A UConn and Pitt fan rationally discuss the UConn-Pitt game on Saturday.

Of great concern for Pitt has to be Levance Fields’ tailbone. I think he will be ready for the game. The issue is, should he? Over at FanHouse, I discuss why Pitt should at least consider sitting Fields. Hint: it involves the Blake Griffin injury defense to protect seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Of course, Pitt (and us) want to win every game.

But more than league championships and tournament seeding, this game has come to mean a lot to each team no matter the stakes. With the victory last month, Pitt and Connecticut have split the past 12 meetings in the series that has turned into the best rivalry in the Big East and one of the best in the country.

“We’re ready,” Jermaine Dixon said. “We’ve been waiting for this.”

In addition to the rivalry and the high stakes, it will be an emotional day for the seniors. It’s their last home game at the Petersen Events Center. They have a chance to become the fourth team in school history to finish the season with a perfect home record. The previous time it happened was when the 2002-03 team went 16-0.

“It would mean a lot,” senior forward Tyrell Biggs said. “We have great fans here. We want to keep a perfect record here for us, the fans, the coaches, everybody.”

DeJuan Blair vs. Hasheem Thabeet, round II is a big topic. If they don’t meet again in the Big East Tournament or the NCAA Finals, the next time the face each other might be in the NBA.

No matter how Thabeet plays, Blair’s toughest task might be controlling his emotions. It’s senior day, the final time teammates Levance Fields, Sam Young and Biggs play at the Petersen Events Center, where Pitt is 18-0 this season and 114-10 overall. That makes for an emotional day by itself, but …

“It could be my last game here, too,” Blair said, quietly. “I’m not saying it will be, but it could be.”

There has been speculation Blair — a sophomore — will leave for the NBA after the season. Some projections have him going in the second half of the first round of the June draft. You’re talking guaranteed millions if that’s the case.

Everywhere Blair goes on the Pitt campus, he’s asked about his plans. Most people beg him to stay another season. He’s not just a fabulous player, he’s one of our own, having grown up on The Hill and played at Schenley High School. Others merely say, “Hey, kid, you gotta do what you gotta do. If you stay, that’s great. If you leave, well, thanks for two great years of entertainment.”

“That means a lot to me,” Blair said.

Yes, senior day. The day to honor a class that still wants to do more.

Consider: in their four-year tenure, Pitt has had four consecutive 20-win seasons and 10-win Big East regular seasons — the only class in the league to do so in that span — and reached the Big East Tournament final three times, the NCAA Sweet 16 once and achieved its first-ever No. 1 national ranking.

Not that they’re satisfied.

“When me and Levance first stepped on campus, we told each other, ‘We have to take this program to a higher level,'” Biggs said. “We definitely wanted to get a ring. We always talked about that, especially with (former assistant) Barry Rohrssen. ‘Coach Slice’ told us, ‘This is the class that’s going to get the championship. This is the class that’s going to get all of those accolades.’ We believed in that. We always believed we had a team that could go to the championship. We failed a couple times but we truly believe this is the year we can win the national championship.”

First things first, the Panthers have to do something only six teams have accomplished — beating the nation’s No. 1 twice in the same season — and in a two-week span, no less, after a 76-68 victory over Connecticut Feb. 16 in Hartford. Prior to that game, they were 0-13 against top-ranked teams.

More to come.