After brain surgery, games are a bonus for OU's Neal
12:48 AM CST on Saturday, January 28, 2006
By BRIAN DAVIS / The Dallas Morning News
NORMAN, Okla. – Elizabeth Neal vividly remembers arriving at Oklahoma Medical Center unsure if her son, Michael, would live another day, much less shoot another 3-pointer.
A sinus infection had spread to his brain, and the doctors said chances of recovery were 50-50.
Thumb, groin and Achilles' problems seem meaningless compared to brain surgery. That's why Neal, a 6-3 junior guard from Mesquite Poteet, isn't fazed by the injuries that slowed his progress this season. Oklahoma's budding 3-point specialist admits he's just glad to be alive.
Playing games, like the one Neal has today against No. 4 Texas, is merely a bonus.
"The doctors came downstairs, and they told me to call everybody in," Elizabeth Neal said of that September night in 2002. "I looked around and said, 'Well, I'm it.' The doctor didn't think [Neal] was going to make it through the night.
"I just looked at him and said, 'Do I have any hope?' He said, 'There's always hope.' I said that's all I needed to hear."Neal, 22, still isn't sure how he ended up in an Oklahoma City hospital that night.
He was a freshman at Seminole (Okla.) State College getting ready for the upcoming season. Neal had been treated for sinus problems, which seemed to disappear. Only, he kept having tremendous headaches.
The team met for a 6 a.m. conditioning session one Friday, but Neal said the gym's lights hurt his head. So coach J.T. Locklear let Neal go back to the dorm to rest. By Sunday morning, swelling had caused a large growth over Neal's eye.
Locklear rushed Neal to the local hospital, where it was quickly determined that the problem was much more severe. Neal was airlifted to OU Medical Center and was prepped for surgery hours later.
Doctors explained what was about to happen while Elizabeth Neal frantically drove northbound from Dallas.
"They said they were going to cut an incision from ear to ear across the top of my head," said Neal, who describes the procedure with amazing calm.
"They would pull the fold of my skin forward, go in and do what they had to do. They said something about putting in fat cells to replace the loss of bone. But they would then pull my skin back [onto my forehead] and staple the incision across my head."
Neal laughs when told the surgery didn't ruin his good looks. The scar is probably permanent, though.
"I was always wondering how I would look after the surgery," he said. "Honestly, I thought I would be deformed or something. But it wasn't bad at all."
Another twist in road
Neal was confined to his hospital bed for the next 21/2 months.
"He spent a lot of time alone," Locklear said. "He did manage, though. That's probably the most courageous part of the story."
Seminole State started the season without Neal, and Locklear wonders if the team's offense would have flourished with Neal on the wing. Neal averaged 27 points per game as a senior at Poteet and was an all-state selection, but he did not have any major Division I offers, Locklear said.
Neal rejoined the basketball team in December. With the season halfway over, Locklear decided it was best that Neal redshirt and get ready for the 2003-04 season. Neal spent the spring working on his long-range shot and acting as a team manager.
Seminole State finished 11-19, and Locklear resigned in March 2003. Locklear, who spent hours driving back and forth to Oklahoma City from Seminole, never got to coach Neal in a game. He's now an assistant coach at Garland Lakeview Centennial.
MICHAEL MULVEY/DMN
Junior Michael Neal, an all-state pick at Mesquite Poteet, had stops at Seminole (Okla.) State College and Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas, before catching Kelvin Sampson's attention. Neal said he wanted to remain at Seminole State, but one week before fall classes were scheduled to start, he got a stunning phone call. Neal said the new coach informed him that it was best he find somewhere else to play.
"I guess he had his own reasons," Neal said. "He called me, not my mom. She just went raging. She called him up and said all kinds of stuff to him."
Landing at Lon Morris
Neal called Locklear and told him what had happened. Locklear started calling coaches he knew, and hours later, he found Neal an open spot at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas.
Neal wasted little time. He averaged 21.1 points and shot 39.8 percent beyond the arc as a freshman. Lon Morris reached the NJCAA tournament, and it wasn't long before Division I coaches took notice.
"When he showed up here, he could just blast it," Lon Morris coach Dale Dotson said. "I've told many people this, but I've been coaching 38 years. He's the best basketball player I've ever had who can play without the ball."
Neal and his family were driving home from a funeral in Mississippi in the summer of 2004 when OU coach Kelvin Sampson called Neal's cellphone. That one call was all it took; Neal wanted to become a Sooner.
"I told my brother [Derrick] it was Oklahoma," Neal said. "And he said, 'What! Are you going? You better be!' "
Sampson said Neal and his mother visited the campus, and that's when he learned Neal's story.
"I remember thinking he's lucky to be alive," Sampson said. "That was my first reaction. But the more I heard, the more I wanted this kid on my team."
Neal signed with OU during the early signing period before his sophomore season in which he averaged 16.8 points.
At OU, Neal missed the first two Big 12 games with all those minor injuries. OU lost both. But Neal hit one 3-pointer against Texas A&M, four against Texas Tech and five Wednesday against Baylor. OU won all three.
"They can't leave him open," OU guard Terrell Everett said.
Opponents can't contain Neal's optimism, either.
"Sometimes I feel lucky, but I don't think lucky really explains it," Neal said. "I'm just blessed to be alive."
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