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When Dwight Brewington was just over a year old, he was diagnosed as being profoundly deaf. He has a 60-percent hearing loss and wears two hearing aids.

The 6-foot 5-inch Providence College swingman, born in Lynn, Massachusetts, went to high school at Worcester Academy, where he averaged 20.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.3 steals per game. Nicknamed "D-nice," he had a decent first season at Providence, scoring 5.7 points a contest.

There isn't much in the game that Brewington can afford to take for granted. He doesn't always hear the basketball plays shouted out by his teammates. He doesn't always hear the rhythm of sqeaking shoes and bouncing basketball. On defense, he often plays at the top of the Friar's zone. There are times when he can run into jarring picks, even if a teammate has warned that pick is forthcoming.

Don't worry about it. Brewington doesn't. He's too busy succeeding.

If you watch Brewington play, you won't want to make any excuses for him. He's good. His favorite player is Jason Kidd, and he tries to play like him, but Brewington's skills definitely extend beyond the point. He's effective as a shooting guard and small forward as well. He knows when it's time to get the ball to All-American Ryan Gomes and when to be aggressive and take it to the hoop himself.

Brewington can hear some things when the speaker is close to him or in front of him. Sometimes he just reads lips. If he can do neither, he is not shy about raising his hand and telling the coach that he either didn't hear or didn't understand what was being said. The Friars now use a lot more hand signals to run their plays than they used to.

Brewington has started the 2004-05 season with a bang. Root for him.