Christopher Wuensch Staff Writer

Everyone at the UA always knew Will Bynum was a great shot.

Heck, they even knew he was a wiz of a basketball player, possessing a great shot. Now, in his first season at Georgia Tech, the 5-foot-11, 185-pound round mound of downtown is beginning to flash his skills and the nation is starting to take notice.

However, life in Tucson wasn't all it was cracked up to be for Bynum.

Drowned in a sea of guards in Tucson, Bynum was best known for one shot at Arizona ÷ or seven alleged shots, for that matter.

During his freshman year, Bynum was accused of shooting out seven windows in the La Paz dormitory in March 2002. After a resident assistant and UAPD confiscated a BB gun in the 19-year old's dorm room, Bynum admitted to owning the rifle, but claimed the only thing he ever shot at the UA was a basketball.

No personal foul was ever called and Bynum escaped penalty easier than beating a full-court press. Once described by Arizona officials as a "highlight reel waiting to happen," the only nickname Bynum accrued while at the UA was Willy the Kid.

One less window and maybe they'd have called him "Six-Shooter."

The Kid has resurfaced in the South and is shooting down Atlantic Coast Conference foes. Leading the Yellow Jackets with 15.8 points per game versus ACC opponents, Bynum is finally getting a chance to contribute on a regular basis. And it only took the Chicago native slightly more than two years to do so.

Once considered an intricate part of one of the best recruiting classes ever at the UA, Bynum was supposed to join fellow recruit Salim Stoudamire in forming one of the most formidable backcourt combos in the nation.

Where Channing Frye, Stoudamire and, to a lesser extent, Isaiah Fox, have built a career for themselves at Arizona, Bynum is just now beginning his. Heck, in that timeframe, Stoudamire has risen to 31st on the Wildcat all-time scoring list.

It's no mystery that Bynum's new life and quality playing time coincide with the resurgence of Georgia Tech basketball. Midseason top 30 John R. Wooden award recipient B.J. Elder can be thanked for that. But in a dozen games with the Yellow Jackets, Bynum is opening some eyes.

It only took Willy the Kid nine games to take the Wendy's Georgia Tech Student Athlete of the Week honors. Bynum earned the red-headed burger peddler's award after a career-high 25 points on five-of-five shooting from beyond the arc in the Ramblin' Wreck's win over Maryland. After following up that performance with a 20-point game, this time versus No. 10 Wake Forest, Bynum's comeback was official. The "limitless potential" tag was lifted and replaced with a new one: "game breaker."

When asked, Bynum insists his transfer from Arizona to Georgia Tech had more to do with being closer to his family than his shrinking playing time and troubles with the law. With the respective emergence and arrival of guards Chris Rodgers and Mustafa Shakur in Tucson, no one could fault Bynum if he did leave the Old Pueblo for more playing time in Hot-lanta.

Despite starting just one game for the Yellow Jackets, Bynum has averaged 22.1 minutes per game off of Paul Hewitt's bench. Bynum's addition gives starting guards Jarrett Jack and Marvin Lewis a dangerous backup and doesn't allow opposing teams any time to let their guard down.

What would UA basketball look like had Bynum stayed? Lute Olson's program, which harvests point guards in much the same way that Georgia harvests peaches, could have a logjam at that position. Plus, an abundance of guards in the backcourt may have sent Shakur's services elsewhere.

Lute Olson's squad may miss Bynum's numbers, but it's certainly better off without the extra baggage he brought. In 1 1/2 short years (no pun intended), Bynum led the Wildcats in suspensions with two. That doesn't include the phantom suspension for being caught with a firearm on a weapons-free campus.

Bynum is now thriving in the South, where having an arsenal is not only socially acceptable, it's encouraged. Both the Wildcats and Yellow Jackets seem to be doing just fine in the wake of the Kid's departure. Georgia Tech is nationally ranked again and playing time in Tucson is being evenly dispersed.

It is a tale of two cities; the rush to put Bynum up on a pedestal in the Old Pueblo died with his transfer, but the sharpshooter could see a bronze statue bearing his likeness erected in the deep South, should he help bring down No. 1 Duke tomorrow.

Residents in La Paz can breathe deep; Will Bynum is shooting in the ACC now.