By Andrew Lawrence, SI.com

	Villanueva averaged 13.6 points and 8.3 rebounds as a sophomore, then opted to skip his final two seasons at UConn. Damian Strohmeyer/SI

While waiting for the teas to take, Villanueva visited a half dozen specialists around New York. His home life was itinerant, as he moved around New York with his older brother Rob Carlos and sister Genesis as his mother, Dora Mejia (who speaks little English), searched for better work.

Occasionally there'd be some sign of improvement in Villanueva's health, a new patch of hair here or there. And then things got worse. Villanueva's bald patches got wider and wider. Then his eyebrows started to wilt, and finally everything was gone. Then came the official diagnosis: alopecia universalis, a loss of all body hair, including eyelashes and eyebrows. Villanueva was 11. And while his family was relieved to hear that his condition wasn't life-threatening, he was heartbroken.

The kids came up with all kinds of nicknames for him: Baldy, Egghead and much worse. As a result, Villanueva retreated socially and mostly kept to himself. Ashamed of the way he looked, he often shrouded himself under a cap or hoodie -- a fashion choice that didn't fly with his middle-school teachers. (He was sent to the principal's office on one occasion and was suspended until he produced a doctor's note.)

A six-inch growth spurt between his freshman and sophomore years of high school contributed to his overall low self-esteem. His grades suffered. But basketball gave him a place to fit in, where to be bald was to be like Mike.

Whole New Ballgame

Most people had pegged Villanueva as a better baseball prospect given his lineage. His mother played competitive softball and his father, Roberto, was a talented enough catcher in the Dominican Republic to get a look from the Pittsburgh Pirates. "But I wasn't really feelin' it," Villanueva says.

So at age 12 he'd follow Rob Carlos out to the playgrounds in Elmhurst, Queens, for pickup games against 14- and 15-year-old kids, sometimes older. Rob Carlos (who is two years older than Charlie) didn't always want his skinny kid brother around.

"It was kind of annoying at first," Rob Carlos recalls. "My mom would always tell me to bring Charlie with me, even though as the older brother you didn't always want to bring your little brother. But it actually paid off because Charlie would come along and play with these older guys and get beat up. But when he played kids his age, he just dominated."

By the time he reached high school, Villanueva had to work even harder to impress his coaches because there was this or that player who his coaches thought was more skilled at his guard position. At Newton High, in Queens, it was Smush Parker, a New York playground legend who now plays for the Lakers. When Villanueva transferred to Blair Academy after his sophomore year, it was Luol Deng, who starred at Duke before being drafted by the Bulls.

Says Villanueva, "I was just happy to make varsity!"

An injury to Deng their senior season allowed Villanueva a chance to step into the spotlight. That year he led Blair to a second state title, earning McDonald's All-American honors along with Deng and Chris Paul. By the end of the season Villanueva was rated among the country's top high school prospects, in some circles trailing only Deng and LeBron James, who would make the jump to the NBA in the spring of 2003. James' considerable hype had Villanueva seriously flirting with the idea of going pro, too. That flirting stopped once Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun began courting him.

From Boy to Man

The tough-talking Calhoun soon convinced Villanueva to put his pro career on hold and polish his game. "Charlie was looking for somebody to believe in," says the coach. But before putting on a Huskies jersey, Villanueva would have to sit out six games after the NCAA had questions about the financial arrangements made for his workout in front of NBA scouts that spring. He eventually paid back the money and his eligibility was restored.

Once Villanueva was cleared to play, he helped the Huskies win a national championship as a freshman reserve. He was a starter his sophomore season and was named second-team All?Big East after his conference averages ballooned to 14.9 points and 9.0 rebounds. It was then, Calhoun says, "I could see Charlie starting to truly get it. By the end of the year he was our best player."