For the Pitt seniors, it means finding out whether they can make a profession out of playing basketball.

The Portsmouth Invitational Tournament finally gets some revelance in a number of years. The elimination of a couple other draft gatherings puts the senior-only tournament back on the map.

The rosters for the 2009 Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (official site) were released today, and it appears that we’re looking at the strongest group of NCAA assembled in quite some time. Nine players currently projected to be drafted on our latest mock draft have committed to attend the tournament (scheduled next week from the 8th-11th), while we’re counting between 15-20 seniors who are strong draft candidates on the rosters as well. There are a couple of headliners as well, including Sam Young. Lee Cummard and A.J. Price, three clear-cut candidates to be the first Portsmouth players drafted since Jason Maxiell in 2006.

It’s no surprise that the PIT committee managed to bring together such a talented group of seniors—this currently stands as the one and only place for NBA draft prospects to compete in a five on five setting now that the pre-draft camp has been dramatically scaled back. The tournament is expected to draw as much attention as ever from NBA personnel this time around, for two reasons. One, due to the strength of the senior crop, and two, because of the makeup of this year’s Nike Hoop Summit crop, which doesn’t elicit the same sense as urgency as it did in the past.

Levance Fields and Alex Ruoff also will be at the PIT, as they look to get some Euro love.

Sam Young helped his draft stock in the NCAA Tourney.

Young’s excellent tournament run came to an end in a heart-breaking loss to Villanova. But over the past two weeks he has showed his ability to score from just about anywhere on the floor — he scored 32 points against Oklahoma State, 19 versus Xavier and 28 versus Villanova. He has also proven to be an excellent rebounder and his long-range shooting continues to improve.

If he was 19 years old, he’d be a lock for the lottery. However, Young turned 24 in March and teams worry about his upside. I’d expect Young to land somewhere in the second half of the first round.

Then there is DeJuan Blair. No one is exactly sure if he’s going.

DeJuan Blair is getting heavy pressure from Pitt’s coaching staff to return for another season, but is likely to announce his intentions to enter the NBA draft regardless shortly.

Or staying.

Pitt sophomore DeJuan Blair will have an interesting decision to make. He was co-Big East player of the year and created a lot of buzz this season. But there are reservations about him playing too low below the rim by NBA personnel. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he heeded the advice and returned to Pitt.

There is no reason for DeJuan Blair to at the very least not go through the NBA Draft process. As long as he does not sign with an agent, he can find out what his true situation is.

Chad Ford at ESPN.com has him listed as the 21st best player that is or could be in the draft.

Blair ended his last game at Pittsburgh on a mixed note. He had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and was 9-for-9 from the field. But for the second straight game he got off to a slow start and showed his limitations at creating his own offense. His lack of size and explosiveness hurts. So does his lack of conditioning. While some NBA executives think his raw talent will help him overcome his physical limitations, a few others keep dredging up the name Robert “Tractor” Traylor. Ouch. If Blair decides to declare, he’s looking at going somewhere between 10 and 20 on draft night.

And at other times, Blair draws comparisons to Wes Unseld and Paul Millsap.

I have to admit, I don’t think he’s going to be any higher in draft potential. If he stays, they will only pick his game apart even further and get more skittish about his size. From DeJuan Blair’s POV, coming back could be worse for him since the issue of Pitt’s point guard situation can definitely affect his opportunities to touch the ball — aside from off of offensive rebounds. Never underestimate how shaky PG can kill an offense that relies heavily on the frontcourt scoring.