GETTING HIS SHOT IGNORED OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL, TECH'S ROSS FINDS SPOTLIGHT.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

Two weeks ago, Steve Green sat in the Texas Tech coaches room and shared a hearty laugh with the Red Raiders' staff about the development of Ronald Ross.

Green, the coach at South Plains College, passed on offering Ross a scholarship. Yes, the same Ross who was recently named all-Big 12 first- team.

Green already took plenty of ribbing after a Texas newspaper wrote about it. But Bob Knight being Bob Knight, that wasn't the end of it.

``Coach (Knight) asks if Ronald is around,'' said Green, whose junior college is located 25 miles west of Texas Tech's campus. ``A few moments later Ronald comes walking in holding this story and hands it to me. It says, 'To coach Green, Thanks for believing in me. Ronald Ross.' ''

Green, who is good friends with Knight, chuckled about the ridicule Green endured lately, but he wasn't alone in his decision not to offer Ross a scholarship.

Coming out of Hobbs (N.M.) High, Ross had two scholarship offers. Not Division I offers, two offers. Both were from junior colleges.

Now, Ross, who torched UCLA for 28 points in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and added 24 in the second-round upset of Gonzaga, leads the sixth-seeded Red Raiders into the Sweet 16 today against No. 7 seed West Virginia in Albuquerque, N.M. And Ross enters the regional semifinal as a marked, albeit, self-made man.

``He came in as a good athlete,'' Knight said. ``Now, I think he's a good basketball player, and he is as a good an example of what somebody has done with himself in spite of some adversity, i.e, no scholarship, of anybody that I've ever seen.

``Shoot, I marvel at the kid and how hard he's worked, and the type of player he's become.''

Ross won state titles at Hobbs High, but when Green needed a shooting guard, he went with Allen Haynes, who was a pure shooter. He passed on Ross, he said, long before Texas Tech offered him a chance to walk-on, for a reason even one of his biggest supporters could not argue.

``He couldn't shoot a lick, but he could really play defense,'' Red Raiders associate head coach Pat Knight said. ``Even up through last year, he wasn't a very good shooter. He was streaky and he had some games last year where he would score a lot of points because he was a streak shooter, but now he's become a good 3-point shooter and he's gotten really good off one or two dribbles and pulling up.''

But Pat Knight, who scouted Ross, went as far as to call colleagues at mid-major programs to implore them to offer Ross a scholarship. Still, Ross had no offers.

``I guess I wasn't too impressive at (recruiting) time,'' said Ross, who earned a scholarship and is averaging 17.6 points per game. ``But I was patient, and when the opportunity to play at Texas Tech came along I really wanted to take it.

``A lot of people always doubted me and thought I wouldn't make it at Texas Tech. Having the opportunity to prove people wrong is definitely a good thing.''

Certainly, one product of Ross' success is Texas Tech's motion offense, which enables the 6-foot-2, 185-pounder to slink around screens and get easy baskets as confused defenders bounce off picks.

However, it is his tireless work ethic, on the court, in the film and weight rooms, which enabled him to develop from walk-on to star.

Pat Knight said there is no better way to measure Ross' growth than to look at his shot. Ross used to pull his hand across the ball when he shot, giving it an earth-like rotation. But after his freshman season, Ross was fitted with a shooting brace, which he still wears in practice, to fix his mechanics.

In his first three years Ross shot 47.6 percent from the field, including 28.8 percent from 3-point range. He averaged 3.1 points per game as a freshman, 4.5 as a sophomore and 10.1 last season.

In leading the Red Raiders to their first Sweet 16 appearance since 1996, Ross shot 52.7 percent from the field, including 44.4 percent from behind the arc.

``He's gotten so big and so strong,'' Green said. ``The one thing about him, and this is the thing I misjudged early on, is I think this kid is a winner. He'll believe anything you say. He'll do whatever it takes to be successful. I think the kid may wind up in the NBA. Just somehow.''

Last Thursday against UCLA, the game's biggest shot was Ross' 3-pointer with 9:31 to play. It came after the Bruins cut Texas Tech's lead to 54-51.

``He's tougher than nails,'' UCLA coach Ben Howland said. ``He creates his own shot and really plays well in the system. He's tough defensively. He got right into Jordan (Farmar). He's very strong physically.''

Two days later in the upset of Gonzaga, Ross' 3-pointer with 67 seconds remaining gave the Red Raiders the lead for good. His two free throws with 7.5 seconds left sealed the win.

``He is the best story I can remember in college basketball,'' Bob Knight said. ``He had to go through a lot as a non-scholarship player, but he played through it in the beginning. He never complained. He is going to graduate on time with good grades.

``He is the prime example of using what you've got. There is no player that I have more admiration for, particularly when he hit that 3.''

Brian Dohn, [phone]

brian.dohn(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) RONALD ROSS

Getty Images

(2) Texas Tech guard Ronald Ross has shot 52.7 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from the 3-point line this season.

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Box:

(1) BROADCAST SCHEDULE

(2) RONALD ROSS