College basketball

Recruit points Bulls to Big East

David Sills, the well-traveled guard with the magical moves, will sign with USF today.

By GREG AUMAN
Published April 13, 2005

On the playground basketball courts of New York City, nicknames are everything, and for years, David Sills has been "The Enigma."

There's no riddle to the moniker: Line up against the left-handed guard on a basketball court, you can only guess how he'll beat you. He can spot up from 25 feet, dish off a no-look pass, or break your ankles and drive past you to the hoop.

Today he will put his streetball days behind him and sign with South Florida, where he could be the Bulls' floor leader as they move into the Big East. The well-traveled Sills, as mysterious as he is talented, said USF coaches have suggested a new nickname for him: The Solution.

"I'm going to cry (today), because it's going to be such a big day for me," said Sills, 22, who attended four high schools and has been to three junior colleges. "This is by far my biggest accomplishment. Ever since I left my visit there, South Florida has been on my mind, every day. It feels so good that they are willing to take a chance on me."

Sills (6-feet-1, 195 pounds) used to live across the street from New York's famed Rucker Park courts, where Julius Erving and Wilt Chamberlain once played, where he made a name for himself as a local star. Ask one coach, he'll tell you about the time Sills dropped 28 points in one half on the Indiana Pacers' Jamaal Tinsley. Another will recall the AAU tournament in Las Vegas where he "destroyed" Gators guard Anthony Roberson for 25 points in a half.

If you can find a copy of On Hallowed Ground: Streetball Champions of Rucker Park , a 2000 movie that aired on TNT, Sills has a cameo there. The directors needed a fifth man for one team and plucked Sills from the crowd. He stole the show.

Sills will have two years of eligibility at USF, and the last time he stayed at one school that long was at Bronx Regional High, an alternative school where he starred in 2002. Coach Wade Williams saw a glimpse of greatness that year and is excited about Sills' future.

Bronx Regional was Sills' fourth high school, but he had faced adversity greater than a rough transcript. Sills said his mother put him on the streets when he was 13, and for four years, he moved from one friend's house to another, the basketball courts his only real home.

"I've overcome so much," said Sills, who is taking classes at a junior college in Boston this spring but will return to New York today, a symbolic homecoming, to sign his letter of intent. "I've been through almost everything a kid can go through, but I want kids to see this like a stepping stone for all that they can accomplish."

Sills signed with Northeastern out of high school, but academic problems kept him from reporting. Instead, he went to Odessa College in Texas, where he earned all-region honors. He then transferred to the College of Southern Idaho, where he averaged 10.8 points a game before being dismissed 11 games into the 2003-04 season.

He has spent this year at Bunker Hill Community College, focused on his academics, and a solid fall in the classroom gave renewed hope to his dream of playing major college basketball. He visited Houston last month and hastily made an oral commitment, but reconsidered after a visit to USF.

Bulls assistant Julius Allen, who knew Sills from coaching the New York Gauchos and had signed him while an assistant at Northeastern, was a big part of his comfort level at USF. He bonded with USF's Melvin Buckley, his host, and saw in coach Robert McCullum a "father figure" who could instill in him some needed discipline.

"He's what I need right now," Sills said. "When I hear him talk, I know that I could learn so much more than basketball from him. How to be a man, a good citizen, a good person. He's somebody I could really use in my corner."

The Bulls could use somebody like Sills, too. Walk-on Chris Capko is the only returning point guard; so Sills' only competition is incoming freshman Chris Howard, another well-traveled star who didn't play this past season.

The Big East is stocked with talented stars from New York, and Sills is eager to see old friends, hopeful of returning to his hometown for the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden. USF will give him a highly visible platform to showcase his abilities, an opportunity he has waited for all his life .

"I'm not just a playground guy," Sills said. "I'm so much more mature now. I want to lead the pack down there. We're going to do something special."

[Last modified April 13, 2005, 01:30:19]