any plans to announce pairings before regular schedules come out for next year?

I think normally the pairings come out for challenges in late April/Early May, so I think that will be the case...

i wonder how they plan to match up. Number 1 vs number 1, random or attempt to pit teams that share a market (or at least part of one) against each other

The last scenario of course would leave Providence and one of the new york area teams without a clear cut opponent

Creighton/Nebraska
DePaul/Northwestern or Illinois
Butler/Indiana or Purdue
Georgetown/Maryland
Marquette/Wisconsin
Villanova/Penn St
Xavier/Ohio St
St Johns/Rutgers (since seton hall already plays them)

Providence/Minnesota-- Pitino connection
Seton Hall/Michigan? rematch of Championship game?

my hunch would be more by rank than by location.