ANAHEIM, Calif. — The NBA doesn’t like short people.
Allen Iverson sneered at the prejudice.
Tiny “Nate” Archibald never let a tape measure stop him.
Don’t know who will go No. 1 in this year’s NBA draft.
But there’s no doubt who I would take: Connecticut guard Kemba Walker, who might be 6-foot tall if you believe in little white lies.
“No one has to do more for his team than Kemba Walker,” Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said Saturday after the Huskies beat Arizona 65-63 and advanced to the Final Four.
Conventional wisdom has suggested this NCAA tourney field is watered down by teams with a dearth of NBA prospects.
Give conventional wisdom a grade of “F.”
The madness of March has revealed the two best college basketball players in the country, and both were on display in the West Regional final: Walker and forward Derrick Williams of Arizona. They don’t fit NBA prototypes. But they possess something that always somehow seems lacking at the pro level: heart.
“He might be the best player in the country,” Walker said of Williams, who led the Wildcats with 20 points.
But Calhoun refuses to buy that evaluation.
“I would have to disagree with Kemba for once,” Calhoun said. “I think Williams is probably the second best player in America.”
In an incredible 19 days destined to go down as one of the more remarkable March performances in basketball history, Walker has led UConn to nine straight victories by averaging 26 points. Against Arizona, the play that was suitable for framing was a jumper that Walker launched in the face of double-teaming defenders to put the Huskies ahead 65-60 with 1 minute, 15 seconds remaining in the game.
Williams, a 6-foot-8 sophomore, is Exhibit A why the NBA doesn’t know what to make of the current crop of college players. Williams doesn’t fit the mold. He appears short by the standard for power forwards, but looks too muscular to be a wingman.
“I always try to prove people wrong, always try to show all the doubters they’re wrong about me. My main motivation is to prove people wrong,” Williams told me. “I’ve heard I can’t rebound, but I’ve had 18 rebounds in one game. They say I can’t shoot, but I’ve made five 3-pointers in a game. They say I can’t dribble, but I went down the lane against Duke and dunked.”
While Williams attacks the rim ferociously and firmly believes nobody can stop him, there’s one dunker he salutes: Los Angeles Clippers star Blake Griffin.
“I haven’t jumped over a car. Don’t plan on it. Don’t think I can,” Williams said.
In a West Regional final decided by two points, maybe the only real difference was that foul trouble limited Williams to 26 minutes of playing time, while Walker left the court for a grand total of 10 seconds.
“I always said in 1999 we had a great player in Richard Hamilton. And there was a kid, Khalid El-Amin, that made us feel better about ourselves and we went on to be 34-2 and win the whole thing,” Calhoun said.
Walker, however, has the incredible wow that forces opponents to bow in respect.
“Kemba has been able to take his competitiveness, his intensity and transmit it to other players. That’s a very unusual gift,” said Calhoun, who will be seeking his third NCAA championship with a team that finished 9-9 during the regular season in Big East competition.
The personality of Walker is 7-feet tall. During the Sweet 16 round, he winked at the San Diego State bench, told the Aztecs to “Watch this,” then proceeded to drain a jumper. In the huddle with a Final Four berth on the line, Walker had the gumption to inform Calhoun the best way to beat Arizona was to stop running plays for him in order to get UConn freshman Jeremy Lamb more chances at shots.
If gems in an NBA draft appear difficult to discern, it’s best to keep mining. On an early spring day in 1996, a scrawny point guard from Santa Clara University led his team to a first-round upset. Few noticed. The scrawny guard? Steve Nash.
The Nuggets owned the 10th selection in the first round that year. Denver executive Bernie Bickerstaff was impressed with Iverson at the top of the draft, but seemed convinced the overall talent pool was shallow. He laughed when I suggested the Nuggets take a shot at Nash or roll the dice on a teenager named Kobe Bryant.
Denver instead chose to trade down in a cost-cutting move, settling on Efthimios Rentzias from Greece.
When they grew up, Bryant and Nash both became MVP of the NBA.
This is not to suggest that Williams or Walker will ever be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
But Walker and Williams are undeniable winners.
Maybe the NBA needs a better metric for the heart of a champion.
Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com
