Playing Smart: Bigger Doesn’t Always Mean Better : A Combination of Brains, Sports Puts Division III at Head of Class

Let’s be realistic. If a kid has a choice between a four-year basketball scholarship to the University of Kentucky--an excellent academic institution with an exceptional Division I team--and paying his own way to UC San Diego--an excellent academic institution with an exceptional Division III team--chances are the kid is going to Kentucky.

“The blue-chip kids, the ones the big powers are after, we don’t stand a chance with them,” said Tom Marshall, UC San Diego coach. “We can show them all the books and academic awards, and it won’t match up against 15,000 people a game and television contracts.”

Now, if the kid is a pretty good basketball player, the kind coaches say doesn’t have a lot of natural ability but works really hard, and he also happens to be president of his high school Latin club and aces just about every test that crosses his desk top . . .

Jeff Steingraber, formerly of El Modena High School, had to work three jobs this summer so he could attend and play basketball at the University of Redlands, a Division III school. Besides being one of the state’s top universities, Redlands is also one of the most expensive, about $15,000 a year. There are no athletic scholarships at Division III schools.

So, Steingraber’s off-season training program had to do with bulking up his wallet. He sold concessions at Anaheim Stadium, worked in his uncle’s radio shop and moved furniture.

“I probably could have gone to Santa Ana College (Rancho Santiago) and played,” said Steingraber, 6-feet 4-inches. “I chose Redlands because of the school, the academics. I love the game of basketball, but I consider it more an outlet. Basketball is fun here. I don’t know if it would be this fun if I had a four-year scholarship hanging over my head. That’s a lot of pressure.”

Erik Quigley, who played at Mater Dei last season, landed at UC San Diego. Considering that UCSD is located smack fabulous in the middle of La Jolla, that’s a pretty good place to land. But consider that if Quigley plays four years at UCSD--where Marshall estimates average home attendance at 200 to 300--he will probably not play in front of as many people as he did in two games at Mater Dei.

Those two games--the Southern Section 5-A final and the Southern California Regional final--were played in front of packed (15,509) Los Angeles Sports Arena crowds.

“That’s OK,” he said. “Being here has brought me down to earth. There’s more of a balance here. Basketball is kept in perspective. Instead of thinking about basketball, you think about your life.”

Brad Scott didn’t make the varsity basketball team at Fountain Valley High until he was a senior. Even then, playing on a strong team, he played maybe a couple of minutes each game. Scott, a 5-8 guard, is now a junior at Caltech and the captain of the basketball team.

“I found out that I was a decent player for Division III,” he said. “I love it. With all the studying I do, with all the reading, I really believe I’d go crazy if it wasn’t for basketball.”

And so that’s what basketball is about at the Division III level. A hobby, a dose of perspective or--are you ready for this?--a study tool. The quality is relatively good and tough, but it’s not going to make anyone forget Adolph Rupp.

The players are also relatively good. Like many at his level, Quigley, a 6-5 guard, and Steingraber could have chosen and played at community colleges and pursued a Division I or II scholarship.

“A kid has to make a choice,” said Bill Shannon, Woodbridge High coach. “There are a lot of kids who play at junior colleges thinking they’re going to get to UCLA. He can chase that dream or, if he has the grades, he can go to a good school that plays Division III basketball. I think he gets the best of both worlds (at the Division III school).”

At the center of that world, locally, is the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, which has been called the Ivy League of the West. Occidental, Redlands, Pomona-Pitzer, La Verne, Whittier and Claremont-Mudd are members. Caltech is also a member for other sports, but not basketball. UC San Diego is an independent.

The kids who attend these schools are very smart. The average Scholastic Aptitude Test score for a Caltech student is 1,405. Redlands demands just 1,090 on the SAT, but you also better have a 3.4 grade-point average. Look through the media guides and you see Occidental’s Michael Guzman majoring in diplomacy or UC San Diego’s Kirk Kramer majoring in bio-engineering.

“You know how you hear about Division I kids who say basketball is their ticket to get out,” Marshall said. “To the kids at this level, engineering or medicine or law is their way out. Basketball is just something they enjoy while they’re getting there.”

And so, there is never any choice between studies and basketball practice.

“If you’ve got something you have to work on, it’s understood that that comes first,” Steingraber said.

In fact, if it comes between studying and basketball games there’s really no choice. Kramer did not make UC San Diego’s trip to Southern Utah State because he had to study for an upcoming test.

“There’s a lot of give-and-take between athletics and academics,” Marshall said. “We have kids miss practice all the time because they might have a discussion group or need to study for a midterm. That’s a fact of life around here.” Said Kramer: “You get into some heavy classes here, a lot is expected of you.”

So why would anyone want to add the pressure, the time drain of basketball to that load? Those who are going through it say basketball provides discipline and structure in their lives.

“It helps you budget your time,” Quigley said. “If I wasn’t playing basketball, I might goof around. It keeps me busy. It teaches me about sacrifice and hard work. And sometimes I just really need to run around and sweat after six hours of class.”