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Because of his size and skills, Doleac will be putting off medical school for a while.
(Jim Gund)
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Michael
Doleac,
Utah
Class: Senior
Position: Center
Height:
6'11" Weight:
265
DOB:
June 15,
1977
Hometown:
Portland,
Ore.
High School:
Central
Catholic
Vital
Stats: 16.2 points per game, 7.1 rebounds, 81.7% free
throws
by Chad
Millman
Can you live in somebody's shadow if you're 6'11"?
What if you weigh 265 pounds and earned first-team Western
Athletic Conference honors as a junior? If you're Michael
Doleac, and you played at Utah alongside Keith Van Horn,
you could. But while Van
Horn—the second player taken in last year's NBA draft—may go
down as the greatest player in school history, Doleac has
done something Van Horn never could: lead the Utes to the
Final
Four.
"When Keith left, I thought that was probably our last
chance to get to the Final Four," coach Rick Majerus
said after Utah upset defending national champion Arizona
76-51 in the West Regional Final. "In the summer I'd
say, 'Geez, I don't know if we'll
ever get another shot
here.'"
Doleac has been praised for his Van Horn-like ability to
run the floor and for his shooting range, but Majerus has
consistently criticized his center for lacking competitive
fire. Doleac isn't your typical gym rat. His passions lie
in reading about
rocks, rather than in shooting them. He just happens to be stuck
in a body that won't let him ignore the opportunities
basketball has to offer.
As the son of an Army colonel, Doleac has moved from
Germany to Texas to Alaska to Portland, Ore. At each stop
he discovered something outside the basketball
court—trapping beaver, hunting moose, skiing the German
Alps—that lured him. He's more likely
to listen to opera than watch Van Horn match up against Karl
Malone. "Basketball isn't 24 hours a day with
me," says Doleac, a biology major who is a two-time
Academic All-America. "It never will be. I enjoy
reading books and going to class. I want more
than
basketball."
Though Doleac would ultimately like to be an orthopedic
surgeon, basketball will continue to loom large in his
future—not just this weekend but down the road in the
pros. And while Majerus may question his star player's
passion for the game, he can
never doubt Doleac's commitment to him. After the game against
Arizona, Doleac stood up in the locker room and led his
teammates in a tribute to Majerus, saying, "He's the
reason we're here." Majerus could easily say the same
thing about
Doleac.
Other Spotlights
March 27: Christy Smith, Arkansas
March 26: Allen Edwards, Kentucky
March 25: Mark Madsen, Stanford
March 24: Tamika Catchings, Tennessee
March 22: Jeff Sheppard, Kentucky
March 21: Khalid El-Amin, Connecticut
March 20: Andre Miller, Utah; Alisa Burras,
Louisiana Tech
March 19: Brian Cardinal, Purdue
March 18: Tim Young, Stanford
March 17: Sarunas
Jasikevicius, Maryland; Adia Barnes, Arizona
March 16: Mateen Cleaves, Michigan; Murriel Page, Florida
March 15: Jason Hart, Syracuse
March 14: Kris Johnson, UCLA
March 13: Lee Nailon, Texas Christian
March 12: Brian Earl, Princeton
March 11: Tyrone Weeks, Massachusetts
March 10: Brett Robisch, Oklahoma St.
March 9: Larry Hughes, Saint Louis
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