As the 2005-06 basketball season came to a close, Cameron Lee found himself staring at a crossroads.

It had always been his dream to play basketball after high school, but with no Division 1 offers on the table, Lee didn’t have all the options he was hoping for. Instead, it came down to two choices: He could go to a lower division school, or he could come to Iowa State and take a stab at somehow making the team as a walk-on.

For those who knew him, the choice was obvious.

“He never gave up, never believed he couldn’t do something,” said Tom Cappel, Lee’s high school coach at Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. “He always took that swagger onto the floor with him.”

Every year, hundreds of starry-eyed college students show up at fields, gyms and courts across the country for a chance. With dreams of glory clouding their vision, they put it on the line at an open tryout with hopes of impressing a coach and grabbing a walk-on roster spot.

Reasons for the tryouts vary. For some schools it’s tradition, a testament to the history of the program. For others, it is an honest attempt to improve talent-wise or to find a hidden gem. Occasionally, it is only a pitch to churn up some student support for the squad. But regardless of the reason, there seems to be one universal truth that comes with these auditions – even if you make the team, you probably aren’t going to see the floor.

Apparently Lee never heard that.

The redshirt freshman showed up for one of those tryouts, busted his ass, impressed the coaches and, sure enough, earned a spot on the team. After redshirting last season and cutting his teeth on the practice team, Lee has earned his way onto the floor in the role of a defensive stopper.

“It is definitely not a surprise to me that he is succeeding,” Cappel said. “He always relished the idea of playing ‘so-called’ better people.”

In high school, the tallest player on Lee’s team was 6 feet 3 inches. Despite that handicap, Hillcrest was able to beat the likes of current NBA players Dwayne Wade, Julian Wright and Eddy Curry. The key to success – a 1-1-3 trap that pressured opponents all over the floor.

“We took a lot of pride of our defense in high school, because we knew that if they got inside it was over because we didn’t have a big man,” Lee said. “So we prided ourselves on getting stops, steals and fast break points.”

At the top of that trap lurked “The Spider,” Lee’s high school nickname. At 6 feet 2 inches, with his lanky limbs and lightning-like foot speed, Lee was built for that system. But after his senior season, in which he shot 50 percent and led the team in steals, there were still no D1 offers.

So Lee came west to Iowa State, where he had a full academic scholarship offer waiting, and a one-day chance to fulfill his basketball dreams.

When ISU coach Greg McDermott first saw Lee he knew he had found what he was looking for. Searching for a player to pressure the point guards in practice, Lee’s athleticism and passion caught the coach’s eye.

“That was obvious to me the first time I watched Cam play, that that’s what his approach to the game was all about,” McDermott said.

Even with his bulldog mentality, Lee never expected to contribute this early in his career, if at all. After playing sparingly in garbage time early in the season, Lee’s defensive ability has warranted an increase in playing time.

“It was always a goal of mine to be able to play, but being a walk-on, especially a try-out walk-on, it’s not normal that you get to see the floor a lot,” Lee said.

It was also a case of being in the right place at the right time. Without the dismissal of Mike Taylor and ineligibility of Lucca Staiger, McDermott said Lee might not have seen the floor this season. But Lee never stopped working, forcing the coaches to notice him and eventually find a spot for him in the rotation.

As his minutes have increased, so has his notoriety around campus. After getting a game-clinching deflection against Missouri, and with the popularity of a YouTube video showing him dunking over a teammate in practice, Lee has become a popular target for fan adulation.

“There are a lot more people who know who I am and come up to me and tell me they’ve seen me on YouTube,” Lee shyly admitted. “They tell me they want to see me dunk like that in the game. It’s gotten me a lot more attention.”

His teammates have noticed too. Senior Rahshon Clark, a four-year starter, said Lee is the first case he has ever seen of an open-tryout walk-on making such an impact on a team. It has impressed Clark, and that respect is evident in the way he talks about Lee.

“He could have just said ‘I might not play, so I’m going to just quit playing basketball and continue my academics,’ but he didn’t do that,” Clark said. “He came out here, took a chance, and now he is on the team and playing.”

And the team is more than happy to have him. His work on defense has already helped the team to some wins, and his work ethic and story has become somewhat of an inspiration.

“He believes in himself and he believes in the value of hard work,” McDermott said. “He is probably the first [walk-on] that has come this far this fast.”