I’m kind of amused by that, but as I said before: Pitt loves to find reasons to make themelves the underdog.

“It may actually benefit us,” said guard Gilbert Brown. “I think we thrive in being in an underdog role when people don’t expect us to succeed. So it plays in our heads and we want to go out there and prove everybody wrong that thinks differently.”

Adds Wanamaker: ” … the Pitt program has always been overlooked. But we take that as motivation, especially playing against a team like Butler. As we’ve said they’re America’s team. So it just motivates you more.”

Butler is also playing underdog/disrespect cards. See the thing is. Pitt is favored by around 7.5 points. Lots of the punditry is saying that Butler can win, but still picks Pitt. Don’t get me wrong. I’m nervous. I’m always nervous. But I have to laugh at the lengths that Pitt players (and possibly the coaches pushing these buttons) are going to find disrespect and underdog cards.

Lots of puff pieces abound at this time of the year, but this one on Nick Rivers is flat out awesome and full of lots of little details. An academic scholarship to Pitt. And some family connections that helped get him close to the program as a manager.

His uncle, an executive with Adidas’s basketball unit, helped Rivers get a job as a Pitt student manager: ferrying coaches to airports, setting up the film room, breaking down the gym after practice. At the same time, Rivers grew a few inches, and got serious in the weight room. He was also a regular at the school’s pick-up courts and in the intramural gym, where his teammates would see him play.

“He would dominate,” Pitt forward Gilbert Brown remembered. “I’m talking about 30, 40 points a game.”

“Whew, he was killing it,” said guard Ashton Gibbs, who began playing one-on-one with Rivers away from practice. “He was definitely doing his thing in intramurals.”

“He wasn’t out there trying to just jack everybody; he was playing team basketball,” Woodall said. “He probably was THE best player in intramurals, hands-down, but he was out there playing as a team player.”

And so, with the recommendation of teammates, and with some e-mails from his high school coach and his dad — who played collegiately against Pitt assistant Pat Sandle — Pitt Coach Jamie Dixon took on Rivers as a walk-on. Teammates described him as an incredible asset and a legitimate practice contributor, and even though Rivers is set to graduate this spring, coaches asked him to come back for a final season, so he’ll start working on an MBA.

That also answers the question as to whether a player presently on the Pitt team will voluntarily give up a scholarship and go to “walk-on” status to help make room on the squad.

The Gary McGhee-Matt Howard connections seems to be a big storyline.

They grew up 60 miles apart, one a bit chunky, the other a bit scrawny. But as the best big men on their respective high school basketball teams, they were teenage heroes in their Indiana home towns.

From their first showdown in ninth grade to their last as graduating seniors, Matt Howard’s team from Connersville High beat conference rival Gary McGhee’s bunch from Highland Senior High in Anderson all four times.

And here.

McGhee said it’s always fun to play against teams from Indiana because of the tradition of the sport in the Hoosier state.

But he doesn’t believe there is much he or Howard can take from their high school battles that will be of any use today.

“There’s probably been a lot of changes probably in both our games,” McGhee said. “He was a slim kid. I was kind of big, kind of a chunky kid. And now we’re different players, both improved tremendously. So it’s going to be different being on the court (today).”

McGhee has started all 33 games for the Panthers this season. He averages 6.9 points and 7.7 rebounds while making 56.5 percent of his shots. Perhaps more importantly, he’s become the anchor of Pitt’s interior defense.

Not bad for a “chunky kid” whom many believed never would be competitive at the next level.

“I watched Gary as a high school player, really liked him, thought he was going to be a really good player,” Stevens said. “But I think he’d be the first to tell you — and I’ve talked to (Pitt) Coach (Jamie) Dixon about it — he’s really blossomed (at Pitt). And he’s done a wonderful job. Coach Dixon and the staff have done a great job.”

Can I put money on both players being in serious foul trouble and having limited impact tonight because of it?

The other tie-together is Ashton Gibbs-Shelvin Mack as teammates on the U-20 team a couple years ago.

“Right now,” Gibbs said, “we’re enemies.”

Two juniors with one mission will collide when the No. 1 seed Panthers (28-5) meet No. 8 seed Butler (24-9) at 7:10 tonight at Verizon Center in a Southeast Region third-round game.

“Me and Ashton are real good friends,” Mack said. “We stay in touch throughout the season. No trash-talking.”

Gibbs and Mack pushed each other during that perfect nine-game run in New Zealand. Gibbs eventually won the starting job, while Mack, who was named the team captain, backed him up.

“We got after it,” Gibbs said. “It’s about time we challenge each other on the court in a real game.”

Ron Cook moves his player puffery to Ashton Gibbs.

John Harris wants to see a big game from Gil Brown.

Questions about whether Wanamaker will get his scoring up. Really, it seems to be about whether he will take more shots. He has been much more of a distributor lately. Only twice in the last 8 games has he attempted more than 9 shots.

This is meeting number 13 between the two teams. How is it possible that this is the first time not playing at Hinkle?

On Dec. 13, 1928, in a newly built Butler Fieldhouse, coach Tony Hinkle‘s Bulldogs scored a 35-33 victory over Pittsburgh, which had a 27-game winning streak and was the acknowledged national champion from the previous season. Future major league pitcher Oral Hildebrand scored 18 points for Butler.

That victory started Butler toward a 17-2 season and a mythical national championship. All 12 meetings have been at Butler, none since 1946.

Butler holds a 7-5 edge.

On the plus side, it’s a night game. Meaningless stat time:

When the Pitt-Butler game time was announced the Panthers got exactly what they wanted – a night game. ThePanthers, for some reason, play better at night than during the afternoon hours.

Pitt is 22-1 this season in games that start at 6 p.m. or later. The only loss at night was to Notre Dame. The Panthers have lost three of their past five games that started during the afternoon hours.

Liveblog tonight around 7pm. The game tips at 7:10 on TBS.