I’m just happy I do not have to worry about learning to spell Kyryl Natyazhko on a consistent basis.

Instead he heads to Arizona to be with Sean Miller and get a chance at starting immediately. The pain is more acute at Arizona State where the pupil bested the master and really re-energizes that rivalry, barely a week after Miller’s hiring.

I’m not so bothered since I wasn’t overly enthused about whether Pitt got him or not. He has the 4-star thing, but by all accounts he was a project. Not exactly a player to count on to step in right away unless you are in a complete rebuilding state — like in Arizona.

His potential eligibilty problems are not a shock. Whether he’s been at the IMG Academy for the past year or not, he’s still a foreign-raised player, and education eligibility and potentially playing on pro teams over in Europe are common issues.

Eligibility problems have seemingly become the norm rather than the exception with the NCAA. Ator Majok at UConn, Cinci might still be waiting on their own East European player. That’s just in the Big East.

The decision by DeJuan Blair to not just turn pro, but to eliminate the chance of his return has sparked plenty of debate and discussion. Much of it on the subject of, “Why?”

Please, tell me:

Where’s the harm in keeping all of your options?

“I’m guaranteed being a first-round pick,” Blair said at his news conference.

NBA scouts tell me differently.

They say — as of this moment — that Blair should be picked in the bottom half of the first round.

But they also say — quite definitively — that there is no guarantee.

Even those who agree with the mock draft projections, find themselves questioning the decision to go irrevocable.

At the very least, I see Blair making an impact in the League in the Brandon Bass/Leon Powe fashion, an energy rebounder off the bench who’s invariably more valuable to a contender than to a Lottery team.

But listed at 6-6 or 6-7, with a game that’s strictly low-post and under the glass, Blair is a lock to get drafted lower than his talent warrants. It also doesn’t help that he’s got a history of knee surgeries, and he’s struggled to keep his weight under control in the past. Eliminating the possibility of pulling his name out of the draft before teams even get to take his true measurements and test out his knees could come back to bite Blair in the end.

Then again, I can see why going all-in is the smart play. First, there’s the risk of getting injured again if Blair goes back to college. And it’s not like he’s going to grow any taller if he stays at Pitt. If Blair measures out to be 6-6 or even 6-5, another All-American campaign and constant double-doubles won’t make him any more attractive to NBA scouts. By coming out now, Blair at least has youth and potential on his side (he turns 20 this month), and the most recent memories of him are of a relentless warrior who led a team that was ranked No. 1 in the country at one time.

With the NBA season coming to its end, the few teams that can’t make the playoffs start to focus on the draft. That means the local media there is focused on who they might pick.

The problem is that the NBA draft — like the NFL draft — is full of misinformation. What a team says versus what it does are different things.

The Indiana Pacers, for example are likely picking at the end of the lottery. Here’s what they are saying they need — and thus where the speculation goes.

“We need an athletic big who has a little bit of nastiness offensively and defensively within 10 feet of the basket,” O’Brien said before Saturday’s game against the Detroit Pistons. “That would be our top priority.”

Of course, there aren’t a lot of those kinds of players in this draft. Blake Griffin surely will go first. Then there are names like Arizona’s Jordan Hill, Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson and my early favorite, Pitt’s DeJuan Blair.

“We could try to get that player in a number of ways,” O’Brien said. “We’ve got a little bit of money to work with. There are trade possibilities. The problem is, if it’s a rookie, it’s a rookie. To ask a rookie to be that tough, nasty hombre inside, that’s a lot to ask.”

If the power forward the Pacers want isn’t available when they pick, they won’t hesitate to jump on the point guard of the future. How does Ty Lawson of North Carolina sound? Or Memphis’ Tyreke Evans?

Or how about New Jersey?

Nets team president Rod Thorn likely will dial NBA central casting this summer with a simple but awfully hard-to-fill request.

“Get me a moose.”

That will be among the Nets’ chief priorities this offseason — if not the No. 1 quest. In a perfect world, a 25-year-old Charles Oakley would walk into Thorn’s office, solving several major headaches.

“A guy who can defend, a guy who can rebound, a guy who does all the little dirty work out on the floor, sets screens,” Thorn said. “A guy like that is invaluable.”

And a guy like that answers the Nets’ glaring needs — defense and rebounding — as they move forward from a second straight lottery season.

“We need a guy who just cleans up the glass,” said Vince Carter, who sees some of that in Ryan Anderson. “We have a lot of scoring. We have a lot of shooters.”

As DraftExpress observes, “Sounds like DeJuan Blair to us. New Jersey currently is slated to draft 10th or 11th depending on tiebreakers at the moment, unless a shake-up occurs in the lottery.”

All of that means nothing at this point. It’s just chatter and speculation with more than two months before the draft. I keep coming back to what Darrelle Porter said the day before Blair made his announcement.

“I think DeJuan’s confident in his abilities and confident enough to put his name in, so he’ll probably stay in,” Porter said. “It’s hard to tell someone to come back and work on some things when he’s looking at a guaranteed contract. It’s been a goal of his for a long time.

“Now, he’s got a chance to reach his dream.”

He believes in his own abilities. He has always succeeded when people told him he couldn’t. He’s used it as fuel. As motivation. I have no doubt, he is saving every comment he reads saying he’s making a mistake or questioning the decsisions. That is just more for him to motivate.

Like everyone else, I hope it is enough.

Wow. Nearly 48 hours away from the computer and my hands aren’t even shaking. Little twitchy, but better than the withdrawl symptoms expected.

Well, judging by the comments from those who were there and watched the local telecast, one thing that remains consistent since 2000 will be this conversation:

Brain (stalking out of Heinz Field from the Blue-Gold Game): Come Pinky, we must prepare our angst and concern for the upcoming Pitt football season.

Pinky (bounding about Brain): Why? Wot we going to worry about this season, Brain?

Brain: The same thing we worry about every season, Pinky. … The offensive line!

Theme song.

That said, it should not be a shock that the defense dominated and the offense struggled. The offense put up a total of 10 actual points (as opposed to the way the scrimmage was scored).

That was the extent of the offensive output as the defense completely dominated the rest of the scrimmage at Heinz Field. The Panthers managed to run the ball for only 16 yards on 37 carries and the quarterbacks combined to throw three interceptions.

It was certainly not the impression the Panthers were hoping to leave fans with, but there is no question it was a tough day for the offense.

“Last year we walked out of the spring game and we had scored a bunch of points and I remember saying to myself, ‘We need to get better on defense,’ and, offensively, I was very pleased,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said when asked if he was concerned about the Panthers’ lack of production on offense.

“It will even itself out, this was one day and the defense didn’t give up anything cheap. We have work to do in all phases and we know that, so I am not going to overreact. I will say, if we do not run the football better we will not be an effective offense. That is one area we need to focus in on and that will be a priority when we get to training camp.”

And why was the running game so ineffective?

The quarterbacks combined to complete 21 of 43 passes for 201 yards. Stull was 12 of 17 for 132 yards with the touchdown and an interception, while Pat Bostick (4 of 10 for 31 yards) and Tino Sunseri (5 of 15 for 38 yards) also threw picks. Sunseri led the second-team offense to a nine-play, 46-yard drive — thanks to two offsides penalties — for the field goal.

The offensive line was overwhelmed by pass-rushing pressure that forced eight hurries, and the running game struggled. Lewis led all rushers with 12 carries for 34 yards — with a long of 9 — but Chris Burns managed only 13 yards on 11 carries, and the offense finished with 16 net yards on 37 carries.

…

What has Wannstedt optimistic is that as good as Pitt’s defense was in the Blue-Gold Game, it was missing starters in defensive end Greg Romeus, middle linebacker Adam Gunn and cornerback Aaron Berry from a unit that should rank among the best in the Big East this season.

What should have Wannstedt worried is that while the offense was missing starting left tackle Jason Pinkston, tight end Nate Byham and fullback Henry Hynoski, it had all of its other skill players available — and scored only one touchdown.

So, yeah, as we all know if the O-line isn’t blocking or protecting well it is going to be next to impossible to make any real judgments about the offense as a whole — not that anything can really be taken away from spring practice other than hope, worry, trepidation and occasionally excitement for the upcoming season.

And if you think I’m just trying to talk myself into not overreacting to all of this, well you’ve probably gotten to know me pretty well over the years.

The offensive line might be okay, if Robb Houser can get back to where he was before his injury. Otherwise, the center will not hold. As it stands, even if he does, there is still a dearth of depth on the O-line that remains a tremendous worry.

Despite the return of left guard John Malecki and the emergence of Jacobson and Nix, fixing the front five is Pitt’s biggest concern. Neither Robb Houser nor Alex Karabin proved to be the solution at center. Thomas didn’t do anything to win back his starting job at right tackle, although he could return to right guard if Malecki moves to center. Jason Pinkston (shoulder) missed spring drills but is being counted on at left tackle. Greg Gaskins is likely the top reserve at tackle, but there are no incoming All-Americans in this recruiting class. Moving nost tackle Caragein to guard or center is a remote possibility.

Even Coach Wannstedt had to acknowledge the weakeness — but he has faith in the O-line coach.

“Until we get that group meshed together, it’s going to be tough to protect the quarterback,” Wannstedt said. “We’ve got to be cognizant of that.”

The Panthers have had ongoing problems at center, where backup Alex Karabin was sidelined by a knee injury and third-teamer Wayne Jones was suspended for the remainder of spring drills for violating team policy.

The depth at the position was so shallow that senior John Malecki played right guard — alongside starting center Robb Houser — with the first-team offense and took snaps at center with the second-teamers.

Safe to say, offensive line coach Tony Wise has his work cut out.

“We’ve got the best offensive line coach in the country,” Wannstedt said, “and Tony will figure it out. We’ll get it solved.”

Despite the QBs getting no protection in the scrimmage, Pat Bostick took the Ed Conway award for most improved player on the offensive side. Max Gruder, now playing weak-side linebacker took it for the defense.

“No one has worked harder than these two guys in the last six months,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “We all know how Pat has trained and lost weight and got stronger and worked on his release. He’s really made strides as a quarterback. And every time I see Max, he’s got his notebook, and he’s studying and he’s worked himself into being a starter at the weak-side linebacker spot. Those guys both were deserving.”

The Conway Award winners under Wannstedt have gone on to become key players for the Panthers: tackle Mike McGlynn and defensive end Chris McKillop in 2005, guard C.J. Davis, linebacker Clint Session and cornerback Kennard Cox in ’06, tackle Jeff Otah and defensive tackle Gus Mustakas in ’07 and tight end Dorin Dickerson, receiver Cedric McGee and defensive tackle Mick Williams last year.

The bright spot — if you only read the news account — Bill Stull hit Jonathan Baldwin with a 54 yard TD pass.

Aliquippa graduate Jonathan Baldwin caught a 54-yard touchdown pass from Bill Stull on the third play of the 2009 Pitt Blue-Gold Game. It turned out to be the only touchdown of the game as the defense (Blue) trounced the offense (Gold), 54-23.

“Everybody is still learning,” said Baldwin, who finished as the top receiver with five catches for 75 yards. “It’s the spring and we have a new offensive coordinator (Frank Cignetti).”

Whether it is the case of learning a new offense or a better defense is a matter for head coach Dave Wannstedt and the films to decide. He won’t have to watch the films long, though, to know that Baldwin is ready to be a factor.

“I’m a lot more comfortable in the offense,” said Baldwin. “I had limited playing time last year and I know there are higher expectations of me this year.

“But I have higher expectations for myself this year, too.”

The people who saw the play, however have all indicated, that the ball was underthrown. Baldwin, at least made the adjustment to it. That part is a good sign. No matter what, I think we all know that whoever is the QB, they will need extra help from the receivers.

The good news, is that the defense looks exceptionally good and hopefully that has a lot to do with the play of the offensive line.

• The defensive line is among the best in the country and deep. The line was excellent last season but depth was an issue toward the end of the year. But Tony Tucker, Shane Hale, Brandon Lindsey and Justin Hargrove improved greatly and should provide necessary depth to give the starters a break.

• The secondary should be improved. Aaron Berry could be an All-Big East first-team player and sophomore safety Dom DeCicco had an excellent spring. Even more encouraging is safety Elijah Fields finally is fulfilling some of his enormous potential and second-year players Antwuan Reed, Jarred Holley and Buddy Jackson all took big steps forward.

• Despite the loss of Scott McKillop, the linebackers could be a better unit. There is no obvious superstar such as McKillop in the middle, but the depth is improved and the returns of Shane Murray and Adam Gunn from major injuries has provided two experienced players to a unit loaded with younger players with potential. Also, Max Gruder had an excellent spring and Greg Williams could be an All-Big East player.

The D-line, especially seems to be getting the most love.

The Panthers are preparing for another Big East season and will be counting on Lindsey and the defense to get them there.

“We have a lot of work to do in all areas,” said head coach Dave Wannstedt. “We’ve been going against each other for 14 days so there weren’t a lot of surprises.”

One of the players that Wannstedt did mention in his postgame comments was Lindsey.

“The defensive line is ahead of our offense at this point,” Wannstedt said. “I was encouraged by Shayne Hale, Brandon Lindsey, and Tyler Tkach; they really showed up for us. It was great to see improvement in our young players.”

The best thing, in my view, for the football team this spring, was that the basketball team went deep into March. That meant a lot less attention on every thing they did. A little less pressure, and a bit less snap analysis of the team some 4 1/2 months before the first game of the season.