El-Amin Refuses to Eschew the Fat With Taunters

Connecticut point guard Khalid El-Amin draws the taunts of crowds almost everywhere where he goes, but he doesn’t mind.

“I thrive off ‘Fat Boy’ and all that type of mention,” said El-Amin, who is 5 feet 10 and 203 pounds. “I definitely use it as inspiration or motivation.

“There were even a lot of nights at the YMCA where that happened, where they wouldn’t let me play because I was too small, things like that. Once I got the opportunity, I had to make the most of it.”

He has even become a favorite of, what shall we say, the chunky set.

“I think so. I don’t want to say out-of-shape people, but there are people who take me in and embrace me because of that,” El-Amin said.

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Connecticut guard Ricky Moore’s father used to be a caddie at Augusta National, and even though Moore didn’t learn to play golf until last summer, he used to wait tables in the clubhouse during the Masters.

Duke’s William Avery is also from Augusta, and said a couple of his uncles worked as groundskeepers at the famous course.

“I go every now and then just to look at the course,” Avery said. “I never worked over there like Ricky did. I am trying to get tickets, though.”

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Before Christian Laettner made his famous last-second shot in overtime against Kentucky in 1992 to send Duke to the Final Four, he made another shot that is just as famous in Connecticut.

In 1990, Laettner made a game-winning shot with less than a second left in overtime against UConn, sending Duke to the Final Four and stopping the Huskies one step short.

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Duke sophomore Chris Burgess insists there’s nothing to any talk that he might consider transferring to UCLA after the season.

“I’m in the national championship game. No way,” said Burgess, who is from Irvine Woodbridge High. “I’ve said I’ll consider going on a [Mormon] mission, but that’s all. I see where rumors could get started. My best friend is a manager there, and my girlfriend goes there.”