Even before he stepped onto the campus of Duke University, senior center Erik Meek had learned one of life's most valuable lessons--you can't look back on the past.
During the summer prior to his freshman year, Meek learned that lesson at the hands of a drunk driver. He sustained career-threatening leg injuries when he was hit by a car.
Meek has been forced to remember that lesson again this season. He originally decided to redshirt this year, but changed his mind and has suffered through the Blue Devils' disappointing season. Duke has lost head coach Mike Krzyzewski for the season, and the Blue Devils currently stand at 11-12 (1-10 in the Atlantic Coast Conference).
"I don't want to say, `I wonder what kind of player I would have been in four years if I didn't have that operation and get hit by a car,"' Meek said. "This year, I decided not to redshirt before things started happening. I think you have to take what life gives you and make the best out of what you can. There's really no looking back now."
Coming out of San Pasqual High School in Escondido, Calif., Meek and senior Cherokee Parks were expected to develop into a California twin-tower combination. While Parks--the McDonald's High School All-American with the unusual first name--was in the national recruiting spotlight, Meek was the less-touted of the tandem.
"I knew Cherokee was coming to Duke," Meek said. "I knew Cherokee from high school, and he was a good guy. I had no trouble coming to the same school as him."
But everything changed for Meek after the accident that left him with a serious leg puncture. While Parks was making major contributions to Duke's second straight national championship, Meek was in the weight room, trying to rehabilitate his leg.
"I felt that I could have developed a lot more [my freshman year] than I did," Meek said. "But with the setbacks that I had, it was tough."
After playing in just 25 games as a freshman, Meek had an operation to remove scar tissue from his knee and ankle. Unfortunately for him, the surgery made it impossible to work on improving his game.
"It was really hard freshman year, because all the work I had done to try to get better basically didn't exist," Meek said. "I had to rebuild again during my sophomore year, so really my junior year was the first year I started to feel pretty good."
Meek's work ethic is one of the main reasons he was able to come back from the accident and the follow-up operation. Around the Duke locker room, Meek is renowned for his hard work.
"Erik is probably one of my favorite players that I've ever played with," fellow senior Kenny Blakeney said. "He came into college right after a car accident, and he's worked his ass off for four years. Just to see him develop into the type of player that he is today is tremendous.
"He's the hardest working guy on our team. He lifts weights constantly, and he prepares for each game so hard. He wants to be good so bad that it's amazing."
Meek attributes his hard work ethic to two sources: the Duke basketball program and his parents.
"One thing with Coach K and this program is they teach you to have passion for the game and to work hard," Meek said. "Another thing that also has affected [my work ethic] is my parents. Growing up, it was the standard for me to work hard."
Despite all of the hard work that Meek has put into his game, he has always been overshadowed by some of his Duke teammates. Even though Meek makes solid contributions in almost every game (he is currently averaging 9.7 points and 7.9 rebounds), he often fails to garner as much respect as other Blue Devil stars.
"All the things that he does definitely get overlooked," Blakeney said. "He's not a guy who is going to go out and give you 10 dunks a game, block a lot of shots or hit the fall-away jump shot. But he's going to make all of his shots around the basket, he's going to rebound, he's going to defend his butt off."
Like many college players, Meek hopes to extend his basketball career into the NBA. But with the injury, it has became even more difficult for Meek to reach that goal.
"One thing that makes it tough is developing so late in your career, because you're not known as much as when you first come in," Meek said. "And it's also tough with the losses that we've had this year.
"No one wants to go out like this."
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