Sporting News basketball writer Mike DeCourcy joined Ron Cook on the Fan Morning Show to preview the Pitt vs. UConn match-up tonight. DeCourcy said the Pitt/UConn rivalry is definitely one of the biggest in college basketball, but lacks the anchor and tradition of an annual game.

UConn came into the season unranked after a poor showing at the end of last year and playing seven freshman. DeCourcy says even though UConn is young, the team has leaders that will help them develop.

Pitt has won the last three games of this match-up and DeCourcy said Pitt will have to own the lane for a chance to win tonight’s game. He said it will be interesting to see what approach Jamie Dixon will take to beat UConn as tonight’s game will be a good early indication of who will be in control of the Big East.

DeCourcy breaks down the Pitt team and said they are one of the deepest teams in the country. He thinks they will outperform the results of the ’09 team but they were a better team overall.

Dixon won his 200th game and many critics say Dixon has underachieved as the head coach at Pitt, but DeCourcy disagrees. He said those teams had a great volume of depth, but not a lot of talent. DeCourcy said each of those teams never had a game-changing, top draft pick player.