It’s all over and done with now, only it’s never really over and done with.

What began four years ago on a fall morning with a first practice ended last month in Atlanta, when Luke Proctor ’25 played his final collegiate basketball game — the one he thought might lead to something more, the one he’ll now have to hold on to forever.

Luke has come to terms with the fact that his basketball career — spanning four years, 96 games, and one unforgettable Final Four run — is over. But a month later, the sense of finality still hasn’t quite set in.

He’s enjoying the newfound free time, spending more hours studying and hitting the golf course with his teammate and younger brother, Gabe ’26. Still, he admits he misses the grind: those three-hour practices, game nights at Ragan-Brown Field House, the rhythm of the season.

“I miss being with the guys and the coaches, and having something to look forward to every day,” he says. “But I know it’s over. It’s weird — meeting so many Guilford alumni over the years, and now I’m going to be one myself.”

Luke laughs. “Does that make me old?”

He’s graduating this month with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and is considering giving real estate a shot — residential to start, with hopes of eventually moving into commercial. “I think I want to be around people every day, interacting with them,” he says. “I guess we’ll see. That’s kind of the beauty of graduating and starting out — I get to figure it all out, and find out what I really want in life. It’s going to be interesting. Just talking about it makes me a little nervous, but also kind of excited.”

Luke grew up in Apex, N.C., in the shadows of some of the best-known basketball programs in the country — Duke, North Carolina, and N.C. State. He dreamed of playing after high school but wasn’t sure he’d get any offers — until he started to shine during his junior season and over the summer playing travel ball.

When the offer came from Guilford, he jumped at it. Family and friends who’d gone to Guilford told him about the school’s basketball legacy — but also about the tight-knit community.

“They told me about the history, sure,” he says. “But more than that, they talked about the people — about the kind of place Guilford is.”

He didn’t fully understand what that meant until he arrived on campus as a first-year. “You’re walking across campus, and people you don’t even know — people you don’t have classes with — are saying ‘hi.’ Where I grew up, we had some of that small-town feel, but here, it’s just another level, honestly.”

He’s looking forward to returning in the fall to watch Gabe — now a rising senior — take the court. “It’ll definitely feel weird sitting in the stands, not going into the locker room after games, but I’ll be there cheering for Gabe and all the guys in a very loud way.”