Junior college hoops star may try Penn State

This is Adrian Person.

He's the 6-foot-6, 225-pound small forward at Southern Union State Community College in Wadley, Ala. He's the one who looks a lot like Wesley Person of the Phoenix Suns.

He's the one who averaged 31 points and seven rebounds this season.

Standing in front of a mirror, it's Adrian's reflection that easily passes for Chuck Person's reflection. That's Chuck Person of the San Antonio Spurs.

It's Adrian who recently scored 48 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in an Alabama State Tournament game against Walker College.

Adrian is an impressive basketball player from an impressive basketball family. He has the genes and stature of his uncles Wesley and Chuck. They already have reached NBA stardom.

Adrian may be next.

"It's a dream come true to make it to the NBA," said Person. "If Chuck and Wesley can make it there's no reason I can't make it."

This is the Penn State men's basketball team.

It's the team that lost 17 times during the 1996-97 season. It's the team looking to inject some talent into a reeling program. If that means delving into the junior college ranks, the Penn State braintrust is more than willing to do so.

"In general, it comes down to trying to, as a coach, explore as many options as you can," Penn State assistant coach Christian Appleman said. "At Penn State, we've had success signing guys early, but if you have to sign late, you're forced to look into junior college kids."

Now Penn State is looking at Adrian Person.

Person is scheduled to graduate from Southern Union this summer as one of the top junior college prospects in the country. According to his coach, Ron Radford, he's the premiere junior college prospect in the country.

"He's a great shooter," Radford said, "but the difference in him is he has the post-up game to go with it. He's just the best junior college player in the nation."

So a decision looms for the talented Person. He must decide where he'll play next season, and the choices are virtually endless. Among others, Person has been approached by Kentucky, Clemson, Minnesota and Penn State. That's right, Penn State -- a David among college basketball Goliaths.

Although it seems awkward to mention the Nittany Lions in the same breath as the Wildcats, Tigers or Golden Gophers, Radford said Penn State has as much of a chance to sign his star player as any of those "big name" schools.

"They're nationally known," he said. "They're on TV. They're in the Big Ten, which is a pretty powerful conference. If a team wants to get better, it's got to have players like him. He's giving every consideration to them because I think they've just done a good job recruiting him."

Person probably will decide which schools to visit by the end of this week. To him, though, it's not so much the history of the school he chooses but the future of it.

"I'll look at the returning players and what each team needs," Person said. "I'll just look at what I can do for that team. I just know I can do a lot for a team."

Penn State, it seems, feels the same.