Pridemore makes the most of his senior season

This article appeared in the Tampa Tribune on Jan. 17, 2002.

By IZZY GOULD

NEW PORT RICHEY - His Gulf teammates reminisced on the last night of a holiday tournament about their final game there, laughing over pizza and soda in a hospitality room.

Senior Craig Pridemore sat alone in a hallway within earshot of the action. Pressed against a wall in his street clothes, he enjoyed a slice alongside the trophy he earned as an all-tournament team selection.

Spotting Pridemore alone, Gulf coach Steve Feldman approached the 6-foot-3 post-player.

``I bent over to him, looked at the trophy and said, `This is about 1,000 miles from last year, isn't it?' And he said, `Yeah, it really is,' '' Feldman said. ``I said, 'You should be proud of yourself. I'm really proud of you.' ''

High praise considering Feldman had thrown Pridemore off the team last season because of his poor attitude.

In fact, Feldman told Pridemore his career at Gulf was finished.

But after a serious change in his way of thinking and his approach to the game, Pridemore is back and flourishing. While leading Gulf in scoring (15.3 points per game) and rebounding (9.1), Pridemore has guided Gulf to a 15-2 record, its best start in school history.

``It goes back to what I've said before. There's no way we'd be 15-2 without Craig Pridemore,'' Feldman said.

As a junior, Pridemore wasn't as highly coveted.

Overshadowed by 6-foot-4 senior Nate Goad, who averaged 18.3 points and 11 rebounds per game, Feldman viewed Pridemore as a project who could develop over the course of the season.

He placed Pridemore with the junior varsity, hoping to bring him up to varsity periodically.

``He just didn't handle it right,'' Feldman said. ``Since he didn't handle it and wasn't really seeing eye-to-eye with me, we really needed to go our separate ways. He wasn't happy, but that's what happened. At that point I didn't really factor him into this year at all.''

Initially, Pridemore said he was shocked, yet somewhat relieved once dismissed. He felt deserving of a chance to play with his classmates on the main stage, the ones he had shared the court with throughout childhood.

``He put me on the JV, and I wasn't really happy about it so I didn't practice that hard,'' Pridemore said. ``I wasn't trying hard and I didn't deserve to be on the team. I wasn't really surprised, but I was mad because I wanted to play.''

Instead, the only playing time Pridemore got was a few times a week at a local recreation center, where he spent much of his time during the offseason.

Pridemore approached Feldman twice to try and show he had changed, but twice Feldman emphatically stood firm.

``I was very blunt with him,'' Feldman said. ``I didn't offer him some sort of a carrot going there into the spring that said, `OK, maybe if you come to some open gyms ...,' because I flat out told him not to. I didn't see any inclination that I thought there had been a real mind-set change in his part. I just didn't think he could play for us, quite frankly.''

But Pridemore kept coming around.

He participated in each open gym. He poked his face at each spring and summer league game to support his former teammates from the sideline.

Every chance he had to show his commitment to the team, he seized. Once fall tryouts arrived, Pridemore was there with no sense he would even survive the first cut.

But his name sat on the list following that first cut, and the second and eventually the final cut.

``Come what may for the rest of the season, I know I'm going to get the kid's best effort. I know we're on the same page, and I know it's going to have a happy ending,'' Feldman said. ``I know he's going to go out like a winner, with his head held high. He's gotten Gulf High School off to its best start ever. You can't ever take that away from him.''