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The Dagger

Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:48 pm EST

Thankfully, Hasheem Thabeet's arm is still attached to his torso

By MJD

HTML clipboardDeJuan Blair has a lot of things, including size, strength, offensive skill, rebounding ability, and a very physical style of play.

What he doesn't have, however, is extremely long arms. But he almost rectified that this evening by taking one of Hasheem Thabeet's. Observe:

I don't think there was any malicious intent there (or even a foul committed), but my goodness. File "on the basketball when DeJuan Blair is going for a rebound" between "inside a woodchipper" and "near any of Flava Flav's bodily fluids" on the list of places where I never want my hand to be. That's a grown-man rebound.

Thabeet's fine, by the way. Announcers say he's expected back in the game soon.

Related: Big East Basketball

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72 Comments

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  1. j_n_16
    1. Posted by j_n_16 Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:45 pm EDT

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    ya, i think you can file that under the "dirty play" column
  2. b4ugowandering
    2. Posted by b4ugowandering Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:01 pm EDT

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    Jay Bilias is a candy ass wimp.
  3. bigboo's bro
    3. Posted by bigboo's bro Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:38 pm EDT

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    Maybe to get even the Huskies can have their current criminal-at-point guard steal the Pitt team's laptops. This kind of soft performance will sink UConn.
  4. Never You Mind
    4. Posted by Never You Mind Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:59 pm EDT

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    Jay Bilias, spelled Bilas ia a biased sports announce due to his great love for the ACC
  5. skertt
    5. Posted by skertt Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:30 pm EDT

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    PEEP THIS!!
    http://gaming.freepay.com/?r=46547570
  6. The Big Picture
    6. Posted by The Big Picture Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:58 pm EDT

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    "File "on the basketball when DeJuan Blair is going for a rebound" between "inside a woodchipper" and "near any of Flava Flav's bodily fluids" on the list of places where I never want my hand to be. "
    That's a classic MJD sentence right there. Well played!
  7. jonesy
    7. Posted by jonesy Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:28 pm EDT

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    not even a foul; blair just pulled down a rebound and thabeet didn't recognize that someone eight inches shorter than him is a force to be reckoned with.
  8. The Davis
    8. Posted by The Davis Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:14 pm EDT

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    agree with #9
  9. west_09_coast
    9. Posted by west_09_coast Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:28 pm EDT

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    notice how Thabeet goes for the rebound initially with his left arm and DeJuan hits him in the chest with his right forearm driving him noticably under the basket atleast three feet, then its also pretty clear on the different angles that DeJuan clearly had the ball in his left arm while grabbing thabeets arm with his right hand and flipping him over. His right hand wasn't even close to the ball so the two hand rebound excuse doesn't make sense. This is Obviously a Foul! How dumb are you and Jay Bilas to suggest that a foul isn't warrented. Whats harder to determine is whether that was malicious only because Blair only had a split-second to decide to stop or to throw him.
  10. bballplyr252004
    10. Posted by bballplyr252004 Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:03 pm EDT

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    that was not a dirty play. are you kidding me? Dejuan Blair is just the man and demands that he gets the ball. he is THE best center in college basketball after owning thabeet
  11. moreimportantthingsinlife
    11. Posted by moreimportantthingsinlife Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:10 pm EDT

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    Def. not a foul, great win by Pitt...UCONN simply got out muscled inside.
  12. moreimportantthingsinlife
    12. Posted by moreimportantthingsinlife Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:10 pm EDT

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    Oh, and I hate Duke...
  13. CornerB
    13. Posted by CornerB Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:29 pm EDT

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    Couldn't have happened to a better guy. Thabeet has gone from a quiet guy to a thug with a big ego. Last week he threw a malicious elbow at a Syracuse player and was also laughing after he threw the ball at a Syracuse players face.
    This was poetic justice.
    Good job Pitt!
  14. Joseph D
    14. Posted by Joseph D Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:41 pm EDT

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    hm. except dejuan blair has a 7foot 3 wingspan.. so he already has a set of extremely long arms. the only reason he would need thabeet's arm would be if he had something stuck in his teeth and needed a toothpick.
  15. Da Nut
    15. Posted by Da Nut Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:04 pm EDT

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    j_n_16, Dirty Play? Give me a break, Blair went for the rebound, as Thabeet did; he just happened to grab the ball with both hands, and Thabeet's arm along with it. Agressive, yes; dirty, not at all!
  16. Michael R
    16. Posted by Michael R Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:27 pm EDT

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    "What (Blair) doesn't have, however, is extremely long arms." - MJD
    Ummm.... newsflash, he has a 7'3" wingspan. He has extremely long arms, hence how he gets 23 rebounds and allows thabeet to only get 4. Prior to the game, I thought Pitt had the better center in this matchup, and it proved to be a bigger advantage than I could have guessed. A bit too easy really. And Blair (13 pts and 13 reb) tooled Thabeet (6 pts and 7 rebs) last year too. You can add Thabeets stats from both games and get less than Blair's stats from each game. Heck, you'd end up with less than HALF of what Blair got this game! Domination!
  17. Argentris B
    17. Posted by Argentris B Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:57 pm EDT

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    that wan't a foul!!!!that has to be one of the dirtiest things that i've seen in basketball in a long time. what was it? was pitt afraid of uconn? that's all it was. they took him out. the coach should've been thrown out.....the center should've been thrown out and a penalty should be set against pitt. there is nothing wrong with clearing a little space with an elbow or a hard foul to prevent a lay-up, but that was uncalled for. he tried to rip his arm off. you can clearly see that one hand has the ball and the other has thebete by the wrist as he pulled with all of his might. they need to break his arm that COWARD!!!!!!!
  18. mr_wojewowvko
    18. Posted by mr_wojewowvko Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:28 pm EDT

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    Dejaun clearly had two hands on the rebound not just one. Thabeet had his left hand on the ball and is lucky Blair didn't break his arm. You need to watch it again because you got it wrong.
  19. STEELERSGOFOR7
    19. Posted by STEELERSGOFOR7 Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:55 pm EDT

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    @MJD...... Blair has extremely long arms, his wingspan is 7' 3"! Please check your facts!
  20. STEELERSGOFOR7
    20. Posted by STEELERSGOFOR7 Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:55 pm EDT

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    Jim Calhoun sure was crying to the referees the whole game, I don't know what game he was watching, but the referees were sure on his side the first half!! Hell of a game, the better team won in the end!! GO PITT!!!!!!!!!!
  21. west_09_coast
    21. Posted by west_09_coast Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:28 pm EDT

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    he pushes him and then throws him thats bad and definitely a foul! From the Top View You can see Thabeet Jump to the right of the basket with his hand underneath the ball and DeJaun pushes him to the Left and so his outstretched arm can't grab the ball. It was a Rebounding Foul! And if I Were Thabeet having my left arm pulled over Blair as he crouches I wouldve taken my Left Knee And Give him a shot to the head and let him think about pulling my long arm. Thabeet should be respected for not complaining. But I would expect some cheap shots thrown at Blair.
  22. Ummmm
    22. Posted by Ummmm Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:34 pm EDT

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    "You can clearly see that one hand has the ball and the other has Thabeet by the wrist as he pulled with all of his might."
    That's all that needs to be said. If you can't see that at the 15 second mark then you are blind.
  23. skeeziks
    23. Posted by skeeziks Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:16 pm EDT

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    u have to be a man to play center in the big east. blair is THE man. yes the play was rough. but that is the big east. Pitt may have trouble in the big dance with the refs from other conferences. but, then too, so will all the teams from the big east. not all conferences allow the rough stuff.
  24. Daniel
    24. Posted by Daniel Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:41 pm EDT

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    Blair is a MAN-Child and Thabeet was out-played period. DeJaun deserves his first Big-East player of the Week with his fine performance...but you could also give it to Sam Young for his efforts tonight and that's what makes Pitt so tough to beat. Great win on the road for the Panthers!!! Let's Go Pitt!!!

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