WVU on Colvins list

Palm Beach State, a two-year school in Florida, recently finished the second most productive season in a basketball history that spans more than 40 years.

And so, head coach Butch Estes and his players can catch a breath and focus on the Division I assistant coaches who stream by. By virtue of winning its conference regular-season championship, the school received a bye from the league tournament. Palm Beach begins the Florida portion of the NJCAA Tournament Saturday.

Many of the college assistants want to talk about Chris Colvin, a 6-foot-3, 176-pound guard who already has spent a season at Big 12 Iowa State. Estes, a former North Carolina Tar Heel and head coach at Furman, is keeping close tabs on the sophomore's suitors. Colvin will have two years to play on the D1 level.

"What we're going to do with Chris is, after the season, we'll ask schools to come here and make a presentation about their situations. He has 12 schools--and certainly West Virginia is one of them--Rutgers and South Florida from the Big East; Miami and Clemson from the ACC; Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota from the Big Ten; Cal and Arizona State from the Pac-10, and Butler that have serious interest in him," Coach Estes said.

West Virginia is recruiting Colvin as a point guard, but passing and scoring compose his game for the 25-5 Palm Beach team, ranked 10th in the NJCAA poll. The guard is averaging better than 18 points per game.

"We got him after he left Iowa State. He was there one year as a freshman, but he was still available when we got here last summer, and I was fortunate to convince him to come to Palm Beach. He's a true 6-3 and he is more pass-first than score, but he can do both. The attractiveness is his size: He's 6-3 versus 6-feet or 5-11," said the coach

"But the thing that stands out about Chris is the level of competition he has faced at Iowa State and in high school. (Chicago) Whitney Young High School has a long, rich basketball tradition and he played against a high-level of talent there. He's played against the best competition. So his size and background are unique.

"Third, he's got an off-the-chart basketball IQ. Clemson just left. I told them, 'He'll learn your terminology; in three days he'll know what you're doing with your offense. I always kid Chris and tell him when his basketball career is over, I'm going to hire him as an assistant coach."