Smooth Transfer : After Leaving Duke, Billy McCaffrey Has Quietly Found Niche at Vanderbilt

The opening statement of Billy McCaffrey’s biography in the Vanderbilt media guide reads: “Will contend for playing time at either of the guard positions.”

Considering all that McCaffrey has done since that brochure was published, including his 55 points in the Commodores’ two NCAA tournament victories, the sentence has to rate as the understatement of the college basketball season.

It does, however, speak volumes about McCaffrey and his attempt to dim the spotlight that has followed him since he announced two years ago that he was leaving Duke less than three weeks after helping the Blue Devils win the first of their two consecutive national titles.

“Bill would probably be more comfortable if the media would spread (its attention) throughout the team a little more,” Vanderbilt guard Ronnie McMahan said. “He wants what’s best for the team. He wants to disperse (the attention). We understand that. We might kid him, but we understand what he has to go through.”

McCaffrey, a 6-foot-4 junior, has taken an unusual course to his place as the marquee player for Vanderbilt (28-5), the third-seeded team in the West Regional.

A high school All-American in Allentown, Pa., McCaffrey seemed to be the model player for Duke, college basketball’s model program--a smart, smooth athlete who could play either point guard or shooting guard.

As a sophomore at Duke in 1990-91, he averaged 25 minutes and 11.6 points, starting 21 of 38 games. In the Blue Devils’ 72-65 victory over Kansas in the ’91 championship game, he scored 16 points as a reserve. The performance earned him a spot on that year’s all-Final Four team.

Still, he was not happy. Only 16 days after helping Duke earn the title, he announced that he would look for another school. A month later, he picked Vanderbilt.

A private person, McCaffrey has never detailed his discontent at Duke, although it’s clear that he chafed at the notion of trying to oust either Bobby Hurley or Thomas Hill for a starting role in the Blue Devils’ backcourt.

“What I really wanted was consistency,” he told Newsday earlier this season. “I think a player likes to know that he can be counted on for certain things, every night. That’s how I get pleasure from the games. The big reason for me leaving was to enjoy the games more, even if that meant losing more of them.”

So, he moved to Nashville.

After sitting out last season, as required by NCAA transfer rules, McCaffrey stepped into the Vanderbilt lineup as the Commodores’ point guard and found the day-in, day-out satisfaction he was looking for.

He is averaging 20.7 points and making 52% of his three-point shots.

He has been dominating in Vandy’s two NCAA tournament games, scoring 26 points against Boise State and 29 against Illinois. Perhaps more to the point, he has blended his skills into the motion offense of Coach Eddie Fogler, who learned basketball as a player and assistant coach for Dean Smith at North Carolina.

“They set the right screens for McCaffrey, and he gets off a shot faster than any guard I’ve ever seen,” said Temple Coach John Chaney, whose team will face Vanderbilt in the West semifinals tonight at the Kingdome. “That’s something that’s going to be a problem for us--reading those screens.”

McCaffrey’s saga as “The Kid Who Left Duke” will be recounted as long as Vanderbilt stays alive in the tournament, but not with any encouragement from McCaffrey. The only Vanderbilt players attending Thursday’s news conference were senior forwards Kevin Anglin and Bruce Elder.

Asked about the attention being focused on McCaffrey, Fogler said: “He’s tired of it. You can see it on his face. Billy McCaffrey understands why Bruce Elder and Kevin Anglin are at this press conference. They are our senior leaders. Billy is glad he’s not here, quite honestly.”

Later, speaking with reporters after the Commodores’ practice, McCaffrey said, yes, he certainly is happy with the way his move to Vanderbilt has turned out.

“I enjoy having a bigger role,” he said. “But I don’t think everything depends on me. I don’t feel pressure.”

As for why he didn’t join Elder and Anglin at the news conference, he said: “They’re the senior leaders, the captains. They deserve most of the credit. It’s their team.”

Now there’s one for the media guide.