Porter's Comeback Tale Takes Tragic Turn

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	BRYAN GRAHAM Bryan is a basketball editor for CSTV.com and contributes on a regular weekly basis. E-mail here!

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Half the fun of escaping schoolwork and going to games at the Palestra as a kid was listening to the old heads tell oft-embellished stories about the Philly basketball titans of generations past during the ride over to the gym.

The tales of players who were nationally known but locally canonized -- guys like La Salle's Kenny Durrett, St. Joe's Cliff Anderson, Temple's Guy Rodgers and Pennsylvania's Corky Calhoun -- comprised an oral tradition which makes the Big 5 one of America's most unique sporting institutions. But one of the most curious figures in those annals involved a Villanova player named Howard Porter, a three-time All-American center who carried the Wildcats to the national championship game in 1971 -- seven days after an Elite Eight dismantling of a third-ranked Penn team that entered the game with a sterling 28-0 record.

There in the Houston Astrodome, I was told, the Wildcats offered UCLA one of its stiffest tests during the John Wooden dynasty. There, I was told, Jack Kraft's famed "ball defense" so confounded the Bruins that the Wizard of Westwood was forced to employ a stall offense to escape with a 68-62 victory. There, I was told, Porter collected Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four honors despite playing for the losing side -- a trick which only Houston's Akeem Olajuwon has turned in the 36 years since.

But that wasn't the end of the story.

His MOP award would be vacated and Villanova's runner-up finish tarnished with the dreaded asterisk when Porter admitted he had signed with an agent and inked an ABA contract during his senior season -- just one of the reasons the Florida native's place in Big 5 lore seemed dubious even to an eight-year-old. After seven unspectacular seasons bouncing around the NBA, Porter descended into cocaine addiction and was penniless sleeping on his mother's couch as his alma mater celebrated a surprise national championship in 1985.

But after entering a rehab program and spending time in a halfway house, Porter completely turned his life around. In 1995, Porter became a Ramsey County probation officer, supervising adults who have been released from prison or sentenced to probation and drawing on his personal experiences to help others improve their own lives. As this came to light and Porter was re-embraced by the Philadelphia and Villanova basketball communities, I noticed that the old heads no longer spoke of the hoop legend like a black sheep -- they seemed to volunteer his accomplishments as a member of the Wildcats rather than grudgingly admitting them.

But the feel-good story took a tragic turn over the weekend when Porter was abducted and severely beaten in his St. Paul, Minn., hometown -- with a frightening lack of information compounding the situation with a sense of confusion. The local Pioneer Press has reported that the 58-year-old remains on life support and police have remained reticent on details surrounding the assault, concerned that the incident may be related to his job.

Villanova coach Jay Wright, who had an emotional attachment with Porter's teams as a suburban Philadelphia youth, spoke of the Booker High alum from the annual Big East conference meeting in Florida.

"Howard Porter is more than just a Villanova legend to us. He is a very generous and caring man who has impacted so many lives on our campus and beyond," Wright said. "This is a tough time for all of us at Villanova, especially for those basketball alums that played and worked with Mr. Porter during his career."

Here's hoping the best for one of the most important and resonating figures in the long and storied history of Philadelphia hoops.

Trivia Bag

Only once in the history of the NCAA Tournament has a single state produced seven participating schools in the same year. Name the state.

Split Decision

One day after Tuesday's draft lottery, Georgetown classmates Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert announced their decisions. And for supporters of the Hoyas, one out of two really ain't that bad.

As expected, Green is gone. But Hibbert joins a long line of NBA-ready centers from the Catholic school who returned for their senior seasons -- a roll that includes names like Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo.

And it's a smart move. Barring injury, you can pencil in Hibbert as a First Team All-American in the middle, which should only bolster his pro prospects. The departure of Green will hurt but Patrick Ewing, Jr., is expected to make his natural progressions in the starting lineup while rising frosh Austin Freeman -- a McDonald's All-American -- succeeds the sixth man role.

Circle The Date

Dec. 1: Kansas vs. Southern California at the Galen Center (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Even in light of considerable underclassmen attrition -- the Trojans say goodbye to Gabe Pruitt and Nick Young while the Jayhawks have lost Julian Wright and may lose Brandon Rush as well -- this early-season meeting could offer a Final Four preview. USC coach Tim Floyd tempers the loss of a seasoned point guard like Pruitt with the addition of NBA-ready floor general O.J. Mayo, who may not be the nation's top-ranked recruit (thanks to UCLA frosh Kevin Love) but has long been considered the top professional prospect in his class. Kansas, which took down the Trojans this past December in Lawrence, didn't have a single senior on this season's Big 12 title team and have designs on the program's first Final Four appearance in a half-decade.

Trivia Answer

In 2002, a total of seven schools from California advanced to the NCAAs: Cal, UC Santa Barbara, Pepperdine, San Diego State, Stanford, UCLA and USC.

Milli-Grahams

·       Georgetown coach John Thompson III has tabbed Xavier assistant Kenya Hunter and Pittsburgh director of basketball ops Jeremy Cox to replace departed lieutenants Kevin Broadus (Binghamton) and Sydney Johnson (Princeton).

·       Florida's Billy Donovan also filled an assistant coaching vacancy this past week in tabbing Virginia assistant Rob Lanier to succeed Donnie Jones, who accepted the head coaching job at Marshall in April.

·       Seton Hall's move from the Continental Airlines Arena to the sparkling new Prudential Center in downtown Newark was made official Wednesday when the school signed a five-year deal with an option to renew for another five years. The Rock, as the $370 million arena has been nicknamed, should prove a valuable recruiting tool for second-year coach Bobby Gonzalez, who led the Pirates to a 13-16 record in his first season at the helm.