David West was not on college coach’s radars as a high schooler on the East Coast. He started in New Jersey, played a couple years in North Carolina, and finished up at the famed Hargrave Military Academy.
West said he had one scholarship offer to continue playing in College; it was from Xavier University, so he jumped on it in 1999.
Xavier retired David West’s No. 30 jersey before he even graduated.
The coach that saw something in West was the late Skip Prosser, who passed away at the young age of 56 on July 26, 2007 due to a sudden heart attack.
“He was instrumental,” West said of his first college coach. “He was the one guy that took a chance on me, believed in me or whatever, gave me an opportunity to really develop and put an emphasis on being a thinking person and not just being a big, dumb athlete.
Thad Matta, the former Butler player and coach, took over for three seasons (2001-04) before then moving on to Ohio State, where he remains today. While in Indy for last year’s Big Ten Basketball Tournament, Matta visited with West, and then-Pacer Evan Turner, two of his best players.
Now, over 11 years removed from college, West (along with his Pacers team) is going to back to school.
Well, just for one game.
The Cleveland Cavaliers asked if the Pacers would be interested in a game at Xavier. Being an easy travel spot and at a nice venue, the Pacers accepted.
It’s very typical for teams to play a preseason game or two away from NBA venues. New Orleans and Miami squared off this month at Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center. The Pacers went overseas last year for a game each in the Philippines and Taiwan. But in 2012, they played at the Fargodome (North Dakota State University) and the Joyce Center (Notre Dame).
“When I was in Boston, we played a game at Kentucky because we had Antoine Walker and Ron Mercer,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel recalled.
The Pacers will take on the new-look Cavaliers Wednesday evening at the Cintas Center, 115 miles southeast of Indianapolis. West was a sophomore when the Cintas Center opened in 2000.
The 34-year-old downplayed the meaning of playing an NBA game at his alma mater, as expected, but it will undoubtedly be special.
“I’ve been up there a few times and I stayed in pretty good contact with the coaching staff,” he said. “It’ll be a cool preseason game, see some familiar faces or whatever. It’s not that big of deal.”
West, who was enshrined in Xavier’s athletics Hall of Fame in 2010, visited their shootaround last February when they were in Indy to play Butler, and then attended the game that night with Paul George and George Hill by his side.
Xavier fans are eager for the game, as they play host to one of their own, as well as the best player in the world, LeBron James. The school’s 3,000 tickets were snatched up by boosters in less than 10 minutes.
But that’s not surprising.
David West (right) with teammates Paul George and Roy Hibbert.
Nearly one hundred fans make the short trip over to Bankers Life Fieldhouse once a year to see West, a tradition dating back to his days with New Orleans. Though it’s been going on for almost decade, the number of fans decked out in Xavier gear prior to a January game last season still amazed West.
“I had a lot of good memories there,” he said.
West seemed to enjoy the conversation of his much-younger self, like how he helped lead the program, what there was to do in town, and if there were any restaurants he was looking forward to visiting during the Pacers’ short stay.
“They might have restaurants there now, but I don’t think they had any when I was there,” he joked.
The biggest thing West said he took away from his four years at Xavier was “education.” It’s where he grew up, began to stretch his mind, and learned about the world.
His reading skills were behind many through high school and into college. He’s now, however, one of the most thoughtful and interesting players in the locker room. No matter the topic, West holds his own.
“My Brain needs an off Switch….,” West tweeted at 4:57 a.m. Tuesday, clearly unable to fall asleep.
West developed into one of the best Musketeers ever to step foot on the basketball court in Cincinnati. The two-time NBA All-Star earned a couple National Player of the Year awards his senior season and was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Year three times (2001-2003).
Not bad for a teenager who wanted to quit playing after his sophomore season in high school.
West, who averaged 16.9 points and 10.4 rebounds per game over his four seasons, became the first Xavier player to ever have his No. 30 jersey retired while he was still there. That, a rarity today, says plenty about the impact he had.
However, it was not limited to the basketball court.
It’s at Xavier, sitting in a criminal justice class, where West’s interest in incarcerated youth began. He has since made it a point to visit a juvenile correction facility at least twice a year.
“Part of the deal is to be a whole person, not just be an athlete,” West said. “That’s one of the things I learned there.”
Xavier is coached by Chris Mack, has since joined the Big East, and won 20-plus games in three of the past four seasons.
“I just feel like I just kept carrying on the tradition,” West said. “Guys that came before me laid the groundwork for me and hopefully I did my part. The program has grown above and beyond and onto a bigger conference playing higher competition. They are a nationally recognized program.
“Before I got there, people heard about Xavier but it was more a regional thing. I think James Posey (one-time Pacer, now an assistant for the Cavaliers) was one of the first guys to sort of push the program onto the national scene and I was able to do some of that. And then teams after me made some deep NCAA runs, able to really elevate the program. Coach Mack has really just, again, taken to a whole other level with the consistency that he’s been able to have.”
X Marks the Spot
David West has this tattoo, which says ‘My Life, My Way’ on either side of the ‘X’. [Photo via Enquirer.com]
But its meaning, however, goes much deeper.
West’s god brother, Manuel Taylor, was shot in the shoulder when David was young. The bullet, which went through Taylor’s shoulder and into his heart, killed him.
“X marks the spot,” West said. “You get hit in the shoulder the right way, then you’ll die. It hit you right in the heart. There’s a direct line into your heart.”
On either side of the big ‘X’ is “My Life, My Way,” another thing he picked up from coach Prosser. He got the tattoo in 2002, prior to his season season.
Pacers Enter the Equation
Frank Vogel was an assistant under Jim O’Brien when the Pacers were trying to woo West to Indianapolis in 2011.
“I remember the recruiting phone call that I had with him,” Vogel said. “We told him about the bright future we had with the core group of guys that we had in place.”
The primary topic West wanted to know about wasn’t about living in Indianapolis, the culture of the team, or how big of impact he might personally have. Instead, he was concerned with what the team’s defensive identity and philosophy was.
“I remember when he first got here and we talked about what his expectations were,” Vogel continued. “He was of the mindset that … I remember him saying, ‘I don’t have any expectations. I’ll do whatever is asked of me.’”
West, who is entering his 11th NBA season, knows the end is near. He joined the Pacers with championship aspirations. Those have been further delayed after the team’s offseason — the departure of Lance Stephenson and horrific leg injury to star Paul George.
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West visited Xavier 13 months ago, prior to settling in Indy for the 2013-14 season. Watch below as he talks his alma mater, and gets a few shots up in his old stomping grounds.