Big man on campus: Former VCU star returns to the classroom during NBA lockout

Jim Swing
Sports Editor
Commonwealth Times’ Sports Twitter

Larry Sanders was at the epicenter of basketball’s mecca when Amar’e Stoudemire instilled a few words to him that allowed reality to sink in.

“He said ‘Look around, this is the NBA,’” Sanders recalled. “And I looked around, and everybody was standing on their feet at Madison Square Garden, and it was sick – that was the moment for me.”

It was March 25, 2011, nearly five months into his professional basketball career, when it finally hit Sanders that he had made it to the NBA.

Walking in and out of arenas with thousands of people caged inside, getting paid to play the sport that he loves had become a constant routine for the 22-year-old Milwaukee Bucks’ big-man.

But a lot has changed for Sanders ever since the NBA closed its doors to players.

Now, he finds himself walking in and out of lecture halls. He’s traded in his playbooks for textbooks. He’s being taught by a teacher rather than a coach. And his seasons have turned to semesters.

FROM THE HARDWOOD TO THE CLASSROOM

Walking into class, Sanders attempts to sneak his 6-foot-11, 235-pound frame through the lecture hall’s doors without drawing any notice.

“The doors are in the back of the class and everybody’s looking that way, so I can usually sneak in and sneak out without anybody seeing me,” he says.

Along with trying to go unnoticed, Sanders faces the daunting task of finishing off his college degree. He left VCU following his junior year to enlist in the NBA Draft after finishing second all-time in blocking and fourth on the school’s rebounding list.

But Sanders admits he left without crossing one important accomplishment off his list.

“It’s a goal of mine,” Sanders said. “My mom would love to see me walk across that stage; it’s still a goal for my family. It’d be big for us still for me to graduate from college at a big university.”

For now, he is taking one course online and one in the classroom. Sanders estimates he has a year and a semester remaining until he can receive his degree in sociology, and as of right now, he has all the time in the world.

“What else would I do with my time, but take classes?” Sanders joked. “I wanted to get my degree; I wanted to work toward it. I left school early; it’s still a goal of mine to finish school, and I thought that since I have this time now, I can still work out here at VCU, which got me to the NBA, and take classes.”

RIDING OUT THE LOCKOUT

Sanders, along with many other players, never thought the lockout would last this long.

And it only seems to be getting worse.

On Tuesday, the NBA cancelled the entire preseason. Next week, the first two weeks of the season are expected to be axed.

But while a lot of players are left looking for answers, Sanders has been lucky enough to have an inside source.

Bucks’ teammate Keyon Dooling is vice president of the NBA Player’s Association and checks in every now and then to give Sanders an update from the trenches.

“After each meeting he’ll call and inform me and let me know certain things or just what I should be doing and how to prepare for the time because we don’t know,” Sanders said.

He admits it has been difficult having no say on whether he will have a job tomorrow or in the near future.

“I would say that the toughest part is just not knowing because it’s our job now and not knowing when it’s going to start back or the progress,” he said. “All we can do now is just sit and wait, so it’s not even really worrying about it, it’s just thinking about getting better.”

But rather than sit around and wait for information and updates, Sanders has decided to make use of his time.

Along with taking classes, he’s been hitting the gym with former VCU stars Eric Maynor, Brandon Rozzell and Ed Nixon; trying to fix some of the mistakes he made in his rookie season.

Since players are not allowed to come in contact with coaches, Sanders sat down with his a month prior to the lockout to talk about his responsibilities in the downtime.

“Just working on my game,” Sanders said. “Working on things that I struggled with last year – position, timing – just a lot of things that a lot of guys learn early that I didn’t get to a chance to learn early.”

While many players have toyed with the notion of playing overseas as a result of the lockout, Sanders said that’s currently not an option for him.

“If things were to change or last longer, that could be an option in the future,” he said. “But as of right now, no, because I have class.”

If it was up to Sanders, the lockout would be over and everybody would be happy. But he knows that’s not the way it works.

“I want things to work out for everybody,” Sanders said. “That’s just me; you know, I think everybody should just get paid for what they do and it should be fair, but the world isn’t fair.”

So he grips his days in stride, taking advantage of all the extra time he’s had to get better, and preparing for the day the lockout is lifted.

“I’m just going to take the time now, all the time that we have, to try to get better at those things so that when we start back, I’ll be ready and prepared to start the season,” Sanders said. “Because you never know when you have 30 games left or 50 games or 80 games, so you just got to be ready.”

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Photos by: Kyle LaFerriere