As Blair continues to thrive, NBA becomes possible

Ask DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright about DeJuan Blair, and he’ll go on forever. He’ll talk about… Ask DePaul coach Jerry Wainwright about DeJuan Blair, and he’ll go on forever. He’ll talk about Blair’s personality, his athleticism and his strength around the rim. Wainwright will mention Blair’s toughness and the hard work he puts in every day. Oh yeah, he’ll mention that physicality thing, too. ‘You get to wrestle with a bear for 10 minutes,’ said Wainwright about facing Blair. ‘And your arms are tied. I hope you live to fight on.’ It’s this kind of message that Blair has instilled in so many coaches and players this season. With four regular season games remaining for No. 1 Pitt, it’s no surprise that Blair is making a case for Player of the Year in the Big East. The question for Pitt fans now is if Blair is playing too well ‘- too well to be at Pitt next year. ESPN college basketball commentator Jay Bilas recently said that covering Pitt guard Levance Fields is like guarding a bowling ball. If that’s the case, then Blair is the entire alley. In 26 contests for Pitt this season, Blair averages 15.8 points and 13.0 rebounds per game. He’s putting those numbers up consistently. Recently, it seems he’s doing it with ease. It wasn’t even halftime during Saturday’s win against DePaul and Blair had already broken the Pitt record for rebounds in two consecutive games, finishing with 41. The record was previously held by Jerome Lane, who had 38 during a two-game stretch in 1987.Blair’s 20-point, 18-rebound performance on Saturday wasn’t even close to his most impressive this season, considering his competition was an incredibly inexperienced DePaul team. His most impressive? It’s tough to say, but his 22-point, 23-rebound performance against Connecticut’s Hasheem Thabeet ‘- basically a lock to be a lottery pick when the NBA Draft comes along in a few months ‘- surely stands out. Or how about the 20-point, 17-rebound game against Greg Monroe and Georgetown? Or the 23-point, 22-rebound game in a win over Luke Harangody and Notre Dame? You could make a case for any of these performances. The craziest thing about these games is that all of the centers he faced in these matchups are considered better NBA prospects by most scouting services ‘- at least until recently. Every time Blair heads into a contest against a highly publicized center, he dominates. Take the matchup with Thabeet as an example. Blair stood an enormous eight inches shorter than Thabeet, who was coming off a 25-point, 20-rebound, nine-block game against DePaul. His stat-line against Blair showed him scoring only five points, pulling down four rebounds and blocking two shots. At one point, Blair flipped Thabeet over his shoulder when fighting for a rebound. During the game against DePaul on Saturday, Blue Demons center Mac Koshwal had his hand caught around Blair’s arms and, remembering what happened to Thabeet, quickly pulled it out. ‘That’s why I started laughing,’ said Blair. ‘He got his arm out of there pretty quick. I was snatching the ball. He was going to go into the Zoo.’ Wainwright said the physicality of Blair is what makes him such a strong prospect ‘- and one of the things that has made Pitt so successful this season. ‘I think they’re a minor league team of the Steelers,’ Wainwright said of Pitt. ‘DeJuan Blair, we need two blockers to keep him off our quarterback.’ Something that a lot of Pitt fans will wonder for the next few weeks is whether they’ll be seeing Blair in a Pitt jersey one year from now. After proving that he’s capable of being a consistent and dominant force, he’s recently shot up in several NBA mock drafts and could be a first-round pick if he decides to declare after this season. NBAdraft.net predicts Blair as the 23rd overall pick in the upcoming draft. It’s his versatility ‘- his ability to put together so many different traits ‘- that makes him so valuable. ‘He’s kind of a combination of a bunch of things,’ said Wainwright. ‘Somebody got in a lab and kind of put him together.’ Blair said that, right now, he’s focused only on his team, the Big East tournament and the NCAA Tournament. But no one can avoid thinking, even just for a little bit, about what can possibly come after the season ends ‘- especially if he ends it playing the way he’s playing now. For Pitt fans, this thought might be a little too similar to that of Pitt football and LeSean McCoy, who skipped the final two years of his college eligibility to enter this year’s NFL Draft. With Blair’s agility and strength, there’s no reason to think he can’t go professional. Still, there are some things he can really work on if he stays another year. During Pitt’s matchup against West Virginia on Feb. 9, a scout from the Pheonix Suns said that if Blair learns to develop a better mid-range shot, his stock in the draft will rocket. The scout, who said he was grading several players on both Pitt and West Virginia, added that if Blair does enter early and hasn’t yet developed the shot, it’ll be something that his team focuses on improving early in his career. Like they did when McCoy declared himself eligible, Pitt fans will likely be pretty upset if Blair decides to take the same road. Considering he’d be the face of the team if he stays, that’s understandable. But when the dream of playing in the NBA, along with millions of dollars hangs right in front of you, it’s got to be tough to ignore. Whichever way he goes, his fans should try to’ understand.