Article content continued

“It’s awesome,” he said during a weekend return to Toronto and his teammates. “It’s another journey in my life. I’m not upset at all. Once I found out that I tore my ACL, even before I had the MRI, I called my mom and I told her, let’s get this school process going because I knew that it would be a perfect opportunity to rehab at Duke and get my degree. So I’m excited for this journey. It’s very intense … It’s probably the hardest grind that I’ve ever done in my life.”

Outside of the gym, and the pool, and the weight room, his grind incudes a course on innovative trends in intellectual property and another on hip-hop cinema (think “Krush Groove,” “Juice” and “Set It Off”), and an independent-study paper on media representation of male and female athletes.

Stroman offered up those details to a group of reporters in manager John Gibbons’ office on Saturday morning. The media session was wrapping up when Stroman walked by the office door and Gibbons invited him in to bring everyone up to date.

Stroman did not need prodding. He bounced into the room, took a seat in a chair by the manager’s desk and held forth on such topics as hip-hop history, trademarks and copyright, and his agenda on his busiest days (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday).

“By the time I get home at 8:30, I’m dead,” he said, smiling as always. “I just want to go to bed. It’s good, though. It’s better for me. I like being busy.”