"Xavier! Dayton! Live on ESPN!"

The phrase might not make too many channel-flippers pause in the Barcalounger, but for the folks of southwest Ohio, this is about as big as it gets in college basketball rivalries-especially now that the convicts in Clifton can't get their act together to make an NCAA Tournament since 2005.

Now that the Atlantic 10 has stopped following the rules of arithmetic and expanded to 14 teams, allowing defined tiers to develop within the conference, Xavier-Dayton has come to mean a battle for the top of the conference more often than not.

In many ways the two sides are the same. They draw from the same talent pool, play in the two largest arenas in the A-10, are the only two teams in the conference-save Temple in a good year-that legitimately expect to make the NCAA Tournament every year, and field invites for non-conference games against something grander than Wright State and Toledo.

Yet, in many ways the two sides could not be more different. Xavier-a school that built its reputation as Forward U. by pumping out the likes of Brian Grant, Tyrone Hill, James Posey and David West-essentially has no forwards on its roster; Dayton, with Chris Wright, Chris Johnson, Marcus Johnson and Luke Fabrizius is all about the three and four spots.

That difference may be the key in this matchup, with XU Head Coach Chris Mack forced to put 6'9" center Jason Love on Wright, a mismatch whether you measure athleticism laterally or vertically. And with Musketeer small forward Dante Jackson reverting to his point guard rebounding skill-i.e. none-it is possible for Chris Johnson and the Flyers to dominate the glass like they did in the first matchup, when Johnson grabbed 10 offensive rebounds.

But differences in this rivalry extend far beyond personnel.

Even the shape of the respective arenas are divergent, with the Cintas Center standing as a giant concrete cube on the edge of campus while the concave monstrosity of UD Arena relegates all but about 4,000 seats in the arena to the nosebleed section.

If you ask a Xavier fan, there is plenty more that separates these teams.

"Our arena is an NBA arena," a blue-clad alumnus seated in section 119 said Sunday afternoon. "That arena up in Dayton is outdated and ugly."

There is that prestige factor, not to mention the three straight banners in the rafters at Cintas for A-10 regular season titles, the two for Elite Eight appearances and last year's Sweet Sixteen. There are not many of those in UD Arena.

But really-to channel my inner Vitale-this game is about bragging rights.

You can pick your image of Dayton hatred from an XU standpoint. From 2008 graduate Stanley Burrell standing outside of the locker room in UD Arena with a towel draped over his head after a 57-51 win, blasting Brian Roberts by telling him to, "be a senior-lead your team."

Or there is former Xavier head coach (and current enemy No. 1) Sean Miller, who used to be notorious for striding around the practice court screaming, "We don't [expletive] lose to Dayton!"

That sentiment has not changed with the passing of the torch to Mack. With the thoughts of last year's 71-58 defeat in the front of the Musketeers' minds, this year's rivalry is bound to get heated.

So it may not bring in Joe Six Pack for a casual viewing in Texas, but this game still has plenty of sizzle for those involved.

As for my prediction, it is time for the Musketeers to solve their rebounding, road and UD woes. I say XU 73, UD 68.