Two points better than one in UConn's guard attack

Sporting News, The, Jan 26, 1998 by Mike DeCourcy

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun remembers just one question being posed by Khalid El-Amin when he visited the young point guard's home on a recruiting tip last year.

This is hard to believe, since El-Amin talks as boldly as he shoots, but he didn't need to say more to make an impression.

"He asked me, `Are you bringing me in to back up Ricky Moore?' "Calhoun says. "I told him, `I'm not telling Ricky, who's one of the better point guards in the Big East, to sit down. And I'm not talking to the best high school point guard in the country about sitting on the bench.'"

Calhoun admits his ardent pursuit of a point guard last spring was foremost about the tendency of Moore, a 6-2 junior, to miss games with injuries. The best-case scenario, though, was to make the Huskies more frisky.

What Calhoun had in mind was not entirely new. Arizona had just used a three-guard attack to win its first national championship, and South Carolina and Duke finished first in major conferences. UConn itself had used three perimeter players in its superb 1994-95 season, with Kevin Ollie flanked by Doron Sheffer and Ray Allen.

But his different. None of those teams had two quick, creative point guards. So many teams are hungry for one that can play, and Calhoun has two of the nation's best. With El-Amin and Moore joined by 6-6 sophomore Richard Hamilton, UConn a lineup unlike any other resident of the Top 25.

"I really felt like this was going to work after the first exhibition game," El-Amin says. "We had a bond. We already had a nice chemistry between us three, and we all felt could do some things working together."

Together, they're averaging 45.8 points, and shooting 40.9 from 3-point range and have an assist-turnover ratio of nearly 2:1. Separately, Hamilton ranked 14th in the NCAA with 22.7 points last week, El-Amin was passing for 4.5 assist and Moore had committed 17 turnover in 18 games while averaging 29 minutes.

They have led UCOnn to a 16-2 record with wins over Rhode Island, West Virginia and Massachusetts/ The Huskies were having trouble getting above 10th in the wire-service polls, but Hamilton is happy to have any ranking after ending last year in the NIT.

"The guys who have the ball," Calhoun says, "determine whether you win of lose."

El-Amin is the player who makes this operation demand you attention. In only his third college game, he scored 23 against the tough Rhode Island backcourt of Tyson Wheeler and Preston Murphy. At 5-10, 200, he is strong enough to handle himself when he enters the lane. He has explosive first step to get there when he wants.

El-Amin's choice of UConn over Kansas and Minnesotta meant he and his new backcourt partners would have to change the way they function.

Instead of controlling the offense as a point guard, El-Amin is an instigator. He gets a different view of the game by most often setting up on the right wing and searching for a seam through which to pass or drive, rather than bringing the ball to the top of the key and starting a play.

"I've always been comfortable starting at any position, on the wing or maybe at the point," EL-AMin says. "The exhibition games were a great time for me to learn when to shoot, when to pass. I have a better feel for that now."

THe emphasis on generating scoring from the outside has made Hamilton an All-American. He averaged 25 points in his first seven Big East games and was shooting 44.3 from 3-point range.

Hamilton missed most of the preseason with a thigh injury but still was able to step into the new scheme and score 29 in mid-November against Boston U.

"With the addition of Khalid and the two-point guard offense, it gibes me a lot mote open shots if I'm running," Hamilton says. "Lasts year, we didn't get a lot of fast-break baskets.

"When I shot last year, a lot of times I never really looked at a shot as being a bad shot. A lot of shots I was forced to take when the shot clock was going down. This year, I'm trying to take only good quality shots."

Moore has not had to change positions but has had to accept passing for fewer assists, taking fewer shots and scoring fewer points.

He also has gone from defending the opposing point guard to being stuck against the best outside scorer. He gets primary responsibility for executing the defensive theory Calhoun cites: Make sure the wrong guys touch the ball a lot.

"My only nervousness about this team is we're young. We're not emotionally there yet," Calhoun says. "A lot of teams have a vision. We're developing one."

El-Amin showed his inexperience in the Huskies' preseason NIT loss to Florida State, making two poor decisions in the final minute of a tight game. He says he's glad it happened early rather than with a league title or NCAA Tournament game at stake.

"We could end up being a very good team," Calhoun says, "but the key is having our minds catch up with our bodies.

RELATED ARTICLE: Brigham Young gun

Steve Cleveland once did Ron Selleaze the favor of turning him into a serious prospect when they were together at Fresno City College. Selleaze is repaying the kindness by turning Brigham Young back into a basketball team.