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by Kevin Joseph, USA TODAY Sports

Sherrod Wright, a redshirt junior at George Mason, always seems to be mired in the background. In high school in Mount Vernon, N.Y., he was overshadowed by the prolific play of New York-area stars such as Lance Stephenson and Russ Smith.

When he arrived at George Mason, he served as a role player next to Ryan Pearson and Mike Morrison. This season, after both graduated, Wright has finally emerged and leads the Patriots in scoring with 17.2 points a game.

With coach Paul Hewitt’s emphasis on guard play, Wright has been a leader for the Patriots (15-11, 8-6 Colonial Athletic Association) this season.

Wright spoke with USA TODAY Sports’ Kevin Joseph.

Xbox or Playstation?

I play (NBA) 2K, boxing.

DVD I can’t live without

The Pursuit of Happyness.

Golf, hunt or fish?

Hunting.

My other hobby of choice

Playing video games.

My ‘welcome to college basketball’ moment

I’m a freshman, playing my first game. First possession, I air-balled a three and almost hit someone sitting in the front row. Next possession, I tried a crossover and I got picked at halfcourt. I fell, and he got the layup.

Biggest surprise upon beginning my career at George Mason

The amount of schoolwork you get. Managing school and basketball really hit me. (Wright is an information technology major.)

If I could change one rule in the game, it would be …

Double dribble.

If I weren’t a basketball player, I’d probably be …

A computer nerd, making software, video games, applications and things like that.

One thing fans don’t know about me

When I was younger, I used to sing in the church choir. I actually was good — I was forced to do it, but it ended up being all right.

Current basketball players I admire most

LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. Kobe because of his respect of the game and his hard work. I admire his work ethic. If you watch him, you always see something weird, something different that you can incorporate into your game. I’ve been a LeBron fan since I was in high school. He’s an amazing athlete — he can get a good block and come back down and dunk on somebody. He plays the all-around game very well.

Former … [For more on Getting to know: George Mason's Sherrod Wright has commanding presence, click here.]