Tomorrow night’s game is the one we expected to see in the second round of last year’s NCAA tournament until VCU stormed the party. Duke easily took care of Albany, but so has everyone else. Likely one of those games Duke scheduled knowing they needed to get back into the swing of things after a break for finals. Thursday at MSG is a good test for both teams though.
Duke’s probably starting five will look something like this:

G — Greg Paulus: Shooting 50% from three point land. In his first two years it began to look like he might have made a mistake by playing basketball instead of football. As a junior, he’s starting to show his worth.

G — Gerald Henderson: Has been hot lately, putting up 10+ points in 8 of last 10 games

G — DeMarcus Nelson: Only senior on whole team and plays the leader role. Season high 23 points on Monday over Albany

F — Kyle Singler: 6-8, 220 lb and one of the best freshmen in the nation; tied for team lead in points per game and has team lead in rebounds per game (6.1)

F — Brian Zoubek: Over 7 feet tall, which is 5+ inches taller than DeJuan Blair who will likely be the defender on him. Should be a great test for Blair on a big time stage.

Similar to Pitt, Duke will only go about three deep from the bench. Both teams are very comfortable with the rotation they’re in at this point regarding how many guys see the court.

In case you hadn’t heard, Dick Vitale will be out of action until at least February. Once, many years ago, before he became a caricature, Vitale was one of the best color analysts for college basketball. I don’t like listening to him any longer, but I still wish him a speedy recovery. That means Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas will have the call that night.

If you were watching ESPN stations ast night and tonight, you know that the game is getting full ESPN promotion. Including the in-game discussion while other games were happening.
Both Pitt and Duke have game notes (PDFs).

I’m not particularly bothered that Pitt isn’t going too deep on the bench right now. I think Wanamaker is struggling a bit to pick up the increased level. It will come in time, and for the past couple of years, a complaint has been that Dixon hasn’t had a good rotation and thrown too many guys out there.

Ray Fittipaldo is right because he agrees with me about the importance of Levance Fields.

…The second thing was Levance Fields picking up his third foul four minutes into the second half. Pitt is a very ordinary team without Fields on the floor. As soon as the lead got trimmed to seven, Jamie Dixon put Fields back in the game, and the Panthers resumed control.

Pitt played without Sam Young for 10 minutes in the first half against Washington and still only trailed by three at halftime. The Panthers have played without DeJuan Blair for long stretches because of foul trouble and still been successful. It became obvious to me Saturday that the player they can least afford to lose is Fields.

Basic rule, when the reporter or columnist agrees with your viewpoint, he is obviously right.

Duke had no problem on Monday with the Great Danes of Albany. They too, seem to be looking forward to the next game.

“This game was good to keep us sharp and give us a little something going into Pitt,” swing-man Gerald Henderson said.

By the way, Duke has won 36 straight games in Decembers. Almost makes me wish the game had been in November when Pitt hasn’t lost under Dixon.

Duke may be without New Jersey Sophomore Forward Lance Thomas who missed the Monday game with a high ankle sprain. The Blue Devils don’t have that much depth in the front court, so that could be a big issue.

DeJuan Blair apparently has a chip on his shoulder about Duke.

Blair is motivated for a couple of reasons. He said the Blue Devils didn’t pursue him at all coming out of Schenley High School. Instead, they focused their efforts at forward on Singler, who was named the ACC Pre-season Rookie of the Year, and 6-6 Taylor King, another McDonald’s All-American.

“They didn’t recruit me at all,” Blair said. “That’s another reason why I’m going hard on them. They have an excellent program. I wish I could have been recruited by them. But they looked the other way and got who they wanted. Pitt got who they wanted.”

I’m going to choose to view this as a competitive player looking to use any perceived slight as extra motivation.

Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski thinks the focus should be on the older players.

Krzyzewski brings his Blue Devils (10-0) to the Garden Thursday for a showdown against Pitt (10-0), and both teams have terrific freshmen in Kyle Singler and Taylor King for Duke and DeJuan Blair for Pitt. But I’ll heed Coach K’s words and keep on an Duke senior DeMarcus Nelson, who’s finally healthy and Pitt’s junior Sam Young.

While the players are clearly juiced for the game (almost as much as we, the fans), and I prefer them to concede the excitement. I just hope they get their emotions reined in for the game itself.
Finally, Dixon gets a puffer by Ron Cook.

Well, if I had to guess Averin Collier will choose Syracuse to play RB or finally take the move to Safety at Pitt or Alabama. He actually wanted to choose Clemson, but they told him no.

…apparently the Tigers feel they have a chance to land a running back higher on their board right now. Collier had planned to visit Clemson over the weekend but after talking with recruiter Billy Napier a couple of weeks ago, the visit was canceled. “I told him they were my number one choice and I would commit if I enjoyed my visit,” Collier said. “He told me to wait and I could not do that because I’m an early enrollee. I can’t have my fate depending on somebody else. He said they were waiting on somebody else. There was no use wasting my time. I told him to just scratch me off the list and I’ll look elsewhere.”

He seems set on wanting to be a running back. Oh, well.

ESPN.com lists 5 programs recruiting well despite disappointing records: 1. Minnesota, 2. Pitt, 3. Stanford, 4. Washington and 5. Colorado (Insider subs.).

A three-year contract extension for coach Dave Wannstedt and huge road win over then-No. 2 West Virginia last month has proven to be a huge boost for this fledgling program trying to get above .500. For a team that has struggled so much, many prospects must see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Luring QB Tino Sunseri (Pittsburgh/Central Catholic) away from Louisville obviously means it is not sold yet on incumbent Pat Bostick. ESPN 150 TE Jonathan Baldwin (Aliquippa, Pa.) is a huge playmaker who will likely start out at wide receiver and should play right away in some capacity.

The needs start on the offensive line. Sophomore OT Jason Pinkston is going to be a good one, but both starters are gone and the two reserves are seniors-to-be. The Panthers need an offensive tackle capable of improving depth and eventually competing for the starting slot opposite Pinkston. This could very well be Luke Nix (Jefferson Hills, Pa./Thomas Jefferson), an athletic two-way player who on defense has the athleticism to hold up in pass protection and the strength to drive folks off the ball in time. OT Ryan Turnley (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell) rounds out the position to this point.

This class isn’t very big, but there is some potency near the top.

For whatever it’s worth, Pitt’s upset of WVU was ranked the #3 upset for 2007 by SI.com.