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Tatum off to pre-draft tournament

By Robert Crow, The Southern

Thursday, April 5, 2007 6:51 AM CDT

Jamaal Tatum's college basketball career is over. Now, his task is to prove that he deserves to play at the next level.

One of the greatest players in recent history at Southern Illinois University, Tatum's quest to play in the NBA kicks into high gear this weekend. Tatum left Wednesday for Portsmouth, Va., home of the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, one of the largest pre-draft tournaments. The tournament began Wednesday night, but Tatum's first game won't be played until tonight. The event concludes Saturday.

Each team is made up of eight players. Tatum's teammates include Ohio State forward Mike Harris, Texas A&M center Antanas Kavaliauskas and UNLV guard Kevin Kruger. Three other Missouri Valley Conference players will be in Portsmouth: Creighton's Nate Funk and Anthony Tolliver, and Missouri State's Blake Ahearn.

"I know I'm going to be around a lot of good athletes -the best players on their teams in college, a lot of people that are hungry, that are ready to play professional basketball, that are ready to make that money," Tatum said. "I've got to go in and compete, not be intimidated by names and go out and play."

Portsmouth typically doesn't draw top prospects for the NBA draft, with most of its athletes trying to play their way into the two-round draft. Tatum isn't mentioned by many draft projection Web sites, but is projected to be a late-second round pick by NBADraft.net.

Tatum is the fourth Saluki since 2000 to play at Portsmouth, joining Rolan Roberts, Kent Williams and Darren Brooks. SIU coach Chris Lowery will also be in Portsmouth this weekend, providing support.

"We're visiting on a daily basis. He thinks that I don't want to talk to him anymore since he can't do anything for me, but that's not the case," Lowery said. "� He's going to do well in anything he does. I've told him, he's the kind of kid who's going to make a million dollars whether he plays basketball or not."

Tatum was named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He was also named an honorable mention All-American and was placed on the academic All-American team. Last weekend, he played in the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-Star game.

In his senior season, Tatum averaged 15.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He ended his career as the seventh-leading scorer in SIU history, and in the top 20 in 3-pointers made, steals and assists.

Rob.crow@thesouthern.com

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