Check out this exhibition basketball schedule -- at Maryland, at Wake Forest and at Georgia Tech.

Now check this out. The team that played those name schools was IUP, a Division II school from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

What's even more remarkable is that the Crimson Hawks outrebounded Maryland, 36-35, in a 75-54 loss, and came within inches of beating Georgia Tech before losing in overtime, 84-76.

IUP didn't play those big-time Division I schools just for the payday. Coach Joe Lombardi put together the rugged exhibition schedule to toughen his players for what he hopes will be a long and successful season.

"Exhibition games like that at those places challenge a team's toughness," Lombardi said. "We outrebounded Maryland and Georgia Tech [47-44]. You don't do that by accident. One of the best things you pull out of games like that is learning how to handle adversity."

Against Georgia Tech, former Penn Hills High School standout Akida McLain, a 6-foot-9 senior forward, took a shot in the final seconds of regulation that just missed. In the overtime, Georgia Tech's depth prevailed. McLain, a transfer from Boston College with one year of eligibility remaining, finished with 31 points and 12 rebounds.

IUP had been highly touted before it made the Division I exhibition swing.

In its Division II preview, The Sporting News has the Crimson Hawks ranked No. 6 in the nation. Coaches in the PSAC West Division picked IUP as the preseason conference favorite.

All the accolades make sense because IUP, which won 22 games and advanced to the second round of the Division II tournament last season, has most of its top players returning.

Junior Darryl Webb, a 6-6 forward, averaged 12.8 points and a team-high 9.2 rebounds a game last season. Senior Thomas Young, a 6-3 swingman, averaged 11.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4 assists a game. And point guard Ashton Smith, a 6-2 sophomore, averaged 9.9 ppg and handed out 98 assists.

Add in Julian Sanders, a 6-3 sophomore who made 41.2 percent of his 3-point attempts; McLain, who practiced with the Crimson Hawks the second half of last season but did not play; and Kevin Stewart, a 5-11 junior transfer from Lackawanna Junior College where he averaged 8.5 assists and 17 points a game, and it's easy to see why Lombardi, a former Pitt assistant, wants to make sure his players are tested.

"Unfortunately with all of the good comes some bad," he said. "In our first game [an 84-64 victory Monday night against Thiel] we didn't play as well as we should have. So, there's still work to be done."

This is Lombardi's fourth season as IUP's coach. He took over a team that didn't have much experience and won just six games his first year. And while this looks as if it could be a big season for IUP, he is not interested in being a one- or two-year blip on the Division II radar.

"The idea is to build a program not just be good for a year or two," he said. "We want to go out and compete every night and get better every day. I've seen other teams that started out well and then plateaued or went the other way. We don't want to do that and that's why we played those exhibition games, to challenge our guys."

The Buzz Ridl-coached Titans team that lost to Southwest Texas in the NAIA national championship game in 1960 will be honored Saturday at halftime of the Westminster-Notre Dame (Ohio) game. Tipoff is 4 p.m. Westminster finished the 1959-60 season 24-3, losing, 66-44, in the final in Kansas City. Ridl, who died in 1995, compiled a 216-91 record in 12 seasons as Westminster coach. He then went on to coach Pitt from 1968-75, finishing with a 97-83 record.

The Tartans men's team is two victories away from a trip to San Antonio and the NCAA Division III final four. Carnegie Mellon (16-2-1) will be the host team for sectional action tomorrow and Saturday. The Tartans will take on Calvin (16-4-2) at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Gesling Stadium. That game will be preceded at 5 p.m. by a contest between Transylvania (16-3-1) and Swathmore (16-2-2).

The two winners will square off at 6 p.m. Saturday with that winner advancing to San Antonio. The Division III semifinals and final are Dec. 4-5.

Ron Musselman's Penn State blog and videos and Paul Zeise's "Pitt Stop" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.