Big thanks to Jonathan Givoney at DraftExpress for giving the heads-up.

DeJuan Blair will officially announce his intentions to enter the NBA draft in a press conference at Pittsburgh tomorrow, a source close to the situation tells DraftExpress. Blair will wait on officially hiring an agent for now, but is not expected to return to Pitt.

Coach Dixon is apparently helping Blair set it up.

Not exactly a shock to anyone. Still, good that he is at least keeping his options open by holding off on hiring an agent.

For the Pitt seniors, it means finding out whether they can make a profession out of playing basketball.

The Portsmouth Invitational Tournament finally gets some revelance in a number of years. The elimination of a couple other draft gatherings puts the senior-only tournament back on the map.

The rosters for the 2009 Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (official site) were released today, and it appears that we’re looking at the strongest group of NCAA assembled in quite some time. Nine players currently projected to be drafted on our latest mock draft have committed to attend the tournament (scheduled next week from the 8th-11th), while we’re counting between 15-20 seniors who are strong draft candidates on the rosters as well. There are a couple of headliners as well, including Sam Young. Lee Cummard and A.J. Price, three clear-cut candidates to be the first Portsmouth players drafted since Jason Maxiell in 2006.

It’s no surprise that the PIT committee managed to bring together such a talented group of seniors—this currently stands as the one and only place for NBA draft prospects to compete in a five on five setting now that the pre-draft camp has been dramatically scaled back. The tournament is expected to draw as much attention as ever from NBA personnel this time around, for two reasons. One, due to the strength of the senior crop, and two, because of the makeup of this year’s Nike Hoop Summit crop, which doesn’t elicit the same sense as urgency as it did in the past.

Levance Fields and Alex Ruoff also will be at the PIT, as they look to get some Euro love.

Sam Young helped his draft stock in the NCAA Tourney.

Young’s excellent tournament run came to an end in a heart-breaking loss to Villanova. But over the past two weeks he has showed his ability to score from just about anywhere on the floor — he scored 32 points against Oklahoma State, 19 versus Xavier and 28 versus Villanova. He has also proven to be an excellent rebounder and his long-range shooting continues to improve.

If he was 19 years old, he’d be a lock for the lottery. However, Young turned 24 in March and teams worry about his upside. I’d expect Young to land somewhere in the second half of the first round.

Then there is DeJuan Blair. No one is exactly sure if he’s going.

DeJuan Blair is getting heavy pressure from Pitt’s coaching staff to return for another season, but is likely to announce his intentions to enter the NBA draft regardless shortly.

Or staying.

Pitt sophomore DeJuan Blair will have an interesting decision to make. He was co-Big East player of the year and created a lot of buzz this season. But there are reservations about him playing too low below the rim by NBA personnel. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he heeded the advice and returned to Pitt.

There is no reason for DeJuan Blair to at the very least not go through the NBA Draft process. As long as he does not sign with an agent, he can find out what his true situation is.

Chad Ford at ESPN.com has him listed as the 21st best player that is or could be in the draft.

Blair ended his last game at Pittsburgh on a mixed note. He had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and was 9-for-9 from the field. But for the second straight game he got off to a slow start and showed his limitations at creating his own offense. His lack of size and explosiveness hurts. So does his lack of conditioning. While some NBA executives think his raw talent will help him overcome his physical limitations, a few others keep dredging up the name Robert “Tractor” Traylor. Ouch. If Blair decides to declare, he’s looking at going somewhere between 10 and 20 on draft night.

And at other times, Blair draws comparisons to Wes Unseld and Paul Millsap.

I have to admit, I don’t think he’s going to be any higher in draft potential. If he stays, they will only pick his game apart even further and get more skittish about his size. From DeJuan Blair’s POV, coming back could be worse for him since the issue of Pitt’s point guard situation can definitely affect his opportunities to touch the ball — aside from off of offensive rebounds. Never underestimate how shaky PG can kill an offense that relies heavily on the frontcourt scoring.

And only a week of spring practice left.

I’ve followed along. I’ve read Kevin Gorman’s blog along Cat Basket for almost daily sources. I’ve read the articles in the papers. At the same time, I can’t say I’ve put much thought into spring practices.

Here are what seem to be the some of the main things right now.

Running Back: Dion Lewis, a freshman early enrollee, has apparently been the best RB in the spring. Either Chris Burns was simply passed, or he hasn’t shown the same fire from last summer’s practices. The battle is not settled, but it is not as expected to be Burns and Shariff Harris battling to see who starts and who spells.

Quarterback: Bill Stull will still be the starter at QB, but he is not going to make it easy on himself. No one is or should be shocked that Coach Wannstedt declared that the job was Stull’s to lose. The disappointing thing is that he has not shown much beyond being a senior this coming season and having the backing of the head coach. That’s not to say that Tino Sunseri and Pat Bostick are getting the shaft. It’s simply that the QB position will continue to be a major source of angst for Pitt fans. Interesting observation from an outsider on Sunseri:

Sunseri is the best athlete, but he’s smaller in person than I expected. He’s listed at 6-foot-2 but looks a good couple of inches shorter than Stull and Bostick, who are each listed at 6-3.

I had to go back and check Pitt’s media guide, but yeah, they do list Sunseri at 6-2. All reports I could remember when he was a senior in HS was that he was barely 6-0. In college, you can argue that is not a big deal. Plenty of players thrive despite being 6-0 or under. I would be more concerned if this was still Matt Cavanaugh’s offense. I have some concerns since Pitt does run a pro-set and therefore may not give a shorter QB the lanes to pass with the lines — instead counting on the QB to throw over the lines.

New OC Frank Cignetti is trying not to declare a starter — despite what his boss is saying — so that is still something to keep an eye on.

One interesting development with regards to Pat Bostick is this:

Bostick has looked more and more comfortable this spring, and completed 9 of 17 passes for 72 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the scrimmage.

Where Bostick has shown the most improvement is in the velocity on his passes, a credit to Cignetti. Bostick isn’t showing signs of the windup or hitch in his delivery, and threw some nice deep balls in his first series. The Panthers ran a flea-flicker to Oderick Turner that was broken up by DeCicco and then a deep sideline route that Dorin Dickerson dropped. Bostick also went deep to Jonathan Baldwin, who let the pass slip through his hands, and showed some savvy by flicking a shovel pass to Lewis to avoid a sack when Caragein was draped on his back that gained a first down.

If this is true and consistent, well, then it is a significant change in the course of Pat Bostick’s possibilities. He’s still slow afoot, but if he is able to pass effectively and with force without the hitch and wind-up it is great news.

And yes, if this is Cignetti’s work, then it is a significant indictment on former OC Matt Cavanaugh’s ability to develop, work with, and teach college QBs. Something that was obvious and a significant issue for two years with a young QB is disappearing in spring practices under a new OC that has been here barely six weeks.

Center: I admit to being a bit puzzled by this one. Robb Houser was brought in last year from the JUCO ranks and immediately became the starting center. By all appearances, he seemed to be doing a well-enough job. Definitely better than the previous year’s efforts at the position. Then he suffers a broken ankle and was lost for the second half of the season. C.J. Davis slid over and did a great job filling in.

Now, it seems Houser can’t beat walk-on Alex Karabin. Is this a lingering effect from the injury — out of shape, not all the way healthy, no effort? No clear answer. What is obvious is that Pitt is still scrambling to find someone else who can take the reigns. That may mean moving John Malecki to center.

The extent of John Malecki’s experience playing center was hiking six snaps in the first practice for the Big 33 Football Classic in July 2006. It was enough to convince coaches he was a guard.

Malecki will be a senior. This smacks of desperation. It’s also a big problem stemming from Pitt’s failure to recruit an actual center, and failing to develop one from the offensive linemen recruited. I don’t find this to be second-guessing Pitt’s recruiting priorities. There have been plenty of questions about Pitt not recruiting an actual center.

Nothing was recruited on the Center spot once more this past year. It has been a point — to blind arrogance — that the o-linemen Pitt recruits can be moved wherever on the line. It’s a great concept, but it hasn’t held at the center spot. Last year worked out with C.J. Davis, but that  was the exception. John Bachman, Greg Gaskins, and other efforts to actually move to the spot have all failed.

Sorry. Maybe I’m being a bit hard on this one. It might all work itself out,  but Center  has been a problem for all but one year so far under Wannstedt. At some point, you have to make an effort to actually recruit a real center.

Jonathan Baldwin: He looks dominant.

More Later.