Still Waiting For His Shot

Michael Bruce never thought twice about the decision.
As an inexperienced sophomore, he had obviously won the starting point guard spot at John Bowne. Where other youngsters may have rejoiced or gloated, he actually turned down the offer, citing a preference to come off the bench to Coach John Tsapelas and assistant Roberto Diaz.
But the real reason Bruce, then in his first year at the Flushing school, basically demoted himself was his desire to avoid making waves, to allow the senior incumbent, Lesley Princivil, to get the nod. “That played a part in it,” he said sheepishly.
“He’s really humble,” Diaz added. “When I told him he hit the 1,000-point mark, he was excited, but not to the point where he bragged about it.”
That, essentially, is Bruce in a nutshell. He’s led his team in scoring back-to-back seasons by a wide margin yet rarely calls for the ball or looks on in dismay when a teammate hoists up a poor shot. If he sees his reliable jumper isn’t falling he looks to get others involved. When asked to talk about himself, he’s uncomfortable.
“It just never was me,” Bruce said of his ego, or lack thereof.
The soft-spoken 6-foot-1 senior from St. Albans is progressing in near-anonymity. He rarely gets noticed during the high school season from scouts who prefer to follow the city’s renowned Catholic League or top public schools. In the summer, playing with NYC Finest, the Queens Village-based A.A.U. program Diaz runs, he is often overlooked in favor of the bigger, sneaker-funded organizations.
For that reason, and his struggles in the classroom (he has just a 70 average), Bruce has received little interest from any Division I schools despite leading his division in scoring the last two seasons and being one of the top pure shooters in the city.
Fairleigh Dickinson and Quinnipiac have sent out feelers, but nothing of much significance. He may go the prep school route or head to junior college next fall.
“If he was in a situation where more eyes could see him, the odds are he would have a lot more [interest], it’s obvious,” said Cardozo Coach Ron Naclerio, also the associate editor of The Hoop Scoop Online, a national recruiting web service. “If you’re doing something for the Yankees or the Mets, compared to [in] Oklahoma City, more people know about it. But that doesn’t mean he can’t be the kid who can get there. He just might have to work harder.”
Later, Naclerio, who’s sent hundreds of players to college over the years, added: “He’s a very good player. I like him a lot. … He’s a Division I talent.”
A big reason why Bruce remained at Bowne and with NYC Finest, was his relationship with Diaz.
The two have known each other for five years, first meeting when Bruce’s friends got him to join Diaz’s well-run, academics-first program. He transferred to Bowne from the High School for Law Enforcement and Public Safety, whose basketball team was just in the developmental stage at the time, because of Diaz.
And he gives much of the credit for his maturity and intense work ethic to the public affairs police officer. Before the season, they’d meet at the Flushing YMCA for workouts at 7 a.m. before school began (he had to get up at 5 a.m. to make the cross-borough trip) and then shoot in the gym after school.
“There are times when I have to tell him to take a break because when I ask him, he doesn’t stop,” Diaz said. “He is the type of kid if you give him a key to the gym, he’ll be there.”
For all the improvements Bruce, 18, has made on the court in the last few years, it’s the mental side of things, he maintains, where he’s really grown. He’s still holding out hope to play Division I ball, but he will take any level of play, as long as it gets him a chance at a college scholarship.
“I’m really starting to see the bigger picture,” he said. “It’s not just about basketball, but where it’s going to take you. When people used to ask me wanted to do in life, I said ‘play in the NBA.’ Now I’m using basketball to build my career, to get an education.”