Prop. 48 Completes First Course : College athletics: Graduation nears for first class of basketball players impacted by the NCAA’s academic statute for freshman eligibility.

It has become as much a part of the vernacular of college basketball as 3-pointer, small forward and “call a t.o., baby.”

The only problem is Prop 48 has become a negative description of a high school athlete who has failed to meet the academic minimums for immediate collegiate eligibility.

The current senior class is the first to have entered college with Prop 48 in effect.

Three of its most prominent members -- Michigan’s Rumeal Robinson and Terry Mills and St. John’s Jayson Williams -- were among the first to be declared ineligible because of it.

It has changed their lives forever and to listen the them, it has changed them for the better.

“Every student is different as every person is different,” Robinson said before a recent practice. “Certain student-athletes can’t adjust to playing big-time sports at a big-time college. Certain players can adjust. I can only speak for myself. I like what I did that freshman year although I didn’t like what initially happened to me. I liked that I didn’t play and that I got a chance to socialize with the students.

“It is kind of a shame that players often don’t get a chance to do that because what is college except a place to come and meet different people and those people that you meet might be your friends or the people you socialize with the rest of your life.”

Robinson has come as far as you can from the situation which faced him as an incoming freshman. Forget the national championship he won with two free throws in overtime. Robinson has overcome a learning disability to graduate on time with a grade point index right at the ‘B’ level.

Still, his name is usually preceded by Prop 48, even though it no longer applies.

“I didn’t let it bother me but it did become a label,” Robinson said. “When you sat down and watched TV, the announcer said ‘Prop 48 student’ or whatever. You should identify a student-athlete by what he’s doing now not what he’s done in the past. It’s kind of sad it does happen but it does and you just have to move on.”

All three will move on to the NBA next season having played just three years of college basketball having been penalized a year of competition by Prop 48.

“They should look at the rule a little more,” said Mills, who will leave Michigan with a championship ring and a degree with a few more credits this summer. “I feel we should be allowed to practice. That wouldn’t take away from what they’re trying to accomplish. It gives you more motivation when you sit out; ‘Hey, I’m going to get my degree.”’

Mills wants others to know how hard that year away from the basketball court will be.

“I try to talk to high school players and tell them to be prepared either way it goes,” he said. “Mainly, I focus on that if you don’t make it, don’t give up. That’s something I didn’t do. I know I’m capable of doing whatever I put my mind to. I tell them ‘Just work harder in school so you don’t have to sit out but if you do be prepared for it.”

Williams was crushed when he found out there wouldn’t be any basketball for him as a freshman.

“You never think it’s going to happen to you and when it does and you’re just 17, you’re immature about it,” Williams said before a recent game. “I thought they put the rule in just for me, just to keep me out. Right now, I think it was for the best because it showed St. John’s or any other school could have and will carry on without Jayson Williams. It helped me put things in perspective for school.”

Williams, who said he will graduate on time, was limited to 14 games this season by injury. He broke his right foot in preseason practice and refractured it against Georgetown.

Like Robinson and Mills, he is in favor of keeping academic minimums but with some changes.

“I don’t think they should count so much on one test,” Williams said referring to the mandatory 700 score on the SAT or 15 on the ACT. “I think you should be judged more on your school grades as well. Some people are bad test takers just like some people are bad foul shooters. It’s not that you’re dumb.”

Robinson and Mills had each other in the year they sat out.

“There were times I really needed Rumeal,” Mills said. “If I acted like it was all too much, he would get on me and ask if I wanted people to always think I was a loser. I don’t want to think of that year without him.”

Williams was by himself but was still near his family in New York.

“I didn’t even want to go to the games,” he said. “It’s like no one even knows who you are. I didn’t feel like a part of the program. But Mark Jackson and (assistant) Ron Rutledge stuck with me.”

Williams in turn became the big brother to Billy Singleton and Chuck Sproling who followed him in at St. John’s in the same academic predicament.

“I told them the most important thing is don’t get down and don’t worry about your physical condition,” he said. “I told them to keep up their spirit. It’s lonely. We took them out after games and made them a part of our family as they did with me.”

Robinson, Mills and Williams, all of whom have been listed as possible NBA lottery picks, said they were against making all freshman ineligible.

“It depends on what their priorities are,” Robinson said. “If they have tunnel vision for the NBA only let them play. If they don’t, though, give them a chance to get used to college. Basketball is now a year-long thing and it’s hard to get the credits in to stay eligible and there’s a lot of pressure on you when you’re not eligible.

“You have a tendency to rush things and you never play your best when you’re rushing. Me, I didn’t have to rush; I enjoyed it.”