Nearly a month away from graduating with a degree in sociology, Jordan Collins still has his mind set on basketball.

Collins looks forward to Europe, South America

The native of Hyattsville, Md., who was a student assistant on the men’s basketball team this past season, said he wants to play professionally overseas, but he decided to stay in school and help N.C. State before making that next move.

“Coach Sendek gave me the opportunity to get my fifth year,” Collins said. “I decided I would rather help out with the basketball team and take classes — it’s a great opportunity for me to help coach the basketball team while still being in school.”

While taking two classes with only one required in order to graduate, Collins is already looking ahead to next year.

“I would stick with coaching if a great opportunity came up, whether if it was with State or another school,” Collins said. “But right now, I’m working with several agents who are trying to get me a contract to play basketball overseas in certain countries.”

The trip overseas would not be the first one for Collins, either. He lived in Germany until he was 6 years old. In high school, his team traveled to Germany in order to play in a basketball tournament.

Collins, who hopes to play in Europe or South America, said the people in those places treat basketball players great.

“It’s nice over there,” Collins said. “I’m sure you miss your family, but they take care of everything for you — your housing, your living, your transportation.”

Along with other Wolfpack basketball players, Collins would take a well-beaten path. Two of those players include Marcus Melvin, who finished his career with the Wolfpack in 2004, and Clifford Crawford, who exhausted his eligibility in 2003. Melvin and Collins used to be roommates when they played for State.

Melvin plays in Italy and Crawford is in Germany. Collins, who still often talks with his former teammates, also hears from former Clemson forward Sharrod Ford.

“I still talk to those guys all the time,” Collins said. “Marcus tells me that it’s the best time of your life. You get paid to play basketball. You can’t really beat that — no matter where it is.”

During the summer, Collins said he plans to go back home to Maryland or stay around State to work out. He also said he wants an opportunity to go overseas during the summer to get a feel for what it’s like.

If he makes the trip overseas to play professionally, Collins said he wants to display all aspects of his game.

“I want to take a little bit of everything over there,” Collins said. “The European style is different from over here — they can all shoot and play really fundamental.”

Collins as a coach

Even though he has already made plans to go overseas, Collins insists he is still focused on finishing school and helping the Pack.

This past season, Collins did just that — he attended nearly all the practices and worked with the big men.

“In certain situations I would play with the team,” Collins said. “I’ve been working with Cedric Simmons and Ben McCauley a lot. I mostly worked with Cedric on his post moves, his post defense and his shooting.”

Simmons, who improved his field-goal percentage from just more than 50 percent to nearly 60 percent and made both of his 3-pointers, worked on his outside jumper.

However, Collins, who shot better than 46 percent from behind the arc, did not take the credit for the sophomore’s improved mid-range jumper.

“That’s mostly Cedric,” Collins said. “He puts in a lot of time and effort with his shot. I told him to get in there, and I tried to help him change some things on it when dealing with certain techniques. But that’s mostly him.”

Collins said the main thing with freshman forward McCauley was that he needed to learn how to play with people his size.

“In high school, I’m sure he was the biggest person on the court,” Collins said. “I worked with him on being more physical because he won’t be able to do the same things that he did in high school.”

McCauley said having Collins work with him and Simmons in practice was a huge advantage.

“He made my freshman year go by very smoothly, and he was always there to help,” McCauley said.

“He worked with all the big men during practice and made us all better players. Going against him was like going against a veteran of the game. He knows all the little things about the game, especially in the post. He would work hard on defense against myself and Cedric and also help us with our post moves.”

He added Collins was an encouragement for him throughout the season.

“Jordan is also one of the nicest guys I have ever met, and he was always positive,” McCauley said. “If I was going in the game he would tell me not to let anything back and play my game.”

While talking about helping the team, Collins said he still wished he could have gone back to certain points of the season last year.

“The thing I really missed the most this year was playing,” Collins said. “I miss it so much, but I wish I could go back to the Wake Forest game last year. I wish I hadn’t hurt my shoulder, and I wish we would have won that game.”

The game against the Demon Deacons was his Senior Day — a day he said he would not forget. He does remember all the Senior Day signs fans made, though. Collins said it was a way for the fans to thank him and the other seniors for their time spent.

“I think they really appreciate all the hard work that I put in during my time,” Collins said. “When I first came, it didn’t start out exactly how I wanted it to. I was a completely different player my senior year than I was my freshman year.”

With the abundance of support, Collins said he had become a known face around campus.

“I guess I am pretty popular with the fan base,” Collins said jokingly.

Even after helping the team during the past season, Collins, who hopes to coach when he finishes playing basketball overseas, said he still viewed former coach Herb Sendek during the season the same way he did when he played for the Pack.

“I’m still learning from coach Sendek,” Collins said. “I want to be a coach when I come back home, so I’m still listening to things that he says and, maybe one day, I can incorporate it into my coaching philosophy.”