Colgate’s Foyle Likes Obscurity

The big man from the Caribbean has his team headed back to the NCAA tournament. Before he joins the NBA, he’ll put in an old-fashioned four seasons and become the career leader in blocked shots in college basketball.

If you guessed Tim Duncan, come on down, but please don’t forget about Adonal Foyle.

When Foyle chose Colgate to further his education and learn a little basketball, there were gasps from the basketball establishment, but more initial media exposure than if he had done the expected and headed to the Atlantic Coast Conference or the Big East.

Every periodical except Good Housekeeping came to Hamilton, N.Y., in the fall of 1994 to do a story on the 6-foot-10 young man from the Grenadines who could have gone to Duke, Kansas or Syracuse, but instead chose Colgate, where his legal guardians are professors.

“Let’s say there’s been a drop-off in interview requests,” said Jack Bruen, the Colgate coach. “When he was a freshman, there was a frenzy around him because of his background. Now, he isn’t getting the attention he deserves.”

“Now that he’s been here for a couple of years, he’s not that big a deal.”

Foyle, a junior, is quite a big deal in the Patriot League, which Colgate has represented in the NCAA tournament the past two years. An unsettled situation at the point and several other new starters contributed to an 0-9 start for the Red Raiders, but they’ve since won nine of 10, and they’ll have at least a share of the league lead when they play at Navy Wednesday.

Foyle is third in the nation in scoring, second in rebounding and first in blocked shots. With 448 career blocks, Duncan is closing in on Alonzo Mourning’s Division I record (453), but Foyle, with 436, is quickly catching up.

There will be a next year at Colgate for the accommodating junior. He’s an Academic All-American, passionate about his history major and not swayed one bit by the people who would tell him to take the money from the NBA.

“My parents made it quite clear to anyone who inquires about my future that they are not going to be allowed to make our lives dysfunctional,” Foyle said. “That’s exactly what we did when I was choosing a college. I don’t want the extraordinary aggravation that comes from dealing with agents.”

Bruen said that “we’re in an isolated area, people who don’t belong here stick out like a sore thumb.”

Does the solitude ever cause Foyle to yearn for more exposure?

“I don’t really care,” Foyle said. “The great thing about any art form is that if you have sufficient confidence in it, you’re going to be happy in what you’re doing. I want people to appreciate what I’m doing, but to me, mastering the craft is most important.”

How has the mastery progressed since his freshman year, when he had all of three years of basketball experience.

“It’s night and day,” Foyle said. “As a freshman, I didn’t have any confidence offensively. Now, I have an eclectic variety of moves. It’s a collection of things that I try when I post up a man. But playing in this situation, it’s kind of hard to get that luxury.

“I’m never guarded by one person. It’s usually two, or three, or four, and it’s hard to work on your individual skills.”