The women's basketball team starts the 2009-2010 season ready to play two national powerhouses in one weekend.

The Flyers begin their regular season tonight at 7 p.m. against Sweet 16 participant and No. 10 Michigan State. Less than 48 hours following that game, Dayton will then host NCAA National Runner-up and No. 19 Louisville on Sunday at 1 p.m.

It will be a daunting task for the Flyers, a team that finished 21-14 last season with an even 7-7 record in the Atlantic 10. Returning all five starters, the team is looking to make a national splash early in the season and these two home games present a special opportunity.

Overall, it is a unique setting for the program as the team looks to build off their successful rebuilding year a season ago.

During just the non-conference schedule, Dayton will take on seven different teams that made it to the NCAA Tournament in 2009.

"If we can come out there and play good basketball, we can send a message to our players, fans and the UD community," said seventh-year head coach Jim Jabir. He said that the team has "everything to gain and nothing to lose" from this scheduling.

Looking at the matchup for tonight's game, Michigan State had one of their most successful seasons in school history last season in finishing second in the Big Ten conference. They return 12 letter winners from last season and are at the No. 10 spot in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today preseason polls.

The star of the Spartans tonight will be 6'9" senior Allyssa DeHaan, a preseason candidate for the Wooden Award. The dominant center is on pace to shatter the NCAA record for blocked shots this season, and last year averaged 10.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game.

Thus, the key for Dayton tonight will be finding ways to score around DeHaan while also taking her out of her rhythm offensively. A key recipe to that matchup will be sophomore Casey Nance, a star recruit from last season and preseason honoree on the A-10 All-Defensive Team.

"I am used to being the shot blocker," said the ever-confident Nance who led the team with 1.9 rejections per game during her freshman season. "I'm not going to let her come in here and steal my title. The big thing for us will be establishing our confidence early on."

While Nance will have her hands full keeping in front of DeHaan, the team will look to utilize their weapons on offense. Both Coach Jabir and junior Kristin Daugherty agree that the ability of the team to go up and down the court and score will play an important role throughout the season.

"We are definitely looking to run and transition buckets on offense," Daugherty said.

Regardless of the specific results on the scoreboard, the women's basketball program will look to capitalize on the big stage. Daugherty mentioned that the goals for the team this season are definitely to make it to the NCAA Tournament and to win the conference, and this competition will help put them on the right path.

"Our program has been gearing up for this for a long time," Coach Jabir said. "We are just hoping that our fans in the community as well as students can leave this weekend knowing that they saw great basketball from our team."

For the players, these games represent the biggest collegiate atmosphere so far in their young playing days. The opportunity to host two national powerhouses in one weekend was something many of the players did not expect, but they are all looking forward to the opportunity.

"Excited would be an understatement," Nance said. "One thing we know we have is heart bigger than both these teams combined."