The job interviews come fast for 6-foot-10 basketball players looking for work.
As Josh Scott tries to embrace the final weeks of what has been a truly memorable career at Colorado, he is straddling the existence as both a star and an unknown.
Scott will be the focal point of everything CU does as it wades this week into the Pac-12 Tournament, probably followed by an entry into the 68-team NCAA Tournament — which would be Scott’s third in his four seasons in Boulder.
When it’s over, reflection will have to wait. The basketball clock doesn’t stop ticking, and Scott will soon be just another player in a gym trying to prove he belongs.
“It’s obviously going to be a huge chapter in my life, my actual professional career,” Scott said. “In terms of the task at hand, that’s what’s most important to me right now. When that bridge comes, and the last minute (of the season) comes, I’ll actually start thinking about it and making some choices for my future.”
The question that will surround Scott once the madness of March is subsided is this: Will that future be in the NBA?
When CU tipped off against Utah late Saturday, Scott was matched up against Jakob Poeltl, the 7-foot sophomore from Austria who is a projected top-10 pick in June’s NBA draft and is probably headed to the league after this season.
All Scott did during the first matchup between the two on Jan. 8 was limit Poeltl to six points, on 2-of-8 shooting.
“Josh is the most underrated post defender in the country, in my opinion,” CU coach Tad Boyle said. “He’s terrific defensively.”
Scott also dominated Arizona’s vaunted, two-7-footer front line during the Buffs’ victory over the Wildcats two weeks ago, and he has continually answered the bell when matched up against players with NBA length and athleticism.
Scott doesn’t have eye-popping athleticism. He hasn’t shown consistent range outside of the paint. And while being 6-10 makes him a giant in the real world, it makes him only average in the supersized clan of NBA centers.
But doubting Scott hasn’t exactly proved fruitful for anyone. Time and again, he has proved himself among the best big men in country. And Scott’s resiliency to bounce back from a junior season in which he suffered through excruciating back pain has been an underrated story line to CU’s special season.
“I think I am,” Scott said when I asked him if considers himself an NBA player. “I’ve played well against everyone I’ve played against. But, you know, that’s to wiser men than me.”
I’m no wise man, but I’d be wise enough to take a chance on Scott.
Mountain woes. The bitter disappointment suffered by Colorado State when it missed the NCAA Tournament last season, despite a school-record 27 wins, was magnified by seeing three of its Mountain West counterparts get into the field.
The Rams were the grounded middle-school kid forced to watch from the window as all his friends played outside.
Barring a miraculous run through the Mountain West Tournament this week, CSU — in the midst of a disappointing season and in danger of finishing without a winning record — will again be left out.
This time, they will have plenty of company.
It is reasonable to expect that only one Mountain West team will make the NCAA Tournament this season, and that team will probably be the winner of the league tournament.
The only possible at-large team in the league is San Diego State, but the Aztecs (22-8 entering Saturday) have a shaky résumé at best, with an RPI of 48 and a strength of schedule of 79. That makes them far from a lock entering Selection Sunday should they fall short of winning the league tournament.
The drop-off in the Mountain West shows that for all the flashy success of the Gonzagas and Wichita States of the world, sustained success in the mid-major world is difficult to create.
Nick Kosmider: 303-954-1516, nkosmider@denverpost.com or @nickkosmider
