KETTERING, Ohio – Had LeBron James been forced to play college basketball after becoming a high school megastar at St. Vincent-St. Mary, it would have been at Ohio State.
The Buckeyes missed on James because rules permitted him to make the immediate jump to the NBA, but now they can't afford to miss on the next transcendent Irish talent, one who must make at least a one-year pit stop at the collegiate level.
That talent is V.J. King, who during the Flyin' To The Hoop Basketball Invitational knocked down shots from beyond the arc with ease, drove to the rim for easy buckets inside and posted up to score the hard way when SVSM needed a bucket the most.
King has a funny way of making you forget he's only a sophomore. Thad Matta remembers.
Ohio State was the first major program to offer King a scholarship, which was issued before he ever dribbled a basketball in a high school game. Like former Columbus-area prospect Jared Sullinger, King is an in-state product who could make Ohio State an immediate Final Four contender as a freshman.
But dealing with attention of that sort is the reason Vincent King moved his family from North Carolina to Akron, to play at a program led by coach Dru Joyce that has become accustomed to harboring the nation's most dynamic basketball talents. There King will be in a better position to handle his high-profile recruitment, one that has already expanded from Ohio State to a national focus.
Ohio State coach Thad Matta was the first coach from a major college basketball program to offer V.J. King a scholarship. It's crucial for the Buckeyes to keep King in his home state for his college basketball.
"There's pressure because of who I am," the 6-foot-7, 185-pound prospect said after the game. "And obviously you all know who went to this school before me."
That's James, the biggest star in all of sports. James often returns to the Akron area, and he is St. Vincent-St. Mary's most influential alum and donor. He even has built a relationship with the new King of Akron.
Because King is perhaps the biggest star to play basketball at James' old school since, the inevitable comparisons have already started. Well, they started before King's freshman year, the time in which Ohio State, the in-state powerhouse, had already offered him a scholarship.
"We knew this was coming," Vincent King told cleveland.com. So did Joyce.
"I told V.J. from the first day he walked into the building at St. Vincent-St. Mary, 'Look, I want you to be the best V.J. King you can be,'" Joyce said. "The comparisons, I'll leave that for everyone else."
Yet a minute later, Joyce, when talking about King, referred back to things James did well on the court in high school. It wasn't intentional, but when talking about high school prospects with King's ability – especially at this age – sometimes those comparisons are the only ones who hold water.
LeBron James, also a product of St. V-St. M, has become a mentor for Irish sophomore V.J. King.
But things are different for King than they were for James. King has to make a college decision, while James skipped the recruiting process all together.
Unlike James, drafted No. 1 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003, King is burdened with the responsibilities of collegiate visits, building relationships with coaching staffs and making his own decision about his future. James was simply drafted, then he went.
"I can't even imagine what LeBron James' recruiting process would have been like," Vincent King, the prospect's father, told cleveland.com in a phone interview. "With all the attention he was getting at the time, and then thinking about that in the world of social media and everything. It's hard to imagine that."
Matta was first, but King has since added scholarships from Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Miami, Michigan State, West Virginia, Wisconsin and others. That list is sure to expand to 40 or more by the time he's an upperclassman.
James never went to college, but he refers to himself as a Buckeye. James was at Ohio State's 31-24 win over Wisconsin on the football field wearing a Buckeyes shirt, and he also gave a pregame pep talk to the team.
V.J. King has become one of the biggest stars in high school basketball in the country, but the St. Vincent-St. Mary product is still in the very early stages of his recruitment.
Add that to the list of pressures for King. But the pressure could be more intense for Ohio State, who must find a way to keep a prospect of King's caliber in the state.
"I haven't really talked to (James) about colleges," King said. "He talks to me about my high-school career. He just told me he's gone and to start a new chapter at the school. Just play my game and that's what I've been doing."
These were all things that Vincent King knew would be byproducts for his son by playing at St. Vincent-St. Mary. The attention, the comparisons and the college decisions are all things for which Vincent has been preparing his son since he first took college visits in middle school.
But his son's relationship with James has been a positive thing, something that, believe it or not, has kept King grounded.
"LeBron is an incredible mentor for V.J. and he has done a good job of preparing him for the things he has gone through and will continue to go through," Vincent King said. "Those are experiences that are unique to someone like LeBron. The relationship and the way they speak is different from they way I can speak to V.J. What people don't know how humble LeBron is with his info, and how giving he is with his experiences with V.J. I am pleased with that relationship."
As King stood in the Hallway at James S. Trent Arena, he had a special maturity about him. He respectfully deflected the questions regarding recruiting to his father, who along with his mother, Lo, help him navigate that world.
But there are no top-fives, no visits schedules and no discussions. Ohio State, one of the few programs King has actually visited, is in the thick of things, Vincent King said, but they haven't started focusing on recruiting. That won't be until June.
"There's no list, there's no 'here's who we're emphasizing and here's who is not being considered.' Everyone is being considered and everyone has the same weight," Vincent King said. "I cant be any more clearer than that. There really haven't even been any discussions.
"He is a sophomore, and right now we're letting him be a sophomore."