As most UD students will be worrying about their upcoming finals next week, the UD men's basketball team has several tests of their own coming up to finish out the semester.

With a rough road ahead, the Flyers will have a great deal of studying to do, as they finish out the month of December playing the Pittsburgh Panthers and the North Carolina Tar Heels, currently two top-five teams in the nation.

Between Creighton and Pitt the Flyers will play Grambling, West Carolina and Miami, whom hold a combined record of 8-10 as of publishing time. On the other end of the spectrum, Pitt and UNC have a combined record of 14-1.

Meanwhile, the Flyers are 6-1 going into the Creighton matchup, their best start to the season since the 2003-2004 campaign. While beating Louisville and Holy Cross were both accomplishments to be proud of, the Flyers have a lot of work to do if they want to have a shot against Pitt or UNC. Although a victory isn't impossible, the Flyers will need to bring their A-game and then some if they want a shot. And as if playing each of them won't be difficult enough, each of the two games will be on the road, as the Flyers will be coming off their six-game home stand.

Creighton and Miami will both be games that will help prepare the Flyers for their challenges down the road. Most of us remember the double-overtime loss last year to Creighton, and although Miami recently fell to Xavier by a final score of 68-53, the Red Hawks beat the Flyers by a comfortable margin last season, and will look to do the same again.

Win or lose against Pitt or UNC, both matchups will undoubtedly help the Flyers for their upcoming conference play starting on January 4 against Charlotte. With everyone in the conference boasting winning records except for Charlotte, St. Bonaventure, and Duquesne, the season isn't going to get much easier next semester either. But with the way the Flyers are playing so far, they should be ready to take on the A-10 full force.

With seven games under his belt, junior Brian Roberts is averaging 20 points per game, bettering last years average of 16.0. On a side note, Roberts is currently ranked 40th in the nation for that statistic. He leads the team in scoring by over 60 points, and has been the go-to-guy so far this season for head coach Brian Gregory.

Sophomore Charles Little has taken a big step since last year, and is now more than half way to tying last year's total points of 142. Little has been a threat on multiple levels, as he is one of only three Flyers to start every game so far this season.

This year's freshmen have also made a big impact on the team, as Kurt Huelsman and Marcus Johnson lead the team in rebounds with 39 a piece. Meanwhile London Warren is second on the team in assists, dishing out 23 through the first seven games of the season.

With senior Monty Scott continuing to produce as well as junior Norman Plummer, the Flyers look to be a powerful team with a lot of versatility which will hopefully lead them to a winning record come March.

Can the Flyers overcome their dominant opponents at the end of this month? Although the Pitt game won't be nationally televised, you can watch the UNC game on Fox on Dec. 31 at 3:00 p.m. Who knows, maybe we can pull off an upset or two?