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Caseloads
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Joined: 7/29/2001
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If what they say is true, draft Woods, deal Spree for Picks.
NBA scouts flock to see Qyntel Woods
http://espn.go.com/nba/s/2002/0307/1347376.html
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By Ralph D. Russo
Associated Press
BOONEVILLE, Miss. -- Courtside seats at Bonner Arnold Coliseum are metal folding chairs. There's a stack of them against the wall, and it's first come, first served for a close look at one of the hottest commodities in basketball.
A no-frills gym in a remote corner of Mississippi would seem an unlikely place to find a potential NBA lottery pick.
But Northeast Mississippi Community College forward Qyntel Woods hasn't taken the usual path to stardom.
At 17, Woods had to be coaxed into playing high school basketball. Less than four years later, he's pondering a jump from junior college to the NBA.
B.J. Johnson, a scout for the Houston Rockets, recently made the trip to this town of about 4,000 people to see Woods. Watching just half a game from the gym's old wooden bleachers made him a believer.
"He's already a lottery pick," Johnson said.
At 6-foot-9, Woods is the tallest player on the court, his cornrows easily spotted above the crowd. The 220-pounder is also the highest leaper, the smoothest ball-handler, the most accurate free-throw shooter, and the best rebounder and shotblocker.
Woods says he's been compared to Orlando Magic all-star Tracy McGrady -- and it's clear why.
Showing off a deft crossover dribble, Woods drives around a defender, slashes to the basket and throws down a roundhouse right-handed dunk. Moments, later he swoops down the lane and slams back a teammate's missed shot.
His mid-range jumpers aren't falling this night, but with a quick snap of the wrist, he gets the shot off anytime he chooses against overmatched defenders.
Tony Finch, Northeast Mississippi's sports information director, says he's lost track of how many NBA teams have scouted Woods. His best guess is all of them.
Woods, a Memphis native, signed a letter of intent in November to play for coach John Calipari at his hometown university next season. But the NBA is a definite possibility.
"I don't know yet," he said. "I'm very comfortable with that decision. Playing under coach Calipari, I think he'll get me more ready for the NBA if I'm already ready.
"My family will go into that decision and I'll make it after the season."
Last year, the Boston Celtics made Kedrick Brown the first junior college player selected in the first round, taking him with the 11th pick.
Woods says he'll enter the draft only if he is a top-10 pick, which is a distinct possibility. Some early projections have him rated right behind Duke guard Jason Williams and 7-5 Chinese center Yao Ming.
Woods says he'll rely on Calipari, who coached in the NBA, to get a read on where he might be selected in June.
"You have a lot of teams that want to get him at 18, 19, 16, 17, but if they had the 4th, 5th, 6th pick, they would never take him," Calipari said. "What we've got to find out is, is he a top-5 or -6 pick? And if he is, I'll be the first to tell him that he should go."
Woods grew up fatherless and virtually penniless in South Memphis, a rundown and impoverished part of the city. Woods' father was murdered seven weeks after Woods was born. He is the middle child of three raised by Vanesia Woods with little money, but much love.
Unlike McGrady and fellow all-stars Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett, Woods wasn't an adolescent phenom.
He was 6 feet tall when he played on the freshman basketball team at George Washington Carver High School. He didn't play at all as a sophomore.
But a growth spurt between 10th and 11th grades had him standing 6-foot-6 as a junior. That may explain why Johnson thinks Woods plays as if he's 6-2.
"He probably can play guard," the longtime scout and former NBA player said.
Woods, who was also a star pitcher and quarterback in high school, wasn't in love with basketball, but returned to the court at the behest of his best friend.
"When he got into that first scrimmage game, ... it's been history ever since," Carver coach Bratcher Stevenson said.
Fearful of injury, Woods' mother urged him to give up football. He didn't and Vanesia Woods' fears were realized when he injured his knee during his senior year in 1999.
Afraid that sitting out would ruin his chances of being recruited, Woods and his mother decided he would play with a brace on his leg, rather than undergo the recommended surgery on his ACL.
Woods averaged 23 points per game and led Carver to a state title on the bum leg.
But the big scholarship offers didn't come.
"That was really the only people that were looking at me, the junior colleges, because my grades weren't good," he said.
Woods enrolled at Moberly Junior College in Missouri, a strong program in one of the top Juco leagues. At that point, the knee injury caught up to him. He had surgery and sat out a year.
He hit the weights, grew some more and returned for the 2000-01 season better than ever. He averaged 24 points per game and showed surprising skills away from the basket.
"I recruited him as an inside guy. We figured we'd put some weight on him and we'd have a nice player," Moberly assistant coach Travis Day said. "When we got him out there, he was one of the fastest kids with the ball we had."
But he was eight hours away from his mom and falling behind in the classroom.
Moberly coach Pat Smith said Woods would not have qualified academically to play this season had he stayed.
"I wanted to be close to home," Woods said.
Booneville -- about 75 miles from Memphis -- has been a perfect fit.
"Basketball and school. That's all I can concentrate on here," Woods said.
The competition in Mississippi is not as good as at Moberly, but Woods doesn't think it matters.
"You can get better playing with your little brother in the backyard," he said.
Woods averaged 32 points and 10 rebounds per game this season. On the night Johnson visited, Woods had 34 points and 13 rebounds in the Tigers' regular season finale.
Whether two years of junior college basketball is enough to prepare Woods for the NBA could be a moot point. Teen-agers straight from high school made up three of the first four selections in last year's draft.
"There's some guys that just got it," Johnson said.
And he believes Woods is one of them.
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3/13/2002 11:00 PM