What can a Penn State athlete take away from four years of unsuccessful results at the collegiate level?

"We're going to graduate," Penn State men's basketball senior Jamaal Tate said, referring to himself and fellow seniors Jason McDougald an Kevin Fellows. "We're doing something different. In a time when graduation rates are down, we are getting out of here with our degrees. We're just proud to be graduating."

For Tate, graduating will be the crowning achievement on the long comeback from alcoholism, which began during his junior season of 2002-03. The Linden, N.J., native left the team after five games and said he was taking a year off to deal with a personal problem. When he resurfaced at the beginning of this season, Tate came clean with fans and reporters alike and told his story.

The Jamaal Tate story had Hollywood movie written all over it. Young man overcomes a bout with alcoholism and returns to lead his team to a successful season.

But life rarely imitates art, and instead of leading his team to its first double-digit win season since the Sweet 16 season of 2000-01, Tate became an inactive member of the team after only playing in five games. Since that time, he has been serving as a mentor for the younger Nittany Lions.

"I am happy with how the season's gone, I put in an effort and did what I could do," Tate said. "I would like to have done more, but you can't always get what you want. I'm glad to be graduating."

All three seniors will be leaving Happy Valley with degrees in three very different fields. McDougald is graduating in August with a degree in Human Development and Family Studies, Fellows is graduating in May with a degree in Supply Chain and Information Systems and Tate is graduating in August with a degree in Recreational Park Management.

With all the success they've seen in the classroom, the two active seniors -- McDougald and Fellows -- are helping the young guys more off the court than on-the-court.

"There is a right way and wrong way to do things, we're just trying to show [the freshmen] the right way." Fellows said.

Fellows learned how to do things right the hard way. A 6-foot-10 center from Meridian, Idaho, he was hit in the face with reality when he arrived at Penn State after receiving the 2001 Idaho player of the year award. He quickly learned what college basketball was all about. He explained why the competition would be a lot different at Penn State than in Idaho high school basketball by pointing to a 5-foot-7 reporter and saying, "Back home I was going up against guys his height in the post," Fellows said.

"Also with the population being so low, you don't find as much talent. So when I came out here it was like, 'Wow. I ain't the best anymore.' "

His fellow classmate -- McDougald -- was much more used to competitive basketball; he was born in Lewisville, N.C., which is just west of Winston-Salem. McDougald lived near the famed Tobacco Row of college schools (Duke, North Carolina and Wake Forest). He said he grew up idolizing players such as Demon Deacon great Tim Duncan and Tar Heel star forward Rasheed Wallace, worshiping college basketball just like any other Tobacco Row resident.

Having the ability to drive to any of the three best schools in the nation, in terms of college basketball, would leave some to question, 'Why come to Penn State?' McDougald said he just wanted to leave home followed by this explanation.

"It's not as big [in central Pennsylvania] as it is there. It's a whole lot different," he said. "Basketball takes up your whole life there, it's like football here. It's different. It's not a big deal for me anymore, but when I came here it was sort of like a culture shock, but I like it."

Liking central Pennsylvania was probably the main reason why the three seniors stuck around for the transition from Jerry Dunn to Ed DeChellis. They also mentioned that they wanted to be part of something new. Unfortunately for the hard working trio, they will not reap the rewards for work over the past year, but they believe the program is going in the right direction -- if players stay.

"[The freshman] are a great core, but you have to have people stick around. You have to have guys stick around for three or four year to build a program." Fellows said.