Free fake college degree

The after-hours calls come to Ted Taigen's house with enough regularity that even the ones that have come at, say, 3 or 4 in the morning aren't accompanied by jolts of anxiety. Taigen simply rubs his eyes wipes away his dreams, picks up the phone and says, "Hello, Emeka."

"Doc," the 6-9, 252-pound center says, "I have a question."

Emeka Okafor, the only Division I player who rank in the top 10 in blocked shots (first) and rebounding (ninth), also is high in this category: questions asked. Taigen, who has taught at Connecticut for 20-plus years and is the faculty advisor to the basketball team, can attest to that.

"He may call to ask me about a certain angle he's taking with a paper he's writing," Taigen says, "or he wants to make sure everything's taken care of academically for whenever he goes on the road, or he may want to make sure he's on course for his degree."

It's no wonder Okafor's off-the-court statistics also are All-American worthy. He has a 3.8 GPA in finance, and he's on target to graduate in three years, thanks to advanced placement courses at Bellaire High in Houston and heavy class loads once he reached the Storrs campus, such as his 18 hours this semester. Okafor, a sophomore, says he won't consider going to the NBA until he has his degree.

Huskies star guard Ben Gordon rarely sees Okafor, his roommate, lounging around the dorm, watching TV, goofing around. "His time-management skills are amazing," Gordon says. "Whenever I have seen him taking it easy, he'll always jump up a couple of minutes later and say, `I need to be working on something.'"

In class last week, Okafor's mind wandered and he began scribbling in his notebook. Doodling? Hardly. Okafor began sketching out his schedule, plotting when he would study when he would practice, when he would eat--even when he would sleep.

Jim Calhoun has coached future college professors and good guys/star players such as Ray Allen, but Calhoun says Okafor could be the best combination of basketball player/ student/role model he has coached.

"The last few games," Calhoun says, "he has gotten frustrated with the officials over the fouls being called on him, and that's the biggest trouble he has given me. He was 20 minutes late once, but he spent that time after class questioning a professor."

Okafor is blessed with intelligence that is uncommon and athletic ability that is even more rare. Yet it is his thirst for knowledge, his insatiable desire to get a little better than he was yesterday, that makes him such a delightful curiosity.

Dean of defense

Some things Okafor has to work at really hard. Then, there's blocking shots.

"That has always been my thing," Okafor says. "I've always been able to look at the shooter and get a good read on the angle of the shot and time it. When someone tries a head fake, I'll look at his body and see if he's even in a good position to shoot the ball, and that'll keep me from leaving my feet when I shouldn't."

Calhoun, Oklahoma's Kelvin Sampson, Georgetown's Craig Esherick and Miami's Perry Clark agree on what makes Okafor such a dominating shot blocker: his quickness. Okafor's feet are nifty, and he pops off the floor more than he jumps. Okafor can cover both sides of the lane, which is a big reason he's averaging 4.6 blocks this season after swatting 138 shots last season, the sixth-highest total ever for a freshman.

"Usually, he doesn't block the shot of the guy he's guarding; he blocks the shot of the guy coming from the other side when he comes over for off-side help;" says Sampson, whose Sooners have played the Huskies the last two seasons. "That means everyone has to be aware of him. With a guy like Okafor, you end up penetrating to pitch. You're not looking to penetrate and score against him."

Calhoun raves about Okafor's ability to block shots--and not just stop penetration--off his help defense. "You don't see that anymore," Calhoun says. "I know (Bill) Russell did it; I grew up in Boston, so I can use that type of comparison."

As an assistant and as the head coach at Georgetown, Esherick has had great shot blockers, from Patrick Ewing to Alonzo Mourning to Dikembe Mutombo to Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje. Esherick says the 3-point line has minimized the domination a shot blocker can have on a game, such as Ewing had in college.

That was underscored January 20 when UConn played Miami. Okafor briefly guarded Darius Rice, who is 6-10. It would seem natural that Okafor would be able to clamp down inside on Rice, but in the brief time he guarded Rice, Okafor had to chase him 20 feet from the basket. Rice faced a flurry of defenders and defenses that night, but he made seven 3-pointers and scored 43 points, and the Hurricanes won. That's certainly one way to neutralize a great shot blocker.

Still, Esherick says Okafor's defensive impact is large.

"A great shot blocker--and Okafor's a great shot blocker--can make up for your deficiencies," he says. "It also permits you to go for steals or double team more on the perimeter, knowing you have a guy in back who can threaten any shot. That mere threat can keep people from going in the lane."

The shots Okafor doesn't block or alter he often corrals as they bound off the rim. At practice last Thursday, Calhoun split his team into three groups of five and had them practice halfcourt offense with one group always rotating out. When Okafor's white-shirts team took a break, the other players grabbed their shorts and caught their breath. Okafor, though, worked with assistant Clyde Vaughan on box-out moves. A large degree of rebounding simply comes down to wanting the hall more, and Okafor doesn't lack desire.

"Other players who have his talent tend to stand and watch plays," Clark says. "He doesn't watch any play. He thinks he can make a play on every ball."

Offense 101

It's after practice, nearing 8 p.m., and Okafor clutches a white Styrofoam container holding his dinner. After he eats at the arena, he has more work to do. Most of his teammates already have left Gampel Pavilion on the UConn campus, but Okafor says, "I have to get this fixed," referring to his 55.2 free throw percentage, which is below his field-goal percentage of 57.8. Soon, he is a solitary figure on the court, working on a flaw in his game. Okafor could ride his defensive prowess to near All-American status and probably the NBA as teams search for the next Ben Wallace. But that's not enough.

"Just like I don't want to be known only as a good student or only as a basketball player," Okafor says, "I don't want to be known only as a defensive player. I want to be a complete person and a complete player."

Clark remembers seeing Okafor in high school when, despite his size, he was an offensive after-thought. Sampson says, "Last year, I don't remember them ever throwing the ball inside to him. You never saw him turn and face the basket or use any low-post moves like he's doing now."

After averaging 7.9 points as a freshman, Okafor is averaging 15.3 this season for the 12-3 Huskies. He has become a very good jump shooter from inside 15 feet. "His improvement has been so dramatic, it's not even close comparing him now to where he was," Sampson says. "He's the most improved big man I've seen in a long time."

Last summer, Okafor headed to the gym every morning and took shots from all over the court, staying until he made 500 jump shots. Aside from repetition, he also sought counsel, of course.

"I'd find my teammates who are good on offense, and I'd ask them questions," Okafor says. "I'd ask them how they get open and why they do this or that when they're shooting the ball."

Okafor's repertoire also features a nice jump hook from the righthand side of the lane, and he can knock down short turnarounds. The rest of his low-post moves still are a work in progress, but Calhoun expects them to be good by the end of this season, great next year. Calhoun sees Okafor working relentlessly on certain post moves before and after practice, but Okafor has been reluctant to use them in games. "He doesn't like to show something until he has perfected it," Calhoun says. "Once he masters it, then he'll use it. That's just the way Emeka is."

Hearing his offensive game called "crude" used to grate on Okafor, then he did something about it. Calhoun recalls seeing Okafor at a summer camp before his senior year in high school, then during that season and at an all-star game the following spring. Then Calhoun reflects on what Okafor was like last year, compared with what he is now. "Each time, he was drastically improved," Calhoun says. "It makes you wonder: How much better will he get?"

That, indeed, is the question.

E-mail associate editor Kyle Veltrop at kveltrop@sportingnews.com.