My favorite college basketball players this season were a couple of big guys who put on clinics every time they took the floor. One came from nowhere and the other breathed life back into a career that seemed to be all but dead. Both were throwbacks to the days when playing smart and playing tough meant more than playing to the cameras and the NBA scouts.

Burly and buzzcut, Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody wasn’t on anybody’s preseason All-American team. But the 6-foot-8 sophomore, who had lost body fat and gained stamina over the summer, emerged as the surprise player of the year, a demon rebounder and unstoppable scorer in the paint for Coach Mike Brey’s Irish.

At Louisville, last rites were performed over senior center David Padgett’s career after one of his bum knees was hurt again early in the season. But the 6-11 Padgett tore up his obit and made a miraculous recovery that turned Coach Rick Pitino’s Cardinals into one of the nation’s hottest teams late in the season.

When the two met on Feb. 28 in Louisville’s Freedom Hall, they combined to put on one of the finest displays of pivot play ever seen in the 52-year-old arena – or anywhere else, for that matter. The Cardinals won, 90-85, largely due to Padgett’s 26 points (in 28 minutes), six rebounds, and four assists.

But splendid as Padgett was in victory, Harangody was even better in defeat. He laid 40 on the Cards, the most by any rival player during the seven-year Pitino era. Unstoppable in the paint, he even went outside late in the game and knocked down a trio of treys – his first of the season – to lead a comeback that barely fell short.

“You have to take your hat off to Harangody because he hadn’t made a three all year,” Pitino said. “They all looked like they were dead middle. You have to give him a lot of credit. He had a special night.”

This was a season in which a lot of big men had a lot of special nights. Almost every serious national-championship contender had a center of attention. Some were specialists – scorers, rebounders, or shot-blockers – and some weren’t tall enough to be considered big men in the classic sense of Wilt Chamberlain, Lew Alcindor, or Bill Walton. Yet each patrolled the paint in ways that changed games. Each made his teammates better.

The five-star list includes Kansas State’s Michael Beasley, North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough, Indiana’s D.J. White, Georgetown’s Roy Hibbert, UCLA’s Kevin Love, Mississippi State’s Jarvis Varnado, Vanderbilt’s A.J. Ogilvy, Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson, and UConn’s Hasheem Thabeet.

And, of course, Padgett and Harangody.

Basketball purists have to love both players. Neither is particularly agile or quick. Neither is a great leaper. But both have incredibly high basketball IQs. Both are fundamentally sound. Both are excellent passers. Both have terrific post moves. Both are tireless workers. And both are tough enough to absorb blows around the hoop and still finish.

A native of Schererville, Ind., who played at Andrean High in the northwestern corner of the state, Harangody was recruited by most of the Big Ten schools. To say that Indiana had the inside track would be a gross understatement. His parents both graduated from IU. (His dad, Dave, was a tight end on IU’s 1979 Holiday Bowl football team), and his brother, Ty, currently is at IU after having his football career ended by an injury.

Luke grew up as such an IU fan that his bedroom was papered with IU wallpaper and he had a signed photo of former IU coaching icon Bob Knight on the wall. But Mike Davis, who succeeded Knight in 2001, inexplicably didn’t start recruiting Harangody until it was too late. Brey already had him locked up for Notre Dame.

As a freshman starter, Harangody averaged a solid 11.2 points and 6.2 rebounds. Nevertheless, he didn’t even receive honorable mention on the Big East coaches’ preseason all-conference team. Other than Brey, the coaches weren’t aware of how hard he had worked in the summer.

“He is such a warrior,” said Brey. “I don’t know what else you can say about the kid. He brings it every night. He wasn’t a McDonald’s All-American. With a lot of will, physical gifts, and work ethic, he’s made himself one of the top players in college basketball.”

Unlike Harangody, Padgett was a McDonald’s All-American.

A native of Reno, Nev., Padgett originally signed with Kansas, where he played as a freshman and blocked 43 shots, second most by a freshman in Jayhawk history. Nevertheless, he was so unhappy in Lawrence that he transferred to Louisville so he could play for Pitino.

After sitting out the 2004-’05 season in which the Cardinals made the Final Four, Padgett joined a team that needed leadership, maturity, and a presence in the paint – all of which he provided in abundance. Named a co-captain as a sophomore, Padgett quickly became the team’s “point center,” the guy who started the offense, called the defensive signals, and generally served as coach on the floor.

Unfortunately, he was sidelined time and again with knee and foot injuries, and the difference in the team, with Padgett and without him, was stark. That’s why, when he went down early in the season with what seemed to be a career-ending injury, a pall of gloom descended over Cardinal fans everywhere. With Padgett, all things were possible. Without him, nothing was predictable.

“I told him to work on rehab and get ready for the next level,” Pitino said. “He told me, ‘Coach, I don’t care about the next level…this is my senior year and I’m going to come back and play.’ And he did. Along with Billy Donovan at Providence and Mark Jackson with the Knicks, he’s one of the three most special players I’ve ever coached.”

Like Harangody, Padgett sets a great example by doing all the dirty work He sets picks, dives for loose balls, blocks out, keeps the ball in play with tips. Neither seems to care much about his individual stats or recognition. Asked about the possibility of making All-American, Harangody said, “It’s crazy.”

No, it’s a wonderful story for college basketball. That’s what it is for both the kid from nowhere and the comeback player of the year.