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On the eve of the biggest day of his life, Sam Young wasn't nervous or anxious.

"I think I'm more patient about it than most of the people around me," Young said. "I've been waiting this long."

Young and DeJuan Blair, two of the most decorated players to ever wear Pitt blue-and-gold, will learn their new uniforms tonight.

The two All-Americans are projected first-rounders in what is the most significant NBA Draft for Pitt basketball in more than two decades. The two-round draft begins at 7 at Madison Square Garden.

Blair is a projected mid-first rounder and Young a mid-to-late first-rounder.

Barring a shocking slide, it will mark the first time two Pitt players will have been picked in the opening round since Charles Smith and Jerome Lane in 1988.

Pitt also will become only the fourth Big East school in the past 13 years to have a pair of first-rounders, joining Connecticut (2004, 2006), Villanova (2006) and Seton Hall (2001).

Neither Blair (6-7, 277) nor Young (6-7, 223) were among the 16 players invited to New York for the draft.

As befitting their personalities, Blair will watch the draft surrounded by friends and family at a Pittsburgh-area hotel. Young, meanwhile, will be somewhere in Atlanta.

The reclusive Young flew south on Wednesday from Washington, D.C., where he had been staying with family since leaving Pitt as the No. 4 all-time leading scorer in Panthers history.

The 24-year-old Young wanted to distance himself from the hectic pre-draft process - the workouts, agents, PR reps, handlers and media - and focus on his future in basketball.

"I just want to get away and be by myself," Young said. "My family wanted to be around me and be in my corner. But I kind of wanted to be alone and reflect on basketball and how it works. It was my decision."

Young attended individual workouts with seven teams that pick between 13th and 23th - Indiana, Detroit, Chicago, Minnesota, Utah, Charlotte and Sacramento. He also attended a pair of multi-team events, including Golden State on June 1, his 24th birthday.

"They went well," he said.

Blair and Young would give Pitt four players taken in the past five drafts, joining second-rounders Chris Taft in 2005 and Aaron Gray in 2007. That is the same number of players (four) drafted out of Pitt in a 15-year span from 1989-2004.

Will this NBA draft enhance Pitt in the eyes of potential recruits? For years, a lack of drafted players was a blotch on the Panthers, who have reached eight NCAA Tournaments in a row and last season ascended to No. 1 in the polls for the first time.

"It's the only criticism anyone has," Pitt associate head coach Tom Herrion said, "and I don't think it's fair... (This year) is something that is very positive."

Jay Bilas of ESPN doesn't feel the two first-rounders will change coach Jamie Dixon's success on the recruiting trails.

"I think it gets overblown, because you had a pro, you get whoever you want," Bilas said. "It doesn't work that way. Jamie is a good recruiter, and they get the best guys they can. It will be largely the same. They will continue to get good players. It's not going to all of a sudden vault them into a different category."

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