| Colbert
Selected In CBA Draft
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Collegian
Staff
 With
the sixth pick of the sixth round, the Rockford
(Ill.) Lightning have selected former Cameron
University guard Brian Colbert in the 2003
Continental Basketball Association College
Draft.
Colbert
was the 42nd pick overall in the draft,
which was held Tuesday night via teleconference
among the league’s seven franchises.
Oklahoma State’s Melvin Sanders (second
round), Tulsa’s Kevin Johnson (fourth
round) and Oklahoma’s Quannas White
(fifth round) were the only other players
from state schools taken in the draft. Colbert
also was one of only a select few players
taken in the draft who did not play collegiately
at an NCAA Division I school.
“It’s
exciting,” Colbert said being drafted
to play professional basketball. “I’ve
been working really hard this summer. As
soon as I came home from school, I started
working out and preparing for this. I’ve
been to a lot of camps this summer, trying
to get better. I haven’t reached the
level that I think I can get to, but give
me a year or two and I think I’ll
be there.”
A
6-3 shooting guard from Baltimore, Md.,
Colbert spent the last two seasons with
the Aggie basketball team, averaging 15.9
points in 52 career games at CU. He earned
honorable mention All-Lone Star Conference
North Division as a junior and last season
was selected to the all-conference second
team. Colbert led the Aggies in scoring
in each of his seasons at Cameron and led
the team in steals as a senior. He scored
a team season-high 30 points in a win over
East Central University on Feb. 6, last
season. He scored a game-high 28 points
in the Aggies’ season finale victory
over Southeastern Oklahoma on March 1, connecting
on a long-range three-pointer at the buzzer
to lift Cameron to a 67-65 win over the
Savages.
In
26 games last season, Colbert led the Aggies
in scoring 16 times.
“Brian
worked extremely hard during his time at
Cameron and I’m very excited for him
to have this opportunity in front of him,”
Cameron head coach Garrette Mantle said.
“Brian is a good kid and deserves
any success that comes his way.”
In
a draft preview story issued by CBA officials
earlier this week, Lightning head coach
Chris Daleo, the 2003 CBA Coach of the Year,
outlined his team’s draft philosophy:
“We prepare for the draft by trying
to find hard-working athletes who understand
their roles and are willing to pay the price
for the Lightning’s success. It is
important for the Rockford Lightning to
draft individuals who are solid players
on the floor and solid citizens off the
floor. We want to give our fans every opportunity
to get to know and embrace our rookies.”
Rockford
finished the 2002-03 season with a record
of 32-16 and led the CBA in scoring, averaging
a whopping 128.3 points per game. The Lightning
feature a run-and-gun style of offense that
players must learn quickly. It’s a
style to which Colbert feels confident he
can grow accustomed.
“They
play at a really fast pace - it’s
mostly isolation plays and one-on-one setups,”
Colbert said. “That’s what I
like to do anyway and I’ve always
been pretty good in one-on-one, so I think
I can fit in well. And Coach Daleo is a
lot like Coach Mantle - it’s either
his way or the highway. I like coaches who
have discipline.”
The
Lightning selected Earl Boykins out of Eastern
Michigan in the fourth round of the 1998
CBA Draft and chose former University of
Oklahoma standout Aaron McGhee in the second
round of last year’s draft. Boykins
recently signed as a free agent with the
Denver Nuggets after averaging 8.8 points
and 3.3 assists as a Los Angeles Clipper
last season. Other notable past draft picks
of the Rockford Lightning include 2003 CBA
MVP Andy Panko and former team stars Torraye
Braggs, Muntrelle Dobbins, and Michael Hawkins.
A
five-round college draft was adopted by
the CBA in 1985, when the NBA reduced its
draft from 10 to seven rounds.
In
1988, the CBA expanded its draft to nine
rounds when the NBA draft was reduced to
two rounds in 1989. The CBA draft was reduced
to eight rounds for the 1991 edition, then
to seven rounds for the next six seasons.
From
1998 to 2000, the draft was increased to
10 rounds. The CBA did not hold a draft
in 2001 and the 2002 CBA Draft consisted
of five rounds. CBA teams are free to select
any player not taken in the first round
of the NBA Draft. If a player chooses to
play in the CBA, he must play for the team
that drafted him. Teams retain the CBA rights
of a player for three years after he is
drafted.
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