2:30 PM on CBS Sports Network (hope you can find it).

Jamie Dixon looms over this game more than I want.

I’ve been doing my best to stay off that topic for a few reasons. I’d rather just focus on the season when there are actual games taking place. It’s not fair to the team and Kevin Stallings. I’m trying to give Kevin Stallings a chance to do things his way and not let too many biases influence how I see it. Constantly harping on what I think Dixon would have done. Or projecting comparisons is just not going to do any good. It’s a very polarizing topic, especially when it comes down to the players on the Pitt roster and talent. It very much has a Walt Harris-Dave Wannstedt vibe to it. Only without the hometown bias Wannstedt enjoyed.

But today. For this game. The topic is rearing its head.

First and foremost, the opponent is Penn State and they play a very young group. A very highly touted group of freshmen. Penn State Coach Pat Chambers has recruited hard in Philadelphia since arriving at State College (note, Chambers is a Philly native and had been Villanova Coach Jay Wright’s top assistant for a number of years before he was hired at Boston University). It truly paid off with the 2016 class.

A class that includes Tony Carr and Lamar Stevens. Two players Pitt and Jamie Dixon hoped to land. Both players, along with a few others on that roster came from a loaded Roman Catholic program — the same school that yielded Brad Wanamaker. That they went to Penn State was big, and seeing PSU getting nationally ranked for recruiting while Pitt’s efforts were floundering was a big negative for many against Dixon. It is something that just can’t be ignored.

Another factor is the Penn State team angsting over their big fundamental weakness: rebounding.

The Nittany Lions are focused on their performance on the boards heading into the matchup with the Panthers.

Penn State has been outrebounded in seven of its first 10 games.

“It’s got to become a habit,” Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said on his teleconference Thursday. “And it’s not a habit right now because you have young guys who are very talented and very gifted and they were never asked to do that through their high school careers because of their talent and how tall they are and their athleticism.”

The Nittany Lions didn’t get enough from its backcourt in the loss to George Mason, while a pair of guards spearheaded the Patriots’ effort.

6-foot-2 guard Marquise Moore, who came into the game averaging 10.0 rebounds, pulled down 13 rebounds, and 6-foot-4 guard Justin Kier finished with 11 rebounds.

For the Nittany Lions, guards Tony Carr, Shep Garner, Terrence Samuel and Josh Reaves combined for 11 rebounds.

PSU was outrebounded by 15 by George Mason. Part of it is not just the effort, it is — and like Pitt — they don’t really have a big size presence inside. Let’s face it, under Dixon we know Pitt would be in position to take advantage of this — regardless of the defense used.

That will probably be something of a wash today. Not because Stallings doesn’t care about rebounds — he does, like every sane coach — but because he has accepted more of Pitt’s defensive shortcomings and is predominantly having this team go zone.

The zone — especially against a younger team like Penn State — should be effective defensively. Tempting them to take more outside shots, and not being patient working it inside. Also, this Penn State team — and stop me if you have heard this before about nearly every program it seems — wants to go at a faster offensive pace. The zone will slow them down a bit.

[Brief aside, since I have taken shots about Stallings planning on being more up-tempo only to have a tempo ranked in the 200s. That has as much to do with the zone defense as anything. If you play zone, you are going to slow the game down. You are trying to minimize drives to the hoop. Make it harder for teams to go inside, unless they are willing to work for it. Not looking to force turnovers. It is a more passive defense that forces patience.]

Penn State has a top-50 adjusted tempo offense, but it is not at all efficient. Of course, they were able to beat Duquesne, so nothing should be taken for granted.

Finally, Dixon’s presence is in this game because Coach Stallings brought it up in talking about how things are going to this point.

“My way is not better than Jamie Dixon’s way,” Stallings said. “It’s just different.”

And as Pitt (7-2) prepares for the 10th game of the Stallings era Saturday in Newark, N.J., against Penn State (6-4), players and coach still are trying to get accustomed to each other.

“Part of it took place real quickly,” Stallings said. “Part of it is probably still ongoing. We’re not all the way there yet.

“I’m expecting some things out of them that they’re not used to having those kind of expectations placed upon them.

“Anytime there is a coaching change, there are going to be differences in philosophy. They’re still trying to get used to some of the things that I expect, I think.

“Conversely, I’m at least learning — I don’t know if I’m getting used to — some of the ways that they are inherently. Some of those things are great and some of those things, I think, need some modification.”

The players, publicly, have been very supportive of Stallings. The biggest thing seems to be that they find him more approachable than Dixon. Which is part of the different coaching philosophy. Stallings is more of a Roy Williams  disciple. Which has the head coach more personally connected to the players.

Dixon is more along the Howland lines. The head coach is the guy handling the on-the-court stuff. The assistants deal with other things including being the good cop when the head coach is the bad cop.

Losing to Duquesne probably didn’t help. A very basic thing that anyone could toss in an argument over Stallings — “Dixon never lost to Duquesne.” Lacks a good rebuttal. Which is why this game is very important for Stallings. Dixon never lost to Penn State, either. And with the likelihood of this series resuming, this game takes on added pressure.

Both Pitt athletic director Scott Barnes and Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour are hopeful, though, that a stable series can materialize, with the latter noting she is “very optimistic” about a deal getting done at some point.

“Scott and I have had a couple of conversations, primarily revolving around football, but we did bring up basketball and I think we both said ‘Yeah, we’d like to play. That would be great,’ ” Barbour said. “That conversation took place, I believe, when Jamie Dixon was the head coach at Pitt. I don’t know what [Pitt] coach [Kevin] Stallings’ view is on it, but I know what [Penn State coach] Pat Chambers’ view on it is. It’s ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ ”

Um, yeah. She knows full well that Dixon had been a proponent of playing it regularly. DeChellis and then Chambers in his first few years wanted nothing to do with this game.

AD Barnes seems up for it, though Stallings is hedging. Or at least understanding that having multiple rivalry games in the non-con is a quick way to major fan dissatisfaction in a down year.

“I just don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t be doing that,” Barnes said of playing Penn State. “They’re getting better. The RPI component of this is good for the both of us, with a Big Ten and ACC schedule. I think it would be a good thing to do. We’ll certainly extend that offer to do that, a home and home.”

…

“I’m indifferent, honestly,” Stallings said. “I just want to have a good schedule. You can’t schedule every rival team you have when you have league games. We’re going to be going to 20 league games at some point. I’m glad we’re playing this game. I think it’s a great opportunity for us and them, that’s for a great cause, obviously. If it would make sense for us to do something long-term, we would certainly look at that.”

It would be nice to tie the basketball agreement to the football side, but that just isn’t how college athletic departments are willing to do things.