Colleges

Feel-good tale ongoing for unexpected starter

By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published January 10, 2008

Just four years ago, Florida State forward Matt Zitani sat in a doctor's office and heard the unthinkable.

Fresh out of high school at the time, Zitani, a former walk-on who was just put on scholarship for his final semester, had been complaining of increasingly frequent and worsening headaches and, at his mother's urging, got it checked.

"Luckily I was going to junior college and I was at home because my mom was saying, 'You need to go to a doctor,'" he said. "If I had gone away, I would have said, 'I'm fine.'"

A week later, he had an MRI exam, though the best guess was he had an easily treatable sinus problem. The doctor who evaluated his MRI told him to sit down.

"We found something."

"What do you mean, you found something?"

"You have a tumor in your head."

"I didn't know what to feel, what to think at that point," Zitani recalled.

Four days later, on Oct. 2, he was having a 14-hour procedure to remove what was determined to be a benign tumor about the size of a golf ball. A cyst on it was causing his symptoms and, if it weren't for that, he might never have known there was a tumor.

"It probably would have killed me in my sleep," he said.

For the next few months, he had to stay inactive, and he gained about 50 pounds. He begged to do something and was allowed to start lifting light weights and jog a little.

"Being 18, I defied everything they said and started working out harder to get back into shape," he said.

Although the tumor was in the cerebellum, which controls coordination, he returned to the court at Indian River Community College as a sophomore in 2005. He then walked on at FSU, never expecting to play much.

For two years he didn't. Then in the past five weeks the Seminoles lost Ryan Reid suspended for the past eight games then heralded freshmen post players Solomon Alabi (surgery on his right leg) and Julian Vaughn (having medical tests in Cleveland today for an unspecified condition). Suddenly, the 6-foot-7, 230-pound Zitani was the next, best option.

He has started the past two games and is expected to start Saturday as the Seminoles (12-4, 1-0) play at Clemson. He's averaging 3.5 points and two rebounds in those games, both FSU wins, but he had scored 16 total in 16 games during the previous two seasons. He hoped to be averaging "three or four minutes" this year.

"Matt has always been a very solid guy and has been a great teammate," coach Leonard Hamilton said. "We need him stepping up and taking on a bigger role now."

"Just to play junior college (ball) was amazing and then the fact that I was able to walk on here at Florida State was a miracle for me and my family," Zitani added. "We just thank God for everything that's happened. It's unbelievable."

MORE SCANDAL FALLOUT: Mark Meleney, the longtime director of academic support, has been told his contract won't be renewed this summer. Although no one has said it specifically, Meleney's office has been at the center of an academic misconduct scandal involving dozens of student-athletes in at least nine sports, a former learning specialist and a tutor who has been said to have given players answers to online tests for a music class.

CATCHING UP WITH WEINKE: Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Chris Weinke was a special guest at the Bowl Championship Series national title game this week and sure enjoyed a return to New Orleans.

"It's always nice to come back to a place where you have some good memories," he said.

He and the Seminoles capped a perfect season and the program's second national championship with a 46-29 win against Virginia Tech in the 2000 Sugar Bowl.

"That game means as much to me as any game or any award I've ever won just because of the way we went about it," he said of FSU's fourth-quarter comeback.

As for his future, Weinke, 35, who was signed late in the season by San Francisco and started the final game, isn't under contract but intends to be in a training camp with someone.

"I still love competing and I feel great," he said.

Brian Landman can be reached at landman@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3347.

[Last modified January 9, 2008, 22:18:26]