Playing in high school and then skipping college has become common practice in the basketball world the last several years.

But then there is West Virginia senior forward D’Or Fischer, who is in his fourth year of college basketball after playing about 10 minutes over three games in his entire high school career. Say what?

Yes, the one who five-and-a-half years ago wasn’t considering a college basketball career is now a possible second-round pick in this June’s NBA Draft. He will be in town Saturday as the Mountaineers visit the Orange at 2 p.m. in the Carrier Dome.

While it is true Fischer attended four high schools because his mom was always looking for the best possible off-court situation for him, the moving around was not the reason he didn’t play.

He simply did not want to make the commitment any team requires. Instead, he preferred to learn the game three hours a day on the streets of Philadelphia.

‘All it takes is two people,’ Fischer said. ‘I had this one real good friend, and me and him played everyday, no matter what.’

The three high school games he did play came in his senior year, at his fourth school. The coach quickly benched him, though.

‘I really didn’t have the basketball skills,’ Fischer said. ‘I needed somebody to coach me and teach me the game, and I guess (the coach) wasn’t really willing doing to do that.’

Fischer certainly had the talent, height and athleticism, but he didn’t know how to play as part of an organized team. He quit his sophomore and junior year teams at other schools before the season started, citing an aversion to running sprints as one reason.

‘I didn’t have that male figure in my life to push me,’ said Fischer, whose parents separated when he was six. ‘My mom was telling me the things that I needed to hear, but I really didn’t trust her.

‘I felt, ‘you’re a woman, you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ But actually she did. That’s why I’m so close to her now.’

He is currently averaging 10.8 points and 4.9 rebounds this season, his second year with WVU after playing his first two at Northwestern State (Louisiana).

That he managed to wind up playing college basketball at all was simply due to a case of being in the right place at the right time.

Following his high school graduation in 1999, Fischer went to live with his sister in Columbus, Miss., for the summer. He had tentative plans to try and walk on the team at North Carolina A&T.

That all changed soon after he arrived – he went with a friend to a basketball camp for aspiring junior college players.

‘(My friend) wanted me to go with him just to keep him company so he wouldn’t be so nervous,’ Fischer said.

Fischer ended up playing in the camp and NSU assistant coach Dave Simmons noticed him. The school eventually offered a scholarship.

He could not enroll at NSU, though, until the fall of 2000 because it took him a year to score high enough on the ACT.

At NSU, Fischer was primarily a defensive player, finishing second in the nation with 4.43 blocks a game in his sophomore season.

‘He has a God-given talent to anticipate (shots) that you cannot coach,’ former NSU coach Mike McConathy said. ‘He blocked from the left side, the right side – it was natural instinct.’ There were signs of offensive prowess, particularly in his shooting ability for someone 6 feet 11 inches. His sophomore average of 9.8 points per game, though, was not too impressive in the Southland Conference.

‘He didn’t have the year I thought he would,’ McConathy said.

Nevertheless, Fischer wanted to play in a more prominent program and be closer to his mother. He wound up at WVU after initially searching the roster online and seeing they needed a big man.

Sitting out the 2002-2003 season due to transfer rules, he was able to work on his offensive game. Returning to the court last season, he led WVU in scoring with 10.8 points a game.

‘When he got here at West Virginia, he was 217 pounds,’ WVU assistant coach Matt Brown said. ‘Now he’s 255. He could always block shots, but now he’s defending better and has become a consistent 15-foot shooter.’

Fischer said he is concentrating on adding a post game this season to go along with his outside shooting. He is also an 87.5 percent shooter from the free-throw line.

His wide array of abilities both offensively and defensively for someone of his height is what has attracted interest from the NBA.

This all after not taking basketball seriously until he was in eighth grade.

‘It took him a while,’ said Carol Fischer, D’Or’s mother. ‘Being tall he just figured, ‘That’s what everybody thinks I want to do and so that’s not what I want to do.’

‘He wasn’t really interested at first. I’m surprised he changed, and I’m glad he did.’

Published on January 19, 2005 at 12:00 pm