Photo courtesy of Guilford College

Guilford senior Tyler Sanborn averaged 19.6 points and 14.1 rebounds this season and was named ODAC player of the year.

Rewind the clock to late August of 2006. There's a long stream of freshmen waiting in line on a hot late-summer day to register for classes at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C.

Clay Henson remembers the scene like yesterday.

''I knew my roommate's name and I knew he was a basketball player, too, but I didn't know what he looked like,'' Henson recalled. ''Me and my stepmom and Dad were just standing in line and they turned around and said, 'Good night, look how big that boy is!'

''So I look at this big, sorta gawky, country kid and he's wearing these plaid shorts and a bright orange shirt. I remember thinking to myself, 'who in the heck is this guy?'

''Then my stepmom says: 'I bet that's your roommate and he's going to take up all the room in the room.' ''

Three and a half years later, Henson still laughs out loud when recounting the story. While 6-foot-10 Tyler Sanborn didn't turn out to be Henson's freshman roomie, but the sharpshooting guard always reserved plenty of space for a mountain-sized kid who could help the Quakers' basketball team.

''Now, just look at the guy,'' Henson marveled. ''Tyler has really worked on his body; he's worked at his game, and he's transformed himself into a great player.''

Now, the Quakers are on the cusp of greatness, too, needing two wins in this weekend's NCAA Division III final four at the Salem Civic Center to capture a national title.

ODAC champion Guilford (30-2), which finished third in last year's championship, aces 2003 winner Williams College (29-1) of Williamstown, Mass., in Friday's 5 p.m. semifinal. A second ODAC team, at-large entry Randolph-Macon (26-6) meets two-time national champ Wisconsin-Stevens Point (27-4) in the 7 p.m. semifinal.

Without Sanborn, who has averaged 19.6 points and 14.1 rebounds this season, coach Tom Palombo's squad likely wouldn't be making the two-hour trip north. The giant from tiny Elkin (N.C.) High School improved in his senior season, and was named ODAC player of the year.

Not that long ago, Sanborn nor anyone else at Guilford would have believed that. Sanborn was out of shape at 280 pounds and received only bit minutes behind Quakers star post Ben Strong, a two-time All-American who was the Division III player of the year as a junior in 2006-07.

''I mean it's unbelievable,'' Palombo said of Sanborn. ''When the guy was a freshman he was like 6-8 and 280 pounds and kinda struggled getting up and down the floor, and really struggled making baskets because he was kinda heavy. He probably averaged nine minutes a game, maybe 3-4 points and a few rebounds.

''But Tyler took that next spring and summer and got serious about basketball, and lost a lot of weight and lifted weights and got stronger. He worked on his game, worked on his skills, his athleticism came with the fact that he got into physical condition so now that he can run, then he could jump, then he just learned the game. And he came back last year as a junior and added the confidence piece to it.''

Strong, who now plays in his second professional season in a premier league in Israel, showed his young understudy the way. The lesson wasn't easy.

''I think the thing that Ben helped Tyler most was that he kicked his butt every day,'' Palombo said. ''Ben just dominated him in the post, he would just turn and dunk on him, he would go around and dunk on him. Tyler was not used to seeing anything like that, and he saw that for two straight years.

''We did post drills every day and it's not just the post guys, it's with the whole team watching. So you get somebody dunking on you for 10 consecutive minutes that hurts your pride, that makes you say, 'hey, I want to get better ... this isn't fun, I'm not liking this.' You either quit or you try to get better.

''And he really made up his mind that he wanted to get better. Now [laughs], he does that to all the other guys!''

Sanborn doesn't talk a big game. All his hard work and production -- he posted double-doubles in all but three games this season -- tells his story in slam-dunk style.

''I knew I was going to get a lot better,'' Sanborn said. ''Now, I never thought I would be the ODAC player of the year or nothing. I mean I don't think Coach is going to let me run point anytime soon.''

Now that's funny. Of course, the big fellow has all the last laughs now.

''I've always pretty much been the tallest guy in my neighborhood my whole life,'' Sanborn said.

''I love being tall, I love being big. I mean there's not many people who are going to say much to me or that kind of thing. I've always enjoyed it.

"The Lord blessed me with a lot of height and being a big guy, and I'm going to take advantage of that. It just took me a while, that's all.''