FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. -- Some people shoot from the hip. Arkansas junior guard Alex Dillard shoots from the nose.
The nose of the razorback hog painted in the middle of the court at Arkansas's Bud Walton Arena, that is. The tip of the nose is 6 feet 10 inches from the edge of the three-point arc, which is 19 feet 9 inches from the basket.
Dillard flicks his wrist from there, the ball flutters through the net, and a legend grows.
In January 1991, Dillard was working at a fast food restaurant in Birmingham during the day and playing pick-up basketball at a University of Alabama-Birmingham gym during the evening. It was the same thing he had been doing for the previous three years because at age 18, he dropped out of high school in the middle of his junior year.
Now Dillard is the third-leading scorer on the nation's third-ranked team. He's listed at 6-1 and 170 pounds. He appears shorter.
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Although Southeastern Conference teams are adjusting to his game, he is averaging 12.5 points per game while shooting better from three-point range (41-of-93, 44 percent) than two-point (11-of-31, 35 percent). He has met President Clinton, who has told him he is an inspiration to young people around the country. And anytime he touches the ball within, say, 80 feet of the Arkansas basket at home games, he has more than 18,000 people screaming for him to shoot.
"This is heaven, man," he said. "I'm serious."
Dillard grew up in Bessemer, Ala. He played basketball for fun. About 5-6 when he quit school in 11th grade, he began growing and developing a jump shot. He played hour after hour. Eventually people began nagging him about making more productive use of his skill.
"I went back because a lot of people were saying, 'You need to go to school, get an education and let someone see your talent,' " he said. "I got tired of people telling me that. I really did."
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He finally relented. He enrolled in a GED class and passed the GED exam. Then Rodney McGill, an assistant women's basketball coach at UAB, helped Dillard find a junior college -- Southern Union Community College, in Wadley, Ala., about 100 miles south of Birmingham.
It took him a while to adjust. But as a sophomore last season, he averaged 30 points a game. In one game, he made 14 of 16 three-point shots. In a national title game as a freshman, he scored four points in the first half and 36 in the second. He chose Arkansas after also visiting Montana State, South Alabama and Arizona State. When Clinton came here Dec. 28 for Arkansas's game against Texas Southern, he had some special words for Dillard.
"He told me I was an inspiration to kids because I'm making something out of myself instead of being on the streets and doing something I don't have any business doing," Dillard said. "That's something I'll remember as long as I live."
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