Extra-large Blair looks to be future of Pitt basketball
"Bradley's won everywhere he's played -- he was on the city championship team last season, and his team won the AAU championship there," Dixon said of the Philadelphia product. "He's just a winner."
Pitt's roster lists Blair as a forward, but he prefers -- and expects -- to play center.
"I want to play the 5, let's get that out there," Blair said, referring to the coaching vernacular for the center position. He cited the Big East's reputation for toughness and the physicality of its play dating to the Patrick Ewing days in the 1980s.
"I would like to play the 5, play against the bigger, stronger guys like me. That's why I picked Pitt, the Big East," Blair said. "I think it's the best conference in the whole United States. They battle and I like to battle."
If he plays center, Blair would give up eight inches to UConn's 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet, for example. But Blair predicted that he wouldn't be overmatched physically against any Big East center.
"My arms are like I've got a 7-3, 7-2 wingspan," Blair said. "I've got the same arm length as someone who is 7-foot, so that's a bonus for me. I'm wide and I've got the arm length. I play like I'm 6-10."
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