A Crash-Course at Occidental

The refined British accent is deceptive. The docile, subdued demeanor around campus is convincing. But for any Occidental College basketball player who has guarded John Crawley in the low post, an elbow to the face is fact, a shoulder to the ribs is reality.

Crawley’s style of play is downright un-American--which is fitting. He learned to play in tiny gyms in Hong Kong where the dirty play would make the Detroit Pistons blush. He knows how to effectively wield his 6-foot, 8-inch, 225-pound frame and outmuscle smaller players.

Even tough guys shy away from defending him.

“In preseason I just won’t guard him,” said John Keister, hardly a shrinking violet at 6-5, 200-pounds. “He’s insane. When he’s not thinking he goes right through people. I don’t want to take an elbow to the ribs and be out for two weeks. I’ll let him score.”

Crawley, a British citizen who has lived in Hong Kong for most of his life, arrived at Occidental last year in a roundabout manner. While still in high school, he attended summer basketball camps at Stanford and Illinois. At Stanford, a high school coach suggested Crawley contact Occidental. He applied and was accepted.

Last season, Crawley roamed the low post with all the subtlety of Lawrence Taylor. Referees too immediately noticed. Crawley averaged 7.5 points and 4.3 rebounds a game. His stats might have been more impressive, however, if he could have remained in the game longer than 17 minutes.

“He’d get over people’s backs and would get in foul trouble-- bang ,” Keister said.

The Occidental coaches tried to dissuade him from clobbering defenders, but the thought of using finesse instead of force went against the advice he received in high school.

“One of the coaches I had before said, ‘The first play of the game you can always go straight up into the guy. If you get an offensive foul it’s better to get it at the beginning of the game than at the end because he’s going to back off you for the rest of the game,’ ” said Crawley, who hastens to add he has mellowed since coming to Occidental.

Which says something about the state of the non-contact sport in Hong Kong.

“The police team was quite dirty,” he said. “They’ll grab you in all sorts of places, pull you, trip you and punch you when the ref’s not looking. Then, the crowd gets really rowdy and they start throwing things out on the floor.

“I would push back and the whole crowd would just stand up and boo in unison because I was the only white guy there. One time the ref made some bad calls and the crowd came down and beat him up.”

Though Crawley says he’s never felt like an enforcer, he wouldn’t back down from a skirmish.

“There would be fights in games,” said Crawley, pausing. “And I’d be in them.”

There were good times for Crawley in Hong Kong, too, like the first time he slam dunked over a defender.

“I was the first person to dunk in a game in Division 1,” Crawley said. “I got a standing (ovation). It was quite good. Everyone realized that I dunked it on the guy. They like it even if you can dunk in warm-ups.”

Because of his size, Crawley was used to getting attention in the Far East.

“I would walk into an elevator and everyone would just point and laugh,” he said. “They’d say, ‘What a tall white devil.’ ”

Crawley towered over the majority of his opponents, so he harbored doubts about matching up against larger, more experienced opponents in the United States.

Once he outgrew his competition, he resorted to working out on his own.

“It’s hack-ball,” Crawley said. “If I’ve got a 6-foot tall guy posting me up, I’m not going to get that great of a workout.”

He had no accurate collegiate standards by which to gauge his talent level.

“I didn’t know what the competition was like,” he said. “You’d get Americans who’d say, ‘Even in the smallest schools, if you’re 6-6 you’ll be a point guard.’ ”

Crawley soon found that to be an exaggeration but he has had problems making the transition from the rough-and-tumble style of international basketball to the more regulated college game. And he still struggles with the experience disparity.

“I think there are just so many parts of my game I can improve,” he said. “American players have had the fundamentals taught to them in high school and it’s just one extra thing I have to think about when I’m out there. I still think some of my very basic fundamentals are missing.”

One facet of Crawley’s game that is conspicuously absent is defense.

“My post defense isn’t bad but I’m clueless on off-the-ball defense,” he said.

Occidental Coach Brian Newhall says Crawley’s poor endurance explains his propensity for personal fouls.

“He and (forward David) Fuqua lifted weights instead of running in the off-season,” Newhall said. “It’s up to them but they’re paying for it now.”

Newhall says players who opt to spend their time bulking up with weights get burned by slicker, more lithe players.

“They have to guard 6-5 guys who can handle the ball and they look awkward,” Newhall said.

The Tigers plan to run a two-center offense with Chris Anderson (6-9, 215) at high post and Crawley at low post. It’s a configuration which figures to bolster Crawley’s scoring. But Newhall says much of Crawley’s game is hinging on “if’s.”

“ If we can get him in the game, if we can get him down low and if we get him the ball, he can do something with it,” he said.