David Sanders / arizona daily star

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Chase Budinger is 6 feet 7 inches — or about two of Melany Gudiño.

When the UA basketball star walked into Lilia Olivas' second-grade class at Roskruge Elementary School seven weeks ago, the 8-year-old noticed one thing about him.

"He's tall," she said.

So the class did what second-graders would do when a basketball star walked into the room. They measured him. Then they laid him down on a big piece of butcher paper. It took five second-graders just to trace him.

The kids posted the drawing on the bulletin board at the top of the stairs, complete with a shirt with a UA logo on it, red pants, yellow hair and goatee.

The students drew their own pictures standing next to him, teaching them about measurements. The kids used paper clips that counted as 1 foot, and smaller paper clips for inches, just to downsize Budinger onto a piece of standard paper.

Wednesday, Budinger made his last visit to the class this year. In exchange for three hours of credit in his Language, Reading and Culture 139 class, the sophomore tutored kids twice a week, two hours a day — though his hours dropped off a bit once the college basketball season started.

Standing about 3-foot-8 and wearing a lavender shirt and pink shoes Wednesday, Melany still couldn't get over Budinger's height.

"I learned that Chase is one big guy, and is about two little people," she said. "They make up one big guy."

Budinger was first noticed just for his size.

"When I first came in, their first reaction was, this guy is soooo tall," he said. "For the first week or two, they thought I was just the tall guy. That's all they knew me as. With time, they finally realized I was a basketball player."

When they did, the kids starting asking for autographs. Budinger responded by asking for theirs, saying he wanted to keep the signatures for when they become rich and famous.

"I'm not trying to be above anybody else," Budinger said. "Especially to second-graders, saying something like that can really teach them something.

"I was trying to teach them a life lesson, They're like a sponge — anything you say to these kids, they're going to take to it."

Budinger, who is undecided about his major, acted like just any other tutor Wednesday. He read "What's Cooking?," a children's book, with the students. He answered questions — yes, he is taller than Michael Jordan. Yes, he has a 40-inch vertical leap. No, sorry, he can't jump for the class right now.

A few weeks back, Budinger talked to a student who got in a fight outside class. Budinger was wowed by the progress the student had made in the following weeks.

"They're looking at him more as a role model than a superstar," said Olivas, the teacher who is also a basketball fan. "He's been absolutely great."

Budinger arrived to class on Halloween, the day after the UA's Red-Blue Game. He forgot to wear a costume, and followed the class around as it toured rooms around the campus. He went as "basketball guy," he told the kids.

"This is kind of a getaway of mine, being away from basketball and school and everything and just coming here," he said. "It's kinda like being a little kid again. Just being around them, remembering when I was that little, how free you were, and how you had no worries of life and things like that."

The students enjoy it as much as he does.

"He helps us on questions, to do our work," said Angelina Rosadillo. "He's cool."

Wednesday, Budinger walked toward the front gate draped in students, dragging a half-dozen of them on his legs and arms like a fullback.

In his left hand was a folder of pictures and the students' names; he'll sign the autographs and send them back later.

The kids have already signed a book of drawings as a thank-you to Budinger.

Melany, and her classmates now have a favorite basketball player. A while back, Melany was watching television at home when Budinger came on the screen. She started screaming.

"My mom and my dad were watching TV in the other room, and they ran in," she said. "They got close to the TV, and I'm all the way in the back. I couldn't see very well."