CAL'S TOP ROOKIE IN CONTROL\Abdur-Rahim is already a force.Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer He was a household name among college basketball College basketball most often refers to the American basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA. History
It was quite a game, in fact: 33 points against Northern Arizona Northern Arizona is dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the southern border of which in Arizona is called the Mogollon Rim. In the West lies the Grand Canyon, which was cut by the flow of the Colorado River while the land slowly rose around it. - believed to be the highest scoring debut ever by a Pacific-10 Conference The Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) is a college athletic conference which operates in the western United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I. Membership Full members freshman. Shareef Abdur-Rahim Julius Shareef Abdur-Rahim (born December 11, 1976 in Marietta, Georgia) is an American professional basketball player. Presently, he plays for the Sacramento Kings, a member of the National Basketball Association (NBA). didn't stop there. The 6-foot-9 forward from Marietta, Ga., has scored at least 25 points in seven of 11 games and leads the Pac-10 in scoring (24.2 points per game). He is 225 pounds and moves like a wing guard, similar in athletic type Noun 1. athletic type - muscular and big-boned mesomorphy body type, somatotype - a category of physique to Houston Rockets forward Robert Horry. He's big enough to score in the low post and agile enough - with the ballhandling skills - to create on the perimeter. He's on the foul line continuously. He shoots 54.7 percent from the floor and is among the Pac-10 leaders in steals and blocked shots. Freshman of the Year? This 19-year-old may be the league's Player of the Year. "I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. if I've seen one this good, especially as a freshman," said UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX coach Jim Harrick, whose Bruins play host to the Bears today in a battle of the only 3-0 teams in the conference. "I thought it would be a long time before we saw another freshman at Cal as good as Jason Kidd," former Bears coach Pete Newell told the Oakland Tribune. "We may have one who's better." Like Kidd, whose surprising enrollment was the source of much speculation, Abdur-Rahim's matriculation ma·tric·u·late tr. & intr.v. ma·tric·u·lat·ed, ma·tric·u·lat·ing, ma·tric·u·lates To admit or be admitted into a group, especially a college or university. n. made headlines. The NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association investigated the matter, which involved a Cal grad student arranging for NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= star and fellow Muslim Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf to pay for Abdur-Rahim's visit to Berkeley. No impropriety was found, but the case whipped through college basketball's inner circles. Throughout the controversy and investigation, Abdur-Rahim kept his poise. "It was trying for me, but I put my faith in God," he said. "I didn't worry too much, because I knew that I and coach (Todd) Bozeman and Cal didn't do anything wrong. I knew I was with God, and God was with me." Abdur-Rahim has an inner peace derived from his faith. He prays five times a day and he'll participate in Ramadan, the monthlong Muslim holy period in which practitioners do not eat during daylight hours. (This year, Ramadan overlaps with the end of the basketball season. But Abdur-Rahim isn't concerned that the fasting will leave him weak for early-evening games. "I've been doing it all my life," he said.) Abdur-Rahim's low-key court presence is strikingly similar to that of his UCLA counterpart, J.R. Henderson, although Abdur-Rahim's game is a bit more more athletic. Both are so calm they appear passive. "They're like silent assassins, and before you know it they have 25 points," UCLA assistant coach Steve Lavin said. "So much of what Cal does goes through Shareef, like with us and J.R. He calms them down." Friday morning, Bozeman hinted that Abdur-Rahim may not guard Henderson - his star freshman might defend Jelani McCoy, a lesser scoring threat - but they certainly still could go head-to-head. And that would be Henderson's biggest challenge of the season. "I just don't want him going for a career high," Henderson said. "The key for J.R. is that he can't go for the fakes," Lavin said. "Once Shareef catches it, J.R. must settle in behind, stay down in position and not let him get to the basket - make him shoot a jump shot." |
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