Is it a breakup or divorce?

Lack of City Game for a second year in a row begs the question

Let’s not make this a federal case. PittDuquesne, the City Game, isn’t exactly Duke-Carolina. It could disappear from the landscape without most people caring, or even noticing. But let’s also acknowledge a couple of truths: It is a tradition that means something to local basketball fans, and Pitt was very much in the wrong to break its agreement for the coming season.

Worse, Pitt has created a perception that it’s afraid to play Duquesne.

Can you blame people for believing that? What good reason did Pitt have for pulling out of the prospective 2020 game, just as the series was about to heat up?

The metrics say Duquesne was better than Pitt last season, when the schools mutually agreed to skip a year for the first time since 1969-70. Apparently, Pitt would prefer a cupcake opponent in 2020, to the point where it was willing to sacrifice

the revenue from a packed arena and blow off its neighboring school in order to find one.

A little more than a year ago, on the day the schools reached an agreement in principle to resume the series in 2020, Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke called the City Game “a time-honored basketball tradition in the city of Pittsburgh.”

Last week, when it became clear Pitt had reneged on 2020, time-honored tradition turned into too much hassle.

“A game with Duquesne this season,” Lyke said in a brief statement, “did not fit with our non-ACC scheduling model.”

Word is, Pitt is going to get some old Big East foes on future schedules. It also has two extra conference games now, plus the ACCBig Ten Challenge and the Myrtle Beach tournament.

All of which is great. But let’s not pretend it couldn’t find a spot for Duquesne, which did everything but offer to throw the game in order to make it happen.

The game was supposed to be played at PPG Paints Arena. Duquesne offered to move it to Petersen Events Center for no guaranteed fee (those can run upwards of $100,000), no ticket allotment and no special considerations.

As for the “risk-reward” at play, the game actually could have boosted Pitt’s resume without much risk, had it stuck to the original plan.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Craig Meyer, “Playing the Dukes at a neutral site like PPG Paints Arena would have given the Panthers a game against a Quad 2 opponent, which would enhance their NCAA tournament resume with a win and wouldn’t damage it with a loss.”

Listen, if Pitt rises fast under Jeff Capel — who is reeling in some serious talent these days — few will care that it didn’t play Duquesne. But that wouldn’t make backing out on Duquesne any less wrong.

Pitt’s arrogance calls to mind Penn State’s arrogance when it refuses to play Pitt in football.

I actually enjoyed the back-and-forth last week, when Duquesne athletic director Dave Harper hammered Pitt in a detailed, lengthy statement, and Pitt responded hours later with a terse “it’s not you, it’s me” breakup line.

Dukes coach Keith Dambrot chimed in with a truth dagger: “You can’t say something and not do it, because that makes you not credible.”

At some point, Duquesne could be seen as groveling, offering concessions left and right in order to keep the series alive in 2021. Keep that up, and we’re going to have to call it the “Pity Game.”

“We have to decide if we’re going to continue to [chase Pitt] or just move forward and play somebody else,” Dambrot told 93.7 The Fan.

That would be a shame. The sudden contentiousness is creating a nice little buildup to the 2021 game, which remains on the table.

Let’s hope Duquesne says yes — and Pitt keeps its word.