Bowling Green State University Athletics
Sports Illustrated Feature on Keith McLeod
February 01, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2002
As Keith McLeod walked around the Bowling Green campus last summer, he was constantly accompanied by his significant other. McLeod's companion was with him while he took notes in his ethnic studies class. They played hours of basketball together, just the two of them, under the stars at the playground. They even snuggled in McLeod's off-campus apartment as he watched his favorite TV shows. Yes, the love of McLeod's life, a scuffed Baden basketball, is one reason he has emerged as the top scorer in the Mid-American Conference, averaging 23.5 points a game through Sunday, fifth best in the nation.
"Other guys practice all the time, so I decided to dribble my basketball constantly," says McLeod, a senior guard from Canton, Ohio. "I'd dribble to and from class, in my apartment, everywhere. Dribbling on cracks in the sidewalk helps you learn how to control the ball."
Even before last summer, there were hints that McLeod was poised for a breakout season. Falcons coach Dan Dakich believes that the 6'2", 188-pound McLeod, who wasn't named to the MAC's preseason all-conference squad, was transformed during a single practice, on Jan. 29, 2001. At the time Bowling Green had dropped four straight games, and the frustrated McLeod erupted. He screamed at teammate Len Matela, berating him for not working hard enough. Dakich thought about intervening but, because this was the first time McLeod had spoken up, let him rant.
"It was the damnedest thing I've ever seen, but Keith became a different player after that," says Dakich, whose falcons were in fourth place in the MAC's East Division with a 4-3 record (14-4 overall). "Now he scores, plays defense and gets other guys involved." After that practice McLeod's scoring average for the rest of the season rose to 20.9 from 15.7.
McLeod also worked to improve his jumping last summer, wearing specially designed shoes that forced him to walk on tiptoe, strengthening his calves and Achilles. His vertical jump increased from 34 inches to 37 inches.
When Bowling Green played at Buffalo three weeks ago, a Bulls fan loudly proclaimed during the first half that McLeod was destined to play in the CBA. In the second half, around the time McLeod scored his 30th point, the student stood and screamed that maybe McLeod could make some money paying in Europe. At the end of the game, after McLeod had scored his career-high 42nd and final point in Bowling Green's 85-73 win, the dejected student declared, "O.K., McLeod, you're going to the NBA developmental league."
