FRIDAY,APRIL4,2003
FINALFOUR
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7P
Immediate emergence
Lee shakes off his doubters, including himself
By Henry C. Jackson
cjackson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
As the year started he was just Aaron Miles' boyhood friend.
He was nervous and error-prone on the court, quiet and benign off of it. His work ethic was, by his own accounts, dubious. There were even whispers that his bulky frame and high-school football experience might have made him better suited for the University of Kansas' football team.
Michael Lee is still Aaron Miles' friend, and that's not likely to change. But life is changing for the 6-foot-3 guard.
Last season Lee, a Portland, Ore., native was a seldom-used reserve. Most of the time Lee was mimicking opponents in practice scrimmages.
"Just try to do what the team would do against us," freshman guard Jeff Hawkins said of life on the Crimson team in practices. "If their point guard likes to penetrate and pitch out, that's what I try to focus on to get them ready."
Describing last season, Lee is blunt.
"I knew what games I was going to play and which I wasn't," he said. "I got to sit back and relax and hope that Drew (Gooden) or Kirk (Hinrich) or Nick (Collison) or Keith (Langford) would step up and make the big plays."
That has changed, and that is
"My confidence level and my physical level are riding real high. Last year I doubted myself a lot.I was really questioning my ability to play at this level."
Michael Lee
Sophomore guard
how Lee prefers it.
"I'd rather be the person stepping up and making the plays," he said.
The change in Lee's role is remarkable, especially considering Lee's precarious start to the season.
During Kansas' lackluster performance in New York at the preseason NIT, Lee tallied only four minutes in a loss to unranked North Carolina and did not play — a decision by coach Roy Williams — against No. 7 Florida.
Lack of playing time did little to improve Lee's work ethic. At the team's first practice after returning from New York, Lee was pulled aside by Williams after goofing around. The conversation would prove fateful.
"Coach Williams pulled me aside and said, 'Michael, I haven't even given you a chance to play yet,' Lee said. "And you really showed me I have no reason to
Miles, for his part, never doubted his old friend.
put you out there."
"Mikey, he was down on himself a lot," Miles said. "It wasn't funny, when he'd be telling me his doubts and everything, but I'd be laughing because I knew how good he was."
A week later, Kansas traveled to play Oregon in Portland, Ore., Lee and Miles' hometown. A break out, 11-point, eight-rebound performance proved to Lee, his coach and the fans what Miles said he'd known all along: that he could be a key player for the Kansas men's basketball team.
Since the Oregon game. Lee's minutes have steadily increased and his confidence—a big problem last year—has skyrocketed.
"My confidence level and my physical level are riding real high," Lee said. "Last year I doubted myself a lot. I was really questioning my ability to play at this level."
While Lee may never be a starter or play as big a role as his buddy Miles, he's happy to silence critics who said Kansas' bench would leave the Jayhawks in the lurch this season.
"People say things you like and you may not like," Lee said. "You just have to know what you're doing and what you're capable of doing and go out there and do that."
—Edited by Ryan Wood
Kansan file photo
Sophomore Michael Lee delivers an inbound pass. When the guard arrived at Kansas he was seen by many fans as the weaker half of a package deal to make high school friend Aaron Miles a Jayhawk. In the past year, Lee has developed as a player and become the sixth man on the court.
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