David Young got to give the NCAA rules people a little comeuppance last spring.

The Pennsylvania state high school player of the year in 1999, the 6-5 forward had feelers from plenty of big-time programs including N.C. State, Pittsburgh, Villanova and Duquesne until his SAT scores came back.

And then he was declared a Proposition 48 player, an academic non-qualifier, meaning that under ACC rules he couldn't attend N.C. State at all until he had had a year of prep school.

Under the NCAA national rules, he could attend a Division I school as long as he paid his own way, and at any rate he was ineligible to play as a freshman.

Skip Prosser, who is now the coach at Wake Forest, was coaching at Xavier at the time and brought Young to school under those conditions.

"Coach Prosser said he didn't have to bring me, but he had faith in me," said Young, now the senior scoring leader at N.C. Central, which visits Elizabeth City State tonight at about 7:30 following a 5:30 game between the school's women's teams at Vaughn Center. "He said, 'Do me a favor and get eligible.' "

As a first-year player and an academic sophomore, Young averaged 2.5 points and played in 26 games for Prosser's Musketeers. Prosser left for Wake Forest before Young's sophomore season and in stepped new coach Thad Matta.

That was a good season for Young, who started all 30 games and averaged eight points a game. But last season wasn't so good for Young on the court. He played in just 10 games, averaging 5.1 points, before he ran into some creative differences with the coach and left the team by mutual agreement.

Fortunately for him, Matta let him keep his scholarship and fortunately for Young, he was in good academic standing. So he graduated with a major in criminal justice, beating most people who enter college by actually doing it in four years.

Under NCAA rules he had one more season of eligibility with Xavier, but none anywhere else in Division I. He could, however, step into a Division II program and be eligible right away.

That's where NCCU coach Phil Spence got some good luck. Spence and Young are related -- well, kinda sorta, anyway.

"His mother's father -- everybody calls him 'Uncle Roosevelt' -- is my brother's wife's uncle," Spence explained.

You're welcome to draw up your own chart on that one.

"So my brother Larry [a former Shaw standout from the 1960s] told me about 'DY.' ''

It turned out that Young's mother, Melinda Rodriguez, lives in Durham. So for Young to play his last season at NCCU wasn't a crazy leap.

"I heard from some Division II schools in Pennsylvania and Kentucky," said Young, who's working on another bachelor's degree in recreation. "But I wanted to play in the CIAA, so I contacted Coach Spence since we're sort of related.

"I knew the CIAA was a great Division II conference. A lot of the better players in Division I are bigger and stronger than the players in this conference. But CIAA players are as athletic as they are anywhere."

For Young, being a decent Division I player translated into star status in the CIAA.

He's leading the Eagles (10-10, 6-5 CIAA) with 20.9 points per game, second in the conference only to Elizabeth City State's Jonathan Harris (21.5). He's averaging 4.6 rebounds per game, leading the Eagles with 32 steals, and his shooting -- which just wasn't good last season -- is impressive. He's at 51.1 percent from the floor including 37.0 from 3-point range and 79.0 from the free-throw line.

"I think my season has gone all right," Young said. "I definitely enjoy playing again, especially on this team because we have a lot of talented players.

"But we've got to play our best every night. You can't have an 'day off' in this conference, as evidenced by our record. We've just got to have more of a killer instinct."

Spence, who made Young one of his captains from the start, said he's been happy with his leader's performance.

"David has really contributed a lot," Spence said. "He's very talented, he's got great leadership abilities and he's really a nice young man. He needs to be a better defender, but he's not alone on our team. I like that he has a college degree, because that's a good example for our other guys to follow."

After this season Young is hoping for a shot at pro basketball, although he realizes that might mean in a minor league or overseas. Young was aware that Phoenix Suns and Detroit Pistons scouts have seen him play, and Spence said the New York Knicks have expressed interest.

"I think he's got a shot to play in 'the league,' " Spence said.

But if not?

"Thank God I've got a degree," Young said.