Rob Judson’s search for a top-tier point guard to replace graduating senior Jay Bates looks like it should come to a halt.

There he is: dribbling, driving, dominating. His motions are poetic, succinct. He can dominate a game without taking a shot, and he can cripple you with his jumper if you play him for the pass.

The other players call him “D,” and there is an aura about him like he is an NBA player.

Wait, he has played in the NBA.

But Donald Whiteside, the best point guard on campus, isn’t on scholarship. Well, the 33-year old men’s basketball assistant coach isn’t on scholarship, anymore.

“Unfortunately, Donald’s used up all of his eligibility,” said Judson, NIU’s head coach.

In Whiteside’s last two years at NIU as a player, Judson was his coach. In the 1990-’91 season, the Huskies went 25-6 and made it to the NCAA Tournament with the 5-foot-10 Whiteside leading the team.

“He was the one that made that team go,” Judson said.

Now, spearheading recruiting and aiding in practices and scouting, Whiteside is helping NIU basketball “go” in the 21st century.

“By far, Whiteside’s the best point guard out there when we play against him,” sophomore forward Jamel Staten said. “It’s embarrassing trying to guard him, so when you stick him, you don’t want to try your hardest or he’ll get you embarrassed. He’s got everything it takes. He just doesn’t have the height.”

Lacking in vertical size, Whiteside said a lot of people doubted he could make it to the NBA. But a lot of people were skeptical of a lot of things he tried to do.

“I talked to Division II and III schools mostly, but I felt it was because of my size,” said Whiteside about his recruiting coming out of Chicago’s Leo High School. “The best thing to do is be content with the situation, give it your all and the rest will take care of itself. If you are recognized for your effort at that level, then you’ll move on.”

While Judson wasn’t yet a college coach when Whiteside was coming out of high school, it was current NIU Associate Athletics Director Robert Collins who was, at the time, the Huskie basketball staff’s head recruiting assistant.

“I went to see Donald practice and I was so impressed with his work ethic,” said Collins about his first encounter with Whiteside at Leo. “He wasn’t nothing but a little squirt. He was just like a quick little jackrabbit.

“I asked his coach if anybody else was recruiting him, and he said no. I knew the reason was because he was so small. But that didn’t matter to me because I knew he could play and his desire to play was what really impressed me. He was very, very special so as not to let his size interfere with him playing at any level of the game. He’d just outwork you.”

When Collins left NIU in 1989 to become an assistant at DePaul University under Joey Meyer, the gates were opened for head coach Jim Molinari and Judson, an assistant coach, to step into DeKalb.

Walking into a loaded team, not only did the Huskies have Whiteside, but they also featured Donnell Thomas, who was voted on the NIU All-Century Team with Whiteside.

A typical gym rat, Whiteside said one of the main reasons he came to NIU was because of the Student Recreation Center, where he still can be found quite frequently.

“As long as I had access to facilities, I was happy,” he said. “They had funky brown carpet on the floor and wood backboards all through the Rec Center, and it was the best place to be. I don’t know if it was my competitive drive, but we had great pickup games at the Rec Center. Going home on the weekends wasn’t a big option when I was here. People wanted to stay here.”

The second player at NIU with 1,000 points and 300 assists in his career, he ranks No. 15 on the school’s all-time scoring list and No. 6 in the all-time assists column.

But Collins said it wasn’t what he did at NIU that got him into the NBA.

“Donald was catapulted into the NBA from the Chicago summer leagues,” said Collins, who kept in touch with Whiteside even after he left. “During the summer, pro scouts and coaches would sometimes walk into those gyms and they got the word out. When they saw him, they signed him.”

The Chicago Summer Pro-Am League, held at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s gym, features NBA players and overseas stars along with former college players and some elite high school players. In 1996, with such NBA players as Kendall Gill, Tim Hardaway, Stephon Marbury, Kevin Garnett and Randy Brown, Whiteside came away as the event’s MVP. Word leaked out to Chicago-native and former Detroit Piston Isiah Thomas, who was then the Toronto Raptors’ general manager. Thomas investigated the situation.

Soon after, Whiteside signed with the Raptors for a season. The following year, he played three games with the Atlanta Hawks.

“He’s been to the highest level, and that’s what we all want to get to,” NIU freshman forward Rome Sanders said. “He leads us by example.”

A leader by example is what Judson was looking for in spring 1989 when he was announced the head coach at NIU, coming from an assistants job at the University of Illinois.

“Donald has played in every gym in the city,” Judson said. “His ties to Chicago are great, and he’s done a wonderful job here at Northern.”

So, while many have doubted this sub-6-footer more times than he can count on both of his hands, one thing is evident.

“He can be an example to anybody who has the desire to reach their highest goals,” Collins said.