PHILADELPHIA - Saint Joseph's and Pittsburgh can start packing for NCAA tournament first-round destinations, but Lehigh has a pit stop before finding out whether it goes on to the first round.

Saint Joseph's (27-1) earned the No. 1 seed in the East Rutherford regional and plays No. 16 Liberty (18-14) Thursday in Buffalo, N.Y., while Pittsburgh (29-4) was the No. 3 seed in the East Rutherford regional and plays No. 14 Central Florida (25-5) Friday in Milwaukee.

The tournament begins Tuesday night with a play-in game in Dayton, Ohio, between Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion Florida A&M (14-16) and Patriot League champion Lehigh (20-10). That winner will play on Friday in Columbus, Ohio, against Kentucky (26-4).

The Panthers' seed was one of the big surprises of the tournament brackets. Pittsburgh was thought to at least earn a No. 2 seed, even after Saturday's 61-58 loss to Connecticut in the Big East championship.

Instead, the Panthers were stunned by their seed.

"I don't know how it works," coach Jamie Dixon said. "We're not in there on the (tournament selection committee) meetings and how they do that. I don't know where they would have had us before (the Connecticut loss). We had a great year. We had more wins than anybody in the country and it all comes down to doing it on the floor."

Saint Joe's was on edge about a No. 1 seed after a 20-point loss to Xavier in the Atlantic 10 tournament quarterfinals. The Hawks won their first 27 games, but the upset raised questions about how serious a contender the tiny school will be for the national championship.

The Hawks, though, still played the nation's toughest nonconference schedule and have the No. 1 nonconference RPI, which was enough for the selection committee to give the Hawks the top spot.

"In a way, it's uplifting," star guard Delonte West said. "We just want another opportunity to play basketball. Whether it's a No. 1 or a No. 2 seed, there's a lot of tough teams. We just want to go out and play our best."

Coach Phil Martelli said he was glad the Hawks were judged on their overall season, not just one loss.

"It's total elation," he said. "Had it been a two, we would have been equally as excited. It's not like this was our be-all and end-all."

Lehigh earned its first bid since 1988 after Jose Olivero hit a leaning jumper with 3.9 seconds remaining to give the Mountain Hawks a 59-57 victory over American in the Patriot League title game.

Tournament MVP Austen Rowland had 14 points and Jason Mgebroff added 13 for the Mountain Hawks (20-10).

"I'm just so proud of these guys and what they were able to accomplish," said coach Billy Taylor. "This team didn't get much credit at any point during the year. People have looked past us, wrote us off - said we weren't good enough, weren't tough enough. But this team stayed together. They were a team. Any shot that was thrown our way, they got even closer. They were amazing. I give them all the credit for the success we've been able to have."

In the NIT, Temple plays at Rutgers and Drexel plays at Villanova on Wednesday.