Michael Porter
Height, weight: 6-3, 198
Class: Junior Hometown: Modesto, Calif.
Role: Backup at either point guard or shooting guard.
Gillispie says: "I think he kind of flipped a switch with about 10 games to go last season to become what I thought was a nice player. ... I think he's always had leadership ability, but he's always deferred to others. ... He just looks 100 percent more comfortable out there."
How is married life going? (Porter and his wife, Bryana, were married in May 2007.) It's good right now. The first year is tough from what I hear from everybody. I feel like I matured a little bit in the year, and that we've got to know each other better. Both of us being away from home was kind of hard, but I think it helped us to depend on each other a lot more.
How hard is being married, being a student, and being a basketball player? Last year, it was hard trying to adjust to all of it at once. But I feel like I have a better balance now. When I'm at home, and I don't have homework and stuff, I try to dedicate my time to her. I try to treat (basketball) like a job. I come here and try to get everything done when I can. The coaches and academic advisers, they realize that I'm married and know that I need time with her sometimes, so they allow me to do other stuff. Instead of doing study hall at night they let me do it in the day when I can fit it in. And I just try to be smart about my time and not be lazy.
How did you meet your wife? We actually met through my best friend and her best friend, who were dating at the time and it was one of those little high school things. I tried to pursue her but she kind of turned me down. Then I tried again a little while later, and we were friends for a while, and that kind of helped her get to know me. So we met through friends, and then we went to the same church, and then she started to go to the high school I went to.
What does she think of sports, particularly basketball? Well, before she knew me, she never really knew anything about basketball. She loved football, and I played football in high school, so she knew a lot about football. She was a cheerleader for football, so she knew a lot about that, but she didn't really have any clue about basketball. But now she loves it. She doesn't want to miss a game. She's going to fly out to the North Carolina game because she loves it so much. She knows a lot more about it. At night, sometimes she'll talk to me about something, like, 'Why are they playing this kind of defense?' or 'Is that why you guys ran this offense?' So it's pretty funny hearing her, how much smarter she's got as far as the technical stuff of basketball.
