"Miss You" -- which took a few days off there; blame it on senioritis -- is The Dagger's fond farewell to the players whose futures will soon collide with the NBA.

How many Darren Collison highlights can you remember? UCLA fans, put your hands down. I'm talking to the generalized college basketball fan here, the one who watches games at night when he or she can, but who doesn't have hours and hours to devote to the sport. Yeah, you. How many do you remember?

I'll be honest: I remember one. It was the final shot of the VCU-UCLA game in this year's first round. Eric Maynor, an elite point guard in his own right, got momentarily free on the perimeter -- Collison had been defending him tight all game -- when Collison regrouped, found Maynor, got in tight, held for one pump fake ... and held again ... and held again ... and by the time Maynor got rid of his shot, Collison was inches from his face, perfectly vertical, blocking any chance of the 18-footer falling. And UCLA won.

How many players, point guards especially, can you say that about? That one of their most memorable highlights was in not falling for a series of vicious pump fakes? But that's Darren Collison's career at UCLA in a nutshell, and why, if there was a collegiate point guard prototype, Collison would be it.

Collison ran UCLA's offense -- surprisingly efficient in 2008-09; it was UCLA's team defense that let them down -- with the sort of solid level-headedness every coach dreams of. He wasn't the fastest player, but he was able to create his own shot. He was able to get to the rim. And he faciliated everything. He was just very solid. It's an overused word, but it describes Collison's offensive role to a T.

Collison truly starred on defense. He was unshakeable. Through a mix of body control, quickness, and great fundamentals (Collison seemed to get more mileage out of his defensive shuffle than anyone I can remember) he was perhaps the country's best perimeter defender.

He might lack a certain brand of quickness required to guard the elite NBA point guards -- it's easy to imagine Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo getting to the hoop at will -- but as a four-year collegiate point guard, it's hard to do much better than Darren Collison. UCLA will miss him in ways both obvious and sublime.

Related: Pac-10 Basketball, Miss You