Matthew Lee shook his head. No, even he couldn’t have imagined this three years in the past.
Not when he was nonetheless trying to find a possibility, weighing Division II choices and simply on the lookout for a shot to show he was worthy of being on a Division I roster.
“I by no means would have dreamt of something like this,” the Saint Peter’s place to begin guard mentioned this week because the Fifteenth-seeded Peacocks ready for his or her Candy 16 conflict with No. 3 Purdue on Friday in Philadelphia. “How my profession was going after highschool was a bit of shaky. I had a couple of doubts.”
Lee didn’t have many choices, however he wasn’t prepared to surrender on his Division I purpose following a four-year profession at Dohn Prep in Ohio wherein he scored greater than 1,000 factors. A pal of his, Giovanni Santiago, had lately visited Saint Peter’s, and through that go to, it was advised to the employees by Sanitago’s brother, Luis, that Lee might make sense for them. Saint Peter’s introduced him in to open gyms that summer time whereas he stayed with household within the space to see what he might do.
“I attempted to win the coaches over and present them what I’m all about,” mentioned Lee, a junior.
Each time he was invited, Lee did one thing to impress the coaches. He gave most effort. He made the additional move. He hit photographs. He defended like his basketball life trusted it.
“It was nearly like he handled each day prefer it was a tryout,” assistant coach Ryan Whalen recalled. “I don’t know if we absolutely grasped what we have been getting once we mentioned, ‘Sure, you is usually a walk-on.’ ”
By the center of Lee’s freshman 12 months, he was placed on scholarship. When he was given the information, he cried. Then he referred to as his dad and mom, they usually all cried collectively.
“I felt like I used to be adequate to go Division I,” he mentioned. “I used to be taking part in in opposition to numerous extremely recruited folks in highschool, and I used to be taking part in very properly in opposition to them. So I assumed I ought to have an opportunity.”
It was an emotional second for Lee, who grew up in his father’s well-known footsteps. Butch Lee, a New York Metropolis highschool basketball standout out of DeWitt Clinton in The Bronx, was a celebrity in faculty, main Marquette to the 1977 nationwide championship because the Most Excellent Participant of the Remaining 4. He was drafted within the first spherical (tenth general) by the Hawks, changing into the primary participant of Puerto Rican descent to play within the NBA.
Now, the 6-foot Matthew is having an enormous March of his personal. Within the NCAA Match, Matthew has been an integral a part of the Peacocks’ beautiful run — averaging 6.5 factors, 4 assists and only one turnover along with his dad within the stands.
“I've a enterprise right here in Puerto Rico and I can’t even do any work,” Butch, again house in San Juan, Puerto Rico, advised The Submit. “It’s been a loopy experience proper now.”
Butch mentioned he hasn’t supplied his son a lot recommendation, as a result of to him it looks like Matthew is in management. The elder Lee can’t assist however brag to all of his pals. Every time they requested about his son in recent times, and Butch advised them Matthew was taking part in for Saint Peter’s, they requested if that was Division I college and the place it was positioned.
They know now. Everybody does.
“It’s nearly like, ‘I advised you so,’ ” Butch mentioned. “Proper now it’s a superb feeling. He answered all of the questions.”
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