Pitt plays at DePaul tomorrow night. DePaul was where Maggie Dixon made a name for herself as an assistant coach on the women’s team. She also left a lasting impression there.

Her death stunned the basketball community, particularly at DePaul. Maggie’s legacy remains everywhere at the school where she served as an assistant coach from 2001-05.

This season, Bruno’s players are wearing a patch on their jerseys displaying the names “Maggie” and “Ray,” honoring both Dixon and iconic DePaul men’s basketball coach Ray Meyer, who died March 17.

The women’s basketball office suites are now named for Maggie. Inside, a floor-to-ceiling mural displaying photographs of Maggie covers a wall in the film room.

At the center of the mural is a photo of Maggie raising a finger in triumph after Army won the Patriot League championship game. Another shot shows Maggie consulting Bruno during a DePaul game.

“I miss her every day,” Bruno said. “Every day we all hurt because as much as we are working to make certain her legacy lives on forever, it doesn’t bring her back.”

DePaul will hold a memorial for Maggie in April, on the anniversary of her passing. The school also has plans to endow a scholarship in Maggie’s name.

Doug Bruno recalls seeing Jamie and Maggie Dixon together on an interesting night in Chicago.

Bruno had offered his NLCS tickets to Maggie Dixon, his lead assistant coach. Dixon’s big brother Jamie, the men’s basketball coach at Pittsburgh, was in Chicago for a coaches’ meeting, so she took him to the game.

“She picked me up and said, ‘We’re going,’æ” Jamie recalled Monday night. “It was the playoff game, the Bartman game.”

They took the “el” to Wrigley Field and watched the painful loss. Afterward, they met Bruno at Bernie’s and the Cubby Bear.

“It was an interesting evening, to say the least, an evening that goes down in infamy in Chicago, I guess,” Jamie said. “I was a Cub fan that night.”

Bruno was feeling low until he spotted the Dixons across the room.

“Just seeing Maggie and Jamie together, with Jamie able to let his hair down, that was just a special night for me,” Bruno recalled. “To see them interacting so naturally, you forget for a moment that it’s Jamie Dixon, Pitt coach, and it’s Maggie Dixon, DePaul coach.”

You can bet the topic will come up in the ESPN2 telecast with Dave O’Brien and Rick Majerus (can’t they send Erin Andrews down from the OSU-Wisconsin game just to balance out Majerus — so to speak). The game notes (PDF)