June 22, 2004

by Adam Lucas, Tar Heel Monthly

He's got all the post moves, has the touch around the basket, and understands how to play the game of basketball. But what Sean May realizes after two years at North Carolina is that he hasn't always had the conditioning necessary to play consistently at a high level.

So when the Tar Heels returned from Denver after losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the rising junior took almost a month off from playing on-court pickup games. But he never missed any time in the weight room and has been working out religiously since then, trying to tone his body after an occasionally up-and-down sophomore campaign.

"I didn't take any time off from weights, because that's the most important thing for me," May says. "My game, what I do on the court, is fine. It comes down to my conditioning and my body."

The Bloomington, Ind., native had already endured a freshman season cut short by a foot fracture. He played in just a handful of games, making his sophomore year his first full season in the ACC. He started the season as a dominating offensive presence, but a variety of injuries -- which he mainly kept to himself -- combined to limit his effectiveness in the middle of the season.

The night before the Wake Forest game in the Smith Center, he was up much of the night with back spasms. The biggest problem, however, proved to be an ankle injury he suffered against UNC-Wilmington. He sat out the win over Coastal Carolina but was limited by the nagging injury for several weeks.

On the court, he was able to play through the pain. But it was during practice when the injury proved to be most hurtful. May had worked for most of the summer to get in shape to handle Roy Williams's uptempo system. The ankle problem limited his running in practice, and his conditioning level started to slip.

"I wasn't practicing and I wasn't going hard, and I started to get a little out of shape," he says. "I could play, I just didn't have everything I had at the beginning of the season."

Not having everything caused some disappointing performances, including a sluggish effort at Maryland in Carolina's road loss. Games like that combined to chip away at his confidence, and by the middle of the season, moves that once seemed like second nature were suddenly a major risk.

Williams spoke regularly of May's basketball savvy, but during that stretch, the savvy may have actually been a hindrance. Most players eventually shoot themselves out of a slump. But May, a student of the game who probably watches more tape than any other player on the roster, analyzed every twitch of what he was doing wrong. He talked to the coaches. He watched film. He talked to his father, former Indiana star Scott May. He watched more film.

None of it seemed to work -- and he finally realized he simply had to play through it.

SUMMER FOCUS: "I'm just going to get in the best shape I can." Sean May

"I've never lost confidence in myself like I did this year," he says. "I went through a stretch where my head was out of it. I think it helped to go through the adjustment process of learning to play against guys I hadn't played against before, and the second time through the ACC I played better. I wasn't worried about everything like what my defender was going to do. I just went out and played and it was fun again."

To try and avoid that same type of slump as a junior, May has a full summer planned. He attended the first session of summer school, working the various camps that take place in the Smith Center. He'll serve as a counselor at the Nike camp and Jordan camp -- trips he'll once again make with Rashad McCants, which served to make the duo much closer last summer -- and has also been invited to the USA Junior Team workouts. His father is close friends with Mike Woodson, an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons, so the father-and-son duo may also squeeze in a trip to Detroit.

None of those trips, however, are his top priority.

"I want to change my body more dramatically than I did last summer," he says.

"Knowing how much Coach Williams wants to run, I'm working on a track workout to get conditioned. I'm going to do more running on the track outside and I'm going to be a better athlete. That's what has to change for me to be a successful player at this level."

Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly and can be reached at alucas@tarheelmonthly.com. To subscribe to Tar Heel Monthly, click here.