BCSP Notes . . .

Felton, 39, who sat out his senior year of eligibility at Howard to concentrate on his studies, went on to finish with honors from the university in 1985 with a degree in radio, television and film. Soon after began a whirlwind coaching career that has landed him with the Southeastern Conference power.

Between Howard and Georgia, Felton established himself as one of the nation's premier young coaches, serving stints as an assistant at Delaware, Tulane, St. Joseph's, Providence and Clemson before getting the Western Kentucky head coaching job, his first, in April of 1998. At both Providence and Clemson, he worked under current University of Texas head coach Rick Barnes who recently led his team to the Final Four. In his final year at Clemson, he served as associate head coach.

In just five years at WKU, he resurrected a once- storied program posting a 100-54 record including three consecutive Sun Belt Conference tournament championships and three straight trips to the NCAA tournament. He has gone 76-20 over the last three seasons. He was hired last Thursday as basketball coach at Georgia for a five-year contract worth $700,000 annually, up from the $400,000-a-year, seven-year deal he inked with WKU last spring.

He replaces Jim Harrick, who resigned, then retired last month, 2 1/2 weeks after being suspended. The NCAA is investigating charges of academic fraud and improper benefits to players during Harrick's tenure. The scandal also cost Harrick's son a job as an assistant coach and prompted the school to ban the Bulldogs from the SEC and NCAA tournaments.

What effect that will have on Felton's program will be determined at a later date.

"Nobody knows precisely what is going to happen," Felton has said. "My job is to expect the worst. We are braced for the worst."

Felton began his coaching career in his senior season at Howard when he helped out with a local high school program. That's when he says he started thinking seriously about coaching.

After graduation, a job at a local television station fell through after three months and he was hired as an assistant at Charles City (Md.) Community College. His biggest break came when he was hired as an assistant at Delaware, a Div. I program.

"Here I was, one year from college, and a full-time Division I assistant," said Felton in an interview with the BCSP after getting the WKU job. It was his big break.

The advice that he gave then to aspiring young black coaches has obviously served him well. It bears repeating.

"Avoid the trap of being caught up in the fact that you're black," said Felton. "Be very aggressive about being the best you can be. Make good impressions. Go out of your way to be good. Invest yourselves in the present and raise the level of your players and your program. If you do that, you'll be sought out."

He's a living example.

WNBA Draft off, Mobley waits
While the cancellation of the April 16 WNBA Draft is of little concern to Shaw University forward Naomi Mobley, the fate of the league as a whole is quite different.

Mobley, the 6-2 Florida transfer who averaged 21 points and 15 rebounds while leading the 31-3 Lady Bears to the CIAA title and finals of the South Atlantic Regional, was not eligible for Wednesday's draft after 'almost' making the Houston Comets team last year. But she was certainly looking forward to another chance at playing in the league.

Due to the absence of a collective bargaining agreement with the Players Association the 2003 WNBA Draft, scheduled for Wednesday was not held. The WNBA has set a deadline of Friday, April 18 to reach an agreement. If no agreement is reached by that date, NBA Commissioner David Stern, whose league foots the bill for the WNBA to the tune of $12 million per year, has said the 2003 season will not proceed.

"I'm just praying, hoping everything will be cool," said Mobley Tuesday while working out at Shaw. She believes she has "very high chances," of making a WNBA squad as a free agent.

"Last year (when she tried out), I was out of shape," she said. "I had not been working out and had been out of basketball for a year. There'll be no 'almost' this time. I'm just trying to work out and stay in shape. I'm keeping up with what happens through Coach (Jacque) Curtis and on the internet." She also communicates with Brandi McClain and Merlakia Jones, two former Florida teammates currently on the roster of the Cleveland Rockers.

Curtis said head coach Michael Cooper of the WNBA champion Los Angeles Sparks and Seattle head coach Anne Donovan have called to express their interest in Mobley, who led all of Div. II in rebounding this year and also led the SEC in rebounding while at Florida. "She's got some options," said Curtis.

One of those options is to play overseas. Mobley said her agent, James "Butch" Williams of Durham, N.C., has contacts in the European Leagues.

Big Ben to be ready
After securing the top seed in the Eastern Conference without Ben Wallace, the Detroit Pistons expect to have their rebounding machine back for Game 1 of the playoffs this weekend against Milwaukee or Orlando.

Wallace, the Virginia Union product who will win his second consecutive rebounding title averaging 15.4 per game this season, has missed the past five games with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. The Pistons, without the All-Star game starter, won three of four games to render Wednesday's season finale at Boston meaningless.

"Ben will be ready for Game 1," Pistons president Joe Dumars told ESPN.com.

The Pistons, sparked largely by Wallace's energy, are the only team in the league holding opponents under 90 points per game and will learn the identity of their first-round opponent Wednesday night, when Orlando visits Milwaukee. The team that wins will finish seventh in the East, with the loser opening the playoffs at Detroit in a best-of-7 series.

© 2003 Azeez Communications, Inc.

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