One behind-the-back dribble and 10-year-old Courtney Mix had a dozen grown men gawking.

Just a minute earlier, the men were immersed in a pick-up basketball game. Courtney stood to the side, watching her father, Steve Mix, a 13-year NBA player in the late 1960s and 1970s, play the game he loved.

But when one player looked over and saw the third-grader flinging around a basketball like it was attached to a yo-yo, the game stopped and the gawking started.

“That’s when she stole the spotlight from me,” Steve said. “And I never got it back. From then on, I was pretty much the one who had to watch.”

Watch as his daughter scored 40 points in a game as a fifth-grader, watch her start as a freshman in high school, watch her take a college scholarship to Villanova and quickly emerge as one of its best players.

When Villanova takes on Syracuse at Manley Field House on Saturday afternoon at 2, Mix will show off the well-rounded game that’s kept her in the spotlight, and her father — a former NBA All-Star with the Philadelphia 76ers — will watch proudly.

“Because of my dad, I’ve always been around basketball since I was really little,” Mix said. “His love for the game just rubbed off on me, and I took it from there.”

From there is a long way. It started with watching her father play pick-up games, then learning under him when he coached her as a middle-school student.

“The main thing I taught her,” Steve said, “is to share the ball and play with the team. That’s the way you’re going to get your minutes and earn your respect. You have to be able to do everything.”

Mix proved she could at Central Catholic High School in Toledo, Ohio, where she started on the state-powerhouse varsity team as a freshman. Her first year, she led the team in assists. The next, assists and rebounds. By her junior year, she was the team’s top scorer, too. Senior year, she ranked No. 1 in everything.

Her game was so circular she made first-team all-state her senior season while averaging a modest 13 points.

“She was the type of kid that could not score a point in the game and still win it for you,” said Steve Pfaler, Mix’s high school coach. “She did everything for us, and she did it all within the team. Those players don’t come around very often.”

But without any eye-popping statistics, Mix still had trouble landing a Division-I scholarship. Coaches told her she wouldn’t fit in anywhere. Nobody needed a 5-foot-10 power forward or a shooting guard without a knack for scoring.

Using a connection from his Philadelphia playing days, Steve called Villanova on a whim. A few days later, Villanova head coach Harry Perretta visited Mix and offered a scholarship.

“I know a lot of the coaches, and I started making the phone calls,” Steve said. “I told Harry, ‘Look, you can get yourself a power forward who could be a backup point guard, too.’ ”

Perretta bit. And he’s happier for it, because Steve’s pitch proved a bit prophetic.

As a freshman and sophomore, Mix played power forward and led the Wildcats in rebounds. This season, she starts at point guard, scores nine points a game and leads her team in average rebounds (7), assists (5), steals (3) and blocks (2).

“She’s part of a new breed of players that can do anything and everything,” SU head coach Marianna Freeman said. “She’s incredibly versatile, and that makes her tough to stop. If she doesn’t hurt you in one way, she will in another.”

Nobody knows that better than Steve, who’s victimized by his daughter’s versatility when the two play one-on-one.

“She kills me now,” Steve said. “I’m over the hill, which is kind of depressing. But she’s very good, which makes me incredibly proud. When we play, it’s her show.”

For Steve, it’s a good one to watch.

Published on February 6, 2003 at 12:00 pm