The issue of rivalry between Pitt and Duquesne, or the lack thereof from the Pitt perspective, is the theme today. Take this story for the best summation.

“It’s just another game for us,” said senior forward Chevon Troutman, who has won all three of the City Games he has played in.

Pitt’s rivals are in the Big East, with Connecticut, Syracuse and Notre Dame. The Dukes? Well, there’s familiarity because players hang out and play pickup games in the offseason, but that’s about it. There’s no dislike, no bad blood.

“We don’t view them as a rival at all,” Troutman said.

Don’t blame Troutman for being honest. Rivalries are born out of competitive series and close games. The City Game has hardly been competitive during his lifetime.

It’s not to say that Duquesne doesn’t take it seriously.

Whatever the case, the point is that the Dukes view this game as a rivalry much more than the Panthers. For many of the local players, it’s a chance to stick it to the bigger and more successful Division I school in town for not recruiting them. For others, it’s a chance to pull a momentous upset.

“They’re going to be really pumped up to play us,” Troutman said. “We’re just going to have to sit in our stances and do our basic stuff we’ve been doing. This is going to be a big game for them.”

For them. Not for Pitt. For the Panthers, this game ranks only slightly higher than the other local annual games against Robert Morris and St. Francis, Pa.

That about says it all. The game is at 4pm this afternoon. It looks like you might be able to listen for free to the game (from a Duquesne perspective) here.