Centers of attention

SAN ANTONIO -- Bill Walton, Patrick Ewing and Hakeem Olajuwon should be smiling Saturday.

The pure center, the position that has slowly -- some say sadly -- become something of a relic in college basketball over the last decade or so, is back in the limelight.

Emeka Okafor of Connecticut and Shelden Williams of Duke are post-up big men of the old-school variety. They'll be banging away in the paint when the Blue Devils meet the Huskies today in the national semifinals. Many people believe the winner of that matchup will be playing for the championship.

"But don't call them centers," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Call them 'players."'

There was a time when being called a "center" was hardly considered an insult, and when domination in the middle almost always translated into excellence.

Walton played what is largely regarded as the best game in college history, going 21-for-22 for 44 points in UCLA's 1973 title game. Olajuwon led Houston to two straight title games. One of those times he went toe-to-toe with Ewing, who played in consecutive championship games himself with Georgetown, going 1-1.

The addition of the 3-point line in 1986 started the slow shift away from inside dominance, however. Teams began valuing hot-shooting guards more. For every true center like Rony Seikaly, it seemed there were two guys like Christian Laettner and Juwan Howard -- players who may have been listed as centers, but were really taller-than-average forwards who could post up and pop out to hit the midrange jumper.

As that trend grew, fewer top-notch big men saw the benefits of college. Many who went didn't stay for long.

Shaquille O'Neal. Shawn Bradley. Kwame Brown. Eddie Curry. Elton Brand. They are among the centers who left college or skipped it altogether, knowing their size would garner big bucks in the NBA and their games could be developed more quickly there.

These days, it's common to look at a team's starting lineup and see three 'Fs' and two 'Gs,' but not a single 'C.' In fact, Williams is listed as a forward on Duke's roster even though he plays in the middle. Okafor is a forward-center. Of the 30 players on the two rosters, not a single player is listed as strictly a center.

Pete Newell, the former coach at Cal who became a guru for big men over the decades, said the slow decline of the center has already had a big effect on the game in America. He points to the United States' humiliating sixth-place finish at the world championships in 2002.

"We lost three games that week," Newell said, "and we didn't have a center on that team."

Newell believes centers are coming back, though, and he thinks Saturday's matchup is a good indicator of it. He said the widely accepted thought that center is a static position is slowly being debunked. He yearns for a return to the day when centers like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain were the reason people showed up for the games.

"It's the most skilled position in basketball," Newell said. "If you look at what's required of a guard or forward, as it relates to passing, it's not even close to what a center has to do. You've got to handle the ball in all that congestion, make all kinds of passes, take rebounds and make a pass all in the same motion. Guys like Walton, Wes Unseld -- those guys could do those things."

Okafor can, too.

The junior is an All-American who has developed his game over his three seasons with the Huskies. As a freshman, he averaged eight points, and opponents barely paid attention to him. This season, he has fought through injuries to average 17 points and 11 rebounds, turning into the guy nobody can ignore.

"I'm learning how to deal with it," Okafor said. "It's part of the progression."

He also blocks more than four shots a game and, Krzyzewski believes, might be more dangerous on defense than offense.

Williams is a sophomore who averages nearly 13 points and 8.6 rebounds, but has struggled with foul trouble all year. UConn coach Jim Calhoun calls him one of the top five players in the country.

"He's developed into a Carlos Boozer," Calhoun said, recalling the versatile Blue Devils center who averaged 15 points and seven rebounds from 1999-2002. "I know a lot of people at Duke said Carlos Boozer took time to get there. He took time to get there and got a national championship, number one. Number two, he is now becoming a great, great pro."

This isn't to say the centers offer the only intriguing matchup in this game. Duke guard Chris Duhon against UConn's 18-point-a-game scorer Ben Gordon will be key, and both teams like to push the ball, which could reduce the impact of the big men.

Still, for those who haven't seen the centers go at it on this kind of stage in a while, Duke-UConn will be a welcome sight.

"I always thought centers were the most important part," Newell said. "I'm looking forward to watching that game."