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No. 1 vs. No. 2.
Top dog against second banana.
Great taking on really, really good.
Any way you wish to call a matchup like this there is no denying it is going to be special.
While a contest of this caliber usually would come toward the end of the year during state tournament time, fans in attendance at 6:45 p.m. today at the IOGA tournament inside Glenville State's WACO Center have a chance to catch a good battle early in the season.
Top-ranked Buckhannon-Upshur and second-ranked Parkersburg High girls' basketball programs face off in a possible matchup to come March 7-10 inside the Charleston Civic Center.
Jeremy Maxwell's Buccaneers come in 3-0, while Scott Cozzens' Big Reds are 4-0 with wins over reigning state champion Huntington, No. 3 Wheeling Park, not to mention Waterford, Ohio.
Despite the hot start, Cozzens and his team aren't resting on their early laurels. They are excited for this opportunity just five games into the season.
"Anytime you go up against the No. 1 team in the state you find out where you are at," said PHS' first-year head man. "We expect that. We expect to find things we need to work on and find things we do well.
"We have been preaching creating good habits, so we don't have to think on the floor. We hope to see some good things happen so we can reinforce that and it is good experience. They are excited to play us and we are excited to play them. Jeremy has been scouting us at every game except for Huntington and he texts me daily. It has become a real friendly rivalry."
One of the more interesting storylines going in is the two teams scrimmaged each other just two weeks ago. Each won a game, but the Big Reds never had their main five together on the floor at any time.
"They have some pretty good girls," said PHS junior Shay-Lee Kirby. "It is going to be different from playing them in the scrimmage since we know something about them. We just want to get down there and play."
One of those "pretty good girls" comes in the form of 2016 Class AAA All-State First-Team point guard Hannah McClung. The senior is one of the better guards the Big Reds face all season.
She gives the Buccaneers a lot of different options, but there is one thing Cozzens is sure of heading into this game. Controlling pace has been something his team has struggled with so far, this season.
Coincidentally, that is exactly where he expects B-U to try and win the ball game. "It is just how they have to play with their big girl gone," said Cozzens. "We wanna go up and down the floor but don't want to hurry. If we have to run around with our heads cut off like the first three quarters of the Wheeling Park game that won't be good for us. We want to be level headed and play like we did in the fourth quarter where we settled down and scored on almost every possession."
"We feel good going in," added Cozzens. "But at the same time it isn't one of those games that if we think we are just going to walk on the floor we win, if that happens we will be taught a huge lesson this time of the year."
This will be the second game the Big Reds play at the WACO Center after they defeated Riverside earlier this week. There have been no signs of jitters playing on the big stage any of the coaches can see.
"It was really cool," said Kirby, with a big smile on her face, of playing in the GSC arena. "I got the feeling of what it would be like to play in college ... Yeah it has been fun."
Contact Joe Albright at jalbright@newsandsentinel.com.