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A quick learner: Johns has adjusted well to her new home -- on and off the court

Basketball 101.

The course description reads:

In this course, you will learn how to shoot, pass, dribble, steal, rebound and block shots.

You will also be taught how to hit the outlet pass, follow up your shot, make a bounce pass, be part of a full-court press, make a variety of moves in the paint, and fool the opponent about your next move.

Learn the basics of shooting the jump shot and add in a fade-away and turnaround as the semester progresses.

The course will be divided into two sections -- offense and defense.

For the first half of the course, learn how to post up in the paint, grab the ball off a pass from the perimeter, dribble through the lane, fool your opponent with a head fake and shoot the ball off the backboard for two points.

In the second half, gather all of the skills necessary for playing man-to-man and the 2-3 zone defensive schemes. Get the proper tutelage on putting your body in and pushing the opponent out of the paint.

In addition, pick up skills in boxing your opponent out and swatting a shot out of bounds.

By the end of the course, you will get to apply the skills on the basketball court.

There will be one cumulative exam at the close of the course.

Pollyanna Johns took this course in her freshman year of high school.

The starting center of the Michigan women's basketball team had moved from Jamaica to the United States just three years earlier.

She saw how the kids in her class were doing it. She thought it was something she should try to learn.

This basketball "thing" looked like something that she would enjoy.

Besides, she was an athlete already. Johns ran track and field and threw the discus in her secondary school in Jamaica.

And she was tall -- over six feet tall.

"When I came here (to the United States), a majority of the people had a preconceived notion that tall people can play basketball," Johns said. "I was tall, so I guess people figured I could play basketball."

It didn't take long for Johns to get accustomed to the game -- maybe a year or so.

Johns passed Basketball 101 with flying colors. She handled the course like a flip book, going through each page of hoops skills with unbelievable speed.

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Johns has been the lone bright spot in the Wolverines' (1-15 Big Ten, 7-19 overall) disappointing season.

If it weren't for her, the loss total could have jumped even more and Michigan could be sitting here today with no conference wins to talk about.

Johns' 14.6 points per game and 10.1 rebounds per game lead the team. Her rebounding average ranks in the top 20 in the nation.

Her slender 6-foot-3 frame takes up space in the paint and in a flash she can get around the opponent and head to the basket for two points.

Johns led the Wolverines to one of their few victories in December against Houston, posting 20 points and pulling down 16 rebounds.

She scored a career-high 30 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in a heartbreaking loss at Michigan State Jan. 5. And she equaled that scoring total three games later against Illinois.

Conference opponents had problems matching up against Johns. She was dominating in the post, spinning for a turnaround jumper or driving with force to the basket for an easy layup.

Michigan coach Trish Roberts thinks that because she puts in the effort game in and game out, she might be first team all-Big Ten.

"I don't think Pollyanna (Johns) understands or visualizes how great a player she can be," Roberts said "She can come out in any game and put out great numbers if she wants to."

One reason for her not realizing her potential is the fact that she has only played the game for six years now, and she is still learning.

There was no chance to learn basketball in Jamaica.

Born December 6, 1975, in Nassau, Johns moved to Kingston, Jamaica, a year later. She lived there for 13 years, and not one time did she hear of or watch any basketball.

"Where I came from, nobody knew anything about basketball," Johns said. "I didn't know anything about basketball.

"I didn't even know anything about Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson until I came here."

What Johns did know how to do was run track and field and do the long jump, competing on her junior high school team in Kingston.

Johns can boast to her three sisters (Alice, Stephanie and Carlene) and her two brothers (Garfield and Leon) of being the only athlete in her family.

But that was not enough for the Johns family. Jamaica's economy was extremely poor and, after visiting the United States for the first time, the Johns family decided they would be better off in America.

So when Johns was 13, she and her family moved to Evanston and that's where they have lived ever since.

Johns entered Evanston Township High School and began to see how popular basketball really was. She got involved in basketball for the first time by just watching her schoolmates and imitating what they would do. Since she was tall, Johns figured it would be a game in which she could succeed.

"I was trying to learn the game and catch up with everyone else," Johns said. "But I didn't know what it could do for me. I was new to the game. We (the Johns family) were all knew to the game."

But basketball wasn't her first success in high school.

When first asked by high school coach Cynthia Bumbry whether Johns would like to learn how to play, Johns said no, at first, because she was interested in something completely different -- modeling.

Not only did Johns partake in modeling competitions, but she fared pretty well.

Johns captured second runner-up in Miss Young America 1990-91 and received a trophy in doing so.

But she latched on to Bumbry soon after, being talked into playing hoops. Johns worked with her morning and afternoon, learning the game and working on conditioning.

"I'm a fast learner," Johns said. "I just watched what other people did and just tried to mimic them. Coach Bumbry took time out to help me. She would teach me as early as 7:30 a.m. the basic fundamentals of basketball."

And a fast learner she was. Even though Johns admits that it took a full year to get accustomed to the sport, she got instant fame.

Newspapers in the Chicago area immediately noticed Johns and they wrote about her instantly -- so much that Johns' mother, Sadie, was overwhelmed.

"Pollyanna was in the paper all the time," Sadie Johns said. "So much that I was getting tired of getting the papers."

"Sometimes when I went to work people would say to me, `Mrs. Johns, did you see your daughter in the newspaper?' I said no. My supervisor always saved the papers for me. I was so proud of her, 100 percent."

Johns progressed smoothly and ended her high school career averaging 14 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks per game.

Roberts saw Johns for the first time in a summer league tournament outside Chicago and liked what she saw.

"I was so impressed with her athletic ability," Roberts said. "Her running and jumping was really amazing."

What led to her incredible athletic nature was joining the Evanston Township track and field team, where she ran and threw the discus. She was Illinois state champion in 1993.

In addition, after watching the 1992 Summer Olympics U.S. women's volleyball team, Johns developed a strong liking for the sport and played for her high school team, starting junior year.

Besides Michigan, Johns looked at many colleges from all over the country. She chose from Florida, Iowa, Illinois and Connecticut just to name a few.

Johns remembers the first time she met Roberts.

"It was very professional, but I was kind of nervous," Johns said. "When I thought (Roberts) would be real dressed up, she was wearing jeans and sweats.

"That's the reason I came here. She was so relaxed and down to earth."

One would think that Johns would have decided to go to a women's basketball powerhouse, such as Iowa. Why would someone with that much potential go to a school that was 13-68 overall and won only four times in 51 chances in the conference in the last three years?

Why go to a losing program? Because Johns wanted to be the piece that could turn the Wolverines around.

"I knew that Michigan was a struggling team," Johns said. "I wanted to go somewhere where I would get playing time. I wanted to be part of transferring the program and helping Michigan get better."

Johns didn't get off to a good start, however.

In only her ninth game of the season, Johns tore her anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee against Kansas State and missed the remainder of the season.

That has been the turning point of her young career.

Still being new to the game, this was a great opportunity for Johns to learn more about basketball just by watching from the bench.

Her attitude was good, because both Michigan guard Jennifer Kiefer and forward Jennifer Brzezinski had the same injury, and they gave Johns advice on how to cope with it.

At first, Johns was completely frustrated, but now that she has reflected on last year, she knows that the injury, to some effect, helped her.

"I was just mad after injuring my knee because I was ready to play and I had got used to things.," Johns said. "Looking back, I'm not mad that I did it. I look at it as a blessing in disguise because I'm new to the game and it gave me a chance to sit and watch."

Roberts, who also had an ACL injury when she played in college, agrees with Johns' assessment.

"I think she probably learned more by watching," Roberts said. "I think she kind of visualized in her mind that `next year I come in I have to make sure I do that.' I think she learned a lot by watching."

Johns worked out over the summer with Michigan trainer Robin Moore. Johns stayed in the weight room and ran on the track every day.

The sophomore center is fully healed of her knee injury and has shown her desire to get even stronger. Johns may even run track and field this season, after the conclusion of this basketball season.

Johns said that teams had better beware next year because she will have a whole new arsenal of post-up moves.

She is tired of losing this much. She is frustrated by the fact that Michigan State fans outnumbered and out-cheered Michigan fans in the loss to Michigan State Feb. 19. She can't stand the feeling of losing; it's not in her blood.

But what has kept and will keep her going is her long-term goal of competing in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, either playing basketball or throwing the discus.

But not for the United States, for Jamaica.

"I know for a fact Jamaica doesn't have a discus thrower," Johns said. "It would be nice to be the first discus thrower for my country. Whatever sport, I just can't wait for the opening ceremonies."

Johns can imagine it now. Walking around the track in Sydney, waving to the crowd as a member of the Jamaican Olympic team, with her family watching.

"I would be so proud of her to see her in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics," Sadie Johns said. "That would be great, that would be No. 1."

Time for Johns to flip through a new basketball course. With her speed at learning the sport, she could become a scholar in no time.