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All signs go on Goodman

All Tamir Goodman wants at Towson University is to win - and fit in.

"Out of the blue, Tamir called me a month before school started," Tigers coach Mike Jaskulski said. "He told me he wanted everything to be perfect. When school began, someone wanted to follow him around campus with a television camera. He said no, that, `I'm just starting to get to the point where people think I'm a regular person. I just want to be one of the guys.'"Two weeks into practice, he was really frustrated. Like every freshman, he was having growing pains, and nothing was going right. I asked him, `Do you remember the conversation about being one of the guys? Guess what. This is what it feels like.' "

Goodman might envision himself as just another rookie, but how many other college basketball players have been profiled by Sports Illustrated and "60 Minutes," made their coach note sundown Friday on his weekly planner and led an arena to open a kosher concession stand?

The 18-year-old from Baltimore has spiked interest in a program that, after 34 wins in the past four seasons, needs talent and fans.

Towson season-ticket sales are at a record level - albeit in the vicinity of a modest 200. The Tigers played their lone exhibition game last night, and the Israeli team Givat Shmuel only sharpened the focus on Goodman. He will open his college career in the Battle of Baltimore at UMBC on Saturday, 14 months since the tangle over Tamir.

Goodman became a national name in January 1999, when Maryland offered a scholarship to an Orthodox Jew whose religious beliefs prohibit him from playing and traveling on the Sabbath, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Just a high school junior, Goodman accepted, and readied to become the first player to wear a yarmulke in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Terps got cold feet, however, and let Goodman know he might not fit in at College Park after all. The two parted acrimoniously eight months later, when Goodman left a message that he didn't want the scholarship.

"I didn't really know what was happening," Goodman said. "The main thing I learned is that the things you go through are for your benefit. That's the way God works. At the time, you don't know why things are happening, but two or three months down the road, you say, `That was the best thing that ever happened to me.' I'm so much happier here than I would have been there."

Last winter, Maryland coach Gary Williams told one publication the offer to Goodman was a mistake. He did not want to revisit the issue.

"I'd just rather not get into it," Williams said. "Let's give it a break and see what he can do. All recruits should go where they can play. I wish him a lot of luck at Towson. He's a good kid."

There is agreement on that. For all his celebrity, Goodman remains affable and outgoing. While still defining the musculature on a 6-foot-3 frame that packs just 155 pounds, he's already developed an inner strength.

Jaskulski gladly let Goodman room with Mohammed Fofana, a freshman forward who was born in Mali, West Africa. He happens to be a Muslim. As violence escalates on the West Bank, their relationship builds.

"We talk a little about politics," Fofana said. "We talk a lot about basketball."

The quality that has the Tigers talking about Goodman is his passing. Towson has some accomplished inside players, most notably senior forward Brian Barber, and it must get them the ball. Goodman was a co-MVP at the Capital Classic all-star game last April on the basis of a game-high eight assists.

"He's the most reluctant 30-point scorer I've ever coached," said Harold Katz, Goodman's coach at Talmudical Academy, where he was first scrutinized in the winter of 1998-99.

In search of tougher competition, Goodman transferred to Takoma Academy for his senior year of high school. He stayed in town last summer to play in the Charm City League at Coppin State, where he said he was schooled by the likes of Shawnta Rogers, and to work with a personal trainer.

Goodman was required to run a mile in 5 minutes, 5 seconds in preseason conditioning. He did 4:54 on his second try. Sam Sutton, a strong, savvy wing, is his weight-training partner. He nagged about taking pounds off the bar for Goodman's sets. Now, the freshman can nearly handle the same load. Then there's practice, where, for a change, Goodman isn't the best player.

"Maybe the competition at Takoma was better [than Talmudical Academy], but you're never tested until you're in a college practice," Goodman said. "It's a whole different level. Everyone is out there for their turf. It's not like high school, where you can go through the motions. The competition, the intensity are unbelievable. I've never experienced such defense on the ball. Suddenly, your no-looks [passes] are ending up out of bounds."

After he parted with Maryland, Goodman said he would slowly make his way through the recruiting process. A month later, he signed a letter of intent with Towson, sold on the willingness of Jaskulski and the university to make allowances for the demands of his faith.

Jaskulski said Katz briefed him on possible conflicts, and helped him mark his calendar to note the Sabbath and Jewish holy days. Jaskulski said his only misstep was the scheduling of Midnight Madness Oct. 14, during the Sabbath. Goodman was introduced; unlike his teammates, he didn't scrimmage or speak into a microphone.

Towson is a member of the America East conference. At the urging of commissioner Chris Monasch and Towson, the Tigers are not scheduled to play on a Friday night or a Saturday afternoon. There would be more pleas for flexibility if Towson moves to the Colonial Athletic Association.

Athletic director Wayne Edwards said a game at New Hampshire was pushed back a day, to a Sunday; it will cost Towson an extra night's lodging. While his teammates spend a Friday night at the Newton Marriott during a February road trip to Boston, Goodman will probably be put up by a local chapter of Hillel, the national organization for Jewish college students.

If Goodman and the rest of a green Towson backcourt develop, one potential conflict looms. The championship game of the America East tournament will be played March 10 at 11:30 a.m., smack dab in the middle of the Sabbath. Monasch said that there is "not a lot of flexibility" in that ESPN time slot, and Goodman doesn't dwell on it.

"Let's get there first," he said.

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