College Basketball / Mark Heisler : Robinson Lands Heisler Trophy and a Late All-American Berth

And now, with the end of the season less than a week away, the All-American team you’ve all been waiting for.

A word about the selection process. What really makes a player exciting to me is the prospect that he might be something special at the next level, pro ball. This, however, is a college team, so these players were selected foremost for what they did at this level. Thus a player such as Walter Berry, who the pros are lukewarm on, ranked above Brad Daugherty, who is expected to go in the top three of the NBA draft.

The first team, starting with my Player of the Year:

David Robinson, Navy--By far, the season’s most exciting player, a 6-foot 11-inch, 230-pound junior who burst onto the scene like some kind of nova in four NCAA tournament games. There weren’t supposed to be any more players left from the Ewing-Olajuwon-Sampson line (remember when Roy Tarpley was preseason consensus player of the year?), but here he is. Great quickness and timing, making him a spectacular shot-blocker. Given the fact that he was 6-7, 185 two years ago, there is every chance that he isn’t through growing yet. Smart, pleasant, a young man with his head on straight. The fact that he can’t go pro until 1992 because of his Navy commitment is a basketball tragedy.

Big forward--Walter Berry, St. John’s. Only 6-8, 215, which might be too small to play inside in the NBA, but he ate up every college big man he faced with his playground tricks like that half-hook he shoots all the time. If he stays in school, it’ll be because he got word that the NBA wasn’t interested enough to take him in the first few picks.

Small forward--Len Bias, Maryland. Some small; he’s as big as Berry. Unlike Berry, his outside game is as good as his inside game. Not a sweetheart of a guy but quite a player. “A man playing with boys,” Phoenix Sun assistant Al Bianchi called him. He’ll go among the first five picks.

Point guard--Scott Skiles, Michigan State. This small, slow guy was truly sensational. He plays with a fire that places him above such other small, slow guys as Steve Alford and Mark Price.

Off-guard--Johnny Dawkins, Duke. Detractors have claimed he’s an erratic outside shooter and overrated in general. What I see is a guard who is as fast as a greyhound, has a 40-inch vertical leap, scored 19 points a game for a No. 1 team and is a fine defender. The NBA trend is toward Julius Erving/Marques Johnson-size off-guards, and Dawkins is only 6-2, 165, but his dazzling speed will suffice.

SECOND TEAM Center--Brad Daugherty, North Carolina. At 6-11, 240, he has an undeniable ability to score on anyone from the low post. He’s expected to go 1-2-3 in the NBA draft, but I marked him down for his lack of fire. I get the impression that he is a creation of Dean Smith’s offense. Carolina players are famous for exploding when they reach the NBA, but I don’t expect him to.

Forwards--Chuck Person, Auburn, and Kenny Walker, Kentucky.

Guards--Steve Alford, Indiana, and Ron Harper, Miami of Ohio.

THIRD TEAM

Center--Chris Washburn, North Carolina State. At 6-11, 250 and with his kind of athletic ability, this sophomore should be the next monster. Indeed, there has been speculation about his coming out, even after having played only one full college season. However, he doesn’t really play as big as he is. He’s a good--not great--offensive player. He does a lot of things, like hanging in the air and double-clutching on shots, that a big man shouldn’t do. Little people have to hang, etc. Big people take the ball to the basket hard and scare the little people out of the way. On defense, he isn’t one of these Robinson-types who make every opponent wonder where they are all the time. If he’s going to be special, he needs to make another quantum leap.

Forward--Danny Manning, Kansas, and John Williams, LSU. These are the new, 1980s-style super-prospects: big guys who can handle the ball like guards both just beginning to deliver on their promise. Williams is 6-8, 235 and amazingly fast. Manning is a whippet at 6-11, 215. Both are sophomores and have a tendency to be too diffident. The definition of a great player is one who takes over at crunch time.

Guards--Andre Turner, Memphis State, and Dell Curry, Virginia Tech. Pete Newell thinks that the Spud Webb experience will open an NBA spot for another tyke who can really play, the 5-10 Turner.

HONORABLE MENTION William Bedford, Memphis State, Pearl Washington, Syracuse, and Mark Price, Georgia Tech. Bedford is a 7-foot junior center who was said to have matured but faded at midseason. May turn up in the pro draft. If he does, he’ll go high. Washington, born to run and sentenced to facing zone defenses in college, reclaimed his good name this season. I marked him down because he began his rally at midseason.

ALL-FRESHMAN Starting with freshman of the year:

Pervis Ellison, Louisville--Said Bedford of the 6-9 center: “He’s the coldest freshman to come into the Metro Conference since me.”

Forwards--Tom Hammonds, Georgia Tech, and Rick Calloway, Indiana. Hammonds looked like he had to be the top freshman but was asked to do less than Ellison. He’s the Yellowjackets’ fourth straight ACC Rookie of the Year, following Price, Bruce Dalrymple and Duane Ferrell.

Guards--Pooh Richardson, UCLA, and Jeff Lebo, North Carolina. Lebo is another in the Alford-Price mold, phenomenal shooters who are seemingly fully evolved at age 17. Pooh gets the nod narrowly over DePaul’s Rod Strickland, who scorched him when they went head-to-head at Pauley. I asked CBS’s Doug Collins to pick between them, and he took Strickland. I’m going with Pooh anyway, because he’s all point guard, born to lead. His outside shot needs some work. If he develops that, we’re talking about a terrific player.

News item: Al McGuire says that Dawkins-Tommy Amaker is the greatest guard tandem in college in 10 years.

Comment: That’s the silliest thing McGuire has ever said, and that’s saying something.

How about Michigan State’s Scott Skiles-Darryl Johnson. Also, I’d take Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas and about a dozen others and whomever it was they played with in college, were it a cigar-store Indian.

And my annual list of rules-change suggestions, not one of which has ever been enacted:

--Knock the 45-second clock back to 30 seconds. Forty-five was an improvement, but those ACC clowns are still running their four-corner Mickey Mouse.

--No timeouts allowed after a team scores. Once Team A puts the ball through the hoop, the ball belongs to Team B. It takes a half-hour, most of it dead time, to play the last two minutes of a game.

--No consecutive timeouts allowed. If Team A has just had a timeout, Team B can’t call one. What is there that is to be done in the game of basketball that can’t be planned in one timeout? Coaches have a saying: You might as well call all your timeouts, since you can’t use them for anything after the game. All it does is give the coaches another chance to shoot their cuffs, bore patrons and drive sportswriters into public relations.

--In the last five minutes of a game, the team that is fouled has the option of taking the ball out of bounds, rather than shooting free throws. Now the end of games is nothing more than shooting free throws and calling timeouts.

--Make the defender trying to take a charge really be there, NBA-style. It’s a neater game when someone can still drive to the hoop. Also, no fair waiting under the basket to take the charge on a driver. NBA referees don’t give defenders that call, and NCAA referees don’t have to, either.