■iiil
3C
SPORTS/QClie Cftailttte
Thursday, May 13, 2004
49er missed NBA boat
Continued from page 1C
ing high school. But he instead chose to come
to Charlotte and suit up for the 49ers.
It was a mistake. A huge mistake.
Instead of going in and dominating
Conference USA - as a player who is 7 feet tall
with a ridiculous wingspan should - Iti went
to college and got exposed.
He had very httle athleticism. He had no
quickness. He wasn’t an effective shot-block-
er, and he couldn’t out-rebound smaller play
ers.
Sure, he had been a very good player in high
school, but that’s a whole different thing from
Conference USA. Iti averaged a paltry 6
points and 4.7 rebounds per game for the
49ers. He scored in double figures just four
times and, even worse, hauled in at least 10
rebovmds on only three occasions.
He never looked comfortable, and he
seemed to get fhistrated easily. You saw him
play against Southern Mississippi, and you'
wondered: “Is this the guy who was thinking
about coming out and going into the League
as a high school senior? That’s him? Wow.”
REFORMING SPORTS
Back when former 49er Rodney White was
in college, you could teU he was an NBA
prospect. White was the leading scorer among
freshman in the whole country. He was the
first freshman ever to be named Conference
USA tomnament most valuable player. He
was arguably the best player in the confer
ence. And he was chosen ninth overall in the
2001 NBA draft.
It won’t work that way for Iti, even though
he’s 7 feet taU with a ridiculous wingspan.
'The good thing: Iti said he would not hire an
agent. Most people think he will go to the
NBAs pre-draft camp in Chicago, and then
return to Charlotte to tiy and improve his
professional stock.
That would be a good idea.
And since the NBA no longer is a^guarantee,
Iti also might want to work on all those things
that really make college worthwhile. Even
Rudy from “The Cosby Show” made the most
of her college experience.
E-imiil columnist C. Jemal Honon at seejemal-
write@aol.com.
A call for a cultural change
By Steve Wilstein
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
School’s out soon at colleges
and another season of scan
dals will be in the books.
At Colorado, a Board of
Regents panel investigating
whether the football program
used sex and alcohol to entice
recruits is due to issue its
report at the end of May.
Coach Gary Barnett’s job and
the school’s reputation are on
the fine.
The state attorney general
is conducting a separate
probe into allegations that at
least eight women were
raped by Colorado football
players since 1997.
Accusations that other
schools used sex and alcohol-
fueled parties to line star
high school athletes led the
NCAA to draft strict new
recruiting standards that
vrill be reviewed in July.
Academic frauds, small
and large, continued as
usual this year. Coaches
fired for various violations a
year ago were rehired at dif
ferent schools.
Abysmal graduation rates
persisted at many major uni
versities, embarrassing the
NCAA once again during the
Final Four and leading to
passage at the end of April of
a broad package of reforms.
NCAA president Myles
Brand called the package
“landmark legislation”
adding that “the academic
reform movement has now
come to fhiition.”
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