Backcourt beasts

Sporting News, The, Jan 29, 1996 by Michael Bradley

The letters on Ray Allen's World University Games jersey might have said "U-S-A" last summer, but the 6-foot-6 guard was really a double agent. No matter how hard Allen tried to win one for th, home team, he couldn't help but eye his teammates with a bit of suspicion. As part of the six-man Big East contingent that dominated the squad, the Connecticut junior was proud to be joined by Villanova's Kerry Kittles and Georgetown's Allen Iverson, among others. The three guards became friends and finished 1-2-3 in scoring on the team.

But every time Iverson zipped past a helpless Brazilian defender or Kittles dunked on a British rube, Allen gathered information for future use. Hurrah for our side, he thought, while filing away the specifics of his teammates' games in his basketball hard drive.

"It was a thrill to be a part of a college dream team, but it was scary," Allen says. "Every time somebody did something good, I was afraid they'd just take it back to their team and use it in Big East games. In the back of everyone's mind, we were thinking, How is he doing that? When we get back to school, we'll let so-and-so know how he did it.'

"I was checking out everybody else's game."

Given the current state of Big East backcourt play, Allen's behavior is entirely excusable. The performances of Allen, Kittles, Iverson and St. John's Felipe Lopez have been central to the league's ascension to the top spot among the nation's conferences. The Big East boasts three legitimate Final Four contenders - UConn, Georgetown and Villanova - and several other credentials. in the January 15 Associated Press poll, it placed five teams in the Top 25 for the first time in four years. At a time when the league is riding higher than at any period since the mid-1980s, Allen, Kittles, Iverson and Lopez are the top jockeys. All but Lopez rank among the league's top five scorers, and each can be found near the top of several other categories. They are classic go-to guys, capable of creating opportunities for themselves and their teammates.

"In our conference, with as many games as we have televised, there are no secrets anymore," Boston College Coach Jim O'Brien says. "Everybody has a good book on everybody else, so when teams start to run their offenses, (opponents) can take them out of it quickly. When the shot clock is winding down, and you need to get something, the better teams win when they have a guard with the ability to get a good shot."

Kittles, the only senior in the group, is a guaranteed lottery pick in the June NBA draft, and Iverson and Allen will be similarly coveted should they choose to leave early. And though Lopez has struggled at St. John's, his extraordinary physical skills should someday land him in the NBA draft's Top 10 as well.

"It's like the NBA," Providence Coach Pete Gillen moans about the Big East. "I've never seen so much talent concentrated in one league."

And here it is:

The Smooth Operator

If Kerry Kittles started knocking down old ladies in supermarket checkout lines or passing people on the shoulder when all highway lanes were choked with traffic, maybe he could shake the criticism that he's afraid to take big shots and dominate crucial moments of important games. When Kittles put up a stone-ugly 2-for-14 shooting fine in a 62-56 loss to Temple in December, the whispers started again. Why won't the guy take over? How can an All-American seem so polite on the court?

It was last year's NCAA Tournament first round all over again. When Villanova had three chances to beat Old Dominion at the end of regulation and two subsequent overtimes, Kittles disappeared and Villanova fell. He even passed off with the clock winding down at the end of regulation. Stars don't do that.

They do, however, score 33 points on frigid January Saturday afternoons against league foes. After spotting visiting Boston College an 11-0 lead on January 6, Kittles killed the Eagles and then feasted on their decaying remains, scoring in every way imaginable and filling the scorebook with eight rebounds, five steals and four assists in a 94-77 victory.

Kittles is timid, is he? He looked almost obnoxious during the first half, when he scored 19 points in a 14-minute stretch. Included were a pair of length-of-the-court sorties with rebounds, one of which ended in a dazzling righthanded scoop shot. He pulled up on the break and drilled jumpers. He hit a pair of 3-pointers. He played oppressive defense. He rebounded. He dominated.

"It's funny, because when you hear coaches talk about Kerry, they talk about how they appreciate the fact that he is always under control and takes good shots," says Villanova Coach Steve Lappas, whose temper flashes quickly when someone questions his 6-5 senior's fortitude. "That's what makes Kerry Kerry, Kerry is a high-percentage shooter. He's not the type of player who tries to take 25 shots. He takes as many shots as any great player out there, and the great thing about him is he gets them in the flow."

Kittles and Lappas often talk about working within the game's "flow," a nebulous term best defined as what happens when Kittles' selfless court persona combines with Villanova's fun silo of offensive weapons in Lappas' motion attack. There are no clear-outs or two-man games. Wildcat basketball is an egalitarian world. And Kittles is just a mensch.