'TWAN TOWER

By GEORGE DOHRMANN

March 27, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

In the fall of 1989, Albert Jamison loaded his car with everything he owned and everything he loved, including a lanky 11-year-old son named Antawn.

The boy did not want to leave Louisiana but knew even then that moving was the business of his father. For five years, he and his mother, Kathy, had stayed in Shreveport as Albert moved to Kentucky, Ohio and several other states. As a construction worker who built housing for the federal government, Albert Jamison didn’t move from place to place, but disaster to disaster.

The fall of 1989 was Hurricane Hugo. The destination was Charlotte, N.C.

“I hoped this would be it, so I took them with me,” Albert said. “I was hoping we would settle for good in Charlotte. I knew it was a good city with a low unemployment rate and figured I could find a good job and stay.”

So after they moved into a modest home outside the Queen City, Albert Jamison made the new house permanent in his son’s eyes. He put up a basketball hoop in the backyard. He set the height for 12 feet, and told Antawn it would help his game if he played on the taller hoop.

“The best move of our lives,” Albert said about going to Charlotte and also setting the basket two feet higher than regulation. “Look what it has done for Antawn.”

Just look.

Standing in the center of the floor in the Carrier Dome after Sunday’s East Regional final at Syracuse, N.Y., Antawn Jamison, the North Carolina player most responsible for the Tar Heels’ presence in the Final Four, sported a smile very much like the one Rasheed Wallace wore the last time North Carolina had such a team.

In the 1994-95 season, Wallace, a sophomore as Jamison is now, pushed the Tar Heels to the Final Four along with teammate Jerry Stackhouse. Both left for the NBA after that season. Wallace made his decision in the spring of 1995, shortly after the 6-foot-9, 222-pound Jamison chose to attend North Carolina.

He was working on his post moves on that 12-foot hoop, went inside for his one-hour “SportsCenter” break, and saw Wallace deliver the news.

“I thought that I would come in [as a freshman] and learn from Rasheed, and get some time backing him up,” Jamison said. “But when I heard [the announcement], I really didn’t know what was going to happen.”

What happened was that Jamison, whose first name is pronounced “AN-twan,” started 27 of 38 games, had the first 20-rebound game by a Tar Heel since 1979, and was an all-Atlantic Coast Conference selection.

This season he averaged 18.2 points and 9.5 rebounds and again was an ACC first-teamer, the first Tar Heel since Brad Daugherty to earn that honor in consecutive seasons.

He leads North Carolina into Saturday’s game against Arizona averaging 17.7 points and 8.5 rebounds in four tournament games.

“He has really elevated his game,” sophomore guard Vince Carter said. “I look at him like a shorter Rasheed Wallace. And I think he is just starting to show what a great basketball player he is.”

The Tar Heels would not be going to Indianapolis, sight of the Final Four, had Jamison not scored 15 points in the final 10 minutes in a 63-57 regional semifinal victory over California.

Also, with his team struggling to hold a lead in the East Regional final against Louisville, he scored 11 late in the second half and North Carolina advanced, 97-74.

“We have a lot of special players on this team, and Antawn is certainly one of them,” North Carolina Coach Dean Smith said.

He became a special player in the Jamisons’ backyard, playing on the basket that Albert, who now works for the city of Charlotte renovating housing projects, put up.

“I told him that playing on the [taller basket] would help him get used to shooting over the taller players in the NBA--he would learn to shoot with more arc on his shot,” Albert said.

It also helped turn him into a dynamic leaper.

“Most teams’ major concern is to keep me off the boards,” Jamison said. “But I have to come in with the attitude that no one can keep me off.”

He was a raw player when he arrived at Charlotte’s Providence High. In one of Jamison’s first practices, Coach Bob Angley put him on the low block and asked him to try to dunk taking one step.

Jamison slammed it with ease.

“I had played with him and I knew he was a great player [coming out of high school],” Carter said. “But he just didn’t get a lot of the attention that he deserved.”

When Jamison went to North Carolina, he benefited because Carter was the most heralded recruit in his class. While Jamison was an All-American in some publications, he was not as touted as Carter, who was supposed to continue the line of great shooting guards such as Michael Jordan and including Stackhouse.

“All the pressure was on Vince,” Jamison said. “I could just come in and work.”

He played so well early in the season that Smith said he reminded him of James Worthy, and his rebounding skills were so advanced that guard Jeff McInnis, a teammate in 1995-96, began calling him “Rodman.”

That name has given way to “ ‘Twan,” a nickname even Albert uses.

“When he does something good, we say that’s ‘ ‘Twan Time,’ ” Albert said.

Antawn had the saying written on his shoes earlier this season, but that was before a team meeting in which Jamison was one of the most vocal participants.

“We had a lot of guys saying that they wanted to do this and wanted to do that,” Jamison said. “But we weren’t a team.”

Since that meeting, North Carolina has won 16 in a row, and the success is similar to that found by Wallace his sophomore season. Some believe the further the Tar Heels advance, the less likely Jamison will stay in Chapel Hill.

Jamison has plans to talk with Smith after the season to discuss the NBA, but doesn’t say how serious he is about leaving.

“I don’t know what Antawn is thinking,” Carter said. “I’ve heard him say he’s not ready to leave college yet. If he does, I wish him the best, but I think he enjoys college life.”

Albert Jamison said in December that they would consider all options, and with a lack of big men beyond Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan and Utah’s Keith Van Horn, financially this may be as good a time as any to leave.

“I’d like underclassmen to stay and graduate, but having said that, it is clear that he has all the tools to be a good NBA player,” said Mel Daniels, a scout with the Indiana Pacers. “I think he is going to be a better NBA player than a college player. He gets off the floor so quickly.”

Earlier this season, Antawn made a trip back to Charlotte for a tournament. He scored 54 points in two victories and was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

“It’s nice to come back to Charlotte,” Antawn said. “My dad brought us here and pushed me to work hard, and I love it here. This is my home.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Final Four Schedules

MEN

At RCA Dome, Indianapolis

Saturday’s Semifinals

* North Carolina (28-6) vs. Arizona (23-9), 2:42 p.m.

* Minnesota (31-3) vs. Kentucky (34-4), 35 minutes after first game

Monday’s Championship

* Semifinal winners, 6:12 p.m.

WOMEN

At Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati