UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- When one thinks of young people locked up in juvenile detention, it's easy to think of the terrible acts they must have committed that have led to incarceration.

Yes, these young people have in some instances done some terrible things and do deserve their place in a lockup. Sympathy for them from the general public is at a minimum.

But while the prevailing thought of most might be apprehension as they enter the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center on Quincy Avenue, a group of John Carroll University students see things differently. Their goal is to take a deeper look at these youths and improve society by giving those confined hope.

It was before their sophomore year at John Carroll University that Michael Gong and Ned Barnes formed the John Carroll Ballers. It is a group of more than 60 JCU students who, five nights per week make the trip to the detention center to play basketball, eat pizza, and hold discussions about valued character traits with those in the center. Boys and girls at the detention center receive the students' attention.

Both Gong and Barnes are now seniors. Gong plans to become a doctor, while Barnes majors in political science, but it is this project that is now their passion.

Gong said the whole idea for John Carroll Ballers began when he worked as a freshman at the detention center as part of the Passport to Manhood program through the Boys and Girls Club of Cleveland.

It was at that time that Gong began to see those in juvenile detention in a different light.

"I thought, 'Isn't this an interesting place?'" Gong said of his reaction upon first entering the facility. "After you talk to them, you see they're all boys with hopes and dreams, just like the rest of us. And, yes, they've made mistakes, but haven't we all?"

The allure of working with the youths seems to be catchy. Gong said that, in most instances, JCU student volunteers arrive at the detention center the first time quiet of mood, a little nervous and unsure of what to expect inside. After a short while, they come to see its inhabitants as did Gong.

Alex Myers, another JCU senior planning on a medical career, had to initially be convinced by Barnes and Gong to help just once at the detention center.

"After that, we couldn't keep him away," Gong said. "It's addictive."

Myers, who planned on a recent night to lead the post-basketball discussion on the topic of "action" and what it means to each youth has, indeed, been captivated by the experience.

"I'm going to medical school," Myers said, "but this has made me question my career choice and if it's the best choice I can make to help society. I probably will go on to medical school, but I never considered serving an underserved population. Coming here has made me see that my career is going to be dynamic -- it's going to be giving back."

The JCU students don't quit at regular visits. They help the young people they serve, which also includes those serving a sentence at the Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Correctional Facility in Highland Hills, study so they can acquire a GED if they haven't graduated high school. If a troubled youth is eventually freed, the JCU students will help find him an apartment.

"We don't give up on them," Gong said.

Barnes said the John Carroll Ballers idea appealed to him because he worked as a teen at a summer camp for inner city youth in his native Syracuse, N.Y.

"I'm 100 percent Hispanic," Barnes said, "But I was the whitest one there."

What Barnes took away from the experience, and what was later taught to him and Gong by Boys and Girls Club of Cleveland adviser Kevin James at John Carroll Ballers' inception, was how best to communicate with those serving time in juvenile detention.

"The biggest thing is that if there is anything that is motivational for them in a scholastic way, it's recreational things," Barnes said.

This meant playing basketball with the youths and gaining the feeling that the students are their peers. While other groups come in to talk with the youngsters, it is key that the JCU students are young men who don't preach or talk at the teens.

The youths in detention center must keep out of trouble all week to be able to enjoy the John Carroll Ballers' visit, a fact that serves to give them incentive to behave well. Barnes said one on the court, there are virtually no problems with the youths' behavior.

Myers said it is common for the youths, once they get to know them, to ask the students about how things are going with their girlfriends or how they did on last week's test.

"We let them push the discussions in the direction they want it to go," Myers said. "Guys will be guys and they'll talk about guy things.

"We're not here to tell them how to act, we're here to set an example."

Barnes said the approach being taken is working.

"When you hear from them, guys you've only known two-four weeks, and they tell you that you're the biggest male role model they've had in their life, that's something."

Once such youth, 18-year-old Marco, has been in the detention center the past 10 months. he's been in the center about 15 times, he estimated, since age 11.

"I've had a couple of role models, good and bad. I'm not going to lie," Marco said.

The role model from his youngest years, he said, was into parties, girls and drugs, or as Marco called them "the flashy things."

At about 15, an uncle who had served in the Army, ran a business and went on to own several houses came into his life.

"He would pick me up and we went out to dinner and bike riding and had fun," Marco said.

That positive image, unfortunately, did not last on the youth who faces trial next month on a serious charge.

The JCU students, Marco said, have given him a reason to look ahead to a better life.

"They push me and tell me that it ain't over," he said. "That I can be in college just like them. I just can't give up."

When asked about his goals, Marco replied, "I have a lot of goals. I want to get my record clean. I want to finish school. I want to cut hair (for a living). I want a house and family."

Malik is also 18 and facing serious charges.

"I look forward to them coming," he said of the John Carroll Ballers. "We get to stay up late (9 p.m.), play basketball, (and) have pizza."

"We can relate to them because they're close to our age. They taught us that if we're going to have fun and play basketball, we have to get our (school) work done first, then we can have fun."

The students have taken the name "Carroll Ballers" and devised a positive character trait to assign to each of the two words' first letters. Those traits form the basis of the post-basketball discussions.

The letters stand for "Character," "Achievement," "Respect," "Role Models," "Opportunity," "Leadership," and "Learning."

Also, "Balance," "Action," "Loyalty," "Listening," "Esteem," "Relationships," and "Success."

But, in addition to these traits, there is a human bond that has formed.

"It's interaction with guys," Myers said. "You can tell they really want you to come back."

With three years of visiting an ever-changing cast of youths in the detention center, Gong has long ago come to see the youths in a way that is different from those who haven't had the experience.

"You see them as friends, not as criminals," he said.