PITTSBURGH (AP) -T.J. McConnell is seven inches shorter than DeJuan Blair, 75 pounds lighter and doesn’t command respect with his size and stature like Blair did during his two wildly successful seasons at Pitt.
The common bond the two share is growing up a few years apart on the playgrounds of Pittsburgh and its environs, significantly different in size and skills but equally adept in their innate ability to take over a basketball game in a hurry. Each player also was largely overlooked by national recruiters who dismissed the city as being an incubator for mediocre talent.
Blair, a first-team All-American who now plays for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, proved them wrong in a big way by leading Pitt to 58 victories in two seasons from 2007-09 with his strong rebounding and forceful inside presence.
McConnell, a Duquesne freshman, is determined to show that a 6-foot guard with uncommon skills can be a difference-maker in an upper-tier NCAA Division I conference.
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