For the first time since the Big East expanded to 16 teams in 2005-06, every conference member will attend the season-ending tournament at Madison Square Garden. The only place to find the visual evidence of the opening-round games, though, is on the Big East Conference Web site, so the Tuesday losers will still end their seasons in relative anonymity.

Three No. 1’s?: No conference has ever achieved three No. 1 seeds in one season. Of course, the Big East is the only conference to get three teams in the Final Four — in 1985. The irony is that the Big East has only gotten four No. 1 seeds in the last 18 seasons. Pittsburgh is probably assured of a No. 1 seed, and whoever advances further of Louisville and Connecticut is likely to receive another No. 1 seed. There’s also the chance that Louisville and Connecticut can both get No. 1 seeds if both make the tournament final on Saturday night.

No. 1 Seeds for Major Conferences since 1991:

Home-court advantage: I’m not referring to Saint John’s, who will try to pull off a second upset of Georgetown within a week on Tuesday. I’m referring to Villanova, which has a very good chance to get its first two games in the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia with a deep run at the Garden. Earning a No. 3 seed might be good enough to stay home, but a No. 2 surely would get it done. That would require Villanova to at least reach the final, and the Cats are surely capable.

Orange crush Huskies: In three of the last four Big East Tournaments, Syracuse has eliminated Connecticut, including in one of the memorable Big East quarterfinal in 2006. Moreover, UConn hasn’t won a Big East Tournament game since 2005. Guess who is lined up for UConn in the quarterfinals — Syracuse, if it can defeat Seton Hall on Wednesday night.

Bubble talk: Unlike most conferences, the Big East has just one true bubble team entering its tournament — Providence. It’s unclear what the Friars need to do to make the NCAAs, but they’ll at least need to beat the winner of DePaul-Cincinnati in the first game on Wednesday. Another win over Louisville would surely get the Friars in, but a loss to the Cards would mean three days of anxiety for PC fans. Georgetown, Notre Dame and Cincinnati would probably have a case for an at-large berth if it got all the way to the Big East Tournament final, but that’s obviously very unlikely. Syracuse, though, had a run to the title from the No. 9 seed in 2006, which started by beating Cincinnati, but the Orange needed “just” four wins in four days. Any of those three would need five.

Handicapping the field: Pittsburgh should be considered the favorite, especially since the Panthers are lined up to face two teams — West Virginia and Connecticut — whom the Panthers have already beaten twice. Louisville is second choice because it has an easier quarterfinal matchup than either Villanova or Connecticut is likely to have. I’d call the Cats the third choice, as they’re likely to get a struggling Marquette team in the quarters — Georgetown is also a possibility there. Connecticut, therefore, is the fourth choice with the toughest road to the final. Syracuse is the team not in the top four that is best equipped to win the title. No. 12 Georgetown is the team playing on the first day with the best route to a semifinal appearance.