For the record, Dennis will be handling tomorrow night’s live blog.

I’m going to be on DVR delay on account of a holiday concert at my daughter’s school. Can’t wait. Wife is insisting I completely cross to the dark side and video tape the slew of off-key singing. And she won’t let me bring a flask. Not that I’m bitter. So, I’m turning off my cell in case any of my “friends” thinks it would be good to call or text me while the game is happening or for several hours afterwards. Urgh.

Now, for those of you who get the MSG Network (either from living in the area or via the sports package on satellite), at 6:30-7 pm they will be previewing this game. The featured guests will be Will Brown, the head coach of Albany, and Manhattan Coach Barry Rohrssen. Albany played Duke on Monday and is a close friend of Coach Dixon. Rohrssen of course was a vital Pitt assistant under Howland and Dixon.

MSG Network chose Brown because he just faced Duke and because Brown is good friends with Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon. Brown will be joined in studio by Manhattan coach Barry Rohrssen, a former Pitt assistant.

Unbeknownst to MSG at the time, Brown also was briefly hired at Pitt by then-coach Ben Howland to be his director of basketball operations in 2001. Brown never started the job because UAlbany coach Scott Beeten lured him away to become his top assistant and recruiting coordinator.

Sam Young goes candid with SI.com’s Luke Winn in a Q&A.

Luke Winn: You had a self-imposed ‘ban’ on talking to the media for most of your sophomore season, when you were coming off the bench behind Levon Kendall at the power-forward spot. Why the ban?

Sam Young: Last year, I was pretty frustrated. I consider myself a hard worker, and I was working hard all offseason, and then had a knee [injury] be a problem for me all season long. I felt like I probably wasn’t the best player at the three [small forward] on the team. But at the four, I felt like I was the best player, and that basically added to my frustration. I was put in a position where I couldn’t win, basically. And then when the media asked me questions, they often put me in a position where I wanted to say some things that I shouldn’t. So I felt like the best thing for me to do, if I didn’t have anything positive to say, was to be quiet.

He does admit, though that he was injured. The thing Young has had struggles has been the defensive side. Really, but for the defense he would be an ideal small forward. He has the size, the range and ability to go to the hoop. I realize he prefers being at the power forward, but Coach Dixon was right in terms of flexibility for the team and Young’s development/NBA goals to try and play him at the three.

WagerWeb.com looks at the Pitt-Duke game.

No. 6 Duke at No. 11 Pittsburgh: Duke has been overshadowed by top-ranked North Carolina, but the Blue Devils are outscoring their opponents by an average of 25 points per game. However, Duke also has played only two road games thus far. Pitt has been just as impressive as Duke and is 6-0 at home, but the Panthers have not faced a true quality team. They have beaten solid squads Duquesne, Washington and Oklahoma State in their last three games and are 10-0 for the fifth season in a row under coach Jamie Dixon. I like Pitt in this game, especially considering oddsmakers will overvalue Duke – as usual.

Interestingly, Vegas isn’t touching this game with less than 24 hours. Most have this game “OFF.” Only one place is going with Duke -5.5.

DeJuan Blair gets a national AP piece going into this game.

Blair is so excited about his first game against a national power like Duke, he is worried he won’t be able to sleep the night before. For real.

“To just play against them and see what they can do on a big stage, see how they can come into the game, I can’t wait,” he said.

Blair may be matched against another star freshman, 6-7 Duke forward Kyle Singler, who averages 13 points and 6.1 rebounds. Blair has not seen Singler, who is from Medford, Ore., except on TV.

“He’s a good player, a fundamental player, but he’s not too physical, I guess,” Blair said. “I don’t know if he likes to bang or not, but we’re going to see on Thursday.”

I’m guessing that will be going on the Blue Devil bulletin board. He also gets puffed by Joe Starkey.
Seth Davis at SI.com can’t believe the excitement for this game.

Indeed, this game is generating tons of buzz for a variety of reasons. Though there have been some pretty good matchups thus far, the nonconference portion of the college hoops season has for the most part yielded forgettable games. (Some notable exceptions were UCLA-Texas, Arizona-Kansas and Gonzaga-Washington State.) Duke-Pitt is just the third game this season that features a matchup of two teams ranked in the top 10 of at least one of the polls. (Duke is 7th in the coaches’ poll, Pitt is 9th.) Finally, it is happening in the media cauldron of New York City, and neither Isiah Thomas nor Roger Clemens is invited.

Moreover, the Panthers and Blue Devils will have the stage to themselves Thursday, while Saturday’s Georgetown-Memphis tilt, even bigger rankings-wise, will have to share the bill with several other compelling games that day.

Ultimately he picks Duke to win by two.

Almost 50 years to the day, Pitt beat Duke in OT 87-84. They were led by Don Hennon who set the school record of 45 points in a game.

His 45 points remains the second-highest scoring game by a Duke opponent in 103 years — more than Lew Alcindor or Michael Jordan or Ralph Sampson ever scored. No Duke opponent has ever surpassed Hennon’s 20 field goals made.

Hennon’s feat is even more remarkable considering it came during an age when there was no 3-point line, no one-and-one bonus and no shot clock.

Duke has become much more of a transition fast break team. Pitt, for all it’s increased tempo, still likes to slow things down — mainly on defense.