Every year at this time we offer the WPIAL Basketball Steering Committee a helping hand in putting together the brackets for its tournament, which is expected to get underway next weekend ... if no more "snowmageddons" hit the area.

And every year we wonder if we should just walk away from the computer keyboard and let the steering committee sink or swim on its own.

Nah.

So, we offer up our thoughts on which teams should be the top four seeds in each classification. This is not a scientific process and we have followed the same thinking as the steering committee ... that the idea is to have the best four teams reach the semifinals. Let's start with the boys.

• In Class AAAA we have Mt. Lebanon No. 1, Central Catholic No.2, Gateway No. 3 and North Allegheny No. 4. We weren't that impressed with Mt. Lebanon at the start of the season, but the Blue Devils have converted us and might be the best Class AAAA team in the WPIAL. That doesn't mean they will win the title. Upsets do happen.

For those looking for a sleeper, look at Butler. The Golden Tornado has slipped a little lately, but it's hard to maintain the brand of intensity they bring for an entire season.

• In Class AAA, it appears as if the Chartiers Valley at Hampton non-section game, which has been postponed twice, won't be played. It would have decided No. 1 and No. 2 for seeding purposes and made things easy. Without that game, we have Chartiers Valley No. 1 and Hampton No. 2. After that, it's hard to sort things out because a lot of teams are even. We have Trinity penciled in at No. 3 and the Greensburg Salem/Laurel Highlands winner at No. 4. Moon Area is our sleeper.

• There are more good teams in Class AA than any other classification but that's nothing new. Defending champion North Catholic is our No. 1 with South Fayette No. 2 even though both are in the same section. Beaver Falls is No. 3 with Rochester No. 4. Rochester has an outstanding record but hasn't played as tough of a schedule as some others, so it will be interesting to see how far the Rams go. Shady Side Academy is next in line and might be as good as Rochester ... or Beaver Falls. Quaker Valley can't be overlooked and neither can Aliquippa.

And in Class A, Sewickley Academy is No. 1 with Serra Catholic No. 2, Lincoln Park No. 3 and Bentworth No. 4. Clairton, which just started playing last month, will be in the mix.

Now for the girls.

• In Class AAAA, Mt. Lebanon is clearly No. 1 with Bethel Park No. 2. Too bad they happen to be in the same section. Butler is No. 3 with Oakland Catholic No. 4. There are always upsets in the playoffs, but it's hard to picture any team, save maybe Bethel Park, beating Mt. Lebanon.

• Hopewell is No. 1 in Class AAAA with Indiana No. 2. New Castle, which is in the same section as Hopewell, is No. 3 and Chartiers Valley is No. 4.

• Class AA is a tough one to figure. We've got Avonworth No. 1, Jeannette No. 2, Greensburg Central Catholic No. 3 and Seton-LaSalle No. 4, but a shift in the order wouldn't bother us.

• In Class A, North Catholic is clearly the No. 1 team but after that it's a tossup. We have Monessen No. 2 with Quigley No. 3 and Vincentian Academy No. 4. Rochester and Fort Cherry are close behind.

The WPIAL basketball finals are scheduled for March 5-6 at Duquesne University's Palumbo Center.

For those looking for immediate insight into the WPIAL tournament the Management Science Associates Sports Network is the place to be Wednesday evening.

The WPIAL is supposed to announce the pairings for its annual tournament at 7 that evening and the MSA Sports Network will have the WPIAL Basketball Pairings Show 7-9 p.m. on many of its stations and on the internet at: www.msasportsnetwork.com.

The show, which will also have streaming video, will be hosted by MSA Sports Network director Don Rebel and include a large cast. Those expected to contribute include MSA announcers Johnny Lee, the former Seton-LaSalle, Bishop Canevin and Baldwin head coach, Bob Orkwis, Sam Hall, Steve Nagler, Mark Schaas, Lee Mohn, Jonathan Whaley and Mike Azadian.

They won't all be on the air at the same time, but why so many people to talk about the playoffs?

"We assign two guys to each classification and that way they can do some homework before the pairings come out," Rebel said. "We'll rotate guys in as we go through each class and break it down. It has worked out well in the past."

Not all of the radio stations on the MSA Sports Network will air the pairings show. Here are some of them that will: WMBA-AM (1460) in Ambridge, WBVP-AM (1230) in Beaver Falls, WJPA-AM (1450) in Washington and WBUT-AM (1050) in Butler.

The MSA Sports Network will broadcast all of the WPIAL playoff games either on one of its affiliates or on the internet only at the Web site.

Mike White's "High School Sports Edition" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.