Nick Horvath has been there, and you better believe he has done that.
Horvath has won a national championship, hit a game-winning shot in overtime in Cameron Indoor Stadium, represented the United States overseas and played long enough at Duke to claim to know almost all of head coach Mike Krzyzewski's tricks.
He is not a typical college basketball player; it seems like Horvath has always done things a little bit differently.
The senior forward from Shoreview, Minn. is a big man who has a penchant for shooting from the outside, a fifth-year senior who took perhaps the biggest shot of his career just seven games into his freshmen season, the above mentioned bank-in three in overtime against Depaul in 1999.
In addition, he is a double major in physics and English. If all goes well, he may have a future career as a novelist, with Ernest Hemingway among his favorite writers.
Now, going into his final season as a red-shirt fifth-year senior--he was in the same class as Jason Williams, Mike Dunleavy and Carlos Boozer but missed his sophomore season with an injured right foot-- Horvath is ready to apply what he has learned over his years at Duke and make the most of his final season as a college basketball player.
"Going into the year, I'm the elder statesman," Horvath said. "It's fun for me to be the old wise man that everyone gets to turn to. I've been through it all, seen it all, so I'm just here to have a year with no regrets and enjoy taking advantage of my senior year. Once you leave college, everything changes a little bit, the real world, so going into this year, I'm going to enjoy it and work hard."
Academics and Horvath usually get mentioned in the same breath, but Horvath's play this year might also be cause for conversation this year.
With all of the buzz surrounding Duke's team this year, Horvath has slipped under the radar as much as possible, considering the player he has become.
After bulking up this summer, Horvath now is the team's strongest player, according to Shavlik Randolph, having amassed 250 pounds on his 6-foot-10 frame. The Minnesota native is a far cry from the spindly freshmen who defeated Depaul off the glass four years ago.
His ability to withstand punishment in the low block in combination with his leadership and outside shooting might make this season--Horvath's last--a potential breakout one.
But he is not too worried about his individual play now. Instead, he is focusing on helping his teammates reach their potential.
"When you come in here as a young player, your main interest is yourself," Horvath said. "You learn to lead, you learn to help others as much as you help yourself...I'm confident enough in myself and who I am, so I don't have to worry about myself on a day-to-day basis, and [I can] focus on the other guys. I don't know if you ever have [Coach K] ever completely figured out. Coach's philosophy is to never let us know exactly what he is going to do, but I definitely have seen it all. I don't think anything could happen that would be a big surprise for me, and... in that respect, [I can tell the younger guys] what to get ready for."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.