COLLEGE BASKETBALL ‘86-87 : COACHES, PLAYERS, TEAMS AND TRENDS TO WATCH THIS SEASON : MIDDIE IN THE MIDDLE : David Robinson Caught Between Navy and NBA

David Robinson chose to stay at Navy. He talked about commitment, loyalty and values . . . . I wonder how many of us would choose these virtues rather than the chance of becoming a multimillionaire, especially if you were a college sophomore when you had to make that choice. --GOV. MARIO CUOMO of New York.

Whether he’s wearing his dress blues or his blue practice jersey, David Robinson possesses an unmistakable statuesque nobility. Some people look good in uniforms; Robinson makes any uniform look good.

But the perception of Robinson as a noble figure goes beyond appearances.

This Midshipman 1st Class at the U.S. Naval Academy also happens to be a 7-foot 1-inch, first-class center, a true aircraft carrier touted by many as college basketball’s most dominant player this season.

That alone would make Robinson special, but what makes him a noble and patriotic symbol to some is that he has put his commitment to the Navy ahead of admitted ambitions of a lucrative professional basketball career. Upon graduation, all Midshipmen are required to serve at least five years of active duty in the armed forces. As of now--and despite Napoleon McCallum’s association with the Raiders--Navy officials say Robinson is no exception.

Robinson, who didn’t grow to 7 feet or become an exceptional player until his sophomore year, had the option to leave the Navy and transfer to any hundreds of colleges that would have taken him. But he stayed, citing loyalty, patriotism and the fact that the Navy offers a five-year, no-cut contract.

That decision, which even then figured to cost Robinson only about $1 million a year from a fortunate NBA team, has been lauded by politicians such as Cuomo and cheered by editorial writers and columnists. The Washington Post last spring called Robinson a latter-day Thomas Merton, an American monk and writer who turned his back on potential wealth to maintain his high personal standards.

But now, at the risk of disappointing admirers and flag-wavers everywhere, Robinson strongly hints that he doesn’t want to wait until 1992 before trying the NBA. After all, he already has averaged more than 22 points a game the last two seasons at Navy and spent part of last summer leading the U.S. national team to a gold-medal win over the Soviet Union in the World Championships.

In Robinson’s mind, the only world left to conquer is the NBA.

“I want to play in the NBA,” Robinson said before a recent Navy practice. “It’s the best competition there is, and I want to be the best. If I could make a living playing basketball, that would be great.”

Nothing particularly noble about that. Only human. But Robinson, 22 and still wearing braces on his teeth, never felt too comfortable with that larger-than-life folk hero perception, anyway.

“I don’t see myself like that at all,” Robinson said, suppressing a laugh. “I’m a good person but, sorry, I’m not a traditional American hero. I don’t mind people putting that label on me. It’s better than having a bad reputation.”

Just because Robinson would rather play basketball next year, that won’t necessarily happen. It’s up to the Navy to decide whether Robinson will be a trailblazer--either in Portland or another NBA city--by becoming the first graduate athlete to go directly to the pros full time without having served his mandatory five-year hitch.

This once-sacred policy was dramatically altered last August when Navy officials allowed Ens. McCallum to play for the Raiders while still serving in the Navy on a ship conveniently dry-docked in Long Beach.

So, there is hope for Robinson, even though his situation is significantly different. Unlike McCallum, Robinson would need more than just a few hours off for practice and Sundays free for games. The NBA season lasts 82 games--half on the road-- before the playoffs start.

“Since we have a Navy active duty officer in the NFL, certainly it is ground we’ve never been on before,” said Capt. Albert Konetzni, deputy commandant of the Naval Academy. “It doesn’t necessarily make it easier to make this decision. I look at it as a completely different situation.”

Whether as an ensign on active duty or as a highly visible NBA center-Navy recruiter, however, Robinson still figures to be the Navy’s best advertisement since Tom Cruise’s character in “Top Gun.”

Though his future is uncertain, Robinson still can be regarded as an officer and a gentleman in training. He still dazzles, either when marching in early-morning formation or blocking shots with frightening intimidation. Most 7-footers, perhaps lacking self-confidence, have a posture like a question mark, but Robinson stands as erect as an exclamation point.

Robinson’s mix of basketball ability, intelligence, exuberance and, yes, nobility are so impressive that President Reagan, always looking for icons, could use him as a symbol of young America at its best. The only problem would be that Robinson shoots with his left hand.

Robinson, who has grown five inches since arriving at the academy in 1983, has the potential to grow into one of college basketball’s great centers. Based on his statistics and projections, he has a good chance to become the first player ever to score 2,500 points, take down 1,400 rebounds and shoot 60% from the field in a four-year career.

Mostly because of Robinson, who last season led the Midshipmen to a second-round upset of Syracuse in the NCAA tournament, Navy was ranked ninth in this season’s first national poll. Robinson is the consensus pick as the top college big man, and he showed his worth by scoring 36 points in Navy’s season opener, an 86-84 loss to North Carolina State, last Saturday.

Robinson is a big man at Navy, for those and other reasons.

He scored 1,320 on his college boards, more impressive to some Navy men than the 936 boards he has grabbed in 2 1/2 years on the basketball team. A math/science major, Robinson had a 2.8 grade-point average last year. He wasn’t happy about those numbers.

At ease, which for Robinson is anywhere other than the court or classroom, he is articulate, animated and wryly humorous. His interests could best be described as eclectic.

Robinson is an unusual sporting breed, an aesthete-athlete.

And here’s another twist: The athlete in Robinson developed last.

Basketball was not always important to Robinson, despite his active pituitary glands. Multifaceted for this 7-footer means more than simply being able to score and rebound.

Growing up a Navy brat in Virginia Beach, Va., Robinson used to tinker with all sorts of electronic gizmos. Once, when his father was at sea serving as a sonar technician, young David built a six-foot projection screen television. It cost only $1,800, and David didn’t charge for labor.

Anyone venturing into the Bancroft Hall dormitories here can find Robinson’s room by following the sound blaring from the elaborate stereo system Robinson rigged.

When he wasn’t fixing things at home, Robinson taught himself to play the piano, by ear. Even now, he’ll wander into a lounge at the academy and play a tune he has heard on the radio. “He does a Sting song really great,” said Carl Liebert, Robinson’s roommate.

Said Ambrose Robinson, David’s father: “He was just like his old man. I always had a variety of interests, and he did, too. We never tried to make him concentrate on any one thing--except for school work.”

Until basketball took over as Robinson’s main interest, a metamorphosis that didn’t occur until about this time last season, math and a Navy career were his true passions. Most kids might be able to manage a piggy bank, but young Robinson could balance his mother’s checkbook. He talks now about being able to total prices of items at the supermarket check-out line before the cashier finishes.

“Math is cut and dried,” Robinson says. “You put it down on paper, and it’s either right or wrong. I like that.”

There is one decision in Robinson’s history, though, that was neither right nor wrong and anything but cut and dried. That, of course, was his choice after his sophomore year to remain at Navy, which meant he was committed to five years of postgraduate service.

It was a confusing time for Robinson. He kept reminding himself that his original reasons for coming to Navy were mostly academic and partly patriotic. But Robinson had recently experienced his initial success as a basketball player, having averaged 23.6 points as a sophomore. He still wasn’t sure just how much he liked this sport, and the fear of not knowing how he’d develop further complicated the issue.

“It was rough on him,” said Liebert, a 6-6 forward. “He kind of made everybody think it wasn’t. He didn’t want anyone to know he was torn about what to do.”

Liebert and Navy officials whom Robinson asked for advice naturally wanted him to stay. His father, retired from the Navy after 20 years, said he, too, was torn. NBA scouts and general managers everywhere were hoping he would transfer.

Robinson didn’t, mostly because he still hadn’t focused on what he wanted from life. The Navy, at the very least, would provide security. Basketball, on the other hand, still hadn’t become fun for him.

“I’ve always been a good athlete, but I wasn’t brought up with basketball on the brain,” Robinson said. “When I came here as a freshman, I was only 6-7. I figured (basketball) would just be an outlet, something else I could do so I wouldn’t get all wrapped up in school.

“I felt like I needed to come here. I was pretty lazy in high school, never had to work for anything. My grades came easy, everything came easy. And I didn’t have the pressure of high-level sports to challenge me. I needed a challenge.”

Said Liebert: “He’s so good at everything it’s disgusting. I wish there was just one sport I could beat him at. The guy can shoot a great round of golf, play tennis well. I thought I could get him at squash, because he’s so big inside that court. But no, he beat me in that, too. You ever hear the story about Dave and our gymnastic class?”

Yes, Robinson was a natural at that, too.

“When we are plebes (freshmen), we’re required to take a three-week course in gymnastics,” Liebert said. “Dave is so big, I didn’t think he could do it. We all looked bad. Then, Dave gets on the parallel bars and starts doing all sorts of stuff. It took him one week to do all the required stuff and get an A.”

Strangely, top-level basketball has been the hardest for Robinson to master.

Robinson had to be coaxed into playing during his senior year in high school. As a plebe at Navy, he missed the first few weeks of the season after breaking his hand in an elective boxing class. Robinson played in 28 games as a freshman, averaging 7 points. But his heart--and, sometimes, his mind--wasn’t in it.

“That year, he couldn’t understand why I’d be out shooting baskets late at night after study hours,” Liebert said. “I noticed the change in him during his sophomore year. It was right after Christmas. We had played in a tournament at Southern Illinois, and he got the MVP. That same week, Sports Illustrated named him the player of the week. I remember he said to me, ‘Wow. I can play.’ But he was so raw back then.”

Robinson soon found that basketball was not going to be something that he could take up casually and then discard after getting bored with it. If he wanted to play, he was going to put in the time and effort.

“Sometimes, I felt so awkward,” Robinson said. “It wasn’t fun at first because I put a lot of effort into it and didn’t get a lot out of it. Now, every little bit of hard work I put into it, I get back. It shows up somewhere. I’m enjoying it now.”

It hasn’t been a complete transformation, though. Robinson still isn’t too inspired having to practice every day, and it shows in his effort. Last March, Paul Evans, then coach, kicked him out of practice for dogging it. Pete Herrmann, Navy’s new coach, said little has changed this season.

“Dave is not a coach’s player, not one of those gung-ho guys,” Herrmann said. “It’s not in his personality. His nature is laid back. But in big games, there’s nobody I’d rather want on my team.”

Game time is all that really matters. And this season, Herrmann is hoping Robinson will concentrate and give the effort for all 40 minutes, which he has yet to do. For example, Robinson had an exceptional second half Saturday in the opener against North Carolina State, scoring 20 points in a 9 1/2-minute stretch to bring the Midshipmen back from a 16-point deficit.

It was a typical Robinson performance. He blocked shots, dominated inside on offense, actively participated in fast breaks and even made a few short jump shots.

Said Herrmann: “As a freshman, Dave was shy, reticent and not interested. As a sophomore, he’d play about 25 minutes strong, but be mentally out of it the rest of the time. As a junior, he got up to 30 to 35 minutes consistently. To be really dominating, he’s got to be in the game for 40 minutes.”

The mere suggestion that Robinson has yet to reach his potential must be a scary thought for the opposition.

“He’s got my vote for national Player of the Year right now,” said North Carolina State’s Bennie Bolton after last Saturday’s game. “We tried everything on him. We pushed him, shoved him, tried to beat him up. . . . We couldn’t stop him.”

It may just be a matter of Robinson stopping himself. After all, at last summer’s World finals in Spain, not even touted Soviet center Arvidas Sabonis could handle Robinson, who had 20 points in the Yanks’ 87-85 win over the Soviet Union in the gold medal game.

As Coach Jerry Pimm of UC Santa Barbara, an assistant on the U.S. team, recently told Sports Illustrated: “(David) is not going to take (basketball) too seriously, and that’s not a bad attitude to have.”

Not if Robinson’s goal is to be a career Navy man, but now, of course, he is showing signs that he is serious about basketball.

“I don’t think it’s possible for David to lose the thought of basketball now,” Capt. Konetzni said. “Three years ago, he could. I don’t think he’s motivated by money. He just wants to be the best at basketball.

“He didn’t play basketball until late, so he didn’t get into the mind set that this was more important than the rest of the world. . . . But I don’t blame him for wanting (an NBA career). Basketball is what he’s best at. Like me, I’d like to be the best submarine officer in the Navy.”

Even though basketball is a major priority with Robinson, he hasn’t abandoned other interests and obligations.

Konetzni likes to tell about the time last year when Robinson was moping at practice for a few days. Red Romo, the team’s trainer, thought Robinson was having second thoughts about committing to the Navy. It turned out that Robinson had failed a math test. It had devastated him.

Another time, Robinson had scored 37 points and had 14 rebounds in a night game at Delaware. After the ride back, Robinson pulled an all-nighter, writing a computer program for a class.

Asked Liebert, rhetorically: “How many athletes are going to do that?”

These days, it seems, Robinson needs to stay awake all night to do everything that’s in his severely regimented schedule.

Robinson’s day begins at 7:30 with morning formation, followed by four hours of classes, then lunch, then more classes, then practice, then evening formation, then mandatory study hours, then “Taps.” Somewhere in there, Robinson squeezes media interviews and photo sessions and sleep.

It is not a schedule conducive to keeping him fresh for basketball, but what do you expect? He’s attending the Naval Academy.

“I have to put out so much effort in the Navy that it detracts from my basketball,” Robinson said. “If I wanted to go out and shoot free throws during study hours, I couldn’t do it. It’s built into the system. Everyone has to do the same stuff, no matter who you are. You have to be there for formations, have to go to class. A lot of the things are a pain to do, but nobody’s excluded from them.”

Robinson calls his eagerness to play basketball and graduate from the academy “senioritis.” But he said he also remembers why he is a midshipman. There are reminders everywhere.

Said Konetzni: “He is perhaps the best ballplayer in the country, but I or anyone else (in command) here has no problem saying, ‘David, sit down, shut up and do what I say.’ He understands his role.”

One thing Robinson fully understands is that he will have no say concerning his future after graduation.

It has been rumored that, when Robinson was considering whether to stay after his sophomore year, Navy brass made some promises that induced him to stay. The Navy says that isn’t so. And Navy officials say that the McCallum ruling was not a prelude to freeing Robinson to play professional basketball.

Lately, there has been much talk about loopholes in the Navy contract. One very big one is Robinson’s height.

When Robinson entered the Naval Academy, he was 6-7, almost too tall to qualify. He is now 7-1, too tall to be commissioned as a ship’s officer or as a Navy pilot. That leaves either working on a submarine, where most duties are performed while seated--Robinson says he still finds sub duty uncomfortable because of his height--or working “restricted line” duty, which means a desk job ashore.

Robinson has spent summers at flying indoctrination in Pensacola, Fla., sailing Navy craft in Connecticut and doing Marine training at Quantico. Once, just for fun, he squeezed into a jet.

So, to this Midshipman, a desk job in some supply office would seem a waste.

There is another possibility, if indeed the Navy is considering allowing Robinson to play pro ball, although no one is mentioning it. Robinson could be transferred to the reserves for the duration of his NBA career, deferring his active duty until after he had finished playing.

Robinson won’t even speculate on the Navy’s plans regarding his career.

Everyone else, it seems, has an opinion.

Said Ambrose Robinson: “I feel he has an excellent chance of playing. I don’t know what’s going to happen, that’s the big question. But I think David could be a big help to the Navy, even in the NBA, as a recruiter.”

Said Liebert: “He wants a chance. That’s all he’s asking for. I hope, as a Navy man, that he can do both things.”

Said Konetzni: “If David was told tomorrow that he was going to go in the Navy and serve five years, he’d give a damn good salute and say, ‘Aye, aye, sir.’ ”

Robinson, so good with numbers, can easily compute the financial advantage of playing in the NBA. He also likes being a public figure and hearing cheers when he does something well. Yet, there is part of him that still wants the life of an officer and a gentleman.

“There’ll be a lot of decisions to be made,” Robinson said, almost wistfully.

In either profession, he’ll look good in the uniform.