Speed - Mike Lindsey from Providence Catholic

Ferrari AAU's Mike Lindsey is a force for Providence Catholic this year
as one of the quickest players in the state.

By Frank Rusnak
Try it -- you can't name anymore than a handful of players in the state quicker than Michael Lindsey on one hand, at the most.

"I've never seen anyone as quick as Mike is, with as fast as a first step and as explosive."

Matt Smith
Providence Coach

One of the quickest guards in the state, Providence Catholic's Lindsey started the year off a little too fast for his coach.

"Early in the year, he was rushing a little," said first-year Providence coach, Matt Smith. "But now he tries to distribute, and lets his shots come to him in the flow of the offense. I've never seen anyone as quick as Mike is, with as fast as a first step and as explosive."

According to Lindsey, a 5-11 jet with the ball, the problems at the beginning of the season were just from him and his coach not being on the same page.

"I had a meeting with him after our Thanksgiving tournament, and he talked about finding the team first, then letting the game to me," Lindsey said. "He just wanted to let me know that in order to be a good team I had to be a good all-around player and get the team involved."

He is averaging 23 points, five assists, four rebounds and four steals for a team that finished the 72 annual Pontiac tournament 2-2. Garnering 2nd team all-tournament honors, the 5-11 co-captain (along with fellow senior Ryan Meegan) is trying build off of what current Duke freshman Mike Thompson started with the Celtics the past four years.

Transferring from Bremen after his sophomore year, Lindsey is relatively new at Providence, but he does know about the Celtics' past.

"Not basketball, but Providence has got good tradition with sports," Lindsey said. "We are trying to build a better program [for basketball] and we think this year we'll be a better team than last year, and they are bringing in kids that can help us out in the future.

While Lindsey learned a lot of on the court lessons from Thompson, it was possibly his off the court teachings and the way he carried himself that guided him the most.

"It was a good experience playing with [Thompson] in that I could rely on someone else to score and not have a lot of pressure on me," Lindsey said. "But he showed a lot of leadership and a good work ethic, and he stayed good with the players and never showed any negative attitude so I learned a lot from him. He just told me that I'm going to have to put the team on my back and to leave everything on the court and then the team will feed off of that."

So far, the team has been, but has came up on the short end of the stick in some close games. Losing to Fenwick by two points and Hales Franciscan by four, Lindsey is confident the team will be on the other side of the spectrum in the second half of the year.

"We have just been forming and developing as a team," he said. "But now we feel more comfortable with each other, and I think we'll be on the other end of those games next time around."