At one point, basketball was the furthest thing from Gary Neal?s mind. But through hard work and a deeply rooted faith, the Towson University senior shooting guard is a preseason mid-major All-American.
Not bad for a guy that the Towson program discovered playing pick-up games at Burdick Hall on campus two years ago.
“[Junior forward] Jonathan Pease came to me and said, ?There?s someone just killin? guys over there,? ” Towson coach Pat Kennedy said.
“The competition at Burdick was pretty solid,” said Neal, who had quietly enrolled in classes at Towson earlier in the year. “Sometimes there would be football players there. They weren?t the best basketball players, but they were athletic enough to make me work.”
Before transferring to Towson, Neal, who played three seasons at Aberdeen High before joining Calvert Hall for his senior year, spent his first two college seasons at La Salle, where his playing career came to an abrupt end after rape accusations. The charges were cleared, and Neal?s life was back on track with a singular focus: Moving on. After transferring, he was forced to sit out the 2004-05 season and the first several games of last season.
“I was raised in a church, and I put a lot of that situation into God?s hands, and he?s not going to give me anything I can?t handle,” Neal said. “It was sped up a little bit by the circumstances of the situation, but overall, it was a pretty natural progression.”
Neal is the top returning scorer in NCAA Division I after averaging 26.1 points per game last season, but he?s now starting to earn praise for his hustle more than scoring. Much of that has to do with his offseason conditioning. The 6-foot-4 player came into camp this year at roughly 195 pounds, about 25 pounds lighter than last year.
Tipped balls and rebounds are becoming as important as the three-pointers and dunks. Yes, dunks. Kennedy said that his shooting guard is dunking in traffic, something he didn?t do at his playing weight last season.
“It allows me to play at a pace that Coach Kennedy and nobody at Towson has seen me play at yet,” Neal said.
The new Gary Neal is now a team captain.
“That?s where he?s come to,” Kennedy said. “Now, we?ve got to get him to the point where he takes the challenge every night for 35 nights and puts us inposition to win.”
And after that?
“I think he could be, with a great year, a late first-, possibly early second-round pick,” Kennedy said.
The Wizards and Cavaliers have already been out to see Neal.
“He?s going to have the spotlight and the highlight to show what he can do,” Kennedy said. “He?s an NBA-level jump-shooter.”
Neal appreciates the praise. And he knows where he?s come from. It hasn?t been easy. Now, he needs just six upper-level credits to graduate, and he has his eyes set on a relaxing finish.
“I?m taking the Matt Leinart route,” Neal joked, referring to the Southern Cal quarterback who took ballroom dancing in his final semester. “I?m definitely thinking about taking something along those lines ? something relaxing where I don?t have to turn in a paper every week.”
After all, he?s earned it.
