A blank NCAA Tournament bracket hangs in Mike Brey's office, but the Irish coach isn't too concerned about March Madness yet.

That's why he posted the Big East West Division standings in the locker room last week, a way of reminding his team that there's still a lot of regular-season basketball to be played.

But few could blame Brey and the 19-4 Irish for wanting to look ahead. They've never been in this situation before.

In Brey's first two years with the Irish, Notre Dame entered February needing to scrap its way into an NCAA Tournament berth. Thanks to a strong finish both years, they earned a sixth seed in 2001 and an eighth seed last year.

Now, at this point in the season, they don't have to worry whether they'll make the NCAA Tournament. The only bracket-related question still left to answer is how high Notre Dame will be seeded.

"I know every day there's a mock bracket," Brey said after Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh 66-64 Sunday. "They've got us playing here, and then we're playing there, and people are starting to talk about it. It's exciting that we're involved in it."

Although the Irish leapt a spot to No. 9 in the coaches' poll — they stayed at No. 10 in the media poll — the only ranking that matters come NCAA Tournament time is the RPI figure used to evaluate a team based on its record and schedule strength. Notre Dame is currently ranked eighth in the RPI standings, which the NCAA Committee uses to help determine seeding come March.

Most impressive on Notre Dame's RPI resume is the number of wins over Top 50 RPI foes. This season, the Irish knocked off No. 2 Texas, No. 17 Marquette, No. 20 Pittsburgh and No. 32 Maryland. Notre Dame's four losses came to Pittsburgh, Creighton, Kentucky and Seton Hall – all ranked in the top 50 in the RPI.

If the tournament were held today, ESPN.com bracketologist Joe Lunardi predicts Notre Dame would be a No. 2 seed playing in Indianapolis. Since last year, the NCAA tends to place highly-seeded teams close to home. The higher the seed, the greater the chance a team could play within driving distance.

For Brey, all the tournament talk is exciting to hear. But he wants to keep his team focused on the possibility of winning its second West Division title in three years.

Notre Dame's victory over the Panthers Sunday gave them a 7-2 conference record and pulled them a half-game ahead of Pittsburgh and No. 17 Syracuse for first in the West Division. Ironically, Notre Dame's next game is at Syracuse on Sunday, who handed Pittsburgh its other conference loss.

"Let's just focus on Pittsburgh and the West Division," Brey said he told his team last week. "We said if we can beat Pittsburgh, we're right tied up in this thing, knotted up down the stretch. And I think that helps us stay focused on our day-to-day stuff, instead of `Are we going to be in Indy?'"

The road doesn't get much easier after Saturday's game. The Irish host Virginia Tech, No. 23 Connecticut and Syracuse and travel to West Virginia, Rutgers and Georgetown.

But Brey is counting on senior Matt Carroll to help keep the Irish focused on winning the West Division title. As a sophomore two years ago, Carroll played a key role in helping the Irish to capture a division title and hang a banner in the Joyce Center.

Now, he — and the rest of the Irish — has a chance to do it again.

"I think our guys know," Brey said, "they can say, `We're tied for first. We're playing for a banner.'"

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