Waltham, Mass. — We are often reminded how the term "student-athlete" has this oxymoronic, mutually exclusive nature. Maybe it's the byproduct of how college sports are portrayed on television, what with how the rapture of full arenas and pretentious millionaire coaches conspire to raise questions about why "student-athletes" would have the interest in attending class.

Not that such cynicism doesn't have merit. But there are so many other places where academics and athletics have actual synergy, places where courts and fields play the unwitting roles of real life surroundings.

And so it was Sunday afternoon in Red Auerbach Arena, a place whose mere name suggests there's more going on here than just basketball. The International Finance and Economics major from New London High and the Biochemistry major from Old Lyme both wore the home grays of Brandeis University, this effortlessly cool hamlet of higher education on the shores of the Charles River with Division III basketball and a Division I feel.

The New London grad: Collin Sawyer, the former all-state guard. The Old Lyme grad: Aedan Using, The Day's 2020 Player of the Year. They are both Judges now — that's the Brandeis nickname — using basketball as a means toward a life-sustaining education.

"If there were no COVID," said the ever-unflappable Sawyer, a grad student with the Eli Manning-like demeanor, "I'd have graduated in 2021 with a master's in International Finance and Economics. I'd hopefully have a job in Boston making some money and having some fun."

Later in the conversation, Sawyer alluded to the academic/athletic harmony saying, "I've definitely had professors tell me one of my best assets is to be a strategist. Overseeing and putting together teams that take advantage of what other people are good at. Whether that's life as a consultant or investment banking, I don't know. But it's using the people skills I've learned in basketball."

Sports are nothing else if not test kitchens for melding people of varying skills levels and motivations to use discipline and sacrifice to accomplish something together. If that sounds akin to the rhythms work force, well, that's because it is.

Brandeis, in addition to offering a high level education, competes in the University Athletic Association, an eight-team conference spread throughout most of the country. So while most Div. III schools bus to road games, the Judges are on planes to Atlanta, St. Louis and Chicago. It's a Div. I experience, even if the meal money is more McDonald's than Capital Grille.

"It's one of things that drew me to the school," Sawyer said. "But once you start traveling and missing classes, you're sitting on a plane exhausted after a game you realize how challenging it is. It gives you empathy for guys who do it at a higher level. But it's the type of experience that gives you an advantage when applying for jobs. You can say, 'I've managed to maintain this GPA and workload all while doing all this travel and making up classes.'"

Using, meanwhile, will participate in a biology-related internship overseas next year. He is an academic sophomore but a basketball freshman, having endured the worst of COVID without actually getting it.

Using led Old Lyme to the 2020 Shoreline Conference title and would likely have been part of a state championship team. COVID eradicated the state tournament and then cost Using a chance at a freshman season. And yet he's the same young man: polite, respectful, grateful.

"I'm happy to be playing games for the first time in a long time," Using said, also alluding to a 40-day COVID-related pause this season. "It's nice to be contributing. You go two years without playing and it gets to you."

Using has more of a basketball story to tell, what with much of his career to be determined. Sawyer has but a few games remaining.

"I like to call Aedan 'Wildcat,'" Sawyer said, paying homage to Using's Old Lyme High lineage. "Love him. Really good kid. We got to know each other during COVID playing pickup locally. He's got the longest arms on the planet. Always getting rebounds and steals. I'd love for him to be more aggressive on offense."

Using: "I'm completely happy with my role, it's just a flip from how I played at Old Lyme. I was the leading scorer, now here my role is to bring defense and energy off the bench. I love it, but it's new."

And who knows? In a few years, someone may refer to Using with the same words Using uses for Sawyer.

"Collin has been the biggest mentor for me," Using said. "One of the nicest guys I've ever meet. One of the best leaders, too."

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro