It certainly is a stretch to compare an NBA player to one in Division III men's college basketball, but if there's anyone at Brandeis who can sympathize with injured Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett, it's outgoing men's basketball forward Steve DeLuca (GRAD).A knee injury has relegated the perennial all-star Garnett to the bench for his team's 2009 postseason run. Instead of patrolling the low post, he's only able to look on and offer his teammates words of encouragement.

"I know all too well how that feels," DeLuca said. "It's a terrible feeling. It keeps you up at night."

As a senior, DeLuca missed all but 27 minutes of the 2007 to 2008 season with lower back and leg injuries. He was sidelined while the Judges made their deepest NCAA Tournament run in school history, reaching the Sectional Finals, where rival Amherst College eliminated them 65-55 in Plattsburgh, N.Y. to advance to the Final Four.

"[You have] this helpless feeling like you can't do anything," DeLuca said. "I would give advice, . but that could only go so far."

DeLuca took a medical redshirt that season, making him eligible for a fifth year at Brandeis. During his return this season, he started all 27 regular and postseason games for the Judges, averaging over 32 minutes per game, and was named a Division III All-American by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, leading the team in scoring and rebounding for the third time in his career en route to the squad's third straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

His return to the starting lineup this season capped a comeback effort that was nearly a year in the making.

Men's basketball head coach Brian Meehan said he thought that DeLuca had brought his game to "an entirely different level" in the summer of 2007 between his junior and senior years.

But DeLuca injured his plantar fasciata soon after he returned from the team's offseason trip to Italy that summer. It took two months for him to heal; then, a week after his return, he injured his back.

The back injury may have been a long time coming for DeLuca, who has played with tight hamstrings since high school. He said he did not think the injury was the result of his bout with plantar fasciitis.

It didn't take long for "sharp pains" to travel down to his hamstrings and calves.

DeLuca tried to tough it out and saw limited action in the team's first two games of the 2007 to 2008 season but was shut down after that.

"I was in so much pain after that first game. I woke up in the middle of the night; it was terrible," DeLuca said.

Even without DeLuca, the team posted a 20-5 regular season record and hosted the first two rounds of the Division III NCAA Tournament before losing later in the Sectional Finals.

"My biggest disappointment was not finishing my career with the guys I came in with," he said.

Had DeLuca been healthy, Meehan suggested the Judges could have won the national championship that season.

"I thought we could have won it even without him, but with him it certainly would have been interesting to see," Meehan said, "We went so far without him. When you get to that point, you need that one guy who's just better than everybody."

DeLuca could have been that guy. Meehan said he regarded DeLuca as not only one of the top players to come through Brandeis but as one of the top players in all of Division III through the last five years.

"Everybody would take DeLuca-he's that good," Meehan said. "Before the injury, he was arguably the best player in the country; top five, no doubt."

After last season, DeLuca received his undergraduate degree and enrolled in a Master's program at Brandeis in order to play out his additional year of eligibility after taking the medical redshirt.

He spent the 2008 offseason rehabilitating from surgery he had last April on his lower back. He completed his comeback by leading the team with 15.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.

The Judges started the season 0-3, and sitting at just 12-8 with five games left, DeLuca helped guide the team to a five-game winning steak to close out the season, which cemented an NCAA Tournament bid for the third straight season.

The team advanced to the second round of the tournament before losing to host school Franklin & Marshall College 65-63 in Lancaster, Pa. March 7.

DeLuca said he felt coming back was the right decision whether the team made it to the postseason or not but said, "Making the tournament makes it that much more worthwhile."

Meehan said DeLuca was the type of player who could take total "control of the game," pointing to his performance down the stretch this season at then-13-1 Amherst Jan. 20, when DeLuca scored 12 of his 23 points in the final five minutes of play to help Brandeis turn a 55-48 lead into a commanding 73-58 win.

"Everybody knew he was getting the ball, [but] it didn't matter. They couldn't stop him," Meehan said.

DeLuca's ability to dominate games was the result of a more aggressive approach on the offensive end. When he first came to Brandeis, Meehan said DeLuca was almost "unselfish" to a fault.

"I didn't want to be a ball hog by any means," DeLuca said. "But I kind of had to develop being more selfish in college. . The coaches had to stress that I needed to shoot the ball more.

DeLuca was arguably the crown jewel in Meehan's initial recruiting class. Along with fellow 2008 graduates Joe Coppens, Kwame Graves-Fulgham, Stephen Hill, Florian Rexhepi and John Saucier, he helped change the Brandeis men's basketball program from a Division III bottomfeeder into a postseason mainstay.

DeLuca finished his career as the fifth-most prolific scorer in team history with 1,595 total points. He is also among the career leaders in rebounds, blocked shots and steals.

After five years at Brandeis, he is looking to extend his playing career in the professional ranks, possibly in Europe.

"There were definitely pros and cons for [coming back] this year," he said. "But I have no regrets.