Starting with the National stuff and narrowing.

Gary Parrish at CBSSports.com in his Friday column gives some love to Dayton, but doesn’t exactly sound convinced of the upset potential.

Some non-BCS love: I’ve had Dayton ranked for a couple of weeks now and am not sure why AP voters aren’t following suit. The Flyers are 10-1 with their only loss coming at George Mason, and they’ve got some better-than-you-think wins against Holy Cross and Miami-Ohio to go with a hard-to-ignore victory at Louisville. Simply put, I like this team. But if Brian Gregory wants the rest of the nation to pay attention, he’ll have to beat sixth-ranked Pittsburgh on national television Saturday.

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A crazy prediction (but it might happen anyway): How about Dayton over Pittsburgh? I mean, if I’m going to have the Flyers ranked higher than every other entity in the business of ranking teams, then I should be willing to back them with an upset pick, right?

Reggie Rankin at ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. had a chat on Friday (Insider subs).

Shaun (Dayton, OH): How do you like UDs chances tomorrow night at home versus a fast PITT team?

Reggie Rankin: I think the Flyers have a chance. They will play tough team defense and if they can get Brian Roberts some help scoring from Chris Wright and charles Little the Flyer Faithful will pull them over the finish line.

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Ronnie ((MD)): Does PITT have a chance to win it all ?

Reggie Rankin: I think Pitt could win it all because they are a great defensive team and with the experience in the backcourt and Blair cleaning the glass with the right seed they could get on a roll.

So Pitt could lose but win. I think I’d take that trade.

Want to learn more about basketball plays and the way things are coached and executed (or at least fake it better), then this site is worth reviewing regularly. Here, is a breakdown of one of Dayton’s inbounds play in the face of tough man-to-man defense.

Dayton has a sellout, and a lot of media attending this game.

UD planned to put up extra tables to accommodate all the media coming to the game, but sports information director Doug Hauschild also has had to reserve a row in the stands to make sure they all have seats.

“I’ve never had to do that before,” said Hauschild, the SID since 1983.

Dayton plays tough defense that has Coach Dixon’s attention.

“I think that stands out — how physical they are,” Dixon said. “When you watch them, they play with a purpose. They bang cutters, they’re physical on their drives and they really defend.”

UD is second in the 14-team A-10 in scoring defense, giving up 60.5 points per game, while Pitt is third among 16 schools in the Big East with a 59.1 average.

One theme being played is that Dayton wants to avenge last year’s embarrassing loss.

Roberts is one of two seniors in the starting lineup. Gregory also starts two sophomores and a freshman. The freshman, 6-foot-8 small forward Chris Wright, is second on the team in scoring behind Roberts. He is averaging 12.5 points per game but is questionable for the game tonight because of a sprained ankle.

Wright, who was first-team all-Ohio last season as a senior at Trotwood-Madison High School, has a 39¹/₂-inch vertical leap and was rated as one of the top high school prospects in the country last season by several major scouting services.

“He brings more athleticism and size than what they had there last year,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “He’s athletic and goes to the boards. Those are the two things that really stick out. He can put it on the floor and get to the basket. We recruited him out of high school, so we know all about him.”

Gregory said Wright has added a different dimension to his team.

“His athletic ability has helped us out a lot,” Gregory said. “The thing that impresses me is that he received a lot of publicity in high school and coming here, but he has fit in perfectly. He is an extremely hard worker. He’s the only freshman in our lineup and he’s done a great job of impacting us without disrupting us. A lot of times, when you have someone with his ability come into a situation, it can be a disruption, but he’s a nice fit for us.”

Beside Wright, the other big difference between the game last year and the one tonight will be that it is at University of Dayton Arena, where the Flyers are 22-2 since the beginning of last season, including 7-0 this season.

It should be a great atmosphere. The game might mean a higher ranking for Pitt, but it would be a huge boost for Dayton.

3. If Pittsburgh wins tonight . . .

The Panthers deserve to rise a little higher than their No. 6 ranking in both major polls. Winning at Dayton when Dayton has a strong team is a feat, and the Flyers are 10-1. For their part, the Flyers get a chance to break into the national rankings by showing that their win at Louisville on Dec. 8 wasn’t just the result of the Cardinals’ being in disarray.

Live blog later tonight.