LeBron James regrets not playing in March Madness, names things he learned / News - Basketnews.com

LeBron says he thinks about not playing in the March Madness every year. He told a story of how he was kicked out of practice in high school and what the first things he learned in the NBA were.

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LeBron James is often regarded as one of the best basketball players of all time. As part of his journey to greatness, he never got to experience college basketball firsthand.

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James was drafted straight out of high school. James was being touted as the next great basketball sensation from the very early stages of his development as a teenager.

When LeBron was in his sophomore year of high school, he says he was kicked out of practice by head coach Keith Dambrot, who most recently coached Duquesne University in NCAA.

"There were parents who would come to the practices, and he would call out the players with their names right in front of their parents. My freshman year, we win the championship, we go 27-0. I was the MVP of the tournament. Maverick was our captain my freshman year. My sophomore year, my first practice, I came in as a projected no. 1 player in the state of Ohio, I projected to be All-American as a sophomore, projected to be Mr. Basketball as a sophomore, which had never been done in Ohio high school history. The first practice we had our sophomore year out of winning the state championship, I did nothing wrong coming out of football. He kicked me out of practice," LeBron said in theMind the Game Pod w/ LeBron James and JJ Redick.

"He kicked me out of practice. I had no idea why the f**k he kicked me out of practice. I think he was just setting the tone for the season. Whoever you think you are, I've heard all of this stuff of how great your are, no, imma humble your ass right now," James said. "He kicked me out of practice, and the last thing he said to me when he kicked me out of practice the first day of the practice he said, 'Best sophomore in the country, my ass.'"

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Tremendous amounts of publicity surrounded James when he entered the league. He was on the covers of a multitude of magazines, he was being interviewed left and right. He was being touted as the next Michael Jordan.

Despite coming straight out of high school, he didn't experience much of a culture shock when he got to the NBA, LeBron says.

"It was a totally different game. The nuance and the fundamentals, the thing that was being taught to me as an 18-year-old, I kind of already knew a lot of that sh*t," he said. "It's weird to kind of say because you feel that when you get to the NBA, you're gonna learn so much more, which I eventually did. It came with, what we talk about, experience. The best teacher in life is experience. When I got to the NBA, the biggest adjustment I had was literally going to, 'Oh sh*t, I don't have to go to class every day.'"

"I'm going from a 27-game season to now 82. After 27 games in the NBA, at about 32 games, I'm exhausted," he remembered. "Now, what can I do to get the energy back going? As far as when I stepped on the floor, there wasn't too much of an adjustment. I felt like I was physical enough, I had the size, the speed, the athleticism, obviously. You had some of th vet tricks and things of that nature of how to get away with certain things that I had to kind of learn. Then, I was thrown around in many positions in my rookie year, too. At one point, I was a two-guard. In one game in Sacramento, I was coming off floppies. We make a change, and now I'm a point guard."

As a consequence of coming to the NBA from high school, James never got to experience NCAA basketball, and in turn - the March Madness, which is currently being held.

"Absolutely, 21 years later," he said when asked whether he thinks about never playing there. "Yeah, this is the only time though."

"March Madness right now is the only time I think about playing college basketball for 12 straight years. I don't watch much college basketball. This year, I've watched a ton of it, obviously, because Bronny is in college, so I was there watching the game. It doesn't translate for me, it frustrates me, high blood pressure picks up. Black men and high blood pressure - it's not good for us," LeBron laughed.

Even though he hasn't played in the NCAA and has no school attachment, which usually ties basketball players to the tournament, James still watches the tournament. When the podcast was being recorded, Duquesne Dukes had just won against BYU.

James revealed he gave coaching tips to the coaching staff ahead of their matchup against Illinois.

"I try to stay away from it, but I love basketball. I find myself watching it anyways. Before we came in here, Dukes won the game, big shout out to the Dukes, Coach D, my best friend Dru Joyce. Right after the game, I was watching Illinois vs. Morehead State, scouting because that's what they're were to play next," he said.

"I got to watch three fourths of the game before we started, and I already sent notes. I'm a junkie, man," LeBron concluded.

Full episode of the Mind the Game Pod w/ LeBron James and JJ Redick:

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