Well, I am guessing the Duquesne basketball team will be finding the article that goes with this picture all over their lockers this morning.

Why not just come out and tell Duke they are approaching Robert Morris levels of competition?

There is considerably less buzz surrounding the 77th game between the two schools tonight at the Petersen Events Center. Rivalries stay stoked because of competition. And this series has been mostly one-sided for the past couple of decades.

The Panthers will carry a seven-game winning streak into the game and have won 26 of the past 29 contests.

The article also suggests that the lack of local players on both sides, not being in the same conference any longer and WVU now a full Big East member are factors that have helped diminish the rivalry. Those are minor contributions. The primary is and remains the fact that Pitt has dominated the series over the last 3 decades.

I don’t know how it was for people from Pittsburgh at the time, but even when I was in school at Pitt in the late-80s/early-90s the game had little meaning or importance to me. It wasn’t a Big East game and it wasn’t a major non-con game. It was just a game against a subpar local team that Pitt should beat.

Duquesne will be entering the City Game with a winning record for the second consecutive season, but only the fifth time in the past 23. The Dukes were 5-4 on Jan. 6, 1992; 4-1 on Dec. 19, 1992; 3-2 on Dec. 18, 1993; and 6-1 on Dec. 5, 2007.

The Stage Magicians get a couple pieces in the Trib. The focus is on senior guard Aaron Jackson and freshman forward Rodrigo Peggau.

DeJuan Blair and the Pitt coaches expect to see a lot of double-teams on Blair by Duquesne in the game. It’s what they did with good success against him last year.

Blair had 10 points in that game, but was only 3 of 8 from the field in the first half. He played only nine minutes because of a pair of fouls.

“I was getting frustrated,” Blair said.

In the Panthers’ most recent game — a 57-43 defensive struggle over Washington State — Blair, who missed the win over Belmont last week with slight knee inflammation, had only two shots as the Cougars clamped down on him underneath.

Opponents doubling down on Blair will be a safe bet this season. He proved he was a more-than-capable replacement for Aaron Gray along Pitt’s front line with a dynamic freshman year last season.

Actually, thanks to Duquesne, that strategy began very early last year. That’s why Blair and his teammates went “red” at practice Monday. It’s their code word for a double team on Blair.

“We worked on it (Monday), real good,” he said.

Beating the double team is simple, at least in theory. When Blair feels the heat, he has to make good decisions and good passes to get the ball back to the perimeter. At that point, the guard can decide which option is better: a shot, a drive, a reset or, as Blair put it: “hopefully they pass it back inside.”

Pitt is a 17.5 point favorite in the game.