Friday, March 17, 2000
West Hi's Shelton puts down roots with Tulsa
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
David Shelton practices at the South Regional Thursday.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It's officially known as the South Regional down here in Music City. But it could also be known as the David Shelton sub-regional.
David Shelton? He's the best sixth man you never heard of. Probably the best player you never heard of. A Cincinnati kid raised hard in the West End and tough in Millville. A junior who has carried Tulsa on his 6-foot-6 frame into today's NCAA first-round against Nevada-Las Vegas.
“He was the final piece to our puzzle,” said Tulsa coach Bill Self Thursday. “He's the reason we had a chance to be as good as we are.”
Shelton's journey here wasn't easy. His family's home burned down two days before Christmas in 1993. He bounced around four high schools. His grades weren't good. But he still dreamed of playing college basketball.
Shelton, a University of Cincinnati fan, got a boost from Bearcats coach Bob Huggins, who called Independence (Kan.) Community College on his behalf. Shelton was a two-time all-region player at the school.
If UC takes care of North Carolina-Wilmington today and Shelton gets near his team-leading 13.8 points to help Tulsa beat UNLV, he gets to play against his Bearcats in Sunday's second round.
Shelton, who has the touch of a shooting forward, can also venture into the paint. His passion and intensity inside gives the Golden Hurricane more flexibility because he can play what they call inside-outside basketball.
“He likes to score and he's got no ego,” Self said. “How many guys have you ever seen like that?”
This sub-regional is full of Shelton ties. He nearly chose UNC-Wilmington over Tulsa because his mother, Darlene, was so impressed with coach Jerry Wainwright.
“If we had him, we would have won 25 games instead of 18,” Wainwright said Thursday. “He would have been a potential Player of the Year in our league.
“I loved the mother. A sweetheart. For him to even have a future tells you something about him because of his limited resources.”
Shelton may have had limited resources, but he said Thursday he had no lack of people who cared: Two of his high school coaches, Ralph Lee at Mount Healthy, and Lannis Timmons at Western Hills; Charles Atkinson Jr., a mentor who got David and his twin brother Darnell involved in modeling, even though the boys didn't want to do it (their mother insisted).
When the twins were 11, one of the kids David knew in the neighborhood, Derrick Turnbow, was accidently shot and later died while watching a fight after school. David and Darnell had been around that spot minutes before.
It was the final straw for Darlene, whose children walked over the Taft grounds to get to and from elementary school. She packed up for Westwood.
“It's been a long, hard journey, but I'm kind of glad it's been that way,” Shelton said. “I might not appreciate it as much.”
Shelton almost missed a shot at college when he quit going to class after his senior season. He ballooned to 270 pounds before he went to Independence. But with the incentive of playing for UC and prodding from his loved ones, he dropped 40 pounds and was freshman of the year in Independence's conference.
Shelton was available the one year UC couldn't recruit junior college players because of NCAA penalties in the Charles Williams case. But would he have played the power forward spot on a team with Kenyon Martin, Jermaine Tate and Ryan Fletcher?
“It would have been harder, that's for sure,” Shelton said. “I won't be a fan Sunday if we play.”
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