Cullen Neal has always marched to the beat of his own dribble.
Instead of enrolling at
La Cueva (Albuquerque) to play with his childhood friend,
Bryce Alford, the son of University of New Mexico coach Steve Alford — Neal lives in the La Cueva school district, after all — the 6-foot-4, 180-pound senior combo guard applied for and received a transfer to rival school
Eldorado (Albuquerque) before the start of his freshman year.
Last year's
Gatorade New Mexico Boys Basketball Player of the Year, Neal further stunned basketball aficionados when he decided to accept a scholarship offer to play at St. Mary's (Moraga, Calif.) instead of the University of New Mexico, where his father — former NBA player Craig Neal — is the associate head coach.
Then again, Neal has never done things the conventional way.
"I'm trying to make my own way, pave my own trail," Neal said. "I just knew in the end that I wanted to do my own thing."
Eldorado coach Roy Sanchez saw Neal's independent spirit early.
"Cullen has always been his own guy," said Sanchez. "He likes to do things the tough way, prove things to himself, and there's no status quo for him."
Of that, there is no doubt. A couple of days after Neal scored 34 points in leading Eldorado to a riveting 75-72 win over La Cueva — Alford had 38 points in defeat — for the Class 5A state title last March, Neal was back on the court, salivating at the fact that he could come back for his senior year a more complete player. This after a superb season in which he averaged 27.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game.
"The main thing I've been working on is my leadership skills," he said. "I want to make my teammates better, and you do that by talking to them, setting an example in practice and doing everything you possibly can to improve."
Not surprisingly, Neal has found the court a bit more crowded this season. He expects a double team every time he dribbles past midcourt, so it's up to him to make the right decision and make opponents pay. While Neal's scoring is down from last season — he's averaging 22.4 points per game for the 5-0 Eagles — his assists are up, to 6.6.
Count Neal's extremely high basketball IQ as the reason for his tremendous decision-making.
"He sees things before they happen," Sanchez said. "He's like a coach out there. He kind of reads my mind in terms of what I want the team to do out there, and at times exceeds my mind of always being ahead of the game by three or four plays. He's been around the game so much and has watched so much basketball that he'll often say, ‘Hey coach, let's try this play.' Then he goes full throttle and makes it happen."
Neal has tremendous shooting range and routinely gets to the basket off dribble penetration, hitting runners reminiscent of his idol, "Pistol" Pete Maravich.
"I know he's a little before my time, but I've seen highlights of him and it was pretty ridiculous what he could do," Neal said. "The craftiness and creativity he showed when he had the ball in his hands was amazing. Off the ball, he never stopped moving. I've learned a lot from him."
Of course, Neal counts his dad as his ultimate role model. Craig Neal starred at Georgia Tech before playing eight years of professional ball, mostly in the now defunct CBA. After Neal's playing days were over, he became a scout and then an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors before joining Steve Alford's staff at Iowa in '04.
When Alford took the job at New Mexico three years later, Neal followed his long-time friend to Albuquerque. That meant his son Cullen had to say goodbye to his friends every couple of years, but he wouldn't have it any other way.
"It was tough moving a lot growing up, but at the same time I got to experience a lot of great things," Neal said. "I remember when I was 5 or 6 and being in the stands behind my dad at the Toronto Raptors games, thinking it was the coolest thing ever."
Even though Neal feels fortunate to have a father who played and coached professionally, he always wanted to forge his own identity. That's why Neal had to rebuff his dad's recruiting pitch to play at New Mexico, even though no one would have blamed him for staying home.
"Cullen likes to do things differently, which is good," Sanchez said. "He's just unique in everything he does, from his resiliency to his leadership skills. He's extremely vocal — sometimes I can't get the guy to shut up. I don't think his parents can, either (laughing). He's so passionate about the game that many times he's willed us to victory."
Have an interesting or inspiring New Mexico high school sports story? E-mail Emanuel Lee at Leefunk33@aol.com.
