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What If LeBron Went to OSU For the 2003-04 Season

By Albert Dadson

Mar 1, 2017; Boston, MA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) trims his nails while sitting on the bench during the third quarter against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 1, 2017; Boston, MA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) trims his nails while sitting on the bench during the third quarter against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports /
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LeBron James famously went to the NBA straight out of high school, but how crazy would it been if he went to Ohio state.

LeBron James said on Instagram a couple of years back that if he went to college he would of went to Ohio State University to play basketball for the 2003-2004 season. This could have transformed college basketball for that entire season.

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That wouldn’t have been a good decision.

The 2003-04 Ohio State team was ranked 216th in points, 154th in turnovers, and 253rd in assists. In points per game, they were 260th.

Ohio State would have been ecstatic to have LeBron but LeBron would have most likely regretted the decision.

It would have been a season like Ben Simmons had at LSU. His talent would have still have gotten him drafted first overall, but he just didn’t have anything to prove.

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Yes, he didn’t make the playoffs in his first season but he won the rookie of the year and was the youngest to score 1,000 points in NBA history.

His fellow draft mates like Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony led their teams to the playoffs in their first seasons. Let’s face it, they were just more mature, older and had the college seasoning that helped them last for an 82 game season.

LeBron had the upside though. We all knew that going into the draft, and we were all correct.

Nobody has to say where Anthony and Wade are at now in their careers.

If LeBron had went to college for that season there is a big school option that would have been suitable and there is a little school option that could have fit for him to be part of something special.

The big school option is North Carolina. North Carolina finished 5th in the ACC with a 19-11 record. Surely LeBron would have took them over the top. The reason this team is mentioned is because they won the championship the year after this one.

Getting LeBron would have surely set up the team with the chance to build a dynasty. Signing a recruit as big as LeBron would have set North Carolina up for years to come.

It would have made the appeal of North Carolina basketball even greater since LeBron was called the second coming of Michael Jordan, who is now the face of Carolina basketball and is arguably the greatest basketball player ever.

Michael Jordan would also be the reason that LeBron would not try sign with North Carolina. LeBron would want to create his own legacy and with how his career is now with everything he does being compared to Jordan he would want peace during his time on campus.

The second is a small school that had a magical year that maybe would not appeal to LeBron, but he would most certainly be creating his own path and would have made college basketball appealing to everybody.

This college is Saint Joes.

You might be thinking what?

Yes, Saint Joes.

If you can remember Saint Joes had the magical season going 30-2 and they were a number one seed in the East Rutherford region.

That team had Jameer Nelson and Delonte West, who were probably the best players in the nation at the time.

Adding LeBron to that team would have put them over the top and it would have been a one year run that would have made everybody love LeBron. West would eventually be his teammate in Cleveland, so that would have made that relationship even stronger.

Philadelphia loves their sports and LeBron loves to be pampered so that would have been a match made in heaven. They would make LeBron a hero like they did Iverson, Julius Erving and Wilt Chamberlain.

I think LeBron was feeling himself when he said he would go to Ohio State.

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It was just the heat of the moment with Ohio State football winning the national title and them signing Urban Meyer. That team was bad. Real bad.

If LeBron was really going to go to college, even though he didn’t need to, then he would have probably would have went somewhere that was more ready to win and gave him a chance to be great.