Playing on TV
Words. HShoop
(Trevor Ariza at Westchester H.S., 2003)
INTERVIEW. AUSTIN BURTON
It used to be that the only time you could catch the country’s best high school ballplayers on national TV was during the all-star game season: i.e. the Jordan Brand All-American Classic, the McDonald’s All-American Game, and just recently, the Elite 24 Classic.
While those offseason showcases are still the high point of the prep basketball TV schedule, in the last four years we’ve seen a steady increase in the amount of regular-season games being aired on national TV. In the coming months, for instance, Class of ’08 stars like Brandon Jennings, Tyreke Evans and Samardo Samuels are all scheduled to appear on national TV with their respective prep squads.
The rise in popularity of regular-season high school games on national TV can be credited to LeBron James – the hype surrounding him in 2003 created a demand that led to a handful of LeBron’s games with St. Vincent-St. Mary’s H.S. (Ohio) airing on national TV. Since then, every year we’ve seen at least one big-time high school game on TV, featuring superstars like Sebastian Telfair, Greg Oden, Derrick Rose and Eric Gordon.
Trevor Ariza was around for the beginning of the trend. Back in 2003, Ariza was one of the best high school ballplayers in the country, a Top-20 recruit at powerhouse Westchester H.S. in Los Angeles. On February 9 of that year, Ariza and LeBron’s squads went head-to-head at the Prime Time Shootout in Trenton, N.J., a game that was televised nationally as the country was just getting its first doses of LeBron hype. What started off as a good display for Ariza’s skills turned into the LeBron Show, as James poured in 52 points in a SVSM rout.
Recently we got up with Ariza at Madison Square Garden, the same day his Orlando Magic played the New York Knicks, where he talked about his first national TV exposure…
Dime: Was it crazy playing on national TV when you were still in high school?
Trevor Ariza: It was fun. It was nerve-wracking, though, I’m not gonna lie. Being in high school, getting so much exposure when you’re that young, it was both good and bad.
Dime: Did playing on such a big stage have a direct impact on how you played that night?
TA: I was excited … over-excited, really. But we knew maybe two weeks before that the game was gonna be on TV, so we were ready. I think in some cases it does affect how you play, but not for us.
Dime: What do you remember most about that game?
TA: (Laughing) That we got smashed. But other than that, I had a good time. It was packed.
Dime: Who played on that Westchester team with you?
TA: Marcus Johnson (UConn), Bobby Brown (Cal State-Fullerton) … I think Amir Johnson (Detroit Pistons) was on that team, too.
Dime: How did you guys do that year?
TA: We finished second in the state, fourth in the country.
Dime: Did you go into that St. Vincent-St. Mary’s game thinking you could make a name for yourself?
TA: Not really. I’d been to all the camps and stuff in 10th and 11th grade, so I was already known by the colleges. It’s just being on TV, everyone else gets to see you. That game was about LeBron, though. Everybody was watching to see LeBron.
Dime: Do you still follow Westchester now that you’re in the NBA?
TA: Yeah, I keep up with them all the time to find out what’s going on with the team. I still talk to my head coach all the time. I love that school.
