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College basketball: March Madness 2005
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Lee's Gator legacy still not settled
By JOHN ROMANO
Published March 20, 2005
NASHVILLE - By now, there should have been an inventory of fond memories. Too many to count and too vivid to forget.
Stories of the splash he made as a freshman. The leadership role he assumed as a sophomore, and the many courts he graced every March.
By now, he was to be long gone. Starring in the NBA. And Gator fans would be left talking of the things he once did, and the places he went.
Instead, David Lee is still here.
Still chasing future memories.
Of all the players stepping on the court for this afternoon's game between Florida and Villanova, none have more at stake than Lee.
He has been around longer, been talked about more, been scrutinized with greater regularity than any of the rest.
He is the only senior of consequence on either team, and probably the most heralded recruit either school has seen in years.
This is his fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament, and today will be his 127th game in a Florida uniform. And yet his legacy is still to be written.
Win three more games, and he is remembered warmly.
Lose today, and he will be a disappointment.
"I'd probably agree with you there," Lee said. "Winning the first SEC tournament title for our school was a step in the right direction legacy-wise, but everybody remembers the NCAA Tournament. This is big.
"I want to do well, but not just for me or for my legacy. I want it because I think my teammates deserve it, our fans deserve it."
Look at Lee, and what do you see?
Is it the bright, compassionate, young man he has become? Is it the wonderful teammate and the successful student?
Or is it the memorable player he's never become? The phenom whose reality was never as grand as his possibilities?
There are days when we chide the NCAA for exploiting these kids as if they were professionals. Treating them like products instead of students.
Yet, at times, we are guilty of the same sin. When the games are finished, we tend to judge them by those same standards.
By almost any measure, Lee has had a wonderful stay at Florida. He is an honors student on his way to a degree in sociology. He has been one of UF's most dependable athletes when it comes to volunteer work in the community. He has been a solid player on four consecutive 20-win teams.
It is only fulfilling expectations where he has come up short.
You see, Lee was part of a landmark recruiting class for coach Billy Donovan. It was in the glow of Florida's Final Four appearance in 2000 that Lee, Kwame Brown and James White agreed to come to Gainesville.
They were on All-America teams. They were generally considered to be three of the top 20 recruits in the nation. They were going to keep Florida in the national spotlight for years to come.
Except Brown left for the NBA before ever enrolling at Florida, and White transferred to Cincinnati before making an impact.
Lee was the only one left. And he wasn't the player he was expected to be.
As a prep player, Lee was a big man who could handle the ball. He could play above the rim, but had the hands of a guard. The thinking was Lee might stick around Florida a couple of years, and then find riches in the NBA.
Had he followed Brown into the draft as a teenager, Lee would likely have been a high draft pick. Today, his NBA future is less certain.
He can score, but not enough to dominate games. He can rebound, but hasn't always been forceful in the paint. He is caught between our hopes and his ability, and it hasn't always been a pleasant fit.
Most egregious of all, Lee has failed to take Florida beyond the first weekend of an NCAA Tournament. It wasn't his fault alone, but it has been mostly his burden to bear.
"David Lee will always be remembered in my heart as a guy who was willing to sacrifice for the team," Donovan said. "He'll be remembered as a guy who won our first conference championship over a team like Kentucky.
"But I understand the way it is with fans. They want to know how deep you went into the Tournament. As a coach, I don't look at it that way. Because, you know what, I've had to live, die, sweat every single day and every single practice with them. And I'm proud of David Lee."
When the Gators blew a 20-point lead against Ohio University in the first round of the Tournament Friday, Lee said he looked up at the scoreboard and thought of how awful it would be for his career to end that way.
Florida survived that collapse, and has a chance today to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since that 2000 Final Four team.
And Lee has a chance to erase the disappointments of the past and fulfill the promise his career once held.
Just keep winning, and all will be forgotten.
Or rather, the good times will be remembered.
[Last modified March 20, 2005, 01:08:30]
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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