Former St. Monica Standout Is Trying to Shine His Fading Star : Basketball: Earl Duncan, who attended Syracuse and Rutgers, is trying to impress scouts after failing to get drafted by an NBA team.

When Earl Duncan enrolled at Syracuse University in 1986, amazing things were expected from him. Because of his spectacular dribbling ability, the 6-foot-4 guard was compared to Dwayne (The Pearl) Washington, who at that time was sending announcer Dick Vitale--not to mention America--into a frenzy with his basketball skills.

Duncan’s senior numbers at St. Monica High (25.4 points, eight assists, 7.1 rebounds) were pointed to as proof of a can’t-miss kid. He accepted a scholarship to play at Syracuse. Sports Illustrated pictured him in its 1987 basketball preview as evidence that all the great players were going East.

The world was his oyster, and he was The Pearl. Or at least “The Next Pearl.”

So what happened?

It is five years later, and for all we know, Washington is delivering newspapers. He could have delivered this one. An obscure memory in the annals of ESPN. As for the next Pearl. . . .

Duncan, who finished his career at Rutgers--not exactly Nevada Las Vegas East--is one more undrafted free agent at the NBA Summer Pro League at Loyola Marymount. He is hoping to get invited to a camp and make something happen.

It all makes you wonder if he can still play at all.

“When I go home, I see a lot of friends and they may ask what’s going on,” Duncan said. “Then I go out on the court and kick their butts. So it does not matter. All my friends know what’s up. I have positive people around me.”

Duncan’s college career was plagued with problems. He had to sit out the 1986-87 season, a victim of the NCAA’s Proposition 48. As a sophomore, he started four games in the Orangemen backcourt, but ended the season backing up Sherman Douglas, at the point guard.

Unhappy with their playing time, he and teammate Keith Hughes transferred to Rutgers, which meant sitting out another year. In his two years at Rutgers, Duncan averaged only 13.4 points.

This past season an overweight Duncan, playing at a high of 230 pounds, averaged 12.9 points and 3.1 assists. While he finished strong, averaging 21 points over his last 10 games to help Rutgers reach the NCAA tournament, Duncan was not among the 54 players selected in the NBA draft on June 26.

Duncan, 23, thinks that his weight may have dissuaded NBA teams from drafting him and said there is an explanation for the extra pounds. But, he says, forget the weight. He can play.

“Things haven’t changed,” Duncan said. “I think people got the wrong idea about me from when that weight was on me. I had surgery to remove some bone spurs from my ankles last summer. It was a situation where I was unable to play, and I gained a lot of weight from lifting and what have you. What happened was that I came in this year out of shape for the most part.

“It took me a long time to get into shape and to do the things which I am capable of doing, the things where I led our team on a run to our 19-10 record and the NCAA tournament.

“The rap on me was that I was too heavy as a guard, so that’s why I’m here. To show that I am able to play. I think people got the wrong idea about me from when the weight was on me, figuring I had no work ethic. That’s what they look at when you are heavy.”

Duncan says he has lost 20 pounds and that the weight was responsible for his problems his senior season.

“It was a frustrating period because I was not able to burn people and beat people like I was capable of doing,” he said. “But now I’m home, working out and playing every day with Stevie Thompson and Trevor Wilson. That’s all we do is play and work out, so I look at this league as kind of a starting point.”

Each day, the trio shoots 300 jump shots, then works on spot-up shooting, using sprints as punishment for a miss. They add in track work and lifting. Afterwards, Duncan goes home and jumps rope and does sit-ups, trying to work another 10 pounds off his body.

Through four games on the Cleveland Cavaliers’ summer team, Duncan has averaged 13 points and six assists, scoring a high of 21 points with six assists against a 76ers team that featured NBA reserves Brian Oliver, Kenny Payne and Charles Shackleford.

More important than any numbers though, is that his game looks sharp--evidenced by a series of quick dribbling combinations and fast-break, no-look passes against Gary Grant’s summer league bunch. At the same time, he made sure his team got into its half-court offensive sets. And that thick, 6-4 frame.

“I really don’t know anything about him, but I’m immediately impressed by his physical size,” said Bill Bertka, an assistant with the Lakers. “He’s nice and strong, which is important for a guard. He’s got a nice shot, strength and good speed. What stands out is his strength.

“He’s a good-looking prospect.”

He was anything but a good-looking prospect when he transferred from Syracuse.

After sitting out a year, Duncan played in all 35 of the Orangemen’s games in 1987-1988. After starting the first four games at off-guard, he was replaced by Matt Roe, a jump shooter.

Although he received a fair amount of playing time (18.3 minutes a game), led the team in three-point baskets and had the highest number of assists among non-starters in the Big East, Dun can was unhappy at not being a starter. After the season, he transferred.

“What happened with Matt was that before our first game of the season I had almost dislocated my wrist,” Duncan said. “I was shooting like 29% percent from the field and so (Coach Jim Boeheim) gave him the spot. So then I split time with Sherman and Matt through the season and by the time I was OK, Coach Boeheim let me know that he did not want to change things.

“Keith Hughes was a good friend of mine from the team, and (Rutgers Coach) Bob Wentzel is a very good guy, a run-and-gun-type coach. He let us use our creativity. It was a good situation.”

But it did not get him drafted.

“I look at the draft and tell people to make their own assumptions,” Duncan said. “I’ve seen a lot of the guards and played against a lot of them. . . . You know, if you are not picked in the first round, you are not guaranteed any money anyways, so the second-round picks have to make their teams anyway.

“I respect players and I think a lot of them respect me as well,” Duncan said. “Because I’ve played against a lot of these guys in camps and they know who I am. We have fun on the court talking about it . . . I don’t let it (not being drafted) bother me. You just keep a positive attitude and take things in stride.

“I would love to play in the NBA. I hope I get a fair look and a fair chance. All I want to do is play hard, evaluate things at the end of the summer and then get to veterans camp.”