Who says Bryant's 1,080 SAT is going to waste

Sporting News, The, May 13, 1996 by Mike DeCourcy

Questions about the relative fitness of young Kobe Bryant for life in the NBA should have been answered the moment he appeared for the news conference in which he dismissed college basketball as unworthy of even a moment of his time.

The shades, man. Way too cool for college.

As anyone who flipped on an all-sports station in the past couple weeks discovered though, Kobe's look did not answer all, or perhaps any, of the questions about whether he will be a little lost child among ail those NBA meanies. Bryant, who played at Lower Merion High in suburban Philadelphia this past winter, will become the second prep player in as many years to enter the pro draft. I'm not sure why anyone cares whether he's ready for such a life, because his folks apparently didn't, but a bit of research turned up a handful of reasons why Bryant could be making the right move.

Reason No.5: Randy Livingston. When he played high school ball in New Orleans in the early 1990s, Livingston's game was nearly identical to Jason Kidd's. A 6-4 point guard, Livingston handled the ball, distributed it beautifully, overwhelmed opponents with his strength and struggled to master the art of the jump shot.

He was the prototypical ,90s point guard until, after signing with LSU, he went to work as a counselor at a summer basketball camp. Playing in a pickup game, he tore up his knee and hasn't been the same since. In three years of college, he hasn't played a full season yet.

Livingston was rated among the top three players in his class, just like Bryant. If Livingston had entered the draft instead of college, he,d never have been in that pickup game.

Reason No.4: Jerod Ward. One of the top three players in the class of '94, Ward had the frame and game to look like the best small forward prospect to hit college basketball in more than a decade. And he knew it.

Jerod always played like he loved his game. He shot .384 from the field and averaged 6.0 points for Michigan in a freshman season interrupted by a knee injury. He was injured again as a sophomore and spent the majority of his season wearing street clothes on the bench.

Reason No. 3: Samaki Walker. When questions were raised about how Walker came to be driving a particular automobile, he was held out of competition until doubts about his eligibility to compete at Louisville were resolved.

By the time the NCAA determined he had done nothing wrong, he had missed more than a third of his sophomore season. No pay--and no play. What a deal.

Reason No. 2: Dontonio Wingfield. After entering college ranked among the top five prospects in the class of '93, Wingfield was one of the best freshmen in the 1993-94 season. He clearly was the top player in the Great Midwest Conference, good for 16 points and nine rebounds a game.

He was also kind of a problem, frequently benched or suspended by coach Bob Huggins for missing class or acting ornery. In a program as high-profile as Cincinnati's, it was hard to keep that secret. Wingfield bolted UC after that first year and wound up being drafted in the second round. Without his track record as a Bearcat, might he have been somebody's No. 1?

Reason No. 1: Felipe Lopez. However enamored the basketball world is of Bryant's skills at this point, he is no more irresistible than Lopez was two years ago.

A dynamic 6-5 shooting guard, Felipe not only built that big rep of his, he lived up to it with MVP performances in the McDonald's All American game and Magic's Roundball Classic. Upon arriving at St. John's, he discovered his teammates weren't al] that thrilled about turning over the ball to some over-hyped freshman. So they didn't. He lost most of his confidence and all of his shooting touch and, two years later, has yet to regain either.

Kobe Bryant quite possibly will flop in the NBA, but he is smart enough to know it pays better than flopping in college.

Parting shots

At Mississippi State's awards banquet, a couple of players were honored for academic achievement, and coach Richard Williams then joked that the academic award for Dontae Jones--who quit school almost as soon as the Final Four ended--was "in the mail." Jones found that so humorous, he high-fived Williams. ... Gifted DePaul sophomore Jermaine Watts was thrown out of school after being arrested for marijuana possession, which continued coach Joey Meyer's miserable luck with point guards. It started with Rod Striekland leaving a year early for the pros. B.J. Tyler rolled through the program and quickly transferred out, then became a star at Texas. Howard Nathan ran into grade problems after one season. Belefia Parks wasn't as good as the others, but he wasn't bad, except when it came to the team rules violations that got him tossed after the 199194 season.... Former California forward Tremaine Fowlkes, who appealed to a university panel to get his release, is considering a transfer to Pepperdine Oklahoma State or Fresno State. Fowlkes wasn't content playing a supporting role to freshman Shareef Abdur-Rahim.