The Boy Next Door : Chapman Collects in the Courtship of David Roth

You might say the Kevin Wilson-David Roth courtship didn’t exactly follow a traditional story line, that is, if recruiting high school basketball players follows a set pattern.

Usually, it goes like this:

Coach sees player. Coach woos the player with countless letters and visits. Then the coach says, “(Fill-in-the blank college) wants YOU.”

In Roth’s case, it didn’t happen that way. One might call the eventual pairing a shotgun marriage, with Wilson holding the gun.

It probably could have been solved easily. Roth’s high school, Orange, is practically in the shadow of Chapman College. And, furthermore, Roth had been watching the Panthers play basketball almost from the time he moved to Orange County from Illinois in the eighth grade.

When it came to signing a letter of intent, though, he was still waiting last spring. Roth had turned down an early offer from San Jose State, feeling that he wasn’t ready to make a decision. As for Wilson, Roth said the Chapman coach was almost too casual in his recruitment.

“He (Wilson) came to see me before the season,” said Roth, who was All-Southern Section as a senior. “But there wasn’t a continuous contact. I think he really felt I was coming to Chapman anyway. I didn’t think he thought I was Division I material. But I think he may have changed his mind.”

Wilson, though, said Roth had made it clear that he wanted to play Division I.

Nevertheless, the casual approach ended when Wilson went to the Roth home last spring, carrying a letter of intent.

“He said to me, ‘Either I’m going to go home with this letter of intent signed or I’m going to tear it up and that will be it,’ ” Roth recalled.

The tactic worked.

The emerging standout forward for the Chapman Panthers doesn’t mind spending his freshman year living at home. He says he’ll live on campus next year. That is, if he’s still around.

You see, when Roth was being recruited, some considered him one of those players somewhere in between Division I and Division II.

At Division II Chapman this season, Roth has recorded impressive numbers since moving into the starting lineup five games ago. In those games, he is averaging 15.4 points, including a career-high 27 against UC Riverside last Friday.

In the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., Roth is averaging 12.1 points. Overall, he is shooting 51.6% from the field and averaging 9 points in 22 games.

For Roth, it’s been a season of steady progress rather than spectacular development. In Chapman’s first five games, he averaged 6.8 points with limited playing time.

In light of his improvement, the question has come up: Would Roth leave Chapman to give Division I a try?

“I don’t know,” Roth said. “It’s a question I can’t answer. Well, sure I’ve thought about it. I’m happy at Chapman. There is an incredible amount of competition in Division I when you get a bunch of talented people together.”

It’s difficult to tell exactly how Roth feels about the possibility. In one breath, he will declare his love for Chapman, Orange County and California, not necessarily in that order.

Then he says:

“My goal is to be a Division II All-American, if I stay here. If I’m still here, I want to break the records at Chapman. I’d like to be the all-time leading scorer in the conference.”

Wilson, whose team is in the midst of a tight conference race, hasn’t put much stock in Roth transferring to a Division I school.

“I don’t think so,” Wilson said. “Anyway, other schools can’t recruit him. That’s an NCAA violation. I think Dave and his family are behind us.”

According to Roth, when San Jose State made the offer, he didn’t feel right about it. After not signing early, San Jose’s interest dropped off.

“I think I don’t regret turning them down,” Roth said. “But I do regret turning down Division I.”

Meanwhile . . .

David Roth isn’t the type of player to sit around and sulk about the might-have-beens. There was a lot of work for him to do, even in making the transition from high school to Chapman. He lost about 10 pounds during preseason conditioning, and has made progress toward losing the tag of slow kid.

“He was a little chunky,” Wilson said. “He wasn’t fat, but he wasn’t real chiseled and defined. Dave lost the weight and got more muscle and quicker. Even better than his shooting is his passing. And his defense has improved the most.”

As a result of the lost weight and improved all-round game, Roth gained something else: more confidence.

“I realized that I’m a better player than I thought,” he said. “I felt confident I could start. That was my goal and I’m glad I achieved it.”

But Wilson doesn’t put a lot of emphasis on starting. He likes to say he has seven starters.

However, being a starter does matter to Roth. He never approached Wilson about it earlier in the season, and said he hopes the fact that he’s not starting every game isn’t because he is a freshman.

“Freshman,” Roth said with disdain. “That word drives me nuts. I’d love to be named captain next year. But then I’ll be a soph omore. A soph omore can’t do that. It is when you can’t do things, that’s when it really bothers me.”

Wilson has confidence in Roth, saying that he thinks his freshman could break records at Chapman and become the conference’s all-time leading scorer.

That is, if he stays.