Starved for Attention

Watching Memphis senior forward Rodney Carney nearly bang his head on the rim during slam dunks in this NCAA tournament makes it difficult to imagine he fell through anyone’s recruiting cracks.

Let’s see: He jumps through the rafters, has a nice touch from three-point range, runs like a sprinter and gets criticized for not taking enough shots.

What school would want him?

Yet, stories abound that Carney, the leading scorer on the Memphis team playing UCLA today at the Arena for the right to advance to next week’s Final Four, was almost begging for work after his stint at Indianapolis’ Northwest High.

“No one knew who he was coming out of high school,” Memphis Coach John Calipari said this week. “People saw him play. He was in the state tournament and did well. There were a lot of people. They didn’t think he was quite good enough. He was undersized, he couldn’t do this, he couldn’t do that.”

The Rodney Carney Story belongs in the “We goofed” file. Every caffeine-addled, sleep-deprived college assistant who whiffed on Carney should be ordered to do 150 pushups and 100 gassers.

The scouting service that had him ranked 350th in his class -- you know who you are -- was actually doing a scouting disservice.

The knock on Carney is that he’s only 6 feet 7 and he plays center, as if that matters when you can jump over 7-footers.

UCLA Coach Ben Howland watched a few minutes of tape on Carney and almost broke out laughing.

Then he made a prediction:

“He will win the dunk contest next year in the NBA,” Howland said. “He is unbelievable. I can’t even imagine how far he can take off from. He’s like he’s flying. He defies gravity.”

Howland wouldn’t dare ask freshman guard Darren Collison to stand in Carney’s way today because he thinks Carney could jump over Collison.

“I’m sure he can,” Howland said. “I’m talking about do the split leg thing and go right over a 6-footer. He could probably go over a 7-footer.

“He is a lottery pick. It’s a done deal. All those NBA guys are frothing.”

Memphis got the goods when it signed Carney, the Conference USA player of the year, but even Memphis admits to getting lucky.

Calipari says he wouldn’t have had a scholarship available for Carney had teenage star Amare Stoudemire chose to attend Memphis rather than jump straight to the NBA.

If not Stoudemire, then the Memphis spot would have gone to Qyntel Woods, who also opted for the NBA.

Why had no one heard of Carney?

Howland joked Friday that Calipari must have had the recruit “stashed” somewhere.

Actually, what happened was this:

Carney didn’t play AAU basketball on the advice of Bobby Wilkerson, his high school coach and a member of Indiana’s 1976 national title team. Carney said Wilkerson thought playing AAU would lead to more exposure but also to “bad habits.”

“I believed that, so I didn’t play,” Carney said.

Memphis assistant Tony Barbee, who grew up in Indianapolis, got a tip on Carney from a high school chum and Memphis got the early line.

When a scholarship opened, and schools such as Purdue and Indiana offered too late, Carney chose Memphis over Oklahoma.

“I would say with a guy like Rodney not being rated in anybody’s [top] 250, 300, 400, whatever it was at the time, I’d say somebody made a mistake,” Memphis assistant Derek Kellogg said. “Luckily it wasn’t us. You just don’t find a lot of kids like that anymore.”

Carney has become a four-year starter and the reluctant star of this year’s 33-3 team.

Carney has flourished in Calipari’s offense, a free-flow philosophy in which the Tigers’ athletic players can run and shoot as they please.

Carney has not taken advantage of the situation, though, averaging only 17 points and 27 minutes a game.

Friends have encouraged him to take more shots.

“They try, but I’m zeroed in on what I have to do for the team,” Carney said.

Carney has also taken on the role of den mother. He is the only senior in an eight-man player rotation that features four freshmen and three sophomores.

What’s it like baby-sitting all those kids?

“They act a little older than me sometimes,” Carney joked. “On the court, I try to really guide them, and show them what to do on the defensive and offensive end.... I’m a leader by example.”

If he leads by example today in a Memphis win over UCLA, Carney earns a return trip to Indianapolis for the Final Four.

“This has already been a historic year,” Carney said. “To end it off where it started, Indianapolis, that would be great.... I want to go home.”

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Carney’s greatest hits

Selected top performances this season by Memphis’ Rodney Carney:

* Nov. 15 vs. Wisconsin Milwaukee -- Scored 17 points and had nine rebounds in a season-opening 79-52 victory.

* Nov. 23 vs. UCLA -- Helped the Tigers to an 88-80 victory in the semifinals of the preseason NIT at Madison Square Garden with 17 points and three steals.

* Dec. 20 vs. Louisiana Tech -- Had a career high of 37 points and a season high of 10 rebounds in a 76-58 rout.

* Dec. 28 vs. Gonzaga -- Scored 17 points in an 83-72 victory.

* Jan. 2 vs. Texas -- Stood out in a 69-58 loss with 22 points and six rebounds.

* Jan. 11 vs. East Carolina -- Led the Tigers to a 77-67 road victory with 26 points.

* March 23 vs. Bradley -- Sparked Memphis’ 80-64 Sweet 16 victory with 23 points.