Neal took long, winding road to Moraga campus
Cullen Neal once pictured a clean, straight line from Eldorado High in Albuquerque to St. Mary’s College in Moraga. He committed to the Gaels as a high school junior, captivated by head coach Randy Bennett’s program.
Neal finally reached St. Mary’s last summer, but only after tracing an adventurous and tumultuous path through New Mexico and Mississippi. As his dad Craig Neal put it this week, “It’s a weird path.”
The road ultimately led Neal to McKeon Pavilion, where the No. 16 Gaels will chase their 15th consecutive victory Thursday night. They face BYU (17-4) in a nationally televised WCC game.
Neal is a key reserve for St. Mary’s (19-2), averaging 15
minutes and six points per game. Those are modest numbers for a onetime Parade All-American and Mr. Basketball in New Mexico, an accomplished shooter who scored 2,311 points in high school and already has 1,139 in college.
But Neal’s story stretches way beyond numbers.
He flipped from St. Mary’s to his hometown school when Craig Neal became New Mexico’s head coach in April 2013. Neal had been Steve Alford’s top assistant there, and he was promoted to the top job when Alford bolted for UCLA.
Cullen Neal, a 6-foot-4 guard, couldn’t resist the chance to play for his dad. His freshman year went well (7.1 ppg off the bench), his next season ended after three games (he got a medical hardship because of an ankle injury) and his redshirt sophomore year deteriorated into a flaming mess.
Neal made 31 starts and averaged 12.3 points, but he shot poorly, committed a lot of turnovers and earned the wrath of many New Mexico fans, in part with his demonstrative demeanor. They unleashed nasty and profane criticism on social media, including threats that prompted the Neals to get local police involved.
“He’ll be bigger, better and stronger for it, but I don’t wish that upon anybody,” Craig Neal said. “There’s a little paparazzi (in New Mexico), so everybody knows what you’re doing. It’s a little over the top.”
Cullen Neal shut down his Facebook and Twitter accounts and announced he would transfer to Ole Miss for the 2016-17 season — leaving his dad’s program in an effort for a fresh start. Nearly two years later, Neal mostly sidestepped reflecting on his turbulent final season at New Mexico.
“I just look at it as a growing experience,” he said. “Not many people in college basketball can say they played for their dad. I had some of the best times of my life there and some bad times. … Even though I went through struggles, I still loved playing for my dad.”
Neal graduated from New Mexico in three years, so he was eligible to play immediately as a graduate transfer. St. Mary’s didn’t have any scholarships available, and Craig Neal was longtime friends with Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy.
The journey into the SEC lasted one year — Neal started 13 games and averaged 9.4 points — before he was on the move again, this time to St. Mary’s. Again, as a graduate student, he could play right away.
Neal’s nomadic history, with three schools in three years, raises old issues about the way he carries himself on the court. He often was perceived as cocky and arrogant at New Mexico; Neal acknowledged he’s tried to tone down his animated reactions.
“Sometimes, his body language can rub people the wrong way,” Bennett said. “He’s just emotional.”
The relative anonymity of St. Mary’s basketball probably helps. Neal can go out in public without anybody recognizing him, in striking contrast to New Mexico — where he was well known dating to junior high.
It also doesn’t hurt that Craig Neal is around to watch his son play. The elder Neal, fired by New Mexico in March 2017, is out of coaching this season and renting a place in Walnut Creek with his wife.
Their son, meantime, is trying to find his way in yet another program. He chose St. Mary’s partly because he wanted to return to the NCAA Tournament (he went with New Mexico as a freshman), a likely destination for the Gaels.
Even so, the transition to diminished playing time has been tougher than expected.
“A lot of things don’t always go as planned,” Neal said. “Sometimes, you think you’re better than you are.”
He’s still one of four 1,000point scorers on the Gaels, joining Jock Landale, Calvin Hermanson and Emmett Naar. St. Mary’s and Cincinnati are the nation’s only teams with four players who have 1,000-plus career points.
That’s a nice distinction, but it didn’t automatically smooth Neal’s transition to an established team.
“Cullen is kind of an aggressive player and scorer, so in a short period of time he’s trying to figure out his role without screwing up the team,” Bennett said. “It’s a really tough situation, and it’s still a work in progress. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him yet as a player, but we’re getting there.”