It’s roughly a half-hour until game time. Looks like the Oklahoma-WVU game will go right up against if not over the 8pm time.

I’ve spent the past 8 hours watching basketball and occasional look-ins for the bowl games. I’ve seen LSU blow another game where it was up big. Wisconsin is just a tough team. Winthrop knocked Miami from the unbeaten. St. John’s can’t even beat VT in the Garden. Louisville showed Iona and its former assistant Kevin Willard little pity. Barry Rohrssen and Manhattan made Rutgers sweat at times, but couldn’t close the deal. ‘Nova is killing LaSalle so far.

I love Saturdays.

Back when the gametime gets closer.

Here’s the Dayton schedule page where you can launch the CSTV.com Gametracker.

8:56: It’s halftime and Pitt is down 45-32. Brian Roberts didn’t just step-up, but mauled Pitt with 19 points including a deeeeeep 3 as time expired. He shot 7-10 and it’s not like the rest of the Flyers are slacking with 6-12 shooting and plenty of FT shots 17-18.

DeJuan Blair got in foul trouble (2 fouls) and sat extensively to fuel a Dayton run in the game. Gilbert Brown already has 3 fouls.

Struggling on 3s — again.

Mike Cook being out is looking painful. Pitt may have had more than a week off since he went down, but much of that was lost because of the Christmas break. His experience on defense (and extra fouls) are needed.

Dayton is so up for this game, as well.

Still plenty of time. Have to assume Dayton will cool down and Pitt will make some adjustments. Still going to be tough to comeback a second straight time.

9:15: DeJuan Blair is playing like a freshman tonight. Geez, some dumb fouls. Pitt down 49-35.

9:21: How in a game called this tight, was that not a foul when Sam Young got knocked down going up for an alley-oop?

Then Blair called for a foul trying to block a shot from behind. His 4th and 16:04 left. Pitt down 51-40.

9:23: Now Levance Fields is on the floor holding his left ankle in pain. No weight on it when he is helped off the floor.

Oh, man this is not a good night.

9:27: Ugh. 57-40. I know Blair is out with fouls, but where exactly is Young tonight on the glass?

9:38: Pitt is down 60-44. Just over 10 minutes left. There isn’t much to say. Pitt is lost in the backcourt without Fields. Young is struggling without any help.

Blair returns. Bad call where the refs say it went out on Blair and Dixon gets a technical going down the floor to argue. Defending his players.

Hate to say this, but this is a lost game at this point.

9:44: Biggs. Look, I don’t think you are that bad as a role player. No matter what, though, you are not a ball handler to try and take a guy off the baseline.

9:47: I realize they haven’t seen much playing time. The game is out of reach, however, and it seems like Diggs and McGhee time.

9:53: Pitt can’t sink a 3 and Dayton can’t miss.

10:05: 80-55 Dayton won. Congrats to the Flyers.  They took it to Pitt and played a fantastic game. They won it.

Horrible night for Pitt.

DeJuan Blair got in foul trouble as he got used by the Dayton game plan to go right inside.

Sam Young may have been the leading scorer and rebounder for Pitt with 15 and 7, but it came on 5-17 shooting along with 4 turnovers. He just played a bad game. He really needs Blair there to take pressure off him and prevent defenses from collapsing on him.

Ronald Ramon has had maybe one good game this season. This was among his worst. 0-8 overall and 0-6 on 3s. Add in his shaky attempts to run the point without Fields, and, this was a distilled game of bad play for him

Keith Benjamin’s numbers weren’t too off, except for the fact that he essentially doubled the number of minutes he usually plays. Kind of diminishes it.

Gilbert Brown has to start, but he wasn’t ready tonight.

Bradley Wanamaker demonstrated why he hasn’t seen a lot of action as the competition increased. The true freshman needs work.

Here’s hoping Levance Fields only has a mild ankle sprain and he is back soon.

Starting with the National stuff and narrowing.

Gary Parrish at CBSSports.com in his Friday column gives some love to Dayton, but doesn’t exactly sound convinced of the upset potential.

Some non-BCS love: I’ve had Dayton ranked for a couple of weeks now and am not sure why AP voters aren’t following suit. The Flyers are 10-1 with their only loss coming at George Mason, and they’ve got some better-than-you-think wins against Holy Cross and Miami-Ohio to go with a hard-to-ignore victory at Louisville. Simply put, I like this team. But if Brian Gregory wants the rest of the nation to pay attention, he’ll have to beat sixth-ranked Pittsburgh on national television Saturday.

…

A crazy prediction (but it might happen anyway): How about Dayton over Pittsburgh? I mean, if I’m going to have the Flyers ranked higher than every other entity in the business of ranking teams, then I should be willing to back them with an upset pick, right?

Reggie Rankin at ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. had a chat on Friday (Insider subs).

Shaun (Dayton, OH): How do you like UDs chances tomorrow night at home versus a fast PITT team?

Reggie Rankin: I think the Flyers have a chance. They will play tough team defense and if they can get Brian Roberts some help scoring from Chris Wright and charles Little the Flyer Faithful will pull them over the finish line.

…

Ronnie ((MD)): Does PITT have a chance to win it all ?

Reggie Rankin: I think Pitt could win it all because they are a great defensive team and with the experience in the backcourt and Blair cleaning the glass with the right seed they could get on a roll.

So Pitt could lose but win. I think I’d take that trade.

Want to learn more about basketball plays and the way things are coached and executed (or at least fake it better), then this site is worth reviewing regularly. Here, is a breakdown of one of Dayton’s inbounds play in the face of tough man-to-man defense.

Dayton has a sellout, and a lot of media attending this game.

UD planned to put up extra tables to accommodate all the media coming to the game, but sports information director Doug Hauschild also has had to reserve a row in the stands to make sure they all have seats.

“I’ve never had to do that before,” said Hauschild, the SID since 1983.

Dayton plays tough defense that has Coach Dixon’s attention.

“I think that stands out — how physical they are,” Dixon said. “When you watch them, they play with a purpose. They bang cutters, they’re physical on their drives and they really defend.”

UD is second in the 14-team A-10 in scoring defense, giving up 60.5 points per game, while Pitt is third among 16 schools in the Big East with a 59.1 average.

One theme being played is that Dayton wants to avenge last year’s embarrassing loss.

Roberts is one of two seniors in the starting lineup. Gregory also starts two sophomores and a freshman. The freshman, 6-foot-8 small forward Chris Wright, is second on the team in scoring behind Roberts. He is averaging 12.5 points per game but is questionable for the game tonight because of a sprained ankle.

Wright, who was first-team all-Ohio last season as a senior at Trotwood-Madison High School, has a 39¹/₂-inch vertical leap and was rated as one of the top high school prospects in the country last season by several major scouting services.

“He brings more athleticism and size than what they had there last year,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “He’s athletic and goes to the boards. Those are the two things that really stick out. He can put it on the floor and get to the basket. We recruited him out of high school, so we know all about him.”

Gregory said Wright has added a different dimension to his team.

“His athletic ability has helped us out a lot,” Gregory said. “The thing that impresses me is that he received a lot of publicity in high school and coming here, but he has fit in perfectly. He is an extremely hard worker. He’s the only freshman in our lineup and he’s done a great job of impacting us without disrupting us. A lot of times, when you have someone with his ability come into a situation, it can be a disruption, but he’s a nice fit for us.”

Beside Wright, the other big difference between the game last year and the one tonight will be that it is at University of Dayton Arena, where the Flyers are 22-2 since the beginning of last season, including 7-0 this season.

It should be a great atmosphere. The game might mean a higher ranking for Pitt, but it would be a huge boost for Dayton.

3. If Pittsburgh wins tonight . . .

The Panthers deserve to rise a little higher than their No. 6 ranking in both major polls. Winning at Dayton when Dayton has a strong team is a feat, and the Flyers are 10-1. For their part, the Flyers get a chance to break into the national rankings by showing that their win at Louisville on Dec. 8 wasn’t just the result of the Cardinals’ being in disarray.

Live blog later tonight.

There are currently eight undefeated teams left: North Carolina, Miami (FL), Kansas, Memphis, Washington State, Vanderbilt, Mississippi, and our Pitt Panthers. Looking to keep the streak alive tonight in Dayton. Both teams have been off since before Christmas — Dayton beat Loyola (MD) a week ago while Pitt last played two Thursdays ago and beat Duke.

It’s been mentioned that there will be plenty of support for the Flyers tonight, and they haven’t hosted such a big name opponent in a long time. The fans and players and everyone else wants to knock us off — the target on our backs comes with the territory I guess. They are 10-1 with their only loss coming very early in the season against George Mason. Since then they’ve rolled off nine straight including a win over then-#11 Louisville. In that game, Brian Roberts had 28 points and carried the team — watch out for him tonight.

The big theme from the national media has been putting Pitt on “upset alert”.

ESPN:

Pitt and Dayton are both terrific defensive teams, holding opponents to fewer than 60 points per game. The Flyers could pull off the upset if the defense holds and if last season’s A-10 Sixth Man of the Year, forward Charles Little, steps up his game.

Rivals/Yahoo:

Why you should watch: The Flyers have played surprisingly well and look as if they’ll be a contender in the Atlantic 10. A victory over Pitt, though, and Dayton becomes a team that could stay in the top 25 all season.
The buzz: Pitt has used its usual modus operandi – tough defense and dominating play in the paint – to get off to a fast start. Big men DeJuan Blair and Sam Young are an effective duo, and point guard Levance Fields has been excellent. Dayton also is playing good defense, but the Panthers will be the best team the Flyers have seen this season. Freshman F Chris Wright must hold his own in the low block and also stay out of foul trouble for Dayton to have a chance.
Spotlight player: Dayton senior guard Brian Roberts is underrated nationally and is playing at an extremely high level this season. He’s the Flyers’ only real long-range threat. Pitt’s perimeter defense has been outstanding.

Fox Sports:

The Panthers are coming off a huge win against Duke, but this atmosphere will be even tougher. The Flyers are one of the nation’s hottest programs.

(h/t: Raise the Jolly Roger for the links)

Just writing this post has made me a bit more nervous that I was 20 minutes ago. It will certainly be a tough game, but this isn’t the kind of team to get a big head and walk into UD expecting to easily win. Just keep Roberts in check and I think we’re in good shape. Tipoff is at 8:00 on ESPN2. Go Pitt.