Editor's note: Lawrence's Dan O'Shea was an Eagle-Tribune Super Teamer at Central Catholic. Here, the Amherst College senior recounts the sometimes rocky road he endured going from high school sensation to college role player to captaining a national championship team this winter.

Dan O'Shea

My last high school basketball game was played in front of 6,000 screaming fans. Looking into the crowd during lay-up lines, I couldn't make out any faces. All I could see were colors, an ocean of Central's red, white, and blue.

Despite playing in the spacious Worcester Centrum, chants of "Let's Go, Central!" made it nearly impossible to hear the plays called out by Coach (Dick) Licare.

As a grade-schooler honing my basketball skills at St. Patrick's Parish Center in Lawrence, I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would one day be the captain and leading scorer of a 24-0 Central Catholic basketball team. Every day after school, I would come home to a mailbox filled with letters from countless college coaches, each itching for me to visit their campuses.

Although I attempted to remain humble on and off the basketball court, I became a mini-celebrity within my own mind. It's hard to keep a level head when the college application process reverses. Instead of hoping for a college to accept me, colleges had to hope that I would accept them.

After eventually choosing Amherst College, a top-notch academic school with a well-respected basketball program, I figured that this royal treatment would continue.

Boy, was I wrong.

My first college basketball game was played in front of 198 people. Take away the parents of the players, people working the game, and students who were simply passing through the gym on their way to the library, and we're talking about an attendance of under 100.

Instead of hearing, "Let's Go, Amherst!" chants, I could hear crystal-clear conversations of the people sitting behind the bench. No longer was I coming home to see whether or not my picture was on the front page of the local sports section, but rather I was coming home to seeing whether or not my name made the box score.

Any time that I was fortunate enough to get put into a game, I tried to score as many points as possible. I felt that I had to prove to the coaching staff what they were missing out on by not playing me. In high school I was relied upon to score whenever I got the ball in the post.

The only role I knew how to play was that of a leading scorer, and I had no real concept of how to be a contributor aside from scoring a lot of points. After my freshman year at Amherst, I began to realize that my mentality would have to change if I ever wanted to be a successful college basketball player.

Prior to my sophomore year, I began to rethink the way I played the game of basketball. Instead of complaining to teammates for not giving me enough looks in the post, I began formulating ways to help them find their shots. By the time we started playing games, Coach (David) Hixon would compliment me on setting picks instead of scoring points.

I started to embrace and embody this role of being a "nuts and bolts" player, someone who does all the little things that might not show up in the box score.

For me, this meant holding my defensive assignment to somewhere under his scoring average, to draw fouls on the opposing big man, and to help my teammates get as many open looks as possible. If I accomplished these three goals, then I could look in the mirror and tell myself that I had a great game, even if I didn't score a basket.

Last weekend (March 16-17), our basketball team won the NCAA Division 3 national championship in Salem, Va., and it was my third appearance in the Final Four.

Our leading scorer averaged 13 points, and we have only one guy who averaged more than 30 minutes a game. Many of the guys on our team turned down Division 2 scholarships (and a chance to walk-on at many Division 1 schools) to become role players for this Division 3 team.

Sometimes in order to become a better basketball player, you have to humble yourself. By putting my personal scoring agenda aside and accepting my role as a "nuts and bolts" guy, I became a better basketball player, and more importantly, a better teammate.

Don't believe me? I have a national championship ring to prove it.