Dixon: Win at Buffalo is good 
Pitt, ranked No. 2 in both polls behind close friend and former mentor No. 1 Ben Howland's UCLA Bruins, went to a projected middle-of-the-pack MAC team on Saturday -- and escaped with a three-point win.
Next season, Pitt will do something similar, playing at Dayton in a return of a home-and-home series. Buffalo is also a home-and-home, with the Bulls going to Pitt next season. Not every high major takes on such a task. Some do, like Michigan playing at Miami (OH) (a win for the Wolverines) in a home-and-home, but others prefer to buy games (and wins) against schools from the MAC and even the Missouri Valley (Syracuse tried with Wichita State, but lost at home).
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Andy Katz
Andy Katz is a senior college basketball writer for ESPN.com. He started working for the site in 1998, eventually leaving a 10-year newspaper career in 1999 to join ESPN.com full-time. In addition to covering games and breaking news on a daily basis, Katz is a reporter for studio and remote coverage of college basketball and the NBA draft on ESPN's family of networks. He also writes the Daily Word, hosts ESPNU's The Experts (1 p.m. ET) and Katz Korner (4:30 ET) on Tuesdays during the season and is co-host of the ESPNU college hoops podcast.
