08:09 PM CST on Wednesday, January 10, 2007

By MATT WIXON / The Dallas Morning News

PLANO – The emotional high point of Raahul (pronounced Rah-húl) Ramakrishnan's basketball experience is easy to pinpoint. It's when he and his Plano teammates won the Class 5A state title last season.

The literal high point, as in altitude, is harder to identify. But it might have come before a game, when Ramakrishnan was finishing a 360-degree dunk or another impressive slam.

"Warmup is the fun time," he said. "That's the time to show off."

Especially when you're 6-4 and have a 39 ½ -inch vertical leap. That's why Ramakrishnan, nicknamed "Rama" by his teammates, can rise so easily above the rim.

He's also head and shoulders above academically. His score on the math and reading portion of the SAT was 1,590, just shy of a perfect 1,600.

"He's so smart, it's scary," Plano coach Tom Inman said. "I told him that he would've got a perfect score had he not been around me for two years. I probably knocked him down 10 points."

Knock "Rama" down 500 points and he would still be above the national average. But he is like an average kid, Inman said. Maybe just a little more serious and mature.

"It's like he was born an adult," said Inman.

Which is a good thing most of the time. But "Rama" expects so much from himself, the senior post sometimes gets down on himself.

"I don't know if it's a bad thing or a blessing," he said. "I kind of strive for perfection. I hate to make mistakes."

He makes a lot fewer than he did when he started playing basketball in seventh grade. Ramakrishnan said he was "pretty horrible" then. But he stuck with it, and he now hopes to play for an Ivy League school.

He just needs to attract a coach's attention. As for the academic part, well ...

He's pretty much a slam dunk.

E-mail mwixon@dallasnews.com