Antonio Porch sometimes tries to pattern himself after another 6-foot-6 basketball standout.

“I really like Allan Houston, the way he carries himself on the court,” Porch, a 6-6, 175-pound junior from Denver (Colo.) East High, says of Houston, a 200-pound NBA veteran playing for the New York Knicks.

Don’t get the impression Porch, who is playing for Denver’s MLK Hawks in this weekend’s Jayhawk Invitational basketball tournament, is a Houston clone, however.

The major-college prospect who has Kansas, Arizona, Colorado, Colorado State and New Mexico on his early list of schools has been compared to some other players, too.

“He has an in-between game. He’s great on the perimeter. He reminds me of a shorter version of Danny Manning. He shoots it a little better than Danny,” said a person who should know  MLK coach Mark Perlmutter, a former KU basketball student manager from 1984-89.

Perlmutter worked with Manning during the All-American’s years at KU.

“Arizona was trying to compare him to Richard Jefferson,” Perlmutter said. “He’s a lovable kid who has a lot of potential.”

Porch averaged 15 points and nine rebounds last season for 18-3 Denver East, a team ranked first in Colorado for much of the season prior to suffering a loss to Cherry Creek High in the third round of the state playoffs.

“This year I played center a lot,” said Porch. “Next year I’ll play small forward. That’s where I think I’ll play in college. I need to work on getting stronger. Right now it’s hard for me to go down low.”

Porch definitely will play major-college basketball somewhere, thanks in large part to his work ethic and versatility.

“We had to play him some at 5 (center),” said Perlmutter, assistant coach at Denver East who has been part of four state championships in Colorado  two in nine years at East. “He will do whatever he’s asked to do.

“It’s so special to be in a situation to have a young man recruited by where I went to college. I tell him stories all the time about what I did here, the relationships I had with the players at Kansas. Just being able to coach a team on this floor (Allen Fieldhouse) where basketball started for me is a dream come true. I was here under coach (Larry) Brown and coach (Roy) Williams let me stay on my fifth year in college. I helped coach (Mark) Turgeon when he coached the JV team. “This is really special for me.”

It’s special for Porch, too. He played in the Jayhawk Invitational last spring and likes Lawrence and the fieldhouse. His MLK team is 1-2 this weekend.

“It’s real quiet. There’s not a whole lot to do. The little time I’ve been here  I’m sure I could find something to do,” he said. “I really like Kansas.”

The Jayhawks’ chances of getting him if they offer? “Real good,” Porch said. “I mean, right now they don’t have to do much (selling) to get anybody. This is one of the top teams in the nation.”

The finals are 12:45 p.m. today at Allen Fieldhouse.

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Gooden decision coming soon: Drew Gooden’s dad said Saturday his son had made up his mind regarding his future and likely will make an announcement early this week.

“I know what he’ll do. I don’t want to say what it is,” Andrew Gooden II said Saturday. “I’ve known since Final Four time. I envision he and coach sitting together at a press conference soon. Coach Williams came in today and they will get together tomorrow and probably decide on the beginning of the week, definitely by Wednesday.”

Gooden’s dad wouldn’t reveal the decision, but it would classify an upset if the junior forward chooses KU over the NBA.