EDUCATION WITHOUT A CLASSROOM BYNUM SKIPS SCHOOL, LEARNS FROM NBA LEGEND.

Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Staff Writer

Andrew Bynum expected to make his college basketball debut tonight during the Connecticut/Pepperdine game at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu.

It's just that something came up, preventing him from even seeing the UConn team he was ready to join after high school.

``Gotta go to work Friday,'' Bynum said, smiling.

When your job is playing for the Lakers, your boss is Phil Jackson and your co-workers are Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom, you never call in sick.

So Bynum, the 18-year old, 7-foot lottery pick, will be at Staples Center when the Lakers host the Clippers. He will go through his pregame workout with Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, then take his seat on the bench and hope Jackson calls his name.

``It's the best situation for me, no doubt,'' said Bynum, who played five minutes Wednesday against New York with three rebounds and two blocks. ``I've got the best center to ever play the game working with me and showing me what it takes to be a successful player.''

It's a life he certainly didn't envision this time last year, when he was a senior at St. Joseph High in Metuchen, N.J., and rehabilitating a bruised kneecap suffered in a preseason scrimmage.

To keep his spirits up while his knee mended, Bynum kept up with the Connecticut basketball team. He committed to play for the Huskies on his 17th birthday and was going to be their next Emeka Okafor.

But Bynum never got to Storrs, Conn. He recovered from the knee injury to become a McDonald's All-American, going from a relative unknown to a player NBA teams started considering a first-round pick.

It was enough to make a 17-year old's head spin.

``At that point I decided I wanted to at least test the waters, see where I stood,'' Bynum said.

``I was disappointed for him, but not in him,'' said UConn coach Jim Calhoun, who lost power forward Charlie Villanueva to Toronto in the same lottery. ``I love him to death and I love his family and I'll always root for him. But as I told him at the time, 'Why take a chance (turning pro).' He didn't need to take that chance.''

Two weeks before the NBA Draft, Bynum worked out for the Lakers, impressing general manager Mitch Kupchak and the rest of the team's personnel department. What they saw was a young, mobile center with star potential. They promised they'd take him in the first round.

``Once I got that guarantee, that was it,'' Bynum said.

``Certainly, we don't know what he's going to be like in two or three years,'' Kupchak said. ``But if he works and he's competitive, he has the chance to be a very, very good center. And there just aren't that many centers.''

Bynum is too busy these days to keep up with the Huskies, although he hopes to catch them on TV as much as possible. He doesn't regret his decision to skip college and his two-year, $3.9 million contract with the Lakers is a big reason.

Calhoun wishes Bynum had gone to school.

``You gain so much by going to college that go far beyond what a lot of people think about in terms of life experiences and being with people your own age,'' Calhoun said. ``I'm happy to hear his mother and family is (in Los Angeles) living with him. But it is just not the same as going through the college experience, even for a couple of years.''

Bynum measures his progress in small accomplishments these days, most of which happen far away from actual games. Now it's all about how he plays in practice, and what he retains during the long hours working with Abdul-Jabaar.

``My whole life right now is showing up and working hard,'' said Bynum, selected 10th overall. ``I've got the best coaches imaginable. All I have to do is listen and work hard.''

Vincent Bonsignore, [phone]

vincent.bonsignore(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) no caption (Andrew Bynum)

(2 -- color) Lakers rookie Andrew Bynum, a 7-footer drafted No. 10 overall, turned down a scholarship to UConn to turn pro.

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