Talk about your BIG Monday's!

All season long, it has been one exceptional game after another on the first day of the work week in nation’s best conference. This Monday, the importance, entertainment and wagering opportunity hits a season high as No.4 Pittsburgh visits Big East rival and No.1 Connecticut. No sushi or triple lattes will be served for this Big East smash mouth bash. This will be “enter at your risk” war in the paint. This is the first of two meetings between Pitt and UConn, and a third is quite possible.

The Huskies (24-1, 12-9 ATS) had started to show the promise most believed they were capable of back in November and have the look of the odds on favorite to emerge as national champs. Those beliefs have hit a fork in the road with the likely season ending injury to starting guard Jerome Dyson, due to a torn meniscus. As is the case when this happens to any team late in the season, you just have to pick a direction and keep your fingers crossed it works out.

No team in the country has Hasheem Thabeet to rule the lane and if he is going to be the player that is to elevate his game for coach Jim Calhoun’s club, than the injury might not matter. The 7-foot-3 junior set new career highs with 25 points and 20 rebounds in a 62-54 win at Seton Hall on Saturday and for good measure blocked nine shots.

“The difference tonight (Saturday) was there were nine players and Hasheem,” Calhoun said. “Every once in a while you see that.” When the big man plays that way, UConn can only add to 83-47 ATS record when they make 47 to 53 percent of their shots.

Don’t look for Pittsburgh’s tough-minded crew to back away from the challenge. DeJuan Blair and Tyrell Biggs are going to try to bring Thabeet down to their level with physical play. Blair ranks fifth nationally with 12.3 rebounds per game, including 5.8 on the offensive end— easily the most in the country, while averaging a double-double.

Pittsburgh forward Sam Young can create matchup issues for UConn, with his ability to go inside and out to fill the net. Though the Huskies have not been out-rebounded all season, the Panthers (23-2, 13-6 ATS) are fundamentally sound in rebounding and could gather Huskies fouls and easy put-back baskets with their technique. Pittsburgh is 11-2 ATS playing teams with 80 percent or higher win percentage over the last two seasons.

The battle of point guards should be worth viewing all by itself. Levance Fields has been downright unstoppable of late, scoring better than 12 points a game and dealing the rock incredibly in piling up the “dimes”. Fields has 56 assists and six turnovers in his past five games. Connecticut’s A.J. Price has not been as consistent on offense as in prior years, but he has distributed the ball better in his senior season and wants the ball to make the big shot at crunch time.

Connecticut still has senior Craig Austrie to plug in as guard and freshman Kemba Walker is a big time talent. Forward Jeff Adrien is a beast near the glass for both rebounding and scoring and Stanley Robinson offers several flexible options for a team that is 25-15 ATS in home games after five or more consecutive wins.

Bookmaker.com has opened Connecticut as three-point favorites with a total of 136.5. The Huskies are 16-4 ATS as a home favorite of six points or less or pick. Pittsburgh is 7-2 and 6-3 ATS on the road and UConn is 1-6-1 ATS if opponent has winning percentage of 60 percent or higher on the road. The Panthers have won last five games by 16.6 points per game since losing to Villanova and is 8-1 ATS after four straight wins by 10 points or more. Nonetheless, playing the top-rated team in the country on their floor is treacherous and Pitt is 0-13 all-time.

The Huskies are 12-1 and 8-5 ATS in Big East action, winning by 13.1 points a game and they are 9-3-1 against the spread in last 13 Monday night assignments. ESPN will have the coverage of round one of these two highly ranked squads starting at 7 Eastern, with the road team 7-3 ATS.