In the world of college basketball, "senior" has become something of a dirty word among players.

Those from the McDonald's All-American jet set don't want it attached to their names. In basketball's get-rich-quick scheme, sticking around for four years of college is like staying home to play Scrabble with the parents on a Saturday night.

Uncool.

	Lynn Greer, a Temple senior, and Dajuan Wagner, a freshman at Memphis, could meet again next season in the NBA.

But if that means Tayshaun Prince, Chris Marcus, Lynn Greer, Dan Dickau, Steve Logan, Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter, Luke Recker, Reggie Evans, Jeff Boschee, Dan Gadzuric, Sam Clancy and Kelly Wise are lacking in cool -- well, then this basketball season could be subtitled The Revenge of the Nerds.

All those guys are seniors. All figure to have their teams in the NCAA Tournament. All have a chance to be stars of the March show, the next Shane Battier or Mateen Cleaves.

Meanwhile, early departees like Omar Cook, Kenny Satterfield and Samuel Dalembert will spend basketball's best month profitably, but anonymously, riding deep pine in the NBA -- or some lesser league.

"College is only four years," said Prince, who applied for the draft last season but pulled out. "Four years seems like a long time, but as you experience it, it goes by so fast.

"It's hard to explain, especially when you see these guys from from high school right to the NBA, but right now I'm just having so much fun experiencing college basketball. The NBA is going to be fun as well, but I'm trying to experience college as much as I can."

For Prince, the chance to be the "Next Battier" was more attractive to him that getting mopup minutes in The League.

"I kind of compare myself to him," Prince said of Battier. "He came back to a team he knew would be dominant. ... Knowing what kind of basketball team I was coming back to made a lot of difference as well."

For a guy like Western Kentucky center Marcus, the lack of hype coming out of high school meant he was never polluted by visions of an early entry to the pros.

For Marcus, a fourth year of college has also allowed him to entertain the quaint notion of actually getting a degree. He's so intent on earning his diploma that he's taking a heavier course load, and he skipped the Sun Belt Conference preseason Media Day because he didn't want to miss class time.

Marcus has a legitimate chance to be a lottery pick. Prince has a legitimate chance of leading the Wildcats to the Final Four.

Along the way he is building a legacy as one of the better players in Kentucky history. By the time he's done, Prince could well wind up in the school's top five all-time scorers, up there with Dan Issel, Kenny Walker, Jack Givens, Tony Delk and Jamal Mashburn. He could also wind up in the top 15 in rebounds, assists, blocks and 3-pointers -- a testament to his versatility.

And nobody in Kentucky history has ever put together a game-opening flurry like Prince did against North Carolina earlier this month, hitting threes on five straight possessions and seven in the first half.

"He was possessed," Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said.

Prince has simply taken the time to learn his craft, as have the other seniors listed above. But they've gone about it through a variety of ways.

Some have transferred (Dickau from Washington to Gonzaga; Recker from Indiana to Arizona to Iowa). Some have blossomed later in their careers (Marcus and Clancy). Some arrived in college just happy to have a scholarship at a major college and hoping to prove themselves.

Count Temple's Greer among the last group.

"I was always sort of an underdog type of player," the fifth-year senior guard said. "I wasn't highly rated coming out of high school, and I never thought of leaving school early. A lot of guys are leaving early, but they have great opportunities to make a living for themselves. I don't blame them."

	“	I kind of compare myself to (Battier). He came back to a team he knew would be dominant. ... Knowing what kind of basketball team I was coming back to made a lot of difference as well. ”
		— Tayshaun Prince, Kentucky senior forward

Greer will get his chance next year. But in the meantime, he is reaping the benefits of being an upperclassman under John Chaney.

Chaney is known for giving vast responsibilities and freedoms to his veteran guards. From Mark Macon to Mark Karcher and for plenty of players in between, they were charged with monopolizing the ball offensively and taking shots at their own discretion.

And they rarely left the game.

Greer is averaging an exhausting 40.9 minutes per game this season. He sat down two minutes against Duke, but otherwise has played the full 40 -- plus 50 in a double-overtime game when he scored 47 points -- every time out. He's also taking more than 20 shots per game and leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring at 26.2 points per game.

"It's definitely something you have to earn," Greer said. "He allows you to make mistakes and learn from them and become a better player.

"I'm a lot better player now. When I first got here I was an undersized two-guard, playing behind Pepe Sanchez. With (assistant coach) Nate Blackwell's coaching, I've become a true point guard. That was something I didn't know how to do when I came to Temple."

Greer's teammate and fellow senior, Kevin Lyde, almost got caught in no-man's land last summer. He declared for the draft, figured out he was in over his head and then came back -- but had to scramble to catch up academically after letting his grades go.

"I had a decision to make, didn't think clearly and made a bad decision," Lyde said.

But he overcame it and returned to college. Ask the nation's best seniors how they feel about playing this year, and you won't get many say they regret it. No matter how uncool it might be.

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