Ask Utah coach Rick Majerus about Keith Van Horn, and you won't hear the obvious - that the preseason All-American is averaging 20.2 points and 10.5 rebounds a game.
And don't expect to be told the senior who shunned the NBA's millions for one more campaign with the ninth-ranked Utes also grew an inch over the summer to 6-foot-10.In fact, Majerus' first words about Van Horn have nothing to do with college basketball: "He's a beautiful person, he's kind, he's sensitive, he's a nineties kind of guy, a renaissance guy. He's a good friend to have.
"He's almost too good to be true."
Understand that the relationship between Utah's eighth-year coach and his star forward transcends the courts of the Western Athletic Conference, and you might begin to fathom why Van Horn delayed his professional debut.
Shunning NBA millions meant driving his aged 1987 Nissan another year, a 107,000-mile pickup that refused to start Thursday, making him hours late for an interview Thursday.
"Yeah, a Lexus probably would have an extra battery," Van Horn chuckled. "But I have no regrets about staying."
It all began not long after Van Horn - a highly sought prep star out of Diamond Bar, Calif., where he averaged 29.2 points and 10.1 rebounds a game - chose Utah and Majerus.
Life soon changed for the quiet, good-natured kid from the San Gabriel Valley in ways both dramatic and tragic.
Van Horn was WAC Freshman of the Year his first season, an honor dimmed by the loss of his father, Ken, to a heart attack.
Grief-stricken, Van Horn found Majerus more than a coach. The balding, burley 48-year-old, himself a survivor of heart bypass surgery his first season at Utah, became a friend and, Van Horn says, a surrogate dad.
"A lot of what he teaches on the basketball floor really translates to everyday life. He's talked about how hard work and discipline will carry you through," Van Horn said.
"He's always said he likes me better as a person than a player, so hopefully that's good."
So, Van Horn worked. And, Majerus will tell you, then worked some more. His junior season ended with the Utes winning the WAC and a trip to the NCAA's Sweet 16 - and Van Horn being named WAC Player of the Year for a second straight season.
He began this year as a preseason All-America first team pick, with the Utes once again favored to win the WAC and make a strong postseason showing.
"I have to call him aside sometimes and tell him, `Keith, make sure you're enjoying all this,"' Majerus said. "Another thing that's refreshing is his coachability quotient. He wants to learn; he enjoys being challenged.
"He worried about having time to take his daughter trick-or-treating on Halloween, and she's only 2 - that's the kind of guy he is.
"I could not be more fond of a player."
Van Horn credits his priorities: "God, family and work - and work hard at whatever you do."
Stability for his wife, Amy, with whom he attends a local Roman Catholic parish church, and daughter Sabrina figured heavily into the sociology major and honor roll student's decision to complete his education.
"Family will always be a priority over basketball," Van Horn said. "(They) help me escape from basketball, a bad practice or what have you, and realize the things that are really important in my life."
He sputtered at the start of this season, shooting just 35 percent (well below last season's 54 percent) through the first five games - including just 15 points on 3-for-12 shooting in the Utes' only loss, a 69-61 setback to No. 6 Arizona.
But going into Saturday's game here with 14th-ranked Texas, Van Horn was coming off a career-best 41 points and 15 rebounds in Utah's 83-48 rout of Weber State.
"I really feel comfortable on the court now," he said. "It's just a game and a very small part of life, but it's something I love."
He looks forward to an NBA career. But "if anything should happen to me, I think social work could be a career. I really like working with underprivileged children."
Scott Layden, vice president of basketball operations for the Utah Jazz, suspects Van Horn will find time for both.
"Keith has a lot of things going for him, both on and off the court. He'll do a fine job in the NBA," he said. "The important thing to note is he's gotten better each year, and that's exciting."
Another year of college ball, especially under Majerus - praised by Layden as one of the finest basketball minds around - can only make Van Horn more valuable, the Jazz official said.
Layden's only regret: That Van Horn likely will go high in next year's college draft - too high for the Jazz.
"We'd have a lot of interest in Keith. The problem is the way he's playing and the way we're playing," Layden sighed. "Realistically, we'll be at different ends of the draft."
Such praise makes Van Horn squirm.
"I'm trying to put all that in the back of my mind until the end of this season," Van Horn said. "But anytime you can make a living at something you love, that's great."