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Former St. Patrick star making transition to college and point guard

BY MIKE VORKUNOV

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

You can take the kid out of Jersey but you can't take the Jersey out of the kid. Dexter Strickland is proof of that.

Strickland, a Rahway native who made his name at St. Patrick High School, is a freshman at North Carolina. He averages 14.1 minutes a night for the No. 10 team in the country, playing in an up-and-down system that is any player's dream.

Not to mention that Chapel Hill has yet to see an inch of snow.

Still, Strickland keeps an old adage close to heart.

"They always say there is no place like home," said the 6-3 guard, who is averaging 4.1 points and two assists per game this season. "So yeah I do miss Jersey and sometimes I do feel homesick."

In fact, Strickland wouldn't mind if Monday night's game against Rutgers was in Piscataway instead of the Dean Dome so that his family and friends could fill the stands to see him play.

What they would see is a prized recruit that has already had to make as big a change as you can make in basketball. In high school he was high-scoring star shooting guard who had to find his own shot, now he is a point guard who has to find shots for others.

Naturally, Strickland struggled at first. In his first five games he turned the ball over 11 times to only eight assists.

Since then he has turned the corner. His assist-to-turnover ratio improved to 14:8 and his comfort level has increased.

"Jumping new positions is going good so far," Strickland said. "I've been getting film on different point guards like Steve Nash, Chris Paul, guys like that. Trying to get a sense of how they play and what their mindset is and stuff like that so I can take their knowledge and be able to help my team out. It's been a big transition but I'm getting through it."

He's also received help from one of the Carolina legends he is in line to replace. Strickland and former UNC star Ray Felton have talked shop, with Felton trying to give him a sense of the game from the point guard's perspective and has plans to do the same with Ty Lawson in the future.

But his biggest beneficiary has been his current backcourt mate Larry Drew.

"Larry helps me out a lot," Strickland said. "When we are both subbed out he'll talk to me on the bench and tells me the plays and what certain guys are supposed to do because I don't know all of the positions. So he'll come to me on the side and tell me what coach wants and what he doesn't want."

Strickland, from his perspective, has gotten better with each game.

And as much as he misses home, he has no regrets about being at North Carolina.

Several of his family members live in close proximity and a cousin moved from Jersey to nearby Durham, and all come to see him play.

And nothing can replace the feeling he felt, one he described as unexplainable, when the Tar Heels held their annual alumni game with Vince Carter, Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace all coming back to play.

"That game was crazy," he said. "Just thinking about all those guys that came from that school, their lives now and their career. Just picturing myself there in a couple years and playing on that same level, it was just a great feeling."

So Strickland may still be 480 miles away from Rahway but home has become a lot closer.

"It's like home down here."

For more Rutgers and Seton Hall basketball coverage follow Mike Vorkunov on Twitter at @Mike_Vorkunov