It was Gerry McNamara Day at the Carrier Dome. Before Syracuse and Villanova took the court, portions of the student section recognized two familiar faces on the floor.

Recruits Paul Harris and Mike Jones made an appearance before the sell-out crowd of 33,633 to see what it could be like to bask in the glory of the Dome. The students chanted the two players’ names and the humble recruits posed for pictures, signed autographs and scampered off to their seats.

All of this was unbeknownst to Jones’ high school coach at Lower Richland. Chip Atkins thought Jones was studying at home for the weekend.

‘He kept it a secret,’ Atkins said. ‘He was supposed to be home catching up on school.’

Risky choice. Serious academic problems could prevent the lanky South Carolina star – SU head coach Jim Boeheim’s favorite body type – from stepping foot on the Carrier Dome floor for another year.

***

Atkins has guided South Carolina high school basketball teams for more than 35 years. He has more than 600 wins, the third most in the state’s history. He knows superior talent when he sees it.

He really likes what he sees in Jones.

‘With the talent he’s got, he has to be up there with Ray Allen, (Jermaine) O’Neal and (Kevin) Garnett,’ Atkins said. ‘It’s a select group.’

While Jones has already secured his status in South Carolina high school basketball history, it remains to be seen whether the 6-foot-7, 210-pound standout will make his mark on the Orange come next season.

Jones still must pass through numerous hurdles to qualify academically in order to begin his freshman year on campus. If he fails to achieve eligibility, it could mean a year of prep school.

Syracuse will still honor Jones’ scholarship if he attends prep school, Atkins said.

‘Right now he needs to make a good effort to end this school year on a good note,’ said Linda Brewer, a teacher and department chair at Lower Richland. Brewer is informally Jones’ tutor.

‘While most seniors are slacking off at this time, he needs to pour it on,’ she said.

Brewer and Atkins said SU assistant coach Rob Murphy is in daily contact with school officials to track Jones’ academic progress. Murphy was Jones’ primary recruiter.

Murphy and the SU basketball office did not return requests for comment.

The questions surrounding Jones’ eligibility prompted Miami Dade Community College, a top junior college basketball program, to request a visit to the Jones residence. Jones’ mother would not let the recruiters in.

‘He’s dedicated to one goal, and that’s playing basketball for Syracuse,’ Atkins said.

Jones, the 11th-rated small forward in the nation according to Rivals.com, has improved his SAT score by 100 points, Atkins said. But the high school coach said Jones is still approximately 100 points short of the test score he needs to qualify.

Jones took the SAT again on April 1, and Brewer still awaits the results, which she says could take up to two weeks to receive. Brewer said Jones plans to take the ACT exam one more time.

‘I’m waiting for the SAT I just took,’ Jones said. ‘I just have to finish up and do well in all of my classes.’

Lynette Wright, Jones’ mother, explained the academic importance of the next few weeks.

Jones took all of his electives during the first semester of his senior year, she said. In doing so, Jones must pass all of his core classes now in order to qualify, let alone graduate.

‘Once he became a senior, he realized time was running out,’ Wright said. ‘He’s more willing to do extra work now than before.’

When asked about the potentiality of prep school, Wright admitted Jones and she had not even considered it an option yet.

While Jones is struggling to graduate, Brewer has also noticed a great deal of growth in Jones as a student.

‘In the ninth grade he showed me a paper he wrote which got a poor grade,’ Brewer said. ‘He didn’t know how to control his anger and frustrations back then, but now he has channeled those emotions.’

Brewer said Jones made honor roll during the second semester of his junior year. A few bad semesters early on in his high school career have cost him greatly.

‘He has grown a lot as an individual and student,’ Brewer said. ‘He’s been thrust into the limelight so many times already.’

***

Gerry McNamara had the city of Scranton, Pa., behind him. Mike Jones has an entire state.

The 116th South Carolina General Assembly adopted bill S. 809 on May 4, 2005, which served to ‘commend and congratulate Lower Richland High School basketball sensation Mike Jones for his outstanding achievements as a star athlete.’

And that was just after his junior year.

Jones secured his second consecutive South Carolina Class AAAA Men’s High School Basketball Player of the Year award after his junior campaign. The Diamond Hornets’ run ended in the third round of state playoffs after an overtime loss, but the year before Jones led Lower Richland to the state championship game.

‘The thing that stands out the most to me is that we won with three different teams,’ Atkins said. ‘Every year with Mike as the focal point we were successful. We graduated a group of four seniors each year.’

Atkins described the state championship game in Jones’ sophomore season as his ‘coming out party.’ Jones scored 25 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in the loss.

Lower Richmond went 74-10 in Jones’ final three seasons, including a 30-0 in its region.

Although Lower Richmond fell short of its goal for a state championship once again in 2005-06, perhaps Jones’ high school career highlight came after he played his final game for Lower Richmond.

Jones was named to the South Carolina team as a part of the annual North-South All-Star Game against North Carolina’s best high school players. Dubbed ‘The Basketball Shrine Bowl,’ the Carolinas all-star game showcased some of the finest talent high school basketball has to offer.

It is a series traditionally dominated by North Carolina – winners of six of the last eight – but Jones led the Palmetto State to its largest margin of victory ever, 121-98.

‘I waited for a long time to play in that game,’ Jones said. ‘It was really exciting because I grew up playing with all of the players on the South Carolina team.’

Named the most valuable player of the game, Jones led all scorers with 16 points in the first half, but ended with only 18 total – not even good enough to be the leading scorer on his team.

‘He showed everyone he can score in the first half,’ Atkins said. ‘In the second he passed it around to his teammates.

‘He had five of the most beautiful assists you’re ever going to see.’

It was the final step in Jones’ senior season, which Atkins labeled as a work in progress on his overall game. The MVP Jones sank two 3-pointers, grabbed eight rebounds, dished out six total assists and had three steals and two blocks.

‘Mike fills an important need of versatility,’ Boeheim said. ‘It’s always important to get good all-around players.’

‘Good’ may be an understatement in this case.

The tall small forward shot 35 percent from beyond the arc during his senior year. Jones’ sheer ability to score is his best skill, according to Atkins.

‘Mike is a throwback,’ Atkins said. ‘He can put the ball on the floor and shoot the 15 to 18-foot jump shot. He has a mid-range game unlike any guy his size that I’ve seen in a long time. Then he’s got the 3-point shot. He can just score from anywhere on the floor.’

The recruiting process came down to two schools – Syracuse and South Carolina. Jones cited his relationships with Boeheim and Murphy as well as the SU players he met when visiting the campus as the decisive factors in picking Syracuse.

‘Being able to play for coach Boeheim is a dream come true,’ Jones said. ‘I’ve been watching Syracuse ever since I was young.’

Brewer, a South Carolina graduate herself, said one day after a house visit from USC officials, the recruiters told her ‘they had a problem’ because Jones was swaying towards Syracuse. Brewer told them the decision was all Mike’s and she is not one bit disappointed with the school he chose.

‘To be able to play in the Carrier Dome, in the Big East and for a Hall-of-Fame coach, that’s a great atmosphere for Mike,’ Brewer said.

Atkins, who arrived at Lower Richland at the same time Jones did, is excited to see Jones move on to a program with someone like Boeheim at the helm.

‘I think coach Boeheim will enjoy having a player like Mike, if his academic status improves,’ Atkins said.

***

Harris and Jones will come full circle when they reunite on April 22 as teammates at the Jordan All-American Classic at Madison Square Garden.

This time Atkins will know about it.

‘It’s going to be a very good experience in New York,’ Jones said. ‘I’m really looking forward to playing with Paul.’

Perhaps by then Jones will know if Harris and he will wear orange together in 2006-07.

‘I can’t say for sure what will happen with Mike,’ Brewer said. ‘We have to wait it out and see if he can pull it off.’

Published on April 6, 2006 at 12:00 pm