Players like Caitlyn Clark and Zach Edey have taken the NCAA world by storm. While the Iowa Hawkeyes star has led her team to a second straight championship appearance, the Purdue big man has also secured a spot for his team in Monday’s national championship game. Their highlight-reel-worthy performances have catapulted them to stardom, but with this newfound fame comes a downside, as writer Mike Guardabascio points out.

In a recent episode of Jenkins & Jonez, Guardabascio remarked, “Hey, you’re 15, everyone in the country who’s a basketball fan knows who you are. Instead of two ways to f**k up your life, here’s 10 million ways you can f**k your life up.” According to him, with the advent of social media and the internet, emerging young players are exposed to a level of scrutiny and pressure that was not as prevalent in the past when LeBron James was rising to stardom. With young James, it started with regional acclaim before ascending to national prominence. This gradual rise provided him with a period of relative privacy and the chance to develop both personally and athletically.

He further points out that what made James’ ascent even more remarkable was that he was perhaps the last athlete of the highest quality to experience this kind of organic growth in fame. “I think that’s what was special about that, too, was he’s really the last athlete of his caliber who got to be locally famous and regionally famous and then to have word of it kind of spread ahead before you actually saw him and everything, before you followed him on Instagram or whatever else. He’s the end of this era,” said Mike. On that note, let’s take a look at the high school numbers of LeBron James.

LeBron James high school basketball career

At 6-foot, 8-inch, James was a natural shooter who, even in high school, rebounded, defended, blocked shots, and passed like a pro. In his freshman year at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, James led the team to an unbeaten 27-0 record and a Division III State Title. And a second straight Division III State Title next season with a near-perfect 26-1 record after defeating Miami East in the championship game. The team also finished fifth in USA Today’s Top 25, with James becoming the first sophomore player ever named to the USA Today All-USA First Team.

In his junior year, James broke the index finger on his left hand while helping SVSM’s football team get to the state semifinals. Despite this, James was impressive on the hardwood, averaging 29.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game to lead the team to a 23-4 record. During the 2002–2003 season, LeBron James and his squad notched up a near-perfect record that would have been flawless if not for an unfortunate technicality. With a 25-1 record, SVSM’s only loss came because of the forfeit of a game that they had actually won.

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And when it was all said and done, James wrapped his high school basketball career with 2,657 points and three State championships. He was also honored as Mr. Basketball for Ohio by the Associated Press and secured a spot on USA Today’s All-USA First Team for three consecutive seasons.

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