The game itself should be fabulous. Short-handed but big-hearted Pitt will try to defend the Petersen Events Center -- where it has been virtually unbeatable in this century -- against No. 7 Georgetown. But the game within the game should be even more delicious. Pitt freshman phenom DeJuan Blair will do his best to hold his own against Georgetown's Roy Hibbert -- one of the best big men in America -- despite giving away 7 inches.

"I'll show up," Blair said, grinning.

It almost was if the kid knows something that the rest of us will discover when they throw the ball up shortly after 7 p.m. tomorrow.

Blair played huge in Pitt's 84-70 win against Seton Hall yesterday, much bigger than a 6-foot-7 player should be able to play. His 20 points and 14 rebounds seemed almost effortless. But Seton Hall is a tiny team, relatively speaking. Now, Blair must step in among the trees, the biggest the 7-foot-2 Hibbert.

"You run the floor, for one thing," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said when asked what Blair's strategy should be to neutralize that height disadvantage. "You use your quickness. You use the tools that you have. The long arms ... "

That seems like the right place to start with Blair. The arms. He might have the longest pair ever seen here, although Dixon dragged out a name from the recent past -- Ontario Lett -- and said his arms were comparable. Blair also has a world-class fanny -- big enough to screen a drive-in movie, not to mention knock opponents off the box -- but it is those arms that enable him to be such a voracious rebounder. He averages 9.9 rebounds.

That's 3.4 a game more than the giant Hibbert, by the way.

"We measure arm length when we recruit," Dixon said. "Where you are up here" -- he reached for the sky with his right hand -- "is more important than height."

Strong hands help. Seldom does Blair fumble any rebound that he touches. A good, healthy dose of want-to also doesn't hurt. "I go after everything. I don't get all of 'em, but I go after all of 'em," Blair said. Then, he mentioned his "basketball I.Q." and defined it as "knowing the odds which way the ball is going to come off and always remembering to box out."

Suddenly, those 7 inches don't seem quite so formidable.

Of course, Blair must find a way to defend against Hibbert, who rang up 20 points in Georgetown's 72-69 win against Connecticut yesterday. It's nice to think he'll do a better job than former Pitt center Aaron Gray did against Hibbert last season. The 7-foot Gray almost could look Hibbert in the eye but was much slower and was tortured by him for 18 points and 11 rebounds in Georgetown's 65-42 win in the Big East Conference tournament championship game.

Blair will be tempted to use that big booty to push around Hibbert, but he has to be careful of foul trouble. If he can't play 30-35 minutes, Pitt will get beat. Write it down.

"You just have to be smart," Blair said. "Don't reach in. Keep your feet and play strong. Try not to let him get the ball inside. Try to keep him outside."

Blair figures to get his points against Hibbert. Many come on put-backs after his rebounds. His follow dunk after a missed layup by teammate Sam Young gave Pitt a 5-0 lead and had The Pete rocking early. The Panthers are 90-8 in their basketball palace, 34-7 against Big East opponents.

But points aren't what really interest Blair, who's averaging 12.2. It's defense and those precious rebounds. "The points are going to come," he said. "I'm just going after rebounds."

We'll know a lot more about this Pitt team after tomorrow night. It's off to a 2-1 start in league play without injured point guard Levance Fields and forward Mike Cook. But now the Panthers must take a big step up in class. A win against Georgetown would go a long way toward easing the fears of a lost season, dread that was a natural reaction to the loss of the two veteran starters late in December.

We're also going to find out a little more about Mr. Blair. Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez called him "one of the best young big guys I have ever seen come into this conference. The kid is just uncanny." Blair will get the chance to prove it when he goes eye-to-chest with Hibbert.

"I don't think he's too concerned about coming up short," Dixon said.

Literally or figuratively.