The Top 67: Ranking the No. 1 player under Pitt basketball coach Jamie Dixon

Today, we wrap up the rankings of the careers of all of the 67 basketball players ever to suit up for Jamie Dixon. As a reminder, here's the drill. Myself and contributors Aron Minkoff and Jim Hammett ranked each player and our composite results are displayed.

Before we get started, we employed a few main rules here:

1. Only the Pitt portion of a player's career counted - Khem Birch played less than a season with Pitt. While he was a productive college player elsewhere, the fact that he spent so little time with the Panthers showed in our rankings.

2. Only the time a player spent under Dixon counted - A player like Julius Page, for example, would rank higher, but he spent only his senior year under Dixon.

3. Best career, not best player - This isn't about determining the best player under Dixon. It's more about who had the best career at Pitt under Dixon. Steven Adams may be a better basketball player than several of the guys on the list but he only played at Pitt for a year and has certainly developed more in the NBA since then.

DeJuan Blair

Position: Center
Games Played: 72
Year(s) under Dixon: 2007-2009
MPG: 26.6
PPG: 13.6
RPG: 10.7
APG: 1.1

Cardiac Hill Rankings
Aron Minkoff: 1
Jim Hammett: 1
Anson Whaley: 1
Average Ranking: 1

Before I get into today's post, I wanted to thank Aron who not only put all of our numbers together, but who also wrote the daily posts. He put an unreal amount of time into this to help us get through a really slow time in college sports, so a huge kudos to him. It's not easy to find the time to do the kind of work that he did, so give him your thanks. This was his idea and never would have happened without him.

Aron, Jim, and I didn't agree on everything in our rankings that spanned the last few weeks. But the decision for the top career in the Jamie Dixon era was a unanimous selection as we all chose DeJuan Blair. Obviously, there's going to be some disagreement with our choice, but that's why these things are so cool. It's not that we're right or others are right - it's really about generating discussion.

The case for Sam Young, our No. 2 player, over Blair is a solid one primarily because Young played for four years under Dixon while Blair played only two. As we tried to stress throughout, our rankings were about determining the player with the best career. But in our opinion, a stronger case can be made in Blair's favor despite only hanging around Pitt for two years.

I wanted to take today's post because I had a lot to say on Blair vs. Young. I apologize in advance because while I wanted to focus on Blair, this really turned into a Blair-Young narrative of sorts. I thought it was important to document why Blair was my choice and much of that had to do with things that Young didn't bring to the table.

Jim and Aron surely have their own reasons for picking Blair first, but here are some reasons why I did.

Better All-Around Player

I know, I know - career, not ability. That's true, but this is just one of several reasons that I took into account. Blair wasn't only a better player, he was (in my mind) a significantly better all-around player.

Blair averaged a double-double in his two seasons with the program and Young never had the kind of two-way dominance that he did. As a true freshman, he scored 11.6 points while grabbing 9.1 boards per game. His 337 total boards were fourth in the conference. He became the first Pitt player ever to record 400 points and 300 rebounds as a freshman. He was even better as a sophomore, averaging 15.7 points and 12.3 rebounds per contest. By that time, he was one of the most dominant big men in the entire country.

Defensively, Blair was better, too. His 1.5 steals per game over his career was better than what most guards can muster and a testament to how quick he was and how adept he was at disrupting plays. And the fact that Blair (barely) bested Young in blocks shouldn't be disregarded, either, since he was constantly undersized against his opponents.

It's also noteworthy that he took better care of the ball, too, averaging only 1.6 turnovers per game as opposed to the 2.4 that Young averaged in his final two years. In fact, in Blair's final season where he handled the ball more, his turnovers per game actually decreased and his 1.3 turnovers were more than one fewer per game than Young. Playing on the perimeter, Young is, of course, going to be open to more turnovers. But also consider this - Blair actually averaged slightly more assists than Young did - as a center.

To me, there's no question that Blair was the better all around player, even as a sophomore. but as we stated time and again, these rankings were more about career. So why did we opt for Blair?

Glad you asked - read on.

The Awards

In only two years, Blair earned enough awards that would make a lot of pros jealous:

• Blair won the Big East's Rookie of the Year Award
• Blair was not only on the nation's All-American Freshman team, but was a unanimous pick
• Blair was the Big East's Co-Player of the Year as a sophomore
• Blair was a prestigious unanimous First Team All-American selection as a sophomore

Simply put, Young never achieved any of that despite having four years to do so. For Blair to accomplish that in his first two years as a collegiate player was borderline superhuman. When you consider a player's career, awards are a huge part of that. Blair's individual success brought the kind of individual national attention that hadn't really been achieved at Pitt since the days of Charles Smith. That leads me to ...

National Recognition

That national attention garnered by Blair was undeniable.

His 12.3 rebounds per game as a sophomore were fourth in the entire nation. In addition to the First Team All-American selection, Blair was also featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in the 2009 season preview edition and was a common name in living rooms everywhere.

Let's be clear here - Blair didn't put Pitt on the map. They were already there and that was in part to what players like Sam Young had achieved earlier. But Blair's individual attention proved that you could be a legit star and even contend for Player of the Year here, really taking Pitt to another level in terms of more attention from better recruits.

That, in part, gave the program a boost and helped make Pitt a 'player' for big men. After Blair's big season, the Panthers landed McDonald's All-American Dante Taylor and five-star centers like Khem Birch and Steven Adams. Blair's play, of course, wasn't the only reason Pitt got those guys (or, in Adams' case, maybe not even much of a reason at all) - but you have to think that throwing Hasheem Thabeet around like a rag doll, dunking on anyone and everyone, and putting up big games on ESPN had some impact. Blair at least proved that Pitt was a place where talented bigs could thrive.

Blair's career really helped push Pitt even more into the spotlight.

Dominated His Position

While Young was a great offensive player, he wasn't in the discussion of being the best at his position as Blair was. Again, Blair wasn't only a First-Team All-American, he was a unanimous pick. Those lineups are mixed of all sorts of positions, but Blair was arguably the top center in the country. By the time he left, Young was known as a very good forward, but at the height of his career as a senior, was still only a third-team All-American, as rated by the AP and Sporting News - Blair was on the first team of three organizations, and second on a fourth. To be considered the best or among the best at his position by the time a player wraps up his career is flat out special.

Young's Four Years

One thing I did want to touch on was the fact that Young played four years to Blair's two. That was definitely a factor in our decision and for me personally, maybe the biggest reason to consider picking Young. But it's worth noting that while Young was certainly a contributor in those first two seasons, he wasn't a star. Few players are right out of the game - but Blair was one of them.

In Young's first two years, he averaged fewer than eight points, four rebounds, and one assist. Really, he was more of a role player in that time. The fact that he was able to contribute anything is a big deal, but it's not as if he was a star for four seasons. He also regressed considerably in his second season, shooting a career-low 45% from the field and also under 60% from the free throw line. He also didn't have the three-point shot, which he developed later in his career, shooting under 27% from that range.

Again, Young was obviously a contributor in his first two seasons and that can't be disputed. But it is worth noting that, like just about everyone else, he really had to grow into his position and definitely had some struggles early on. So while Young certainly gets credit for two more years under Dixon, his seasons weren't so far and away outstanding that they deserve to propel him past Blair, in my opinion.

Conclusion

Blair departed the program for the NBA following his sophomore season and was drafted just one pick behind teammate Sam Young. While he finished just behind Young in the draft, he overtakes him in our rankings.

When you add it all up - the national recognition he brought to the university, the awards, the status as perhaps the best center in the nation, the two-way dominance, the fact he was a better overall player, Blair deserves our top spot for the player with the best career under Jamie Dixon.

Do you agree or disagree? Tell us in the poll and comments below. Before you do that, however, you may want to see all of our picks right up against each other. Here they are.

	Anson	Aron	Jim
1	DeJuan Blair	DeJuan Blair	DeJuan Blair
2	Sam Young	Levance Fields	Sam Young
3	Ashton Gibbs	Carl Krauser	Carl Krauser
4	Carl Krauser	Sam Young	Levance Fields
5	Lamar Patterson	Lamar Patterson	Chevon Troutman
6	Levance Fields	Brad Wanamaker	Lamar Patterson
7	Aaron Gray	Ashton Gibbs	Ashton Gibbs
8	Brad Wanamaker	Aaron Gray	Aaron Gray
9	Chris Taft	Chevon Troutman	Brad Wanamaker
10	Talib Zanna	Gilbert Brown	Chris Taft
11	Nasir Robinson	Chris Taft	Gilbert Brown
12	Chevy Troutman	Talib Zanna	Steven Adams
13	Gilbert Brown	Travon Woodall	Talib Zanna
14	Travon Woodall	Ronald Ramon	Julius Page
15	Jamel Artis	Nasir Robinson	Mike Cook
16	Michael Young	James Robinson	Travon Woodall
17	Ronald Ramon	Michael Young	Michael Young
18	Mike Cook	Mike Cook	Jamel Artis
19	James Robinson	Jamel Artis	Nasir Robinson
20	Cam Wright	Julius Page	Jaron Brown
21	J.J. Moore	Jermaine Dixon	James Robinson
22	Jaron Brown	Jaron Brown	Gary McGhee
23	Julius Page	Steven Adams	Jermaine Dixon
24	Jermaine Dixon	Levon Kendall	Ronald Ramon
25	Gary McGhee	Gary McGhee	Cam Wright
26	Antonio Graves	Dante Taylor	Dante Taylor
27	Dante Taylor	J.J. Moore	Tyrell Biggs
28	Steven Adams	Antonio Graves	J.J. Moore
29	Levon Kendall	Keith Benjamin	Levon Kendall
30	Keith Benjamin	Tyrell Biggs	Antonio Graves
31	Tyrell Biggs	Cam Wright	Durand Johnson
32	Chris Jones	Josh Newkirk	Chris Jones
33	Josh Newkirk	Khem Birch	Keith Benjamin
34	Durand Johnson	John Johnson	Mark McCarroll
35	Sheldon Jeter	Sheldon Jeter	Josh Newkirk
36	Mark McCarroll	Durand Johnson	Toree Morris
37	Khem Birch	Chris Jones	Trey Zeigler
38	John DeGroat	Trey Zeigler	Sheldon Jeter
39	Toree Morris	Mark McCarroll	Khem Birch
40	Trey Zeigler	Chase Adams	John Johnson
41	Ryan Luther	John DeGroat	John DeGroat
42	John Johnson	Derrick Randall	J.J. Richardson
43	Derrick Randall	Yuri Demetris	Isaiah Epps
44	Joseph Uchebo	Joseph Uchebo	Malcolm Gilbert
45	Chase Adams	Ryan Luther	Yuri Demetris
46	Yuri Demetris	Aron Phillips-Nwankwo	Aron Phillips-Nwankwo
47	Aron Phillips-Nwankwo	Cameron Johnson	Ryan Luther
48	Cameron Johnson	J.J. Richardson	Dwight Miller
49	J.J. Richardson	Doyle Hudson	Chase Adams
50	Doyle Hudson	Malcolm Gilbert	Doyle Hudson
51	Dwight Miller	Toree Morris	Derrick Randall
52	Malcolm Gilbert	Nick Rivers	Joseph Uchebo
53	Cassin Diggs	Joshua Ko	Cassin Diggs
54	Tim Frye	Cassin Diggs	Cameron Johnson
55	Mike Lecak	Isaiah Epps	Ed Turner
56	Nick Rivers	Marcus Bowman	Dante Milligan
57	Maurice Polen	Ed Turner	Austin Wallace
58	Marcus Bowman	Dwight Miller	Tim Frye
59	Charles Small	Dante Milligan	Marcus Bowman
60	Isaiah Epps	Charles Small	Mike Lecak
61	Joshua Ko	Tim Frye	Maurice Polen
62	Dante Milligan	Mike Lecak	Joshua Ko
63	Ed Turner	Maurice Polen	Nick Rivers
64	Austin Wallace	Geoff Rizk	Charles Small
65	Geoff Rizk	Austin Wallace	Geoff Rizk
66	Ryan Tiesi	Ryan Tiesi	Sean Brown
67	Sean Brown	Sean Brown	Ryan Tiesi