If it were two years earlier, Paul Harris could have gone to the NBA.

Under the NBA’s new collective bargaining agreement, a minimum age policy was instituted, making the fifth-year high school student ineligible to enter the draft this past summer. A draft prospect must be 19 years old and one year removed from high school graduation. Harris graduated from Notre Dame (Mass.) Prep in May.

So instead, the 20-year-old freshman phenom came to Syracuse. For how long is anyone’s guess.

But Harris wants to refine his game under the tutelage of Jim Boeheim and Mike Hopkins. And every day he spends at Syracuse, Harris is proving people wrong.

‘I think that’s one of the reasons why he went to college,’ SU assistant coach Mike Hopkins said. ‘You know, shaking a stereotype or someone thinking something, all you have to do is prove them wrong and do the right thing. And he’s done it. He’s in college. People never thought he’d be in college.’

Paul Harris is serious about basketball, sure, but he’s serious about school – or he wouldn’t be in Syracuse. Perhaps he’s even serious about staying more than two years at SU. Most importantly, he’s serious about reversing the tarnished image that followed him through his high school years.

Harris has been to jail. He has a three-year-old son who lives with him on South Campus. He spent five years in high school. People around him advised him to jump to the NBA, but instead he’s at Syracuse University. He is SU’s best recruit since Carmelo Anthony.

‘I’m just really happy for him,’ said Sal Constantino, an assistant head coach at Niagara Falls High School. Constantino has known Harris since Harris was 10.

‘But I’m not that surprised because he’s gone through so many difficult things in his life,’ Constantino said. ‘He has had to handle situations that young men his age hopefully will never have to handle again.’

Originally, people predicted he wouldn’t succeed because of the drug possession charges.

In 2003, when Harris was 16 years old, he spent 13 days in the Lockport County (N.Y.) Jail awaiting a hearing for charges on intent to sell crack cocaine. After a close circle of people around Harris pleaded to a judge for a second chance, Harris got off with five years probation. He called it an epiphany.

And then, there was the domestic violence issue.

Harris was charged with third-degree assault following a dispute with his girlfriend on Sept. 23, 2004. He voluntarily attended an anger-management program for 15 weeks and demonstrated to the courts a consistent non-violent behavior. The charges were dropped.

‘In middle school and the beginning of high school, school was the last thing on his mind,’ Constantino said. ‘The long difficult road has helped his maturity. You don’t want to wish it upon anyone, but it’s made him a better person.’

Constantino tries to credit the people around Harris for his success. His parents, Paul Sr. and Emma McCall, have always wanted their son to attend college. Niagara Falls High School head coach Dan Bazzani and Constantino repeatedly defended Harris not only in court but in the local media. Good friend and 2007 SU recruit Johnny Flynn has always been by Harris’ side on and off the court.

But Constantino can’t credit them. He believes Paul Harris is the single reason why Paul Harris will get to play basketball at a Division I college.

‘He never, ever, ever has not taken full blame for what has happened in life,’ Constantino said. ‘Everything that’s been put on him, he just takes everything head on.’

It’s that mentality which has made him successful, says Constantino. After all, Harris eventually made good on his second chances and delivered for those who put their reputations on the line. It was accomplished through basketball, of course.

There was the New York Class AA state title in 2005 when Harris scored 19 points, had eight rebounds and four assists – with a broken thumb on his shooting hand. He was tournament MVP.

His defining moments on the court came at the 2003 and 2005 ABCD summer camps, on the defensive side of the ball.

Harris stepped in, effectively unknown by talent scouts, at the 2003 camp. After a teammate’s injury forced his insertion into the lineup, Harris shut down the 2004 No. 1 NBA draft pick, Dwight Howard. Howard is 6-foot-11 – six inches taller than Harris.

And then there was the 2005 ABCD camp, when Harris played in what is affectionately referred to today as simply ‘The O.J. Mayo Game.’

Harris held the highly-touted prospect Mayo to just two points. It was a defensive effort that had people buzzing. But Harris’ team lost by one point in overtime, making the night a failure in Harris’ eyes.

This is where Hopkins can see some comparisons to Anthony.

‘The one thing that they are is they’re winners,’ Hopkins said. ‘Now, ‘Melo may score 50 and Paul might score two, but they’re both winners. And I think that’s the correlation. We’ve seen (Harris) play a hundred times. (SU head coach Jim) Boeheim and I were at the O.J. Mayo game. He just wants a shot.’

But that’s where the line is drawn by Hopkins. He says Harris is not the dynamic player Carmelo was. He’s anything but.

‘I’d be the first person to agree he doesn’t shoot it that well,’ Constantino said. ‘He could go 0-for-15 from 3, but when it comes to clutch time, he’ll make that shot.’

Sounds familiar.

Hopkins and Constantino have watched the maturation process of the basketball player Harris first-hand, but it’s the person they still can’t figure out.

‘To get Paul’s full story, he’s just one of those kids that … I can’t really explain it,’ Hopkins said. ‘It’s always ‘I’ve heard this. I’ve heard that.’

‘You’ve got to be around him to understand him.’

The first time Hopkins met Harris, it was at an elite camp hosted by Syracuse for potential recruits. Hopkins said he and Boeheim were undecided as to whether they should recruit Harris because of what they heard. That idea was swiftly shot down.

‘The first thing he did, he shook (Boeheim’s) hand and asked if he could take a picture with him,’ Hopkins said. ‘He was in awe that Jim Boeheim was here.’

Thus began the process of Harris rescuing his image. Constantino called him a victim of the streets when he was arrested on the cocaine possession charges. Harris refused to rat out the dealer – a part of the code Harris was brought up on living in the inner-city along with the people he associated himself.

‘People say star athletes get this and they get that, but sometimes they get it the wrong way too,’ Constantino said. ‘He handled that situation the best he could. It was a tough time for everyone.

‘I’ll never forget the day he and his dad showed up at the high school to get him back into school.’

Initially, Harris planned on re-enrolling at Niagara Falls to improve his image for the courts after the drug charges. But Constantino said it was the best thing that ever happened to Harris. The basketball standout realized he needed school for his basketball future to work.

‘He heard guys on his AAU team saying, ‘I may go to Duke, or I’m going to North Carolina,” Constantino said. ‘I think he asked himself, ‘What am I going to do?’ Then he really put an importance on school.’

Harris’ demeanor on the court all of a sudden translated to off-the-court reliability.

Hopkins calls him ‘one of the most unselfish superstars’ he’s ever seen. Harris already appears to have taken a leadership role on the senior-laden 2006-07 Orange. He kept tabs on every senior during the summer and text messages them all regularly.

When Harris came to Syracuse for his official visit, Hopkins took him out to the mall. While shopping, Hopkins couldn’t find Harris for a couple of minutes. He came out of the toy store with a gift for Hopkins’ son.

Constantino said Hopkins was the single reason why Harris came to Syracuse.

‘Paul wouldn’t be on that campus if it wasn’t for coach Hopkins,’ Constantino said. ‘He’s got a relationship similar to what we had. He’s not a former player; he’s a friend to me now. It puts me at ease knowing who he has at Syracuse.’

Sophomore guard Eric Devendorf became familiar with Harris during Harris’ freshman year of high school – and he’s noticed a vast difference in Harris’ demeanor ever since he enrolled at Syracuse.

‘His maturity level has just skyrocketed,’ Devendorf said. ‘That’s a big thing he had to do and work on and he’s done a tremendous job with that. He’s ready as a man to play.’

‘A man’ – not a phrase used very often to describe a freshman college basketball player. Neither is ‘father.’ Harris is both.

His son, Paul III, lives with Harris in his Slocum Heights apartment on South Campus. He recently turned three years old and occasionally attends Syracuse practices.

‘(Harris has) taken fatherhood very seriously, too,’ Constantino said. ‘He gets it from his mom. He wants better for his son than he had.’

Harris lights up at the chance to talk about Paul III.

‘It means a lot,’ Harris said. ‘I get to see him. A lot of people, their sons are across the West Coast and they’re on the East Coast. But I’m right here, close to home.

‘I just have somebody that depends on me now. There are things you gotta do in life and that’s just something I have to do.’

At Syracuse, Harris will balance fatherhood, stardom and school – and he’s just a freshman.

Harris will have plenty of questions to answer in front of the television cameras this season. Down the line, they are sure to revolve around whether he stays or finally bolts for the NBA.

‘I’ve always said from day one Paul is staying for two years at least, because he wants to play with Johnny (Flynn),’ Constantino said. ‘But there’ll come a time when money will become an issue.’

Harris’ parents have always wanted to see their son graduate from college, Harris says, but the situation back home in Niagara Falls isn’t far from Harris’ mind. His single working mother has three children to support – four if you count Paul III.

‘His mom has worked her whole life,’ Constantino said. ‘I’ll never forget when she came in, Paul was 12, money was very tight and we were raising money for the kids. She came in with $50 for Paul. She always had a commitment for him.’

It’s because of that commitment Harris is perfectly fine with enjoying college, for now. The NBA, well, it’s out there.

‘They look at it like I’m a kid from the inner-city, so they’re like, ‘Well, he never had nothing, once he gets the opportunity to get something, he’s just going to run with it,” Harris said. ‘No, it’s not like that. If I feel like as if I’m ready, then I would do it. But if I’m not …’

He pauses.

You see, Paul Harris is the first person in his family to attend college. He’s still treading uncharted waters. Finally, yes, he knows what to say. He just never thought he’d have to.

‘I’ve seen a lot of players (jump early to the NBA), and it kind of hurt them,’ Harris said. ‘There’s not too many LeBron Jameses out there. I wanted to go to college just to get better. You can only go to college once.’

Published on November 7, 2006 at 12:00 pm