Mid-American Conference coaches have compiled a comprehensive scouting report on Central Michigan's David Webber.

In short, it reads:

The kid can SCORE. Will hit from the perimeter if you give him room. But if you get up in his face he can take you off the dribble and get into the lane. And once he gets into the lane, forget it. He is strong enough to finish. Tough. Hard-nosed. ... If that isn't enough, he is always moving and cutting, using screens until the defender gets lost or gives up. ... You'd better put your best defender on him.

Webber, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior guard who was the MAC player of the year last season, chuckles when he reads the effusive praise for his offensive skills.

	Believe it or not, defense came easier to David Weber than the offensive skills that made him the MAC's player of the year.

"The only reason I was recruited out of high school was because of my defense," said Webber, who played his high school ball at Detroit Country Day with former Duke star Shane Battier and is the younger brother of former Michigan star and current Sacramento King forward Chris Webber. "I considered myself to be an exceptional defensive player. It was something I prided my self on.

"I never really developed my offensive game until I got here. My freshman year, I always took the hardest guy to defend. That was a big compliment.

"After that, I decided that if I want to get where I'm trying to go by the time I'm done playing basketball here at Central, I had to get my offensive game to somewhere near where my defensive game was at."

How much of an offensive liability was Webber as a freshman? Well, let's just say he wouldn't fare well in a game of "Make-it-Take-it."

"If you would have seen me play my freshman year," he said laughing, "you wouldn't think I had much talent.

"I still think I'm a better defender. I don't get as much credit for it now because I score so many points."

Webber led the MAC in scoring last season (18.4 points per game), manufacturing points in just about every conceivable manner, to help Central Michigan go from worst to first. The Chippewas finished 6-23 in Webber's sophomore season but last season won the West Division title (14-4) and finished 20-8 overall. The 14½-game turnaround was the second-best nationally, behind Boston College's 15-game turnaround.

Webber wants more this season. He hasn't forgotten the loss to Miami (Ohio) in the first round of the conference tournament.

"Last year we kind of upset a lot of teams," he said. "No one really knew who we were. Last year's championship wouldn't mean as much to me as (winning) a championship this year. No one took us seriously last year.

This year, we have a target on our back. When we get our rings (from last season), I don't even think I'm going to wear them. It's not the same as winning when everyone knows you are good. And we lost the first game in our conference tournament. So how good were we really?"

No one doubts Webber's skills.

"He finds different ways to hurt opponents," said Kent State rookie coach Stan Heath, an assistant Michigan State last season. "And he can certainly change the tide of a game with his scoring ability.

"He can create his own shot but he also finds other ways to score. By running the floor, by getting himself open through screens. By constantly moving."

Jay Smith is entering his fifth season as Central Michigan's head coach. He was an assistant at Michigan when Chris Webber and the Fab Five carried the Wolverines to consecutive Final Fours.

"He understands the game better than Chris did at this stage because David has had to work at it," Smith said. "And then he has got the strength to get inside and finish, and if he does miss to stay with it.

"He has got great range on his jump shot. He has expanded that by really shooting shots at the NBA range over the course of the summer."

David Webber added 1.5 steals per game last season, the No. 8 mark in the MAC and grabbed 5.2 rebounds per game, good for 20th in the conference. But, Smith proudly notes that David Webber led the team in rebounding.

	“	If you would have seen me play my freshman year, you wouldn't think I had much talent. I still think I'm a better defender. I don't get as much credit for it now because I score so many points. ”
		— David Webber, Central Michigan senior guard

"That is kind of a buried stat that nobody really looks at," he said.

If MAC coaches were hoping to learn that the younger Webber sat on his backside -- and his laurels -- during the summer they are going to be disappointed. Though he didn't need additional motivation to work on his overall game, he got some when he wasn't invited to the tryouts for the USA team that competed in the World Basketball Championships for Young Men.

"Being from the Mid-American Conference, from Central Michigan University," David Webber said, "I didn't think I would actually make the team. But I thought I deserved at least a tryout.

"I'm not angry at the people who make the selections. I understand where they are coming from. I can't get mad at them, but I can get mad at myself for not going out and performing every single night above what I was doing."

Webber eventually ventured to Sacramento to train with his older brother.

"It is a goal for someone in Division III to play in the NBA," Webber said. "That is everyone's goal. I'd by lying if I said it wasn't a goal of mine. It is a goal and I think it is a reachable goal."

First things first. Webber wants to lead the Chippewas to another conference title and this time into the NCAA tournament.

"My only individual goal is that I want to get defensive player of the year," he said, referring to the MAC award. "I've showed I can lead the conference in scoring. But I want to show I can get out in the passing lanes and deflect balls and get steals. To be one of the best perimeter defensive players in the country, that is my goal."

Ball State coach Tim Buckley will take more modest goals onto the court when his team faces Webber this season. Two seasons ago, the year before Buckley was named head coach at Ball State, Webber lit the Cardinals up for 51 points in one game. Last season, Webber missed the teams' first meeting with mononucleosis and scored just seven points in the rematch.

"We walked onto the floor the first game and I said to one of my assistants, Webber is not playing tonight," Buckley said. "That means we're a 51-point favorite.

"I'm betting he will score somewhere in-between this time."

Will Buckley be happy if Webber goes off for 51 again?

"As long as we win," he said, "I won't care."

If Buckley wants to win the game, he would be wise to put his best defender on Webber.

Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.