Protective custody that's what most sons want from the men in a position to protect, direct and raise them . From their fathers. Not to get on the African-American males running scared., But Allen Iverson America's most gifted, special, in-demand basketball player -is lucky. He has what most of us lack . A father figure. An institution of learning and direction. A man in his life to help him deal with the reality of being a man. Most brothas can't even go there, can't comprehend. In Georgetown coach John Thompson, Iverson has the one-man protection plan many of us would turn over lives for. Unless you have grown up fatherless you wont understand.

Escape to anywhere, but never run. Allen Iverson needs an answer, no questions asked, and Georgetown University has the one. Depending on the direction, Washington, DC is either heaven or hell. Dark Country or Chocolate City. Georgetown is neither it simply the answer. Iverson did not run here, understand this. He simply took the advantage of the best situation life ever offered him. He finished high school as the best ball player(including football, where he was the AP Player of the Year in Virginia) in the country easily, with abilities Charlie Ward could only write home about. Iverson is still an icon in Hampton, VA- he left there as America's most wanted hoop dream, with possible exception of Felipe Lopez.

How nice WAS Ive? Back in high school , Kansas University coach Roy Williams, formerly Michael Jordan's NC assistant coach, said Iverson "might be the best guard I've ever seen." How nice IS Ive? Right about now, Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson says, "I've been to three calf shows, nine horse ropings and seen Elvis once. But I ain't never seen anything like it in my life."

Neither has Georgetown.

Walk around most urban areas, and you'll see Georgetown University represented strong. Block to block, city to city, chain net to no net, a society of urbanites front. Triple goose down jackets and Starter caps. Nike replicas and Champion sweats. Georgetown. Everybody wants to be down, but nobody can be. One of America's most prestigious, private Catholic has found a place in the hood. Eversince it introduced the world to Patrick Ewing and Martha Graham, Georgetown has been the choice for every shorty with poor grades, little money, no desire for higher learning and a need for John Thompson as a father. Allen Iverson grew up as one of these brothas. He just got lucky.

Stuart Gardens, baby: low-income housing in VA. Nothing but love. Allen Iverson was raised one deep with his two sisters there, Ma Dukes-style. His moms Ann began, at the tender age of 16, to take care of what is rightfully hers for life. Her son's life has run the cycle from his best friend's murder to visits with former NAACP national chairman Ben Chavis. The true gamut from heaven to hell. He's forever been his family's promise, their escape. Being so talented and so young, Allen has had the unreal responsibility of doing what keeps many of us down - raising a family and being raised at the same time. In most cases this would be a black thing , but Allen beat the odds and made it to G'Town ( instead of walking' around the neighbourhood, fronting', wanting' to be a superstar in a Hoya t-shirt, so it's an Allen thing. You wouldn't understand.

November ' 96. Things aren't the same. Walk into the lobby of Georgetown's McDonough gymnasium and notice the difference. The enormous, ever-so-deep framed photo of Fred Brown and Gene Smith with the '83 NCAA National Championship trophy remains the centerpiece, and Ewing, Mourning, Mutombo still tower over all the rest, but on the floor in the glass-enclosed trophy case, the change is manifest. Two solid gold basketballs chill,. Trophies that read, "Allen Iverson. 1994-95 Big East Rookie-of- the-Year. " and "Allen Iverson. 1994-95 Big East Defensive Player-of- the-Year." Between them lies a letter from President Clinton.

Daddy's home. His voice echoes inside the gym. It year two of John Thompson's new life. Papa's got a brand new bag. A bag of tricks in baggy shorts. See, Allen Iverson is not the same player that walked into the gym 12 months ago. He's controlled, confident and well- coached. Like son, like father. John Thompson learned as much last year about Allen Iverson as Ive learned about the coach. Defeating the norm as the first truly player under 6-12 in contemporary Thompson history, Iverson is a solution to his pops' problems.

"Coach [Thompson} was like a father figure, to me , right off hand..... We just clicked." Allen Iverson's words are soft but they run deep. He understands that not only is he getting one of life's greatest education, he's hilling a void in the career of a man who knows more than Michael Bivins about turning boys into men. "Ninety percent of having a relation with him is things that occur off the court. He helped me through last year. I didn't want to come here and just do anything. Any problems that I have, I can go to him and he'll sit down and listen. It is a lot more than player-coach between us. I don't think I could have made it [through last year] without him".

Thompson takes the yellow brick road with Allen. He knows he has someone special, a gift, but it's not about hoops. " If you've been in the business for a while," Thompson says when about prodigal son, " You know you're not supposed to be impressed with people. You're here to attempt to mold and get [students] prepared for their next stage of life. That's what education is all about. Allen has done just that. He has done what I've asked him to do, and when he has not done it, we've sat down and talked.

"He wants to educate himself. So it's not a problem. It's almost amusing to me sometimes to hear the questions I'm asked about him in relation to the person that I have to deal with." It's true talent. Especially those talents deemed sons of John.

If last year was Iverson's coming out party, this year should be his throwdown, all-night long, block party affair. Last year's Big East new- jack is supposed to become player president. He's a sophmore going on year five in the NBA. Believe the hype. The phenomenal game Toby Bailey had in last year's final for UCLA? Iverson is expected to make that his norm. After one season of blowing' up the spot, Allen Iverson has to be the greatest son a father could ever have. The problem is, that he just might be.

"I don't care I'm going in." Those were words read on Iverson's lips just before he went upstairs and dunked on Joe Smith. Summer ball'n at the Hampton Roads Pro-Am in Norfolk, VA. Legends are built there. This summer Iverson went beyond legendary to mythical. Getting loose in an NBA atmosphere, Iverson put his whole package together and showed the critics what basketball is about on his end. Beleive this : he averaged close to 50 points a game against teams that included a host of NBA players. Believe this: he scored over 70 points three times, often playing only half the game. Believe this : he told the coach during the third quarter of the game, down by 26 and with only 20 points, to give him the ball every time down the court. Result? Victory. Oh yeah. Allen finished with 81. Believe it.

"Yeah, I did." Iverson responds to the legendary tales of summer madness, " I think I play a lot better in an NBA-style. It was wide open, run 'n' gun, man-to-man all game- and that's the game I like to play."

Says Wayne Hoffler, executive director of Hampton Roads Pro-Am: "This summer I saw Allen Iverson do things I've never ever seen on a basketball court. Everything about his game says 'NBA All-Star'. "I'll take it a step further", Hoffler continues. "He's a 6-0 version of Michael Jordan."

The world Games in Japan saw 'The answer' change gears and run everything. In a far more controlled environment, Iverson played with Ray Allen, Tim Duncan, Charles O'Bannon, Dametri Hill, Kerry Kittles and so on and so on. He led the team in scoring (16.7), assists (6.1), and steals(3.0); shot 56& from the floor and scored 26 points in both the semi-finals and gold medal games while leading USA to another international victory among the masses. Clock this yo: He only averaged 23 minutes a game.

Ask Craig Miller, World games organiser, about it, and he'll give up the gospel. " Sometimes he made the fans, 'Ahhh', when he drove the lane. It was amazing. He's a big, bigtime player. So quick. And the fact he had GOOD players around him made it so much easier for him to penetrate and get the ball to other players who finished. It was an experience."

Try to defend Allen Iverson, he'll make you feel lost like high school geometry. He'll eat you like up like meat and having you pray he turns vegetarian. He has warped-speed and quickness that makes Kevin Johnson seem slow. At times, however, it can be his biggest weakness instead of his greatest strength.

"A lot of times, I get caught up in thee hype of the game and get out of control," Ive says. "Now I'm working hard on being patient, a lot more than I was a last year. I made a lot of freshmen-type mistakes, but I matured as the season went on, and learned a lot of things from game to game.

"That's the thing Coach talks to me about now, the leadership role and being able to run this team. The point guard position is supposed to be the focal point and run the show and that's what I have to do[for this team] and if I'm ever to think about playing at the next level."

The NBA. Everybody's mind is on it except Allen's. See, most people don't get the chance to know Allen. This is a good thing. The world is no more ready Allan than he is for the world. He's a genius trying to stay focused and appreciative, who's been told to keep his visions limited but never to underestimate himself. It's the Georgetown paradox. He's genuinely a soft-spoken kid whose "first love" is football ("I miss the game so much.") who knew Deion was going to Dallas as early as July. Of course, this makes him a Cowboys fan. He's a B- average Fine Arts student who, in his spare time, draws "caricatures of famous people I meet, basketball players and my teammates. " He sees Kenny Anderson, Timmy Hardaway and Nick Van Exel in his game and says his crossover is his lethal weapon 4. "It's effective," he says. " Even if I don't catch the opponent with it all the way, it's enough to get me by them."

He's a young black man exploiting his way out of the shadows that almost ended his movement before it could begin. His over- publicized, well-documented, ill-fated and uncalled-for felony conviction. (for a racially-motivated brawl in Virginia over two years ago) is not worth mentioning. It doesn't define him the way it does society. Honestly, Allen needed Johnnie Cochran for protection. Case closed.

He accepts the burden as " just another responsibility" a young brotha must deal with in order to survive.

"I can accept all the tags people give me," he says after a season of dealing with crowds calling him "OJ," ignorant fans yelling " Go back to jail," and schools playing "Jailhouse Rock" during timeouts. It got so ugly that one time Coach Thompson, being Pops on the spot, refused to play a game until the opposition started "acting civilized."

Through this, Allen's age of innocence finds depth. He's in so much control it's scary. Where other brothas would be annoyed, angered and well...pissed Allen remains calm. Just like his "father taught him. Life, not basketball, will carry you through.

What does not kill us only makes us stronger. In other words, "You go boy!" Everyday Allen knows that he carries a different type of pride around him, in his heart and mind. The luxury now is that he doesn't have to carry it solo. On the court Othello Harrington and Jerome Williams will help him become Big East Player-of-the-Year and NCAA Defensive Player-of-the-Year. Off the court, Coach Thompson will help Allen fight rumors -and temptation- of turning pro after the season. His future could be so much more damaging and out of control than his past. It's Frightening. In the exploitation of his situation, Allen is about to run into the game called life. He's fortunate to have "Big Poppa" as his guide, his protection, his father for life or at least for the next two years.

The answer. He slips the gray kente-trimmed #3 uniform over his head. The five letters, HOYAS, spread across his chest like shield, a badge of honor. It's real, however, not replica. Although he is right- handed, his left arm carries the answer. A tattoo is engraved in the form of a bulldog. Above the mascot ( "a coincidence," he says ) are two simple words: THE ANSWER. The symbolism. The logic. As his sinewy 6-0 175 pound body prepares to go to war, you realize nothing is missing. Every aspect of his game, from offense to defense, is star-studded as last year's ACC, Iverson will make everybody recognise that he not the tattoo- is the answer.

Coach Thompson towel in check, calls Allen to the sideline. A simple pat on the back of the head speaks volumes. That's the power he got. Allen breathes deep. Maintains control. Then continues to do his thing like there is no other. Mecca and the soul brotha. As Allen dips, defenders trip, slip and fall. The world's not ready for this. This is his "son," and he's proud. He's done good. Thompson and Iverson. Cliff and Theo. Some guys have all the luck, and some ...well, they just deserve it.