Even if the comparisons are unwanted, Kenny Anderson invites them. When the slender freshman at Archbishop Molloy in Queens dribbles lightning-like down the basketball court and flicks up a high-arcing jump shot that seems to have no chance of touching anything but the bottom strands of the net, Johnny Dawkins, the silky Duke guard, comes to mind.
All right then, what about Dwayne (Pearl) Washington? He is supposed to be the current standard for young guards in the city, and Anderson is constantly being called the next Pearl.
He is averaging 16 points and 8 assists a game and has led Molloy to the state Catholic championship and a berth in the overall state championships this weekend in Glens Falls. The Stanners (26-2) will play Lincoln, the Public Schools Athletic League champion, tomorrow night.
Anderson, who has grown 4 inches in the last year to an even 6 feet, doesn't really care for the comparisons. He doesn't want to be the next Pearl. He seems to understand that he can be the benchmark for other players. ''I try to be like myself,'' he said earlier this week, sitting in the office of Molloy's coach, Jack Curran.
He has a quiet confidence and easy smile, and Curran said that his confidence never spills over into arrogance. ''Off the court, he acts like just another freshman,'' Curran said. Earlier this week, the Stanners were sitting around watching a tape of last Saturday's game with St. Anthony's of Huntington Station, L.I., in the Molloy locker room.
''This is a battle of the beauty and the beast,'' intoned one of the announcers.
''Which one are we?'' asked a Molloy player.
But with the game in overtime and St. Anthony's ahead by 2 points, Anderson made what he admitted was the most important play of his young career. He got a rebound and shot over Greis with four seconds left. Greis fouled him as the ball went in, and Anderson also made the extra shot, giving Molloy an 89-88 victory.
Anderson's 27-point game ended a great run through the Catholic League playoffs. He scored 20 points in Molloy's first-round victory over Mount St. Michael, 28 points against Archbishop Stepinac in the next game and 23 points against Tolentine in the city championship game.
Each of those efforts was achieved after sitting out the first quarter of each game. Curran has not started Anderson in any of Molloy's games. ''I know I have to wait my turn,'' he said.
College recruiters are not waiting to contact Anderson. Curran shuffles through envelopes addressed to Anderson from Duke, Villanova, Michigan, the State University at Binghamton (''They don't have a chance in a million,'' Curran said), Syracuse and Notre Dame.
There are many more, but Curran said he won't show them to Anderson until after the season ends. ''He's going to get a thousand letters before he's a junior,'' said Curran, who has coached for 28 years at Molloy and has the second-best career record in New York prep-school history.
Anderson already had a reputation as the best young player in the city before he arrived at Molloy, even though he didn't play basketball for Intermediate School 61 last year. He said that he wanted to concentrate on his schoolwork.
Kevin Joyce, who played for Molloy and South Carolina before going on to be a starter on the 1972 United States Olympic team and a four-year player in the American Basketball Association, sees an unlimited future for Anderson. ''He's way ahead of me,'' said Joyce, whose career was ended by a knee injury.
''If he keeps his head, I think he'll be one of the greatest ever to play,'' said Joyce, now a bond trader who also follows the fortunes of his alma mater keenly.