Meet the Men?s Basketball Team: Sophomore Ronald Steele
3/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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| Ronald Steele |
By Kyle Murphy, UA Media Relations
Some call him the best point guard in the SEC. Some say he is one of the best in the nation. Ronald Steele came to the Capstone last season to do what few freshman can do in the world of college basketball, take over as starting point guard his freshman year. Replacing one of the most clutch point guards in Alabama history in Antoine Pettway, Steele gathered All-SEC honors both on and off the court while leading Alabama to a share of the SEC Western Division Title and a berth in its fourth straight NCAA Tournament in 2005.
Now in his sophomore year, Steele has helped lead the Tide to its fifth straight NCAA Tournament. Bama’s success in 2005-2006 hasn’t come easy, yet Steele has shown poise and leadership in conference play this season ever since the Tide’s senior leader Chuck Davis was lost for the year with a knee injury in January 7th’s Ole Miss game. An iron man with a dead-on aim, Steele leads the SEC in free throw percentage and minutes played. He averages 13.8 points per game. With postseason play on the horizon in Alabama’s NCAA 1st round trip to San Diego to play Marquette, there may not be a better player to lead his team than point guard Ronald Steele.
People are touting you as one of the best point guards in not only the SEC, but the country. How do you deal with all the hype and pressure?
“It’s flattering that people might look at me like that. I really don’t have time to look at it like that. I just do what I can for us to win. I really don’t pay that much attention to it.”
What went through your mind when Chuck Davis went down and what challenges have you had to face to overcome his injury?
“When Chuck went down, things were looking bad. Since then, we have been trying to use it as motivation. I knew I had to step my game up. I became more of a leader to the team since he went down.”
Now that you have some postseason experience under your belt, what have you learned that will help you this year?
“The number one thing is that you have to take care of your body. Last year we were a little bit tired. You have to be disciplined in that. Every game you have to come out and play well and have the right mental attitude regardless of who you are playing.”
You’re an education major. What would your ideal job be if you weren’t playing basketball?
“It would probably be somewhere working with kids. I love working with kids.”
You were Freshman Academic All-SEC last season. How do you balance your school work and the job of being Alabama’s starting point guard?
“It’s tough but you have to be disciplined. You have to go home and study everyday, read and make sure you go to class. It’s all about being disciplined and staying on top of it.”
Just as you did, your younger brother Andrew is playing both football and basketball in high school. How competitive were the Steele brothers growing up?
“We were always competitive. We always played one-on-one, whether it was football, basketball, or video games. I think it’s good though. It made us better players.”
You’ve played with two great senior classes the past two seasons. What is the number one thing you learned from those guys?
“There are so many things, but the number one thing was probably learning how to deal with success. We had a lot of success with Kennedy (Winston), Earnest (Shelton) and Chuck (Davis), and they taught me how to work hard everyday.”
