CHAPEL HILL - When Sean May was a star forward at North Carolina, he often could be found slouched in the back of his classes, just trying to get through his seminars and to the next Tar Heels practice.

But now that he's a millionaire player for the Charlotte Bobcats, he sits front and center at UNC each summer -- eyes fixed on his professor, another goal in sight.

"Now that I've got to pay for it, now that I'm so close to graduating, I make sure I'm right in front of the teacher, paying attention and taking notes," he said. "But I've had so many of my classmates ask, 'What are you doing here?' and, 'Are you really you?' "

And can you really blame them?

May and Atlanta Hawks forward Marvin Williams are the latest former Tar Heels to trade their pro playbooks for steno notebooks each offseason, taking courses in hopes of getting their degrees.

"I think it's so funny when I see them with their backpacks -- guys making a pretty good living -- walking across campus," UNC assistant coach Joe Holladay said. "I'm proud of them."

When May and Williams jumped to the NBA early after the 2005 national championship season, each promised coach Roy Williams he would return to earn his diploma -- following in the heels of former UNC players Michael Jordan, James Worthy, J.R. Reid, Jerry Stackhouse, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison.

And they're getting closer.

May, a rising senior when he was drafted 13th overall by the Bobcats, now only needs four credits -- a geology class and lab -- to reach that goal. After taking a statistics course on campus earlier this summer, he opted to skip UNC's second summer session to concentrate on his basketball camp and attend summer league games in Las Vegas. But he plans to finish up next spring.

Meanwhile Williams, a rising sophomore when he was drafted second overall, is now a junior in academic standing. After taking Swahili during UNC's first summer session and finishing an independent study course over the coming months, he plans to have 71 credits completed by the time the fall semester begins. Students at North Carolina need at least 120 credits to graduate.

"Every summer, at least one person asks me, 'Why are you here?' " said Williams, who averaged 14.8 points and 5.7 rebounds during the Hawks' regular season. "I say, 'Why not?' It's something you started, so why not finish it? A lot of guys say that they're going to come back and do it, and I know myself: If I would have stopped, I would have never started again. So I just keep trying to keep going, keep going, until it's done."

Seeing early-entry NBA players return for their diplomas is becoming more common.

The NCAA doesn't keep specific data on that subject. But at Duke, Mike Dunleavy, who was drafted third overall by the Golden State Warriors in 2002, is now a graduate. And according to a team spokesman, Olympic team member Carlos Boozer, who also declared early in 2002, plans to be in Durham the next two summers to finish up.

In Chapel Hill, returning to class has become a long-standing tradition. Besides May and Williams, Bobcats point guard Raymond Felton, who also left early after the 2005 season, has taken some correspondence courses. Holladay is also hopeful that Rashad McCants and Brandan Wright -- the other two players who have left early since Roy Williams became head coach in 2003 -- will eventually graduate, as well.

"When you've got youngsters thinking about going pro early, and they see guys like Marvin and Sean come back ... I think it plants a seed that carries on, so it does nothing but help our program,'' Holladay said. "Those are just special kids. I know they know about Vince Carter coming back, Antawn coming back, Michael Jordan coming back, JR Reid ..."

Next page >