Pittsburgh forward DeJuan Blair (45) smiles during Pitt’s victory over Xavier on Thursday. One of the biggest keys for Pitt today against Villanova will be to keep Blair out of foul trouble.

Boston ? Pittsburgh and Villanova endured a bruising Big East schedule to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. They arrived that much better prepared to advance to the Final Four.

But first, one of them has to get past the other.

The cross-state rivals will meet in the East regional final at the TD Banknorth Garden at 6:05 tonight in a game that puts the Big East in the national spotlight. Though it sometimes gets competition for bragging rights from the likes of the Atlantic Coast Conference, there is no questioning the toughness of a league that once experimented with allowing a sixth foul so its bruisers could stay in the game.

“The Big East is going to be tough, no matter what,” said Pittsburgh’s DeJuan Blair, a 6-foot-7, 265-pound big man who was the conference’s co-player of the year. “The ACC — you really can’t compare them. They’re like rocks and cotton. We’re just toughness, we’re not finesse players.”

But if Pittsburgh (31-4) is going to get any further this year, Blair might want to be a little more cotton and a little less rock.

Born and bred in the Steel City, Blair embodies Pittsburgh’s playing style and carries its chances of winning the school’s first NCAA title. He averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds during the season and had a pair of 20-point, 20-rebound games, but he also fouled out in three of the Panthers’ four losses, including a Jan. 28 loss to Villanova in the schools’ only regular-season meeting.

“I refer to him as a beast in a very complimentary way,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “I could see that being a Pittsburgh basketball player. Blue collar, like the Steelers, that’s how he plays, to me.”

Blair said he is more disciplined now than the player who picked up his third and fourth fouls in quick succession midway through the second half of a surprising loss at Providence. He has had three fouls in each of Pitt’s first three NCAA games.

“I’ve been good for the whole tournament. Hopefully, they’ll keep letting me play the way I am,” he said. “I can’t get in foul trouble for my team to win. I’ve just got to be out on court. Everybody on my team and my family and my coaches and everybody just says to stay out of foul trouble. I’ve just got to keep playing.”