During Dyson's two years at Churchill, he felt used...

Connecticut's Jerome Dyson is proud to be from Scotland
By Mark Giannotto
Saturday, January 9, 2010

...he was named one of 30 finalists for the John Wooden Award, given annually to college basketball's best player, and before his Hall of Fame coach compared him to Ray Allen and Richard Hamilton when he was just a freshman...

...During Dyson's two years at Churchill, he felt used, a student who was unfairly characterized because of the neighborhood he grew up in and only given guidance and help when his eligibility for the basketball team was concerned.  

"There was times where only during basketball season you felt like you were a part of the Churchill community," said Dyson, a 6-foot-4 senior guard and team captain at Connecticut. "Once basketball season was over, nobody really cared how good your grades were. Nobody stayed on top of me. I'm sad that I had to go away, but I think it made me a better person."

"If he had stayed here, he would not be where he is now," said Dyson's mother, Julie Harriday, who is a pastor at the Immanuel Church of God in Germantown and still lives in Scotland. "He would have gotten lost in the shuffle and looked at only as an athlete. A lot of athletes in the Scotland community . . . they get localized like, 'He's from Scotland.' Why not just from Potomac? It's been separated like that for so long. Now they see him in a different light, but Jerome is still the same incredible kid I always thought of him to be."...