Blair switch project

Guarding Pitt big man a nightmare for Xavier

All season DeJuan Blair has been imposing his will on opponents - particularly on the boards. (Jim Davis/Globe Staff)

Little-known fact about DeJuan Blair: He bleeds. Oh, and another thing: He hurts.

When you are powerfully built like the Pittsburgh sophomore forward - he's listed at 6 feet 7 inches and 265 pounds (body fat index: 13 percent) - people can often assume such an imposing figure on the basketball court must not have the capacity to do one (bleed) or the other (hurt).

But Blair knows better. After all, he's only a human being. A rather large one, at that.

So, as he lay on the court clutching his left knee after Oklahoma State guard Byron Eaton collided into it in last Sunday's second-round matchup in Dayton, Ohio, Blair knew he'd have to put on a brave face. He knew he'd have to grin and bear it if the top-seeded Panthers were going to survive the Cowboys and advance to the East Regional semifinals at TD Banknorth Garden.

"I was hurting," Blair acknowledged yesterday as he sat by himself in a corner of the Panthers' locker room at the Garden, where Pittsburgh (30-4) will square off tonight against fourth-seeded Xavier (27-7). "I hopped up, but I went into the locker room and collapsed. I just wanted to show everybody that I wasn't hurt bad, but I was hurting. I went into the locker room and just stretched it."

Blair returned to help the Panthers defeat Oklahoma State, 84-76, by recording the 19th double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds and reach the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in the last eight seasons.

So, how was he feeling yesterday? "I'm all right," Blair said. "Just a little tired."

If he and Eaton had been wearing football pads, Blair knew who would have come out the worst. "Umm, him," Blair said, cracking a wry smile. "He was still on the ground."

Xavier's frontcourt, led by 6-8 junior Derrick Brown, 6-9 junior center Jason Love, 6-8 sophomore Jamel McLean, and 7-foot freshman Kenny Frease off the bench, can only hope it doesn't suffer the same fate in its on-court confrontations with Blair.

"He's a very unique player," said Xavier coach Sean Miller, a former standout point guard at Pittsburgh. "He reminds me of a guy I played with, Jerome Lane. Jerome led the nation in rebounding and DeJuan is right there."

Blair is fifth in this NCAA Tournament with 28 rebounds, and the leader in offensive boards (13).

"DeJuan is about 6 foot 7, I would say, but he plays so big because of his arms," Miller said. "He's a very intelligent player. He's physical but he's very intelligent with positioning and how he gets to the ball."

So, just how does he get to the ball? Blair offered a simple yet succinct glimpse into his methodology when it comes to attacking the boards.

"My mind says to go get it," he said. "If it's up in the air, jump and go get it. Don't let it come to you. If you let it come to you, then you're level with the rest of the players. But if it's up in the air, it's your ball. With my arms and my ability to jump and go get it, it's two pluses for me. I'll move you out the way and jump and go get it."

It doesn't matter the size of the task or the opponent. The bigger they are, the harder they'll fall. That much was evident in Pittsburgh's 76-68 upset of then top-ranked Connecticut Feb. 16 at Hartford's XL Center, where UConn's 7-3 shot-blocking center, Hasheem Thabeet, seemed to shrink from the task after he got flung to the court trying to wrestle Blair for a rebound.

Blair said it equaled another rebound he won over 7-2 Georgetown center Roy Hibbert in last year's Big East tournament final as the favorite of his college career.

"They were both 7-footers," explained Blair, who wound up sharing Big East player of the year honors with Thabeet.

Blair won not only that tussle with Thabeet but plenty of others against the Huskies that night as he wound up with a career-high 23 rebounds to go along with 22 points, giving him the second 20-20 game of his career. It was a blockbuster performance that no doubt got the attention of President Obama, who singled out Blair as the reason he chose the Panthers to emerge from the East Regional and advance to the Final Four in Detroit next week.

"That was pretty big, coming from the president," Blair said. "It was big, the president knows who I am and he's watched a couple of our games, that's pretty big. He didn't pick us to go all the way, so maybe we'll surprise him."

Asked if a trip to the White House to meet with the president gave him any added motivation to want to win it all, Blair perked up. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, that would be cool," he said. Then, turning serious, he added, "I'm not worried about that right now. We're in Boston right now, we're not in Detroit. When we get to Detroit, we can talk up a storm about that."

The only thing on Blair's mind yesterday was getting past Xavier tonight.

"Xavier is a tall and athletic team," he said. "They like to play and they like to run and they have an excellent rebounding team, so it's going to be a little challenge for me. But I'm just going to try to do what I can do."

If Blair is at his bullish best on the court, then rest assured someone will run the risk of getting trampled - or worse, bloodied - in the encounter.

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.