Syracuse Orange (10-3) at Pittsburgh Panthers (10-1) GameThread

The Syracuse Orange (10-3) head down to Pittsburgh tonight to take on the hated/disliked/disregarded Panthers in each team's opening game of conference play. Tip-off is at 9 p.m. ET at the Petersen Events Center, though with students still gone for Winter Break, "the Pete" may not be quite as imposing as we're used to. ESPN2 will carry the contest nationally between the former Big East/now ACC rivals.

Pitt and Syracuse have met 105 times total, with the Orange leading the all-time series at 65-40. While SU was once entirely dominant against the Panthers, the series has tilted in Pittsburgh's favor of late, however. Since the start of the 2005 season, Pitt's beaten Syracuse 11 times in 16 tries, though the Orange have also taken four of the last seven. SU has only won a single road game in that stretch -- featuring a last-second Tyler Ennis shot you certainly recall.

Tons of #disloyalidiot commentary in the predictions thread earlier today. Read over so you know who to yell "I Told You So!" at later.

Michael Burke chatted with Cardiac Hill for a bit, just to see how the other half lives (Pittsburgh-ishly, I'd assume).

Jim Boeheim said things about this game too, because even though he's not on the sidelines, it IS his team after all.

Michael hits you square in the jaw with the reality of Syracuse's upcoming schedule.

We give out some awards at the mid-year mark because "why not?"

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Leave your pre-, in- and post-game comments below. And G'ORANGE!