FINDING HIS MARK : Intense Phil Hill Gets A for Effort as Well-Schooled Forward for SCC

You might say that a little basic psychology landed Phil Hill at Southern California College. Although playing basketball for the Vanguards was not exactly what he had in mind.

In 1986, Hill was trying to get his grades up at Cal State Fullerton. He was hoping to return to the University of Redlands, where he had played basketball for 2 years until becoming academically ineligible.

Hill took four classes during the summer and received three Bs, with a C in psychology.

“The academic review board at Redlands said that wasn’t good enough,” Hill said. “They said I needed A’s and Bs. I wasn’t readmitted.”

Redlands’ loss was Southern California’s gain.

But Hill has undergone some changes in the last 2 years.

He was an undersized forward at Savanna High School, with strong defensive abilities and sporadic offensive skills.

He still is a small forward--6-foot 1-inch and 170 pounds--and he still plays defense recklessly and effectively. His offense? Well, Southern California Coach Bill Reynolds has referred to Hill as “the garbage man.”

What has changed is that Hill is now at ease. He has learned to deal with his parents’ divorce in 1986, which he said contributed to his poor showing in the classroom at Redlands. Basketball is fun again and he is making the most of what he calls his “second chance.”

“I have no regrets at all,” Hill said. “Coming to Southern California College is the best thing that could have happened to me.”

Hill wasn’t sure he would ever play basketball again after his academic troubles. He couldn’t play at Redlands and no other school was in dire need of a 6-1 forward.

In the fall of 1986, he was coaching the freshman team at Savanna High School and planning to return to Fullerton to complete his education.

“The chances were about 50-50 that I would play at another school,” Hill said. “I had spent the whole summer trying to make it back to Redlands. There was no other plan, nothing to fall back on.”

Then Reynolds came calling.

Reynolds learned that Hill was available from Savanna Coach Tom Gregory. Keith Watanabe, a teammate of Hill’s at Savanna and Redlands, had just enrolled at Southern California and Reynolds thought reuniting them could help his team.

Hill jumped at the chance.

“If I had never played basketball again, that would have been fine,” said Hill, now a senior. “I would have just got on with my life. But I had a second chance and I wasn’t going to pass it up.”

Watanabe never played a minute for the Vanguards. He transferred to Cal State Long Beach and quit playing.

Hill, though, stuck around.

Last season, he averaged 10.8 points per game with a high of 34 against Fresno Pacific. But defense has always been his specialty. And Hill plays it with a capital D. He was voted best defensive player by his teammates at the end of the year.

Hill doesn’t look physically imposing, with long, skinny arms and long, skinny legs. He almost looks brittle.

However, no one would describe his style of play as fragile. It’s more like flammable.

Once the game begins, Hill’s intensity and instinct take over. His long arms harass ballhandlers (against Chapman College Friday night he had 6 steals) and he’s not afraid to mix it up inside.

“I’ve always guarded people a lot taller than I am,” he said. “When I was in high school I was a 5-11 center. I just have to work harder than the other guy because he was always taller. I can’t slow down.”

But that intensity also has caused Hill some problems. Last season, he picked up 4 technical fouls.

“Once the game starts, I’m trying to win so bad that sometimes I get involved too much,” he said. “I started getting a bad reputation. The refs all knew me before the game started. I think they were told to watch out for No. 5.”

This season, Hill has calmed down a little.

At one point against Chapman Friday, one referee told him not to say another word. And Hill didn’t.

This might be because of Reynolds’ incentive plan, which involves a lot of running in practice for every technical foul.

“Every time a player or coach gets one, they have to run the length of the floor and back 10 times, all of them in under 21 seconds,” Reynolds said. “I think that made an impression on Phil. He got more under control. Still, it’s that intensity that makes him such a good player.”

It was just that aggressive style that interested Larry Zucker, Redlands’ recruiter.

At Savanna, Hill, Watanabe and Dave Lamb led the Rebels to the Orange League championship in 1982 and a second-place finish the next season. They did this without a player taller than 6-2.

“You could see Phil wasn’t a college-type shooter,” said Zucker, who does most of the recruiting for Redlands. “But he was a great defensive player. Maybe the best we ever had. He is tough.”

Hill, Watanabe and Lamb all attended Redlands. As sophomores, they were an important part of a team that won the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title and advanced to the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division III playoffs.

The Bulldogs lost in the first round of the Western Regional to Central College of Iowa, 72-60. They came back the next night to defeat St. John’s of Minnesota, 80-70, in the third-place game.

“That was a great team and we had almost everybody coming back,” Zucker said.

But not Hill.

All during his sophomore year, Hill struggled in the classroom. He had a 1.9 grade-point average in the fall and was placed on academic probation. When his grades didn’t improve (1.8 in the spring), he was declared academically ineligible.

Hill had always been a good student. At Savanna, his grade-point average was around 3.8.

“I just didn’t apply myself,” said Hill, who was in premed at Redlands. “I knew I was on academic probation, but I didn’t make the effort.”

Said Zucker: “Phil was trying to play basketball, handle academics and salvage his family all at once. I wish we could have done more to help, but what could we do?”

Hill’s only option was to get his grades up over the summer, so he enrolled at Fullerton.

“I had every intention of going back to Redlands,” said Hill, now a business major. “That’s why I didn’t make any other plans.”

But the psychology class did him in.

“If Redlands’ standards are that high, that’s all right with us,” said Reynolds. “I don’t think a C in psychology is too bad.”