MICHAEL FINLEY "Everybody knows he's going to show up to
play and play great. Even our fans have almost become – I'm not going to say they're bored with him – but everything is so commonplace. "The only time he gets attention are on those
rare nights when he has a bad game. People no- tice that. If he goes out and get 25 points and eight rebounds, everyone goes, 'There's Mike, again.'''
There was just so much to like about Mike. "I remember watching him on film my first
year and I saw a rail-thin, gangly kid on the court,'' Jackson said. "He's a Greek god now. He looks like a pro is supposed to look.'' Finley has always conducted himself in that same professional manner. On the eve of breaking Jones' scoring record
— mid-January of '95 — Finley addressed the pending milestone. Staying in character, he was reluctant to spend much time talking about it. "I take it all in stride,'' he said of his accom- plishments. "It's not something where I say on a given day I'm going to do this or that. It's not like that. It's just some- thing that happens. "Somebody asked
me if I came to Wiscon- sin thinking about be- ing the all-time leading scorer. I don't think it's something you think about.
"Most importantly, I
wanted to become the best player I possibly could be on the colle- giate level and I want- ed my team to be the best it could be.'' That legacy will be preserved by the Mi- chael Finley Founda- tion scholarship.
« Finley's return to Madison last week included a stop at UW's practice, where he and fellow NBA All-Star Devin Harris worked out with Mike Bruesewitz and the current Badgers.
44 » VARSITY NOVEMBER 10, 2011
