One

Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion is a massive glass building with a steel roof and steal-gated windows on Westwood Plaza in Westwood Village, Los Angeles. Westwood, home to University of California, Los Angeles, is bordered by Brentwood on the west, Bel-Air on the north, Century City and Beverly Hills on the east. Encompassing UCLA's Nell and John Wooden Court, Pauley Pavilion is home to the Bruins men's basketball team.

It's the third week of January 2010, and that means its time for one of the most anticipated match ups of the season: Bruins at home to USC's Trojans. Travis Reichard is one of UCLA's freshman recruits for the 2009-2010 season. Travis hasn't been starting, but he has been getting enough playing time off the bench to show off his talent to coaches, giving them tough decisions about the next games starting line-up. On USC's starting line-up is freshman recruit Quincy McCall, get plenty of playing time at the one and making a name for himself on the west coast circuit.

Two

Travis Reichard has had a difficult recent couple of months, however. His foster mother, Georgia, died recently. The story on the streets says Travis was at a liquor store one night on Melrose, picking up groceries for Georgia and his brothers and sisters. Travis doesn't like talking about what happened that night, but rumors go about how the clerk didn't give him break when he didn't have enough money. The man behind Travis was next once in line for the register, as Travis moved aside in anger and disbelief. The man, by distracting the clerk, had him enough time to rob the register, give Travis the groceries, and leave, with Travis following suite. The clerk immediately followed after thug, but not wanting to leave his store unsupervised, had to let the thug go. Travis saw the thief run the other way, feeling indifferent about what just happened.

But what happened next made Travis realize he just made the biggest mistake of his life, feeling immense guilt and remorse. As the thief ran away from his crime scene, he stumbled upon the sidewalks rough cracks and fell to the ground, his gun sliding away from him. Georgia was right there when it happened, seeing the steel weapon decelerate in front of her feet, and she stared into the thief's eyes, knowing this gun wasn't going to be used for any type of self-defense. Both her and the thug scrambled towards the gun, a decision that ended Georgia's life, as the thug pulled the trigger into Georgia's chest. The thug booked it, and Travis saw, from across the street, the event that sent him into a wild depression throughout the last few months.

I haven't talked to Travis about the incident, as he is unwilling to shed out any details, but I have noticed he cares a lot more about basketball, and a lot less about his schoolwork

"Man, basketball is an escape for me", Travis says "doing homework just brings me down, I'm just not that good at school, I only wanna play basketball."

Travis has been struggling with maintaining an Athletic-eligible GPA, his defense being his mind is "somewhere else" when he opens up his textbook. I can sympathize with him, however. He just been through the toughest moment in his life, and of course his focus on school is impeded by thoughts of remorse and guilt. But it's unclear if the UCLA will share my sympathy, as Travis tells me they have "threatened" to put him on academic probation if he doesn't raise his GPA soon.

The problem is that although I can see why Travis is struggling with school, he needs to not dwell on what has been done, and think about his future. I've seen kids like Russell and Corey not move forward with basketball because of academics. Travis is lucky though, he wasn't held back by the SAT, and did get recruited for college basketball. He has been given a chance of a lifetime that people like Russell and Corey would kill for. I sympathized for Russell and Corey, and its unfortunate to see Travis throw away his education because of an event that wasn't his fault.

Quincy McCall was recruited by USC the same year as Travis, and has been starting, playing well. ESPN high school basketball recruiting nation ranked him a top recruit prior to the 2009 season. He's been averaging about 14 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals while shooting a career high 55% from the field. Quincy isn't struggling with his grades, but he has been dealing with family issues. Quincy just found out his father isn't the man he seemed to be, being caught with other women, and betraying Quincy's mother.

Travis has been having a hard time dealing with his family issues, and so has Quincy, but Quincy is still maintaining his high GPA. With his great first season at USC coming to halt in a few months, Quincy has told me he's thinking about going straight into the NBA draft. "Oh no", I thought, has Quincy not listened to any thing his father has said? Quincy's father Zeke is a Los Angeles Clipper who regretted never getting his college degree, and sees the benefits it will bring to Quincy's future. Quincy doesn't care what his father says, not knowing if he can even call Zeke his father anymore, after what he's done to his mother and him.

It would be a tragedy to see these two young boys make the biggest mistakes of there lives by not finishing their higher education. Unemployment rates for high school graduates are at 11%, an all time high, and although Travis and Quincy aren't your average high school graduates, they would be throwing away an education so many people wish they could receive. I promise you that Russell, with all the passion he had for achieving his bachelor's degree, would never make this type of mistake. Russell wouldn't even consider leaving an opportunity like this, and it is tragic Quincy is willing to so easily.

It's easy to blame these players for not excelling in the classroom, or think their making huge mistakes when we don't know what's really going on with their personal lives. Travis is dealing with losing a relative, and of course its easy for us to criticize his school work ethic. And Quincy is going through a difficult time where he doesn't know who he can trust. Can he trust his father anymore? Maybe the reason Quincy is contemplating about leaving school and joining the NBA draft as an act of rebellion against his father. He wants his father to feel the same anger he felt.

But facts remains facts. Non-college educated peoples are finding it harder than ever to maintain jobs and financial security. Zeke is only looking out for Quincy, and Travis needs to think about his future, not about his past.