A New Shea Seals at The University of Tulsa.
From all the canceled trips, to minimal contact with friends, family, co-workers, and even elimination of senior activities for high school and college graduates due to the novel coronavirus, 2020 has changed everything in every industry you could imagine. 2020 has been a year, right? The Pandemic has led to even more significant changes and adjustments to sports. In March, the NBA stopped abruptly right before tip-off in Oklahoma City in a game between the Thunder and the Utah Jazz.
Due to the Pandemic, key events in multiple sports have experience cancellations after cancellation. One sport, in particular, that seems to have been hit the hardest is college basketball. At the near genesis of the rise in coronavirus cases in the United States, the NCAA tournament was canceled for the first time in its 80 year history. The cancellation of the sports marquee event had plenty of far-reaching implications. Imagine trying to recruit after losing the NCAA tournament’s visibility and even the ability to visit and evaluate recruits in person. The pandemic has made recruiting more challenging as there is more to a player than just watching their highlight reel. Coaches like to assess a player’s body language, reaction to calls, and interactions with their coaches and teammates during timeouts to get a feel for a kid. You cannot do that from highlights or even game film as the purpose of the game film is not to follow just one player.
Fortunately for The University of Tulsa, there is a special kind of excitement coming up this season. The 2020–21 season has extra special meaning for Shea Seals. This is the first year the long-time assistant and former University of Tulsa star will direct players through warmups and drills with one of those players sporting the name “Seals” on the jersey’s back. Shea may have never believed his child would follow in his legacy, but the 2020–21 season will introduce Shea Ari Seals as shooting guard for the University of Tulsa.
I have personally known the Seals family for over 20 years, and if the thought of another Seals TU basketball star never crossed Shea’s mind, it certainly was not something that crossed my mind. Not that skills-wise, this wasn’t possible, as Ari will show he is more than capable. Following your father’s footsteps is not the easiest thing to do.
Growing up, I looked up to Shea at TU when I watched him in the NCAA tournament. Seals was a standout player at McLain High School in North Tulsa and had offers from Seton Hall and at home at the University of Tulsa. As the story goes, Seals and a friend, Booker T. Washington basketball player Landis Williams, made their decisions off a coin flip. Seals stayed loyal to the flip and attended TU, whereas Williams decided to deviate from the coin flip and attend Arkansas.
After the coin flip, Seals went on to have an extraordinary college career at TU. They would go on to four straight NCAA tournament appearances, with two trips to the Sweet 16 in 1994 and 1995. Seals would leave TU as the all-time scoring leader at the school, a record that he still holds, and has had his #21 jersey retired. Perhaps, the most memorable moment of the Shea Seals experience was the summer before his senior season when he made the USA Men’s Basketball Under 20 Select Team after numerous attempts. The select team played an exhibition game vs. the Dream Team III full of NBA Hall of Fame players like Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen. Seals lead all scorers with 20 points, and the USA Select team had a 17 point lead against the Dream Team at halftime before falling 96–90. This game would be what placed Seals in the national spotlight.
After not being drafted in the 1997 NBA Draft, Seals signed a free-agent contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. With hopes of competing for a roster spot that summer, Shea was on the pickup game circuit in California while the NBA was in the middle of a labor dispute and CBA negotiations that ultimately lead to a lockout; Seals tore the ACL in his left knee. Seals was on his own to have the surgery and rehabilitation. Seals learned the hard way grueling rehab can be without access to a professional physical therapist. Eventually, Seals returned to the court, and played overseas in France, the Philippines, and also played in Alabama, for the NBDL’s Mobile Revelers.
His career slowed from nagging leg injuries. Seals returned to his alma mater, McLain High School as a volunteer assistant coach then became Head Coach a year later. After McLain, Seals became the Head Coach of Booker T Washington High School in Tulsa. Seals coached there for five years, leading the school to two state titles (2010 and 2011). Following Booker T. Washington, Seals joined Danny Manning’s staff at TU, where he has been the last nine years.
I caught up with Shea and Ari on a chilly Saturday early afternoon to talk about the excitement around this upcoming season. We sat down at the barstool counter and chopped it up about many topics, from a new Shea Seals in a TU jersey to stories and memories about Kobe during Shea’s time with the Lakers. Here is a snippet from our conversation:
Q: What was your first feeling walking into basketball practice and seeing a Seals on the court that wasn’t yourself?
SS: It’s a proud moment where you make a decision to attend a university, and you put your heart and soul into it and not only having success but you get out of there and you have a chance to come back and coach. To have your offspring, your son, someone you raised to step on the court and also have a chance to play, it’s even more gratifying than the time that I spent as a player.
Q: Ari, What was your first feeling walking on the court for practice at TU, looking up in the rafters seeing his number retired
AS: Definitely think its a big opportunity for me and I am glad I decided to choose this opportunity and take it. Definitely love seeing my dad out there every day. It brings me back to old memories of playing PWP basketball with him coaching. I like him being there. I think it helps me a lot more to adjust to the culture and the family of the team, helps me learn different things I maybe didn’t know he could definitely help me out with. He knows a lot more than I do and that’s definitely a plus of him being here with me.
Full interview can be heard here: http://smarturl.it/unfairjj
