In November 2001, Jason Conley was an anonymous stringbean freshman at Virginia Military Institute. Today he's still skinny, and still not exactly a household name -- but a lot more people make your acquaintance when you become ...

... Jason Conley, The First Freshman Basketball Player To Lead The Nation In Scoring.

It's a nice (though slightly wordy) title. Problem is, the people most familiar with Conley's work now are the teams VMI is playing against.

	Despite being double-teamed every night, Jason Conley is putting up nearly 24 points a game at VMI.

"They're definitely gunning for me," said Conley, who is averaging only 23.8 points per game as a sophomore.

Last season Conley averaged 29.3 points per game, fourth-highest scoring average ever for a freshman. And he didn't just run it up against the no-names on the schedule, averaging 28.3 ppg against Villanova, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Kentucky. A low-profile guy who wound his way through high school, a year at Millersburg Military Institute in rural Kentucky and a redshirt season without attracting anyone's attention became a true out-of-nowhere phenomenon.

"Nobody knew who I was," Conley said. "I had a flame built up inside me because of redshirting my first year, and not playing. When I went out last year, I just let it all out."

But the trip from nowhere to somewhere has its price.

Life as a sophomore has been more of a challenge. Conley must feel like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods: He simply can't go anywhere without drawing a crowd (on the court at least).

"I'm starting to get trapped as soon as I catch the ball," said Conley, whose team has wobbled to a 4-4 start. "When I drive, as soon as I blink, there's five people collapsing on me. But I have confidence in my teammates."

Hard to say whether his teammates have earned that confidence. In VMI's most recent game, a 60-56 loss to an outfit by the name of Mary Washington -- a Division III school that had never beaten a D-I opponent in 30 years of basketball -- Conley scored 43 percent of the Keydets' points. He was 9 of 17 from the field, while the rest of the team was 10 of 39.

"It can't be like that," Conley said. "I can't score half the team's points."

For the year he's producing 33.5 percent of the team's scoring, despite the increased defensive vigilance from opponents. He also leads VMI in rebounding at 7.6 per game and is playing an exhausting 36.3 minutes per game.

Adjusting to being hunted took some time. Conley committed 12 turnovers in VMI's first three games, trying to defeat double-teams single-handedly. He's had just nine turnovers in the five games since then.

The VMI schedule hasn't offered as many marquee appearances for Conley this year. He did go for 25 at Tennessee in late November, but there hasn't been anything as eye-opening as the night he scored 24 points in Rupp Arena, drawing praise from Kentucky coach Tubby Smith.

"If you can play in that gym, you can play anywhere," Conley said. "I wish that game was still going on right now, I had so much fun playing against them. I love playing against the best competition in the country."

Conley's next opportunity for an attention-grabbing performance is a game at Georgetown on New Year's Eve. Not only to the Hoyas offer a marquee name, but it's a virtual home game for the kid from Chevy Chase, Md.

After that the Keydets dive into the Southern Conference schedule, as Jason Conley will be like every other dreamer in a small conference with a single Big Dance bid to be gained.

"I want to go to the NCAA Tournament so bad," he said. "That's really all I've wanted to do in college."

The kid is ready to take on all comers to get there -- even if they come at him two and three at a time.

Games of the Week

Kentucky at Louisville Saturday The annual armageddon game in the commonwealth added a component last year with Rick Pitino switching sides of the rivalry. This year it's a player, as Marvin Stone goes from a Kentucky uniform to a Louisville one and plays his old teammates. Stone is averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds in two games as a Cardinal, but the going gets considerably tougher against his close friend in blue, Marquis Estill. Oklahoma vs. Mississippi State in New Orleans Saturday The Bulldogs rarely play intersectional games this large, where in years past the scheduling strategy has been a bland diet of automatic wins. The Bulldogs have looked fairly awesome since getting back center Mario Austin for the past two games, and this could be a good indicator of whether State is ready to run with the biggest dogs in the land. Alabama at Utah Monday This is not a great Utes team, but when Rick Majerus gets the No. 1 team on his home court, it could get interesting. This will be a major test for how well the Tide will handle wearing a bullseye on the back. Illinois at Memphis Saturday Speaking of big upset opportunities: This is one for John Calipari's Tigers, at last at full strength for the undefeated Illini. The Pyramid will be rocking for this one. Marquette at East Carolina Monday C-USA season opener could be interesting. The Golden Eagles found out the hard way late last year how hard it can be to travel to Greenville, N.C. The Pirates are better this year, but it would be a shock if Marquette comes out flat here two years in a row.

Sophs Around the South
Several of the big-name freshmen in the South failed to make an appearance as sophomores. And aside from Memphis' Dajuan Wagner, it wasn't for the reasons most dreamed of before entering college.

Florida's James White transferred after being more trouble than he was worth and is now sitting out the season at Cincinnati. Kentucky showed Rashaad Carruth the door -- and Oklahoma followed suit this fall. Louisville's Brandon Bender and Carlos Hurt both were encouraged to leave as well and are toiling in midwestern junior-college gulags.

Which only goes to show: Recruiting hype means approximately nothing.

Of the guys still around, the super sophomore in the Southeastern Conference is the same guy who was SEC Freshman of the Year the previous season: Alabama point guard Maurice Williams.

Mo makes the Crimson Tide go -- all the way to No. 1 for the first time in school history. He leads Alabama in scoring (16.4 points per game) assists (5.3) and steals (1.6). Williams' shooting percentages still are nothing to shout about (39.5 percent from the field, 31.7 percent from 3-point range), but he's definitely the tempo setter on the team to beat in the league.

At Florida, David Lee is one of six indispensible players for Billy Donovan. The ambidextrous big man is fourth in scoring at 10.3 points per game and second in rebounding (5.8) while leading the team in field-goal percentage (64.3 percent) and blocked shots. Lee might be feeling a bit squeezed for headlines by the veterans above him (Matt Bonner, Justin Hamilton, Brett Nelson) and the rookies below (Matt Walsh, Anthony Roberson) but the Gators won't go very far without him making a big contribution.

Tubby Smith didn't want Kentuckian Patrick Sparks, opting to stock his backcourt with Carruth and Josh Carrier instead. It's a decision he should regret regularly. Sparks not only had a sensational freshman season at Western Kentucky, he's following it up well as a sophomore, averaging 11.4 points and team highs of 34.3 minutes, 6.4 assists and 2.6 steals for the injury-riddled Hilltoppers. The only shock is that the savvy son of a high school coach hasn't shot the ball well (36.5 percent from the field, 30.9 percent from 3-point range and 66.7 percent from the foul line). If he finds his touch, look out.

Marquette's Travis Diener might as well be Sparks North. He's stepped into the large void left by Cordell Henry and leads the Golden Eagles in minutes (34.1), assists (5.8) and steals (2.0), but surprisingly can't shoot straight. He's hitting just 35.5 percent from the field and 24.5 percent from 3-point range, in part because many of his 3s last year came playing the shooting guard and taking passes from Henry. Now he's the point, and despite the unsteady shot, he's helped Marquette play at the same high level as last year.

Who's Hot
Dwyane Wade: Since shooting 7 for 19 at Notre Dame, the Marquette junior guard has made 32 of his last 48 shots (67 percent) and averaged 28.3 points per game in wins over Appalachian State, Wisconsin and Elon. For the season, Wade is shooting a sensational 60 percent from the floor.

Who's Not
Brett Nelson: The Florida point guard probably can't wait for New Year's Day, simply because 2002 will be over. Since limping back into action after an ankle injury, Nelson has shot 50 percent in a game just once this year and is 6 for his last 31 from the field. He's made just one of his last 13 3-pointers and has only been to the foul line four times all year.

Quote To Note
"Here, it's not life and death. There, it's life and death. Our fans, they're not going to go home and stand out in the cold if they don't win." -- Louisville coach Rick Pitino, maintaining (somewhat unconvincingly) that Cardinals fans are less emotionally vested in the outcome of the Louisville-Kentucky game than the Wildcats faithful.

Pat Forde of the Louisville Courier-Journal is a regular contributor to ESPN.com