By Nicki Jhabvala

After blowing his knee out after the first few days of practice with the Stags, Burke sat out the rest of his freshman season, only to have the school drop the program the following year.

He was back at square one -- applying and touring campuses across the country in hopes of finding the one he could finally call "college." When his father offered to drive him down to North Carolina to visit UNC and, if they had time, the Dook Duke, campus, he went along, never thinking he would actually attend ether.

"It was weird and it sounds cliché," he said. "But as soon as we drove down Franklin Street, I just felt it. Within 10 minutes of being here, I told my dad I was coming."

But a UNC acceptance letter wasn't enough for Burke. For a kid who picked up a basketball before he could even walk, being a Tar Heel fan wasn't enough. He wanted in on the action.

So he did what most other first-year student do when they enter the UNC campus: spent hours a day in the gym shooting hundreds of shots, lifting weights like "Psycho T" and running along the Chapel Hill streets like Rocky. With some classes in between, his workouts became his daily routine, his obsession. His life.

"It was, I don't want to say psychotic, but whatever a notch below that is," he said. "It was the most important thing in the world to me, other than my family."

While he may have served as the poster-child for OCD, his efforts were worth it. After two years on the junior varsity squad, Burke was called up to play with the big boys.

Nov. 22, 2005: Burke got his first basket as a Tar Heel off a layup in the team's 112-55 rout of Cleveland State. Three days later, on his 22nd birthday with his family in the stands, Burke dropped his first 3-point bucket against UC Santa Barbara.

So for all that work, you'd think he'd be annoyed that he doesn't receive more playing time. Maybe just a little frustrated that his time doesn't come until the final minutes of the game, when the Heels are crushing a team by at least 20 or so.

"It's not frustrating because it's not the type of situation where it's like I should be playing. Because I shouldn't," he said. "These guys are better players than me. They can do things on the court that I simply can't. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to play -- I'd love to play 30 minutes and I wish I could -- But that's not reality."

Hanging in the Tar Heels' locker room is a poster that reads "Be led by your dreams, not pushed by your problems." And just in case the players didn't read it daily, coach Roy Williams reiterates it constantly.

Burke reads the poster everyday, and every time Williams says it, his ears are wide open, taking in every word. As the oldest of four kids, Burke remembers when times were a lot tougher for him and his family.

When his youngest brother, Brady, was only a year old, he was diagnosed with muscle cancer. Then, when Brady was 5 years old, he developed a blood disease that nearly took his life.

"Him being so sick so young, how hard that was for my family, what he had already dealt with by the time he turned 6, is something that most people will never have any concept of in their whole life," Burke said. "And he dealt with it twice. So, if I'm having a tough day in the gym and not shooting well, that's tough? No way. No. Nothing I will ever deal with will ever be anything like what my brother went through. He's 13 now, so he's fine. He's a brat."

With about two-and-a-half months left before graduation, Burke is unsure of what he plans to do when his Tar Heel days end. He's contemplating continuing his basketball career -- maybe coaching, maybe playing overseas. With the addition of his two degrees in management and society and economics, he certainly has his options.

But until that time comes, he has no problem being "Biscuits."