Arizona guard Bryce James might be the most popular benchwarmer in college basketball right now. But as his team makes preparations for their Final Four tilt with Michigan, reporters want to talk with him - but an "enforcer" isn't allowing it.
On Thursday, Yahoo's Dan Wolken reported that the Wildcats had an enforcer in the locker room telling reporters that he wouldn't be doing interviews ahead of the game. He later specified that it was LeBron James' Klutch Sports group that dictated that decision, not the University of Arizona.
"To be clear, Bryce’s media availability is being dictated by LeBron/Klutch, not Arizona," Wolken wrote.
Basketball fans were frustrated that people would want to talk to Bryce in the first place given that he contributed no minutes to the team this past season. Many asserted in the comments that reporters shouldn't be trying to coax answers out of him just because his father is LeBron James.
Bryce James
Despite not playing at all as a freshman and taking a redshirt year instead, Bryce James is primed to have a longer college basketball career than his famous father and brother combined. LeBron famously bypassed college to go straight to the NBA, while Bronny James spent one year at USC but didn't even make it to the NCAA Tournament.
If he spends even one minute on the Arizona campus next season (and there's every reason to expect he will), he will have the longest time spent in college among the men in his immediate family. He would need just 484 minutes on the court to top Bronny.
More importantly, if Arizona manage to run the table and win the national championship, he would achieve the one thing that LeBron never even tried to attempt: Become an NCAA champion.
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LeBron has not said much about Arizona this year (since he's been focused on the Lakers and their playoff push), but did make it clear he would be rooting for them to go all the way after they won the Big 12 Tournament several weeks ago.
“To have our kid be able to experience that, to see the joy on his face, the happiness that he has being there in Arizona, learning from a lot of the vets and learning from some of the guys that he came into class with,” LeBron said at the time. “I think it’s just a great experience and it’s going to pay dividends for him going into next year, but he’s just living in the moment. … I’m like him, I’m a big-ass Bryce, that’s what I am.
“To see the success they’re having and him enjoying that and being able to experience that, I always say. the best teacher in life is experience. Of course, I don’t have a choice but to root for Arizona, my son is there. I’m definitely rooting for them in the tournament and we’ll see what happens.”
