29, Jan. 12, Jan. 26, March 1^st and now March 7^th. He has earned the honor in back-to-back weeks two times.

For the week, Taft averaged 20.0 points and 8.5 rebounds while shooting 81.0 percent (17-21) from the floor in Pittsburgh’s two victories. He led Pittsburgh with a career-high 24 points (10-11 FG), grabbed six rebounds and hit 4-4 free throws at Providence on Tuesday night. He followed that performance with his sixth career double-double of the season against Villanova on Saturday (16 points, 11 rebounds).

The freshman from Brooklyn, N.Y. leads the Panthers in both blocked shots (58), rebounding (7.7 rpg) and ranks second in field goal percentage (.571, 140-245). He also averages 11.4 points per game.

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