There aren't many basketball players in America, or the world for that matter, who can stand on their toes, reach up and grab the rim of a basket.
David Foster can.
The sophomore center, who is arguably Utah's most valuable player so far this season, stands 7-foot-3 and is blessed with longer than average arms, giving him a wingspan of approximately 7-foot-8 (the average human's wingspan is close to their height).
Thanks in large part to the large Foster, the Utes are playing terrific defense this season, which has been the most consistent aspect of their performance in an up-and-down, 8-7 season.
Going into tonight's game at New Mexico, Foster ranks fifth in the nation in blocked shots with 4.3 per game, and he's well on his way to smashing both the Utah single-season and career records for blocked shots.
Like former Utah Jazz player Mark Eaton, who is an inch taller, Foster doesn't even have to jump much to block shots and be an imposing presence to opposing players.
"If I stand straight up, it's almost a 10-foot wall," Foster said.
That "wall" is playing havoc this year with Ute opponents, who are shooting just 39.6 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from 3-point range.
Utah coach Jim Boylen doesn't disagree with the notion that Foster may be the Utes' MVP so far, even if he ranks just seventh in scoring (5.6 ppg) and third in rebounding (4.8 rpg), while playing only 20.5 minutes per game.
"His work ethic, maturity, leadership, effort, toughness — all those things, he's brought and improved on and taken seriously," Boylen said. "He's been awesome."
Foster was born in Salt Lake, but grew up in Michigan before the family moved to California when he was 13. He mostly played soccer as a youth, towering over the other kids.
However, soon after moving to California, he naturally started to look at basketball, which you do if you're already 6-foot-3 and haven't reached puberty.
First the volleyball coach discovered him in the gym one day and he quickly moved up to varsity as a ninth-grader. He shot up to 6-10 as a sophomore, but was still only good enough to play on the JV basketball team at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Calif. Even as a junior, he didn't play much on the varsity, but his 7-foot height attracted recruiters, initially BYU and some California schools.
"Finally my senior year it started to click for me," said Foster, who led his team to a 24-5 record, averaging 17 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots per game.
Utah, under new coach Ray Giacoletti, was one of the last colleges to recruit Foster, but Foster liked the school and coaches and decided to come back to the city where he lived the first year and a half of his life.
"It just felt right," Foster said. "If I feel something is right, I need to act upon it."
Foster, who served an LDS mission to North Carolina and is president of the LDS student association at the U., quashes the idea that BYU didn't want him.
"They were very interested and wanted me to come, but there was something about here and the environment I liked," he said.
Having played just a couple of seasons of basketball, Foster was expected to redshirt his first year. However, Giacoletti was under fire and broke Foster's redshirt season after the Utes got off to an 0-3 start. With Luke Nevill playing about 35 minutes a game, Foster played limited minutes and didn't even get into eight games.
His one breakout game came against New Mexico in The Pit — where he'll play tonight — when Nevill got into foul trouble. Foster ended up playing 17 minutes and scored eight points, grabbed nine rebounds and had a blocked shot.
However, the next game, he only played three minutes and was used sparingly the rest of the season. For the year, he played in 20 games and averaged 1.0 points and 0.8 rebounds with just five blocked shots.
After the season, Giacoletti was fired and Boylen liked what he saw from Foster in limited workouts before he left on his mission in May. The Utes kept in touch with Foster throughout his mission, and he was happy to return at the start of last summer.
Along with a dunk, perhaps the most exciting play in basketball is a blocked shot. It brings fans to their feet, something Foster does with his swats several times a game.
Besides being tall, Foster has an uncanny knack for blocking shots. He anticipates well and can block with either hand, unlike most players who have to reach across with their dominant hand.
"He blocks shots with both hands. Very few guys can do that, so he can play on either side of the floor and control the paint," says Boylen.
Just having Foster in the middle is intimidating for opponents, who start to avoid the lane and try to rely on outside shots after getting a few shots swatted away by Foster.
"He helps us a lot, he covers the whole floor," says teammate Luka Drca. "He listens and he's a smart guy. There aren't a lot of big, smart guys, but he's one of them. When he improves his offense, he'll be an NBA player."
That could be a far-off possibility for Foster, who recently got engaged and will be married in May. He's the first to tell you he has a lot of improvement still to make.
"There are many things I need to work on," he says. "I need to keep finishing at the basket, keep my jump hook high and get used to playing with contact."
He enjoys having a fellow 7-footer, freshman Jason Washburn, to split minutes with.
"I think it's a great system, being able to split the time," says Foster. "That way we can keep running. The more time we can split, the more we can run and wear down the bigs on the other team."
The good news for Ute fans is that Foster and Washburn will play two seasons together after this year, and Boylen doesn't discount the possibility of the two playing on the floor at the same time.
For now, Boylen couldn't be more happy with how far Foster has come in the seven months since returning from his mission.
"He has a great feel for the system already," the Utes' coach said. "He understands what we want and he embraces it. He's still a young, developing player. We love having him."
David Foster
Year: Sophomore
Height: 7-foot-3
Weight: 255 pounds
Hometown: Lake Forest, Calif.
By the numbers:
5.6 points
4.8 rebounds
4.3 blocks
55.0 FG pct.
57.1 FT pct.
e-mail: sor@desnews.com