The Milwaukee portion of the NCAA Tournament got underway Thursday morning with an open practice session for Minnesota, Oakland, Xavier and Pittsburgh.

The teams got familiar with the Bradley Center court in advance of Friday's First Round games. Admission to the sessions was free and there was a crowd starting to develop by about 1 p.m.

A second practice session, featuring Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Georgia Tech and UC Santa Barbara, begins at 4:25. 

While teams worked out, other participants met with the media to discuss the tournament. 

Thinking realistically: Oakland coach Greg Kampe doesn't have any grand illusions of making a run to the Final Four like George Mason did four years ago.

The Grizzlies don't, however, expect to be a pushover in their first-round game tomorrow against No. 2 seed Pittsburgh.

"We're not going to cut the nets down in Indianapolis," Kampe said Thursday. "We know that, our kids know that.

"They have a goal to make it to the Sweet 16."

Kampe doesn't think his team is feeling any pressure this weekend, suggesting instead that the pressure to win the Summit League Championship was much greater.

"You don't realize what pressure is when you can win 26 games and if you don't win that last one, you're not going. That's pressure."

Watchful eyes: Games in Milwaukee don't start until Friday morning, but elsewhere in the country, the Tournament is under way.

Televisions in the media room were tuned to the day's action, but the horde of reporters poured into the hallways to watch Notre Dame fall to Old Dominion and Robert Morris bid to upset Villanova.

Remember, the media is unbiased. 

Tickets available: Several hundred individual session tickets for tomorrow's First Round games were released Thursday by the NCAA. The $71 tickets will available at the Bradley Center ticket offices beginning at 4 p.m.