Ball State and Illinois State. Those were his two choices. It's not a good sign for a recruit when his options are narrowed down to mere specks on the basketball map. By comparison, Pullman, Wash. must have looked like Mt. Rainier.

Midway through his junior season, nobody seemed to want Kyle Weaver.

Bradley University expressed interest in and even offered Weaver a scholarship, but dropped out of the picture. Whatever it was in Weaver that enticed them months before must have suddenly disappeared.

No school in Wisconsin wanted the Beloit (Wis.) Memorial High School product. The Badgers? Forget it. He could hardly get a sniff from the mid-majors.

"I wasn't really highly touted," Weaver said. "I wasn't close to a McDonald's All-American or anything. I was considering going to prep school."

The lack of interest used to worry Weaver. Now he just laughs it off. Four years ago he wasn't good enough to play for most mid-majors. Today, he's starting for the 12-2 Washington State Cougars, the surprise team in the best conference in the country. Weaver's layup with four seconds remaining against USC on Dec. 30th gave the Cougars a 58-55 win on the road; their first Pac-10 win of the season.

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