Ford: Hinrich tops senior crop

Originally Published: November 17, 2002

By Chad Ford | NBA Insider

What do Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy, Drew Gooden, Jonathan Bender, Jason Richardson, Joe Johnson, DerMarr Johnson, Jamal Crawford, Kedrick Brown, Steven Hunter, Gilbert Arenas, Kareem Rush, Marcus Haislip and Casey Jacobsen all have in common?

In a perfect world, they'd all be driving Pintos, scrounging for lunch money between the cushions in their dorm room couches and strutting around campus, ready to lead their teams to the coveted Big Dance. And a few months from now, they'd stroll across a podium somewhere, grab a diploma and begin preparing for the 2003 NBA draft.

In the real world, they're all driving Cadillac Escalades, have enough lunch money to buy an entire McDonald's and strut around campus wearing about 50 grand worth of bling-bling. The college basketball season is just underway, but instead of playing for an NCAA championship, these guys are flying form city to city hoping for a little time off the pine.

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