WYNNEWOOD, Pa. -- Call him a school-day suburbanite out here on the leafy Quaker campus of Friends' Central.

Fine. But don't doubt his street cred.

Mustafa Shakur is a Philly kid through and through. The 6-foot-3 point is a regular at some of the toughest runs in one of the toughest hoops cities in America.

The Sonny Hill League at Broad and Montgomery? At 25th and Diamond for the Hank Gathers 19-and-under? 52nd and Parkside for the Cory Erving? 16th and Susquehanna?

It doesn't matter. Been there. Done that.

"'Staf don't duck nobody," said Littel Vaughn, the editor of the Brotherly Love Roundball Report. "Wherever there's a game, he's there."

Which is but one reason the Arizona-bound Shakur is considered the top lead guard in the prep Class of 2003 -- and one of a series of reasons Lute Olson's program is not only ranked at or near the top of the polls but poised to stay there for years to come.

Heralded Houston combo forward Ndi Ebi -- a fellow Wildcat-to-be -- is himself a blue-chipper sure to be dubbed a McDonald's All-American in the spring. Kirk Walters, a center from Grand Rapids, Mich., is an intriguing post get.

But Shakur is the future floor general at Point Guard U.

"He's a basketball fanatic, a junkie," said Greg Wright, his coach with the Hunting Park Warriors club team. "And believe me: Wherever he's playing, he's working on things."

That working on things? It's worked.

Shakur averaged 16.5 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals a game last winter at FCS. Folks started to realize: Shakur was really darn good. One of the nation's best.

It wasn't always that way, though. At least not on the recognition front.

He came up with Wright's Logan All-Stars and the Hunting Park Warriors. He started his high school career at Public League member William Penn.

There was only lukewarm buzz early on.

"You just saw this wiry, gangly kid," said Norm Eavenson, who scouts the Philly area for recruiting maven Bob Gibbons.

"But I tell you what: He could see the floor. He kind of had this expressionless game face -- inside, though, you could tell he was a real competitor."

It showed at the Big Time in July of 2001. Shakur helped Hunting Park to the Final Four at the 300-plus-team tournament in Las Vegas.

The biggies started calling shortly thereafter. Locals and mid-majors turned into UConn, Syracuse, North Carolina State and Arizona.

His junior season at FCS did little to change that. Shakur played with purpose. He was a man on a mission.

"Mustafa is quiet off the court," Friends' coach Keino Terrell said last week in his office here at the Shimada Athletic Center. "On the court he does whatever's needed. You put a challenge to him, and he'll eat it up."

Hence the U of A.

He picked the talent-rich Wildcats over N.C. State at a press conference earlier this month -- a low-key press conference, that is, in true 'Staf style.

"Every 12- and 13-year-old wants to go to college and play ball," Wright said. "A lot of kids dream about that, but not all of them work for it. Mustafa knew what he wanted and knew what it took. He put forth the energy.

"He's one of a kind."

One of a kind? He's just one of the Shakurs. He's the youngest of six kids in a tight-knit but serious-minded Muslim family.

He doesn't go out. He doesn't do the party scene. He just goes about his work -- his grades as well as his game -- in his own businesslike way.

And even now -- even with all the hype, from Philly to Tucson -- he still doesn't see himself as the No. 1 point guard in the country.

"I never stop to think about it," Shakur said on a recent Sunday afternoon junket to his home playground at 10th and Olney. "To this day, I'm never, like, 'Wow, I'm this or that.'"

He'll leave that stuff to the gurus and pundits. They'll oblige. And rightfully so.

Shakur needs to add a few pounds -- strength, really, rather than straight weight -- and he needs to fine-tune his jumper and develop a quicker release.

But he does get his teammates shots, he does read defenses, and he does lead the guys on his side -- without, of course, having to be all rah-rah.

"'Staf leads by example," Terrell said. "He's always the first one to practice and the last one to leave. He gets people involved. He makes the game as easy as possible for everyone else. He's really effortless."

At least he makes it look that way. That's thanks to all that time spent in all those leagues and on all those playgrounds.

In Philly's gyms. On Philly's streets.

Michael Kruse is a Boston-based freelance writer and frequent contributor to ESPN.com.