Woodbury’s Aaron Estrada has run the gauntlet of college basketball. On the other side? Final Four.

Mark DiRugeris smiles when he remembers the call he received from Hofstra’s coaching staff. They wanted him to reach out to Aaron Estrada and tell him to stop working out so much.

“You guys got a key to the gym,” he remembers saying. “Just lock it.”

Estrada, a Woodbury, N.J. native who played for DiRugeris at Woodbury High School, isn’t a freak athlete or a product of a high school basketball factory. His college recruitment was slow, so much so that he transferred for more exposure after winning a state championship. He’s been a college basketball journeyman, playing for four programs in five years.

But his work ethic paid off. Five years after choosing St. Peter’s over East Carolina, Wagner, and Robert Morris, Estrada is the second-leading scorer (13.4 points) for a 25-11 Alabama squad playing in the program’s first Final Four. He’s had one of college basketball’s longest journeys, but he says it’s all been worth it.

“Everything is just coming back around full circle for me,” Estrada said. “I couldn’t ask for any better final year of college.”

If you ask Estrada where his basketball journey began, he’ll tell you the exact location.

“The YMCA down there on Red Bank Ave,” Estrada says. He played in Woodbury’s Gloucester County YMCA as a three or four-year-old, following his dad around.

Estrada played for Woodbury in high school, leading the Thundering Herd to the state title game as a sophomore. Though they lost, Estrada brought the team back the following year, hitting two game-winning free throws with four seconds left to win Woodbury’s first state championship. “It feels good to be the man,” he told the Courier-Post after the game, but even as the man and the South Jersey Player of the Year, he held few offers. He transferred to St. Benedict’s Prep, the basketball powerhouse built by now-UConn coach Dan Hurley, for his senior year. Though his recruitment picked up, his only offers were low majors. Estrada picked St. Peter’s.

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The 6-foot-3 guard immediately made an impact for the Peacocks. He earned Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference rookie of the year honors and was set for a bigger role, but outside noise convinced him he could play somewhere better. Estrada entered the transfer portal and chose Oregon over offers from Creighton and Syracuse.

“People [were] saying I needed to be playing at a higher level, saying that I’m better than St. Peter’s, just things like that,” Estrada said. “Me being an 18-year-old [and] not really having nobody to talk to in the basketball world just yet, I kind of fell into that.”

Oregon proved the grass isn’t always greener. Estrada played in just nine games for the Ducks, missing the first month until an NCAA waiver allowed transfers to immediately play, then logging just two appearances in Oregon’s final 17 games. After the season, Estrada hit the portal again — with a new focus this time.

“My mindset when I was transferring from Oregon was at this point, I don’t care about the name of the school,” Estrada said. “I just want to go somewhere where I’m going to be a priority and I’m going to [play].”

Hofstra was the perfect fit. Head coach Speedy Claxton knew Estrada from St. Benedict’s and St. Peter’s and quickly got in contact. Claxton remembers Estrada was low on confidence, but told him he believed in him and would give him “a chance to showcase his true abilities.” With his coach’s faith, Estrada started every game, averaged 18.5 points, and was named Coastal Athletic Association player of the year.

He returned and improved as a senior, earning the award again by averaging 20.2 points and 4.3 assists. He led the Pride to a 25-10 record and the top seed in the CAA, but they were upset in the quarterfinals. It had been the perfect season, but Hofstra fell short of an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Through it all, Estrada’s work ethic remained the same. He was constantly in the gym, whether he was playing at St. Peter’s, sitting at Oregon, or starring at Hofstra. DiRugeris has seen it in Estrada’s eyes both in high school and in workouts when Estrada was home from college, while Claxton saw it daily.

“He wants to feed his family, basically,” Claxton said. “And he knows this is his opportunity, this is his chance, this is his way to help his family out.”

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Estrada’s third trip to the transfer portal was different from the first two: This time, he didn’t want to leave. Claxton helped him make the decision.

“‘I love you here. I would love for you to come back,’” Claxton remembers telling him. “But if I did that, I would not be doing you and your family justice.” Hofstra has some NIL resources, but Claxton knew Estrada would be better served financially elsewhere.

Still, Estrada had been burned by the portal before. Oregon had taught him the importance of fit, so he wasn’t just searching for the highest bidder. He’d also never really gotten the NCAA Tournament experience (Oregon advanced to the Sweet 16, but Estrada didn’t play). When Alabama reached out, it was the right combination of all three: a clear on-court role, “life-changing” NIL, and NCAA Tournament expectations.

It’s been everything Estrada had hoped for. He scored 16 in his debut and 27 in his second game, showing his importance. He’s started every game, washing away any doubts whether he could play at the high-major level. Now, he’s on college basketball’s biggest stage, and he’s blown away by the media coverage, the cameras, and the security guards walking his team through their hotel.

It’s all worked out for Estrada. However, the NCAA’s current unlimited transfer policy doesn’t work out for everyone. Claxton still doesn’t think transferring multiple times is a good thing, as he’s worried about players having somewhere to return to when they’re done playing. Estrada is an exception, not the rule, as he has Hofstra and will have Alabama 2024 Final Four reunions in his future, regardless of Saturday’s result.

The portal isn’t perfect, especially for those who enter multiple times, but Estrada’s journey to Alabama is certainly a success story.

Estrada’s Alabama team faces national title favorite UConn on Saturday night (9:20 p.m., TBS/TNT) in Glendale, Ariz. With a win, Estrada will prepare for the national championship on Monday. A loss will end Estrada’s college career.

Regardless of when Estrada’s run ends, he’ll soon be preparing for the professional ranks. He’s not expected to be drafted, but he’ll be able to keep playing. He just doesn’t know where yet.

What he does know is that he’ll get a celebrity’s welcome home when he returns to Woodbury. He says his high school teachers still reach out to him, telling him they’re proud of him, and that he’s heard Woodbury High and the wider Woodbury community is rooting for him. He didn’t expect to be a hometown hero, but he recognizes it’s “bigger than basketball” and embraces it.

DiRugeris will be in the crowd in Arizona, rooting for Estrada. Claxton’s cheering him on from afar, punctuating one of his answers with a “Roll Tide.” They’re not the only ones.

Estrada never expected to be in this situation, from Woodbury, to St. Benedict’s, to St. Peter’s, to tough times at Oregon, or to better ones at Hofstra. His college journey is in its final days. A national championship would “put the icing on the cake,” he said, but regardless of the outcome, he feels his road is complete.