You know the numbers: 5.4 blocks per game, second in the nation. You know the name: Shawn James, freshman forward for the Northeastern men’s basketball team. But do you know the man; the person behind all those absurd blocked shots? Chances are, if you’ve been fortunate enough to make his acquaintance, you do.
He’s extremely approachable and the odds are he’ll remember your name. He’s not a hard guy to figure out, his persona is mapped out on the wall of his residence hall room. It’s not loaded with tons of pictures — just a few helpful reminders to keep him focused on his task at hand and the path ahead.
The skinny
James isn’t your stereotypical collegiate athlete. Sure he’s got a picture of himself on his wall hanging out with his brothers and a clipping from The Northeastern News when he was Player of the Week, but he’s not cocky. In fact, if anything James, one of the most popular athletes on campus, is actually self-conscious. But it’s not about his game, although he knows he has to get better.
“It’s my legs,” says James, as he throws a piece of candy in his mouth that a few girls from his residence hall just stopped by to give him. “That’s why I wear a shirt under my jersey, and if I could cover my legs I’d do that too.”
James is a towering 6-foot-9-inch man, with uncanny athletic ability for someone his size, but the knock on him has always been his wiry 195-pound frame. And it’s the reason he almost didn’t take up the sport of basketball.
“All my brothers played basketball and stuff,” James says. “I just didn’t want people to see my legs.”
This self-consciousness is the chip he has subconsciously placed on his own shoulders. The monkey on his back that actually helps him fly. And just the first ingredient to the fuel that makes him want to get better so badly.
The moment
Every morning James wakes up to a blown up picture of his four-year-old niece, Ebony. A cute reminder of the moment basketball took a leading role in his life.
It all started just four years ago, before anyone, including himself, knew just how good he could be. A thought popped into his head while he was walking past a church on the way to visit Ebony and her mother, Shawn’s oldest sister Minette.
“I just decided that I wanted to get paid for playing basketball,” James says. “I wanted to be able to provide for my family when [Ebony] is six and when my younger sister Teceeta is a senior in high school.”
Getting paid for basketball is a dream for a lot of kids, but Brooklyn-native James’ logic was so simple in the fact that its not for any kind of self-promotion.
“I wanted to be able to pick [Teceeta] up at school,” says James, pretending to turn a steering wheel in the air. “Drive up there so everyone can see her getting in my car.”
And just like that, he forgot about being called skinny and realized that his gift could not only help him, but most importantly the people he loved. For the first time in his life he began to see the big picture, and where his abilities could take him.
“I don’t know why I even still remember that,” says James. “But I think about it every time I play basketball.”
James comes from a big family with five brothers and three sisters. They’re a close-nit group. And they are what motivate him to be the best player he can be.
“Not only is he a great kid, he’s a great player to coach because he’s so excited to play,” says NU coach Ron Everhart. “I’ve been a head coach for 10 years and I’ve had a lot of guys that have made practice fun, but no one more than Shawn.”
Making the grade
Taped up next to his mirror, James has a crumpled up piece of paper with the Huskies schedule on it. In the column next to each of the first few games the team won he has a “W,” and each game they lost an “L,” along with his points, rebounds and the number of blocks he had, according to his own records.
“I keep track of the blocks in my head,” James says. “They never give me credit for all of them so I started keeping track of them myself.”
Next to the Dec. 20 game against Iona College James wrote “3 double” short for triple-double. James became the first Husky to ever record a triple double when he scored 17 points, 12 rebounds and a school record 11 blocks. Before that game the single-game blocks record was seven, his own mark he set his first game in red and black.
Next to four of the games there are no numbers, just a bracket connecting them and “DNP grades” scribbled in red.
“I’m never gonna have any of those ever again,” James says. “At least not for that reason.”
James missed four games earlier in the season because of academic ineligibility, adding yet another chip to his lanky shoulders.
“It killed me to miss those games,” says James. “I just wanted to be out there helping the guys win.”
James missed a huge game against the University of Vermont in which UVM forward Taylor Coppenrath torched the Huskies from inside for 28 points.
When he returned to the lineup he stopped putting his stats next to the games and just the wins and losses.
“My only goal right now is to win games,” says James, who already broke legendary Reggie Lewis’ single season blocks record. “All I want is to make it to the NCAA Tournament.”
The future
The Huskies are currently in third place in the America East, but they can earn a first round bye if they win out the rest of the way which includes beating Boston University Sunday at their new Agganis Arena. If they win the AE title they’ll have an automatic bid to the Big Dance. Then maybe people around the country, not just on Huntington Avenue, will get to know Shawn James.
