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Kerry Kittles poised for Greatness
By James H. DeLorenzo [During my tenure as the Sports Information Director at Villanova University (April 1990 thru May 1995), I had the opportunity to profile a great many student-athletes for the game programs I also happened to edit. My valedictory to my alma mater, and my then-employer, was this feature, written in February, 1995 for the last home game in the '94-95 season (my last home game as SID). Kerry Kittles was in the midst of his junior season, in which he would become the first AP All-America player at the school in many years. It's also probably the most extensive interview the still low-key Kittles ever gave. A great many things changed after that game, but I still consider this feature one of the best things I've ever written.] Kerry Kittles has proven to be a great many things to a great many people. Wildcat Basketball savior. Steve Lappas career builder. NIT Championship leader. Slam-dunk artist. Basketball future star. Quiet, unassuming, but rapidly realizing the situation, Kerry Kittles is first and foremost still just a student. First and foremost, I consider him a friend. Let's get that right out in the open, so that 10 years from now, when everyone lines up to take sides, I'll be first. I like to think he considers me one, too. I've touted him as an All-American candidate. It's gotten to the point now that his own classmates on campus ask him for autographs. Yet just as he's proven graceful on the court, Kittles is equally adept off the court, and has handled all the growing expectations with a poise beyond his not-quite-20 years. Kittles arrived at Villanova University rather quietly in the fall of 1992. He was one of four incoming freshman student-athletes, three of whom had been signed to letters-of-intent by outgoing head coach Rollie Massimino (Kittles, Eric Eberz, Roscoe Harris), and one of whom was a late addition with incoming head coach Steve Lappas (Jaime Gregg). In a large recruiting class, Kittles was overshadowed by the attention accorded the new 'Cat coach, and an experienced group of seniors ahead of him. The story has been told so often that people are bored with it now, but Kittles did need to be convinced to come to Villanova by Steve Lappas after Massimino left for UNLV. For better or for worse, Kittles had second thoughts. It's a credit to Lappas that immediately after being named Villanova's head coach, he flew to New Orleans to sell Kittles on a coach he never heard of before. The offer was simple. Stay for a year, see if you like it. If you don't, go ahead and transfer, I will help you find your place. Well, Lappas has helped Kittles find his place. Right here on the Main Line. "Steve re-instilled the same values of Villanova that Rollie Massimino had already told me about," Kittles reminisced recently. "He explained to me that Villanova would be good for me academically, that he could help enhance my basketball skills, and it would be a great opportunity for me to experience new things away from home. "I'm glad I stayed, now," continued Kittles. "I've had a lot of new experiences, I've become more independent, things have gone well for me on the court, and I'm doing well in school." An accounting major, Kittles is one of two sons of Acosta and Mary Kittles, out of New Orleans, Louisiana. He was an honor roll student at St. Augustine High School, and managed to earn Mr. Basketball honors in the state of Louisiana in 1992. A first-team All-Metro selection, Kittles averaged 28.5 points per game in his senior year for coach Bernard Griffin. Surprisingly enough, this 6'5", 179 pound "swingman", capable of playing at guard and forward, was not heavily recruited by a great many schools. "In high school, no one really knew who I was," Kittles said. "I figured if I came in and contributed to a team's success, I'd score just as well as I did in high school." Little did the rest of the nation realize what Villanova had found. Kittles started quietly, as befits his demeanor, not starting for the Wildcats until after the 10th game of his freshman season. But at that point, Lappas and his staff knew they had a gem. "I had never seen him play in high school, I was just trying to save our program," Lappas commented. "When I saw Kerry, it was clear I did the right thing. Kerry was made to play in a motion offense system, and was the perfect guy for our new style of play." "I just try not to lose control on the court, maintain my poise, and do all the little things I can do to help my team," Kittles stated humbly. But his peers in the Big East Conference have come to know him for a great many different things. "He's got one speed, quick," said Pittsburgh's Orlando Antigua. "He shoots quickly coming off the screens," according to Providence's Franklin Western. "He's constantly moving, and its hard to keep up with him," commented Boston College's Danya Abrams. Even his teammate in the backcourt, senior guard Jonathan Haynes, knows. "He enhances our game by constantly moving." "He's a very efficient player. He doesn't shoot 30 times. He shoots 15 and he comes up with 21 points," Lappas said. No less a basketball guru than the omnipresent Dick Vitale has found Kittles to be well worth touting. In fact, Vitale is downright effusive in his praise for the Wildcat junior. "Other players may have their specialties, but as far as the all-around game, I think Kerry Kittles is the best," Vitale said. "He plays on the defensive end, he handles the basketball, he's great in transition, he's a three-point threat. "He's so team-oriented and so unselfish that he needs to step up in the mega, mega games against the super teams," Vitale continued. "He needs to be a leader right out of the gate." That leadership role has come hard to Kittles. A quiet young man, even Kittles himself admits "sometimes I'm shy, sometimes too mellow. Sometimes its difficult to express myself, because I never thought that I'd be in the limelight. It's different, but I'm adjusting to it. "At the same time, I always wanted to be recognized as one of the top players. It's special for me to be there," Kittles said. In fact, before this season began, Kittles was named as one of the nation's top 25 finalists for the prestigious John Wooden Award, presented annually to the top college player. That pre-season nod, along with numerous pre-season All-American mentions and a position on the pre-season All-Big East Conference First Team, is a carryover from Kittles' sophomore year. All Kittles did last season was average 20 points per game (something only three other Big East sophomores had ever done), have the ninth-best single-season scoring mark in Villanova history (630 points), and help the Wildcats win their first-ever National Invitation Tournament Championship. In the championship game against Vanderbilt on March 30, Kittles scored 18 points, and added five rebounds, and earned All-NIT honors. As a part of the NIT All-Stars this past summer, Kittles had a chance to play with some of the country's best players in an overseas tour under the direction of former St. John's University head coach Lou Carneseca. He scored 9.6 points and grabbed 2.1 rebounds per game in the nine-game tour of Canada, Portugal and Italy. "Kerry's the kind of player who forces defenses to react to him by his mere presence. His outside shooting was a real threat, and it helped us to open up the inside for our big players," said Carneseca. "The NIT All-Stars was a great experience for me, because I had a rare chance to play with another group of players, and spent some time in Manhattan, Canada, Portugal," Kittles said. "The most memorable part of the trip for me, though, was going to Fatima. It was something that I, as a Catholic, wanted to see, and was amazed at how the people worshipped there." Kittles has tried to balance the world of school, family, friends and basketball. As anyone who has been a college student-athlete will tell you, that's quite a task. It's an even greater task when you are the focus of the media. When I first started working with Kerry in his freshman year, I could barely get two words out of him, let alone hope a reporter would be able to interview him. Not because he was incapable of expressing himself, as I learned very early. It's just because Kerry is a modest young man who wasn't used to the attention. As Kittles' game time, experience and exposure has grown, so has his comfort in dealing with the media. Where it was once an unnecessary and unwanted part of the game, now even he admits that he has gotten better. At Madison Square Garden on February 1, Kittles actually interrupted a reporter to re-emphasize a point that he was trying to make. It was a moment that showed not only had he grown as a basketball player, but as a person as well. When Kerry scored 26 points at Pittsburgh on February 4, he did so without realizing he had only scored nine points with 3:50 remaining in the game. His 10 points in overtime won the game for the Wildcats. Yet when I told him about his feat after the game, Kittles was afraid to go into the locker room, afraid he would get yelled by Lappas for hogging the ball. All Lappas did was hug him and congratulate him, as all of us were ready to do. It's a quality of humility that is overlooked by the sports media, who are used to the boasting and shouting of professional athletes. I sometimes worried that the hype would hurt Kerry, because I knew him to be reluctant in that role. Yet as the months and seasons have passed, he's let me expose him to more and more opportunities, which will help him in the future. Two years ago, both he and I would have been upset at the Philadelphia reporter that asked him if he was going to go to professional basketball after this season. Last month at The Spectrum, Kerry calmly told the reporter that he had a lot of goals left at Villanova, and intended to finish out his four years. "Most of my aspirations right now come with the team," Kittles reiterated recently. "That's my goal, to have the team do well this season, and make our mark in the NCAA Tournament." Patience and poise have paid off for Kittles and his fans, both on the court and off. What we are seeing evolve before us is a potentially great player, something Villanova Basketball fans have dreamed of for many years. The promise is becoming reality, and thankfully, the promise is that of a young man who embodies qualities to be proud of, not ashamed of; a young man who I'm proud to call a friend.
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