Leaping has never been a problem for former Sacramento State men’s basketball player Jameel Pugh. But the high-flying former Hornet has never made a leap quite like this before. Pugh is getting ready to take flight into an entirely new arena-professional basketball.

Any one of 12 teams from the National Basketball Development League (NBDL), the NBA’s version of the minor leagues, will make Pugh a happy man on Nov. 2 when the league has its draft. Pugh said that he knows that several teams are interested in acquiring his talent.

The league is spread all across the country with teams in New Mexico, Los Angeles, North Dakota and Texas, among others. As for where he would like to play, Pugh responded, “I don’t care. I’d play in China if they drafted me.”

“This is going to be the biggest day of the year for me,” he said of the impending draft. “I can finally get back into my passion.”

Pugh took a year off from basketball to pursue other interests. He was involved in an HBO series that didn’t pan out and recently modeled dunks for the video game NBA 2K7.

The game process involved two sessions where Pugh ran, jumped, spun and dunked his way into video game immortality.

It wasn’t all fun and games, however. “It was very hard work. It was six hours straight of continuous jumping and dunking,” he said.

Decked out in what he called a “full body armor of sensors” for the computer to capture his motion, Pugh was given a sheet with over 100 moves that he had to model for the game.

“I got to make up a few dunks,” he said. “They gave me a lot of room to be creative too.”

For his troubles, Pugh got paid and received a free copy of the game for Xbox. As for his own video gaming habits, he said, “I’m going to have to upgrade to the Xbox 360 when I get my first pro check.”

Leading up to the NBDL draft, one might think that everything is perfect in Pugh’s life. For the most part things seem to be, however, he remains torn on one issue in particular.

“I’m debating what I’m going to do when (Nov. 2) comes,” Pugh said contemplatively. “I have been asking myself ‘How do I want to spend that day?'”

Two questions have been banging around his head ever since he became aware that he would be drafted: “Do I surround myself with my closest friends and loved ones?” or “Do I want to be alone to reflect?”

“The selfish part of me wants to be alone so I can think,” he said. “I haven’t even told some of my closest friends that I am going to be drafted.”Pugh said that he has kept the information on the down-low because sometimes people don’t leave him alone when his name comes up.

“Ever since the ESPN dunk contest I’ve had people calling me,” he said. “I get random phone calls from people who somehow got my number fairly often. It gets to the point where I don’t even want to answer my phone.”

“I’ve met a lot of people in my life,” he said. “I went to six different elementary schools, three high schools and two universities, so I have people from all over calling me.”

For this reason he has waited until now to talk about how his life will may change forever.

Pugh knows that there are no guarantees when it comes to professional basketball. First he has to get drafted, and then he has to make the NBDL squad before he can even think about leaping into the NBA.

Luckily for Pugh, leaping has never been a problem.

Hoopfest jumps off on Thursday night

Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams will introduce themselves to fans on Thursday night during Hoopfest.

This year’s theme is the 80s. Players and coaches from both teams will come dressed up in gear from the 1980s and fans are encouraged to do the same.

The doors open for the event at 6 p.m. in the Hornets Nest in Yosemite Hall. Beginning at 7 p.m., both teams will be introduced to the crowd followed by a series of exhibitions by the men’s and women’s teams.

The men’s team will hold a dunk contest, followed by a men vs. women 3-point shooting contest. Finally, the men’s team will have a scrimmage with two 12-minute running-clock halves.

The Sac State Hornet Girlz Dance team will perform at the event as well.

The season begins for both the men and women on Nov. 10. The teams will play a doubleheader against Bethany College with the women going at 5:05 p.m. followed by the men at 7:35.

Benn Hodapp can be reached at [email protected]