We often talk about how this player or that epitomizes the student-athlete ideal. More often than not, it's wishful thinking.
But Julius Hodge really does.
On Sunday, he lived the dream of the college basketball hero when he slashed to the basket and, with sheer single-mindedness, scored the game-winning basket with 4.3 seconds left. He drew a foul and completed a 3-point play as North Carolina State added to a string of upsets by beating the defending national champion, Connecticut, 65-62.
"We knew there was something about us," Hodge said. "The way we felt this morning, waking up, eating breakfast -- the togetherness, the unity -- we were not going to lose the game."
But I'm not a Julius Hodge fan because he hit a game-winning shot or scored 17 points or passed for six assists Sunday. I'm a fan because he has been able to maintain focus on his classes and the college life.
In the highly commercialized world of Division I basketball, he gets it. After Sunday's dramatic finish, a reporter recounted Hodge's game-winning shot and asked whether the possibility for such a moment was why he had returned for his senior year. Hodge could have easily played along. Instead he set the record straight. He said no, he came back because his mother told him to complete his degree in communications.
"She said come back to school and get your degree, and I had to do it," he said.
Hodge came to North Carolina State in the 2001-2 season, at a time Herb Sendek and his staff were under increasing criticism after six consecutive seasons without reaching the NCAA tournament. The Wolfpack hadn't made the tournament since 1990-1991.
Hodge was a McDonald's high school all-American who gave the Wolfpack hope.
"He's meant everything for our program," said Larry Harris, an NC State assistant. "Up until that time, we hadn't got a guy like him, who was a high school all-America, but who was unbelievably unselfish and willing to do things to make other guys better, along with being good himself.
"What he brought was a lot of ability, but what he also brought was that cohesiveness and togetherness. When you listen to him, that's what he's all about: winning first. Kids like him are different. He's a throwback."
Hodge clearly enjoys college.
"I think I'm prepared for the next level, but I'm still here in college, I love being a college ballplayer," he said. "Doing the homework, the 20-page papers, the three-hour practices, Coach running down my back, telling me to go harder than what I am, because I'm the leader and I'm the senior.
"I just love the college experience, and I don't want it to end anytime soon."
"Being poor one more year isn't going to hurt anybody," he said. "I've been through my share of nights, nothing to eat, mayonnaise sandwiches, butter rolls for breakfast ... struggle is what made me the way I am. It ... makes me that much stronger."
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